Coming September 15 Poems of My Night by Cynthia Pelayo is now available for pre-order here! “These poems are cautionary tales for those who choose not to cover their eyes, warnings for those who refuse to find the light.” Urban Poetry from Beyond the Veil Cynthia Pelayo constructs a narrative in her poetry in response to the work of Jorge Luis Borges that examines the themes and subsequent consequences of insomnia, death, and blindness. There’s a visionary quality to her work that dances along the line between the present world that we inhabit and the other world that lingers beyond...
0109/2016June 7, 2025
Additional DogCon Opportunities
UPDATE: Add-on madness! New DogCon Opportunities: Special guest Beverly Bambury provides the following presentations for DogCon 5 attendees (these are included in the base ticket price): Class 1 – Social Media for Authors (even Misanthropic Authors) No matter how you’re published, it’s a tough world out there having to constantly promote your work. Authors have to do more than ever before, and one of the least natural efforts for many is social media. This session will focus mostly on Twitter and Facebook, but other things will be discussed, such as Goodreads, Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogging. And if you actually hate...
3108/2016June 7, 2025
A Congregation of Jackals Book Deal
Raw Dog Screaming press has just signed a book deal with S. Craig Zahler to release his out-of-print first novel A Congregation of Jackals. As an author, screenwriter and director Zahler has taken both Hollywood and the publishing world by storm. His gritty and unflinching style is undeniable. Bone Tomahawk, which he wrote and directed, was a critical and financial success. It was one of the most talked-about horror films of the year. The acclaim of that project garnered a movie deal for his novel Wraiths of the Broken Land, with 20th Century Fox. Famed director Ridley Scott (The Martian,...
2308/2016June 7, 2025
SNOWED Excerpt: Meet Charity Jones
Meet Charity Jones, An Excerpt from SNOWED We’re celebrating Maria Alexander’s birthday by giving YOU a present, please enjoy this SNOWED excerpt: I open my eyes the next morning to the sight of Mr. Spotty’s yellow oval eyes. Mr. Spotty’s grounded because I used his catapult arm to throw rocks at Charles. I didn’t mean to hurt him. He was hiding in the bushes with his friends smoking pot. I just wanted to startle them, not take a hunk of flesh out of my brother’s forehead. Although, I’m kinda glad I did. The other two robots aren’t grounded, just temporarily...
2108/2016June 7, 2025
RDSP Against Humanity!
We Need Your Suggestions We are creating a custom deck of RDSP-related questions and phrases for use with the game Cards Against Humanity and we want your suggestions! If you’re already familiar with the game you know that we will need some question cards and some cards that can be used as answers to questions. About Cards Against Humanity If you haven’t played you can still make suggestions, just know that the idea is to “answer” the question card with the most bizarre, weird and bad taste card in your hand. This will require a lot of creativity! Here are...
1708/2016June 7, 2025
Snowed Cover Reveal
Author: Maria Alexander Artist: Daniele Serra About the Book Charity Jones is a 16-year-old engineering genius who’s much-bullied for being biracial and a skeptic at her conservative school in Oak County, California. Everything changes when Charity’s social worker mother brings home a sweet teen runaway named Aidan to foster for the holidays. Matched in every way, Charity and Aidan quickly fall in love. But it seems he’s not the only new arrival: Charity soon finds the brutally slain corpse of her worst bully and she gets hard, haunting evidence that the killer is stalking Oak County. As she and her...
0308/2016June 7, 2025
City Ash and Desert Bones Cover Reveal
Author: Laurel Myler https://twitter.com/victorylaurels Artist: Bradley Sharp http://dogstarbooks.blogspot.com/p/cover-artist.html From the back cover of City Ash and Desert Bones: 300 years in the future the world is run by the Theocracy and the Apostles are their representatives. The tiny, dusty and ironically named town of Big City has never seen Apostles until the newly deputized team, Reesa and Joule, are given their first assignment—get to the bottom of the town’s untapped oil reserves. Reesa and Joule are a married couple, supposed to have been matched perfectly by the Theocracy, and she is eager to do her duty while he is dismayed...
3107/2016June 7, 2025
DogCon 5 at Broadkill Writers Resort
DogCon is a big shindig RDSP holds every year to celebrate books, authors and all our supporters. It’s a chance for the RDSP family to get together, meet each other, show off the latest works and begin new creative ventures. DogCon 5 at Broadkill Beach At last year’s DogCon we announced that we were acquiring a beach house writing resort. This year, we’re inviting you to come see it! Activities will be running Friday to Monday but Saturday, October 1 & Sunday October 2nd will be the main event. Each DogCon is different and this one will be more about...
2207/2016June 7, 2025
Steel Magic Book Launch
East City Bookshop was the perfect place to celebrate the Steel Magic book launch, second book in the Steel Empires series. This was our first visit to the store which just opened up in April. It’s bright and breezy, imminently browsable and has excellent staff picks. These people clearly know books! A Magical Celebration As people arrived we made small talk and admired the store. Then J.L. Gribble read an action-packed excerpt from Steel Magic and invited us all to eat cake. The cake was both gorgeous (since it had the book cover on it) and delicious. Several raffle prizes...
2107/2016June 7, 2025
Readers Choice Award Finalists for 2015
Thanks to everyone who voted in our Reader’s Choice poll this time around! The poll phase narrows down all the books we published in 2015 to 4 titles for our reader/judges to evaluate. Here are the 4 Readers Choice Award finalists: Readers Choice Award Finalists for Books Published in 2015 All the Darkness in the World a tale of vampire horror by Andy Deane An Exorcism of Angels dark poetry by Stephanie Wytovich Indelible Ink urban fantasy by Matt Betts Steel Victory (Book 1 of the Steel Empires alternate history series) by J.L. Gribble The next step is for...
1807/2016June 7, 2025
RDSP Signs Writing Team from New Zealand
RDSP is pleased to announce a two-book deal with a writing team from New Zealand—Lee Murray and Dan Rabarts. The first book in this dark detective mashup is titled Hounds of the Underworld and it launches The Path of Ra series. “Though the speculative fiction scene in New Zealand is small, it’s also vibrant and we’re excited to be able to expose some of that talent to the U.S. audience,” says RDSP’s John Lawson. There is an interesting mix of elements in this story which is the trademark of an RDSP release. First, the tale is told from two alternating...
2206/2016June 7, 2025
For those who want to help
RDSP owner John Lawson‘s mother passed away early this week. She was great supporter of the press and also an avid reader. John’s love of reading and eye for a good story is likely inherited from her. The condolences and kind words have been pouring in and really do help, though I get the feeling people wish they could do more. I’ve been mulling this over and trying to think of something to tell them. A Little Help from Our Friends Anyone who owns a small business knows that there are no actual days off, not when you’re sick, not...
0206/2016June 7, 2025
Reader’s Choice Award for Books Published in 2015
Reader’s Choice 1st Round Voting This is the 3rd year for our Reader’s Choice Award and it includes all titles published by RDSP and its imprint Dog Star Books in 2015. The first step is a poll anyone can vote in. Help us by choosing your favorite 2015 release! This round of voting will narrow the field down to 4 titles. A team of readers will then read and evaluate all 4 books to choose a winner. If you would like to be considered for the judging team and do not know any of the authors personally email us. Reader’s...
2505/2016June 7, 2025
RDSP Signs Maria Alexander’s YA Novel SNOWED
We are very pleased to announce that we’ve signed Maria Alexander’s second novel SNOWED continuing the productive collaboration that began with MR. WICKER which garnered a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. It’s slated for release later this year and is sure to be a popular title for the winter holidays. SNOWED is about Charity Jones, a 16-year-old engineering genius who’s much-bullied for being biracial and a skeptic at her conservative school in Oak County, California. After a particularly painful day, Charity’s social worker mother brings home a teen runaway named Aidan to foster for the...
2405/2016June 7, 2025
Steel Magic Cover Reveal
Title: Steel Magic Series: Steel Empires Book 2 Author: J.L. Gribble Genre: Urban Fantasy/Alternate History Release Date: July 6, 2016 Pre-order Link: http://amzn.to/1Rc17n2 Synopsis: Funerals are usually the end of the story, not the beginning. Newly graduated warrior-mages Toria Connor and Kane Nalamas find themselves the last remaining mages in the city when a mage school teacher mysteriously falls ill and dies. But taking over the school themselves isn’t in the cards. They’re set to become professional mercenaries-if they make it through the next 18 months as journeymen first. The debate over whether to hunt mutated monsters in the Wasteland...
1705/2016June 7, 2025
StokerCon the First
A Bunch of Writers in Vegas, What Could Go Wrong? The first ever StokerCon was quite an experience. I have to say that it was very well run. Everything I participated in went smoothly and the volunteers were all friendly, helpful and professional. Next year’s StokerCon will be on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA and I expect it will be amazing! I really appreciate the chance to take pitches and this year’s bunch were all excellent, read the guidelines, did their homework and brought their A game. Of course having an RDSP title nab a Stoker was certainly...
1205/2016June 7, 2025
Ridley Scott, S. Craig Zahler and Me
On Publishing a Book that Will be a Movie Do you know what’s crazy surreal? Seeing something you wrote paraphrased and referenced in The Hollywood Reporter. Recently the news broke that Wraiths of the Broken Land, a novel written by S. Craig Zahler, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press, is going to be made into a movie for 20th Century Fox by Ridley Scott, Drew Goddard and the amazing team behind The Martian. We had known this deal was possible and had a little forewarning, but it didn’t prepare us for the avalanche of news that poured in once the...
0504/2016June 7, 2025
Underwater Fistfight is Here!
Today is launch day for the new poetry collection from Matt Betts. As editor Stephanie Wytovich will surely tell you Underwater Fistfight is like no other poetry collection you’ve read! Betts is a pirate-poet who takes science fiction and throws it in the brig with horror while he sits outside the cell, laughing as they duke it out. He’s a regular Davy Jones, a sailor’s devil, claiming the lives of these poems and dragging them down to the locker to dissect, inspect, and sift through their stories and characters like plunder. Excerpt: The Great Zombie Pyramid Scheme The toughest part...
0204/2016June 7, 2025
Cover Reveal: Brothel
Coming May 2016 Our 4th poetry collection from Stephanie M. Wytovich will be released in May. All the poems included are exclusive to this volume and have not been published elsewhere! Pre-order HERE The Brothel Theme Brothels are places that are constructed as—sometimes legal, but mostly illegal—houses to buy and/or pay for sex. Run by a madam, typically an older woman who houses and provides for her girls, the business attracts clients of all shapes and sizes, all genders and behaviors. Sometimes business conducts itself without concern, a steady in-and-out, a quick fuck and profit, but other times, there are...
2302/2016June 7, 2025
2 RDSP Books Make the Bram Stoker Ballot for 2015
We’re excited to announce that two of last year’s releases have made it into the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards. An Exorcism of Angels, a poetry collection by Stephanie Wytovich, and While the Black Stars Burn, a short fiction collection from Lucy A. Snyder have both made the final cut. Congratulations to these talented authors and all the others on the ballot! View the entire ballot here. Praise for While the Black Stars Burn “Malevolent lineages and emotionally fraught familial relationships propel the plots of most of the 13 genre-spanning stories in Snyder’s strong collection….Snyder excels in her...
0402/2016June 7, 2025
Women in Horror Interviews Compiled
RDSP has made a concerted effort to support women in horror and we consider it one of our biggest accomplishments to have had 3 releases from female writers on the Bram Stoker Ballot in the same year! This post is a round-up of interviews and conversations we’ve had on the subject of women’s contributions to the Horror genre. Interviews Maria Alexander Donna Lynch Andrea Marie Jessica McHugh Lucy A. Snyder Damien Angelica Walters Deena Warner Stephanie Wytovich Tips for supporting gender equality in the arts When you read a great book by a woman (or experience any great art by...
1201/2016June 7, 2025
Announcing STOLEN AWAY by Kristin Dearborn
Horror Novel Coming in 2016 RDSP is excited to announce that we will are scheduling the release of paperback and ebook editions of Stolen Away by Kristin Dearborn for June, 2016. Previously Stolen Away had only been available as an $85 limited edition from Thunderstorm Books and is now completely sold out. Brian Keene recently included Dearborn’s novel in his honorable mentions for best book of 2015 and we are happy to be able to bring it to a wider audience. Book Description: Trisha will admit she’s made a few mistakes in her life but that checkered past is behind her....
0401/2016June 7, 2025
My Top 10 Reads of 2015
10 Great Books I Read in 2015 In 2014 I easily met my first reading goal of 52 books and had to move it up to 100. So for 2015 I challenged myself to 115 books. What was I thinking?! At one point I was 17 books behind schedule and considered giving up, but hate to let a goal go. So in the last few months of the year I limited myself to only short works (but still novel length) and managed to meet my goal. In fact, because I forgot to set dates on two of my completed books,...
0911/2015June 7, 2025
STEEL MAGIC
RDSP signs the sequel to STEEL VICTORY Raw Dog Screaming Press is pleased to announce we have signed a deal to release the sequel to J.L. Gribble’s debut novel Steel Victory. Book 2 of the Steel Empires urban fantasy/alternate history series, Steel Magic, will be released in 2016 under our imprint Dog Star Books. In Steel Magic, warrior-mages Toria and Kane are finally ready to begin their mercenary careers and debating between monster hunting and cushy bodyguard jobs. Instead, they are hired to investigate a much more serious problem—the world’s mages are disappearing. But when a friend is kidnapped, they’ll...
2710/2015June 7, 2025
Readers Choice Award Winner for 2014 Announced
Wytovich is the new Readers Choice Champ As part of DogCon IV, RDSP’s annual press party, we announced the winner of our 2nd annual Readers Choice Award. Mourning Jewelry, Stephanie M. Wytovich’s poetry collection from 2014, was the winner. We were lucky to have inaugural champion Matt Betts in attendance to pass the belt on. Last year Matt received the belt for his debut novel Odd Men Out. As our current champ Stephanie will hold onto the belt for a year and hopefully be on hand to present it to next year’s winner. Although the judges were not able to...