The Horror Tree

Author: Angelique Fawns

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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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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Interview: Kade Draven Freeland, and the Common Tongue

Kade Draven Freeland, and the Common Tongue

What’s your dark fantasy?

By Angelique Fawns

 

Kade Draven Freeland wants his readers to enter dark fantastical worlds. He offers many different doors to alternate universes and each one is crafted with a different voice. The second issue of The Common Tongue was released on April 30th, and features an undead princess, a grave-robbing goblin, clouds that rain bones, and calamity in an Arthuruinian slums. I sat down with Freeland to learn more about his vision.

 

AF: Tell me about the conception of your project?
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Jon Grilz and the Creepy Pod: Horror Legends come to life…

Creepy Pod was created by Jon Grilz. He writes himself and found himself wondering, “Where are all the creepy pasta podcasts? 

Creepypasta refers to horror-related legends that have been copied and pasted all over the internet. They are usually brief with paranormal flavour. 

“The Russian Sleep Experiment” is a modern creepy pasta. It tells a ghoulish tale detailing the descent into madness of five political prisoners deprived of sleep for five days. 

“Ted The Caver” is another one about man who goes on a journey with a friend to see what they can find in a small hole at the bottom of a deep cave. (The answer is nothing good.)

I sat down with Jon to learn more about his audio experiment and the remarkable following his podcast has gained in such a short time. There’s a dedicated Facebook Fan page called “The Creepy People” that has almost 3000 members.
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The Horror Tree Presents: An Interview With J.D. Graves, Pushing the Boundaries with Econoclash

J.D. Graves, Pushing the Boundaries with Econoclash

By Angelique Fawns

 

The Econoclash Review harkens back to the days of edgy pulp fiction and promises, “Quality Cheap Thrills”. This bi-annual anthology is the home for “shady casino hosts, murderous junkies, pregnant prom queens, strange kaiju cults, small town larceny and Sasquatch love brides.”

There is a definite “pulp” subculture thriving in the publishing world; and I’m thankful this genre is being kept alive by editors like J.D. Graves. A couple of years ago, I wrote a strange short story about a pot-smoking Rasta-Fairy. Graves is the kind of editor all starting fiction writers need to find. I submitted it to an open call for Econoclash, and even though the story wasn’t quite working, he gave me some advice and let me resubmit. You can find “High Adventure” in the latest edition of The Econoclash Review which just hit the bookstands recently. 

 

AF: Can you tell me about the conception of Econoclash Review?

JG: Econoclash began as a conversation between myself and another writer. A two year off and on discussion led to us having very different ideas about the direction we should go, thus we decided to amicably split. I didn’t want Econoclash Review to compete with things like The New Yorker and Ploughshares or be another spot for those interested in “Literary Merit” as a selling point. At the time I just couldn’t see myself reading a bunch of Literary Fiction submissions. I kept Review in the name as an homage to my friend and I found delightful irony in calling something a Review while also calling it Cheap. Very satisfying. We put out four books before becoming an imprint of Down & Out Books.

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