Submissions open for A Christmas Horror Noir Competion at 8am TODAY DEC 7th. Submit by email at submissions@drekdeathanddoom.com. Submissions only open for 12 hours. Closes 8pm TODAY. Eastern Standard Time
I. Editor’s Note
II. Open Calls
III. Margin Comments
IV. A Call to Arms
V. What’s New
VI. Coming Soon
VII. Books
VIII. What to Watch Out For
I
Editor’s Note:
This note’s a long one! Warning, much of this newsletter is personal, pertaining to me, but, it’s press-specific since—well—I am the press. All the following is less Drek Death and Doom this and Nascent Night that, and more here is what is going on and how it affects you as a fan or supporter of the press.
This is a hard issue. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I wanted a thankful edition of this newsletter, and I’ve been finding it difficult to write. Most of you know about my health issues, so I don’t want to rehash it all—essentially, I have an array of symptoms which mimic Multiple Sclerosis or other similar central nervous system diseases, they just can’t diagnose anything. The findings are too borderline. It is what it is. I have to get worse or find the right neurologist or something. Time will tell.
What you guys don’t know is that I lost my job in August over this. I don’t want to get into all the insane details of it, but a certain doctor very unexpectedly reversed course on what we’d been working through. When short went to switch to long term, despite their previous, monthly reports asserting the seriousness of my symptoms, they switched their position and acted like I was a new patient. Like they didn’t know me, hadn’t been going through this with me for months on end. When I picked up the paperwork, half-filled out, writing a return to work for the next fucking day, I saw my symptoms listed were not mine, and some were the opposite of the symptoms I’ve presented.
I don’t take things lying down, so I threw a fucking fit.
Through a lot of nonsense, I’m finally going back. Unfortunately, it’s a position I promoted out of three times over, which I worked like eight years ago.
I lost. I’m in worse shape than when I left, and I’m back, in a worse job. In case I didn’t mention, I work for the same healthcare system that can’t help me. It’s the biggest slap in the face.
Luckily, I’m not an idiot, and I keep my business separate. I survived, and the funds allotted for the projects I work, the authors I work with, the stories I bought, and the contests I run, are all separate and safe. Not going to lie, it was difficult to steer this press into a place where I could keep funds available for obligations.
Difficult is an understatement.
This press should not still exist.
It looms still, by sheer force of will and absolute dedication to fiction and the indie community that—I’m confident in my declaration—most people in my position would have given up on. And who knows? Maybe that would have been the responsible thing.
Guess who’s still a small press that pays competitively?
(Speaking of that, real quick so I don’t have to email you all separately, you substackers contracted for GUTD—payments began rolling out. I gave 60 days in the contract, but you’ll see em in your paypals venmos and wises before then.)
I always wondered why a lot of small presses contracted their payment obligations, sometimes up to six, twelve months in the future. Now it makes sense. Some rely on sales figures post-publication, others, if they fold, they can still pay. I don’t like to gamble, so I’m just going harder. Selling more. Putting out fiction people need to read and making future plans based on what I’m working with.
You guys were integral in keeping this thing running. The consistent Substack readers and supporters. Subscribers. The people who’ve bought and shared the fiction we’re writing, and the fictions we’re publishing here.
You guys fed my children.
So first,
thank you to all of you who’ve shoved any form of money this way. Like I said, with what I sacrificed, your interest in this fiction fed my kids, and it put money in the pockets of some incredibly talented writers.
thanks, to Pablo Báez, James Worth, Tom Schecter, Hamish Kavanagh, for trusting me enough to work with and/or partner with me; and all you guys who sold me your stories for Give Us This Day. Your trust in my abilities, your patience as we continue to work to improve at what we do—it’s everything.
thank you to everyone who has offered invaluable insight into, I guess, operations? Thank you to people willing to throw names out there, request our books from stores they frequent. People who’ve spread names to professionals in various fields. All the people slapping stickers everywhere.
this is going to sound bad, but thanks, neuroproblemsgalore, whatever you are. Without the requirement to sit at my computer and stare at pixels and talk on the phone and argue with people while I can’t really figure out words or use my hands or whatever, I was able to work at my own pace on my own work, even though most of that time was without income. Regardless,
I wrote a 21k word collection
I wrote a 51k word collection
Including a 20k word novella
Wrote a 102k word novel
That’s 50+ short stories, a novella, and a novel—not to mention the half finished serials I started and dropped.
That’s a consistent 1,000 words/day minimum. And that’s not even a rule I subscribe to; that’s just what happened. And it produced.
Edited and published two new authors
Published a second edition for an amazing author
Partnered with a whole bunch of people on a whole bunch of things for various charitable and non-charitable reasons
Called, chose, edited, and published 17 authors’ stories in an anthology
It’s been a lot. A lot to take on. A lot to happen. A lot accomplished.
Thanks for being there for it.
Sincerely,
Dylan Bosworth
II
Open Calls:
1.
Open call submission information is available at
https://drekdeathanddoom.com/submissions/
Drek Death and Doom and Nascent Night Press are both open for long fiction submissions. Collections, Novellas, Novels.
For long fiction submissions, send query letter and first chapter. I will ask for the full thing if I want a closer look.
Submit at submissions@drekdeathanddoom.com.
2.
The submission window for the Christmas Horror Noir Competition will only be open for 12 hours, 8 am to 8 pm EST, December 7. Submissions outside of that period will not be considered.
Details on the image
3.
The submission window for Bloodlust—anthology we’ll be publishing next Valentine’s day—closes December 25th.
III
Margin Comments
1
I want to gently throw out there that I am looking for (God, I hate to use this term) literary horror. I do appreciate all forms of horror, when well-written—no matter the target audience—but, this press, is looking for something specific.
Examples:
YES
“Ramirez walked ahead with a torch he’d fashioned from a stick and some rags and by that queer and reddish light, devils, or the shadows of devils hooked to the shoes of the men and capered across the stony earth.”
― Laird Barron, The Croning“As long as you are following God’s will, friend Kline. But even God sometimes becomes impatient. You know the story of Jonah, friend Kline? How many whales do you suppose God will deign send to swallow you? When does God run out of whales?”
― Brian Evenson, Last Days
NO
“Buster wore overalls and nothing else. His skin was grimy, littered with ingrown hairs and bursting pustules. His pits were so hairy, it looked like he’d shoved mopheads beneath each of his flapping chicken wing arms.”
― Judith Sonnet, No One Rides For Free“That’s one of my problems. I never get angry quick enough. I never speak up when I am really mad. And then I feel silly bringing it up later.”
― R.L. Stine, The Prom Queen
Nothing against either Sonnet or Stine; they are both greats in their genres. I’m simply displaying a difference. There’s a lot of sort of economical, action-driven horror, and a lot of YA and Midgrade horror I get, some even coming in with lines in the cover letter promoting the story as “cozy horror” or something similar.
I please ask that people familiarize themselves with who I am, what I like, what other authors I’ve published. You can get a great feel for what I’m looking for by reading my stories on here, for free.
2
Remember, when you go to submit, I’m not doing forms on my website anymore. Submissions are all emailed to me at submissions@drekdeathanddoom.com. Check the open call section above.
3
You all know I’m stepping back from SS a bit and I’ve listed a few reasons. With health, workload, home-life, I am going to be less present. I want to specify that this newsletter remains homed here on Substack, and I’ll still be around.
I am going to stick to the bi-weekly fiction/newsletter split to please both audiences, and I’ll maintain a presence on notes and in DMs, but I want to focus on growing outside of this place.
These books need more eyes.
Health stuff and business aside, I don’t know how you guys are feeling on Substack specifically lately, but I have the urge to delete any note that gets over 30 likes. The comments sections are starting to feel a little like Facebook. The Nazis jump in with irrelevant, illiterate bullshit, and think your confusion means they won something. Not only that, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the use of AI. Most the non-fiction pieces I’m opening are clearly AI. No, I’m not going to call people out because I don’t play like that. If I can’t prove something, I’ll back away on my own and everyone else can do what they want.
I’m just giving the reasons.
4.
All of our books will be converted into e-books now, too!
IV
A Call to Arms:
1.
Real talk, a lot of people are going through a lot of things. Buying indie books directly first, then ordering through your indie shops, then bookshop.org, then all the other major retailors in that order helps—not only me—but the writers I publish, directly.
It’s not just my kids you guys fed.
With that, there are other people and places in great need:
These are the most recent. Apologies if I’m missing anything. I’m jumping in where I can
2.
I put out a call for judges for the Christmas competition—just let me look through everyone who responded, and I’ll reach out.
Horror Noir, if anyone is still interested in judging.
3.
I put out a call a while ago about building a rolodex of other people in the industry or adjacent, or people who just have skills in these areas and do them for fun.
I got a lot of replies, and I’ve added everybody to my lists.
You know what I need right now, though? Who’s good at making reels? Or Instagram posts, carousel ideas, etc.? I need grassroots meta advertising. I’m looking for someone to make reels or promotional material to sell these books. If that is in anybody’s wheelhouse, please, DM me. It is a time-suck on me.
V
What’s New?
Give Us This Day: A Horror Anthology
Welcome to the Giving Season
Through the twining forests where brittle frost crunches like shattered glass and the wind holds still and silent; to the holiday kitchens where strange smells burn, and virulent colors swell from rotting food; into the twilight cities, cold and harsh and wantonly eager for violence—as the days grow shorter, the nights blasphemously deep, and inhibitions weaker, something ancient and starving stirs.
This Thanksgiving, make sure to say Grace. Seventeen new, emerging, and established writers come together to spread tales of thanks, family trauma, ritualistic terror, and folken Elder Gods imposing unknowable will.
Featuring stories from Sean Thomas McDonnell, Douglas Ford, Lucy Zhang, Drew Valdez, Connor Mancuso, Judith Ashcraft, Hamish Kavanagh, A.P. Murphy, Michael Duffy, Saint-Lazare, Aurelian Ashmore, Keith Long, Shawn Brooks, Edward Marlo Ruiz, Lane Blevins, Brody Farrow, and Garen Glazier
This bad boy is sold out at my shop for the moment, but the restock is on the way. All the pre-orders are arriving soon and shipping same day, so I appreciate everyone’s patience on those, as well.
You can pick this up for free on Kindle Unlimited or buy the ebook here:
Amazon Kindle
Or, you can get the paperback easily at these places while you are waiting for the Drek Death and Doom restock:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Bookshop.org
VI.
Coming Soon:
New Years
Atone: A Collection by Dylan Bosworth
Featuring a bunch of stories you’ve read here, and a few you haven’t. These stories focus on transformation, and many of them were experimental in a way that I found transformative for my writing, helping to develop my current style.
This one is very personal.
There’s some stuff in here you guys haven’t seen that I hope will blow your mind. This is the connector. I’ve hinted at a shared universe throughout my stories through multiple books.
Ready to see that stitching pull tight?
VII
Books:
Below, you can find all the books sold by Drek Death and Doom and Nascen Night Press
VIII
What to Look Out For:
1.
The next post from the Press angle will be a little interview/a little showcase/a little review gather for Hamish Kavanagh and his book Hallucinations.
This book took off and quickly became my best selling paperback through all markets outside of direct. (I don’t do international shipping, and Hamish and most of his fanbase is in New Zealand, probably a bunch of parts of Europe—you’ll see.), and I want you guys to meet the guy behind it.
Get it here while you can:
2.
I know you know I know you know I can’t leave it out:
What a freeeeeaaaaaking masterpiece of an event. Beautiful work. Can’t wait to see the book!
Look! More books:
Thanks as always, so much, for reading.
Impressed by your courage and dedication, very proud to both call you my publisher and my friend. I hope the universe will be softer with you, hang in there.
You're one of the most impressive people on Substack, and I don't say that lightly. I can't wrap my head around how you do so much.