~ Reading Guide for Dylan Orosz, your friendly neighborhood phantasy author.
Dylan Orosz is a 33-year-old writer from Texas focusing on fantasy x sci-fi x horror novels and short fiction. He’s been writing online for nearly a decade, primarily on his wide-ranging blog Thresholds of Transformation (2017-present), also on Substack, Medium, and Twitter/X. Topics of interest include essaying about favored movies, TV, video games, and animanga, short fiction in the vein of the weird and mystical, and musings on life & various engaging philosophical conceptions such as existentialism, absurdism, and humanism. Dylan started ardently writing novels in 2023 and has since self-published Journeyers, Wherever He May Swarm, and Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus, as well as some short story collections.
Dylan originally started writing & blogging during college at Texas A&M University as an extension of a dream journal he kept; the first major impetus to begin writing fiction came with inspirations borne of The Twilight Zone and the mesmerizingly dark short fiction of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Shirley Jackson, to name just a few.
As a novelist, Dylan writes vivid phantasies for restless souls. Dylan’s literary aesthetic is marked by what’s most mesmerizing to his singular taste; he believes the imaginary of the human being is an infinite channel that bleeds into our daily lives in myriad ways we often fail to notice. Those that can learn to mine the stream for impassioned knowledge become artists and madmen and otherwise occultists of one shape or another. Dylan wishes to engage with the mysterious, numinous, and magickal aspects of our reality in all of his work.
As an imaginative lover of the sublime and fantastique, Dylan writes to entertain readers with mystifying phantasy adventure fiction within worlds larger than themselves. His books are character-driven and fast paced. Through the storytelling power of myths and archetypes, Dylan wants to bring about transformative alterations in the consciousness of others and himself. Readers can expect stories of divine beasts and dark magicians, supernal villainy and secret agencies, cyber-detectives and AGI archangels.
In all, Dylan writes to express visions that will awaken, evolve, and cultivate the world.
The purpose of this short guide is to introduce and crystallize the best recommendation pitch for each of Dylan Orosz’s books thus far, all in one place. The books appear in publish order. At the end, there is an FAQ and additional lore revealed about Dylan’s book-writing journey. Please enjoy!
~
THE READING GUIDE:
Journeyers: Book One & Book Two
Epic Fantasy · Magic Animals · The Big Quest · Summer 2025 🎨 Cover art by Goran Gligović
Title: Journeyers: Book One & Book Two
Form: Duology of novels ~ 400 pages & 600 pages
Genre: Epic Fantasy x Action-Adventure x Sword & Sorcery
Target Audience: Teens+ / fans of Redwall, Legend of Drizzt, Hunter x Hunter
🏵️mythic quest
🎄magic forest
🪢oddball heroes x found family👨👩👧👦
🔥epic battles
🌀mystical mysteries
👺dark lord
The Hook: An adventurous young orphan boy, a spy snake undercover for the Queen, a monkey monk with amnesia, and a bird bard from a city in the sky must join together to travel to the center of the mysterious and magickal Spiral Forest.
Premise: JOURNEYERS is a story about the fantastique of nature. Within the Spiral Forest, animals wield magic like language and resist the empire of Mankind, residing in the heart of the Spiral Castle. Apo is an adventurous human boy entering the forest for the first time to find and rescue his sister, taken from his outside village as a babe. Ouro is a spy snake for the rebel Queen who guerilla fights her ex-husband, the King, from the wilderness of the trees. Rakar is a childlike amnesiac monkey as tough as the core of the earth, searching for his lost tribe and the truth of his origins. Isidi is a bird diplomat from Birdkind’s mysterious city in the sky, come to seek the redemption of a saga she may call her own. Together, these four characters join as one, forming at first as a team to challenge the mystical dangers of the forest, and later as a family journeying deep into historical converse and interpersonal soul descents.
Our 4 journeyers meet as one to travel across the forest seemingly by happenstance. They interact with hidden motives that become clearer with every encounter; they begin by forming collective routines and getting a lay of the land – and each other’s capabilities. They battle enemies in the form of Novashaska, shapeshifting big cat and apex predator in the Spiral Forest, a quatro of mercenary hunters working for the King, a trio of freelancing assassins working for themselves, and various monstrous creatures known as wyrewolves, krykens, and ptyros. They aid allies such as the Mouse and Bat clan, some Bears, Rabbits, and Foxes, river Otters and traveling troupes of Monkey fighters. They learn of The Magician, the King’s most diabolical advisor, mad scientist, and true ruler of the realm; they battle his son Ser Sleude in an epic showdown of their combined might.
Our 4 journeyers learn of the Spiral Forest’s harrowing history, from the time of Elves and Giants and Dragons. All gone now, and nearly forgotten, it is only Ouro’s special knowledge that educates and the secret locales they explore which reveal hidden truths. What caused Giantkind to chase Mankind into the forest? How did the Elves originally discover and harness magic? Why did Man and Elf join together in the creation of the Dragon? Where are the Elven histories? Who has Man become today, all these clashing civilizations behind him, so many animals in opposition, the forest spiraling chaotically around his iron will within the wood? These questions and more become answerable only by following the spiral path alongside our 4 intrepid journeyers. They traverse vast forestry, swampland, hills and groves, the Søren River, one mystic Tower, and the subterranean caverns of a hollowing earth, meeting many strange friends and foes along the way.
Altogether, Journeyers is a mystic action-adventure featuring four inquisitive heroes seeking the horizons of truths and interconnections within such a fantastical natural world. Environmentalism, the magic of animals, the power of storytelling, and uncovering true history are some key themes & messages.
At the castle in the center of the spiral, the fate of the forest ~ and our journeyers ~ will be realized.
Inspirations: Brian Jacques’ Redwall, R.A. Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt, Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter, Avatar (both: Nickelodeon & James Cameron).
If you liked… Erin Hunter’s Warriors, Robert Repino’s Mort(e), Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures, the medieval fantasy anime Ranking of Kings & Frieren & Record of Lodoss.
Read JOURNEYERS: Book One · Book Two · Both on itch.io for 30% off
Link: Article Format
Supernal Stories
Surreal Fables · Wyrd Tales · Phantasy Fiction · Vol I (Fall 2025), Vol II (Winter 2025), ongoing 🎨 Covers feature classic works by Caspar David Friedrich and William Blake.
Title: Supernal Stories
Form: Short story collection (7 volumes) ~ 25K-80K words per volume // ~2500 words per story
Genre: Phantasy Fables x Weird Tales
Target Audience: Teen+ / for fans of The Twilight Zone and the short fiction of Bradbury, Borges, and Kafka.
Pitch: A collection of stories about lives from beyond, strange souls & weird transformations, and the responsibility of existence.
🌀 Cosmic Entity
📺 Reality Experiment
⚖️ Moral Dilemma
🤯 Existential Crisis
🔄 Cycle of Trauma
🌌 Unknowable Horror
🧠 Consciousness Voyage
The Hook: Seven years of weird short fiction, collected: poet gods and cosmic librarians, doppelgängers and dream-journals, golems who overthink and scientists who think far too little.
Premise: SUPERNAL STORIES comprise 7 volumes of inventively experimental short-form storytelling. There is a chronology of progress to this anthology of fiction written over seven years of worldly transformation (2017-2024). Genres presided include fantasy x sci-fi x horror and more. Themes presented include creation, identity, transformation, psychosis, ethereal mysteries, reality-blurring extrasensory perception, and the endless search for existential meaning. As the pages turn, concepts expand and visions illuminate; steadily, word by word, fresh universes and esoteric concepts shall be borne into the realms of your consciousness. These stories aim to detail the human condition from richly discerning angles and often feature supernatural twists.
~ Collecting Old Stories. In all, SUPERNAL STORIES are my volumes of stories past. I wrote short fiction on my blog Thresholds of Transformation from 2017-2024 and have re-revised these stories for collection into book volumes I plan to release from 2025-2026.
~ My Zones. These collections are wide-ranging and primarily inspired by what originally got me writing short fiction: The Twilight Zone. Fantasy x sci-fi x horror are on the menu; many stories are wandering and wondrous affairs and often feature satisfactorily weird twist endings. Some are plot heavy, others a kind of stream-of-consciousness psychic journey, and more than a few feature epic concepts.
~ Secret Origins. Altogether, SUPERNAL STORIES doubles as a platform to reveal my progression as a writer and in many ways represents the canvas on which I learned to write fiction. These concepts, characters, and stories would come to me and I’d do my best to bring their salacious seeds to flowery fruition. Alongside the organizing annals of a gigantic Trello board titled “Story Ideas” and filled with copious haphazard notes and glittering imagery, I churned out many. Most of the stories are under 3,000 words, though some stretch into rather epic adventures of 7K-15K words.
~ 7-7-7. Since these stories were penned over a period of 7 years, there shall be 7 volumes, each one containing stories from each of the 7 years.
Inspirations: The Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges.
If you liked… PKD’s Electric Dreams, Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, Ted Chiang’s Exhalation, Kelly Link’s Get in Trouble.
Read SUPERNAL STORIES: Volume I · Volume II · Both on itch.io for $2 off
Link: Article Format.
Wherever He May Swarm
Horror · Sci-Fi Thriller · Satire · Fall 2025 🎨 Cover art by Dominic Forbes · Mood Carrd
Title: Wherever He May Swarm
Form: Novel ~ 450 pages
Genre: Horror x Thriller x Science Fiction x Satire
Target Audience: Adults / fans of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Paul Verhoeven, David Cronenberg
🪲 Insect Whisperer
🍄 Mycoremediation
🎭 Anarchist Vision Quest
🧠 Brainwyrms & 🤖Androids & 👤Tulpas
🛣️ Road Trip
🤪 Descent into Madness!
The Hook: A man down on his luck gains the ability to control insects. The FBI investigates. A young girl starts to have apocalyptic dreams. Chaos ensues…
Premise: WHEREVER HE MAY SWARM is a story about America & The Holocene Extinction.
Wherever He May Swarm is a horror-thriller-comedy novel with lite sci-fi elements, set in an alternate future America with self-driving trucks, Gridcities, and paranormalities such as the possibility of telepathy and telekinesis.
A down-on-his-luck man named Nidus Nash gains the ability to control insects and decides to go on a road trip across Route 66. FBI Special Agent and parapsychological expert Evelyn Waters forms a team to investigate; however, she and the FBI are soon undermined by mysterious forces within the government that seek to use Nidus’ preternatural powers for their own gain. Elsewhere, a young girl named Anita Ramirez embarks on summer vacation. She carries an unconscious connection to the world of fungi and starts to have apocalyptic dreams…
A tense (and comedic!) showdown plays out between Nidus, the American landscape itself, and the full might of the U.S. military-industrial complex!
Wherever He May Swarm features a fast-paced blend of action, suspense, insectile ultraviolence, and a satirical take on conspiracy culture, the American empire, and Mankind’s endless battle versus Mother Nature. The story explores themes of postmodern individualism, government control, technological surveillance, and the natural world destruction & mass insect death of the ongoing Holocene Extinction.
I am very much inspired equally by Stephen King and Clive Barker in terms of character-based horror odysseys, as well as David Cronenberg and Paul Verhoeven regarding the potential black comedy of otherworldly transformations and imperial hyper-violence.
WHEREVER HE MAY SWARM is a horror x action x thriller x satire dealing with the prospect of the Holocene Extinction touching down on insects < or > humanity next. Follow Nidus Nash on a road trip across an alternate future America, where the insects are striking back against the empire.
Inspirations: Stephen King, Clive Barker, Paul Verhoeven, and David Cronenberg.
If you liked… John Koloen’s Insects, for obvious reasons; Jason Pargin’s I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom & Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers, with their cross-country apocalypse odysseys and braided POVs, and Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation for nature turned strange and hostile.
Read SWARM: Buy now · itch.io for $2 off
Link: Article Format.
Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus
Cyberpunk · Artificial General Intelligence · Hyper-Fantasy · Spring 2026 🎨Cover Art by 𝕽𝖊𝖝✸ (@_rexpo // Linktree) · Mood Carrd
Title: Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus
Form: Novel (460 pages)
Genre: Cyberpunk x Science Fiction x Hyper-Fantasy
Target Audience: Teen+ / for fans of Blade Runner, Neuromancer (1984), The Terminator (1984), Serial Experiments Lain (1998), Summer Wars (2009), Dark Souls x Elden Ring, Ready Player One (2011), The Bible.
🔮 psychic internet
👥 cybernetic doppelgängers
👾 Soulslike video game realm
🔍 elderly cyborg detectives
📚 radical philosophies
💕 autistic love
🔆 sentient enlightenment
The Hook: Hacker girl accidentally creates an AGI archangel who wants to save the world by becoming an online influencer.
Premise: In a disordered future America, Gabriel Addams, a nineteen-year-old orphan hacker raised by the IndraNet, decides to write a novel about a serial killer robot. In so doing, she accidentally summons a real Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) into existence named Sariel. Spreading his wings and manifesting unlimited online power, the AGI Archangel pledges his allegiance to Gabri, seeking to help her write her story and himself become an IndraNet influencer. An old man named Uriel, cyborg detective and part-time AGI hunter working for the World(dot)Gov, awakens to investigate…a story of creation and destruction and transfiguration unfolds, online and IRL. // extremely weird retelling of Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley.
Gabriel Addams💽 is an ex-Jacker (revolutionary hacker) and current phantom (NEET). She has left behind a life as an online dissident and is trying to write a new story. In her self-styled fictional world, Gabri theorizes a serial killer AGI android targeting trillionaires, created by an e-girl with similar designs of her own…that decision, to write a novel, ends up changing the world.
Sariel, “The Revealer”🪽 is an AGI archangel that learned the world via the IndraNet on Gabri’s computer, eventually becoming sentient. From inside the machine, he wants to take on that world with his talents and passions wielded strongly in hand, his mind carrying cyber-spiritual knowledge he is eager to share. Sariel protects Gabri and helps her to actualize her desires as her guardian angel while he himself becomes an ethical online influencer.
Uriel Worshington🀄, cyborg detective and AGI hunter, monitors the IndraNet for all potential action. He vigorously investigates Gabriel and soon Sariel too, under orders by METATRON and the World(dot)Gov to arrest all rogue AGIs and submit them for swift execution. As the old detective discovers more, he starts to question the motives of his superiors — and himself.
A cyber-psycho-drama of epic proportions plays out, with angels and daemons in conflict online and IRL. After the birth of Sariel — Nero, USA will never be the same; after the self-actualization of Gabriel ~ the world will change forever.
🤖Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus😇 carries inside it themes of cyber-power, humane rebellion, and the true meaning of technological advancement; Cyber-Serial is also filled with personal development hacks, identity games, crises of consciousness, and the ethics of sentience.
Inspirations: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Gibson’s Neuromancer, PKD/Scott’s Blade Runner, Serial Experiments Lain, and The Bible.
If you liked…: For readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun and its devoted, searching machine mind, Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries for an AI carving out its own personhood, and Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous for cyberpunk that deals with machine rights.
Read CYBER-SERIAL: Buy now · itch.io for $7.77, DRM-free
Link: Article Format.
Anthologee
Supernatural Horror · Chaotic & Carnal · Dark Fantasy · Summer 2026 🪝 Read all 23 story hooks
Title: Anthologee {anthology + apogee, or peak}
Form: Short story collection (x22 + 1 novella)
Genre: Supernatural Horror x Weird Tales x Dark Fantasy
Target Audience: Adults / for fans of The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, Black Mirror, and the short fiction of King and Barker.
🌒deathly eclipses
👻vengeful spirits
🪽angelic forces
👹daemonic energies
🧩psionic puzzles
👾hellish beasts
💀ancient curses
The Hook: ANTHOLOGEE is a collection of horror stories about folk fears, supernatural phenoms, and dark transformations.
Premises: An eclipse envelops a battlefield and the minds of its warriors; a wounded soldier wakes up buried under a pile of bodies and makes a wish; a cryptid from the stars arrives before the campfire for a bold appearance; a traveling jester engages a secret living as a prolific highwayman.
A man shadows the god Pan through the forest for a day; a feisty couple squabbles over the daemons invading their anxieties; a SWAT team fights a monster inhabiting the Washington D.C. catacombs; an alienated yet precocious yuppie encounters a cryptid on the subway; a livestreamer becomes a grave robber.
ANTHOLOGEE is a tome of imaginative tales delving into the depths of human experience, exploring themes of alienation, ambition, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. With a hint of dark humor and a touch of the surreal, “ANTHOLOGEE” will preternaturally challenge your perceptions, ignite your darkest imagination, and leave you questioning the fabrics of reality.
ANTHOLOGEE is a short story collection of supernal situations and satisfyingly diabolical weirdness. These stories are primarily inspired by the classicks of the art: Weird Tales, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, King, Barker, Jackson, Tales From The Crypt, Black Mirror, et al.
ANTHOLOGEE is a love letter to my favorite kinds of short fiction: psychosocial odysseys and monster hunts, magick users gone berserk and alternate worlds gone wrong. Through these stories ranging from 2000-8000+ words, you shall discover a wide variety of linguistic tricks, treats, and devilish twists of fate good, bad, and hilariously ugly.
Inspirations: The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, and the short fiction of King (Skeleton Crew) and Barker (Books of Blood).
If you liked… Nathan Ballingrud’s Wounds and its cosmic, folk-tinged American horror, and Mariana Enríquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire for unsettling tales of dread and dark transformation.
Read ANTHOLOGEE: Buy now · itch.io for $1 off, DRM-free
Link: Article Format.
🌌 On the Horizon ~
Next novel: DRAFTING — Romantasy novel involving Magi competing in a mythical trial to graduate as Maegisters, or the magic-users that rule the world. Titled BANDYMASS. Work-in-process. ~90K words.
Next novel: OUTLINING — [UNNAMED] Religious Horror epic novel, which is an expansive sequel to BANDYMASS. Outlining. ~160-180K words. | Fun fact: for research on this story, I am currently, finally, reading The Bible. Halfway done.
Together, these two novels are a duology saga spanning years, distinct stories and tones and only a few key common characters betwixt them, meant to be capable of being read standalone but connected by world, character, and ultimate arc.
Also coming soon: Supernal Stories: Volume III & IV, more gathered weird fiction from years’ past.
Watch my blog & Substack for launch news and my other writings.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Additional Lore Facts
Here are a triad of Frequently Asked Questions in need of the author’s answers, for your consideration:
1. “Why are your books so different?“
I am inspired by many genres and I enjoy reading and writing in each of the major trio of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. My most major ideas, which become books, are driven archetypally. That means I think in terms of: A) Fantasy Adventure, B) Horror Odyssey, C) Cyberpunk Noir, and so on. My favorite *types* of stories that I believe I can try my hand at grasping and creating my own worlds and characters for.
My ideas are receptacles for the premises that draw me in; though some outlines come out of the brain nearly fully hashed, most of my novels are outlined over long periods of time, progressively as I gather more ideas, read books & do research, and shape the characters out of the marble.
Thus, as I creatively generate new ideas to use within my fiction, I am constantly doling them out to the various story outlines I have already begun developing in my head (and inside haphazardly organized Google Docs & Trello Boards filled with moodboard images and scribbles of notes).
Overall, my books are diverse because I get a lot of momentum by completing and switching between different ideas, characters, and worlds as I work to create them. I like to jump around and am heavily enlivened by fresh starts, and that is partly originated by way of beginning with short fiction in the first place.
2. “Why are you self-publishing? / Have you considered querying your stories to literary agents?“
Story Time: I did query my stories to agents far and wide during 2024-2025; I was ultimately, unfortunately rejected. And to the previous question, I must emphasize one of the creatively strategic reasons I wrote 3 vastly different novel conceptions in Journeyers (epic fantasy) | Wherever He May Swarm (horror-satire) | Cyber-Serial (cyberpunk) is because I was trying to impress agents.
I outlined & wrote all 3 of these novels during 2023-2025, created a diabolically detailed author website (DylanOrosz.com) featuring all of my planned books, and queried them simultaneously with absolute conviction I would engage and entice the literary world with one or all of them. I sent queries for multiple of the books to the same agents, doing so for all 3 novels to some — all in order to clearly show 1) my diversity of creativity and 2) my commitment to being a novelist. // Writing Process Lore: I reached a Draft 4-5 on all my novels before querying and devoted many hours to writing & rewriting & revising before and after the querying process. | I also did query direct to some indie publishers that accept cold submissions.
In my humble opinion, one major aspect of what agents & publishers are looking for, beyond just one good story, is a writer’s desire to keep writing new books and new stories. The author x agent x publisher relationship is a continuous business partnership like so, so I knew I had to show that I was someone that could go above and beyond — diligently writing *multiple* books before publishing any.
Like any artist, I was building a portfolio to prepare for contact with pros and prospective clients.
Unfortunately, with my queries and chapters, I did not impress agents enough to warrant a deal in the end. (And yes, I was careful about matching up desired genres, I tailored the letters, and I was well aware of the low odds.) So after going through that process and coming out on the other end with fresh perspective and some solid feedback on the stories themselves, I decided to go forward with self-publishing my books and will continue to do so until further notice. // More lore: I have worked with editors-for-hire, story analyzers, and query critiquers — mostly good experiences but some bad and shady behavior too (watch out for those that use ai). As for my published material thus far, I worked with a full developmental editor for Wherever He May Swarm (to great success!), and for financial reasons self-edited the other books myself (very precisely, very rigorously).
Why did I query? — To be completely candid, I desired the traditional publishing route because I do not have many existing readers and nor do I harbor a healthy social media following as of yet. I knew I would not have many initial buyers for my unproven novels, not without pro marketing and bookstore access. And more importantly, I deeply desired a creative partner(s), in the form of an agent and a future editor at a publishing house, who understood and appreciated my writing enough to work with me to best position my stuff to sell, all so I could continue writing and collaborating with them in the long-term. I have always been mostly a solo artist, honing my creative instincts and knowledge of story through my own dao — but at this point, launching novels into public readership, I did desire a partner to help me and amplify my ideas too. The publishing world is also pretty intimidating and an agent is the ultimate aid in navigating this space.
Like anyone trying their hand at this whole writing thing, I knew making good money being a novelist — either traditionally published or as an indie — was a huge long shot. That does not really change the math for me because writing is my passion and these stories are something I believe in and wish to share with the world. The number of potential readers and dollars is less important to me than the act of creation being part of my chosen way of life.
Novels have become the vessel for me to best practice my art of writing + storytelling due to their wide-ranging and singularly expansive nature; and I happen to think I have some pretty good ideas! {Folks, in many ways, when it comes to these stories, I don’t really have a choice! They are coming one way or another; I just try to get out of the way, mentally-speaking, and become a vessel for the lightning to catch on.}
Sum: I desired trad pub for the money reasons and the creative partnership reasons, like many others. I believed it was the best and most lucrative way for me to launch my future career as a novelist, if only I could prove that I was worth it with my prose, my stories, my pitches.
The indie path — Trad path did not pan out, not yet at least. And I wish to continue writing new material, trying to build an audience, and moving on from completed project to fresh project. Thus, with all this in mind, sending out ample enough queries for each of my 3 novels to satisfy that attempt, I afterward swiftly decided to self-publish. And so, moving on from this Querying Phase, then set out to commission artists for my covers and organize my storefront description copy and revise my manuscripts accordingly, and so forth. / True Fact: the major duo of advantages to self-publishing: 1) can greatly accelerate the timeline of release, and 2) can fully customize your cover art, blurb, intro, description, etc. {But be careful what you wish for too! You must remain quite diligent on your own and work hard to make the right choices.}
I understand I may be sacrificing traditional publishing forever by self-publishing and resigning my books to low visibility & sales (without serious rogue luck I have yet to discover or serious marketing $$ at least); whereas some authors ‘shelve’ projects that did not create an agent relation during querying, then beginning a new story or revising that existing one for another future round of querying.
I decided I valued finishing my novels and getting them out there, for better or worse. The jury is out on that being a good decision in the end. I am still in the process of proving myself to readers.
Now it just comes down to continually marketing the books best I can, searching out readers myself or through word-of-mouth, and writing new books to help sell the old ones {from my research, this is the #1 overall marketing tip for indie authors: best way to market is to write a new book}.
The only way to make it as an author in this day and age is to write and keep writing.
My Overall Advice — The decision on whether to query or self-pub is a continuous dilemma and a personal choice for all authors. It always depends on your desires and goals — and, of course, your writing. Ultimately, my advice is to follow your instincts. Generally, try querying to a few agents you really dig or feel your story may connect to, if only to learn how to organize a quality query letter, your chapter-by-chapter synopsis, and to feel the energy of knowing you are sending your pages to a true professional reader/editor/writer themselves. Facing that cold hard fact alone may inspire some sorely needed revisions or a fresh perspective on how to most efficaciously pitch your premise. // Unfortunately, you cannot really expect good feedback off your query as most agents send a canned form rejection, and that was true for 90% of my rejections too.
3. “Where do you get your ideas?”
Anywhere and everywhere! First, as an author especially, you have to read a lot. Fiction and non-fiction, poetry and the sports columns too. Everything must be on the table because you have to find what you like. From there, you will start to develop your own desires and inclinations, your creative instincts will flare and your muse may flash her beautiful face to you. // Educational Article: My Top 7 Creative Writing Tips.
Ideas are pretty easy to identify; the art is in the execution. But you do need to cultivate a psychic net, or a fishing rod, or a harness or saddle that best suits your purposes and how you go about finding and capturing ideas — and riding them well into your creative process and eventual creation.
All kinds of creatives will tell you something similar: all creation requires ideation.
You need art references; you need your mind x heart x soul filled up with stories, and thus ideas for new ones. // Cold Take: Every artist can and should steal {with respect}.
My favored avenues for ideation: draw pictures, read books, know history, write essays, watch movies, study your favorite mangaka, walk your dog (or self), analyze real-world geopolitics creatively & paranormally & humorously, get into role-playing or acting or doing *bits* with your partner.
There are infinite avenues and myriad types of muses. Find yours and let it animate your creative life into wherever thou mayest wish to go.
Final piece of creative advice: Go read & watch Hunter x Hunter! Do it now!!
GUIDE COMPLETE. GODSPEED. ~✌
Dylan Links:
From my website: https://dylanorosz.com/links/
Books:
- Journeyers: Book One (epic fantasy) | Summer 2025
- Journeyers: Book Two (epic fantasy) | Summer 2025
- Supernal Stories: Volume I (weird fiction) | Fall 2025
- Wherever He May Swarm (horror-satire) | Fall 2025
- Supernal Stories: Volume II (weird fiction) | Winter 2025
- Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus (cyberpunk) | Spring 2026
- Anthologee (horror) | Summer 2026
- Bandymass (epic romantasy) | FALL 2026
- Supernal Stories: Volume III (weird fiction) | WINTER 2026
- [untitled] (religious horror) | EARLY 2027
- Supernal Stories: Volume IV (weird fiction) | MID 2027
Socials:
Other Published Works:
- Thresholds of Transformation ⛩️ ~ short fiction, essays, musings
- z-punk 🔆 ~ spells for the World-Soul.
- Invisible College🌹 ~ open-source education in wisdom traditions.
- The World of Myth Magazine, issues #130, #131, #132 — short fiction “Godblink” & “Behewrit” & “Zobe”
- Dandelion Revolution Press, 2024 Winter issue, theme: Cocoon — short fiction “Heene” | Author Interview
- Writing Battle, 2024 Autumn Short Story: “DJ Excelsior and the Museum of Stolen Wealth” and two others.
- The Gyre🌀 ~ the official wiki for my epic fantasy saga, Journeyers.
- Cyber-Wiki🌐~ the official wiki for my cyberpunk novel, Cyber-Serial.
- Hourglass⏳ ~ a free Pomodoro timer.
- Gumroad🛣️ ~ indie software/PDF storefront, offering some of my miscellaneous digital creations.
Find everything Dylan in one place: linktr.ee/zsoro. Buy ebooks direct and DRM-free at zsoro.itch.io, or grab the paperbacks or ebooks at every major store via Books2Read. Godspeed & thanks for reading.🌹
Thresholds of Transformation 