The Horror Tree Recent Markets, Articles, Interviews, and Fiction!

Events / Flat Amount / Online / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Short Story Substack June 2024 Window (Early Listing)

Submission Window: June 1st – 31st, 2024
Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue
Theme: Any genre, short story

Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful.

Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check.

Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars?

Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that.

What does the timeline look like?

Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout.

Where do I send submissions?
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Articles

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: How Society Is Failing Our Children

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Trapped in a building in the middle of nowhere!

Welcome to “Writing Prompt Wednesdays,” a haven where your imagination can roam free in the realms of speculative fiction. As we embark on this weekly journey, it’s thrilling to think about the untold stories waiting to be penned in the domains of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Whether you’re a seasoned author or a budding wordsmith, these prompts are your gateway to unexplored worlds and untapped potentials.

Every Wednesday, we’ll serve up a fresh, thought-provoking prompt designed to ignite your creative spark and challenge your storytelling prowess. Think of these prompts as a key, unlocking the doors to uncharted territories where your creativity is the only limit. From eerie, shadow-laden corridors of Gothic horror to the farthest reaches of interstellar space, and the mystical depths of high fantasy, our prompts are a kaleidoscope of possibilities.

Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to approach these prompts. They are mere stepping stones, guiding you towards the vast landscapes of your imagination. Use them to break free from writer’s block, to experiment with new ideas, or simply as a fun exercise to keep your writing skills sharp.

This week’s writing prompt:

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Artwork / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Poetry

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Ongoing Submissions: Centaur

Payment: $20
Theme: A mashup of fiction with prose poetry or nonfiction, also known as hybrid. Fantasy, reality, and everything in between.
Note: Only one submission every three months.

Centaur is on the lookout for writing that’s inspired, bold, and surprising. With four seasonal issues a year, and up to eight pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Learn more about Centaur in the interview Six Questions.

 

Centaur’s pledge to its writers and artists

  • You will not pay a submission fee. Ever. You’ll get a nice acceptance or an equally nice decline within two months of story or artwork submission. (If you don’t hear from Centaur, check your spam folder. Every submission receives a response!)
  • Writers: Centaur will nominate pieces for each of the annual literary competitions or anthologies, including Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net.
  • Additionally, your editor will light her Dolly Parton candle for Centaur’s writers at each issue’s launch, in hopes that your work may be honored and anthologized elsewhere. (Please just credit Centaur as first publisher.)
  • Centaur will feature its author and artist books on its Bookstore page.
  • Your published story or art will be its own prize—shined (copyedits on stories), shown (social media), and shared (however, all rights reserved and rights revert to creator upon publication).
  • Your published story or art will receive $20 in payment and a fortune in goodwill.

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Events / Flash / Magazine / Semipro

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Ongoing Submissions: Big Smoke Pulp

Payment: 1₵ CAD per word.
Theme: Fun Pulp Stories from 99 to 7500 words

What We’re Looking For

Pulp stories are one thing above all else: Fun.We are not looking for flowery prose or character pieces without a plot.We’re looking for breakneck pacing, thrilling action and relatable characters in heaps of trouble. We’re looking for something that readers can’t put down because they can’t imagine not knowing where it ends.

We’re looking for PULP.There is no limitation on genre or content. Bring us your young adult romance, hard-nosed noir or epic sci-fi.As long as it follows the guidelines laid out here, we’ll want your stories.

 

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Articles / Interviews

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The Robots Weren’t Wrong: Tales of Unstoppable Technology – An Interview With Weird Little Worlds

The Robots Weren’t Wrong: Tales of Unstoppable Technology

Weird Little Worlds Kickstarter

By Angelique Fawns

 

Weird Little Worlds wants to give ALL authors an equal chance at selling a story to their latest anthology. They are looking for 20 stories in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres that explore: “Ghosts in the machine. Robot armies. Artificial intelligence that outsmarts even the most genius human mind. The robots are here and it’s no secret that they think we’re not capable of managing the world by ourselves.”

Calling the vibe Black Mirror meets Twilight Zone they are funding the project through Kickstarter. Check it out here. 

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wlw/the-robots-werent-wrong-tales-of-unstoppable-technology

I asked the editors a few questions:

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Anthology / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Reprints Allowed / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Ruth’s and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel

Deadline: June 1st, 2024
Payment: 1 cent per word for original stories or a flat $10 for reprints,
Theme: Time Travel!

Travel through time with us! Ruth’s and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel is the third anthology from Celestial Echo Press. The theme for this anthology is time travel. We’re looking for stories that will take readers on a journey through time, from the Wild West to the future in outer space, from humor to horror. All genres accepted, except erotica. Send us well-written stories that make us believe time travel is real. Give us new, fresh stories.

All stories that do not contain a time travel element will be rejected immediately.

We want to read great stories and can’t wait to read your submission!

We invited seven authors, and have 13 slots available. We may reserve one slot for an author who submits a great story and has not previously been published. We want to encourage, and we support, new authors.

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Events

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Taking Submissions: manywor(l)ds June/July 2024 Window

Submission Window: June 1st – July 31st, 2024
Payment: $10
Theme: Stories of any genre by writers who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex.

We welcome submissions by those who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex. This is a space for the words, works, and worlds of and by those whose bodyminds defy social expectations and invite new ways of thinking and knowing.

We do not need to know the specifics of your identity/diagnosis/experience unless you want us to. We invite closeted and questioning people to share their work, as well as those whose experiences fall outside the confines of the language we used above.

We welcome submissions from creators of all ages. We particularly encourage unpublished/emerging/young creators to submit. If you know an incarcerated/institutionalized creator who would like to submit, email us for information as to where to mail the submission, or clearly indicate in your message that you are submitting on their behalf.

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Articles

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Enter to Win one of 10 digital copies of Cretaceous Canyon!

ENTER TO WIN A DIGITAL COPY OF CRETACEOUS CANYON

The Horror Tree is giving away TEN ebook copies of Deborah Sheldon’s creature-feature novel, Cretaceous Canyon. This novel is currently shortlisted for both the Aurealis “Best Horror Novel” Award, and the Australian Shadows “Best Novel” Award!
Australia’s outback holds a mysterious canyon. Hidden deep within is a forest of pine tree that dates from the Cretaceous Period. A megacorporation sends in a team of experts to research this canyon for botanical riches.
The expedition enters a no-man’s land formed 100 million years ago when Australia was still attached to Antarctica, and dinosaurs ruled the super-continent. But the canyon has more prehistoric and dangerous species than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Trapped and terrified, unarmed and unable to communicate topside, the team’s extraction deadline is six long hours away.
The frantic race for survival is on.

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