Monthly Archive: October 2021

Events / Magazine / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Dream Forge Magazine November 2021 (Early)

Submission Window: November 15th through November 30th, 2021
Payment: $0.06/word. Payment for reprints is $0.03/word, Poems are paid at the rate of $25 to $100
Theme: All SF and Fantasy genres, but horror is unlikely to find a home here. Ideally stories with a message of hope.
Note: Reprints are welcome

Our next submission period is going to be November 15th through November 30th, 2021.

When we are Open for Submissions, you will be directed to the Submissions Portal from this page

Read our announcement about the November Submissions Period –  here.

Special Notes

DreamForge Anvil is about a passionate attention to storytelling as much it is about the stories themselves. This year, most stories will be returned without comment.

That will give us time to pick a few “almost there” tales and work with the authors to see if we can collaborate in taking the story over the hurdle to select it for publication.
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Articles

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Video Refresh: 5 Overused Horror Movie Clichés To Avoid In Your Writing

Last month we shared 5 Overused Horror Movie Clichés To Avoid In Your Writing and now, for those of you who missed it or prefer video format we’re revisiting the post! These came in from reader Emily Henry who really gave some solid ideas to share with everyone.

I’m sure you can guess a couple of them, though I will let you know ahead of time that these aren’t just rehashing the rules of the ‘Scream’ franchise even though that might be something we think about taking a creative look at in the future!

…I’ll be right back!
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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Splinter and Other Stories by Alex Wolfgang

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Splinter and Other Stories
Author: Alex Wolfgang
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: 31st May, 2020

Synopsis: Splinter and Other Stories, the debut horror collection by Alex Wolfgang, follows the surreal struggles and fractured hopes of its ill-fated characters.

Two lovestruck travelers form a sinister bond. A man is given the power to liberate prisoners from their mysterious captors. A woman is plagued by visions of her childhood trauma. An alien entity discovers its true nature – to the detriment of a small community.

These ten short stories will horrify, devastate, and haunt you as they untangle their twisted realities.

There’s nothing like reading a complete story in one sitting from start to end that leaves me feeling dread, disgust, shock, and/or amazement. And so, I think horror works best in short form, and I’ve had many agree.

Alex Wolfgang does a stupendous job delivering on all of these feelings throughout Splinter and Other Stories. Whether you’re looking for a gross out (‘Mandibles’), or a sci-fi thriller (‘God of the Complex’), or even something in the vein of Weird fiction (‘Vegetation’, ‘Splinter’, ‘Travel Bug’), it’s all here.

Based on the range of Alex’s freshman collection, I know he has an awesome career in horror ahead of him. I’ll purchase anything he puts out in the future.

 out of 5 ravens.

Available from Amazon.

Articles / Interviews

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The Horror Tree Presents an Interview with Alexandrea Weis

The Horror Tree Presents- an Interview with Alexandrea Weis

By Ruschelle Dillon

 

Ruschelle: Alexandrea, welcome to the Horror Tree, where you will find all sorts of fruit, nuts and meat sacks hanging for you to snack on. Watch out for the disgustingly bloody ones. They’re not quite ripe yet. It’s great to have you here. You have a fantastic selection of books out there for your newfound fans to feast from. Many take place in your hometown of New Orleans which has seen more than its fair share of destruction from hurricanes, Ida being the most recent. At the penning of these questions, there are still swaths of Louisiana that are still without electricity and are digging out of Ida’s wrath. Has the devastating weather played a part in inspiring your books? Horrors can beget horrors.

Alexandrea: Honestly, the response in the aftermath has been fantastic compared to what we went through with Katrina. Then we had weeks without running water, power, gasoline, or food. It was a nightmare and very horror worthy. We’ve been fortunate this time. I got my power back in six days. A big THANK YOU to the line men and women who came to restore our electricity. They are a godsend!

 

Ruschelle: New Orleans has such a rich history. What are some aspects of NOLA that you must include when writing your stories? Conversely, are there nibblets that you find trite or just flat out wrong that you refuse to put in black and white? (I liked the word nibblets. I am also hungry for corn right now…)
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Events / Magazine / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores November 2021- EARLY

Submission Window: November 1st-2nd, 2021
Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints
Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.
Note: Reprints welcome

 

 

Submissions Schedule

We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020:
The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T.
Only one submission per person.

For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.

We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles.
For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word.

We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here.

You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc.

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Jedi Summer by John Boden

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Jedi Summer
Author: John Boden
Genre: Coming of Age Horror
Publisher: Silver Shamrock Publishing
Release Date: 31st August, 2021

Synopsis: A boy and his little brother wander through the loosely stitched summer of 1983. It was a magical one. Full of sun and surrealism, of lessons and loss, and of growing up and figuring it out.

Nestled in the mountains of Pennsylvania is a small town unlike any other. Things are strange here, always have been. People die but hang around, pets too. Everyone knows your name, and sometimes, a thing as simple as a movie coming to the local theatre is all it takes to keep you going.

Jedi Summer follows a pair of brothers one summer as they await the release of the year’s biggest blockbuster movie. Jedi Summer falls into the coming-of-age horror category, a sub-genre that I personally enjoy. According to the author, this work is at least semi-autobiographical. 

Boden does a great job establishing atmosphere. His setting provides a definite sense of time and place, and capitalizes on nostalgic vibes. 

Where the book falls short for this reader is on organization and presentation. Jedi Summer reads like a collection of loosely connected short stories or vignettes. No overarching element connects individual chapters, and certain seemingly interesting and important plot points fade into the background never to resurface again. 

The novel’s emotional climax centers around the passing of the main characters’ father, which lacked strong emotional resonance, since the majority of the story circled the siblings’ relationship to their mother and the difficulties of being raised by a single parent. The father only appears in a few scenes, and the reader never gets a chance to know him. 

The book is a quick and enjoyable read. Disjointedness of the chapters and lack of a central narrative holds it back from receiving a “5”. Despite those minor complaints, I recommend this if you enjoy coming-of-age horror and/or stories that capitalize on nostalgia.

out of 5 ravens.

Available from Amazon.

Events / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: Enchanted Conversation: 2021 December Issue (Early Listing)

Submission Window: November 1st-3rd 2021
Payment: $50
Theme: Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk.

Hi there! We’ll no doubt write more about this later in the next year, but for now, what follows below will tell you all you need to know.

And the theme? It’s “Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk.”

(No more submissions are being accepted for publication in December of 2020–but we will be publishing stories that have already been accepted.)

The following is relevant to all submissions for 2021, and the first submission window opens Jan. 1. More below.

 

Writing opportunities for 2021 include:

 

New Fairy Tales: Fairy tales that are almost or entirely new or are just new takes on old tales are all welcome. Mashups of existing fairy tales are welcome as well. Submissions must follow the theme below to be considered.

 

Essays: Nonfiction articles about any aspect fairy tales and folklore are being sought. The term “essay” just means you’ll be writing about fairy-tale related matters in a nonfiction article.  Creative nonfiction is welcome. You do not have to stick to the theme, but you can.

 

Poetry: Poetry inspired by fairy tales and that follows the theme is also welcome.

 

Please read the following in its entirety before submitting.

 

Want to know what is likely to get published here? There are well over 10 years of stories, essays and art on this current site. It’s the best place to start if you want to be published here.

 

HERE IS HOW YOU SUBMIT AND FORMAT

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Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions

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Ongoing Submissions: Scrawl Place

Payment: $35
Theme: Your story must be about or connected to or associated with a specific, physical place that someone could visit

Scrawl Place is part visitor’s guide, part literary journal.

The audience for this online publication is the guest, the visitor, the traveler, the day-tripper, the out-of-towner, and the in-towners eager to wander. I’m looking for submissions about “places in the places” where you live or where you’ve visited.
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