Darkwater Syndicate | News

Cover Reveal: Florida Writers Association Collection, Vol. 10: Where Does Your Muse Live?

9/15/2018

Darkwater Syndicate has been awarded the distinct honor of publishing the tenth annual Collection of The Florida Writers Association. The book will be published on the date of the Royal Palm Literary Award Banquet, October 21, 2018.

The Florida Writers Association is the preeminent organization for writers in all stages of writing. From more than 100 entries, the association is proud to present seventy-five winning authors for this year’s theme: Where Does Your Muse Live? In addition, they are pleased to include their fifth Collection volume of winning youth writers. These exciting submissions will spark a myriad of emotional responses for your reading pleasure.

The Great Dragon Debate: Simon Versus Pereda

9/9/2018

It was bound to happen eventually. We're just surprised it didn't happen sooner.

In case you haven't been following along, the two head honchos here at Darkwater Syndicate are fantasy authors. Dragons feature prominently in their works, and the dragons in their stories couldn't be any more different. Over the years, this difference of opinion has led to heated discussions, near-fistfights, and the errant thrown shoe.

Today, the two seek to resolve their differences in a debate over whose depiction of dragons is the most accurate. But before we get into that discussion, let's introduce the debaters.

Antonio Simon, Jr.

Contestant #1: Antonio Simon, Jr.

Head of Business Development for Darkwater Syndicate
Author of The Gullwing Odyssey, a fantasy/comedy adventure
Favorite authors: Ray Bradbury, Douglas Adams, Harlan Ellison
Viewpoint: Dragons are small, intelligent, social creatures

Ramiro Perez de Pereda

Contestant #2: Ramiro Perez de Pereda

Head Acquisitions Editor for Darkwater Syndicate
Author of The Many Deaths of Cyan Wraithwate, dark fantasy
Favorite authors: Robert E. Howard, Ursula Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey
Viewpoint: Dragons are huge, monstrous beasts that exist to be fought

[MODERATOR]: Mr. Simon will begin the discussion. If you would...

[ASJ]: Gladly. If you're going to talk about dragons as a viable race, you need to take a page from science and see what works and what doesn't, from an evolutionary standpoint. Dragons can't be big, lumbering, cold-blooded brutes for the same reason dinosaurs aren't alive today. Why? Much as that fiery death-comet helped speed things along, any creature designed along the same lines as dinosaurs would be inefficient, and nature has a way of making inefficient creatures go extinct.

That's why I put forth that dragons: (1) are warm-blooded, (2) small, (3) intelligent, and (4) social.

Warm-blooded animals can live in almost any environment. What's more, their level of activity isn't dependent on their body temperature. An iguana caught in a freak cold snap will likely become so sluggish as to fall out of its tree, where it will lie helpless, unable to move until the temperature rises.

Moving on to the next point, smaller creatures have a better chance at flight than larger ones. There's a principle known as the square-cube law. I won't get into the mathematical details, but basically, the bigger a creature gets, the larger the surface area of its wings needs to be. Minimum required wing size increases far faster than body size. So, for a given modest body size, you'd need wings on the order of a B-52 bomber to get off the ground. The weight of the muscles required to power those wings alone would exceed any potential lift the wings could produce. Now take birds as an example: they're small, lightweight, and warm-blooded—all good traits for a species that can fly.

The last two traits, intelligence and social living, go hand in hand. Social behavior is something that the most intelligent species engage in because the odds of survival increase when individuals work together. Naturally, to engage in social behavior, you need some baseline of intelligence.

The dragons in my fantasy books have built a country of their own that is jockeying for advantage on the world stage. The series is set in the age of sail—massive trade fleets exploit foreign markets, dodging pirates to bring home a wealth of cargo.

The dragons' culture is unique in a world largely inhabited by humans, but it's also fragile because of all the new ideas they're being exposed to from foreign sources. Dria, a dragon princess and the female lead, understands that sticking to tradition will only stagnate her people; but leading her people into the modern day will introduce new ways of thinking that risks forever destroying their heritage.

[MODERATOR]: Mr. Perez, you have the floor.

[RPP]: Thank you. Maybe it's because I'm old, but I'm a traditionalist. For me, dragons are: (1) big, (2) ferocious, and (3) exist to make a point. That last one topic may sound a bit esoteric, but I'll explain fully when I get there.

Why big? Why not? What you have to keep in mind, at all times, is that you are writing fantasy. Fantasy is not constrained (or often concerned with) such real world concepts as true-to-life physics. Maybe, if you were writing hard science fiction a la Asimov, you would be obliged to "show your work," as my grade-school math teachers used to say in our long division lessons. Otherwise, the genre allows you to magically do away with such things, so far as you can push the reader's suspension of disbelief. Thus, if you want big dragons, you can have them, because you're writing the story.

Why ferocious? For the same reason the dragon exists in your story in the first place. Let's look at the technical aspects of writing a story. You need to ensure that every character serves a purpose. If you're writing a story where a knight must save a princess from her nasty dragon captor, the audience expects that at some point there's going to be a big, bloody fight between these two characters. How better to ramp up the drama and show off your hero's prowess than by having him vanquish a mighty opponent? Here, the dragon character serves a discrete purpose—to make the hero look good. That's its purpose, the point you're trying to get across. The dragon is there because it reminds you to cheer for the good guy. Why else do you think St. George and the Dragon has been painted so many times across the Renaissance by so many different artists?

The dragons in my book are akin to traditional depictions of dragons. Which is to say, they're big, brutishly powerful monsters that walk on all fours. They weigh tons—get outta here with that square-cube law crap!—and they're forces of nature in their own right. Whenever a hurricane or an earthquake threaten, do you run outside and fight these calamities? Of course not. You run and hide, and wait until it's over.

There are four dragons in my book—really, five, but that last one's a secret and I don't want to spoil things for you. Each of them is an intelligent creature, able to speak to the main character, but also with its own agenda, and their desires don't always align.

Now, before you call foul and say I can't have a beastly powerful dragon that's also intelligent and can speak, let me direct you back to my main point, which is: I write fiction, I can do what I want. What's more, their cunning makes them all the more dangerous, notwithstanding that they're already super-apex predators.

Each of the dragons encountered serves a purpose in the overall story. Cyan, the main character, is an impulsive jerk who'd sooner lop off heads with his battle-ax than shake your hand. He's on a quest, only, he doesn't actually know that what he seeks is something far greater than what he's set his sights on. Without spoiling the biggest twist in the book, through battling the dragons, Cyan comes to grips with the most negative parts of his life, and—however inadvertently—learns why he's been wrong for so long.

[MODERATOR]: Thank you, Mr. Perez. And now, to Mr. Simon for the rebuttal...

[???]: Stop! Stop right his minute!

[MODERATOR]: Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by as there's been an unforeseen interruption to today's discussion. Someone's approaching the microphone table... And who might you be?

Apara Moreiya

[AM]: My name is Apara Moreiya, and I'm an associate editor at Darkwater Syndicate. I couldn't help but overhear all this talk about dragons. Frankly, I'm surprised I wasn't invited to this discussion.

[MODERATOR]: What makes you think you're qualified to discuss the topic of dragons?

[AM]: I am one.

[MODERATOR]: Oh. Well, I suppose you're right. Whose story are you in?

[AM]: Pardon?

[MODERATOR]: This is a discussion of dragons in fiction. Simon describes dragons as being small and social, while Perez describes them as big and scary. Whose book are you in?

[AM]: I don't think you thought that through completely before speaking.

[MODERATOR]: So... then how are you here?

[AM]: I walked. My office is two doors down the hall. Look, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep it down in here—I've got a stack of submissions I need to get through by this Friday...

[MODERATOR]: Well, I... I mean, yes, I... I'm sorry. We'll try to be a little quieter. Oh, but before you go—would you consider yourself small, lightweight, and warm-blooded; or huge and ferocious?

[AM]: My coffee's getting cold.

[MODERATOR]: Well, that's all the time we have, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for tuning in to our discussion, and good bye for now. Please keep the discussion going and let us know what you think in the comments!

South By Southwest Wales Declared One Of The "Best Reads Of 2018"

9/8/2018

If this were 1940's Chicago, and you wanted to say something was doing so well like it just took off running, you'd say: "That thing's got legs!"

Judging by how well it's doing, David Owain Hughes's crime thriller, South By Southwest Wales, has got serious legs. As of September 8th, it's been declared one of the "best reads of 2018 (so far)" by the book review website, Book Reviews and More by Bookworm 1977.

Check out the review here, or get in on the gang-busting action and purchase your copy today. Just hit the big button, below.

Purchase This Book

Free Books: Four Shorts From Postcards From The Void

9/7/2018

Our ambitious horror anthology Postcards From The Void is only days away from its September 30th release. To celebrate, we're giving you a taste of the horror to come with these four free stories. Click their covers to download them to your Kindle. And to all who enter these blighted places, beware...

Darkwater Syndicate Editor Ramiro Perez Completes Memoir About His Adventures Growing Up In Cuba & Miami, To Be Released 2019

8/29/2018

Back on June 8th we announced that our chief editor, Ramiro Perez de Pereda, had begun writing his memoirs. We're pleased to announce that' he's completed his book, I Was A Teenage Cuban Arsonist.

Likening it less to a memoir and more to a "highlight reel" of his life, the book examines his first four decades of life. You can expect a fair amount of action, adventure, and tongue-in-cheek humor.

His story begins in 1941 with an account of his early family life, growing up with his two older brothers in Havana, Cuba. Young Ramiro gets into trouble with nuns, discovers girls, gets taken for a vicious joyride by his two older cousins, and inadvertently sets fire to his family's farm.

Things only start to heat up after his arrival in Miami. His parents having decided that he should lay low in Miami while Castro's uprising blows over, he leaves Cuba for the United States.

Alone, with only a few dollars in his pocket and a decent grasp on English, he struggles to make ends meet. Eventually, Ramiro is recruited into a counterrevolutionary movement formed in Miami to oppose Castro's regime. In a blink, young Ramiro goes from penniless immigrant to soldier of fortune with a weekly paycheck. There's just one problem: he's a staunch pacifist, but he doesn't let this fact keep him from spending the money he's given.

Mr. Perez's memoirs will be chock full of anecdotes, some heartbreaking, others laugh-out-loud funny. The book will be published through Darkwater Syndicate in 2019. Be sure to check back regularly for more information.

Blogger Mark Meier Interviews Antonio Simon, Jr.

8/20/2018

Our friend and fellow author Mark Meier was kind enough to host Antonio Simon, Jr. on his blog, Meier-Writers.com. In it, Antonio discusses his first novel, and what he had to overcome to get it published.

Go see the full interview, here:

Open Call: Submissions Open

8/14/2018

Authors: we want you! We currently have two open calls for submissions. Please note that these will remain open until filled and can close at any time without prior notice.

Please read the criteria below. If you wish to query us, you may do so by filling in our online Publishing Consideration Form.

Please do not send manuscripts unless requested. No physical submissions will be accepted. Send only electronic manuscripts.

Open Call #1: Genre Fiction Novels
Darkwater Syndicate is looking for novels in the genres of: fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, and comedy. Non-agented and simultaneous submissions are welcomed. To be considered, you manuscript should:
- Be an original, previously unpublished work.
- Be between 60,000 and 100,000 words, roughly.
- Not contain any copyrighted material, such as directly-quoted song lyrics or a passage from a book not in the public domain.
- Compensation: Authors selected for publication will receive a generous publishing contract.

Open Call #2: Automotive Horror Short Stories
Darkwater Syndicate is looking for automotive-themed horror short stories for an upcoming anthology. Non-agented and simultaneous submissions are welcomed. To be considered, you story should:
- Be a fresh take on automotive horror—no rehashes of "Maximum Overdrive" or "Christine."
- Feature a stand-out vehicle—a classic car, an American muscle car, a tricked-out import, and so on.
- Incorporate into the plot a brief description of the vehicle, including make, model, and model year.
- Be between 3,000 (absolute minimum) to 6,000 words (flexible for longer works).
- Not contain any copyrighted material, such as directly-quoted song lyrics or a passage from a book not in the public domain.
- Compensation: Authors selected for publication will receive $25 and a paperback copy of the book.

When you're ready to submit your work, hit the big button below and you'll be taken to our submissions form.

Submit Your Query

Book Trailers: Postcards From The Void

8/14/2018

Ever see a photo of a place that never existed? On September 30, we release our reality-bending anthology, Postcards From The Void. Combining prose with eerie vintage photos, the book contains 25 tales of horror and dark fantasy by legendary authors and today's hottest writers. If you dare to venture into these places, remember: don't talk to strangers, don't stray far from home, and never, ever go in alone...

Meet Apara Moreiya, Associate Editor At Darkwater Syndicate

8/14/2018

There are many publishers out there, but we're the first—if not the only—to have a dragon on payroll.

Meet Apara Moreiya, associate editor, and all-around pretty cool guy.

Thrill seeker. Unbridled optimist. Sushi aficionado. Lover of terrible jokes. Free spirit. Friend to all. Sporting an outlook on life as unique as he, Apara writes equally distinctive poetry and fiction, and from time to time delves into the genres of fantasy and horror. Apart from being Darkwater Syndicate's unofficial mascot (and unintentionally running up the company's fire insurance premiums), he is an associate editor working closely with Antonio Simon, Jr.

Something Big Is In The Works...

7/18/2018

The labs at Darkwater Syndicate are running full tilt, working on new and innovative projects. Our mission: to bring you the very best in indie fiction of course! And to that end, we're joining Patreon!

Take a sneak peek at our Patreon page:

Visit Our Patreon Page!