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Amanda M. Blake is a cat-loving daydreamer who enjoys geekery of all sorts, from superheroes to horror movies, urban fantasy to unconventional romance. Born and raised in Texas, Blake attended Trinity University in San Antonio and graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in English.

Amid dipping tentacles into the sea of gothic and horror short stories and poetry, Blake is also the author of fantasy novel DRIFT, horror novels NOCTURNE and DEEP DOWN, and the fairy tale mash-up Thorns series.

For content warnings, publishing news, and more, visit www.amandamblake.com

Since its founding in August 2012, Crystal Lake Publishing has quickly become one of the world’s leading publishers of Dark Fiction and Horror books in print, eBook, and audio formats.

While we strive to present only the highest quality fiction and entertainment, we also endeavour to support authors along their writing journey. We offer our time and experience in non-fiction projects, as well as author mentoring and services, at competitive prices.

With several Bram Stoker Award wins and many other wins and nominations, Crystal Lake Publishing puts integrity, honor, and respect at the forefront of our publishing operations.

We strive for each book and outreach program we spearhead to not only entertain and touch or comment on issues that affect our readers, but also to strengthen and support the Dark Fiction field and its authors.

Not only do we find and publish authors we believe are destined for greatness, but we strive to work with men and woman who endeavour to be decent human beings who care more for others than themselves, while still being hard working, driven, and passionate artists and storytellers.

Crystal Lake Publishing is and will always be a beacon of what passion and dedication, combined with overwhelming teamwork and respect, can accomplish. We endeavour to know each and every one of our readers, while building personal relationships with our authors, reviewers, bloggers, podcasters, bookstores, and libraries.

We will be as trustworthy, forthright, and transparent as any business can be, while also keeping most of the headaches away from our authors, since it’s our job to solve the problems so they can stay in a creative mind. Which of course also means paying our authors.

We do not just publish books, we present to you worlds within your world, doors within your mind, from talented authors who sacrifice so much for a moment of your time.

There are some amazing small presses out there, and through collaboration and open forums we will continue to support other presses in the goal of helping authors and showing the world what quality small presses are capable of accomplishing. No one wins when a small press goes down, so we will always be there to support hardworking, legitimate presses and their authors. We don’t see Crystal Lake as the best press out there, but we will always strive to be the best, strive to be the most interactive and grateful, and even blessed press around. No matter what happens over time, we will also take our mission very seriously while appreciating where we are and enjoying the journey.

What do we offer our authors that they can’t do for themselves through self-publishing?

We are big supporters of self-publishing (especially hybrid publishing), if done with care, patience, and planning. However, not every author has the time or inclination to do market research, advertise, and set up book launch strategies. Although a lot of authors are successful in doing it all, strong small presses will always be there for the authors who just want to do what they do best: write.

What we offer is experience, industry knowledge, contacts and trust built up over years. And due to our strong brand and trusting fanbase, every Crystal Lake Publishing book comes with weight of respect. In time our fans begin to trust our judgment and will try a new author purely based on our support of said author.

To date we’ve published around 100 books, and with each launch we strive to fine-tune our approach, learn from our mistakes, and increase our reach. We continue to assure our authors that we’re here for them and that we’ll carry the weight of the launch and dealing with third parties while they focus on their strengths—be it writing, interviews, blogs, signings, etc.

We also offer several mentoring packages to authors that include knowledge and skills they can use in both traditional and self-publishing endeavours.

We look forward to launching many new careers.

This is what we believe in. What we stand for. This will be our legacy.

Welcome to Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

J. Rohr is a Chicago native with a taste for history and wandering the city at odd hours. He writes noir, horror, and scifi, often blending elements of each genre into something fresh. To deal with the more corrosive aspects of everyday life he makes music in the band Beerfinger. Currently, he writes movie reviews for Film Obsessive as well as articles about cinema. His Twitter babble can be found @JackBlankHSH.

Kyle Toucher (rhymes with voucher) was raised on a diet of Frankenstein and Godzilla, Black Sabbath and Black Flag, Lovecraft, Blatty, Barker and King. Through his twenties, he fronted the influential Nardcore crossover band Dr. Know, made records and hit the road. Later, he moved into the Visual Effects field, which led to eight Emmy nominations and two awards for Firefly and Battlestar: Galactica. Recent credits include Top Gun: Maverick and Devotion.

He lives with a lovely woman, five cats, two dogs, and several guitars in a secure, undisclosed location.

I’m an author of travel books who debuted in fiction in 2021, the year I won the European prize in the EACWP Flash Fiction competition with «The Caretaker,» a 100-word horror story.

Since then, in addition to the travel books in which I continue to collaborate, I have been a part of the Portuguese anthologies «Sangue Novo» (2021), with the short story «Praga», «Sangue» (2022), with the short story «Equilíbrio», and «Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror» (2023), with the short story «Next of Kin.» In March 2022, I co-founded Fábrica do Terror, where I act as editor-in-chief. Occasionally, I collaborate with local magazines and non-fiction books with articles on Portuguese horror.