Month: January 2025

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Wulf Moon Awarded Six Best of Year Awards in the 2024 Critters Readers’ Poll


Thousands around the world vote every year for their favorites in publishing through the Critters Readers’ Poll. I’m happy to announce in 2024 I was honored with six Best of the Year Awards: Best Author, Best Writers Workshop (Wulf Pack Writers), Best Magical Realism Short Story (“Pink Pickled Pixies”), Best All other Short Story (“Precious Treasure”). Best Nonfiction Article (“The Price of Victory”), and Best Writers Resource (Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS). I believe THANK YOUs are in order!

First, my deepest thanks to the Wulf Pack Writers group, my greatest supporters. They embody Kipling’s words: “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.” GO WULF PACK!!!

Next, I have to thank Critters Writers’ founder for hosting this award every year. Thank you for giving our readers a chance to have their voices heard. That is special in awards, and very much appreciated. Our readers are what matter. They are the ones that allow us to have writing careers. These awards reflect that.

Next is publisher Juli Rew of Third Flatiron Anthologies. She gave me my first break in my phoenix year of 2018 and she’s been publishing my stories ever since. Thank you, Juli, for publishing “Pink Pickled Pixies” in Offshoots: Humanity Twigged. You’re a great publisher and editor! You had NINE stories from ONE anthology in Tangent Online’s 2024 Recommended Reading List. That’s a phenomenal accomplishment!

Then we have “Precious Treasure” published in WINK by the wonderfully supportive publishers at Brigids Gate Press. I was commissioned to write a story for this by editor Henry L. Herz. Thank you for including me in an anthology with so many NYT bestselling and award-winning authors, Henry. I considered this a great honor, and I thank you for the invitation.

Danny Hankner! He’s the publisher and editor of Story Unlikely Magazine, wrote the most beautiful review after reading HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY, and then hired me to write my Super Secrets of Writing articles for The Writer’s Gym in his magazine of 11,000 subscribers! Come work out with us! Brett Favre of NFL fame is in there! Really!

I’ve got to thank the wonderful people at Writers and Illustrators of the Future. They gave my career a turbo boost after I won their contest with “Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler.” Thank you, John Goodwin, for having me on your WotF Podcast and with Joe Montaldo’s Author’s Quill program on UPRNTalkRadio. Millions of listeners each episode can only help!

And I can’t forget Scot and Jane Noel at DreamForge Magazine of Science and Fantasy Fiction. They were first to publish my Super Secrets of Writing articles and did a lovely video to support their writers nominated in these awards.

I also have my Patreon backers to thank! That’s a new thing I developed in 2024, and they’re the ones that help fund the work I do to help writers level up for success. Thank you, Patrons!

And finally, there’s you! Yes, you! I asked my fans to weigh in after considering the nominees in each category, and you must have. This could not have happened without the support of my loyal fans. Thank you!

2024 was a GREAT year! May 2025 be even better for us all!

ALL THE BEAST!

Wulf Moon

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Wulf Pack Writers’ Group Results in the 2024 Critters Readers’ Poll


The Wulf Pack Writers group enjoyed another spectacular year in the Critters Readers’ Poll for works published in 2024. Thousands from around the world vote in these polls every year. I am proud to say our Wulf Pack was awarded Best of the Year awards in TEN categories! There’s a total of forty-one categories to vote on, so our modest writing group won Best of the Year in almost one quarter of Critters’ voting categories! Way to go, Wulf Pack Writers!

 Special kudos to David Hankins for winning Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel of 2024 for Death and the Taxman, and for winning both Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story and Best Positive Future Short Story of 2024 for “To Catch a Foo Fighter.” Candice Lisle is to be commended for “The Telltale Cricket” which won Best Horror Short Story of 2024! Each of these categories are challenging to win because of the many nominations, some by powerful publishers with huge followings. We’re the little train that could!

 But each and every member of the Wulf Pack Writers group deserves special commendation for winning Best Writing Workshop for the SIXTH year in a row! There were heavy hitters in this category—there always are—and we appreciate the excellent work these writing groups do to educate and support writers. But I would be remiss if I did not congratulate our members who win this award as a group year after year for the sterling reputation they have built in our speculative fiction community that make our writing group shine! We live by our motto: “For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.”

 GO WULF PACK!!!

RUN WITH THE WULF PACK!
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE WULF PACK WRITERS TIER!

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A Wonderful Honor in the Annual Critters Readers’ Poll

The 2024 Critters Readers’ Poll winners have been announced. Thousands vote in these polls every year. While I was awarded Best of the Year in six categories, this one means the most to me. This is a community award for Best Author of 2024, voted on by the people in our worldwide writing community. You don’t get this award by being mean or begrudging others their success or speaking ill of other authors.

When you read the comments people leave with their votes–this is the fifth time I’ve received this honor–you’ll find out this award is not only about being a good writer, which many kindly say that I am. It’s really about being kind and thoughtful and helping others around you to succeed. Even making someone smile for the day or telling them they are appreciated is a success. Those comments the many voters leave mean the world to me because they know the truth–I care deeply about people and do my best to show it in word and deed every day.

Thank you to all of you that recognize this about me and have honored me with this award. I am a wordsmith, but words cannot say how much this moves me, especially right now. All I can say is that I see you, and I appreciate you.

My thanks to all of you supporting me here and in the reading, writing, and publishing community. May good things fill your hearts with cheer in 2025!

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A FREE Wulf Moon Story For Your Consideration During Awards Season!

Wink is a young adult anthology published by Brigids Gate Press in 2024 that winks at your favorite childhood classics. I was commissioned to write a story for it and was amazed no one else chose The Hobbit, my favorite childhood adventure story. Game on! I wrote “Precious Treasure” to take readers to an alternate reality with all the feel of The Hobbit.

Many have wondered what happened to Bilbo on his journey home after the slaying of Smaug. “Precious Treasure” winks at what would have been a dangerous journey there and back again while creating its own unique characters and plot. But always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons. 

This PDF has been kindly provided by my publishers for your consideration during awards season, presently for the Critters Readers Poll in the Category of Other Short Story. The anthology included eight New York Times bestselling writers and even more Stoker, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award winners, so you know this book is top of the line! Download “Precious Treasure”

Thank you for your consideration during awards season! Here’s the first one for you, the Critters Readers Poll where you can weigh in with your vote. But hurry! Voting ends at midnight on January 14th!  Critters Writers Workshop Readers Poll

To read the rest of the exceptional stories in this anthology, you can order your copy here:
Wink: Young Adult Tales that Wink at Classic Children’s Books – Brigids Gate Press

Enjoy!

All the beast,

Wulf Moon

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Wulf Moon Nominations in the 2024 Critters Readers Poll


The Critters Readers Poll is open, where thousands of readers from around the world vote for their favorites published in the prior year. I’m nominated in the Author category this year and am currently in first place as a writer published in 2024.

If you believe I’ve been helpful in supporting writers and making a difference through my writing in both fiction and nonfiction, in my writing group for emerging writers, and through my bestselling writing book HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY, I’d love your consideration in the Author category after looking over the nominees. This one is always a tight race and trust me, every single vote counts. You win some, you lose some, and it always comes down to the last votes at the end by those dear fans that supported you. Just a little over a week to go to make your vote count!

I’m nominated in other categories as well, and you’ll get a free story by my publisher by clicking on the link for “Pink Pickled Pixies” in the Magical Realism Short Story category. Enjoy your trip to the Victorian town of Port Townsend, Washington, where my wife and I used to live! I hope you love a good Reuben!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look over the nominees in the various categories. And thank you for your consideration!

Links to the categories I’m nominated in below. I appreciate you, dear friends! Cheers!


Here’s the Author category, the big one I posted about:
https://critters.org/predpoll/author.shtml

Here’s where you can get a free copy of “Pink Pickled Pixies” which made Tangent Online’s 2024 Recommended Reading List! It’s nominated in the Magical Realism Short Story category.
https://critters.org/predpoll/shortstorymr.shtml

Here’s where you can get a free read of my writing article “The Price of Victory” at Story Unlikely. It’s nominated in the Nonfiction Article category.
https://critters.org/predpoll/nonfiction.shtml

Here’s where you can vote for my free writing resource that’s helped multitudes of emerging writers get published and also win contests like Writers of the Future and the Mike Resnick Memorial Award. Click the link on my nomination to see this resource I created for free, now heading for one million views!
https://critters.org/predpoll/writerinfo.shtml

And if you appreciate all I’ve done to help writers, there’s a place you can show your love for my writing workshops now known as Wulf Pack Writers. Most writers take my workshops as unpublished writers and not only end up published, they win international awards and launch pro careers!
https://critters.org/predpoll/writerws.shtml

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“Pink Pickled Pixies” Honored on Tangent’s 2024 Recommended Reading List

Tangent Online’s 2024 Recommended Reading List has been posted, but I’ve been too busy to mention that my story is on the list. Let’s fix that!

Tangent Online is “the genre’s premiere review magazine for short SF & Fantasy since 1993.” Pro speculative fiction writers rush to read Tangent’s post at the start of the new year to see if their stories published in professional markets in the prior year made it onto this prestigious list. For SFF writers, this is like a chef getting a James Beard Award or a Michelin star for excellence in their culinary skills. And this recommended reading list is one of the rare industry honors that aren’t controlled by factions–the listings are based on merit alone, the stories normally cross-checked by multiple Tangent reviewers. It is not easy for a story to make it onto this list and it’s highly respected–it’s even used as a sounding board for other awards and best of the year anthologies.

My short story that made the cut in 2024 is “𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐬” in the Offshoots: Humanity Twigged anthology by Third Flatiron Publishing. This is a quirky magical realism story about a pandemic-proof sandwich shop set in our former hometown of Port Townsend, Washington! I reference several places there I know well, even a Victorian home in Uptown where we knew the owner and visited her there several times.

Another thing of note. I also challenged our Wulf Pack Writers group to submit stories to this pro anthology by Third Flatiron and so many of our stories were accepted, the editor thanked us once again in her introduction. And hats off to David Hankins from our group who also made it onto the Tangent list!

Would you like to read “Pink Pickled Pixies” for free? That’s right! For a limited time, my publisher has kindly made the story available outside of the anthology for you to read. Why? Because she likes the story and hopes you’ll vote for it in the Critters Readers Choice Awards in the Magical Realism category! I’m truly happy I can offer this fun story to you, but please read it soon! Polling ends in a little over a week and then this special offer goes bye-bye.

Here’s the FREE PDF of “Pink Pickled Pixies”! CLICK HERE!

After reading and reviewing the nominees, here’s where you cast your vote! CLICK HERE!

And if you’d really like to help me out, one of the most contested categories is the Author category. If you believe I’ve done a good job helping aspiring writers through my Super Secrets and my workshop and writing group, here’s where you can show your support! CLICK HERE!

Thank you so much for your consideration! Now go enjoy that story, it’s uplifting, and you’ll visit some of my favorite spots in Port Townsend! The bookstore has been asking me to teach a writing workshop there. Might be a great place for a Wulf Pack gathering!

Road trip to a Victorian waterfront town anyone?

All the beast! 

Wulf Moon