Tag: author

Solitary Confinement (Issue 6)

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The official weekly Forsaken Press Newsletter:

Issue 6: 07/12/2019

From the desk of the President and Editor in Chief, Mr. Cameron Walker.

Hello all,

It’s been a very chaotic week outside of Forsaken Press for many of our staff. What with people losing employment, having university finals, financial issues, sick pets and high anxiety provoking jobs. That’s without even getting to the issue of me trying to find more work to support myself and having both of my cats be sick and lose their appetites because of the haze of smoke that lingers over the city of Sydney. So as you can see its all on behind the scenes, but through it all we will persevere and do our very best to bring you some excellent new reading material from unknown writers.

First thing’s first. As per Murphy’s law of “If something can go wrong, it will,” we’ve had a few complications with the release of the paperback version of Devil’s Eye that was originally slated for release on December 14th. To cut a long story short, to ensure the novel is of the very highest quality we’re currently re-editing it in order to bring you a more streamlined, exciting and vibrant tale of high seas adventure. This process is taking longer than originally anticipated, hence we have had to cancel the December 14th release and reschedule it for December 30th instead. In addition to this the Ebook version of the novel will reflect the changes made in the paperback edition and will feature a brand new cover specially designed for the physical book.

We’ve had to reshuffle things with our release schedule around a bit as a result of that and other external factors, but the good news is all three of our promised releases for December will be still happening this month and we have another release slated to take Devil’s Eye’s place for a release date of December 14th.

On December 14th we will be releasing Ken Dixon’s, The Roots of Marvis Jedd. Which is a satircal look at small town life in American, seen through the eyes of journalist Clay Reston, as he seeks to write a biography on his home town’s most famous son, the mysterious Marvis Jedd. The novella will be launched for a pre-release on the 7th of December.

Other than that we are happy to announce the beginning of two new Forsaken Press programs to help promote the company on Facebook and Social Media. The first being our “Promotional Partnerships” program with other individuals, pages, companies and entities as a mutual promotion program. I am very happy to announce that our first promotional partnership is with our very own consultant and accomplished Indy writer Roxanne Bland, who’ has won numerous awards for her work.

The second being the Official Forsaken Press Web Team. Which is a group of dedicated supporters helping to promote Forsaken Press on Social Media by liking, commenting on and sharing our posts across Social Media to help expand our presence and let more people know who we are.

That’s it from me for now, but before I go I would just like to point out that we have now reached 500 followers on Facebook, which is a huge accomplishment. Thank you so much to everyone who liked our page and we hope to see you getting involved in the fun.

Warm regards and sincerest thanks,

Cameron Walker,
President and Editor in Chief,
Forsaken Press.

Interview with C. Priest Brumley: On Writing

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Hello ladies and gentlemen, Forsaken Press President and Editor in Chief Cameron Walker here. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Forsaken Press writer, our Head Graphic Artist and the maestro of madness, Mr. C. Priest Brumley for the next edition of our On Writing series of interviews. We discussed writing, horror and how writers can find inspiration for their imagination and ideas. I hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as we enjoyed conducting it……..

How did you first become interested in writing?

-Always was, growing up. I recall wanting to be a writer as far back as primary school. Hell, I tried writing my first novel in 6th Grade. Fun times. I don’t know what drew me to it, it’s just always been, like sunlight or Ozzy.

Who are the major influences on your style?

-Lovecraft was a MASSIVE early inspiration. Others include Stephen King, Thomas Harris, Rosemary Edgehill, Piers Anthony, Jo Rowling, and Jim Butcher. I’m also greatly influenced by comics, in particular the works of Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Jeph Loeb.

You’re someone who is really into music, how does that impact upon your writing?

-Not as much as you’d think, to be honest. While I am a devoted metalhead, it’s rare for themes from the music I enjoy to find their way in to my works. My writing is much more inspired by film scores and recently synthwave albums. They both provide a proper ambiance conducive to me shutting my brain down long enough to write.

How do you find inspiration for stories?

-Nightmares and the human condition. I’ve had a number of medical issues over the years, primary of which is my eyesight. To combat that, I have to get injections IN my eyeball every four weeks or so. Ladies, Gentlemen, and that gorgeous technicolour rainbow in between, that is NIGHT TERROR fuel. So you save those terrors, write them down as best you can after waking, and expand on them later. Makes for effective subject matter, I’ll tell you that.

What is it about horror that makes you focus primarily on that genre?

-It’s fun and it’s versatile. Horror can be such a wide range of things, from campy and comedic to heart-stopping terror. It can be about something as generic as vampires to something as specific as spousal abuse. It’s literally anything you want it to be, and I love that.

Your first release is a collection of short stories, do you have plans to write any novels or are you primarily a short fiction writer?

-Short fiction. My span of attention is horrible, and every time I’ve tried writing longer narratives I lose track/interest/plot details/etc. super easily.So I circumvent that by not doing it. Seems like a reasonable solution to me, at least.

What part of the writing process do you find the most challenging?

-All of it. I see writing in much the same way Thomas Harris does: it’s torture. It’s a painful process that I have to be miserable to do in any meaningful capacity. Hence going 6 or so years between stories. There’s a reason I focus on my other big love, graphic design. Designing book covers gives me no end of pleasure, from the puzzle elements in finding just the right font or tweak, to the messages of elation when an author loves the cover I’ve made for them. Makes my entire day.

What is it about writing that you love the most?

-The feeling of completion after it’s done. That pure feeling never grows old.

Horror movies these days get a lot of criticism from old school fans of the genre, what’re your thoughts on the current horror movie scene?

-It’s a two-sided coin. On the one hand, there’s the studio-engineered stuff, the PG-13 bullshit that the big corporations want to shove down your throat purely to increase their profit margins. It produces the occasional gem (Occulus, etc.). On the other hand there are the artists, like always. The people who aren’t afraid to push boundaries. The Soska Sisters, Robert Eggers, Ari Aster, and more are beautifully changing the game one film at a time, and I love it. So long as there are always artists, there’s always hope.

Do you have a specific ritual in place for when you’re sitting down to write to get yourself in the mood?

-Not really. On the rare occasion that a story idea comes to me anymore, I just write it down as quickly as possible. When I go back to it for expanding/revision, I like to be in my living room where I’m comfortable, with a decent film score or synthwave album on in the background as white noise. That’s about it, really.

What’s your favourite story you’ve written and why? What’s it about?

-Nine times out of ten I’m going to say Conversations With Dead People. In the pseudo-Universe I’ve created in my stories, I’ve made zombies work slightly different than normal, being part of a hive system. This was the first true example of that, and also features my absolute favorite death across any of my stories (except maybe for The Red Recliner). As for what it’s about, well, you’ll have to read it for yourselves.

Is there any underlying social criticism or message to your stories that go beyond being entertainment?

-Yes. Take care of your eyesight, kids. It’s important. Joking aside, not really. They’re primarily morality plays, particularly the Masach stories.

Can you give us an example?

-Yes. Childish Negotiations is a warning about taking the time to be there for your children before they’re gone forever. Other stories follow along similar routes.

How much inspiration from your life experiences and surroundings can be found in your work?

– As much insofar as dreams are comprised of the collected events of the day combined with one’s rampant imagination. Sometimes they’re informed by exagerated versions of things I’ve witnessed in life, sometimes wild stories brought about from my younger days of wild drinking.

What do your friends and family think of your writing?

-They’ve been supportive from the off. The majority of my family has been really cool with the fact that I’m a creative type, even if they’re not too keen on the stories themselves. Now, I’m not too close with the majority of my family, mostly because I like to stay in my corner away from most people. But those that I do feel close to are supportive and I can only express gratitude at that fact.

Forsaken Press Quality Guidelines:

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Forsaken Press is dedicated to embracing creativity, imagination, originality and pushing the boundaries of storytelling by encouraging experimentation and thinking outside the box. As such there’s no idea that we consider too crazy, wild or out there for us to support.

However we believe in maintaining a high standard in the quality of work we publish in the quest of establishing a reputable and respected brand. This in accordance with our modus operandi means there are certain types of stories we are going to be less interested in. That’s not to say we don’t like conventional stories, not at all. Devil’s Eye, the first novel ever published by Forsaken Press, is a conventional story.

What we are not interested in is stories that are very stereotypical, cliché or have been overdone and can be found elsewhere in abundance. In addition to anything that we find morally objectionable which we have reason to believe is a testament to the author’s own views. Although it should be noted that if you put an interesting twist on these things, we will certainly hear you out. We believe in giving everyone a fair reading and if we feel it is well written enough or overcomes these barriers in some way we can certainly get behind it. This guide applies to both short stories and longer works.

Here is a list of the sort of stories/themes we are talking about:

1) It turns out nothing is real: Stories where everything turns out to be just a dream, virtual reality, a product of the protagonist’s imagination or it turns out they are insane. While there’s nothing wrong with this narrative device it is rather passé and overdone.
2) Technology is evil and natural things are good. While this can present an interesting theme within a work, it shouldn’t be the main focus of your story.
3) The protagonist is a bad guy. While we have no issues with evil characters (they’re very fun), again your story shouldn’t revolve around this fact.
4) A twist ending occurs which is predictable or falls flat. A twist ending is supposed to make the story more interesting, not the other way round. (IE: M. Night Shyamalan films).
5) It turns out the main character isn’t human after all, as the reader has been led to believe. While there’s nothing wrong with this concept in theory, it’s been done to death.
6) Story involving time travel where something happens that affects the past/future as a result. Again, this has been done many times in film, TV and literature. It’s not interesting anymore.
7) Characters speculate what it would be like if something bizarre and outside the realm of reality was true, then it turns out it is. Let’s try to be original shall we?
8) Scientist uses themselves as a test subject.
9) Stories revolving around how awesome space/time travel or some hypothetical technology is. Your story should have more depth to it than that.
10) Stories revolving around how women, people of other races/sexualities etc are inherently evil or inferior in some way. Forsaken Press isn’t here to lend psychological validation to your bigotry. Not only is it morally and factually wrong, but it’s a poor concept to revolve a story around. We suggest taking some time out for open and honest self-reflection as to the basis for your beliefs.
11) Characters spend the entire story, or an inordinate amount of time contemplating a moral dilemma of some sort. While moral dilemmas lend a story/character depth and add drama it shouldn’t be the primary focus. We do want a narrative of some sort so the story progresses somewhere.
12) A political manifesto in the guise of a fictional narrative. No one wants to read about your personal politics. While political themes are encouraged again this shouldn’t be the driving factor behind your story, especially if you’re portraying anyone who disagrees with you in an unrealistically negative light.
13) Superhero story focuses on the mundane aspects of superhero life. This has been done quite a lot already.
14) Weird, random and mysterious things happen for the sake of it. While we love weird and mysterious things there must be some sort of rhyme or reason for it, otherwise its pointless and points to poor writing.
15) The story revolves around the concept of rape, sexual assault or violence against women, usually depicted in loving detail, in a story about how it is wrong. Again Forsaken Press is not here to act as a vehicle to vent your psychological issues.
16) Real world concepts, dynamics and power structures etc are inverted. It’s overdone and is a sign of a lack of imagination.
17) Stories of someone becoming a superhero or developing superpowers. While we love these types of stories they’ve been done to death and so your story would have to involve a unique take on it to be approved.
18) Story revolves around the concept of minors being test subjects of some sort in a government facility. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it has been done a lot.
19) Stories that are a thinly veiled work of fan fiction. We’re not opposed to fan fiction or being influenced/inspired by a fictional universe, but if you write a story about a character that’s basically Batman under a different name we’re not interested. We want originality, not cheap rip offs.
20) Romance stories. While we’re not opposed to romantic relationships or subplots, romance isn’t a genre that fits with the image we seek to portray at Forsaken Press.
21) Stories about everyday life, trials and tribulations people encounter in the real world. Forsaken Press aims to focus primarily on speculative, or genre, fiction. While we are open to the idea of publishing stories set in the real-world drama stories aren’t something that fits our image. In general there has to be some “larger than life” aspect to your work that sets it aside from normal, every day life.
22) Finally Forsaken Press, like every other publisher, independent or otherwise is bound to the constraints of the law. Stories glorifying, promoting or normalising illegal activity, revolving around incest, paedophilia, rape, bestiality, terrorism, torture, murder etc are illegal in most markets and as such will be rejected instantly.
23) Supernatural romance. This genre has been done to death and is a crowded marketplace where its almost impossible to stand out. Hence Forsaken Press isn’t interested in stories of supernatural romance or your thinly veiled Twilight fan-fiction.

Now we move on to the subject of quantity. We do want to allow our writers as much freedom as possible with their own work, but by the same token we do need to establish some guidelines to ensure we are offering a professional, good quality product that is fairly priced and of sufficient length. While we firmly support the saying “quality over quantity” we also believe customers should get their money’s worth.

Forsaken Press like most publishers doesn’t sell individual short stories, nor are we interested in individual novellettes. The shortest type of single story product we want to produce is a novella which is between 20,000 – 40,000 words with novels being 40,000 and over. Single writer short story collections should be at least 40,000 words in length. Omnibus’s and anthologies released by FP should meet a minimum word count of 60,000 words. (NOTE: from 01/12/2019 until 30/01/2020 we are not taking submissions for single writer collections).

However, we are flexible with how you incorporate this into your works. Say for example you’ve written a novelette length story, if you so wish you can include it in a short story collection you are publishing. Anthologies have stricter guidelines because in order to appear professional they must be cohesive. Remember that professionalism, organisation and lay out plays an important role in a reader’s perceptions of your competence as a writer and what they deem high quality material.

Note: Forsaken Press reserves the right to alter these conditions at any time. Whether it be by editing, subtracting or making new additions to the terms discussed therein.

Copyright Forsaken Press 2019.

Interview with Cameron Walker: On Writing

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Hello and welcome to the first Forsaken Press writers interview in our On Writing series. This series focuses on our authors and their work in general and serves to operate as a sort of “get to know me” from a professional viewpoint. This interview with Forsaken Press founder, President and Editor in Chief Cameron Walker was conducted by our Social Media Manager Jenna.

What got you started with writing?


I’ve always had a vivid imagination, ever since I was little. I remember when I was in the first grade I used to make up stories to tell my mum when she walked me to school. I’ve always loved reading and stories. I believe it comes from being read bedtime stories by my parents and uncle as a kid and so the imagination combined with a love of reading just naturally colluded and it was something I fell into. My dad reading Treasure Island to me was the catalyst, I think. I was only 4 at the time but I vividly remember him reading it to me and being enthralled by the tales of pirates and adventure and really getting into it with my own imagination. You can really see where the influence for my first novel Devil’s Eye, about pirates, came from there, ha ha.

Who are your greatest influences?


In order of discovery: Robert Louis Stevenson, George Lucas, R.L Stine, Joss Whedon, J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft.

What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?


Build a good sized fan base and provide them with a lot of good quality reading material. Ultimately that’s what it all comes down to. But to elaborate a bit I thrive on always challenging myself and striving to try something new or risky. Be it a different narrative style, genre, plot, characters, setting etc, you name it. I’m always looking to push the envelope and accomplish something new.

What has been the highlight of your writing career so far?


Finishing and finally publishing my first novel Devil’s Eye has been the most significant moment for sure. I don’t do anything by halves or half arse it when it comes to my writing. A lot of writers, their first novel will be 50-80 thousand words long, something on the shorter side. Devil’s Eye is 135,000 words and I get a lot of satisfaction by knowing that my first is an epic, that I went all out and gave it my all to produce this monster as my first released novel. I bit off more than I could chew and it took a long time as a result, along with a couple of other factors, but in the end it makes the achievement all the greater.

What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you?


Actually doing it. Coming up with an idea and turning that vague idea into a fully developed plot with characters, themes, a direction and overall message is easy for me. The hard part is actually writing it all down and getting it right, a lot tends to get lost in that “brain to paper” transition. Developing the skills and ability to get it down the way you want it has been the biggest challenge for me, but one I’ve done well at overcoming, thus far at least. It takes a lot of time, patience and energy to write, hence I find I struggle to do more than a thousand words a day before I start to feel burnt out. So I’m certainly a slow writer in that regard, which is a challenge in itself.

What impact has writing had on your life?


It’s something that I’m passionate about and that I love doing. It’s a creative outlet and that combined with a vivid imagination certainly makes life more interesting and fun. I derive a sense of meaning and purpose from it, but at the same time it’s isolating. If you want to be a good writer and achieve any measure of success you’ve got to be prepared to spend a lot of time alone. It doesn’t bother me, because I love my alone time, but’s not an interest for extroverts. You also have to accept that most people won’t be remotely interested in your work. Musician, artist or actor? Sure, it’s fairly easy to get people interested in that, but writing’s something that takes time and effort to appreciate, which most people don’t have the patience for. And if you’re an indy or unpublished writer, most people are going to automatically assume you’re shit at it. What it comes down to is, writing doesn’t build egos, it destroys them. That’s the cold, hard truth of it.

What is the first book that made you cry?


None thus far. I don’t think I’ve ever read a sad book. I’ve seen plenty of sad movies and cried during lots for various reasons, but I can’t say a book has ever drawn that sort of emotional reaction from me.

If you could tell your younger self anything about writing, what would it be?

Focus less on fan-fict and more on your own material. Don’t waste your time trying to get Devil’s Eye perfect, it will never be. By the time you’ve finished editing it once more you’ll have improved as a writer and hence will find more to take issue with. This process will continue ad infinitum if you let it. (Part of the reason it took so long to release).

What’s your favourite under-rated novel?


Probably Dean Koontz’s One Door Away From Heaven. I’ve read about 8 of his novels and most of them are among his best and most highly rated. This one really struck a cord with me, yet I have never seen it be rated that highly anywhere. I loved the plot, narrative style, blending of fantasy, sci-fi, horror and thriller, the characters, atmosphere and focus on imagery and environment that’s missing from a lot of his other works.

Have you ever read anything that changed what you thought fiction could be?


I already knew that fiction is often philosophical via the themes and messages within a story whether it be via film or literature, but Sartre’s Nausea opened my eyes to just how deeply philosophical fiction could be. How actual philosophy in itself could literally drive a narrative and shape a plot around it.

Do you believe in writer’s block?


As in do I think other people get it? Yeah, I know its quite a common thing for a lot of writers to get. George R.R. Martin had it for years while trying to get The Winds of Winter done.
I’ve never really had it myself because of the way I write. I know what I’m going to write before I write it. If I ever find myself getting stuck for whatever reason then I get up, walk away and return at a later date and continue. I’ve never really had much of an issue with it except for the odd day where I wanted to write, but it just wasn’t happening.

You’ve recently released your own full-length novel, Devil’s Eye.  What kind of research went into writing it?


Despite the fact it’s a historical novel set in the late 1600’s not as much as you would think. I’ve always been an avid reader and have loved history since the 4th grade. I’ve loved pirates specifically since I was four years old, so I’d already read quite a lot about them and the era. At least enough to write the story convincingly. The only real research I did was learning about different names for parts of the ship, different types of ships there were, what sets them apart and making sure I had them all right.

What was the hardest scene to write?


It really depends, different things can be tricky for various reasons. For example battles and combat scenes were tricky in the sense that a lot of the same sort of stuff happens over and over again, but you’ve got to try to find different ways to express it so it doesn’t grow stale and get boring. How do you describe ships firing their cannons at each other six times without it getting dull?
But the part I really struggled with was some of the dialogue scenes between Christine, a young aristocratic French woman and the pirates. It was difficult to try to have them interact with meaningful discourse that was believable. I wanted to get a social criticism going of different sides of the social scale and their perspectives on the world, which was very difficult. Reading it back you can tell I struggled with it as it didn’t really come off as intended, but it is what it is.

What did you edit out?
To be honest I can’t really remember much of what I cut out, but there was a decent amount of it. The final version before I began editing it ended up being 150,000 words long and I ended up cutting about 15,000 from it. A lot of it came from just deleting unnecessary words, tightening up sentences and rewrites here and there. I trimmed a few scenes, but I don’t recall anything specific. It’s stuff I chose to delete because it was inferior, and I tend to not focus on the crap.

How can your fans best support you? 

This may sound cliché, but its true, buy my work, read it. The best way to support someone is to take an interest in their work by investing your time, money and energy into it. You never know you might just surprise yourself and end up really enjoying it.

If you’re interested in a good adventure story you can check out Devil’s Eye here at Smashwords (Also available on Amazon and Kobo): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/986119

Solitary Confinement

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The official weekly Forsaken Press Newsletter:

Issue 4: 22/11/2019

From the desk of the President and Editor in Chief, Mr. Cameron Walker.

Well friends another week has passed us by and it has officially been a month since the launching of Forsaken Press, and what a month it has been. During this past month we have signed five writers and obtained three additional staff members with four novels slated for release in the next few months. We have established our social media network for marketing and promotions across Social Media including: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Youtube, Instagram and our brand new official blog. A lot of the paperwork for contracts and behind the scenes Forsaken Press documents have been drafted and finalised and we have established a distribution network that includes Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Bookbaby and Lulu. We are also in the process of paving the way for print editions of all our releases and have some big plans in store in regards to other media outlets, projects, Youtube channel, official blog, future releases and the overall growth and expansion of Forsaken Press.

This week as with any other comes with another big announcement and this week’s should be pretty obvious, simply by the fact that this issue of Solitary Confinement is coming from our brand new official blog and not our Facebook page as previously published. We have some big plans in store for our blog with it starting out small for now, but as Forsaken Press expands it will too with the establishment of our official online store where you can purchase all our releases directly from the publisher, along with some other cool bonus features and a regular column or two from some of our fantastic staff and writers.

I would like to take the opportunity to officially welcome our new editor Ashley Olivier to the Forsaken Press team. Ashley has joined us to help with the workload of editing that plagues my desk on a daily basis to take some of that pressure off my shoulders so I can focus more time and energy on the day to day operations of Forsaken Press without wanting to tear my hair out. Which is good because I’m rather attached to my hair.

We have a lot planned for the future and not one, but two releases coming in the following month, with the print edition of Devil’s Eye and another release not too far behind them. The response and support given to Forsaken Press has been phenomenal thus far and I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who’s shown us their interest and support. It motivates us to work even harder to bring you releases of great, fresh new material from previously unheard of writers, bring exciting developments and original content from Forsaken Press across various forms of media and offer independent writers a place where they can get support from a publisher that is truly operated by writers, for writers.

Warm regards,

Cameron Walker,
President and Editor in Chief,
Forsaken Press.

The Forsaken Press Team:

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Forsaken Press would like to introduce you to our wonderful team of staff and writers who not only operate the publisher behind the scenes, but also provide us with lots of fantastic content that will be becoming available in the coming weeks and months.

Cameron Walker:
Founder, President and Editor in Chief:

The mastermind behind Forsaken Press Mr. Walker is also an avid reader and writer and hence a heavy contributor of material to the Forsaken Press catalog. A versatile writer with sixteen years of writing experience he writes in a wide range of genres including, but certainly not limited to horror, sci-fi, fantasy, cyberpunk, historical and weird fiction.


C. Priest Brumley:
Head Graphic Artist:

Priest isn’t only our chief graphic designer, putting together a lot of the cover art you see on Forsaken Press products, but he’s also an enthusiastic contributor to our written material. Specialising in horror and cyber-noir fiction the maestro of madness embraces a style of writing that’s intense, macabre and thrives on exploring the darker side of humanity.


Jenna Marie:
Social Media Manager:

Although she’s not much of a fiction writer, Jenna serves an invaluable role at Forsaken Press as our social media manager. Working with our team to ensure our social media web is extensive, effective and efficient. Whether its bringing you all the latest news and updates on developments at Forsaken Press or promoting and marketing our releases and material, her role is a vital one.


Ashley Olivier:
Editor/Marketing Manager:

Ashley is our official assistant editor here to help with the workload of editing, formatting and preparing work for release. Aside from that she brings years of experience in writing, editing and navigating the world of social media in a professional sense that’s invaluable to the maintenance and growth of Forsaken Press. In addition to being recently promoted to the position of marketing manager to help market and promote Forsaken Press releases to ensure we remain competitive in an ever changing marketplace.


Roxanne Bland:
Consultant:

Accomplished Indy writer Roxanne Bland is part of the Forsaken Press team in the official capacity of a consultant, providing input, advice and helpful insight. With four published novels to her name she brings decades of writing, professional and industry knowledge to Forsaken Press, being a valuable addition to the team.


Cassandra Castaneda:
Writer:

Not only proficient at writing fantasy and sci-fi, but Cassandra’s unique brand of sci-fi/fantasy gives her original voice and distinctive style the magic touch that makes her and her work fit in perfectly with the image and atmosphere of Forsaken Press.


Sasha Cuha:
Writer:

Artist, actor, musician, poet and writer, Mr. Cuha is a certified virtuoso of the arts who brings two decades of experience with him to Forsaken Press. Whether he’s writing a short story, novel or poetry you can be sure it will be a fun, entertaining and thrilling, high quality read.


Z. Delaune:
Writer:

Our resident mistress of horror, Z. Delaune’s unique brand of intense, emotional, in your face horror gives her a distinct voice and style that’s a perfect fit for Forsaken Press.


Affiliate Writers:

Ken Dixon:

The first of what we hope will be many affiliate writers Ken’s absurdist style of existential satire seeks to provide a critique on contemporary American culture that is vaguely reminiscent of the fiction works of Albert Camus.

Allyson Cooper Russell:

Allyson’s unique brand of Sci-Fi themed drama brings an individualistic and fresh style of writing with it that provides Forsaken Press with some more down to earth, but still speculative, and all too human drama to fill out our roster of contributing authors.

Forsaken Press Mission Statement

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Forsaken Press Mission Statement:

Forsaken Press aims to provide independent writers with a place that embraces creativity, imagination and telling exciting stories that are unique and outside the box. Forsaken Press firmly believes in allowing writers to tell their stories, their way, while maintaining high standards in our quality of content and encouraging a collaborative and supportive environment of writers helping each other. Whether this be with the writing or creative process itself or through our collaborative promotion and marketing network on social media. Forsaken Press endeavours to establish and maintain a wide arching and flourishing social media network of promotional and marketing avenues and tools.

Alongside this Forsaken Press’s goal is to operate as an alternative for traditional publishers that allows writers to retain creative control of their work as well as a level of ownership and contractual stipulations that are fair and evenly balanced between the author and publishing house. We aim to help independent writers overcome the obstacles of self-publishing while having the power of a reputable and respected publisher behind them so they can still reap the benefits that self-publishing brings, but without the negative drawbacks and with the guarantee to customers of high quality, professional content.

Forsaken Press is dedicated to bringing writers: Creative control, ownership, fair contractual obligations, an effective and efficient marketing strategy, opportunity, a supportive community and the support of a respected and reputable publisher.