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Indie Bookshelf Releases 03/21/2025

Got a book to launch, an event to promote, a kickstarter or seeking extra work/support as a result of being hit economically by life in general?

Get in touch and we’ll promote you here. The post is prepared each Tuesday for publication on Friday. Contact us via Horror Tree’s contact address or connect via Twitter or Facebook.

Click on the book covers for more information. Remember to scroll down to the bottom of the page – there’s all sorts lurking in the deep.

 

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Taking Submissions: Home Constellations

Deadline: September 30th, 2025
Payment: Prose and poetry: 5$ + 1c/word over 500 (up to 5k) words + .2c/word over 5k words, Graphic Narrative Fiction: 5$/page, Reprints of any category: Half of above, Cover Illustration: $100
Theme: Stories about the future which feature non-traditional families

Submissions are open for Home Constellations: A sci-fi anthology of unconventional bonds (working title) from Manawaker Studio, edited by CB Droege.

Home Constellations is an anthology focused on stories about the future which feature non-traditional families. This volume will contain stories and poetry.

THEME

Submitted works should be of any genre, as long as the work depicts a world that is noticeably in the future. Hard and Soft Sci-fi, (Post-)apocalyptic, Solarpunk, Slipstream, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Alternate (future) History, Supernatural, Retro-futurism etc. are all fine names for genres that often take place in the future, but your story doesn’t have to fit into one of those. In fact, if it manages to miss all of those labels, we may be even more interested to see it (unless it thus falls into what we specifically don’t want (see next paragraph)). All works must also prominently feature a relationship or family structure which might be considered unconventional. The story doesn’t have to be about the relationship. The adventure or challenge of the story can be anything, but some prominent characters should be in a chosen family. We’re particularly looking for stories with healthy polyam relationships, but want to also include other queer structures. Send us a story of a stable triad struggling to raise their son in a Martian colony dome. Show us a gay couple exploring alien ruins. Tell us about the escaped assassin-bot and the genetically engineered hypercat who find a baby on their doorstep. Whatever else the story is about, we want it to show that each person gets to decide for themselves what family means, and who gets to be part of theirs.

We are not looking for gore horror nor erotic romance. Works that contain horror elements or romantic elements are fine, but we would like the book to remain accessible to young adults and squeamish people. Works which seem particularly hateful or which discriminate against specific real-world groups will also be rejected.

We’re unlikely to accept stories that depict unconventional relationships as unworkable, or as causing problems by their nature. Not everything has to be perfect in every relationship, of course. We all have struggles, some unique to our relationship structures, but part of the goal of the book is to help normalize the depictions of such relationships, and help people who live them to see themselves represented in fiction. Showing consensual relationship structures which are inherently ‘bad’ is counter to that goal.

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Unholy Trinity: Daniel’s Promise by Tim Law

Our church worships at the altar of the Unholy Trinity. Its gospels are delivered as a trio of dark drabbles, linked so that Three become One. All hail the power of the Three.

 

Whispers

 

Why didn’t I listen to those who Daniel dated before? The whispers, the rumors, those words I chose to ignore.

“I will love you until the day you die,” Daniel said.

“Until death do we part,” we echoed in the moment we wed.

 

Now Daniel is telling me it is time to move on. I’m not who he wanted, his love is all gone.

 

Daniel, I thought our love song would last forever. Now I wonder if you truly loved me ever.

 

Daniel promised until death do we part. So with his hands around my throat, he stole my heart.

 

 

Hunter

 

They begin as perfection, but somehow they fail. I’m the hunter, so I shall prevail. My dream girl is out there, you’ll see. My one and only, the perfect girl for me. Until I find her, the one who’s the very best. I won’t stop hunting, vow I’ll never rest. I shall whisper those promises girls want to hear. Sweet nothings, forever mores, into every eager ear. Then when they fail, reveal their true self. In my madness, my fury, toss their picture from my shelf. That’s when my mind plans their demise. Before they discover me, and my lies.

 

Comeuppance

 

I know you, Daniel, know you true. The wind in the trees whispers about you. I’m not the first girl you promised forever. Not the first to bring you to the end of your tether.

Marriage is a contract, made between two. Death is the only way for it to be through.

You’ve had your share of fun, leaving a trail searching for the one. Did you not realize I’ve got a trail of my own? Suitors were left in my wake, and my love was outgrown.

Ghosts whisper, they don’t lie. They say at my hand you must die.

 

Tim Law

Tim Law writes fantasy, horror, detective, general fiction and everything else that pops into his head. He hails from a little town in Southern Australia; a happily married father of three. Currently working at the local library in the role of Library Manager, he has dreamed since his early high school years of becoming a full-time author. Working for a library, surrounded by so many wonderful stories, it is difficult not to be inspired to write. All he now needs is what every author wishes for, time, a little peace and quiet and of course a willing and understanding publisher.

Taking Submissions: Untitled Sword & Sorcery Anthology

Deadline: August 1st, 2025
Payment: $10 and a contributors copy
Theme: Sword and sorcery stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words

What we Want: Good sword and sorcery stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words for our upcoming anthology. No science fiction or horror.
What we Don’t Want: We don’t want splatterpunk or porn. No poetry. We don’t want pure romance stories, but of course you can have romance in the story (You know what we mean). If you don’t have a clue, then just send it anyway. As long as it has magic, heroes with swords, or involves mythical adventures, we’ll read it.
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Taking Submissions: Hellbound Highway

Deadline: August 31st, 2025
Payment: $15
Theme: Road Trip Terror

Are you brave enough to take a ride on the Hellbound Highway? HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips, which will be curated and edited by the double-trouble partnership of veteran horror writers Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward. We want road trips, sure, but also airplane journeys, ship crossings, railroad passages, heck even cattle drives–as long as it’s a trip and it’s B-A-D.

What if a family like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Vacation were zombies? What if a weary business traveler waits for the red-eye in an airport that is literally a portal to hell? What if the night manager of the local Greyhound bus station was a vampire who feeds off of the poor and desperate? What if a crook on the lam checks into a cheap motel and discovers that the usual cockroaches are mutants with deadly powers? What if someone stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, and slowly realized that they were the special on next day’s menu?

These are the types of scenarios we are looking for, so let your creepiest imaginings run wild. Scary horror, psychological horror, or comedy horror are all welcome–it just has to be GOOD.

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Science Fiction and Mystery Magazines Acquired by New Publishing Company

Science Fiction and Mystery Magazines Acquired by New Publisher: What Readers Need to Know

Must Reads Magazines has acquired The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

The change in ownership was first reported by Steve Davidson at Amazing Stories when he noticed the publisher attribution had changed on the Asimovs and Analog websites.

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Taking Submissions: Solar Punk Magazine April 2025 Window

Submission Window: April 1st – 14th, 2025
Payment: Fiction: 1500-7500 words ($.08 per word, $100 minimum), Poetry: One poem of up to three pages ($40 per poem), Nonfiction: 1000-2000 words ($75 per essay or article), Cover Art: $100 for reprints, $200 for original unpublished, Interior Art: $50 for reprints, $100 for original unpublished
Theme: Fantasy and Science Fiction that falls into the category of Solarpunk that ideally include themes of defiance, change, and achievement.

Note: Our nonfiction is no longer always open for submissions. It will now open and close on the same schedule as our other submission portals.

All submissions to Solarpunk Magazine are done via Moksha. Any submissions received via email will be deleted without a response. Please don’t email us to describe your story and ask if it’s something we’d be interested in before submitting. We appreciate the consideration, but its easier if you just submit the story through Moksha.

In 2024, we are particularly looking for stories between 1,500 and 3,000 words. While our word limit remains 7,500, stories that fall between 1,500 and 3,000 will have a better chance of being selected for at least the first few submission periods in 2024.

Please read the full submission guidelines on down below or on our Moksha page before submitting your work. All submission periods end at 11:59 pm PST on the 14th of their given month.

2025 Submission Window Schedule:

January 1-14
April 1-14
July 1-14
October 1-14

2025 Issue Release Schedule:

Issue #19 – January 14
Issue #20 – March 11
Issue #21 – May 13
Issue #22 – July 8 (Colorful Roots)*
Issue #23 – September 9
Issue #24 – November 11

The Basics:

If your work is accepted, please wait two full submission windows before submitting again. For example, if a story you receive word in April that your story is accepted, please do not submit during the May and July open windows, but feel free to do so once the September window opens.

Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please let us know immediately if your submission gets accepted elsewhere before you hear from us.

Unsolicited reprints: No

Translations: Yes

Multiple Submissions: No, not within each category. But you can enter one submission per category per submission period. For example, you can submit one short story, poetry, and a nonfiction article all in the same submission window using each individual submission portal.

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Taking Submissions: Goblins & Galaxies Magazine May 2025 Window

Submission Window: May 7th – 14th, 2025
Payment: 3 cents per word
Theme: Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words

What do we want? 

Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words

When do we want it? 

Once per year: May 7-14

How do we want it? 

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