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FRIENDS OF SKULLGATE - "Beneath the Twin Suns"
Christopher Van Dyke • Aug 31, 2020
Welcome to the first installment of "Friends of Skullgate"
One of our core beliefs here at Skullgate Media is that writers succeed by helping one another--that there are more than enough readers clamoring for fantastic fiction that instead of jealously guarding mailing lists and trade-practices, that we should help promote each other's projects (and, of course, buy each other's books!) To that end, we will occasionally be highlighting these "Friends of Skulgate," books or other creative projects that aren't by Skullgate Media, but are either by one of our members, contributors, or associates.
Tomorrow will see the release of Beneath the Twin Suns, an anthology of romantic fantasy and science fiction edited and created by Renee Gendron. It contains pieces of two Skullgate founders, Chris Van Dyke
and Chapel Orahamm, as well as pieces by thirty-three other authors. Like Achten Tan,
it entails a shared world. Here's how Renee describes her project:
IN MID-MAY 2020, I put a call out on Twitter’s #WritingCommunity for participants in a shared-world anthology. Most anthologies have a common theme, but I wanted to see what talented authors could come up with given the same shared parameters. Thirty-five authors answered the call and contributed to the anthology.
Authors were asked to contribute a story within these genres: mystery, fantasy, science fiction, contemporary, or romance. The parameters included the stories take place on the same planet, and each story contains at least one element, small or large, of romance. All writers were directed to have a happily-ever-after or happy-for-now ending.
The planet’s name is Coplahee, although different cultures may call it something else. The star system has two suns: one red dwarf called Harcnor and one yellow giant named Armad. The twin comets of Veleye appear every eighty-six years. There are four planets in the star system: Alet, Soma, and Minoma, but only Coplahee is inhabited.
Coplahee has three moons: Taslin, Bocaslin, and Jocaslin.
The stories in this anthology are arranged in such a way as to provide the reader with a history of Coplahee and its inhabitants.
Having written a story for the anthology and helped edit and comment on a number of other submissions, I can attest to the creativity and quality in Beneath the Twin Suns. What makes it really exciting is that the stories take pace on the same world, but are spread across it's time-line, from early Bronze Age tales of adventure to stories set in a far sci-fi future. Every story had to contain at least an element of "romance," though writers were free to twist and play with the idea (my story is about an elf in love with the on-board computer of her submarine).
If you loved Achten Tan, make sure to check out Beneath the Suns!
On sale in Kindle and print at Amazon.
Thrilling Debut Novel by Under New Suns Alumna!
The First Review of Under New Suns -- Rue Sparks
Zombie Anthology featuring multiple Friends of the Skullgate on Sale Now!
Volume 2 of Tales From the Year Between is prepped for Lift Off!
Loathsome Voyages is Out!
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM SKULLGATE MEDIA!
A new fantasy trilogy from Volume 2 contributor, A.R.K. Horton
Skullgate Media is excited to announce two new upcoming publishing projects! While it saddened us with the recent news that Kyanite Publishing is closing their doors—we are thrilled that we will see some of their existing projects through to fruition. The first project is Loathsome Voyages , a collection of fourteen tales of supernatural madness and creeping horror from some of the most talented writers in the field. Edited by CD Storiz and Chris Durston, this creative anthology of weird fiction will release in early January 2020. A cover reveal will be coming soon; so stay tuned! Contains stories by BK Bass, Chris Durston, Gary Fagan, Zach Friday, Anthony Harris, Christopher Harris, Mackenzie Littledale, Tim Mendess, Michael D. Nadeau, Michelle River, JL Royce, Mark J. Schultis, CD Storiz, and Chris Vandyke that will thrill and chill you! Secondly, we are pleased to announce that at the start of next year, Skullgate Media takes over the publication of Michael D. Nadeau’s Lythinall novels. Currently consisting of two books, The Darkness Returns and The Darkness Within (with more on the way!), the world of Lythinall is a world of sweeping fantasy, dark magic, and epic adventure. Ed Greenwood, the creator of The Forgotten Realms (yes, THAT Ed Greenwood!) describes Michael as “a writer to watch” and the Lythinall books as “a fantasy series to fall in love with.” We are excited to have Michael as Skullgate Media’s first signed author for publication. We are preparing a new edition of his books which will be released under the Skullgate name on January 1st, 2021. Shortly, we will have a link available to pre-order copies of his latest works. In the meantime, get to know him at his author website and his page at Goodreads .
Saturday our Kickstart for Volume 2 wrapped up, and we finished with JUST over $1,700! Since the day our campaign launched we've been blown away by how supportive our friends and fans have been. We can now confidently move forward knowing that we can pay our contributors, commission an amazing cover, and pay for everything associated with producing an awesome book. We've now entered the REAL work -- writing! Twenty-five writers from all around the world are now plotting and planning fantastic tales of sentient space ships, intrepid Space Marines, and deep-space cosmic sharks. How will it all end? Who knows? We don't! That's what makes this so exciting and fun. As the work progresses we'll share teasers, and in a few days we'll start sending out digital rewards to our backers. But for now we're just basking in the glow of a successful campaign. And saying thank you again. In fact, Chris Durston made a video of some of us saying just that.
Things have been busy at Skullgate Media! But ironically while the news has been coming fast and furious I haven't posted an update for those of you playing along at home. Here's the quick recap: Our Kickstarter is exceeding our wildest expectations! As of 10/22 we have raised $1,642, which is more than TWICE our initial goal! We've meet and exceeded BOTH our stretch goals, so we will be paying all contributors $20 for their stories. We're a paying market! It wraps up on November 1st, so there's still a chance to get in on the Kickstartery Action! Before we closed our submissions deadline, we received 3x more applications than we could accept! On the one hand, this was a problem, as we had to send out a lot of "Thanks for applying but..." emails. On the other hand, we got to be extremely selective and recruit an amazing group of writers. We have a team of 25 writers! We'll be sharing more about the team as the project unfolds, but in the mean time go check out the updated contributor page at YearBetween.com. Damn, thats a good looking group of writers! The (world-building) game is afoot! Even as I type this, our pre-writing game is underway. Using a heavily modified version of Avery Alder's indie game The Quiet Year , 25 writers from India to the West Coast of America are coming up with characters, star-systems, alien species, and more plot-twists than you can shake a stick at! So what's next? Well, the world-building wraps up this week. I and the team at Skullgate will then massage it all into something half-way presentable... then the writing will start on November 1st! Everyone has until December 1st to write a rough draft, then until January 1st to revise a final draft. During that time collaborators will work out canonical issues, Aaron Hockett will start drawing star maps and space-ship schematics, and we'll commission our cover art. After all the stories are finalized... okay, we're getting a head of ourselves. There's a lot to do before then, but we're on track for a mid February 2021 release date. Okay, I'm off to go see what's developed today. Check back here as Volume 2 unfolds, and make sure to stop by YearBetween.com from time to time, as that site will reflect the world as we get to now it. I'll try to update here, but the News From the Skullgate goes out every weekend, so make sure to sign up for the newsletter! In the meantime, Factum Est Bonum!