About WMG Publishing
Founded in 2010, WMG Publishing, Inc. is located in Lincoln City, OR. The company publishes more than 450 fiction and nonfiction titles in trade paperback, ebook and audiobook formats. In 2013, the company launched Fiction River: An Original Anthology Magazine, which publishes six volumes a year containing short fiction from New York Times bestsellers to debut authors. For more information about the company, go to www.wmgpublishing.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Latest News
Publisher’s Note: Bundling Up for NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is fast approaching, and Kevin J. Anderson has curated another of his annual Storybundles to help you writers out there make the most of it.
We have not one but two WMG Writer’s Guides in this informative 12-book bundle: The Secrets of Success by New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch and How to Write a Novel in Ten Days by USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith.
Here are a few words about The 2018 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle StoryBundle from Kevin:
It’s that time of year: November is “NaNoWriMo” or National Novel Writing Month, when ambitious authors take the challenge to write the first draft of a novel from start to finish in a month. While gearing up for the challenge, writers are looking for advice, techniques, and resources.
And boy do we have a toolkit for you! I’ve curated an impressive collection of a dozen books on writing that will be inspirational, helpful, maybe even provocative. You can get all of the books for as little as $15, and a portion of the proceeds goes directly to benefit the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education.
In this bundle, you’ll get titles with basic nuts-and-bolts advice on writing, including How to Write a Novel by Simon Haynes, Story Pitch by Scott King, The How-To Structure Workbook for Trilogies, Series, and Parallel Worlds by C. Michelle Jeffries, Writing As a Team Sport on collaboration by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta (we included a partial sneak-preview of this book in last year’s bundle, and this version is greatly expanded), and How to Polish Your Manuscript into a Rock-Solid Book by Andrea Pearson.
We’ve included inspirational and motivational titles to get your book done, You Must Write: Success Through Heinlein’s Rules by Kevin McLaughlin, Pulp Speed for the Professional Writer by Blaze Ward, and How to Write a Novel in Ten Days by Dean Wesley Smith (and, yes, he does that…regularly).
And for those of you thinking about the big picture, we have important career advice with The Secrets of Success by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Become a Successful Indie Author by Craig Martelle, and The Healthy Writer by Joanna Penn. For those of you interested in the whole process of bundling, we include the StoryBundle exclusive, Bundle Up! by Jamie J. Ferguson.
In short—you need these books!
Click here to read much more about the bundle.
Happy writing!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: A New Conundrum
What do you get when you set a cozy mystery series at science fiction conventions? Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s fan-favorite Spade/Paladin series, of course.
The infamous private detectives return for their latest mystery in “At Witt’s End.”
Here’s the synopsis:
When legendary science fiction fan Brendan Witt dies, Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade finds himself planning a memorial charity auction to honor Witt’s final wishes.
But when some very rare and highly collectible fanzines go missing, Spade and Paladin must race to find them before anyone notices.
Just one problem: Why they went missing might just prove the biggest mystery of all.
You can read this story for free on Kris’ website as part of her Free Fiction Monday. Click here to do so.
But don’t dally. The story is only available for one week.
Speaking of limited-time opportunities for a great deal in fiction, the Darker Realms Fantasy StoryBundle ends in a few days. As a reminder, you can get Fiction River Presents: Darker Realms, Kris’ FantasyLife and Other Stories (Author Preferred Edition), and Dean Wesley Smith’s The Free Meal: A Ghost of a Chance Novel, along with seven other fantastic books (plus support the AbleGamers charity) for just $15!
To learn more about the bundle, click here.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: Time Waits for No Man…Woman…Child
I was reminded recently how incredible fast childhood goes by. My daughter has suddenly reached the very beginning stages of puberty.
“Mommy, I’m becoming a little woman,” she said when I finally accepted and acknowledged the signs.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed silently.
Time, it seems, moves faster and faster. And childhood, for us adults, is gone in the blink of an eye.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
But when it comes to thrillers, things should move fast. And our latest volume of Fiction River doesn’t disappoint.
Here’s the synopsis for Pulse Pounders: Countdown:
The relentless ticking of a clock as time slips away marks the breathless pace of these remarkable stories. In Fiction River’s third edition of its Pulse Pounders series, these sixteen authors push the envelope of the thriller form. From a man desperately searching for his missing little girl to a chef racing to finish a cooking competition to an airship captain facing a deadly adversary, these stories will keep your pulse racing until the very end.
Table of Contents
“Payback is a Bitch” by Diana Deverell
“Death-Blind” by Robert Jeschonek
“The Airship Adventures of Captain Jane Fury” by Anthea Sharp
“Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest” by Henry Martin
“The Tomb of Arisel” by Bonnie Elizabeth
“Goodnight, Madison” by Lisa Silverthorne
“Romancing the Puffin” by Louisa Swann
“Dominant Species” by Dayle A. Dermatis
“Three Seconds” by T. Thorn Coyle
“Blood Chase” by Leah Cutter
“Caterpillar Boot Man” by Valerie Brook
“The Case of the Dead Son” by Laura Ware
“Breakfast at Luigi’s” by Thea Hutcheson
“Black Phantom, Gray Op” by Stefon Mears
“The Last Ramekin” by Liz Pierce
“The Princess, the Huntsman and the Monster” by Erik Lynd
We can’t control time, but we can put it to good use. And the countdown to this latest volume of Fiction River is now over. You can buy it here.
Or subscribe here and let Fiction River show up in your inbox automatically. Now, that’s a real time-saver.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: Going to the Dark Side
I vividly remember one of my first forays into a darker realm. It was a short story by Stephen King called “The Eyes of the Dragon.” I remember it in part because I was so surprised it was a King story. I knew King as a horror writer. And, to be honest, I hated horror—or so I thought.
Ironically, it was another of King’s short stories, “The Colorado Kid,” that opened my eyes to what horror could be. Darkness comes in many forms—and many expressions.
The Darker Realms Fantasy Storybundle explores just that.: the darkness at the heart of the unknown.
Four of these books are new releases just in time for this Storybundle. New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s gives us a dark fantasy set on the Oregon Coast called FantasyLife and Other Stories (Author Preferred Edition). New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson’s Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy features 29 dark tales (including stories co-written with Grammy Award-winning singer Janis Ian and Rush’s Neil Peart). Award-winning author Annie Reed’s Iris & Ivy provides a heart-wrenching twist on the classic ghost story. And Stefon Mears Hunting Monsters gives us an old-school vampire in an urban setting.
Also included in the bundle is Fiction River Presents: Darker Realms. This short fiction anthology, which I edited, is the inspiration for the whole bundle and includes the prequels to two groundbreaking fantasy series: Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Fey series and David Farland’s Runelords.
Rounding out the bundle, we mix humor with darkness in The Free Meal: A Ghost of a Chance Novel by USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith and A Canadian Werewolf in New York by Mark Leslie. Then we turn decidedly more frightening with Residue by Hugo Award-nominated author Steve Diamond and Elements of Mind by Walter H. Hunt. And finally, D.J. Butler has given us not only Devil Sent the Rain, the fourth installment of his pulp fiction serial Rock Bands Fight Evil, but also the Rock Band Fights Evil Omnibus, too, for those readers who missed the first three installments.
As always, at StoryBundle, you name your own price—whatever you feel the books are worth, and a portion of the proceeds goes to charity—in this case, AbleGamers.
For $5 (or more, if you feel generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format worldwide:
Fiction River Presents: Darker Realms
Kevin J. Anderson: Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy
Annie Reed: Iris & Ivy
Stefon Mears: Hunting Monsters
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus SIX more!
Dean Wesley Smith: The Free Meal
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: FantasyLife and Other Stories
Mark Leslie: A Canadian Werewolf in New York
Steve Diamond: Residue
Walter H. Hunt: Elements of Mind
D.J. Butler: Devil Sent the Rain and Rock Band Fights Evil Omnibus
The Darker Realms Fantasy Storybundle runs for three weeks only. So, you’ll want to act fast.
To learn more about the bundle, click here. To learn more about AbleGamers, click here.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: Easy Days
It’s that time of year. The easy days of summer slip away into brisker autumn afternoons. Some of us sigh with regret and some of us rejoice at the prospect. But one thing doesn’t have to change for anyone: the delights of summer reading don’t have to go anywhere. In fact, fall is a terrific time to romp around outdoors, go for walks and bike rides, and come home with ruddy cheeks and a big appetite just in time to settle in for an evening with your favorite books…
Wait a sec. Hold that thought.
Every self-respecting squirrel knows that before you can snuggle in for chilly weather and page-turners, you have to stock up! And boy is this the week to do it.
Our Fiction River Subscription Kickstarter is ticking down to its final hours. Guarantee yourself dozens of gripping stories by award-winning authors by subscribing to electronic and/or print editions. We have hit six of our stretch goals so far, which means more books for all backers at $15 or higher.
Thank you all!
And now, for writers, or those of you with family or friends who are writers, we added a new reward at the $100 level. Lectures, writing books, subscription, and a chance to submit a story to Fiction River.
Some of you—a record number, in fact—had the foresight to squirrel away (preorder) Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s latest novel in the award-winning Diving Series. The wait is over: Searching for the Fleet, arrives this week! September 18, get your copy from your favorite book retailer. It is available in paperback, too.
Planning on bundling up in front of a crackling fire? What better way to provide yourself with hours of uninterrupted absorption than indulging in a Storybundle. Dean Wesley Smith’s novel Dry Creek Crossing from his time-travel Thunder Mountain series and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s novella The Application of Hope from her Diving series are both part of the 2018 Adventure SF Bundle. There is much more to the bundle: Kevin J. Anderson’s anthology of science fiction stories; Fiction River: Superpowers; thirteen works in all. But it ends Wednesday, September 19.
Is that all? Of course not! We are busy creating those chestnuts for everyone to squirrel away. Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Countdown is on its way, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Issue 4 is in the works, Kris and Dean both have novels in an upcoming Storybundle called Dark Fantasy, and Dean is embarking on a project of writing ten novels in 100 days. Which reminds me, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work…
By Gwyneth Gibby, Associate Publisher
Publisher’s Note: Sharing the Love of Stories
We are close to reaching our second stretch goal on the Fiction River Subscription Drive on Kickstarter, and I can’t say thank you enough to those of you who have supported this campaign!
If you haven’t yet, there’s still time. Upon reaching our second stretch goal, everyone at the $15 level or higher will receive an electronic copy of Familiarity, a five-story collection of Winston & Ruby stories, one of the most popular series Kristine Kathryn Rusch has written about cats. This is on top of the extra volume of Fiction River for reaching the first stretch goal.
And there are many more stretch goal rewards to come.
But what I really want to talk to you about today is why you should support the Kickstarter—to allow us to keep publishing fantastic stories by very talented writers.
Fiction River authors and stories have garnered a host of awards, award nominations, and selections in best of volumes. We keep a running list on the Fiction River website (because we’re proud as hell to be associated with these amazing folks.)
Here’s a list of some of them:
Award Winners:
Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award
2018: David H. Hendrickson, winner in the Best Long Story category “Death in the Serengeti,” (Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Adrenaline)
Nevada Arts Council awards literary, performing arts fellowships
2018: Honorable Mention, Annie Reed for “The Great Ice Cream War of Grover’s Hollow” (Fiction River: Last Stand)
2014: Honorable Mention, Annie Reed for “The Shape of a Name” (Fiction River: How to Save the World)
Award Nominations:
Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award
2016: Ron Collins, finalist in the Best Long Story category “The White Game” (Fiction River: Hidden in Crime )
2015: Melissa Yi, finalist in the Best Flash category for “Because” (Fiction River Special Edition: Crime)
2015: Doug Allyn, finalist in the Best Novelette category for “Hitler’s Dogs” (Fiction River Special Edition: Crime)
Killer Nashville 2015 Silver Falchion™ Readers Choice Award
Fiction River Special Edition: Crime, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Nominated for Best Multi-Author Anthology.
Year’s Best:
The Year’s American Mystery Stories 2018, edited by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler
“Death in the Serengeti,” by David H. Hendrickson (Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Adrenaline)
The Year’s Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016 edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and John Helfers
“The American Flag of Sergeant Hale Schofield” by Kelly Washington (Fiction River: Hidden in Crime)
“The Color of Guilt” by Annie Reed (Fiction River: Hidden in Crime)
“Play the Man” by Dan C. Duval (Fiction River: Risk Takers)
“The Rites of Zosimos” by Angela Penrose (Fiction River: Alchemy & Steam)
Plus, All six volumes of Fiction River published in 2017 have been included in the Tangent Online 2017 Recommended Reading List, which features ten Fiction River stories.
To see that list, as well as what we add in the future, click here.
So, please help us keep celebrating these storied authors by supporting the Kickstarter (or if you already have, THANK YOU and please keep spreading the word!).
Click here to learn more.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: Kicking Off Another Fiction River Subscription Drive
I have some exciting news to share this week. We launched our third Fiction River subscription drive on Kickstarter last Monday, and this campaign is even bigger and better than any subscription drive we’ve done in the past.
In addition to this being the perfect time for readers to start or renew their subscriptions and writers to take advantage of workshop discounts, we’ve added a high backer reward just to keep things interesting. We’ve also added more stretch goals than ever before that not only include potential new volumes of Fiction River, but also bonus books from WMG’s vast inventory and a never-before-offered open call for submissions stretch goal.
So, why do we do our subscription drives on Kickstarter? Well, Fiction River is self-sufficient, but bimonthly publications don’t remain self-sufficient if they don’t get new subscribers every now and then. We could do an old-fashioned subscription drive, but we feel that’s a waste of time and paper. We’d rather have fun on Kickstarter. After all, Fiction River is a fun magazine to publish.
So, please help spread the word about our Kickstarter campaign—to your friends, your family, your Twitter or Instagram followers, heck anybody you kinda sorta like. We’ve got great deals on subscriptions, including discounted lifetime subscriptions for magazines and workshops. The Back to School packages (a Kickstarter exclusive) have returned. And the stretch goals add bonuses upon bonuses so that every supporter from the $15 level and higher gets another ebook on top of their reward pledge for each stretch goal level—that’s 25 bonus books if we reach the $50,000 stretch goal level!
Check out the full campaign and all it has to offer by clicking here.
We’re off to a good start already (we’ve made it to our first stretch goal!), but we need your help to spread the word! You can even send a link to this blog if you like. If nothing else, you should watch the Kickstarter video; it’s filled with lots of adorable cats.
For those of you who have already supported and/or shared this Kickstarter, thank you so much for being part of the Fiction River family!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: The Family You Choose
I’m lucky to have a loving and supportive family. And I mean that: I know just how lucky I am. Because I know plenty of people who don’t—even some in my own family.
Maybe I should say I’m lucky with my immediate family. My mom, dad, stepmother, stepfather and sister are all amazing. Not perfect, mind you, but amazing. My sister is one of my very best friends, and I talk to my parents, all of them, often. Even more amazingly, we all get along and all talk to each other. Even though we have different political and religious views. Even though my mom and dad divorced years ago. Even though my sister and I fought like cats and dogs growing up.
We love each other. That trumps any and all disagreements.
As it should be.
But, sadly, that’s not always the case with family. My mother’s own family, for example, was a mess. Alcoholic parents, one of whom was an abusive narcissist. Six siblings who range from barely functional alcoholics to relatively well adjusted. My mom is one of the relatively well-adjusted ones, thankfully. It took years of therapy to become so, and I’m proud of the work she put in to do so.
I distanced myself—literally and figuratively—from most of my mother’s extended family years ago. I don’t believe being “family” means subjecting yourself to toxic people.
I believe true family is the people who love and support us. Sometimes, they’re biologically related. Sometimes they’re not. I am lucky to have a large and supportive family.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes a number of stories about the intricacies and complications of family. One of them, “My Real Cousin Ruby,” is her Free Fiction Monday story this week. The story was originally published in Fiction River: Fantasy Adrift.
Here’s the story synopsis:
For as long as she can remember, she has had two cousins named Ruby. Her so-called cousin, who lives in this world and whom she can’t stand, and the cousin she meets in her dreams—her Real Cousin Ruby.
Her siblings all dream about Real Cousin Ruby, too. But why?
In “My Real Cousin Ruby,” World Fantasy Award winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch challenges the border between reality and the land of dreams. And what crosses that border leaves serious consequences behind on both sides.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go call my sister.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: A Sky Full of Smoke
I spent the weekend in Spokane, Wash., for a Kiwanis District Convention. Spokane is about an eight-hour drive from Lincoln City. Most of the drive out was shrouded in a smoke-filled haze. All of the drive back was shrouded in smoke, sometimes so thick that it felt like driving through dense fog. It was surreal.
It reminded me of The Matrix, and the line “We’re the ones who burned the sky.” I covered plenty of storms in my journalism career, and plenty of destruction, including all kinds of fires. But the scope of the wildfires’ impact was very sobering.
It made the landscape feel like an alien world.
Or an apocalyptic one.
Which brought me back to The Matrix. I remember when that movie first came out. It was a game-changer. Not just because of the special effects, but also because it touched on so much of our fears of technology at the time. Computers, and especially AI, were relatively new and scary. We were preparing for Y2K, which turned out to be a non-event but was feared to bring Armageddon at the time.
So, having a movie where the main character discovers—SPOILER ALERT—he’s in a computer-created simulation (and in reality, a slave and energy source for machines) was one hell of a premise. And the moment Neo finds that out—that was one doozy of a plot twist.
P.S. The fact that I felt the need to put a spoiler alert on the plot twist from a 20-year-old movie is in itself a plot twist I didn’t see coming.
Have I mentioned I love plot twists?
Speaking of, there’s still time to get the SF Plot Twist Storybundle, but not much. It ends this week, so if you haven’t already purchased yours, be sure to click here now for more information.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go search the Internet for updates about the rumors that Warner Bros. is working on a Matrix 4.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: A Series of Successes
We’ve been talking a lot around the office lately about the Cold Poker Gang series by Dean Wesley Smith. We’ve been doing some heavy promotion for this series and it’s given these fantastic books some well-deserved attention.
Now, here’s the really fun part: These books aren’t new. Newer, yes, but the latest novel in this series was released last year. There will be more, I’m sure, but it wasn’t a new release in this eight-books series that prompted the promotion. We simply decided to experiment and see what happened. And that’s the freedom of non-traditional publishing.
Our experiment worked. We used book promotion sites like Bookbub and Freebooksy (we had already dropped the ebook price for Kill Game, the first book in the series, to free). And then we dropped the ebook price of the remaining novels to $3.99 each.
And sales for the series took off like wildfire. Now, mind you, the first book—the one we were promoting—is free. It’s the rest of the series that people are actually paying for.
Discoverability is the biggest challenge for any author or small press. But once you achieve that, you still need to back it up with substance. Bad books aren’t going to sell no matter what you do.
But good books? They just need that spark.
The Cold Poker Gang Mysteries are great series of because they combine good stories with compelling characters. And I firmly believe that it’s the characters that make it. Retired detectives solving cold cases, strong male and female protagonists—these are easily relatable and likable characters. Dean has really hit on something here.
For me, I’m pleased with the sales results (obviously, that’s my job), but I’m more pleased that these wonderful books are finding a wider audience. They deserve it.
And if you still haven’t tried this series, perhaps this will convince you to start. Kill Game is still free in ebook and the rest of the books remain at $3.99 for now.
You can read all about the series here.
So, go on, succumb to peer pressure. This is one of the few times you should.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.