Anne Frasier: Deadly Treats

Two years ago I decided to start my own publishing company, and I planned to begin with a single ebook. This was around the beginning of the real ebook rise. Everybody and their uncle had jumped in, but not the aunts, cousins, and kissing cousins. I settled on horror and suspense as a publishing focus, and I called the house Belfry Press. The first book would be a collection of Halloween stories, and I sent out invitations to twenty-five authors, published and unpublished, asking if they would like to join me in my little experiment. I promised nothing but possibly a rubber bat and a free download of the Halloween anthology, which I was calling Bats in the Belfry. I thought that would be a nice launch title. The first story came in and well…it blew me away. The next story came in and well, it blew me away. And so on, and so on.

About this time, I started releasing my backlist in digital format, and I saw that sales weren’t spectacular. And I quickly came to realize that a digital ebook by an unknown press might not be the best place for these wonderful stories. They deserved more. So I asked the contributors if they’d be okay with my shopping the collection around, and all but a couple said fine. About the same time, one of my old Theresa Weir books was reissued by an ebook house, and less than twenty-four hours after the release it was being pirated in several places. So I suddenly wasn’t feeling all that warm and fuzzy about ebooks. I submitted Bats to a print-only house in Minneapolis called Nodin Press. Nodin Press has published a lot of mysteries and anthologies, but never a Halloween book, so I was surprised and thrilled when the owner, Norton Stillman, called and said he’d like to publish Bats. Along the way, we decided the title no longer worked because, well, it was chosen with Belfry Press in mind. After some back and forth emails, we decided on Deadly Treats. I think my offering was something about Mysterious Tricks and Deadly Treats, and Norton shortened it to Deadly Treats—a wise move! The book just came out, and honestly, this anthology is such a LOVELY TREAT, and I'm in awe of the writers and the writing. I'll think, Oh, this is my favorite. No, this is my favorite. Oh, but what about this one? And this one? SO MANY great stories!

Anne Frasier (Theresa Weir) is a USA Today bestselling author of twenty books that have included memoir and nonfiction as well as the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, and paranormal. Her books have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages. Weir’s debut title was the cult phenomenon AMAZON LILY, initially published by Pocket Books and later reissued by Bantam Books. Writing as Theresa Weir she won a RITA for romantic suspense (COOL SHADE), and a year later the Daphne du Maurier for paranormal romance (BAD KARMA). In her more recent Anne Frasier career, her thriller and suspense titles hit the USA Today list (HUSH, SLEEP TIGHT, PLAY DEAD) and were featured in Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. HUSH was both a RITA and Daphne du Maurier finalist. Well known and respected in the mystery community, she served as hardcover judge for the Thriller presented by International Thriller Writers, and was guest of honor at the Diversicon 16 mystery/science fiction conference held in Minneapolis in 2008. Frasier books have received high praise from print publications such as Publishers Weekly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Crimespree, as well as online praise from Spinetingler, Book Loons, Armchair Interviews, Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, and Ali Karim’s Shots Magazine. Her books have featured cover quotes from Lisa Gardner, Jane Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, and J.A. Konrath. Her short stories and poetry can be found in DISCOUNT NOIR, ONCE UPON A CRIME, and THE LINEUP, POEMS ON CRIME. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Crimespace.

Look for Theresa’s memoir, The Orchard, coming September 21 from Grand Central Publishing.