Local independent press will feature a notable line-up of award-winning, bestselling authors in its first anthology slated for Fall 2015
Hex Publishers, a new Denver-based publishing house, will release its first anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, in September 2015. The book will feature eighteen tales of dark and twisted fiction written by a roster of award-winning and bestselling authors that reads like a who’s who of dark and speculative fiction, a broad literary genre encompassing fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements—most often horror.
Contributors include Mario Acevedo, bestselling author of the Felix Gomez vampire series; Nebula Award winner Edward Bryant; New York Times bestseller Keith Ferrell; Jeanne C. Stein, bestselling author of The Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles; Bram Stoker Award winners Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem and more. New York Times bestseller Steve Alten will write the book’s foreword.
Hex was founded—fittingly enough on Halloween 2014—by Denver-based, award-winning writer Josh Viola and Dean Wyant, a long-time Colorado resident and bookseller. Frustrated with the many changes taking place in the publishing industry, not to mention the lack of control writers often experience when handing off their stories, the two set out to create a publishing house that is, as Viola puts it, “by writers, for writers.” Part of their development process included vetting other writers for their input.
As a result, Hex writers receive extensive editing services, advances, above-average pay rates, and may see their stories enhanced with artwork, animated games and music. For Viola, author of the award-winning The Bane of Yoto and Celldweller’s Blackstar, launching a writer-centric publishing company was the only choice.
“Our goal from the very beginning was to put writers first while providing them with the tools and support they need to churn out top-notch fiction,” he said. “We also felt strongly that there was an opportunity in the marketplace to feature quality fiction that might otherwise go unnoticed by mainstream media.”
Local author and Hugo Award winner, Jason Heller, who is contributing a short story to Nightmares Unhinged, said he liked the idea of working with a small, local press. “It’s been a very professional and pleasant experience working with them,” he said. “I got my start writing for local publications so it makes complete sense for me to contribute to a locally-published horror anthology.”
Since its founding last year, Hex has already released Viola’s short, “Luna One”, and acquired, from FIXT music, the rights to his award-winning title, The Bane of Yoto. That title, along with a prequel, Bloodmoon: Birth of the Beast, written by New York Times bestseller Keith Ferrell, will be released in 2016. Other Hex projects on the horizon include a mystery anthology featuring other notables in the genre, as well as comics, an industry in which Viola has deep connections.
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