New year, new projects!

/ adventureworldsadmin / Leave a comment

With 2023 underway, it’s time to check in with our authors and upcoming projects!

The big news is that Adventure Worlds Press is putting together a tenth-anniversary anthology! Since AWP began with short stories, we thought a collection would be a cool way to celebrate a decade of writing and publishing genre fiction. Although it’s still pretty early in the process, we’ll be posting more about it in the coming months.

In the meantime, Ben Van Dongen is knee-deep in edits on his Invasion Novel. He continues to post weekly updates and thoughts about writing on his long-standing blog. If you checked in on him right now, you’d probably find him listening to music and typing away on a new short story!

Christian Laforet a.k.a. C.M. Forest had a stellar year for publishing, with his horror novella and novel getting a lot of attention! You can expect to see some of his short stories in anthologies and magazines, and stay tuned for some exciting projects in the works.

Brittni Brinn is editing a novel while taking a bit of a writing break after the release of Where Long Shadows End. Watch for a short story coming out from her in the summer!

This year, AWP is once again going to be venturing out to book events and conventions near you! The details are up on our Events page. Come say hi!

Thanks to all of our readers for the incredible support this past year. We’re proud of the books we put out and are looking forward to having something new for you to read very soon!

Adventure Worlds Press Summer Release Recap (with Bonus Traitor Releases)

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

20220425_083935It’s been a busy summer over here at the Adventure Worlds Press secret headquarters (on an unassuming suburban street, in small town, big province, Canada). While we were limited in our outdoor activities, we managed to keep working. In case you missed it, we released two new books, each one the conclusion to their respective series.

Continue reading →

Adventure on the Horizon

/ Ben Van Dongen / 1 Comment

frontWhile we here at Adventure Worlds Press eagerly await the release of Where Long Shadows End, the newest Patch Project book from author Brittni Brinn, we’ve started to look to the future. With The Patch Project Series ending and no Synthetic Albatross book to look forward to, we started to wonder what we’re going to do for next year.

We’ve been hotly discussing our options and right now, the front-runner is a new short story collection. We love No Light Tomorrow, but we can be honest. It’s a little last week and having only two authors in an Anthology is thinking small. Continue reading →

Sneak Peek at Book Three of The Patch Project Series

/ Brittni Brinn / 1 Comment

Hey everyone, it’s Brittni Brinn taking over the blog today! I’m super excited to give you a sneak peek of Book Three of the Patch Project Series published by the fine folks here at Adventure Worlds Press! The book is called Where Long Shadows End, and we’ll be announcing a release date any time now!

Before I share the Prologue with you, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who’s entered the Fan Art contest so far! If you want to join this friendly creative contest, just post something based on the Patch Project series to social media with the hashtag #ThePatchProjectFanArtContest by June 30th. You could win one of the first copies of Book Three! You can find all the details here.

Here’s the opening to Where Long Shadows End! Hope you enjoy!

PROLOGUE

Isak looked around, disoriented. He was standing outside, facing a burned-up ridge that spilled out onto a flatline plain. The huge red sun hung heavy over the wasteland.

Had he skipped forward? Why? He tried to remember where he had just been, but came up empty. The desire was usually so strong when he jumped through time. Barely a second to blink between the wanting and the having. The curse of instant gratification.

Isak shifted his weight from his bad leg. Something snapped underfoot. Startled, he caught his balance and then froze. The broken, charred board was familiar. 

“Hello?” His cry echoed, no walls or trees to contain it. Sunset tinged the burned ruins around him red.

He knew this place. He recognized the board, part of a dining table he’d sat at hundreds of times. He knew that the square-cut logs sticking up around him used to support a two-story restaurant in the middle of a vast forest. He knew that he was alone and that everyone he loved was gone.

Before all that he knew could fully register, Isak heard distant footsteps coming up behind him. “What did I want?” he racked his brain as the footsteps drew closer. “What brought me here?”

The footsteps were right behind him. Isak caught a glimpse of a white streak in dark hair as someone familiar passed by. They continued for a couple of steps and then stopped, their back to him. They wore a leather jacket, mud-splattered jeans, hiking boots—nothing particularly significant. Maybe it was the way they stood with their hands deep in their pockets that gave them away. In addition to all the other things he recognized about this place, Isak recognized her.

“How long has it been?” he asked.

She stared beyond the ruins of Ulway’s Restaurant and Retreat Centre, out towards the wasteland. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Pinot finally said, turning her ageless face towards him. “For everything to be over?”

Christian is a Traitor!

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

Hello AWP Friends!

cl1Ben again, here to call out Christian Laforet C.M. Forest for his malevolent treachery. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that C.M. Forest has two new books out on the market. One, a novella, We All Fall Before the Harvest, released by Timber Ghost Press. The other, his first released novel, Infested, courtesy of Eerie River Publishing. Continue reading →

Snow from a Distant Sky is now Available

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

20220414_161444_hdrThe time to get your copy of Snow from a Distant Sky is now!

The fifth and final* book in The Synthetic Albatross Novella Series answers your burning questions and offers up a few more.

Copies are available to order from your preferred book seller and you can leave reviews on your favourite book reviewing site.

I have a small run on the way for local sales. They will be available at Biblioasis and I may bring a few around to your houses if you’re that keen. Let me know!

*(Final for now. I hope to get back to the series in the future).

Cover Reveal – Snow from a Distant Sky

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

Snow Cover TextI know some of you have been waiting for this. I’m thrilled to share the cover for the latest book in The Synthetic Albatross Novella Series! Snow from a Distant Sky is scheduled to come out in April.

I have sample copies on the way so as long as there are no issues, I will put in an order and the book will be released to the public. Glen Hawkes, who did the amazing covers for Broadcast Wasteland and Break/Interrupt, crushed it again with this cover! Check out his other work here.

I’ll make another post when the book is available. This is the last book in The Synthetic Albatross Series for now. Thanks to all the readers who’ve come along with me on the journey. Stay tuned for information on what I’m working on next!

Snow Banner

Late New Year

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

Hello AWP Readers!

Your intrepid author/publisher/hindrance, Ben here, to bring you news and updates on your favourite AWP authors.

We try to make at least one post a month on this website, but when there isn’t much news, it’s hard to justify making the same announcements over and over again. That’s why we didn’t have anything in January, but it’s February now, so there must be something to tell you.

And there is!

129098833_4183083338375454_8719910487440030489_nA brief update on Brittni Brinn and the third book in her post-apocalyptic (and emotional roller-coaster) Patch Project Series.

The new book, titled Where Long Shadows End is into edits and review.
There’s a lot that we can’t share at the moment, but that means we’ll be able to share it later. Isn’t anticipation fun?

Expect more juicy info soon!

cover-finalSome news on Christian Laforet, or should we say C.M. Forest?

We should, because Christian has been getting short stories swiftly published under his new moniker.

You can see stories by C.M. Forest in the anthologies Dead of Night (out now from Blood Rites Horror) and It Calls from the Veil (It Calls coming soon from Eerie River Publishing).
He also has a novella coming out through Timber Ghost Press called We All Fall Before the Harvest and a novel coming out through Eerie River Publishing tentatively called They Crawl Within.

What a busy boy he’s been.

20210413_135530As for me? Well, if you follow my weekly post on my website, you’re already painfully aware that I’m in the editing and review stage for my latest (and potentially last) novella in the Synthetic Albatross Series, Snow from a Distant Sky.
I guess you could say that I’m also editing the long anticipated Invasion Novel, but I have to admit that I haven’t done any work on it since starting Snow.

Snow from a Distant Sky is scheduled to come out in April 2022.

I think you can expect to see some various cover art in the coming months for all these exciting projects. There will certainly be more updates by then.

So, keep checking back and thanks for continuing to stick around for the ride! 2022 promises to be another interesting year.

Holiday Greetings!

/ Brittni Brinn / Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again! Lights, snow, hot chocolate, and books for everyone! We at Adventure Worlds Press want to wish you all a wonderful holiday and a hope-filled new year.

It’s been a kind of weird year for us: few to no book events to go to, uncertainty with what the months ahead will bring. But there was a lot to celebrate too! Christian Laforet started using a pen name, Ben Van Dongen released Break/Interrupt, and Brittni Brinn moved to Nova Scotia, all while working on upcoming projects!

[Image description: Eight books by Adventure Worlds Press are arranged on a green tablecloth accented by a red tablecloth set with a small Christmas tree made out of wire and beads and a painted wooden accent of a heart and a candy cane.]

2022 is going to be busy with releases from all of our authors. Keep an eye out for:

Christian’s upcoming releases with Eerie River Publishing and Timber Ghost Press

The release of Snow from a Distant Sky, the fifth book in Ben’s Novella Series

News on the third book in Brittni’s Patch Project series

And more!

Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm for our books this year. It means a lot, and we’re looking forward to what the new year will bring!

Happy holidays!

The Secret to Writing a Novel

/ Brittni Brinn / Leave a comment

Welcome, readers, and especially writers searching for that ever-elusive secret of how to write a novel! It truly is the fountain of youth, the holy grail, the lost car keys for every writer looking to make that leap into the long-form of prose that has foiled so many seekers before! In trying to uncover this enigma, I consulted with the authors here at Adventure Worlds Press. Their advice will shock you! Do you dare read on, and at last reach the secret to writing a novel?

…

Are you still here? Good. Then let us continue.

I first approached Ben Van Dongen, the triple-threat of the company. Short stories, novellas, novels, he’s done them all! Surely he knows the secret to writing a novel? Let us see what he has to say:

“Writing a short story is easy. A monkey could do it in her sleep. You’re smarter than a monkey, right? Just write the thing.

Novellas require the kind of free algorithms you can download off the dark web. Usually Russian or Chinese in origin, expect to have to do some translating, but it’s not much more work than what the monkey does.

To write a novel on the other hand (a novel worth reading at least) you need to go to your local library. Give the librarian the secret handshake and a crisp hundred-dollar bill. They’ll take you to the hidden section where you can get a book to summon a demon. Make sure to get one with a really long name. The short name ones are bad at spelling.”

Ah, yes, the age-old bribing-a-librarian-to-reach-diabolical-novelistic-heights trick! But is this truly the secret to writing a novel?

I continued my search, next seeking out Christian Laforet. Recently signed on to a two-book deal with Raven’s Tale publishing, he would be the logical person to ask about the holy grail of novel writing. His comments:

“Marry someone with money. Lots of money. That way there’ll be no pesky day job to interfere with the writing of you masterpiece.”

Another solid piece of advice! Those day jobs, sucking the creative spirit from the genius novelist, ah! Best to seek out a wealthy partner and sponge off of them for life!

But again, I was not satisfied in my quest for the secret! As a last resort, I took to the deep, grim forest paths that lead to an abandoned cabin where they say at least three ghosts reside. I gathered my courage, and went inside, where I found C.M. Forest, roasting marshmallows over a space heater.

“Please!” I begged him, “My search has been so long! What, oh what, is the secret to writing a novel?”

C.M. Forest turned to me and said: “Write every day. Even if it’s only 500 words. 500 words a day will give you two novels by the end of the year.”

The horror! I ran from the cabin screaming and have never been the same since. My quest for the secret to writing a novel was all in vain!

Unless…

Do you know the secret?

Do you?