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We've Departed on Loathsome Voyages

Christopher Van Dyke • Jan 11, 2021

Loathsome Voyages is Out!

14 Tales of Madness and Horror...

We are very excited to share that our second anthology (and first from our Skullgate Media Presents series) was released this last Thursday. Don't miss out on this thrillingly strange collection of weird fiction. Currently available wherever disturbing books are sold -- AmazonB&NBookshop.org, or ask your local bookseller to order it for you. Though if you'd like to help support us most directly, you can order your copy from the eShop at Skullgatemedia.com. Go pick up your copy nows!

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Updates from the Annual Skullgate Shareholders Meeting

By which I mean "zoom call with Diana, Colleen, Debbie, Chris, and myself." We met this Friday to celebrate the launch of our second book and sketch out Skullgate's plans for 2021. Our first order of business is, of course, to publish the second Volume of Tales From the Years Between, Under New Suns. But we have a lot of plans. Here's the rough sketch of what's ahead:


  • January 31st --The Darkness Returns (Lythinall Book 1, Michael D. Nadeau, formerly published by Kyanite Press)
  • February 15th--Under New Suns: Volume 2 of Tales From the Year Between
  • February 30th--The Darkness Within (Lythinall Book 2)
  • April--start recruiting for Volume 3 of TFYB: Untitled Pirate Adventure!
  • August--Volume 3 of TFYB
  • Fall 2021--publish our first in-house novel (TBA)


We will also be holding a call for submissions for a second installment in the Skullgate Media Presents, which we are planning for Winter of 2021-22, so we're thinking long-term. We still need to see how our sales are, but will most likely be running at least one Kickstarter to fund some of these projects. We will, of course, let you know if we do.

We have a few other ideas that aren't as solid yet--Chris Durston and I both have self-published books we may re-release under the Skullgate imprint, and I still need to run a Kickstarter to make my Achten Tan playing cards available for purchase. Those things will most likely happen, but they aren't on the calendar per se.

Here and Now
So that's the big picture. Small picture is we're still working to wrap up proofreading for Volume 2. We missed our first deadline for finishing proofreading by January 8th, but given the holidays that was always tentative. Given what we have left, I hope we will be able to finish by next weekend (January 15th). In the meantime I've already started on layout, so I think we can be back on track.

I was hoping to share the final cover art today, but I'm still waiting on the final artwork. I did receive the initial piece yesterday but have asked for a few revisions. I will say that what I've seen looks awesome, so this cover will be every bit as epic as the one for Achten Tan.

Well, that's it for now. If you've ordered Loathsome Voyages, thanks for your support. And if you haven't, it's not too late! Please leave a rating and review on Amazon when you get a chance. This time next week I hope to have cover art to share with everyone. 

Factum Est Bonum

Chris
President, 
Skullgate Media
Editor-in-Chief, 
Tales From the Year Between

By Christopher Van Dyke 17 May, 2021
Thrilling Debut Novel by Under New Suns Alumna!
By Christopher Van Dyke 07 Feb, 2021
The First Review of Under New Suns -- Rue Sparks
By Christopher Van Dyke 21 Jan, 2021
Zombie Anthology featuring multiple Friends of the Skullgate on Sale Now!
By Christopher Van Dyke 15 Jan, 2021
Volume 2 of Tales From the Year Between is prepped for Lift Off!
By Christopher Van Dyke 05 Jan, 2021
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM SKULLGATE MEDIA!
By Christopher Van Dyke 24 Nov, 2020
A new fantasy trilogy from Volume 2 contributor, A.R.K. Horton
By Christopher Van Dyke 08 Nov, 2020
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 .
By Christopher Van Dyke 03 Nov, 2020
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.
By Christopher Van Dyke 21 Oct, 2020
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!
By Christopher Van Dyke 25 Sep, 2020
Funny story. My plan was to launch the Kickstarter for Volume 2 the day we announced we had a roster of writers for the book. Figured we'd wrap up the application/selection period, then jump into the Kickstarter. I got an email from Kickstarter saying out campaign was approved, so I went to make sure the URL looked good... aaaaand accidentally launched it instead. Ooops. (That's how WWIII is going to start). To quote Hamilton, "Okay, so we're doing this." But for an accidental launch, we're off to an amazing start! In 12 hours we are at 75% funding! We only need to raise about 200 to meet our goal of $800! The bottom line is -- if you are planning to buy Volume 2, please please please (pretty please!) pre-order it NOW by backing our Kickstarter. It ensures we have the funding we need to pay an artist for the cover, buy more stock art, host the website, buy a ISBN, and all the other things we have to pay for out of pocket up front before the book even goes on sale. Also, by buying the book directly through us, you ensure more of the money goes to us, the creative team at Skullgate, and not to Jeff Bezos (who, let's admit it, seems pretty set on the cash side of things). Anyway, if you're reading this you like what we do, so you should go back us! If you already have, 1,000 thanks and our undying love. We can't wait to get to the book! We're writers, not actuaries, so we want to get this "money stuff" out of the way so we can do what we do best -- tell some amazing stories! CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR KICKSTARTER PAGE.
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