In 2011, Dreadful Tales was born of a combined effort between several websites and blogs, literary critics, fans, and a healthy, ultra-sloppy love of horror fiction. This was our flagship year. It was when this all started, and when our collective Stella got her groove.

As a site, we’re just 6 months old now. Well… almost 7, to be exact. But the amount we’ve achieved for ourselves in the genre has been something none of us have quite managed to fully understand yet.

We came screaming out of the gates swinging bodyparts as Pat, Meli, and myself threw as much stuff at you as we possibly could. We picked up Shelagh and Kinderscares along the way, and seduced Jason to come along for the ride.

Let me tell you: This is a stressful job, and our standard, quality, and speed are three things that are very hard to meet. But every single one of us loves it without a shadow of a doubt.

We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t. We pride ourselves on the achievements we have made. But first and foremost, we are hardcore fans who are doing what we want, how we want, and for who we want.

This is the DIY ethic I grew up with. These are my punk-rock brothers (and sisters) in arms.

We read some insanely wild things this year. Between Paperback Horror and Dreadful Tales, I think I’ve read something around 150 or more books in 2011 alone. With the projects I have lined up for the site and for my own personal insanity, you can bet to hell that I’m going to be entertaining the shit out of you for a while to come.

I can honestly say that Meli has pushed herself to the max, making our Midwest Monster achieve some seriously great things. Expect to see her exploding all over the scene soon. This chick’s got style and class, and she’s going to throw down with some very ambitious things in 2012. I can feel it.

Jason is learning more and more about the genre he’s married to through writing,making his stories that much stronger, and propelling him into a better place in the indie circuit. This bad boy is gonna eat readers for breakfast soon. Count on it.

Pat not only single-handedly drove this site to the heights that it achieved in the first few months, but he showed me that being a 30 year old with the heart of a kid is all fucking right. We still talk about Laymon over Skype like little girls at a Beiber concert. Now the man has found a brilliant kind of freedom with his new site, Shack of Horror, and is serving you in so many different ways. And hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw his name in an anthology or two in the coming years.

Shelagh is a powerhouse. You need to know that. She’s our heart and soul, and the person who keeps us all in line. It’s thanks to her that we had a schedule, structure, ambition to make things bigger, and the foresight to blast into so many of the amazing things that we’re going to do in 2012. She’s the person who shows us how to achieve the big dreams we have, keeps us on budget, on time, and keeps us realistic. She’s also the authority on scary stories for kids, so you parents keep an eye our for KinderScares to throw awesome stuff at you to share with your little goblins.

So with that, I want to thank these boils and ghouls for their time, their efforts, and their enthusiasm. These folks are the cream of the crop, in my opinion.

We’re gonna come back in 2012 and try new things. We’ll have our old standards waiting for you in the new year, but we’re going to try to push the envelope a little more this time around.

Keep in touch, PLEASE don’t be afraid to use the comments sections in our posts, and feel free to drop us a line if you want to contribute a review or an article to the site. We’re ready and willing to expand this thing to a whole new level, and couldn’t ever dream of doing it without you. Contact us for more information, if you’re interested.

We love our books, we love this genre, but most of all – we love you for reading.

Thank y’all for everything, and be safe in the New Year.

C.