This is the second post in an ongoing series highlighting the people behind the tiny presses publishing in the speculative fiction space! Today’s post is featuring Catherine Lundoff of Queen of Swords Press.
Tell me a little bit about yourself:
I’m an award-winning author, editor and publisher with 4 published books under my own name and 3 under my pseudonym. I’ve also edited or co-edited 3 anthologies. I’m an IT contractor in my day job life and I live in Minneapolis with my marvelous kitties. My wife, book artist and bookbinder Jana Pullman, just passed away in hospice care after several years of declining health. I miss who she was a lot, but am I otherwise coping.
Apart from that, I love live music, theater, museums, bookstores and libraries and I’m trying to get back into doing fiber arts. I’m bi/queer, cis gendered and of European descent and I am more or less officially a crone. On good weeks, I’m able-bodied. On bad weeks, I use a cane or walking stick. I used to be a professional archaeologist, as well as a lot of other things. I started writing fiction in my early 30s, saw my first collection published at 43, my first novel published at 49 and started my press at 54.
Do you have a mission statement for your press?
Oh yes, and a business plan and such! All of which has morphed drastically over the years and needs updating. This is our basic description: Queen of Swords is an independent small press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and specializing in swashbuckling tales of derring-do, bold new adventures in time and space, mysterious stories of the occult and arcane and fantastical tales of people and lands far and near. We specialize in science fiction, fantasy and horror with LGBTQ+ protagonists in genres that range from steampunk to fantastical mysteries, fairytale retellings, urban fantasy and beyond. Independent Book Publisher’s Association Innovative Voices Finalist, 2024.
Within that, I try to commit to a range of work as well as diversity of voices. What it boils down to is that I want to publish work I like to read and I want to get that work out to a readership that wants it too.
Tell me about one of your favorite moments in your publishing adventures.
We were tabling at a local regional Pride and the weather was atrocious (nearby tornado, windstorm, rain, etc.). We were trapped in our tent in a park and it was the first time my assistant had ever worked a book table. So we dropped the tent as low as it would go with the help of a lovely local costumer and were trying to ease books into the plastic storage tubs under a tarp while getting soaking wet ourselves. In the midst of the tornado warning and the storm, a teen who had stopped by early in the day came running toward us in a yellow slicker. She/they skidded into the tent, pointed to one of the books under the clear plastic and said, “I want THAT book!” Reader, we sold her to her and she bounded off into the rain with it tucked into her slicker and hugging it all the way. 🙂
What is one of the most challenging parts of running a small press?
Oooph. Getting the books out there into the hot little hands of readers who will love them. The struggle is real! We do lots of events and such to get new eyes and new readers checking out our books, but even then, it can be really challenging. Add to that, between the ups and downs of publishing, the economy of the last eight years and my wife’s care, I’m still working fulltime, long past the point where my original business plan suggested that I might be able to transition over to full time writer/teacher/publisher. There were a lot of weeks in the last few years where I was putting 60-70 hours a week, which you really feel at a certain age.
What is one of your favorite things about running a small press?
Having people get really excited about our books! We have people who come back to events year in and year out looking for us. They often tell me they loved what they read last year and want to know what’s new. I have some great conversations with readers! People have even stopped by to tell me that my menopausal werewolf novel, Silver Moon, was their coming out novel, which is the most amazing thing.
What’s your most recent/upcoming book that you are promoting right now?
We’re releasing a brand new book in the Astreiant Series! Melissa Scott and her then partner Lisa A Barnett collaborated to create the classic gay fantasy novels Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams. After Lisa passed away, Melissa wrote 3 more books in the series, which were released by another publisher. We took over the series and are doing new editions of all of them and I asked Melissa if she would write a new book. And she said yes!
Tell me about a backlist book from your press that you think is overlooked!
Little Nothing by Dee Holloway is a terrific atmospheric sapphic novella set in Florida at the start of the Civil War. Holloway’s protagonists are a young couple, Johnnie and Bess, who are trying to stop the Confederacy from using the local limerunners (a bit like water horses) again the Union forces. It’s got everything – monsters, chosen family, atmosphere, resistance and I would love for more readers to discover it.
Tell me five books (that you didn’t publish!) that you are in love with right now:
THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI by S.A. Chakraborty. Loved this!
GRIEF IS A SNEAKY BITCH by Lisa Keefauver. Possibly one of the most self-help books that I’ve read recently.
WATER HORSE by Melissa Scott. Brilliant queer fantasy by a brilliant writer.
THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett. This took me a little while to get into, but I found it to be a gripping tale with interesting world-building.
KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn. A lively mystery about a group of retired female spies who discover that they’re being targeted for what they know.
What about stories that aren’t books? Are there any movies, TV shows, video games you are enjoying?
Eternally: Elementary, Killjoys, Agatha Raisin (all TV)
Recent: Miss Scarlett, The Murdoch Mysteries
Movies: Slay (on Tubi – drag queens fighting vampires!), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Casablanca (still nearly perfect! And original antifa!)
I’m not a huge video game person, alas.
Do you have a favorite local bookstore?
DreamHaven Books, Comics and Art in Minneapolis. They carry all our books and host a lot of our events!
Are you currently looking for submissions? (if so, do you have a submissions page you can point me to, and/or anything in particular you are looking for?)
Not at the moment. My wife’s care and subsequent death has taken up a lot of my available bandwidth. I am talking to some people about projects, but they are pre-selected.
Do you have any tips for submitters?
Read some of our current books. I also do a lot of interviews and such for what I like/don’t like. Getting familiar with my taste is kinda key here. My philosophy is that I need to love a book enough to know that I can plug it endlessly at book tables and online for years at a time.
Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to start up their own press?
Urgh. Good luck? I mean it depends on where you’re at and what you’re hoping to publish, but I gotta say that the last 5 years or so have been really hard. You really have to hustle to get books out there. But if you have books you want to publish and you believe in them, go get ‘em!
If you could have an unlimited supply of any beverage, what would it be?
Tea! Definitely tea! I can’t drink coffee anymore so tea is what keeps me going.
Thanks so much to Catherine for her time speaking to us! Follow Catherine & Queen of Swords Press in all of these places:
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your work on this as well as on all your other projects!