The Horror Tree

Author: Angelique Fawns

Articles / Interviews

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Exclusive Interview: Todd Sanders of Air and Nothingness Press

Todd Sanders, & Air and Nothingness Press

By Angelique Fawns

 

Air and Nothingness Press has been publishing poetry, science fiction, fantasy, and short stories since 1997. I encountered Todd Sanders when I send a short story in to his call (found right here on Horror Tree) for ‘Spirit Machine’. Though he did not choose my piece, he gave some good advice and was pleasant to correspond with. I sat down with him to learn more about his curious anthology.

 

AF: You are currently launching a new anthology; can you tell us about it? (more…)

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Counting Bodies Like Sheep (Early Listing)

Submission Window: January 1st, 2022 – March 1st, 2022
Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributors copy
Theme: Fast-paced gory stories

The Evil Cookie Publishing specializes in horror anthologies and novels/novellas within the realm of Splatterpunk / Extreme Horror / Dark Humor.

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Articles / Interviews

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Interview: Tais Teng, A Modern Renaissance Man

Tais Teng, A Modern Renaissance Man

By Angelique Fawns

 

Tais Teng is a Dutch writer and prolific creator in several languages and mediums. Not only does he write fantasy fiction, science fiction, hardboiled detective mysteries, and children’s books; but he also illustrates, sculpts, paints, and works as a writing coach. Born Thijs van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen, he found this name a tad long to put on the cover of books (and for English readers to pronounce) so he chose Tais Teng as a pen name.  With more than 100 published books and 200 plus short stories, I was fascinated to learn about the multi-faceted career of this talented (and comedic) creator. Spoiler alert. Did you know he created the Ziltpunk movement? Read on to learn more.

 

AF:  You wear a lot of hats in the creative world! Can you tell our readers how you make a living and what your favorite branch of income is?

TT: Well, yes, I wear a veritable Tower of Babel of hats. I am a writer, an illustrator, a writing coach, and a sculptor. Each uses a completely different part of my brain. 

Writing comes very close to lucid dreaming to me. If I start a sentence, the words arrive almost as a voice-over, telling me what to type next. Sometimes it switches into the fast-forward mode and I get whole paragraphs or even half a page. I have to type like mad then before all those words fade back into the racial unconsciousness. It feels exactly like a sugar cube dissolving in hot tea.

Almost all things I do are in deep concentration,  in hyperfocus. If someone enters the room, I probably won’t notice. Even it is a burgler: as long as he doesn’t take my keyboard, I just go on writing. (more…)

Articles / Interviews

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Eda Obey & The Last Girls Club: “We Choose What We Bleed Over”

Eda Obey & The Last Girls Club: “We Choose What We Bleed Over”

By Angelique Fawns

 

The Last Girls Club is more than just a magazine, it’s a place where established norms are shredded and rebuilt. Eda Obey has created a “club” for creatives which incorporates a magazine, podcast, newsletter, and any other artistic expression that fits the concept of “indie feminist horror.”

Obey is a fierce voice and aggressively challenges stereotypes and literary preconceptions. She’s already tackled the power dynamic of women in fairy tales and the concept of birth in her first two issues. 

The third issue of the magazine drops on Wednesday September 22, and revolves around the theme of “Dark Shadows: The Gay 90s; closeted, cast out, or converted.” 

 Submissions for the fourth issue, which asks for stories related to devout-martyrs, massacres, and cults, open on Friday October 1.

I sat down with Eda Obey to learn more about her vision and projects. 

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Articles / Interviews

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Sebastian Vice & Outcast Press: The Dark Side of Transgressive Fiction

Sebastian Vice & Outcast Press:  The Dark Side of Transgressive Fiction

By Angelique Fawns

What do you do if your stories are so edgy even the publications who profess to like experimental fiction won’t take them? If you are Sebastian Vice, you start your own press. Vice is looking for literature that dares to explore themes most editors consider taboo. This is his mission statement:

 

“Outcast Press wants stories cut from the bone, written from the gristle that sticks to your soul, based off brain-burning images scorched onto paper. We like raw, honest, dark, in-your-face, tales. The ethos at Outcast Press is a rejection of sacred cows.”

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Articles / Interviews

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An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press Part 2

An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press

Part Two

By Angelique Fawns

 

We continue our chat with the publisher of Longshot Press, Daniel Scott White. 

White is the creator of Unfit and Unreal, two of the highest paying magazines in the speculative short fiction world, paying 25 cents per word.

His imprint also features Longshot Island, a pulp fiction magazine featuring psychological short stories, and Mythaxis Review, presenting articles and interviews looking at books, movies, music, and anything else in the world of art and artists. (I met White when I first asked him to grant me an interview a couple years ago. Instead, he hired me to write for Mythaxis Review.)

In part one we learned about White’s path to publishing and his adventures around the world. After helping out musicians like Bob Dylan and cycling around Alaska, we pick up his journey in Taiwan… 

 

AF: Why did you move to Taiwan? How is the industry different over there?

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Articles / Interviews

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An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press Part 1

An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press

Part One

By Angelique Fawns

 

There’s the way everyone else does things, and then there’s Longshot Press. The founder, Daniel Scott White, is forging his own path in the publishing world as “a very independent publisher” seeking work that pushes traditional boundaries.

His Unfit and Unreal magazines pay an unprecedented industry high of 25 cents per word for speculative short stories. 
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Articles / Interviews

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An Interview with Willow Croft, “Bringer of Nightmares & Storms”

Interview with Willow Croft “Bringer of Nightmares & Storms”

By Angelique Fawns

 

Willow Croft can spin a delightfully devilish short story, and is a self-professed animal nut. Croft and I both had stories published in the most recent issue of Econoclash Review. The world of gritty pulp fiction tends to attract male authors, but as more and more of us women add our poison pens to the craft, it will be interesting to see how the genre will evolve. Though Willow and I live in completely different parts of the world, I am amazed by how much we have in common (she has actually met one of my number one musical idols!- more on this in the actual interview.)

Willow had some profound insights into the power of writing as a life raft, and how she finds inspiration in the act of creation. Even if she is creating words that echo in the realms of horror….

 

AF: Why do you call yourself the “Bringer of Nightmares & Storms?”
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