Reflections from AKALM

Mountain Reflections

“The Season Between”

by Terrie Wolf, Literary Agent and Rights Manager

 

August is a peculiar kind of hush.

Not quite the end of summer, not yet the fall push—it’s the pause between paragraphs. A comma in the rhythm of the literary year.

And in that pause, there’s just enough space to breathe in, breathe out, look back, and look forward.

Some of us are taking long-overdue vacations. Others are knee-deep in edits, contract negotiations, or preparing fall submission lists.

Mind you, we’re looking at this fall, for what could be published a fall or three down the road. Most of us are somewhere in between—holding two truths at once: the need for rest, and the work that won’t wait.

That’s what makes August special in this business. It’s when the industry exhales, or so we’d like to believe. Upon reflection, we know that August is

  • When we check in with our authors and they check in with us, it’s not just about manuscript progress, but also about our mutual well-being. Sharing a cool glass of sun tea on our virtual porch sets the mood for meaningful conversation.
  • When publishing professionals, authors, and readers return from retreats, writing events, and family holidays with reading decks in hand and a new perspective. We’re considering what will shape next year’s list, as well as those of the following year or two, and how these lists will impact the industry, and in turn, how the industry will influence the lists.
  • When book buyers look at fall catalogs and wonder: What will readers want a year from now, a fall from now, a winter from now, two autumns from now, and two winters from now, not to mention the springtime and summer season reading opportunities nestled in between those times.

…And we realize, this season isn’t quiet because nothing is happening. It’s quiet because the work is deep.

Because the publishing industry isn’t just a machine of production—it’s a rhythm of people, stories, and seasons. August reminds us of that.

So here’s what I’m holding space for this month:

  • The debut author who’s catching their breath before release day
  • The seasoned writer who’s taking one last look at what they’ve created
  • The editor who’s carving out space to fall in love with something unexpected
  • The agent (hi, that’s me), who’s rereading that manuscript one more time, both of us dog-eared (which pretty well explains my current look) and determined to make a difference

We work in cycles. And this one, this in-between, is all about a different sort of groundwork.

Let’s use it well.

Let’s rest where we can.

Let’s enjoy grape popsicles.

Let’s read something that strikes our fancy.

Let’s reconnect with the reason we started this work in the first place.

Let’s write the kind of truth that my mom would have called “rib-sticking” and real, even if it’s fiction.

 

And when fall comes—and it will—we’ll be ready.

With sharper eyes.

Fuller hearts.

And stories worth the wait.

See you on the next page!

Always,

— Terrie

Client Spotlight: Braveship Takes Top Honors at Hollywood Independent Music Awards

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Matt Cook Braveship wins at 20250 HIMA2025

Client Spotlight: MATT COOK

Multimedia Franchise ‘BRAVESHIP’ Honored with Best Independent Album

August 1, 2025 

For Immediate Release – Los Angeles, CA  – multi-award-winning composer and bestselling author Matt Cook’s largest work, the Braveship Suite, was recently awarded Best Independent Album (All Genres), the most anticipated honor of the evening, and became a true cross-genre triumph at the 2025 Hollywood Independent Music Awards.

The collaborative project rose to the top of thousands of international submissions and was selected above entries in pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, country, and more. It features thirteen all-original orchestral movements accompanied by fantastical illustrations and on-screen animations.

This win is particularly meaningful as Braveship is rooted in classical composition, a genre not often spotlighted in such wide-open categories.

In a storytelling format reminiscent of Peter and the Wolf, the modern tale of courage, wonder, and belonging invites audiences of all ages on an adventure with an orphan boy who pilots a magical airship to distant lands, discovering the family he never had.

Since its premiere as a live show in 2022, Braveship has expanded into a full-scale entertainment universe and international entertainment franchise with:

  • A symphonic album recorded by a multi-GRAMMY-winning team at a Disney studio
  • A novelization  – currently on submission
  • A video game  – currently in development
  • A live show – premiered in Utah, with more shows booked across the country

Matt Cook is an economist, bestselling author, and executive film producer based in Los Angeles. His work has reached audiences in over 130 countries, and is inspired by his own travels to over 185 countries and territories. Known for a symphonic style that awakens a spirit of wonder and adventure, Dr. Cook lives by a motto: “Live great stories and tell great stories.”

This marks the second major award for Braveship and reflects Cook’s rare ability to move between creative arenas with precision and resonance. Literary agent Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management expressed excitement regarding the Colorado-based agency’s role in representing the novelized version of Braveship, which she calls “a rich and atmospheric piece that echoes the scope and intensity of his music.” She added, “If you’re an acquiring editor looking for smart, meaningful, multi-format storytelling, our Dr. Matt Cook belongs on your radar. His work sings – literally and figuratively – and it’s our honor to champion his journey.”

Media Contact: Neil Erickson, Business Manager, E: aka@AKALiterary.com/O: 646-846-2478

Tory Bunce Joins the Atlanta Writers Club Board
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Client News: Tory Craig Bunce Joins the Atlanta Writers Club Board

At AKA Literary Management, we believe in the power of literary community—and few embody that spirit more fully than author and longtime AKA client Tory Craig Bunce.

We’re proud to share that the Atlanta Writers Club (AWC) has invited Tory to serve as an ad hoc member of its Board of Directors, a role created specifically to tap into her passion for writer advocacy and community growth. With more than a decade of volunteer experience with the organization, Tory will now contribute her insight to current and future AWC initiatives, helping shape the experience of nearly 1,500 active members and amplifying outreach to new voices.

This new appointment reflects not only Tory’s commitment to her craft, but also her deep investment in the literary ecosystem that nurtures so many aspiring writers. The Atlanta Writers Club has long played a role in Tory’s own creative journey, and she’s thrilled to give back in this meaningful new way.

Congratulations, Tory! We’re honored to represent such a dynamic force in the writing world.

Margaret Mizushima’s Gathering Mist Named Top Pick for 2025 Silver Falchion Award

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SliverFalchion 025 award

We’re proud to announce that bestselling author Margaret Mizushima has been selected as a 2025 Silver Falchion Award “Top Pick” in the Best Investigator category for her latest Timber Creek K‑9 mystery, Gathering Mist.

The Silver Falchion Awards, presented annually at Killer Nashville, honor the best in thriller, mystery, and crime fiction. Chosen by a panel of industry professionals, “Top Pick” selections represent the highest quality submissions of the year—only the most compelling, character-driven works make the cut. Mizushima’s signature blend of K-9 procedural precision, emotional depth, and Rocky Mountain setting once again stands out among the competition.

Congratulations to Pam Meyer – Claymore Judges’ Top Pick for 2025!

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2025

We are thrilled to share some exciting news about one of our talented authors, Pam Meyer!

Her manuscript, Death In Miniature, submitted in the Best Suspense category, has been selected as one of the Judges’ Top Picks for the 2025 Claymore Awards. This prestigious recognition is a testament to Pam’s storytelling talent and the compelling nature of her work.

With a record number of strong submissions this year, the judges faced tough decisions. However, Death In Miniature stood out—sparking conversations, lingering in the judges’ minds, and leaving them genuinely excited for what’s to come. This Judges’ Top Pick distinction is a powerful endorsement of Pam’s talent and the promise of her manuscript.

We encourage Pam and all aspiring authors to attend the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference. It’s a fantastic opportunity to participate in panels, workshops, and networking events that can open doors to publishing success.

Congratulations again to Pam Meyer on this well-deserved recognition. We can’t wait to see Death In Miniature on bookstore shelves soon!

#ClaymoreAwards #PamMeyer #KillerNashville #WritersConference #LiteraryAward #BookAward

#aka_terrie #aka_lit

📚 Words, Freedom, and the Stories We Share

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Reflections on Independence Day from AKALM

As fireworks light up the sky this week, I find myself thinking—not just about independence, but about expression. Because freedom, in this business, isn’t reserved for one day a year. It’s something we defend, nurture, and live every time we help a story find its place in the world.

It’s the quiet courage of a debut author daring to speak truth on the page.

It’s the thriller writer holding a mirror to power.

It’s the memoirist saying, This happened. This matters.

Publishing, at its best, is an act of freedom.

Not perfection. Not performance.

But presence.

We are fortunate to work in a space where words carry weight. Where stories cross borders. Where voices that once whispered now ring out in hardcover, paperback, and translation. That’s not something I take lightly.

Because freedom of expression—real freedom—comes with responsibility.

Responsibility to:

  • Lift each other up

  • Publish with care

  • Advocate for the voices that challenge and change us

  • Do the hard work of listening, even when it’s uncomfortable

  • And show up—page after page, draft after draft—so the right story reaches the right reader at the right time

So this Independence Day, I’m especially grateful for:

  • The authors who trust us with their words

  • The editors and publishers who champion meaningful books

  • The readers who lean into stories that illuminate and inspire

  • And the sacred freedom we hold—to tell the truth, and imagine more

Let’s keep telling the hard stories.

Let’s keep lifting voices that need to be heard.

Let’s keep building something that outlasts us.

Because freedom doesn’t just live in fireworks.

It lives in books.

And at AKA Literary, we’re proud to be part of that story.

Happy Fourth, friends.

See you on the next page,

— Terrie

2025 Derringer Award Winners – Tammy Euliano

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The Doctor Takes the Prize: Tammy Euliano Wins Big at the Derringers

Well, this is exactly the kind of news I love to wake up to. The 2025 Derringer Award winners came out yesterday, and Dr. Tammy Euliano just proved that sometimes the most interesting crime stories come from the most unexpected corners.

Her story “Heart of Darkness” took the Long Story category, and honestly? I’m doing a little victory dance over here. Remember that Waffle House anthology I wrote about a few weeks back? The one that seemed almost too quirky to be real? Yeah, it just won a major award.

The Whole List

Let me run through all the winners because this year’s crop is pretty fantastic:

Mike McHone grabbed Flash Fiction for “Kargin the Necromancer” in Mystery Tribune. A necromancer story winning a mystery award? I mean, why not. Genre boundaries are basically suggestions at this point anyway.

Josh Pachter took Short Story with “The Wind Phone” from Ellery Queen’s. No surprises there—Pachter’s been turning out solid work for years, and EQMM knows what they’re doing.

Euliano got Long Story, obviously, and I’m still grinning about it.

Stacy Woodson claimed Novelette for “The Cadillac Job” from Down & Out Books. And here’s where it gets interesting—that’s the same publisher that put out the Waffle House anthology. Someone over there has serious taste.

The anthology award went to “Murder, Neat” from the SleuthSayers crowd, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman. If you know anything about mystery writing online, you know those folks have been keeping the community going for years. About time they got recognized for it.

Why This Matters

Look, I could write a whole dissertation on why Euliano’s win makes me happy, but let me break it down simply: this woman is an anesthesiologist. She spends her days keeping people alive during surgery. Then she goes home and writes award-winning crime fiction set in diners.

That’s not your typical writing bio, and that’s exactly why it works.

The medical background is obvious—doctors understand how bodies work, how they break, how close we all are to disaster at any given moment. But choosing to set her winning story in a Waffle House instead of a hospital? That takes real imagination. She could have gone the easy route, written about medical mysteries and drawn on her day job. Instead, she found the darkness in hash browns and late-night coffee.

And it paid off. The Derringer committee saw what I saw when I first heard about this anthology—that crime fiction works anywhere humans gather, especially in those liminal spaces where different worlds collide. Truck drivers, college kids pulling all-nighters, people getting off late shifts, travelers who’ve been driving too long—they all end up in the same fluorescent-lit booth at 2 AM. That’s fertile ground for stories.

What Strikes Me About This Year

Down & Out Books had a hell of a year. Two winners from one publisher doesn’t happen by accident. They’re clearly finding writers who understand that mystery fiction doesn’t have to be about drawing room murders or hard-boiled detectives walking mean streets. Sometimes it’s about finding the extraordinary in the completely ordinary.

The range this year is impressive too. You’ve got fantasy elements with the necromancer story, traditional magazine publishing with Pachter’s EQMM piece, anthology work from both the SleuthSayers collection and the Waffle House book, and serialized fiction with Woodson’s Chop Shop story. The field is healthier and weirder than ever.

Personal Victory

I have to admit, Euliano’s win feels personal. When I first wrote about her nomination, I was drawn to this idea of a doctor writing crime fiction, of someone taking their very serious, life-and-death professional skills and applying them to storytelling. But more than that, I loved the audacity of that anthology concept.

“Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked” could have been a throwaway gimmick. Instead, it produced award-winning fiction. That tells me editors Michael Bracken and the folks at Down & Out Books understood something important: the setting is never the story. The people are the story. The setting just gives them somewhere interesting to reveal themselves.

Euliano got that. She understood that a Waffle House at 3 AM is just as valid a location for exploring human darkness as any Victorian mansion or gritty urban alleyway. Maybe more so, because it’s a place most of us have been, a place that feels familiar until something goes wrong.

Anyway, congratulations to all the winners, but especially to Dr. Euliano. From the OR to the Derringer Award—that’s a career trajectory I never saw coming, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Rez Ball by Byron Graves Wins the Oklahoma Library Association Sequoyah Book Award

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Rez Ball2023

We are proud to announce that Rez Ball by Byron Graves has won the 2025 Oklahoma Library Association High School Sequoyah Book Award.

The Sequoyah Book Award is selected by Oklahoma students and honors the memory of Sequoyah, the Cherokee scholar who created the Cherokee syllabary. The High School category recognizes the year’s most outstanding young adult title as voted by Oklahoma high school readers — making this a reader’s choice award in the truest sense.

Rez Ball was named the 2025 High School winner alongside:

  • Children’s: Dogtown by Katherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko
  • Intermediate: Tie between The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh and Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang

Congratulations to Byron on this well-deserved honor.

Rez Ball
Byron Graves | Heartdrum/HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-316038-5
Agent: Terrie Wolf, AKA Literary Management

2025 Derringer Award Finalists – “Heart of Darkness” by Tammy Euliano

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When Doctors Write Crime: Tammy Euliano’s Derringer Award Nomination

The 2025 Derringer Award finalists were announced recently, and I’m particularly intrigued by one nomination that caught my eye: Dr. Tammy Euliano’s “Heart of Darkness” in the Long Story category. There’s something fascinating about medical professionals who turn their precise, analytical minds to crafting mysteries—and Euliano’s story has an especially unique hook.

The Waffle House Chronicles

Euliano’s nominated story appears in what might be one of the most distinctive anthology concepts I’ve encountered: “Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House.” Published by Down & Out Books, this collection takes the iconic 24-hour diner chain as its muse for crime fiction. It’s the kind of premise that makes perfect sense once you think about it—what better setting for noir and mystery than a place that’s open all night, serves as a crossroads for travelers, and has witnessed countless human dramas unfold over hash browns and coffee?

The title “Heart of Darkness” suggests Euliano isn’t just playing with the Waffle House setting for laughs. There’s literary weight here, perhaps a nod to Conrad’s classic while exploring the darker corners of American roadside culture.

The Doctor-Writer

What makes Euliano’s nomination particularly interesting is her day job. As a practicing anesthesiologist and tenured professor at the University of Florida, she brings a unique perspective to crime writing. Medical professionals have always made compelling mystery writers—think of doctors like Robin Cook or Patricia Cornwell’s background in forensics—but there’s something especially appealing about an anesthesiologist writing crime fiction. After all, who better understands the thin line between consciousness and oblivion, between life and death?

Euliano isn’t new to award recognition either. Beyond her academic achievements, YouTube teaching videos, and numerous teaching awards, she’s been building a reputation for her short fiction. The combination of medical expertise and storytelling skill creates a potent mix for crime writing.

The Derringer Legacy

The Derringer Awards, named after that famous pocket pistol, have been recognizing excellence in short mystery fiction for years. What I appreciate about these awards is their commitment to celebrating the shorter forms that often get overlooked in the shadow of novels. The Short Mystery Fiction Society divides the field thoughtfully: Flash fiction for the quick hits, Short Stories for traditional length, Long Stories for extended narratives, and Novelettes for the longest form.

This year’s competition looks particularly strong across all categories. The Long Story category, where Euliano competes, includes heavy hitters like Elizabeth Elwood (published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine) and Andrew Welsh-Huggins. But there’s something to be said for the anthology route—collections like “Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked” often push writers to be more creative with their premises and settings.