Grimdark Newsletter #3
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Ready For Some Juicy Grimdark?

Hello my devious Grimdark army, I hope you've been doing well and reading dark. I have a few points of major news to announce for the subreddit, which are outlined below.

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Rising Grimdark Star AMA

We have a scheduled AMA with rising Grimdark star Michael Michel on June 17th 9:00am PST (or in Australia AEST: June 18th 2:00am). You may know him from his frequent engagement on the subreddit, or from his wildly popular books.

He will be coming on to answer all of your burning questions, whether they be about his life and existing books, or his newly releasing "Banners of Wrath" in January 2026.

If you think that's exciting, wait until you get further down.

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New r/GrimdarkEpicFantasy Moderators

I will be frank, I definitely bit off more than I could comfortably chew recently, and the subreddit has suffered for it. The short story contests have been sidelined while I've dealt with various life and career issues. I made a post about it on the subreddit, but I will reiterate here.

Me burning out and juggling too many things at once is not only bad for my mental health, it's bad for everything I worked so hard to achieve. When spread too thin, I wasn't able to write, edit, moderate, or even summon the energy to reply to people. Well, that isn't fair on anybody.

To cut a long-winded preamble short, two Moderators have been selected and promoted within the community for very specific purposes.

Firstly, u/Indyman_123 has been promoted to the Grimdark Wiki Archivist Moderator position, tasked with creating a Wiki full of gems, valuable resources, and many cool little additions we've thought up. I can't wait to go into more detail with you all.

Secondly, u/Evening_Bruno has been promoted to the Short Story Moderator position, tasked with control over the short story competitions, prompts, and a panel of judges to help decide winners of book prizes.

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Upcoming Subreddit Features

As mentioned above, we are creating a Grimdark Wiki on the subreddit for a multitude of reasons, plus other unrelated and exciting developments.

r/GrimdarkEpicFantasy is a dominant genre hub that is growing faster than any of its competition. It is only fitting that it gets an upgrade. Below is a list of some of the new pages & features we will be adding (without going into boring detail):

• Grimdark Resources Tab - Designed to provide value for Grimdark veterans & newbies alike with a multitude of features and compiled gems
• Beginners Guide To Grimdark Tab - Self Explanatory
• A Beginner's Guide To Grimdark Fantasy Tab - Needed
• Popular Titles Tab - Traditional & Indie - Needed
• Ultimate Grimdark Recommendation Tab - Who wouldn't want this?

Plus much more in the works! The Short Story Moderator and I are workshopping a scheduled contest scheme, as well as a Grimdark Short Story Anthology Contest which will have the winning stories compiled annually for tangible /GrimdarkEpicFantasy merchandise & prizes.

Note - These are all still firmly in the workshopping phase, and have not been fleshed out or worked on extensively yet. You are the first to hear about everything in this email, other than those I have been organising it with.

The Queen of Grimdark's AMA

For those who aren't familiar with Anna Smith Sparks, she is hailed by many as the Queen of Grimdark. This is mainly due to her deadly prose and literary savagery, and it is a well-deserved title.

This is pretty exciting. I mentioned to the subreddit months ago that I had a conversation with Anna Smith Spark in relation to me trying to get her on the subreddit for an AMA. I'm not sure why these authors keep saying yes, but I am thrilled about it.

In her first reply to my message, she said "Hello Jasper! Wow, yes, I would be honoured. Thank you for asking!" and let me know that she couldn't give me a date for a while due to life stress and ongoing renovations. I understand that, and let time pass. Recently, I reached out to her again and asked about the AMA.

Here's where things get exciting. Sparks told me she is willing to still do the AMA, and has even locked in a general time-frame of when she will come onto our amazing Grimdark community. See below:

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So, August/September of 2025 it is.

I'm absolutely stoked about this, and I know it's going to be a huge event on our amazing Grimdark community.

Below are some of her works if anybody is still confused who I'm talking about:

Grimdark Promotion Highlights

The featured promotions of this month (based on upvotes) is by authors Michael Michel & Michael Roberti.

Some of you may be asking, "Wait, two Michael's!? What the Kentucky Fried Fuck?" - I don't know when the council of Michael's convened to discuss this takeover, but here we are!

The top voted promotion of this month is for the upcoming novel 'Banners of Wrath' from the 'Dreams of Dust and Steel' series.

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Followed closely by author Michael Roberti's 'Crown and Tide' series, where he posted discounted links to his trilogy.

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And finally, a pair of Youtube accounts that are working closely with Grimdark themes & authors.

And a brand-new Grimdark animated series with zero AI use:

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The Shattered Line - Updates & Progress Report

Month One: Annotate 30 pages minimum per day.

I have officially completed my first annotation pass, and found that my biggest weaknesses are maintaining a vivid setting description as the chapter progresses, occasionally allowing my character POV to become inactive as they watch events, and a general excess in wordy descriptions that slow down my relentless pacing.

There are zero major structural issues, and the few minor issues I noticed were in the form of clothing & detail inconsistencies.

As well as identifying where my story needed some extra love, I mercilessly analyzed every sentence and cut out all unnecessary descriptions, adjectives, filler words, and anything I believe will detract from reader-satisfaction.

All in all, this has been a very encouraging endeavor. Editing is a skill on par with writing itself, and it's been rewarding for me as I delve deeply into it day by day.

During this month, I had my second scheduled conference with my editor. This was amazing and showed me the value of a professional developmental editor, as well as confirming some things about my upcoming debut.

Below is a direct quote from an email he sent me last week:

I am very proud, I'm writing exactly what I always wanted to read as an avid fantasy fan. I am so excited to release this book and have everybody asking one very important question: how the hell is this a debut?

You just wait. Nobody is ready.

Speaking of which, my lovely fiancé Madie spent a week creating a manuscript cover to use while I work on edits and getting my cover professionally commissioned. I think this is so cool and captures the mood of my story.

While I wait on my editor to send me the feedback, I will be doing a second comb-through and rewriting a couple of chapters that aren't to the level of quality as the rest of my novel.

Want First Access To Beta Reads Or An Advance Reader Copy Of The Shattered Line?

Get it First. Spread the Fire!

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Grow The Horde Competition - Ebook Bundle Prize

I'm going to keep this one real simple.

I am offering a free Ebook Bundle Prize for a Newsletter sharing competition. If you get 3 people to sign up to the Grimdark Newsletter & email me their names (grimdarkepicfantasy@gmail.com), you will be entered into the prize pool. The winner will be randomly selected from the list of those who entered.

Share this link to your Grimdark friends and let me know who you got to subscribe: https://jasperlwalker.kit.com/grimdark-newsletter​

The End

Don't forget to share the Newsletter around with your friends and anyone that might be interested in what we have to offer!

And if there is anything you want to see discussed here, hit that reply button and let me know what you think.

Until the next razing, stay grim.

Jasper L. Walker.

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