Canadian Writers Explore the Depths of Darkness in New Short Fiction Anthology
April 30, 2026 | For Immediate Release
The fifth short story collection from Blank Spaces Magazine and Chicken House Press invites readers into the landscapes we inhabit when the light fails
Eight Canadian authors are being represented in an anthology of short stories titled The Long Dark, officially releasing April 30, 2026 from Chicken House Press in both paperback and ebook formats.
The writers—Anne Baldo, Chris Fash, J. L. Genest, Lisa Jones, Debra Kennedy, Jamie Malina, Desiree Nippard, and Lisa Zeltzer—were all participants in the 2025 fiction contest hosted by Blank Spaces, a literary arts magazine from West Grey, Ontario.
The contest opened with the theme “The Long Dark,” a phrase chosen with purpose. Benjamin Rempel—Canadian author, essayist, and nominee for the Pushcart Prize and the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize—served as both guest judge and the creative force behind the theme. A horror writer himself, Rempel wanted to see exactly how dark Canadians would go.
The answer, it turns out, is very dark—and devastatingly beautiful.
During a live virtual celebration in December 2025, Rempel announced Jamie Malina’s “The Fish” as the winning story, with Lisa Jones’ “Daylight Savings” receiving honourable mention. Malina, a Toronto-based writer, received a cash prize of nearly $300. “I was and am still over the moon at this news,” he said the morning after the announcement.
“All of the stories were exceptional,” Rempel said in his announcement. “But these two stories were taut and crisp—never a word wasted—immediately plunging the reader into a vivid setting. They were well-paced and mysterious and attention-grabbing. They spoke of themes greater than themselves.”
The announcement was one moment in an evening that stretched from Windsor to Newfoundland, from Ottawa to the Kootenays—eight writers gathering virtually to read their work aloud in their own voices. One called in from St. Lucia on a family travel day. Another read through 130 km/h wind gusts in rural Newfoundland, running on a generator. All of them showed up.
“The theme, The Long Dark, means different things to different people and these authors did not disappoint in their interpretation. Each story is unique in what it teaches, how it instructs. Several are creepy. A couple will move you. One will shock you. But all of them create something special from nothing—and that’s the one thing all great stories share.” — Benjamin Rempel, from the foreword of The Long Dark
The resulting collection ranges from dystopian horror to quiet domestic reckoning, from folk parable to urgent contemporary drama. A father confronts a creature born from buried guilt in the Ontario wilderness. A teenager stands at the water’s edge, hearing a boy’s voice call from the bridge above. A coastal town unravels after tasting something too beautiful to survive without. An elderly woman sits through a power outage beside the husband she never left, watching their marriage by firelight.
Rempel’s own connection to this contest runs deep: he was longlisted in the very first Blank Spaces/Chicken House Press anthology contest in 2021, and that opened the door to a publishing relationship that continues today. It’s a full-circle moment to have him serve as this year’s judge and write the foreword for this collection.
The Long Dark is the fifth short story anthology to emerge from the annual Blank Spaces fiction contest, a series that has championed Canadian short fiction since its inception. Stories were selected through a rigorous jury process and together trace a deliberate arc—from communal myth to individual survival, from moral reckoning to fragile hope.
Featuring a foreword by Benjamin Rempel and short fiction by Anne Baldo, Chris Fash, J. L. Genest, Lisa Jones, Debra Kennedy, Jamie Malina, Desiree Nippard, and Lisa Zeltzer.
In the depths of winter, in the shadows of memory, in the aftermath of transcendence—darkness takes many forms.
A father confronts a creature born from buried guilt in the Ontario wilderness. A teenager stands at the water's edge, hearing a boy’s voice call from the bridge above. A coastal town unravels after tasting something too beautiful to survive without. An elderly woman sits through a power outage beside the husband she never left, watching their marriage by firelight.
These eight stories from Canadian writers explore the landscapes we inhabit when light fails—both the darkness we endure and the darkness we create. From dystopian horrors to quiet domestic reckonings, from folk parables to urgent contemporary dramas, The Long Dark maps the territories of grief, obsession, guilt, and the stubborn human insistence on continuing even when we're not sure why.
Some darknesses last a single night. Others stretch across decades. All of them demand we find our way through.
The Long Dark features a foreword by Benjamin Rempel and short fiction by Anne Baldo, Chris Fash, J. L. Genest, Lisa Jones, Debra Kennedy, Jamie Malina, Desiree Nippard, and Lisa Zeltzer. It is available in paperback and ebook from the publisher at chickenhousepress.ca, on Amazon, and through any independent bookstore.
Store owners and distributors are invited to register with Chicken House Press as a retailer to enjoy a wholesale discount on copies of the book.
