Welcome to the
Second Realm
About the Second Realm
Second Realm Publishing House is a boutique independent publishing company established by Stephen Black and Olivia Brooks. We seek to procure and publish the best dark fantasy and horror novels and novellas, polished gems that showcase new and emerging writers from all backgrounds. We want to scare and seduce you into the wee small hours with stories that you cannot put down, brimming with magic, malice, and murderous intent. So come on in and take a seat by the hearth. Forget the real world for a while and leave your troubles at the door. Welcome to the Second Realm! We hope you enjoy your stay.
Submission Guidelines - CLOSED
We are currently seeking completed manuscripts between 70,000 - 100,000 words. At this time, we are not accepting Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children’s fiction.
Please read the Editors' wishlists below. If you feel you have a story that might interest us then please send an email to: secondrealmpublishing@gmail.com
Attach your opening 5000 words as a Word document, accompanied by a full synopsis and your query letter. Highlight whether the submission is for Stephen or Olivia. Upon receipt, we will review it and aim to get back to you within 10-14 days. We look forward to reading your work.
Our Wishlist
Genres we are looking for:
• Dark Fantasy
• Religious Horror
• Dark Speculative Fiction
• Historical Horror (pre-19th Century)
• Horromance
• Celtic/Nordic Horror
• Survival Horror
• Post-Apocalyptic Horror
Stephen Black (Editor-in-Chief)
Stephen's passion is dark and decadent literature, particularly within the horror genre. He was raised on Stoker, Lovecraft, and King and his two favorite novels are Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' and Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar'.
He is seeking high quality, completed novels and novellas within the historical horror (pre-19th century), Celtic/Nordic horror, religious horror, survivial horror, and post-apocalyptic horror sub-genres. Give him characters with depth, scope, and plots that twist and turn with every page. He is keen to work with writers who are willing to take both themselves and their readers out of their comfort zones; subverting tired tropes and pushing bland boundaries in a quest for literature perfection.
Stephen is very interested in publishing the work of marginalized authors and has a particular interest in stories that feature neurodivergent characters and characters with visible and invisible disabilities.
Olivia Brooks (Managing Editor)
Olivia loves dark fantasy, horromance, and dark speculative fiction. She loves to embark on classic literature with romance, eerie atmospheres, and Gothic flairs… but she also devours modern publications that have similar aesthetics.
She is seeking novels and novellas that provide a fresh twist to the combination of dark fiction or fantasy with any sub genre. Genre clashing is an experimental outlet that Olivia loves to see and feels is what brings new creatives to the table. She loves both urban and victorian settings, villain origin or redemption arcs, a protective or slow burn romance… and even a fresh take on the love triangle in the midst of a dark plot.
Olivia wants to represent authors at any stage of their career, as well as voices from any background and experience. She believes respect and open-mindness goes far in creative realms and is ready to work with individuals that want to take their passion projects to the next level.