Emberletter Press

11/11/2024

Just 9 days to go on our Kickstarter for The Dread Queen: Impressions Vol. 1. If you haven't backed the project, now's the time!

23 tales of imaginative horror, dark fantasy, the macabre, the cosmic, and the weird.

10/30/2024

Today's update features an excerpt and interview with speculative fiction author Michael Adam Robson! You can check out "The Glass Man" now—and please continue to share the campaign. We're inching closer to the 1K mark and are grateful for those who have shared and contributed.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gmbrlyn/the-dread-queen-impressions-volume-1/posts/4238177

Michael Adam Robson is an artist and engineer, and at one time, he worked in a glass factory. His short fiction has been published in Analog, Dark Matter Magazine, Nature Magazine, and F&SF (forthcoming), among others.

10/30/2024

Yesterday, we started up our Author Spotlight for the writers and stories that will be featured in The Dread Queen: Impressions Vol. 1. If you missed the update over on our Kickstarter page, check it out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gmbrlyn/the-dread-queen-impressions-volume-1/posts/4237883

It features Nadav Schul-Kutas's tale "Taxi Cab Diary."

Nadav Schul-Kutas is an undergraduate student studying economics at Reed College. In addition to writing, he likes to design games and complain about how he doesn't have enough time for either art form. He has previously been published in
Apparition Lit and has a forthcoming publication in
Cast of Wonders. You can find Nadav on X , retweeting drawings of animals.

Thanks for being a part of Impressions, Nadav!

23 tales of imaginative horror, dark fantasy, the macabre, the cosmic, and the weird.

10/24/2024

It's Day 3 of our Kickstarter Campaign for The Dread Queen: Impressions Vol. 1, and I'm happy to say we've cracked the $600 mark! Not too shabby for some crowdfunding newbies lol.

Check out today's update video and Impressions story over on our page, and don't forget to spread the word.🖤

Welcome to Day 3, fellow travelers! We're excited to say we now have 20 backers, and we've broken $600! There's still a lot of the campaign left, but we're pumped by where we're at so far—especially as crowdfunding newbies. :)Today's update features the story

10/23/2024

We're officially into Day 2 of the Impressions Kickstarter! Check out this video about the origins of the project, then head over to our blog to read the story.

Thanks again for your support!

The seeds of Impressions came, as most creative things seem to these days, in a coffee shop. I was nearing the end of my time in film school, and a fellow sc...

10/22/2024

WE ARE LIVE!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gmbrlyn/the-dread-queen-impressions-volume-1

23 tales of imaginative , dark , the macabre, the , and the weird. Grab your copy this week to take advantage of early-bird pricing!

23 tales of imaginative horror, dark fantasy, the macabre, the cosmic, and the weird.

10/17/2024

"Here," says the curator, pulling you back to the image of the chair in the pines. He reaches up and removes it from the wall, hands it to you so you may look closer.

You run your fingers gingerly across the surface of the work. It has a semi-gloss finish and catches the light like a photograph would, but its detail is stunning. It's definitely printed on the canvas, and the work itself has a texture similar to the ebb and flow of brushstrokes; the ink feels like paint, slightly oily to the touch.

"There's no artist named on any of them," the man states. "But I suspect they're all by the same hand."

"What's this?" You ask, pointing to a bit of chalk-white chicken scratch etched in the bottom right-hand corner. The curator shrugs.

"I believe it's the title of the piece. But who's to say, really."

You bring the picture closer (it's hard to read in the faint light) and make out three words.

"The Faerie King?" You say aloud and give your host a quizzical look. He chuckles.

"And The Dread Queen," he says, pointing at the picture to your right. You hand him back The Faerie King and move on to the next one.

It stops you at once.

The image is bleak and haunting, less beautiful than the last. A large, ominous tree, grey and naked and clearly dead, stands in the middle of a dusty, amber field while in the hazy distance, rust-red mountains rise to greet the sky.

And there in the foreground, perched on the body of a dead man, is a pale woman in a white prairie dress, her attire stained in crimson, a bloody yet beautiful vulture. And though her face is bowed away from you, hidden by her raven hair, you still feel as if you can see her searching eyes, black and ravenous in their pursuit of… something… someone...

Me?

"The Dread Queen," you whisper, repeating the title of the piece. You see then that she holds in her hand something tissuey and oozing and red, something vital. A fruit? A heart?

Your eyes swim across the photograph as your mind grows fuzzy, unable to focus, and you swear you can hear beating like the cadence of a gallows drum, repetitive and precise.

"Where is this?" you utter, pointing to the picture, your voice strange and airy. "I've seen this place before. In a dream, maybe."

"I knew they'd speak to you," your host says quietly, anticipation in his tone.

His voice is muffled now, carried away on an old western wind. "It's why I brought you back here—why I drew you here in the first place.

"We're kindred spirits, you and I."

But you barely hear him now. Instead, a ringing permeates your ears, drowning out your other senses. The ticking of the watch intensifies, filling your head.

"I call these works IMPRESSIONS," says your host, leaning in, quieter still. "They give you a glimpse into another life, a scene playing out in some other realm. And a mind as alive as yours, well... it just fills in the rest..."

Fills in the rest? You think. What does that mean?

But the question barely registers now, your thoughts little more than dreams fleeing the sunrise. The image—the impression—has its hold on you...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gmbrlyn/the-dread-queen-impressions-volume-1

06/15/2024

🔥🔥🔥

OUT TODAY!

Pumped to have a piece of my flash fiction in this great anthology from Sam Frost and Daniel Willcocks. All proceeds from the book go to support the World Land Trust. Grab your copy at https://books2read.com/boltsoffiction

05/02/2024

THANK YOU!

After 2 rounds of submissions, Impression Vol 1 is now closed. So begins a lot of reading—and, damn, do I have my work cut out for me. You lovely maniacs sent in over 600 stories & I couldn't be more happy to be buried in words.

We'll see you on the other side.💙

03/21/2024

The early submission window for our debut anthology, Impressions, is still going strong. We close on March 31st.

After that, we'll open again from April 8 to April 30. So get those horror/SF/F/Weird stories to us! 2-5k words, 8c/word.🔥

http://emberletterpress.com/submissions

03/16/2024

Yesterday, we opened the early submission window for IMPRESSIONS VOL. 1, our debut anthology.

AUTHORS: we’re looking for imaginative tales of horror, dark fantasy, and strange sci-fi. 2-5k word stories, 8 cents a word.
Get involved with this exciting new multimedia universe!

SUBMISSIONS “In the beginning, there was darkness, and in the darkness, there was the Grimm.”— The Diary of Ceratus - October 7th, 1849 Emberletter Press Presents:Impressions Volume 1 EARLY WINDOW — March 15 at 12:01 am EST to March 31 at 11:59 pm ESTGENERAL WINDOW — April 8 at 12:01 am ES...

03/01/2024

MEET OUR EIC

Hey there! I'm Geoff—writer, filmmaker, and musician from the west side of the Mitten State.

Raised on a healthy dose of horror films, fantasy novels, superheroes, and pop-punk, I’m a well of imagination trying hourly not to cave to the demands of my inner child.

According to popular personality tests, I’m an “Advocate” (INFJ) and what the Enneagram calls a Visionary or an Iconoclast (5w4), which on paper makes me “introverted, artistic, innovative, and a destroyer of systems,” but in practice makes me a grown emo kid who’s somewhat tricky to figure out—believe me, even I’m still working on it!

What I have figured out, though, is that I was born to entertain and inspire people through stories—specifically speculative fiction, where I write for adult readers under the penname Geoff Emberlyn and for story-lovers of all ages under the penname Geoffrey Young. Beyond my own work, I have a heart for helping other artists and creators tell their stories and promote their work through developmental editing, video production, and graphic design. As a film school graduate, I’ve had the opportunity to work on many different projects—from feature films to anthologies to promotional materials, book trailers, short films, music videos, and more.

I started Emberletter Press in the fall of 2021 when I published my first collection, "The Dread Queen and Other Dark Impressions." In late 2023, I became a partner in StudioCor3, West Michigan’s premier visual and audio production hub. Together, I hope to bring revolutionary marketing and digital media assets to independent authors, all while delivering audiences stories and universes they won’t find anywhere else.

I hope you’ll join me on this adventure that is Emberletter Press.

03/01/2024

"I knew they'd speak to you," the Curator says, anticipation in his tone. But his voice seems far away now, carried off on a hollow wind, and you swear you can hear the rhythmic ticking of a pocket watch, beating like the cadence of a gallows drum.

"I call these works IMPRESSIONS," says your host, leaning in, quieter still. "They give you a glimpse into another life, a scene playing out in some other realm. And a mind as alive as yours, well... it just fills in the rest...

"Fills in the rest? You think. What does that mean?

But the question barely registers now, your thoughts little more than dreams fleeing the sunrise. The image—the impression—has its hold on you...

***

Emberletter Press, in association with Hamlet Productions LLC and StudioCor3, presents IMPRESSIONS VOLUME 1, a new multimedia anthology series from the mind of author and filmmaker Geoff Emberlyn. Life and death, denial and loss, sadness and the surreal are all captured here in 22 tales of imaginative horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, the macabre, and the weird.

COMING FALL 2024