- STORIES THAT STING -A new independent book publisher in Morgantown, West Virginia
Books
Stay tuned! Our 2027 catalog will be released in June 2026.
Submissions
We are currently accepting submissions for one or two additional titles for our inaugural 2027 catalog. While we have a particular fondness for immersive settings, ecological depth, dreams, and the supernatural, we are happy to consider polished, book-length manuscripts of fiction, poetry, or narrative nonfiction in any genre.Has your project been rejected by countless traditional publishers for being too idiosyncratic, questionably marketable, or simply bizarre? Send it to us! Conversely, please do not submit any work that feels derivative, or aims to please a pre-packaged generic audience.Direct a query letter and two sample chapters to [email protected]. Include your last name and manuscript title in the subject line.
About Us
We believe that earth's most enduring mysteries are best explored in sleep through dreams. While awake, we turn first to the magic microscope of the narrative arts. Our mission is to elevate stories that explore ancient questions in unusual ways, contributing to the total volume of literary wildness in the world. We publish STORIES THAT STING!We also believe that the quality of one's life-work is inversely correlated to its financial rewards, so Night Wasp Press is anti-profit, non-professional, pre-industrial, and meta-physical. Or, in other words, we operate as a mission-driven, volunteer-run cooperative. Readers benefit from fair prices, while authors shoulder certain costs and labor of production in exchange for editorial input on future titles and the full net proceeds from sales of their own work.We aim to publish one to three books each year, sometimes supported by audiobooks, podcasts, or other media. We're interested in working with authors to experiment with new ways of distributing stories to 21st-century audiences.Claire Sweeney sits as our ultimate arbiter and Editor-in-Chief, when not performing science on West Virginia soils, or folk sets with The Mud Larks and Nathan El. And Sam Horrocks suffices as Managing Editor, in between teaching college English and scratching the earth at Maryland Line Farm.