Welcome to the Den of Syn! This has been a project that I've been promising to get around to for about a year. Unfortunately, I've been swamped with working two jobs, getting my own small publishing business off the ground, while still working on my writing projects and my art work.
A little about myself? Well, I've written professionally for close to-ahem-too many years now! I have been published, and I have worked as an editor, as well as many other odd jobs over the years. Regardless of job title, I was always drawn back to writing and art. After enough published credits built up, and I started getting hit with rejection slips saying 'Sorry-we love the work, but it is too dark for us!' , or, 'We would love to publish this, but it is not mainstream. We only publish mainstream.'
I soon discovered my work fell into a category that was, at that time, not even a category. So, being an industrious sort, and a little impulsive, I set out to discover all I could about the publishing industry from the side of the publisher itself. What I found out was staggering. Mainstream was almost all mid-list and the financial upward swing was now arcing downward, more than it had in years past. Why? Primarily, reader boredom.
During this information gathering, I fell back in love with my old loves of youth: furries, art, elves, fantasy landscapes, dark gothic-dark horror and movies. I spent some time wallowing in these, sinking into their familiar embraces like they were old lovers.
In time, I realized my field had grown. I no longer wrote the easily categorized fiction of yesteryear: mainstream, romance, erotica, fiction. I now was writing edgier, darker, moodier tales. The lines between black and white were blurred, the grays were darker, stormier, and more shadowy.
That was when I decided to start up my publishing company, focusing only on the field of dark-gothic horror, dark-gothic erotica, dark-gothic fiction and the ocassional dark reality piece.
The hardest part of my decision had been made. Now, to find the rest of the answers, I thought.
It took a few more years, and many long visits with my friends and cohorts. We pooled our resources, our talents, and our mooch lists of other friends who might have a clue or valuable idea to throw in.
In time, we had answers. I had always wanted to publish the kind of work that I loved to read, and had written. DARK. Gothic had edged into my life in many ways: my beliefs, my views, my dress, my music-all aspects of my life had changed as I had grown over the years. That influenced my work and my choice to start with a cyber business, then expand into a physical publishing house after we had made a name for ourselves.
We do not intend to publish for the masses. We do not handle mainstream, nor midlist. Those works have their place, but not with us. We are a specialty publisher, with a focus on specialty needs. We write for and to an intelligent audience whose collective tastes no longer find satiation with midlist, mainstream or common place. Our audience likes its horror darker, its meat meatier, its sex sexier and its written work more gothic.
The world has grown darker, and so have we!
Later this year, we will be launching our new project: a publishing business who wants to see new talent, and old talent, published because they are good, strong writers in the freshly tilled fields of Dark-Gothic fiction. Too many houses, agents, editors and the like ignore talent simply because they are not yet house hold names. Unpublished authors are shunned because they have yet to prove themselves.
We want new, unpublished writers, as well as published writers.
What we do not want is the old tried, trite and trivial. We do not bother with splatter punk, we do not bother with BD/SM, nor do we bother with the old psychological issues being worked out under a thinly disguised, poorly written tale set in Anywhere, USA. Nor do we deal in over blown egos, male or otherwise, or preachy, moralistic sermonizing. We are about dark entertainment, not abuse, nor deriving pleasure from causing another pain through torture or other means.
Quite a few people have already come to our doors wanting in. But, sadly, many of them offered the same old same old, or were on ego trips, or even worse just could not write or produce the kind of work we want to publish. If you do not write what we publish then we are not going to publish you. It is that simple. If you do write what we want, as that seems to be a rare breed, then it is likely we will be kissing your feet! *laughs*
We have gathered our small staff already. Writers, editors, agents, copy, techs, legal eagles, house readers-geez! Many, many thanks to them for volunteering for this effort! They are offering their services pro bono and it is greatly, deeply appreciated.
If you do write what we publish, then I'll bet we will see each other later and we will be able to work together! I look forward to that.
Now, those of you who asked: Thank You for asking! Now you know what I've been up to!
This home page will have updates and information as it becomes available.
Until then, I will go back to my writing, art, and preparing the business, for you and for us.
Here is to Our Futures!
May the fornits forever shit on your heads,
May the Muses forever dance in your presence,
May your life be forever blessed in Dark Goth and Stars!
With Dark Embraces,
Ebony Syn
February 12, 2003
