CINEMA SPEC: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy views moving pictures in all their forms, real and imaginary, from shadow plays to classic films, from videocassettes to animated tattoos. 32 authors have contributed flash fiction, short stories, and poetry to the anthology, transporting readers back to a time when flames flickered and paintings waltzed on cave walls, and forward to possible futures when the heavens themselves might serve as vidscreens. Along the way, the anthology makes multiple stops in Hollywood, the one we know and the one that could never exist, from 30s noir to extraterrestrial infiltration, from a magical "gangland" to destruction after "the big one." Contributors include Greg Beatty, Ruth Berman, Robert Borski, Justin Howe, Vylar Kaftan, Deborah P Kolodji, Simon Logan, Lisa Morton, Gregory L. Norris, Tony Pi, and many others.
Karen A. Romanko is editor of three speculative fiction and poetry anthologies, Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic (2007), Cinema Spec: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy (2009), and Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia (2010), all from Raven Electrick Ink. A former professional librarian, she began her writing career in 1986 with a "My Say" column in Publishers Weekly. She has since seen over 100 of her poems and short stories published in venues such as Strange Horizons, Ideomancer, and The Pedestal Magazine.
When not hunched at the computer, Romanko enjoys the sun of Southern California with her biologist husband, Bob Desharnais. A long-time movie buff, she loves the proximity to Tinseltown, but misses the fall foliage of her native Boston and always roots for the Red Sox.
