Campbell Eligible Writers

WMG Publishing boasts a bevy of fine writers in its Fiction River line. And we’re always pleased when others think so, too. For example, two writers published in Fiction River anthologies are eligible for the Campbell Awards! Kim May is eligible for her short stories, “The Void around the Sword’s Edge,” originally published in Pulse Pounders and “Blood Moon Carnival,” originally published in Alchemy & Steam. Anthea Sharp, who has been published in several Fiction River anthologies, is eligible for three titles published in other collections.

So, because we love celebrating our writers’ successes, and we love the opportunity to give our readers free stuff, we’re posting Kim May’s Campbell-eligible stories for this week only. To read “Blood Moon Carnival,” click here. To read “The Void Around the Sword’s Edge,” click here.

Congratulations to Kim and Anthea. And happy reading!

 

Publisher’s Note: A Tesseract, of Sorts

My first brush with time travel was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Although I remember very little of the specifics of that story, lo these many years later, the book has nevertheless stuck with me. I might not remember the details, but I certainly remember the feeling of wonder and possibility the book instilled.

Later in my formative years, two other time travel tales feature prominently in my memory, although in this case the medium was film.

Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, is one of my mother’s favorite movies. We watched it again and again in television reruns. In fact, Dean Wesley Smith’s Thunder Mountain series reminds me of that movie in some ways, especially The Edwards Mansion.

And while Somewhere in Time might be less well known, the next one was a worldwide phenomenon. Back to the Future captivated me for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which was Michael J. Fox (teen heartthrob that he was). But the concept of the movie captivated me, as well. In fact, every time I saw a DeLorean (someone in my neighborhood actually drove one), I found myself looking thinking about time travel.

Maybe it’s because I always felt a bit out of time.

Regardless, these first experiences sparked a lifelong love of time travel fiction. How convenient that I now get paid to read it <g>.

And if you love time travel fiction as much as I do, you’ll want to know about WMG’s latest collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson and StoryBundle.

All_Covers_LargeKevin has put together great stories by bestselling and award-winning authors as well as some of the best new indie writers.

The bundle, available here, includes three WMG titles:

The Edwards Mansion by Dean Wesley Smith
Snipers by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Fiction River: Time Streams, edited by Dean Wesley Smith

Other titles in the bundle include:

The Rock by Bob Mayer
Time’s Mistress by Steven Savile
Alternitech by Kevin J. Anderson
The Trinity Paradox by Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason
Summer of Love by Lisa Mason
Parallellogram by Robin Brande
Ansible by Stant Litore
Time Traveled Tales, edited by Jean Rabe
Lightspeed: Issue 28

If you’re unfamiliar with StoryBundle, go to their website to read all about it. It’s a really cool concept.

This bundle is only available for three weeks, so don’t dally. Remember, you can’t actually time travel back in time if you miss it.

That’s just fiction, after all.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.

Publisher’s Note: A Flood of Great Stories for Fiction River

The WMG offices are just now returning to normal after the weeklong Anthology Workshop, but our work has only just begun.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith have hosted the workshop for more than a decade, in which writers from all over the world have the opportunity to watch editors live edit upcoming anthologies, which includes not only an inside view into how an editor’s mind works (a scary thing, I assure you) but also direct editorial feedback on their stories. In the past, DAW and Pocket published many of the anthologies. For the past three years, the anthologies our editors focused on have included Fiction River volumes.

We have a great deal of fun at this workshop, hard work be damned. If you were following us on Facebook or Twitter this month, you know what I mean. If you weren’t go check out all the photos we posted.

The one-million words that our editors read for the workshop

The one-million words that our editors read for the workshop.

Our hard-working editors—Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Mark Leslie, John Helfers and Kerrie L. Hughes—read more than 1 million words of fiction for this workshop. That’s right, I said 1 million. And Mark surprised everyone the last day with the announcement that he’d be editing the second Fiction River special edition, which will be titled Editors’ Cut.

The special edition will be produced through a partnership with Kobo, although it will also be available in trade paperback and will eventually become available on other e-retailer platforms.

Watch for more information on that volume as we draw closer to its release at the end of 2016. You can find information on next year’s workshop here. It’s nearly full, so if you’re interested, please sign up now.

We’re also doing a good bit of scheming with Mark and Kobo to help promote our other volumes (she says with an evil grin).

And just as the workshop started, we received another piece of good news: Two of our Fiction River stories have been nominated for Derringer Awards.

Fiction River Special: Crime with award-nominees and other amazing stories.

Fiction River Special: Crime with award-nominees and other wonderful stories.

“Because” by Melissa Yi is nominated in the Best Flash category. The story first appeared in Fiction River Special Edition: Crime.

“Hitler’s Dogs” by Doug Allyn is nominated in the Best Novelette category. This story also first appeared in Fiction River Special Edition: Crime.

Please join me in offering congratulations to these amazing authors. We’re so proud to have them as part of the Fiction River family. We actually need to congratulate Doug twice, because he has two stories in the Novelette category. The other is from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

You can see the full list of finalists here. And although I’d love it if you ran out and bought Fiction River Special Edition: Crime to read all of the incredible stories contained within, I thought I’d offer you the chance to read the nominated stories for free here on this website. You can read “Because” here and “Hitler’s Dogs” here.

The awards are decided March 31. I’ll have more Fiction River news for you in a couple of weeks.

Until then, have fun diving in to these amazing stories.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.

 

 

EXCERPT:

The WMG offices are just now returning to normal after the weeklong Fiction River Anthology Workshop, but our work has only just begun. Plus, we have some exciting news to announce, so be sure to read on.

 

Tags: #wmg, #wmgpublishing, #books, #kristinekathrynrusch, #fictionriver, #free, #deanwesleysmith, #thekja

 

Publisher’s Note: He’s Back!

It’s the second week of March, which means we have another exciting book release for the Anniversary Day Saga.

The Peyti Crisis ebook cover webWhile A Murder of Clones and Search & Recovery provide valuable backstory into the Anniversary Day bombings and introduce important new characters that will play key roles later in the story, The Peyti Crisis is special in its own way.

Because now we come to the event longtime fans of the Retrieval Artist series have eagerly been waiting for: the return of Miles Flint.

The Peyti Crisis, the fifth book in the Anniversary Day Saga and the third book in our 2015 release schedule sees Flint return as our story picks up where Blowback left off and an entire society stands gripped with fear.

Here’s the synopsis:

The Moon barely survived the devastation of Anniversary Day. The second round of attacks planned to kill millions more. With the life of every human and alien on the Moon hanging in the balance, the Moon’s chief security officer, Noelle DeRicci, races to discover the identity of the masterminds behind the attacks before it’s too late.

Desperate to find answers, DeRicci turns to Retrieval Artist Miles Flint and Detective Bartholomew Nyquist for the kind of help only Flint and Nyquist can provide.

We’re so pleased with the reception this series has garnered. In fact, I believe RT Book Reviews summarizes it quite succinctly when it says: “The Anniversary Day Saga just keeps getting more interesting and more complicated. Each addition is eagerly anticipated and leaves the reader anxious to discover what will happen next, who the bad guys are and what it is they are hoping to achieve.”

If you’re already reading the saga, I know you’re just as eager to read the next installment. And by the end of the week, you will be able to preorder all of the remaining books in the Anniversary Day Saga. Just click on the cover below for links to more information.

Vigilantes ebook cover web

Masterminds ebook cover webStarbase Human ebook cover web

And if you haven’t started yet, what are you waiting for? You still have time to get in on the ground floor of the most innovative science fiction series being published today.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.

Publisher’s Note: History in the Making

I know I’ve been talking a lot about Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Anniversary Day Saga, but I just can’t help it: It’s that good.

And now there’s more goodness to be had. Search & Recovery, the fourth book in the Annivesary Day Saga, went live on Tuesday, February 10, and is available for purchase from your favorite retailer in ebook, trade paperback and audiobook. Plus, you can now preorder the next three books—The Peyti Crisis, Vigilantes, and Starbase Human—on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks.

The response to this series, and the innovative release schedule we, ahem, masterminded has been incredible. Thank you, dear readers, for your support. We plan to do more of these one-a-month consecutive releases in the future when the project allows. There’s clearly a demand for it. I know that I, as a reader, love being able to book binge.

Search & Recovery ebook cover web 284But back to the book at hand: Search & Recovery.

As a reminder for those of you new to this series, or the saga, please start reading with either The Disappeared or Anniversary Day. The eight-book saga really needs to be read in order.

But for those of you ready to find out what happens next in this groundbreaking story, here’s what you have to look forward to:

Amid the ruin, heroes emerge from the unlikeliest places…

The Anniversary Day bombings devastated the Moon, killing thousands. While survivors search for missing loved ones and the rich and powerful set plans in motion to capitalize on the Moon’s misfortune, one ruthless man vows to uncover those responsible for the attacks on the Moon.

Luc Deshin, the most feared man in Armstrong, knows all too well the bombings could have killed the wife and son he loves more than life itself. To protect his family, Deshin immerses himself in a criminal network he fought long and hard to leave behind.

Deshin doesn’t scare easily, but what he finds in the black market underbelly of the Moon will chill him to the bone.

Chilling? Yes. Irresistible? Also yes. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. RT Book Reviews says: “This new Retrieval Artist Universe novel is action-packed and continues where A Murder of Clones leaves off. These must be read in order to fully appreciate the suspense and mystery that is taking place.”

And Amazing Stories says “the Anniversary Day Saga could become a milestone in the field.”

It’s a rare privilege to be part of history in the making. That’s how great this saga’s potential is. Time will tell, of course, but I, for one, am thrilled to be part of it from the beginning. Now’s your chance to be part of it, too.

So, buckle in. I can’t wait to see where we go next.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.

Publisher’s Note: A Time for Firsts

I’ve been talking a great deal about the Retrieval Artist series lately, especially the Anniversary Day Saga, and for good reason. When you release this many books in this short a timespan, that’s big news in the publishing industry.

And although we’re giving a lot of love to the Saga, we haven’t forgotten about the original books in the series. And we’re showing you, dear readers, some love in return with a great deal.

The Disappeared ebook cover web 285Later this week, the ebook price of The Disappeared, the very first novel in the Retrieval Artist series, the one that explains how the now-infamous Miles Flint became a Retrieval Artist in the first place, will drop to 99 cents for a very limited time. This is the lowest we have ever dropped the price of one of our novels, so if you haven’t read this book before, now’s the time to grab a copy. The price will revert to its regular $5.99 next Wednesday.

Here’s the synopsis for this Endeavor Award-winning novel:

In a universe where humans and aliens have formed a loose government called the Earth Alliance, treaties guarantee that humans are subject to alien laws when on alien soil. But alien laws often make no sense, and the punishments vary from loss of life to loss of a first-born child.

Now three cases have collided: a stolen spaceyacht filled with dead bodies, two kidnapped human children, and a human woman on the run, trying to Disappear to avoid alien prosecution. Flint must enforce the law—giving the children to aliens, solving the murders, and arresting the woman for trying to save her own life. But how is a man supposed to enforce laws that are unjust? How can he sacrifice innocents to a system he’s not sure he believes in? How can Miles Flint do the right thing in a universe where the right thing is very, very wrong?

If you haven’t yet been enticed into Retrieval Artist Universe, now’s the time to find out why io9 calls Miles Flint one of “the top ten greatest science fiction detectives of all time and Booklist says: “Rusch has created an entertaining blend of mystery and sf, a solid police drama that asks hard questions about what justice between cultures, and even species, really is.”

So, mark your calendar for Wednesday this week (when the price should have dropped at most e-retailers) and Wednesday next week (when the proverbial ship will have sailed for this deal).

A great read and a great deal. What’s better than that?

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.