Richard Shealy

Richard Shealy – Editor

Freelance genre copyeditor (SF/F, YA, crime/thriller, romance, horror). Award-winning client list.

Overview

I am a freelance copyeditor working in genre fiction with Big Five publishing houses, self-publishers and everything between. My client list includes Hugo winners, recipients of Publishers Weekly starred reviews, NYT bestsellers and many more. Experience with all lengths from short stories to long novel series.
Services
Fiction
Fantasy Horror Humor & Comedy LGBTQ Fiction Mystery & Crime Romance Science Fiction Short Story Thriller & Suspense Young Adult

Portfolio

From Aidan Moher—Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink—comes Tide of Shadows and Other Stories, a collection of five science fiction and fantasy stories spanning adventure, comic whimsy, and powerful drama—from a star-faring military science fiction ta... read more
Silver and Salt

Rob Thurman

For the First Time in One Volume... From furry to fey, shifters to Sidhe, monsters to madmen, and ex-divine to ex-demonic, this collection of supernaturally-spun tales by NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author Rob Thurman is bound by the spilled blood of both famil... read more
From the imagination of author Cesar Torres comes 2013's most compelling supernatural thriller. THE STORYClara Montes has a single goal in life: to achieve social justice. As she begins her freshman year in college, Clara joins the Occupy Liberation Front, a c... read more
On the run across America from a vengeful shape-shifter, Bannerman Bann Boru has only one thing on his mind: keeping himself and his young son, Cor, alive. At any cost.Then he meets Shay Doyle, healer and member of a secret group of immortal Celtic warriors, t... read more
From USA Today bestselling author David DalglishTHE UNDERWORLD TREMBLES AT THE RISE OF THE SUN...In book #5 of the Shadowdance series... a night of fire and blood heralds Muzien the Darkhand's arrival to Veldaren. With him comes the might of the Sun Guild, eag... read more
Matt Danmor thinks he's lucky. Not many people survive a near death accident with nothing more than a bout of amnesia, a touch of clumsiness and the conviction that the technician who did the MRI had grey skin and hooves. Still, it takes time to recover from t... read more
When you dream, you visit the Maelstrom. Dream long enough and hard enough, and your dreams can break through into the living world.So can your nightmares.And who's there to catch the dreams and nightmares as they fall into reality?Meet the Shadow Watch. Pray ... read more
The country is at war. Beset by enemies within and without. And all because of the decisions changed by one boy, Scott Tyler. In this ravaged alternative reality, Scott hardly recognises himself. He's a war hero, a leader of a unit of Shifters and maybe the on... read more
The Almost Girl

Amalie Howard

Seventeen-year-old Riven comes from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, a parallel world to Earth. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prin... read more
A stunning new epic fantasy from two-time Hugo Award winner Kameron Hurley.On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past... while a wor... read more
After barely surviving a plot to destroy her school and its menagerie of alien patients, could things get worse for novice exoveterinarian Zenn Scarlett? Yes, they could: her absent father has been kidnapped.Desperate to find him, Zenn stows away aboard the He... read more
Peacemaker: Peacemaker #1

Marianne De Pierres

When an imaginary animal from her troubled teenage years reappears, Virgin takes it to mean one of two things: a breakdown (hers!) or a warning. When the dead bodies start piling up around her and Nate, she decides on the latter. Something terrible is about to... read more
Do NOT buy this book if you are offended by patriotism....Rick Putnam is running for his life. A Vietnam Veteran riding a motorcycle for a national news network, he's picked up something too hot to handle. So hot that a reporter and a camera crew has already b... read more
Deputy District Attorney Paige Callen is being stalked, and the man stalking her is motivated, methodical, and relentless. The police aren’t merely one step behind Paige’s stalker; they’re stumped. So Paige’s father, retired Judge ‘Iron Gene’ Callen, instead h... read more
“My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.“A new supernatural gang is intent on invading Scranton and it looks like I’m going to have to work with the cur... read more
Ex-Marine, Nick Hardin, heads back from a decade in Africa to his hometown, Chicago, with $100 million in blood diamonds stolen from an Al Qaeda's financing pipeline. His retirement plan? To cash out through a Chicago Mossad contact and head for the beach. But... read more
Elements of Mind

Walter Hunt

In Victorian India, a Scottish doctor, Dr. James Esdaile, finds a way to use the power of mesmerism to aid him in performing surgeries, using a remarkable artifact that enhances his abilities. The revocation of the promise to bring the artifact to Rev. William... read more
The party is shaken when their leader, Diavel, is struck down by the boss of the very first floor. Asuna and her teammates are confronted for the first time with the cruel reality of their situation: Sword Art Online is no mere game--death here is final. Their... read more
Yuuki Asuna was a top student who spent her days studying at cram school and preparing for her high school entrance exams--but that was before she borrowed her brother's virtual reality game system and wound up trapped in Sword Art Online with ten thousand oth... read more
In the 1970s, Sabina Kane was a rookie assassin looking for first big kill. But when the day finally comes to prove her skills to the Dominae, she finds herself shadowing Slade Corbin, a more experienced assassin with a huge chip on his shoulder. Together, the... read more
When your last name is Charming, rescuing virgins comes with the territory -- even when the virgin in question is a nineteen-year-old college boy.Someone, somewhere, has declared war on Kevin Kichida, and that someone has a long list of magical predators on th... read more
Sharp, sarcastic, and efficiently lethal, John Charming would feel right at home having drinks with Dean Winchester and Harry Dresden. DARING, the second book in the Pax Arcana series, is just as addicting as the first. Something is rotten in the state of Wisc... read more
Now in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co-editor of Wild Cards, Melinda Snodgrass as executive producer.Decades after an ... read more
A fresh, fast-paced fantasy adventure from Aurealis Award shortlisted author DK Mok.When Prince Valamon is impossibly taken from the heart of Algaris Castle, the only clue as to motive or culprit is the use of unknown sorcery.Reclusive cleric Seris is happily ... read more
BOOK THREE OF THE GREAT WAY: What was once the Peradaini Empire is now a wasted landscape of burned, empty cities and abandoned farmlands. The Blessing, now more numerous than ever, continues to spread across the continent, driving refugees to the dubious safe... read more
BOOK TWO OF THE GREAT WAY: Having lost the prince to the madness of The Blessing, Tejohn and Cazia are the only people who know of his plan to retrieve a secret spell that might, just might, turn the tide of battle against the grunts. But Tejohn’s body is brok... read more
BOOK ONE OF THE GREAT WAY: The city of Peradain is the heart of an empire built with steel, spears, and a monopoly on magic… until, in a single day, it falls, overthrown by a swarm of supernatural creatures of incredible power and ferocity. Neither soldier nor... read more
Flex ('Mancer)

Ferrett Steinmetz

FLEX: Distilled magic in crystal form. The most dangerous drug in the world. Snort it, and you can create incredible coincidences to live the life of your dreams.FLUX: The backlash from snorting Flex. The universe hates magic and tries to rebalance the odds; m... read more
Fraternal twins Nels and Suvi move beyond their royal heritage and into military and magical dominion in this flintlock epic fantasy debut from a two-time Campbell Award finalist.Prince Nels is the scholarly runt of the ancient Kainen royal family of Eledore, ... read more
"The Language of Knives" by Haralambi Markov is about the death rituals of this secondary world. A strong-willed daughter is guided by her unloved parent in the customs of how to respect the remains of her favorite parent.At the Publisher's request, this title... read more
Hailed by RT Book Reviews as “fresh and original…stark and lovely,” a heroic fantasy by an award-winning author about a young woman who is trained in the art of the sinister hand of magic. A Locus Magazine Bestseller.Isobel, upon her sixteenth birthday, makes ... read more
In the third installment of the suspenseful Miriam Black series, Miriam is on the road again, having transitioned from “thief” to “killer.” Miriam Black is being developed as a TV series on Starz with the producers of Breaking Bad.Hired by a wealthy businessma... read more
The first book in the Miriam Black series: “A sassy, hard-boiled thriller with a paranormal slant” (The Guardian) about a young woman who can see the darkest corners of the future.Miriam Black knows how you’re going to die. This makes her daily life a living h... read more
Miriam Black is trying to live an ordinary life, keeping her ability to see how someone dies hidden...until a serial killer crosses her path. This is the second book in the Miriam Black series. “Visceral and often brutal, this tale vibrates with emotional rawn... read more
Oz Chambers has a wonderful secret; the obsidian pebble, gifted to him by his dead father, is an artefact of astonishing power. The sort of power that makes the year eight science project a hands-down walkover thanks to the the pebble's genius avatar, Soph. Bu... read more
Stalk Me

Richard Parker

Mary and her husband are involved in a terrible car crash. With her husband lying terribly injured beside her, Mary watches a set of feet emerge from behind the car they crashed into and walk over to where she is sprawled. One of the feet kicks her in the jaw ... read more
While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.Taken unde... read more
Winner of the 2014 Sir Julius Vogel SFFANZ Award for Best Novel.A dying tree, a desperate quest, a love story, a last stand.Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood’s holy knights have c... read more
Blood for the Sun

Errick Nunnally

After more than one hundred and forty years, Alexander Smith is suffering from memory loss that plagues him like a supernatural Alzheimer's. He has lasted longer than most by clinging to the love he has for his adopted daughter, the vampire Ana, and puzzling o... read more

Richard has 2 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Søren K.

Søren K.

Nov, 2016

Excellent job, I'll be working with him in the future!
Vasco C.

Vasco C.

Oct, 2016

Richard is exceedingly professional and competent. Throughout the process, communication was always prompt and clear. I was very happy with the level of detail of his edits, which sometimes even included technical expertise on military and naval matters. For anyone writing Fantasy, this is awesom...
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