There I am, on the way home from San Antonio. It’s after dark, in the Hill Country, and I’ve already seen way too many Whack-Frack* deer on the side of the highway, so I’ve got my hi-beams on, looking for eyeshine on the median, and on each side of US 281.

Behind me is a blue luxury sedan who seems to be somewhat irritated by the fact that I am doing the speed limit, but won’t pull into the left lane and just go the hell around me.

Pretty soon I see that tell-tale glow off in the brush to the right, but it isn’t moving, so I ease on over into the left lane and start checking to make sure there aren’t any culverts in the median in case I have to juke that way.

Apparently blue luxury believes that this is just one step too far on my part, because I hear the downshift, and watch an expensive blue streak pass me (unlawfully) on the right.

Seems like the God of Deer is a Law And Order type, because as soon as Little Blue violates the Texas Transportation Code, the deer startles her happy little butt onto the highway.

I tap my brakes and whip in behind the sedan just in time to hear the car announce “WHACK!” (authoritatively); the driver shriek “FRACK!” (statistically), and watch the ex-deer high-speed pirouette towards the centre median.

Since my entire world has just gone slow-motion Panic Brake-Light Red, I slide left, punch the Go-Pedal, and — rather gracefully, if I do say so myself — thread the needle between the front of the luxury wreck and the counter-clockwise spinning 80+ pounds of insurance claim.

I get stopped, activate my hazard lights, and back up to the very expensive pile of parts now parked way out in the shoulder, get out and trot up to the driver’s side window.

Inside, I see what looks like — under all the dust from an airbag deployment — a teenage boy. He is locked onto the steering wheel, and looks rigid, so I try the door. Nope, locked. I cop-rap the window, he startles loose from his panic and opens the door.

“Got that ass, huh?”

“I-I-I- think I … hit something!”

I look towards the median. Not a twitch from the carcass. “I think you’re right.”

“OhMyGawd, I think I hit a deer! Did I kill it?”

“Don’t worry about it. They’re making more.”

He looks at me, and I see the gulping start. I point towards the passenger side floorboard, “If you’re going to yark, do it that way.” He flops sideways and start noisily getting reacquainted with his supper. I scan the headboard, spot a red button, and hit it. I am rewarded with a couple of tones, and then a professionally calm voice announces, “[Luxury Car] Assistance, is there an emergency?”

Bedamned, she doesn’t have an accent. “Yes. The blue [Luxury Model] this thing is attached to just kinetically interfaced with a deer on US 281 in [County] County, Texas.”

“I understand. Are you the driver?”

“Nope, he’s busy stress barfing. Hey, Scooter! If you taste rich Corinthian leather, swallow hard. That’ll be the seat, and you don’t want to puke that up.”

There are faint overtones of amusement, “Yes, sir, and what agency are you with?”

“Oh, I’m not. The scene is about 8 miles north of [City], on the northbound side. Run a DPS trooper out here, and probably an ambulance — he’s got airbag injuries.”

“Yes, sir. And your name is?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Sir.” The tone is Professionally Stern and No-Nonsense, “I need your name for the report.”

“Oh, my bad. First name ‘Millicent’ last name ‘Bystander’. Common spelling.”

“Yes, sir. ‘M’ ‘I’ ‘L’ … wait a minute.”

“You done puking, Scooter?” A shaky thumb appears, before he wipes his mouth. I look back towards my car, “Outstanding.”

“Sir.”

“Talk to the nice lady until the Woo-Woo Crew get here.”

He nods, but the disembodied voice is getting rather more insistent: “SIR.”

I wave to the kid, “Toodles.”

“SIR. SIR! SIR!”

And how was y’all’s evening?

LawDog

*The colloquial term for “Motor Vehicle Accident Involving Livestock or Game” amongst the children when I was still in Law Enforcement. The second word in the phrase isn’t “Frack”, but I’m trying to keep the old blog PG13. If you can’t guess, it rhymes with “Duck”.

Rita is home, so this will be the last entry for this round of “Rising Tide Week”. Today’s spotlight is on Team “… And More”.

The name comes from the convention of putting several author’s names on the cover of an anthology, followed by “… and more!” for everyone else.

Jamie Ibson created the red circle logo, and recounts how the name appeared here, but the webpage was created and is maintained by Sam Robb.

Their Facebook is here.

Team “… And More” is dedicated to helping authors, and is chock-full of resources: Lists of open calls, editors for hire. contact info for publishers … and more.

They are very much in the spirit of “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats” and we are fortunate enough to call them friends.

If you’re a writer, an aspiring writer, or even someone who just wants to see what this whole writing thing is about — go have a look.

At least stop by their Facebook and say “Hi!”

(Cross-posted to the Raconteur Press Substack.)

LawDog

Todays NextGen Publisher is Wargate Books.

WarGate came to my attention from the enthusiastic recommendations of several members of the Raconteur Press staff.

Perhaps a little bit too enthusiastic. Settle down Steve, that’s quite enough.

The project of the dynamic author-publisher team-up of Jason Anspach and Nick Cole, WarGate is not only the home of their massively successful and hardcore as heck wars-of-stellar-bodies-that-don’t-suck-because-our-elite-soldiers-can-actually-hit-something, aka Galaxy’s Edge, but serves as home to the awesome likes of Blaine Lee Pardoe, Peter Nealen, Ryan Williamson, Mark Sibley, Doc Spears, and more!

Their website is here. Complete with merch, toys, even RPG games.

The central conceit of WarGate’s capstone series, Forgotten Ruin, is to take modern day warriors and drop them into a fantasy setting, and see how they do. That’s it. That’s the schtick. The answer is, pretty friggin’ awesome, that’s how they do! As it says on the tin “Tolkien Meets Shock & Awe.”

Just to help drive home what they’re about a little more:

Their Substack is here.

Their Facebook is here.

Their Order of the Centurion series in the Galaxy’s Edge universe features stand-alone novels by some of mil sci-fi’s best and brightest.

I’d take it kindly if you’d tell five friends about WarGate, go by their social media and say “Hi!” and then browse their backlist. I think you’ll be pleased.

(Cross-posted on the Raconteur Press Substack.)

LawDog

Camden Park Press is the second of our highlighted NextGen Publishers that I haven’t met yet, but Jonna Hayden and Mike Burke speak highly of her. (She’s funny and delightful in person—Jonna)

I don’t know a whole lot about Lyn Worthen, the publisher over at Camden Park Press, but I’m told that she’s a one-woman operation, and for that she has my complete respect. Her track record and communication with her authors is a wonder to behold, and our gang learned a lot from her at Writer’s Cantina.

Camden Park does—to my absolute delight—quirky and fun anthologies, found on the webpage above. LOTS of them!

She also does series, including Hit Lady For Hire, and The Bloodline Chronicles. 

Their Facebook is here, but being a singleton her social media presence is a little sparse, however completely worth the visit.

She’s also just become a Grandma, so congratulations are in order.

Tell five reading friends about Camden Park Press, pop over to her Facebook page and say, “Hi!”, then take a look at their backlist.

Thanks,

LawDog

(Cross-posted at the Raconteur Press Substack.)

Today’s NextGen Publisher isn’t a personal friend — yet.

Tuscany Bay Books came to my attention when there was a bit of a kerfuffle involving one of their authors and their publisher — Richard Paolinelli — backed his author. Sorry to say that’s kind of unique these days.

They started out as an on-line magazine publisher in 2007, expanded to novels in 2013, and has a decent collection of authors, including (but not limited to) Lori Janeski, Bob Brill, Rob Jones, Raconteur author Declan Finn, and others.

I’d like to mention that Lori was in a massive car wreck recently, so if you could go by her Amazon page and show her some love, it would be greatly appreciated.

As you can see, Tuscany Bay Books offers some genres that the other NextGen Publishers I’ve mentioned don’t — including poetry.

I am gently informed that most of our readers would probably enjoy the Planetary Anthology series, and members of our staff are big on the Saint Tommy series, so you might consider starting there. although — quite honestly — the Cthulu Amalgamated series looks right up my alley.

Their YouTube channel is here.
Facebook is here.

One thing to keep an eye on too, is the long-awaited debut of SF living legend John C. Wright’s Starquest series, born out of the author’s frustration with a certain…war of stellar bodies…setting.

Publisher Richard Paolinelli himself has two prequels out in this series, which is off to a promising start!

I’d take it kindly if you’d tell five friends about Tuscany Bay Books, go by their social media and say “Hi!”, and then browse their backlist. I think you’ll be pleased.

(Cross-posted to the Raconteur Press Substack.)

LawDog

I have a fondness for today’s NextGen Publisher.

Hillbilly — also known as William Joseph Roberts — of Three Ravens Publishing was the first publisher to treat me like a peer, shake my hand, and simply say, “If you need something, let me know.” No caveats, no conditions, no limits. Just, “How can I help?”

As you can figure, Hillbilly is a genuine salt-of-the-earth guy, and quite honestly Rita and I count him and Word Witch as dear friends. He is also a veteran — again, recurring theme, right?

Three Ravens Publishing is probably best known for their It Came From The Trailer Park anthologies, and their work in Steve Jackson’s Car Wars IP, but they publish some horror, some Mil Sci-Fi, a little Fantasy, a little Science Fiction, and some work from the legendary Robert Silverberg.

A little bit of everything, really.

You’ll find Three Ravens Publishing all across social media, but in the vein of: “Don’t Let Ian Touch The Tech!*” I keep hearing, we’ll restrict the list to the ones I’m familiar with:
Facebook.
YouTube.
And apparently something called a “Discord Server”. Damfino, y’all will have to figure that one out**.

Three Ravens has been having some Life Issues pop up and huck some Big Ol’ Pocking Wrenches into things, but I have faith that they’ll come out just fine.

Go tell five friends who don’t know them about Three Ravens, say, “Hi!” on their social, and go browse their back-list. They’ve got good stuff.

(Cross-posted on the Raconteur Press Substack.)

LawDog
*Computer and internet stuff is just magic. If people would let me hit it harder, pretty sure the spirits would straighten up and start acting right.

**People think I’m joking when I refer to the “Magic Elf Box” and “Sacrificing a bucket of KFC” to fix it. I’m not.

Ok, reach into the hat — today’s highlighted NextGen Publisher is Cannon Publishing!

Another press started by veterans (Seeing a trend here?) , Cannon is headed up by J.F. Holmes — his first name is actually “John”, but for obvious reasons he tends to go by “J.F” (Kids, ask your parents). He’s a friend and a good man, with good people working with him.

Cannon Publishing runs the gamut from Zombie Apocalypse to Urban Fantasy to Military Sci-Fi, and other stuff.

Of course, Cannon offers audiobooks.

Cannon also runs the annual High Caliber Award for New Writers — well worth taking a look at if you’re a new, or aspiring, writer.

Cannon Publishing’s Facebook page is here.

Tell some friends about Cannon Publishing, pop over to their Facebook page and say, “Hi!”, then go peruse their back-list. Pretty sure you’ll find something worth reading there.

(Crossposted to the Raconteur Press Substack.)

LawDog

Ok. Rising Tide Week.

We’re starting out completely randomly with Jumpmaster Press. I have no idea why this press isn’t more well-known, because they’re professional and putting in the work.

Gene Rowley and Kyle Hannah are veterans, salt-of-the-earth folks, and I’m proud to call them friends.

Their website is here. And their selection is glorious. If you’re a geek, they publish Armin Shimerman, best known for his work as Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he’s a damned fine author as well.

If you like the classics — and who doesn’t — their Black Spine Collection has to be seen in person, the Internet doesn’t do them justice. And for those who appreciate a good audiobook, Jumpmaster has a really unique take on them — a take I’m quite frankly jealous of. 

Their Facebook page is here — drop by and say, “Hi!” — and they’ve got a YouTube channel here.

Good, decent people, with a broad selection of reading (or listening) material.

Tell at least five friends, and browse their back-list, of your kindness. I think you’re likely to find something that appeals to you.

LawDog

(Cross-posted on the Raconteur Press Substack.)

Rita is off visiting tribe, and then to see her out-of-State family so I’m baching it for the week or so.

To stay out of trouble I have decided that the week is going to be Rising Tide Week!

I hope it is no secret that I’m a big cheerleader for small publishing houses. I do realize that small publishing houses have a reputation — deserved in many cases — for being dilettantes in the industry. For not taking it seriously, for treating like a hobby, and — most damning in my eyes — for not being professional.

There are many, many small publishers who do not deserve to be tarred with the same brush as the fly-by-nights, and the vanity presses. Let us call these professionals “NextGen Publishers”.

NextGen Publishers are, to my mind, the way of the future. Traditional Publishing is chained to techniques and procedures from the last century. They are hide-bound and moribund, and — absent a seismic shift in their corporate mind-set — headed to the same fate as the T-Rex. The change from Traditional Publishing to NextGen Publishing is inevitable. All things grow, mature, and die in their cycle, and Traditional Publishing is no more immune from the Great Wheel than anything else.

As inevitable as change is, I would not mind if the cycle sped up a little, and the biggest impediment to things hurrying along is the simple fact that NextGen Publishers simply don’t have the name recognition as the Traditional Publishers. People — readers — simply don’t know them outside of small fan groups.

Let’s change that a bit.

During the five days of Rising Tide Week, each day I will do a post about one NextGen Publisher. In these posts I will embed as many links to the social media, webpage, and anything else that I can dig up.

What I would like you, Gentle Reader, to do is:

1. Find five reading friends who haven’t heard of these Publishers and tell these friends about them;
2. Pop over to their social media sites and say, “Hi!” Bend that Social Media algorithm to our will!
3. Peruse the back catalog on their websites (Hello, “Search Engine Optimization”!), and if you see something that stirs your interest … buy it.
4. Take a note of any cons they’ll be at in the future, and if you’re near one of them, go by, shake hands, and say, “Hi!” in person. 

That’s it. Nothing to it, really.

Rising Tide Week starts Monday.

Thank you,

LawDog

(Cross-posted to the Raconteur Press Substack.)

Wyrd West received one hundred and seven (107) submissions. Of those 107, we picked ten, so ninety-seven authors didn’t make the cut for one reason or another. Stick a pin in this fact, we’ll get back to it.

This specific week at Raconteur Press we are doing the initial read on submissions for one anthology; we are copy-editing a second anthology; contracting a third; and building and formatting a fourth anthology for publishing.

On top of that we are maintaining marketing, social media, building our website, and improvising, adapting, and overcoming speedbumps that keep popping up.

In the wider general view, Raconteur Press is in the Building Phase (Pre-Deployment for the veterans out there) for publishing novels in the next some months. We are making sure that the foundations of this venture are stable and solid, so we don’t fall on our faces.

Raconteur Press is also building an imprint — Fox Cubs Adventure Club — to publish boy’s adventure stories in the next several months. Again, we want to have this thing stable and secure before we launch.

On top of that, Raconteur Press is launching a second imprint — CrossFox Concepts — to re-release previously published non-fiction. We don’t want CrossFox Concepts to be any less solid than RacPress and Fox Cubs.

Let’s put another pin in this one, too. It’ll be brought up in a bit.

To my shame I can not pay the Raconteur Press staff enough to keep food on the table. I just can’t at this time. So, everyone who works for RacPress has a job that keeps a roof over their heads, or is seeking education to further their ability to put food in their family’s mouths.

Everyone who works for Raconteur Press is a creative with their own projects to work on. I’ve got Fuzzy Yeet Cow stories to write. Rita has East Texas Witch stories, Cedar has her own press, Jonna has sewing that just can’t wait, so on and so forth.

That’s the Ten Thousand Foot view: Everyone is working on four current anthologies at one stage or another; everyone is building foundations to make sure our expansion doesn’t explode on us; everyone is helping with social media, marketing, and our new webpage, everyone has their own writing or creating to get done … somewhere in the middle of all that.

To steal a metaphor: We may look like ducks serenely gliding across a lake, but under the water our little legs are going ninety-to-nothing.

“So, LawDog, what’s your point?”

I’m an author. I know, and I understand how important feedback is to an author — especially one who is new to the industry.

However: To mangle one of my father’s quotes to the head-shed: “We’re up to our gonads in gators. Anything that doesn’t involve draining the swamp isn’t a priority at the moment.”

There are ninety-seven (97) authors from a single anthology who would like feedback. Those 97 are on top of the other authors who didn’t make it into one of the other anthos we release every two weeks. Ninety-seven responses — even if only a one-line email — is a chunk of the day in which that editor isn’t working on something else with a dead-line.

If one of the RacPress editors sends you feedback — yay! Take it as a gift, but I’m here to tell you that getting feedback from us is probably not going to be a thing in the future. Matter-of-fact, if an editor asks me whether or not they should be giving feedback, my response is going to be a gentle “No”.

We simply do not have the time as it is, and that’s before all the extra work coming down the pike in 2025.

I am sorry, but that’s the way it is. I have to concentrate on publishing, and anything that doesn’t involve getting these books published isn’t a priority at the moment.

Don’t take it out on the editors. It is my call, not theirs.

LawDog

(Cross posted to the Raconteur Press Substack.)