Out of the darkness come the monsters, the mysteries, and the miracles that engage our minds and engorge our hearts.
This collection of short stories from exceptionally wily writers will take you from looking over your shoulder to pondering the wonders of the universe and back again.
The WilyWriters.com Speculative Fiction podcast chooses only the best two stories per month from its submissions and records them for your listening pleasure.
This volume collects Year #1’s best of the best.
Author Lineup:
Alan Baxter: “Stand Off”
Jennifer Brozek: “Honoring the Dead”
SatyrPhil Brucato: “I Feel Lucky”
Nathan Crowder: “Ink Calls to Ink”
Richard E. Dansky: “Small Cold Thing”
Seanan McGuire: “Julie Broise and the Devil”
Lisa Morton:“Sane Reaction”
Ripley Patton: “A Speck in the Universe”
Grant Stone: “The Salt Line”
Joel A. Sutherland: “The Death of Captain Eugene Bloodcake and the Fall of the Horrid Whore”
Bruce Taylor: “The Prey”
Mark W. Worthen: “The Minimart, the Ruger, and the Girl”
My latest project is the Dire Multiverse audio drama! It is produced by Games Omniverse in conjunction with Wily Writers.
It is a horror/paranormal romp in an ever-expanding world and consciousness, an enlightenment adventure with an ensemble cast of characters all coming to terms with the revelation that magic is real.
Have a listen to the first episode, an introduction to the story.
I’ve been circling this software for some time, but haven’t been sold that it will actually help me cut down the amount of time it takes to edit my audiobook files…until today. I’ve actually bitten the bullet and invested in it. (P.S. It’s on sale right now.)
I spent several hours with the Test version (you can test it free for a month), and I’ve found just the right combination of apps and settings that will edit out much of the clicks and crackles that I produce when recording.
What It Does
Izotope RX7 Standard is the one I bought. I don’t need the Pro version. Too many features I’ll never use. As it is, I’m unlikely to ever need more than two of the apps in the Standard version:
De-Crackle app
De-Click app
I fiddled with the settings until I got them just where I wanted them.
What It Doesn’t Do
This improved the file without warping the sound, but it didn’t perfect the recording. I will still have to go in and clean up the most agregious mouth noises and clicks. I’m okay with that. I believe that RX7 will get me more than halfway there, and that’s a big win for me and my time challenges.
If you have any questions about my experience with RX7, you can contact me on Facebook @angelmccoy.
I’ve finished my work on this project, and now I’m just waiting for it to launch! Can’t wait! This game is so unique, and the main character, Jesse, is a strong and nuanced hero who I know you’ll find fascinating as her story unfolds. The story has that Finnish strangeness that we know and love from Remedy’s earlier releases. So excited for this!
I am over the moon! CONTROL won several awards from IGN, specifically the 2019 Game of the Year award! I couldn’t be prouder to have contributed to such an astounding project.
Remedy Entertainment, the game company known for masterful storytelling in their games, created the games QUANTUM BREAK, MAX PAYNE series, ALAN WAKE, and more. Their history of cinema-style narrative was like honey to my inner writing bee.
I traveled to Finland to meet everyone and get oriented to the I.P. Then I began creating content for the game! There’s nothing quite like starting a new project, especially one that fuels your creativity and fits your aptitudes and appetites so well! You guys are gonna LOVE this game!
As a Narrative Designer, you often create and develop non-player characters (NPCs) that help drive the story you’re telling. This is your supporting cast, the characters that bring the world to life around your player character or main character.
What I’ll talk about below comes from my experience creating NPCs for various story lengths (short to epic) and various media, including video games, fiction, table-top games (TTGs), and live-action roleplaying games (LARPs). No matter what, good story is good story, and bad story is…well, a damn shame.
What are Non-Player Characters, Really?
Truth? NPCs are storytelling tools. They’re not your best friend, not your fantasy (iiew), not your children, not your pets, not there to serve you. They may be your chance to show off, but ONLY if you’re showing off how great a narrative designer you are.
You create NPCs to serve the story you’re telling. This means every decision you make about them must pass the “ARC” test. Does taking the character in a particular direction:
Answer questions players/readers may have about the world and story?
Reinforce the story you’ve already been telling?
Create opportunities for future story twists and awesome story arcs?
