Author Information

E.S. Magill

E.S. Magill fell in love with writing and horror at a very young age and combined those two passions to become a dark fiction writer. She has had short stories published in various anthologies such as California Screamin’, Blood Lite III, and Halloween Tales. In addition to writing, she has edited two anthologies, Haunted Mansion Project Year One and Deep Cuts (co-edited with Angel Leigh McCoy and Chris Marrs). She served as the Reviews Editor for Dark Wisdom magazine, where she also wrote the column “The Dark Librarian.” She holds a B.A. and M.A. in English, specializing in the postmodern gothic. Recently retired from teaching middle school English, she now spends her days writing, reading, and binge watching all things horror. Her love of the craft prompted her to start a small publishing company creating nonfiction workbooks for writers, www.scribesandscribblerspub.com. She considers herself a life-long Californian but recently moved to Phoenix along with her also-retired husband Greg. Look for her new supernatural series coming Fall 2022. Visit www.esmagill.com to sign up for E.S. Magill’s newsletter “The Dark Write of the Soul.”
https://www.esmagill.com

Works

WRITING SPRINTS TRACKER & JOURNAL
https://www.scribesandscribblerspub.com/
Serious writers need serious writing tools. Writing Sprints Tracker & Journal is the tool you need to keep track of your writing sprint sessions. This is not a how-to book. This is a log to provide you much-needed data about your writing production and writing habit. Who’s got time to waste? Today’s writer needs to be an organized writer in order to be productive and efficient. Printing out a single page writing sprint tracker only to misplace it isn’t very effective. The Writing Sprints Tracker & Journal contains 365 daily sprint session trackers, divided into months and weeks. There are also monthly reflection logs and a year’s review log. Put an end to the messy and disorganized writer stereotype. Scribes & Scribblers Publishing has the tools to help you become an organized and productive writer.

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HAUNTED MANSION: YEAR 1

In the fall of 2010, ten horror writers met at a haunted mansion to spend four days together. Joining them were a group of paranormal investigators. This anthology is a collection for nonfiction essays, short stories, poems, and the investigative team’s conclusions. See what the horror writers and the ghost hunters discovered that weekend. Featuring Wily Writers Loren Rhoads, S.G. Browne, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse, and E.S. Magill.

ISBN: 978-1615725793
PUBLISHER: Damnation Books

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Author Information

Weston Ochse

Weston is the author of more than thirty books and has worked for IDW, DC Comics, Hellboy, Aliens, Predator, X-Files, Joe Ledger, and Clive Barker’s Midian. He is eager to help and is a long time mentor for the Horror Writers Association, a college professor, and a life coach.
http://westonochse.com

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Author Information

Alan Baxter

Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, where he lives with his wife, son, hound and other creatures. The author of more than twenty books including novels, novellas, and three short story collections (so far) you can find him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook. Feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.
https://twitter.com/AlanBaxter
https://www.facebook.com/alanbaxterauthor
https://www.instagram.com/warrior_scribe/?hl=en
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJDknM4g9Kpc5h0mxkhAwSQ/videos
All author photos and cover images here:
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/press-kit/

Works

THE GULP – Tales from the Gulp #1
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/the-gulp/

Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it.

The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.

A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there.
Teenage siblings try to cover up the death of their mother, but their plans go drastically awry.
A rock band invite four backpackers to a party at their house, where things get dangerously out of hand.
A young man loses a drug shipment and his boss gives him 48 hours to make good on his mistake.
Under the blinking eye of the old lighthouse, a rock fisher makes the strangest catch of his life.

Five novellas. Five descents into darkness. Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.

Print ISBN: 9780980578294
Ebook ISBN: 9781393527176

“This is a cleverly plotted and exceptionally well-executed five-sectioned novel where the finale of the last story brings everything into perspective… you are left without a doubt that you are reading not just an Alan Baxter novel, but an Alan Baxter novel that is firing on all cylinders… a masterclass in plotting and structure… The Gulp delivers on all fronts.” – Jim McLeod at Ginger Nuts of Horror

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DEVOURING DARK
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/devouring-dark/

Matt McLeod is a man plagued since childhood by a malevolent darkness that threatens to consume him. Following a lifetime spent wrestling for control over this lethal onslaught, he’s learned to wield his mysterious skill to achieve an odious goal: retribution as a supernatural vigilante. When one such hit goes bad, McLeod finds himself ensnared in a multi-tentacled criminal enterprise caught between a corrupt cop and a brutal mobster. His only promise of salvation may be a bewitching young woman who shares his dark talent but has murderous designs of her own.

ISBN: 9781940658988
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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HIDDEN CITY
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/hidden-city/

When the city is sick, everyone suffers. Steven Hines listened to the city and the city spoke. Cleveport told him she was sick. With his unnatural connection to her, that meant Hines was sick too. But when his friend, Detective Abby Jones, comes to him for help investigating a series of deaths with no discernible cause, Hines can’t say no. Then strange fungal growths begin to appear in the streets, affecting anyone who gets too close, turning them into violent lunatics. As the mayhem escalates and officials start to seal Cleveport off from the rest of the world, Hines knows the trouble has only just begun.

ISBN: 9781940095783
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press

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CROW SHINE
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/crow-shine/

Winner of the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work; Finalist for the 2016 Aurealis Award; Finalist for the 2016 Ditmar Award. “Alan Baxter is an accomplished storyteller who ably evokes magic and menace. Crow Shine has a mean bite.”—Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase. Nineteen horror and dark fantasy stories, three of which are previously unpublished and original to this collection, including the titular Crow Shine.

ISBN: 9781925212419
Publisher: Ticonderoga Publications

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SERVED COLD
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/served-cold/

2019 AUSTRALIAN SHADOWS AWARDS WINNER “At turns creepy and visceral, Baxter delivers the horror goods.” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World Sixteen provocative and intensely chilling tales by multi-award-winning-author Alan Baxter venture into the depths of the darkest and most shadowy places where unspeakable horrors are the predators and we the willing prey. Prepare for an always terrifying, frequently heartbreaking journey in multiple stages, each piece echoing Baxter’s unique voice that effortlessly blends horror, fantasy and the weird, cementing his place as a modern master of the dark fantastique, and resulting in an unforgettable volume of fiction.

ISBN: 9781950569045
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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MANIFEST RECALL
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/manifest-recall/

“If you like crime/noir horror hybrids do check out Alan Baxter’s MANIFEST RECALL. It’s a fast, gritty, mind-f*ck.” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts. Following a psychotic break, Eli Carver finds himself on the run, behind the wheel of a car that’s not his own, in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As he slowly rebuilds his memories, layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed. Before long, the duo find themselves on the wrong side of Eli’s old criminal syndicate, in a struggle for survival against the most dangerous forces in their lives.

ISBN: 9781940658957
Publisher: Grey Matter Press

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BOUND: ALEX CAINE BOOK 1
https://www.alanbaxteronline.com/my-books/bound/

Finalist for the 2014 Ditmar Award for Best Novel! Alex Caine, a fighter by trade, is drawn into a world he never knew existed — a world he wishes he’d never found. Alex Caine is a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves. After a fight one night, an enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, claims to know Alex’s secret. Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him along a mind-bending course beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else.

ISBN: 9781940095745
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press

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Wily Writers members produce dark fiction. Browse the list below. You’ll find something that tickles your dark fancy.

Author List Allie Yohn Lisa Morton Lee Call Angel Leigh McCoy Loren Rhoads Yvonne Navarro Joan De La Haye Bill Bodden Jennifer Brozek E.S. Magill Weston Ochse Alan Baxter

THE GULP by Alan Baxter AFTERAGE by Yvonne Navarro NIGHT TERRORS by Lisa Morton UNSAFE WORDS by Loren Rhoads Blood of the Sun by Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray SHADOWS by Joan de la Haye Dark was the Night by Angel Leigh McCoy

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If you’re a writer too, join Wily Writers to level up your writing career. We do regular promotional events, co-writing events, publication planning, and so much more. Many opportunities and information await you inside. If you have questions, email wilywriters@gmail.com (Angel).

Join Now

When you’re ready to create your own website, you will want to rent a domain name for it. A domain name is the URL people will use, the address of your website, such as WilyWriters.NET or AngelMcCoy.com or Google.com. That is a domain name.

First, you want to make sure you’re not infringing on anyone’s copyright, so do a Google search on it. For example, a domain name like Thumper.com is going to infringe on Disney’s copyright, and they love to sue. Use your best judgment on this.

Good domain names:

• Your author name with no dashes or spaces
• The title of your series
• The name of your world

Less good domain names:

• The name of your novel – you want a domain name that will have longevity and you absolutely don’t want to be paying for a new one with every book you publish. You are renting the URL, so you will be paying a monthly/annual fee for as long as you have it.
• Anything unrelated to your work. Remember your branding. What small phrase do you want people to remember you by. It’s probably not PartyGirl1973.com or BobbysMom.com, unless that’s the name of your series or the author name under which you’re publishing.

Visit a site that licenses domains. I have personal experience with and recommend these sites, in this order:

• Doteasy.com
• GoDaddy.com

On their homepages, you’ll find a search field where you can test your chosen domain name and see if it’s still available. You may have to try several before you find one that’s free.

NOTE: If you’re building your website on a full-service site like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com, then you can purchase your domain name there. I’m not sure what they charge, but it will be more convenient for you. You don’t have to buy it with them, though. You can purchase it at Doteasy or any other site like that and use it at Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com.

The following ad will appear in the August 2021 issue of the Horror Writers Association newsletter as part of our Wily Writers Group Promotions Project! Thanks to a generous donation from a wily member, we were able to purchase two full-page ads. This is the second one. You can view the July 2021 ad here.

DE LA HAYE ❖ MORTON ❖ NAVARRO ❖ BAXTER RABARTS/MURRAY ❖ RHOADS ❖ MCCOY
Buy Now	SHADOWS by Joan De La Haye (Book #1 of the Diabolical series) What if you thought you were losing your mind? What if all those nightmares were real? Could you survive a demon bent on torment and death, a nightmare feeding on your fear? “If you’re open to reading a book that is genuinely disturbing, in some cases distasteful, and creepy as hell, then I’m pretty sure you’ll ‘enjoy’ Shadows.” – Dave de Burgh, author of Betrayal’s Shadow
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Buy Now	NIGHT TERRORS & OTHER TALES by Lisa Morton (short story collection) This is the first major collection to gather together twenty of Lisa Morton’s finest short stories (chosen by the author herself). During a career that has spanned more than three decades, she has produced work that has been hailed as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening” (the American Library Association’s Readers Advisory Guide to Horror). If you’ve never encountered Lisa Morton’s work before, you’ll find out why Famous Monsters called her “one of the best writers in dark fiction today.” If you’re already a fan, this collection will offer up a chance to revisit these acclaimed and award-winning stories.
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Buy Now	AFTERAGE by Yvonne Navarro (published by Macabre Ink) A plague of vampirism has crept across the country, reducing once-thriving cities to ghost towns. In Chicago, a few scattered survivors hide behind the fortified walls of office buildings and museums, raiding deserted stores for dwindling supplies of clothing and food. Meanwhile a hungry vampire population also struggles for survival as their prey grows scarce, forcing them to capture alive the last remaining humans as breeding stock for the blood farms that will ensure their future.
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Buy Now	THE GULP by Alan Baxter (published by 13th Dragon) The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper isn’t like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone calls it “The Gulp.” It has a habit of swallowing people. A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there. Teenage siblings try to cover up the death of their mother, but their plans go drastically awry. Under the blinking eye of the old lighthouse, a rock fisher makes the strangest catch of his life. Five novellas by Alan Baxter. Five descents into darkness. Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.
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Buy Now	BLOOD OF THE SUN by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray (The Path of Ra, book 3, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press) There’s been a gang massacre on Auckland’s Freyberg Wharf. Body parts everywhere. With the police’s laboratory out of action, it’s up to scientific consult Pandora (Penny) Yee to sort through the mess. It’s a hellish task, made worse by earthquake swarms, insufferable heat, and Cerberus’ infernal barking. And what’s got into her brother Matiu? Is Matiu running with the gangs again? If he’s involved, Penny will murder him herself. Join Penny and Matiu Yee for the family reunion to end all family reunions, as the struggle between light and dark erupts across Auckland’s volcanic skyline.
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Buy Now	UNSAFE WORDS by Loren Rhoads (published by Automatism Press) In the first full-length collection of her edgy, award-winning short stories, Loren Rhoads punctures the boundaries between horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction in a maelstrom of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Ghosts, succubi, naiads, vampires, the Wild Hunt, and the worst predator in the woods stalk these pages, alongside human monsters who follow their cravings past sanity or sense. The stories are drawn from the pages of the magazines Cemetery Dance, City Slab, Instant City, and Space & Time, the Wily Writers podcast, and the books Sins of the Sirens, Demon Lovers, The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two, Tales for the Camp Fire, and more.
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Buy Now	DARK WAS THE NIGHT by Angel Leigh McCoy (published by Wily Writers LLC) The horror stories in this collection take you deep into lives touched by darkness. Herein, you’ll meet a grandmother with a knack for storytelling, a little girl caught in a lightning storm, and a medical intern who learns the true meaning of family–the hard way. At times gory, very often moody and intense, these tales reveal a truth about our world: evil exists, and love persists.
WilyWriters.NET provides a haven and point of connection for dark fiction writers. It holds open a space where wordsmiths can raise the vibration of their work, increase book sales, spread name recognition, earn reader respect, and blow away the bar on product quality.

Tips on Reviewers

Reviews can boost your sales if they’re good. If they’re bad, they can hurt your sales. Requesting a review is a risk worth taking.

• Don’t be shy about cold-contacting them.
• Look to see if they’ve posted review guidelines on their website (many have), and if so, follow them to the letter.
• Familiarize yourself with their reviews so you know whether they’re in sync with your style.
• Maintain a list of which ones you’ve contacted. Wily Writers has created an Excel spreadsheet for you to download, customize, and use: Wily Writers Reviews Tracker
• Over time, you’ll build a list of trusted reviewers who enjoy your work and recognize your name. You might consider sending hard copies to these reviewers.
• If sending to a reviewer who requires a hard copy (some places do), don’t expect any more from them. They may or may not actually do a review, and it may or may not be positive.
• It’s okay to send advance-reading copies (ARCs) of your book to reviewers even if your book is out—unless you made extensive revisions to the final version.
• Do share the review via your social media once it’s live. Share and share again later. This helps both you and the reviewer.
• Let Wily Writers know if you got a good review, and we’ll post about it in our public newsletter.

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Etiquette

• Be on your most professional behavior with all reviewers.
• Remember that reviewers receive a TON of requests, so don’t be surly with them if they don’t review your book. Never let them see you sweat.
• Make it clear up-front that you’re offering an ebook version of your book if you’re not willing to send a hard copy. To make it easier on them, include a link to the download in your email to them. An excellent site for setting up a free download of your ebook is Bookfunnel.com.
• Never argue with a reviewer who has given your book a negative review, especially not in public. Bad juju.
• Never publicly berate a reviewer who has given your book a negative review. Burning bridges burns you more than them.

Every month, the Wily Writers Book Club reads a new dark fiction selection then discusses it in a Zoom meeting that we’ll record and post on the Wily Youtube channel.

We’ll schedule these in advance and all are welcome to attend. Check here for dates and times.

October’s Selection:

Buy It Today
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

A family returns to their hometown – and to the dark past that haunts them still – in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times best-selling author of Wanderers.

“The dread, the scope, the pacing, the turns – I haven’t felt all this so intensely since The Shining.” (Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times best-selling author of The Only Good Indians)

Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father – and has never told his family what happened there.

Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have – and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.

Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.

Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.

And now what happened long ago is happening again…and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.

This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family – and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.

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Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming Book of Accidents (July 2021). He’s also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. He lives in Pennsyltucky with his family. His agent is Stacia Decker, with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner.

Terribleminds is his blog where he rambles on about writing, parenthood, food, pop culture, and other such shenanigans. It is NSFW and NSFL.

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Members are welcome to be part of the panel. You don’t have to be on camera, but if you are, then you will also be mentioned (with links) in the show notes! It’s an excellent (and perpetual) promotional beat for you and your works.

Come, participate, lurk, chat, and let’s discuss Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic.