Rynling R&D

Satan, sitting on my shoulder, just recrossed his legs and sexily whispered into my ear: Start your own press.

Gabriel, sitting on my other shoulder, said nothing. But I can hear him smiling.

“The Case of the Phantom Portrait” is a fun short story with an interesting conceit and a satisfying resolution. It’s also quite original, I think. How many stories have you read about wizard detectives?

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Is there a market for this? No. Is it likely that anyone will buy it? Also no.

But is it good and noble and worthwhile to put art into the world? Hell yeah brother.

People who have been accepted by Clarkesworld or have been slush readers, what exactly does Clarkesworld look for?
https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/1mi8uym/people_who_have_been_accepted_by_clarkesworld_or/

Generally the two traits I've noticed among the authors we've published is that they steadily improve over time and persist long enough to cross the line. How long that can take is wildly variable. Some manage to land on their first try, but others have sold stories after 80 or more. Most authors give up before the third submission.

Words of wisdom from Neil Clarke himself. I love that he's not only active on Reddit but genuinely supportive of emerging writers. What a legend.

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I finished my final draft of An Unfound Door, an original dark fantasy novel. Nice! Now it’s time to begin querying.

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It’s going to be tough, but I’ve decided to spend the next twelve months (until August 15, 2026) querying. New agents and small presses open to queries every week, and this process is really just a numbers game that involves doing everything you can to increase your chances of being in the right place at the right time. I’ve never been a particularly lucky person, but An Unfound Door is a good book. I hope people get to read it one day!

While driving through the woods, I've been working with some of my favorite people to create artwork for two upcoming short fiction zines: a reprint of Terrible People (which has a horror-flavored murder mystery theme), and a new zine called Green Dreams: Dark Tales of Botanical Fantasy. In advance of flying back to the States, I also ordered reprints of some previous titles. My zines have yet to receive any attention from more traditional literary circles, but they sell well, get good reviews, and have tons of repeat buyers.

I also think my zines (and the various bookmarks and stickers and miniprints that I include with them) look amazing. I'm slowly learning more about typography, layout, and editing, and my art is gradually getting better too. Each new publication is an improvement on the last. I like to think that I'm doing good work. I spend a lot of time in indie litfic spaces, and I also think that I'm doing something that no one else is even coming remotely close to.

I'm considering starting an actual small press, which I'd like to call "Digital Terrarium." I think it might also be nice to create a magazine to go along with it. I'm extremely aware of how much work that entails, and I also understand why I am 100% the wrong person to do it. Still, what I have that I think a lot of "I'm going to start my own press" people don't are reasonable expectations. For a project like this, I also think my moss mentality is useful: slow but steady, unobtrusive and kind.

Another potential publication venue closed.

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This one is about a writing workshop that might actually be a good fit for what I do.

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This is about me querying to review zines for an actual print magazine.

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A follow-up on yesterday's yelling about the business of being a writer.

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I need to scream about the fiction market for a second. This is probably going to be a series.

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