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
Writer’s Block
Well, I’ll be honest: I’ve started and trashed three blogs so far, and I’m no closer to a successful attempt. Sometimes, the words just don’t flow. It happens to all writers. And while I could keep banging away at it (I’d eventually come up with something passable…I was a journalist after all, so the writing gets done on deadline no matter what), I do have a company to run.
So instead, I think I’ll just give you a link to a free story to read. Given all the headlines about the FBI and the President lately, it’s timely, too.
Click here to read Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “G-Men,” which is her Free Fiction Monday offering this week. It’s an alternative history story about secrets and politics and the lengths people will go to preserve both.
And if you like it, you might want to pick up The Enemy Within, which is the full novel that “G-Men” eventually turned into. That is available in ebook, trade paperback and audiobook. Click here for more information.
Enjoy!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Making the Most of Moving
Moving. The thought of it makes me shudder. I’ve often joked that it would be simpler to just set everything on fire and start over.
But, you know, that’s expensive, and I’m kind of attached to some of my stuff. OK, a lot of my stuff. So, that’s just not an option.
That sentiment comes from moving a lot, I think. Not as much as some, of course. Military families, for example, move all the time. But I had my fair share of location upheaval in my youth. I lived in six different towns and residences by the time I graduated high school. Two different states. Four different school systems. Again, not as much change as some, but enough to be a bit unsettling.
After high school, and before moving to Lincoln City, I lived in ten different places (in five different states). Lincoln City is the place I’ve lived in the longest. I’ve lived in my house for 12 years (if you don’t count the 10-month period where I moved out of my house only to return to it three moves later, but that’s a long, complicated story…)
As you can see, I have some experience with moving. And I can say with some authority that it’s hell. I can count on pretty much four to six months of lost productivity (except for the moving thing).
Which is why I’m so amazed at the latest project Dean Wesley Smith has embarked on.
Dean and his wife, Kris, are in the process of moving to Las Vegas. They’ll still have a home base here, but much of their time will be spent there, and they won’t need their rather large house here anymore. And so Dean is in the midst of dismantling said house to complete the move.
And because he’s Dean, he decided to throw in a writing challenge for good measure. Thirty short stories in thirty days.
Did I mention he’s moving???
Well, he’s on day nine already and going strong. Oh, and he’s writing a nonfiction book while he’s at it called How to Write 30 Short Stories in 30 Days While Moving.
If I’ve learned one thing in my six years running this business, it’s that when Dean sets his mind to something, it usually gets done.
If you want to follow along from the start of this adventure, click here to go to Dean’s first blog post about it. He posts a new blog every day with an update.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a ton of new covers to do…
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Cats Riding in Cars
We had quite the adventurous cat week here at WMG. But first, some background.
On the publishing side of the business, we are decidedly cat people (and based on the sales of our cat-related fiction, many of you are, too). Every single publishing employee has at least one cat. Most of us have two or more. And that leads to a lot of cat-person bonding.
So, when one of us has a cat in distress, we all feel their pain.
For example, Dean drove the cats from the Rusch-Smith household from Lincoln City to Las Vegas on Tuesday to join Kris in their new digs. If you’ve never driven that far with cats, let me tell you it’s one of the more stressful things one can do.
When it came time to load the cats in the car, Gwyneth and Josh headed over to help. Once everyone was settled, Dean started the drive of great distress.
But they all made it safely, thank goodness, and Dean is still in one piece, so mission accomplished. Now comes the cat-adjustment-to-new-home period. But by the end of this week they should be right as rain.
Meanwhile, I had scheduled a dental cleaning for one of my cats that morning (I have a pair of 14-year-old brothers and an unrelated 12-year-old male Maine Coon). Sydney and Truman (the brothers) don’t act at all like they are 14, but the fact is that they are, so I worry more now than I did about procedures that require anesthesia. But Sydney’s bloodwork came back great (he has the numbers of a toddler cat, the vet said) and he made it through the procedure just fine. I dropped him off at home and headed back to work.
Not 10 minutes later I got a text from my husband, John, saying Truman hurt his back leg. Truman. Not Sydney. Confused, I rushed back home.
As we hurried off to the vet (who got us in 10 minutes after we called, thank goodness), we tried to piece together what happened. Sydney had been wandering around the house a bit disoriented. John heard a hiss, a thump, and a yowl, then Truman came limping around to the living room from the stairs and lay down unable to move further. Our best guess is they had a tiff (not uncommon when one cat comes home from the vet) and Truman tried to jump on the banister but missed and fell awkwardly on the stairs.
Whatever happened, it became apparent from the first X-ray that Truman had broken his back leg. Badly. His right hind femoral bone was in pieces.
Lincoln City is a small town, so no one here could handle that kind of injury. Our vet sent us to Portland to an emergency vet, who then sent us on to Vancouver, Wash., because the Portland clinic didn’t have an orthopedic surgeon available soon enough. Truman needed surgery ASAP if there was a chance of saving his leg. (And once again, it was Gwyneth to the rescue, coming over to sit with Sydney as he recovered from his anesthesia while we were 2.5 hours away.)
I won’t go into all the gory details but amputation and euthanasia were all on the table as potential outcomes at one point.
Thank goodness, Truman is as healthy as his brother and the surgeon (who was amazing) successfully repaired the break with a long bone plate, 17 screws, and a surgical pin.
Truman is back home and has begun the long recovery process. At least 6 weeks in human time (that’s like four months in cat time).
Thus concluded our cat adventure-filled spring break.
I hope your week was decidedly less traumatic.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Our New Promotions Page!
Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I like to tell you when you can save money on our books. I like a good deal, and I figure you do, too. Seems like good business to help you stretch your hard-earned dollars farther.
The problem with doing that on a blog, though, is that it’s up for a week and gone. So, if you miss the blog that week, you might miss out on the deal.
Hence the new Promotion page on the WMG Publishing website. We’re still fiddling with the design a bit, but the information is there. This is the page where you can find information about free books, discounts, limited-time bundles, and anything else we can think of to save you money on our books.
At the moment, we’ve got two active promotions going on.
First, all of our boxed sets are part of a special 40% off promotion through Kobo.
Second, WMG has two books in a current Storybundle—the Femme Fatale bundle, curated by O’Neil De Noux (a Pulphouse Fiction Magazine contributor, by the way). Here’s what he had to say about this bundle:
“The Femme Fatale, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is ‘An attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her.’ The Urban Dictionary gives this definition, ‘A woman with both intelligence and sex appeal that uses these skills to manipulate poor helpless men into doing what she wants. May cause death.’
“I am curating a new Femme Fatale bundle for StoryBundle, a terrific collection of ten outstanding novels by some phenomenal writers. As always, at StoryBundle, you name your own price – whatever you feel the books are worth, and a portion of the proceeds goes to charities Mighty Writers and Girls Write Now.”
Death Takes a Partner: A Mary Jo Assassin Novel by Dean Wesley Smith and The Perfect Man by Kristine Kathryn Rusch are included in this bundle, which ends in less than two weeks. Click here for more information.
And don’t forget to bookmark our new Promotions page.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Publisher’s Note: The Luck of the Irish
My mother’s side of the family is Irish. Very Irish. Irish Catholic. Last name of O’Shaughnessy. Ancestors immigrated to America via Ellis Island during the potato famine. You get the picture.
So, St. Patrick’s Day was a pretty big deal growing up.
Nowadays, it’s one of the few times of year I channel my Irish heritage. (I’ve always been more drawn to my Spanish heritage.) But I still wear green and eat corned beef and cabbage and wash it down with a Guinness.
My daughter, on the other hand, is obsessed with Leprechauns. As in catching one. Last St. Patrick’s Day, she devised a trap to do so. It failed, of course. This year, she’s planning to improve on her trap plans.
Throughout the year, she tries to find the end of rainbows, just in case.
Now, if I could figure out a way to reward her dedication to the cause with a real Leprechaun, I would. But we all know how this ends.
Poor Nola. She doesn’t like corned beef or cabbage, and she’s too young for Guinness. But by the time you read this, I’ll have cheered her up an early dose of Easter candy.
And for you, dear readers, a wee bit of Irish luck. Click here to download a free copy of Kristine Grayson’s “Cosmic Balances, Inc.”
Keep some of your hard-earned gold but act fast, because, like rainbows, this free offer won’t last long (one week, in fact).
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
For the Love of Bookstores
I love bookstores. Always have.
But it’s funny the specific memories that stand out. I remember being in junior high school and discovering the Sweet Valley High series, scanning the shelves for the latest release. They published those on a rapid schedule, but certainly not as fast as I could read them. (Remember back when you only knew what books were available by going to the store?) And I remember being in high school (when I developed a deep love for Shakespeare and Wordsworth, among others), browsing the classics shelves of the B. Dalton in the Bridgewater Mall.
I’m not sure exactly when the trend of putting coffee shops and bookstores together started, but I discovered them when I was in college. I had developed a taste for coffee while spending time in Madrid and although the American version of café au lait didn’t hold a candle to Spanish café con leche, it was lovely to have a warm mug of sweet, creamy coffee while I sat reading. The aroma of roasted beans mixed with paper and leather to create what seemed a most literary perfume.
Bookstores feature prominently in my life, obviously. I witnessed the rise and fall of Borders. I started shopping at Amazon.com in 1999. I’ve watched more independent bookstores come and go than I can count.
I even fantasized about running my own bookshop/coffee house one day.
But I thought my imagination was where that particular daydream would stay.
Until recently, when WMG bought a bookstore.
And not just any bookstore: one founded by the great Sheldon McArthur (after he sold the Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles and “retired”).
Now, WMG can not only sell the books it publishes online and in brick-and-mortar bookstores, but we can sell them in our own bookstore…and we can sell lots of other books, too.
Like books from your favorite Fiction River and Pulphouse authors, for example.
But first, we could use a little help.
Our bookstore, North by Northwest Books in Lincoln City, is well-loved but well-worn. The building that houses it has sat in the harsh coastal air for many years, and it needs work. So, we’re running a Kickstarter to jumpstart the repair process. Our first goal was to raise enough funds (our goal was $5,000) to remodel an unused room in the bookstore to expand our offering of indie books. We hit that goal in less than 48 hours. And we’ve already hit our first stretch goal, too! Plus, we made Kickstarter’s “projects we love” list on it’s very first day.
But now, we’re working on our next stretch goals. The more we raise, the faster we can achieve all of the renovations needed to expand our selections and modernize our ordering systems. Here’s a video we made about those stretch goals.
Plus, we’ve got some very cool rewards, including bags of books, writing workshops, and even the option to buy books to donate to libraries or schools throughout the continental US.
You can read all of the details here. But you’ll need to act fast. The Kickstarter ends at 9:33 p.m. on February 28.
So, thank you to all of our current and future supporters. We couldn’t do this without you.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Adding a Bit of Magic to Your Reading List
As I look out my office window at the gray skies and torrential misting that marks an Oregon Coast February, I find myself wishing for a bit of magic to whisk me away to somewhere warm and sunny.
Alas, such a feat is outside my skill level. Instead, I shall lose myself to a great fantasy book (or ten), such as those included in the latest StoryBundle Kristine Kathryn Rusch has curated, including WMG books Familiarity: A Winston & Ruby Collection and Fiction River: Alchemy & Steam.
Here’s what Kris has to say about the Sorcery & Steam bundle (available now through March 15 at https://storybundle.com/sorcery):
Sorcery. Steam. Ghosts. A touch of romance. Mythic creatures. Some truly violent bad guys. And one little black cat.
We have everything in this bundle that a fantasy reader could want.
Including magic.
We have magic in all forms, from the magic that gods use when they come to Earth to magic that a familiar inspires when she helps a man with limited ability keep his spells fresh. We have vampires and werewolves. We have parasols and tea and lovely chocolates. We have FBI agents facing killers and assassins who can kill with a blink.
A fantastic story for every mood, and steampunk. Not enough to call this a steampunk bundle, but enough that we could add “steam” to our subtitle. (We can also add “steam” for another reason. One or two of these books have steamy scenes, that have nothing to do with engines and everything to do with heat between humans.)
We also have new releases in this bundle. Usually writers contribute the first books in a series or a book that fits the theme but has been published for a long time. Four writers—Dayle A. Dermatis, Catherine Banks, Michelle Fox, and me— decided to put their most recent book in the bundle. In fact, Catherine and Michelle have contributed books exclusive to StoryBundle. You can’t get those books anywhere else!
Click here to read much more about the bundle.
No magic wand necessary.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Recommended Reading for Black History Month
Schools and libraries are always looking for great books to offer for Black History Month. We figured you might, too, so I thought it was time for some recommended reading.
We publish a number of books and stories here at WMG featuring African-American protagonists, but our most relevant series to Black History Month is Kris Nelscott’s award-winning and hard-hitting Smokey Dalton historical mystery series.
The books, which are set in Memphis and Chicago in the late ’60s, provide a no-hold-barred look at that turbulent era—from an African-American perspective.
Here are some of the numerous quotes praising the series:
“Nelscott’s series setting, in the turbulent late ’60s, gives her books layers of issues of racism, class, and war, all of which still seem to remain sadly timely today.”
—Oregonian
“Nelscott is good at conveying the edgy caution that blacks once brought to their movements among white society.”
—Houston Chronicle
“A blistering rendition of the ’60s racial wars marks this series as a standout as early as its second entry. You don’t need to be a fan of private-eye novels to admire Smokey: You just need a conscience.”
—Kirkus Reviews starred review on Smoke-Filled Rooms
“Nelscott does a superb job of using a familiar historical moment to dramatize an intimate human drama, as Smokey and Jimmy struggle to avoid becoming anonymous casualties lost behind the headlines. This series has all the passion and precision of Walter Mosley’s early Easy Rawlins novels, but it is not derivative. In fact, Smokey just may be a more compelling character than the celebrated Easy.”
—Booklist starred review of Smoke-Filled Rooms
“So much real drama shook the country during the spring and summer 1968 (from [Martin Luther] King and Bobby Kennedy’s killings to the street horror of the Democratic National Convention) that it might seem foolhardy to try to add fiction to the mix. But Nelscott has the heart, courage and brains for the job: Her scenes of demonstrators confronting police in front of the Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue (where Smokey gets a job as a security guard) could have come from a documentary, and her fictional characters (including a perfectly drawn family of friends with whom Jimmy and Smokey take shelter) all breathe and perspire with reality.”
—Chicago Tribune of Smoke-Filled Rooms
“[Kris Nelscott’s Smoke-Filled Rooms] is really about American racism and about the riotous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago….Nelscott brings it all back, and it’s hair-raising.”
—Washington Post Book World on Smoke-Filled Rooms
“War, which deals with the disappearance of a militant black Yale student during the long, hot summer of 1969, is a gripping read that drags us deeper into Dalton’s uneasy world.”
—Entertainment Weekly on War at Home
And that’s just a small sampling.
The series is available in ebook, trade paperback and audiobook, and there’s an electronic boxed set of the first three novels if you want to get a jump-start on the series at a value price.
To learn more or to buy the books, click here. I can’t emphasize enough how spectacular this series is; it’s a must-read any time of the year.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Going to the Chapel
As I write this, I’m preparing to leave for my destination wedding. By the time you read this, the wedding will have already happened and I’ll be back in Oregon.
Those of you who know me personally know this is not my first marriage. It’s not even my second. Third time’s the charm for me, apparently.
As for the groom, well, it’s his fourth. He thought he wouldn’t get married again after the third “strike” (as he called it).
So, why get married again? All I can say is the all that romantic lovey-dovey stuff you hear…well, it’s true. When you (finally) find the person you were meant to be with, everything looks and feels different. Colors are brighter. Love songs and poetry make sense. The world feels full of endless potential.
Or maybe we’ve just finally gotten good at this after all the practice <grin>.
I’ve never looked forward to a wedding before (yes, I know, should have been a sign…), but I’m very much looking forward to this one. I guess because this is the only one that’s truly mattered to me.
We’ve asked our guests not to give us gifts, but I’d like to share a gift with you. Like many things that seem different now, I have a much deeper understanding of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s wonderful story “Something Blue” than I did when I first published it years ago.
Now, I have a very important engagement to attend to. So, please click here to enjoy your free copy of “Something Blue.”
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
A Double Dose of Great Fiction
Do you remember those Wrigley’s gum commercials from the ’80s for Doublemint Gum? (If you don’t click here, although fair warning: That song is an earworm.) The commercials promise the gum is a “double pleasure” and that it will give you a “double great feeling.” I can’t speak to whether the product stands up to its marketing (I was more of a Juicy Fruit girl), but the concept holds water. Double the potential, double the fun.
And so, it is with great pleasure that I announce the release of not one but two fantastic short fiction products.
First up is, well, a first: Issue One of the recently relaunched Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, edited by Dean Wesley Smith. Whereas Issue Zero featured exclusively classic reprints, Issue #1 launches the magazine’s standard format, which will mix old favorites with new original stories. (Look: another duality.)
Here’s the synopsis:
Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: Back after over twenty years. A three-time Hugo Award-nominated magazine, Pulphouse returns with eighteen fantastic stories by some of the best writers working in modern short fiction.
No genre limitations, no topic limitations, just great stories. Attitude, feel, and high-quality fiction equals Pulphouse.
Table of Contents
“In the Empire of Underpants” by Robert T. Jeschonek
“Queen of the Mouse Riders” by Annie Reed
“Group” by Ray Vukcevich
“The Heart Has Reasons” by O’Neil De Noux
“Molten Souls” by Jerry Oltion
“The Sea Girl’s Survival” by Valerie Brook
“Looking for the Bastard” by David H. Hendrickson
“The Reign to Come” by Kevin J. Anderson
“A Spud Full of Stars” by Kent Patterson
“Body Memory” by M. L. Buchman
“Catastrophe Baker Makes First Contact” by Mike Resnick
“Playing with Trains” by J. Steven York
“A Few Minutes in The Plantation Bar and Grill Outside Woodville, Mississippi” by Steve Perry
“At Witt’s End: A Spade/Paladin Conundrum” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Minions at Work 2.0: Roll Call” by J. Steven York
Issue #1 released on Jan. 25, and is available here.
Releasing this week, on Jan. 31, is the next volume in the award-nominated Fiction River line is Justice, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Here’s the synopsis:
Justice comes in many forms. And the wide variety of stories presented in this latest volume of Fiction River make that case. Of the fifteen powerful stories in this volume, some will twist your heart, others will pound you in the gut, and still others will make you feel like the world has meaning. From a man avenging a wrongful conviction, to heroic women fighting to reclaim their homeland, to kids trying to find justice in the chaotic world of adults, this volume will prove one you won’t soon forget.
Table of Contents
“The Ball Breaker’s Summer Club” by Valerie Brook
“Grace” by Michael Kowal
“Pariah” by Louisa Swann
“Spoils” by Eric Kent Edstrom
“The Night Takes You” by Leslie Claire Walker
“My Honor to Kill You” by Dan C. Duval
“A Pearl into Darkness” by Lisa Silverthorne
“Mercy Find Me” by Diana Deverell
“Best Served…Salted” by Lauryn Christopher
“Domus Justice” by Michèle Laframboise
“Uncle Philbert” by Dory Crowe
“Bone” by T. Thorne Coyle
“A Vulture Waits” by Rob Vagle
“The Supporters in Panama City” by Brigid Collins
“The Darks of Their Eyes” by Robert T. Jeschonek
You will be able to buy Justice here, starting Wednesday. And don’t forget you can subscribe to these magazines and never miss an issue. For Pulphouse, click here. For Fiction River, click here.
So, there you have it. Double your pleasure in the form of amazing short fiction. You even get double the stories from some of our favorite authors, who appear in both of these books.
Now, stop watching that commercial over and over on YouTube, and get reading.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.