A small group of like-minded and slightly warped people who wanted to specialise in the really hard hitting, dark fiction was all it took. Wild Wolf Publishing was born. That was a year ago, and already nine authors, including UoC’s very own Claire Lewis, have published their stories with the independent, Newcastle-based label.

“We’re looking for the darkest of dark – anything that falls through the cracks of civilised life. Where the reader sometimes roots for the bad guy, where the good guys don’t always win, where horrendous crimes or injustices abound, where the reader can delve into the twisted recesses of the human soul”, editor-in-chief Ed Wolf explains. Over the last twelve months, he reckons he saw over 200 manuscripts. “But the wicked subject matter and sharp, readable writing style which made reading compulsive is what made those nine authors stand out so far.”

Wild Wolf’s selection process can take between two and four months. Ed Wolf advises everyone to re-draft their stories several times. “Make sure you have an attention grabbing intro letter and synopsis. The author should be bursting with enthusiasm! If the author can’t be bothered to try to sell his work then a publisher isn’t going to either.”