I started Grim Oak Press to publish Unfettered.

The first question I received from readers was, “Are you going to be publishing anything else in the future?”

I mulled that question over. Longer than you might think. Unfettered did its job in eliminating my medical debt. I knew that I wanted to create a trilogy of Unfettered anthologies—would that be an anthrilogy?—and I would use the second and third books to help other people in need like I had been helped. But bringing a book to life through publication was a lot of work—and I have enough of that on my plate already.

Enter Roger Bellini. He had an anthology he felt would be a perfect fit with Grim Oak Press. It was titled Neverland’s Shadow. I took a look at his line-up and was impressed. He had some wonderful writers involved. And what was the theme? Stories told from the point of view of the villain/antagonist.

Oddly enough, I was struggling with my new book, The Everwinter Wraith. I had come to a chapter where I introduce the villain for my next book and I had no idea who that villain was. He had no voice. No origin story. I needed to do something about that problem before I could continue to write. I then put two-and-two together. I would write a short story from that villain’s point of view and publish it within Neverland’s Shadow. It was only then I realized I was going to publish Roger’s anthology.

I am pleased to announce the line-up for Neverland’s Shadow, a new forthcoming anthology filled with villainy, mayhem, and stories told from very different perspectives!

Here is the writer line-up for Neverland’s Shadow:

Terry Brooks (introduction)

Ann Aguirre

Piers Anthony

R. Scott Bakker

Jim Butcher

Glen Cook

Tang Fei (Chinese tranlsated work)

Mark Lawrence

Tanith Lee

Ken Liu

Scott Lynch

John Marco

Tim Marquitz

Peter Orullian

Kat Richardson

Anthony Ryan

Shawn Speakman

Michael J. Sullivan

Adrian Tchaikovsky

As you can see, all quality writers working with a theme that should result in epic awesome stories! Some established authors; some up-and-coming authors. My own short story is titled The Dead’s Revenant. It might be the best thing I’ve written so far. The fantastic Todd Lockwood will be contributing the cover art as well.

And my long-time friend and esteemed boss Terry Brooks will be introducing the anthology, as he knows a lot about writing great villains.

More news about this in the weeks to come!

Get ready for the villains!