I accidentally helped found an indie publisher.
Skullgate Media might be the most unlikely cool thing I’ve ever got to be part of.
The story in short is this: in June-ish of 2020 I responded to a tweet by one Chris Vandyke saying that he kind of felt like putting together a shared-world anthology, if anyone’d be interested. A few months later, thirty of us had written a legitimately incredible book. So what were we supposed to do next? Well, obvious answer: start an indie publishing collective.
So Skullgate Media (consisting of me, Chris Vandyke, and three other founding member-owner-director-whatevers) came into existence mostly to enable us to keep publishing Tales from the Year Between, our anthology series where every volume is set in a new world created by the contributors, but we’re also now publishing other anthologies under the Skullgate Media Presents banner. We’re even signing authors so that we can publish their novels!
Visit the Skullgate Media website or the Year Between website to learn more, and follow Skullgate Media on Twitter to keep up with news. You can also check out our podcast Sounds from the Year Between on Spotify (and a bunch of other places podcasts are available) or our YouTube channel.
Below you’ll find a list of our publications to date – why not pick one up? You won’t regret it.
ACHTEN TAN: LAND OF DUST AND BONE
Volume One of Tales from the Year Between
Giant ants. A desert city within the skeleton of a long-dead leviathan. Really good barbecue ribs.
Achten Tan is the first world of the Tales from the Year Between anthology series, and a wonderful and strange world it is too.
GET THE BOOK
Amazon – Smashwords – Barnes & Noble – Skullgate
LOATHSOME VOYAGES
Skullgate Media Presents
It’s horror, maybe, but not as you know it.
Taking inspiration from Lovecraft, Miéville, VanderMeer, and many more Weird Fiction authors, this anthology is sometimes absurd, sometimes terrifying, sometimes thought-provoking, but always at least a little bit not quite right.
GET THE BOOK
Amazon – Bookshop.org – Barnes & Noble – Skullgate
THE DARKNESS RETURNS
Lythinall Book One, Michael D. Nadeau
Skullgate’s first foray into signing authors and publishing their novels, the Lythinall books were originally released by another publisher but are now being re-released under the Skullgate flag.
An ancient evil is loosed upon the land of Lythinall and a young monk is swept up in a perilous journey across his homeland to try and stop it.
GET THE BOOK
Amazon – Skullgate – Barnes & Noble – Bookshop.org
UNDER NEW SUNS
Volume Two of Tales from the Year Between
A sentient spaceship. Sexy murder queens. Space sharks! QUANTUM OTTERS!
In this volume of TFYB, another group of immensely talented writers create a world together and then have a lot of fun in it. In space!
GET THE BOOK
Amazon – Bookshop.org – Barnes & Noble – Skullgate
IN THE WAKE OF THE KRAKEN
Volume Three of Tales from the Year Between
Pirates exist in all realities, so naturally this book didn’t just create one pirate universe. It created four.
Join pirates in space, sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk settings as they seek treasure and glory… in the wake of the kraken.
GET THE BOOK
Amazon – Skullgate – Barnes & Noble
WINTER WONDERS
Skullgate Media Presents
There’s something magical about venturing out into the chill, something deeply comforting about returning to the warmth afterwards. And, of course, something vaguely sinister about the long darkness…
With stories taking on every aspect of winter, it’s the perfect seasonal read!
Chris Durston 