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A New Start Jan 1, 2023
A New Start Jan 1, 2023
Well, after eight years with another website host, they were bought last year and everything changed. So here I am in a place where I have some control (I think. . . for now. . .) and rather than reconstruct my old blog, I've decided to just start fresh.
A lot has changed in eight years: My first book was published, then my second. I went from winning an international short story contest for non-professional authors to having more than two dozen original stories published, many in pro markets. I was a 2020 finalist for the SFWA Small Press Award and twice won the Colorado Book Award for best Science Fiction and Fantasy.
I haven't arrived. In fact, I don't even know where there is that I'm headed. But I'm on my way to somewhere and it's sometimes hard and often rewarding, and I probably couldn't stop this train now if I wanted to.
Jun 24, 2025
My June newsletter is out:
https://ldcolter.substack.com/p/my-brain-is-exploding
Writing news -- including an Is there a story behind the story? look at writing the first book in the trilogy -- plus a multi-author giveaway is nearly over, a new Poe-inspired anthology is out with a reprint short story of mine, and there's a clumsy panda video to wrap up.
That multi-author giveaway? There are nearly 125 authors in the giveaway and it includes my contemporary fantasy novel, A Borrowed Hell, for FREE, the 2018 winner of the Colorado Book Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy. https://books.bookfunnel.com/fabuloussummerfantasyreads/sqa0u69rag
And the Poe-inspired anthology... you can find that HERE. I know six of the other authors in here and recommend them all!
Jun 7, 2025
Cover Reveal Coming Soon:
Cover Reveal Coming Soon:
So I just got a first look at the cover under design for While the Gods Sleep -- the stand-alone book one of my Perilous Gods trilogy -- releasing in September.
I love it!!
I'm so excited to share more soon about this book and this set. I'll definitely be sharing the cover reveal here as soon as I can. Meanwhile, have a mood board to whet your appetite.
May 14, 2025
I began my last newsletter with the following very exciting announcement:
Some really, really good news…
The business of writing for trad pub is fraught with so much NO that getting a “yes” feels irrationally bigger than a comparable “yes” in normal life. It validates hours and months and years spent working in solitude (at least until you start the next project), it affirms and energizes and is cause for eating many celebratory foods. Well, a few months ago, I got a very big YES. Since early last fall, I’ve been sitting on the news that I signed with Solaris Nova for my three-book set of myth-based novels! The announcement was just released. (Cue the Kermit flail.) These books represent close to ten years’ work, and posting about it here is me shouting from the rooftops with joy that they’ve found a home with a terrific publisher of speculative fiction. More details to come, but I’ll be sharing book descriptions, cover reveals, publishing dates, and any other fun stuff here over the next few months.
The full release announcement can be found here:
Solaris Nova to publish fantasy trilogy The Perilous Gods by L. D. Colter
For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow and Claire North’s Songs of Penelope series, the Perilous Gods of Slavic, Greek and Mayan mythologies walk the earth amongst humanity in this exciting fantasy trilogy.
Along with this teaser for Book One, While the Gods Sleep:
In an alternate 1950’s Greece, locksmith Ty is drawn into the dangerous games of the gods. Deeply in debt, he is forced to descend into an underworld filled with squabbling deities and monsters in search of the key to his own freedom.
And a word about the sale from both me and my editor:
Author L. D. Colter on the acquisition:
“I’m delighted that my novels have found such a terrific home. Solaris and Solaris Nova are champions of speculative fiction and have published wonderful books. I feel very fortunate to join their list of authors.”
Acquiring Editor Amanda Raybould:
“Signing L. D. Colter to Solaris Nova is an absolute privilege – these three novels are gripping, complex and absolute page-turners, with impeccable characters that you will fall in love with. I cannot wait for readers to dive into the world of the Perilous Gods.”
Things are moving quickly now, and I'm looking forward so much to being able to share more news soon!
And if you're interested in reading the full newsletter, I have a short story pasted at the end, free to read. “To Them We Are Merely Clay,” was first published in Galaxy’s Edge, Jan 2017. It doesn’t represent my writing more than anything else, but it’s a blend of science-fantasy, secondary world, and probably post-apocalyptic all rolled into one, so at least it’s me writing in a few sub-genres at once. You can find the newsletter here--Spring 2025: A writer of weird things checks in
Mar 21, 2025
"I Promise" out now in Tales to Terrify
"I Promise" out now in Tales to Terrify
I'm a 100% audio reader, so it's a genuine thrill when my own work gets an audio version. Delighted to hear my little gothic, creeping-dread flash story performed brilliantly by Sara Sheckells on Tales to Terrify! (If interested in checking it out, it's Ep 686 and my story starts at timestamp 21:36. About a 10 min listen.)
Mar 3, 2025
March(ish) 2025 Newsletter
March(ish) 2025 Newsletter
https://ldcolter.substack.com/p/okay-maybe-newsletters-every-2-months
Book recommendations, bits of news, and, as always, a cute animal video...
Jan 1, 2025
Dec 12, 2024
Free ebook!
Free ebook!
Have a Smashwords account? Like epic fantasy? The Halfblood War is featured FREE in the Smashwords end of year blowout sale from now until Jan 1st!
A sweeping story of love and war, prejudice and acceptance...
Tirren, heir to the ruler of Thiery, has raised his half-Elven son in a land that hates and fears the Elves, but his son's struggle for acceptance is only one source of Tirren's pain. The other is his unfading desire for Yslaaran, the Elven woman who eighteen years ago captured him in a spell, seduced him, and vanished. She returned only once more... to hand him his infant son.
When a neighboring ruler attacks the land of Thiery, Tirren rides to battle with his halfblood son at his side. Learning of the war, Yslaaran fears the conflict will unravel her long-laid plans for the boy. If she doesn't interfere, he could die before his time, but if she reveals her hand by meddling, her own people could rise up against the humans they despise, trapping the land between two deadly enemies.
The fate of two races hangs in the balance, but only Yslaaran knows that both humans and Elves risk a future far more devastating than war.
Freebie sale page for The Halfblood War: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1638402
Find it along with many other sale books here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1638402
Sept 19, 2024
June 16, 2024
I'm very flattered to have been included in The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, v4 with my short story "The Deaths of All We Are" first published in HFQ's May, 2017 issue. The story is a retelling of The Lady of the Fountain, an Arthurian story of Owain and the Black Knight and the Lady, only here it's told from the pov of the lady's servant, Luned. If you enjoy sword and sorcery fantasy, you can find the anthology on Amazon here:
Mar 28, 2024
Woo Hoo! The brand new First in SciFi and First in Fantasy Podcasts are offering first chapters - and The Halfblood War is live today! Want to preview more than the first five minutes of a scifi or fantasy audiobook before deciding? Check out their podcasts. Want to hear Ch 1 of my stand-alone epic fantasy? You can have a listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-halfblood-war-by-l-deni-colter--58991056
Apr 24, 2023
Apr 24, 2023
The pre-order is up as of today for the inaugural issue of the ZNB Presents anthology! Twenty-four short sci-fi and fantasy stories, including my my near-future, dystopian story of an uplifted Fennec fox and a young idealist who’s begun to question whether people can really be saved from themselves.
The pre-order is up as of today for the inaugural issue of the ZNB Presents anthology! Twenty-four short sci-fi and fantasy stories, including my my near-future, dystopian story of an uplifted Fennec fox and a young idealist who’s begun to question whether people can really be saved from themselves.
Available at:
and the ZNB website store
Print issue to follow.
"Monsters" out today at Fantasy Magazine Jan 2, 2023
"Monsters" out today at Fantasy Magazine Jan 2, 2023
Jan 2, 2023
My new flash fiction story "Monsters" is live today in Fantasy Magazine.
It's an uncomfortable little story, but ultimately one about healing and transformation. Fantasy Magazine has been a dream goal of mine for many years, ever since I was a subscriber in the early years of the publication. I couldn't be more delighted that this story has found a home here under the hands of editors Arley Sorg and Christie Yant.
It's an uncomfortable little story, but ultimately one about healing and transformation. Fantasy Magazine has been a dream goal of mine for many years, ever since I was a subscriber in the early years of the publication. I couldn't be more delighted that this story has found a home here under the hands of editors Arley Sorg and Christie Yant.
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