ABOUT US
Cold Open Stories was founded as a love-letter to short fiction and pulp stories which have the power to quickly throw us into new worlds, cultures, and feelings.
Our volunteer team of creatives support the writing and audio production of speculative fiction and short stories in various genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and more.
OUR CREATIVE TEAM (FOR-HIRE)
COLYN DE GRAAFF
FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Colyn De Graaff is a creative director, intercultural advisor, and designer living in Canada. He launched Cold Open Stories with the goal of tackling the stigma behind fan fiction, and wanting to give amateur authors a place to grow. Since 2019, he's transformed the site to help people deeper their storytelling abilities, and has become an award-winning writer, director, and cinematographer at numerous award ceremonies. In addition to overseeing a team of volunteer editors who help aspiring writing talent, he oversees Cold Open Stories audio productions and helps brands evaluate their stories, develop them, and collaborates together with his skills to help them craft them.
OUR VOLUNTEER TEAM (fandom)
JACK SHELTON
PUBLISHING EDITOR
Jack Shelton is a Primary School Teacher in the UK. He is an avid reader, especially of fantasy and science-fiction, and has been a fan of all things Warhammer since he wandered into a Games Workshop store as a young boy.
JOYCE CH'NG
EDITOR - ORIGINALS
Joyce Ch'ng / Chng (Chill) lives in Singapore. Her fiction has appeared in The Apex Book of World SF II, We See A Different Frontier, Cranky Ladies of History, and Accessing The Future. Joyce also co-edited THE SEA IS OURS: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia with Jaymee Goh. Her RPG experience started with Demon: The Descent (Onyx Path). She writes about werewolves in Singapore and werewolf clan wars in space.
MIA PALLAS
COMMUNITY LEAD
Mia Pallas is a military wife and mother of three, who lives in Canada. Her fascination with Warhammer first began when she stumbled across an online role play for the setting. Since then, she has become a council member for the Warhammer 40k homebrew wiki, and organizes community interviews with Black Library authors.
JOY SNOW
BLOG WRITER / EDITOR - WARHAMMER 40,000
Joy Snow is a small town girl from Ohio who turned to science fiction and fantasy to escape the drudgery of daily life. Years later, that desire for escapism has blossomed into a full blown addiction to the genre, full bookshelf, a batch of very expensive painted plastic, and a head full of historical knowledge for worlds that don't exist except in stories.
EBONY GARY
EDITOR - WARHAMMER 40,000
Ebony Gary is a scientist and Warhammer lover. When she isn't writing scientific manuscripts, she's reading, watching, and writing sci-fi and horror. She loves wine, crochet, chaos, and laboratory mice. You can find her @NickyinBrooklyn on instagram, twitter, and tiktok. And on the Warhammer YouTube channel she shares with her loyalist husband
Darren Davies
EDITOR - WARHAMMER 40,000
Darren Davies is an engineer and long -time admirer of all things science fiction. Having escaped the cold climes of northern Europe, he now lives in Spain and fills his spare time looking for a quiet place to write about the strange things that come into his head.
THIEN 'THOMAS' NGUYEN
CONTRACT EDITOR / PAST PUBLISHING EDITOR
Thomas Nguyen is a journalist and freelance writer living in the United States. He got his first taste of tabletop gaming playing D&D in the 3rd grade, and has been woefully addicted to the hobby every since.
Short Stories
The short story is an exercise in brevity, tension, and technique. Explore quirky, artisanal, weird, or the unconventional - all within one sitting.
Immersive Design
We put meticulous effort into capturing sounds and foley for each audio drama. Find yourself transported to spaces far and wide.
Genre-Bending
We love to mash-up themes and genres. Science-Fantasy? Western-Thriller? Horror-Romance? We love to mix tones and styles.