Category Archives: Soul’s Road Press

No Secrets Better Kept Has Funded!

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Publishing, Soul's Road Press

Hello All!

The Kickstarter for No Secrets Better Kept has funded! That means I can pay the authors 1¢/word. Hurrah!

The next stretch goal is $2100, which will mean I can pay the authors 3¢/word.

I appreciate and love everyone who’s considered the campaign so far. I’ve set up a variety of rewards that hopefully appeal to individual backers.

If you haven’t backed it, is there a reward you’d like to see that’s not listed? Let me know! I can add things.

Most importantly, thank you. This is a project of my heart and my only wish to to pay the authors what they truly deserve.

Feel free to share this to anyone who loves to read!

Kickstarter for No Secrets Better Kept has prelaunced!

By Soul's Road Press,

I’m thrilled to announce I’m launching my first Kickstarter! It’s for an anthology that I edited, No Secrets Better Kept, and I’m running the Kickstarter so I can pay my deserving authors a decent rate.

No Secrets Better Kept has a range of spectacular stories, from mystery and thriller, to science fiction and fantasy, and even romance. All the authors are ones to watch, because they’re fantastic writers.

The Kickstarter begins on Tuesday, January 24, but the prelaunch is live now so you can read all about the anthology, the rewards, and the stretch goals. If you like, you can click to be notified when it goes live (there are no other commitments other than getting a notification. No money, etc.).

Please check it out!

New Story: Women Who Love Dogs

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Mystery/Thriller, Short Stories, Soul's Road Press

Available Now

Women Who Love Dogs: A Page-Turning Crime Short Story

A rapist haunts the beaches of Southern California, but nobody can clearly identify him.

He always looks different, and he always has a different dog.

Then Vanessa’s dog, Merlin, provides a crucial clue….

A page-turning crime story from an award-nominated mystery author!

“Women Who Love Dogs” originally appeared in Me Too Short Stories(Level Best Books, 2019).

Want to support me directly?

Check out my Patreon,
and get each month’s story/collection/novel for free,
before it’s available to the general public!

New Story: An Ocean of Secrets in Her Eyes

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Romance, Short Stories, Soul's Road Press,

Available Now

An Ocean of Secrets in Her Eyes

The 1940s. A time when Hollywood studios owned their talent.

Which included making sure the talent avoided scandal.

Shining star Tabitha St. Claire has a secret. PI Sam Belmont accepts the job to learn what that secret is.

To devastating results…

A standalone story in the popular Nikki Ashburne series, “An Ocean of Secrets in Her Eyes” originally appeared in Fiction River: Chances, 2021.

New Story: Beautiful Soul

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Romance, Soul's Road Press

Available Now

Beautiful Soul

Jennet, scarred from a fire and with few prospects, accepts the position of companion to the veiled, enigmatic Lady Vesta.

But Lady Vesta’s secrets extend beyond what she hides behind her veil. From enquiring as to Jennet’s marriage plans (none) to allowing Jennet to dress without a corset or petticoats due to the house’s heat, she leaves Jennet intrigued.

Their time together rattles Jennet’s emotions.

The truth terrifies her—but it also might be her salvation.

Captivating short story “Beautiful Soul” originally appeared in Cutter’s Final Cut: Dragons, 2021.

Mystery, Dragons, Spies, and Custard

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Short Stories, Soul's Road Press

Available Now

Bothering With the Details: A Copyediting Cozy Mystery Short Story

Longtime copyeditor Lydia Menchin prides herself in having memorized The Chicago Manual of Style and being able to focus despite distractions. But the tech company she works for still fires her, assuming her age made her unable to understand electronic newsletters.

Lydia still reads the newsletter and finds the mistakes the new, clearly inferior editor misses.

Until she starts to suspect the errors might just be intentional….

“Bothering With the Details” originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 2018.

Buy

Available Now

Dragons. Who doesn’t love them?But this collection isn’t just about the brutes or beasts. No, there are philosophical dragons. Technological dragons. Even sexy dragons.Not just fantasy dragons. But science fantasy. Or straight science fiction. Historic and future dragons.You’re going to meet dragons from all walks of life in the pages of this anthology. Mostly unexpected. Not the kinds of dragons you’ve met before.

Come and explore all the myriad facets of these fascinating creatures.

Available in both ebook and print.

This anthology contains my story “Beautiful Soul,” set in Victorian London.

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Available Now

Set your cauldron to bubbling, and read these fifteen tales of magic, sorcery, and enchantment!What if you could smell magic—or go to a bar and get a shot of magic to go with your cocktail? Will an aging sorcerer’s last pupil ever learn anything? And what could possibly go wrong when a pair of witches enter the local chili cook-off?Includes stories by DeAnna Knippling, Leah R. Cutter, Robert Jeschonek, Debbie Mumford, Annie Reed, Rei Rosenquist, Alicia Cay, James Pyles, Grayson Towler, Jamie Ferguson, Dayle A. Dermatis, Thea Hutcheson, Leslie Claire Walker, Sharon Kae Reamer, and Steve Vernon.This anthology contains a reprint of my story “Telling the Bees,” part of the Holly and Willow hedgewitch series.

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Available for Preorder

The Florentine Exchange:
A Page-Turning Spy Story Full of Twists and Turns

During a sultry summer in Florence, Italy, rule-following Libby must make an information exchange when her mentor, Antonia, sprains her ankle.

But then she discovers Antonia had two identical thumb drives. Was Antonia planning to give the wrong one to her contact?

Libby must make split-second decisions while her own life is on the line.

Clever spy thriller “The Florentine Exchange” transports readers to the sticky sumer humidity and historical beauty of Italy and keeps them on the edge of their seats, as only accomplished writer Dayle A. Dermatis can do.

“The Florentine Exchange” originally appeared in Fiction River Special Edition: Spies, 2019, and was reprinted in Voices Carry, and Other Stories of Women and Crime, 2020.

Preorder

Available for Preorder

Custard: A Romeo and Juliet Story (Sort Of)

Brownies—not the little girls or the fudgy treat kind, but the Scottish pixie kind—help take care of households by being superior with household chores.

Agnes and Neil, from different brownie clans and working at different manor houses, both pride themselves in their custard. Custard, which requires the best, freshest eggs.

A chance meeting over a favorite clutch of eggs starts Agnes and Neil on an adventure, and the chance to create something new.

Their story will never be forgotten.

Editor Dean Wesley Smith says of “Custard,” “Dayle Dermatis…is a storyteller whose compelling and playful prose I will follow down virtually any path.”

“Custard: A Romeo and Juliet Story (Sort Of)” originally appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, 2021.

Preorder

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I’m able to continue writing and publishing thanks to my wonderful supporters on Patreon.

The Real Housewitches of Calafia County: A Desperate Housewitches Short Story

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Publishing, Soul's Road Press

When the head of their local HoA tries to impose new rules on the annual Winter Solstice ritual, the four reigning witches of the gated community resolve to fight back.

A war consisting of both paperwork and magic.

All without breaking a fingernail.

Don’t mess with this coven!

Buy “The Real Housewitches of Calafia County”

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I’m able to continue writing and publishing thanks to my wonderful supporters on Patreon.

Stupid Games: A Brittani Menchin Justice Short Story

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Mystery/Thriller, Publishing, Soul's Road Press, ,

Brittani Menchin, decidedly not popular high school student, stumbles across her former BFF, Charlotte, in the girls’ bathroom.

Cutting herself.

Despite Brittani’s pain over Char’s defection, she can’t not help someone in need.

It will take all her geeky knowledge and wit to sabotage the idiotic game Char’s new popular friends have roped her into.

Fans of Veronica Mars will love this first story featuring justice-seeking Brittani Menchin, a not-quite-six-feet-tall math nerd and high school Fixer.

Buy “Stupid Games”

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I’m able to continue writing and publishing thanks to my wonderful supporters on Patreon.

Magic, Monsters, and Myth Storybundle

By Bundle, Dayle A. Dermatis, Novels, Romance, Soul's Road Press, Young Adult

The Magic, Monsters, and Myth Storybundle has a wonderful variety of work, and as curator Kristine Kathryn Rusch says, “…this bundle is all about the sparkle. Sometimes the sparkle is magic. Sometimes it’s a made-up world. Sometimes it’s love.”

When she first approached me about putting Beautiful Beast in this bundle, I warned her that there was no fantasy in it. It’s inspired by a fairy tale, but it’s contemporary YA. She didn’t care, and ended up renaming the bundle because of the variety of subgenres she was including.

I then asked her (and Jason, who runs Storybundle) if they’d like an issue of Uncollected Anthology, and they said yes. The UA cooperative agreed that our latest issue, Deities, would be perfect. So you’ll find a story from me in there as well: “Shattered, Scattered, and Saved.”

Additionally, WMG Publishing included Fiction River: Tavern Tales, which I also have a story in: “Girls That Glitter,” a Nikki Ashburne story.

If you pay $5 or more, you get five books, and if you pay $15 or more, you get twelve. A pretty damn good deal! This will be going on for only three weeks, so don’t miss out.

Once again, the charity you can donate to when you buy the bundle, is AbleGamers. As I said about the most recent Storybundle I was in, gamers with disabilities already need equipment tailored to their needs, and now, those that weren’t already housebound are stuck at home. We read for escape, and we also game for escape. Let’s let everyone have their chance!

For more information, go to Storybundle.com. You probably know the drill by now.  😉

Want to chat about this post? Join me on Facebook or Twitter.

I’m able to continue writing and publishing thanks to my wonderful supporters on Patreon.

Have some music with your ghosts

By Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Novels, Soul's Road Press, , , ,

I don’t make playlists for all my novels. Some just don’t seem to need them. Or I just find myself wanting to listen to one song, which gets me in the mood for a particular novel or story.

Other novels demand them. Once while listening to Florence + the Machine’s Ceremonials, I thought, Woah, this song perfectly fits that gothic I’m planning to write! Wait, this one does too. And this one! In the end, I realized the album is the soundtrack to the novel (along with some Welsh music and a few other songs). (That novel, With Soft Whispers Laden, is on the To Do list, but not before Shaded and Spectered, the next two Nikki Ashburn books.)

But I’m here to talk about music and Ghosted.

Ghosted is set in Hollywood and nearby environs, an area saturated in music throughout its history. Recording studios, concert venues, the sunset over the gleaming blue Pacific providing inspiration…. So the playlist for the novel is full of California songs, as well as ghost songs and…well, just check it out. Maybe listen to some of the songs while you’re reading the book?

And if Ghosted makes you think of any other songs, let me know!

Ghosted Playlist

California Dreamin’ – Shaw/Blades
Caroline – Concrete Blonde
Celluloid Heroes – Blackmore’s Night
City of the Angels – Gowan
Come To Be My Friend – Shaw/Blades
Estonia – Marillion
Free Fallin’ – Tom Petty
Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Haunted – Evanescence
Hello (Turn Your Radio On) – Shakespear’s Sister
Lonely in Your Nightmare – Duran Duran
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinéad O’Connor
Our Farewell – Within Temptation
Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Road to Dead – Paula Cole
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye – Soft Cell
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes – Asia
Stay – Shakespear’s Sister
Ventura Highway – America
Walking on Broken Glass – Annie Lennox
Watching You Without Me – Kate Bush
Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses – U2
Why – Annie Lennox

And a reminder: if you’ve been waffling about getting the Sorcery & Steam bundle containing Ghosted and nine more fantasy books by amazing women writers, the offer is ending very soon. Help our project go out with a bang, and while you’re at it, help support our charity, AbleGamers.

Click here for more info!

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