September 22, 2021

Trembling With Fear – End Of Summer 2021 Edition

The sun of Summer of 2021 has nearly set. This year seems to be going by at warp speed. Perhaps it’s because that for a few months in a post-COVID vaccine world, we had a bit of normalcy and strove to make each moment of being a few steps out of lockdown count. Unfortunately, as we travel into the Autumn, we are on the cusp of falling back into another quarantine period with a rise in COVID variants giving the vaccines a run for their money.

Mother Nature also wanted to throw her hat into the ring to celebrate the seasonal change. A few days before Labor Day, Hurricane Ida screamed like a banshee against the mid-Atlantic US shores. In Philadelphia, we were hit quite hard and for a few days, the city morphed into Venice as the Vine Street Expressway flooded. The last breath of summer enticed some… brave… people to do backflips off overpasses into the “Vine Street Canal” or float on innertubes along this hurricane-made lazy river. Everyone who dipped a toe in these waters seemed oblivious to the fact that there could be a flooded vehicle or a sharp current or perhaps an escaped alligator hiding beneath the murky surface. As the media gave these people their thirty seconds of fame, the first thought that came to my mind for once wasn’t “Do they have their COVID vaccine?”, but “Are they up to date on their tetanus and hepatitis shots?” because after all, they are swimming the Schuylkill River waters in the middle of Philadelphia downstream from water treatment plants.

And thus, we close the chapter on the Summer of 2021.

Meanwhile at The Horror Tree, as we mourn the departing sunshine of summer, we can’t help look forward to the most wonderful time of the year: Halloween. Yet, before we can dive into the spooky décor and candy at our local shops, we must properly bid adieu to the Summer of 2021 in true The Horror Tree style with a tribute of Summer Specials.

This year, we have tales that will take you back to the pre-COVID summers where it isn’t the masks or social distancing that we need to fear, but demons and serial killers. This year’s collection is the stuff of nightmares, which will leave you chilled to the bone during these final hot summer nights. The Summer Specials 2021 authors have pulled out all the stops to bring you gristly and macabre tales that will have you looking forward to the haunts of Halloween.

Enjoy!

Amanda

Co-Editor of Trembling with Fear – Specials

Amanda Headlee

Editor, Trembling With Fear

The summer has come to another close which means it’s time for Halloween, Pumpins, Apple Picking, Costumes, Spooky Nights, Flannel, and for many of you… Pumpkin Spice.
Yes, let’s face it, all so many of you want is a return to that Pumpkin Spice addiction. 😉
As always, we’ve got a great lineup of tales to share with you this year and I hope they have you remembering the summer heat fondly.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

September 19, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Trembling With Fear 09/19/21

Please note: We are temporarily closed to short flash stories (unless for one of the Specials) but open to drabbles, unholy trinities and serials. We hope to reopen later in the year once we have caught up with the publication of those already accepted. Please also remember to read our guidelines, especially on word counts!

Slowly getting used to the drop in temperature as autumn moves on and with the darker nights, thoughts turn to things spooky. In my case, another first. I will be attending the UK Ghost Story Festival in Derby at the end of November and will be taking part in my first panel – Ghostly Connections- Folk Horror in 2021; I will also be hosting a Black Angel Press event with Alyson Faye, though she will be doing most of the talking 😊. We also have a book table, so please come over, grab a book, or just say hello.

Current reading is Austrian Spencer’s The Sadeiest which is turning out to be quite a unique story and Josh Malerman’s Unbury Carol.

First up this week in Trembling with Fear is Mind Shadow by Nathan Chu is cleverly constructed as the reader is invited to get into the head of the main character making it feel like a private conversation between you and him. Then you discover he has another audience, another reason for his explanation. And the final sentence is simply chilling.

Renewal by G.A. Miller brings together an occasion of remembrance and celebration. That the factor of remembrance might play a part in renewal is done with a light touch.

Slough by Christina Nordlander is a piece of writing which will trigger empathy in many of our women readers. Menstruation is little talked about. This short piece conveys a lot of the darker side of the process.

Tricksters by April Yates gives us a different perspective and it’s the tone of the writing that implies something darker is just around the corner.

Enjoy our stories and send in yours!

Steph

Stephanie Ellis

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Today I wanted to show a personal thank you and shout out to Holley Cornetto! Not only has she joined our team as an article writer a bit back but has been helping write our last few newsletter entrees which has been a have savior of my time as my current class for my MBA has just been painful to my time.

Next up, a bit of a surprise. I completely forgot our store posted to social media when new things were added. So, when I tried to stealth re-add the store and add a couple of products to it, they were announced all over the place early! Horror Tree stickers are OFFICIALLY available. You can get the logo in our current style, sepia, grayscale, and red! (Thanks to those who ordered them early!)

Finally a couple of reminders:

Trembling With Fear is open for our Halloween Edition until October 13th, so be sure to get your stories in! Full details can be found here.
If you run a website and would like to write an article about Horror Tree or Trembling With Fear, we’d really appreciate that! Please reach out with any questions for facts in the article (who does what, when sections were started, etc), any promotional artwork, or with a link once it is live so we can feature it on the site and on our social media.

Have a great week e

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Articles

September 17, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Indie Bookshelf Releases 09/17/21

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.

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

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

Services

Editing: Michael David Wilson, This Is Horror Founder and Editor In Chief, podcaster, and writer (The Girl in the Video) is currently offering his freelance editing services. “Michael David Wilson invented the fine-toothed comb. His attention to detail is second to none, and he has a wonderful understanding of structure. This is a guy who knows how good writing works.”—Ray Cluley, author of WATER FOR DROWNING Michael has over ten years of editing experience and has edited books by Josh Malerman, Pat Cadigan, Stephen Graham Jones, David Moody, and many others. He’s worked with various publishing houses and small presses including Rebellion Publishing and Broken River Books. Prices start from £0.01/word. For further information go here: michaeldavidwilson.co.uk/editing/. Contact Michael: [email protected]

Editing, critiquing, artwork – Eugene Johnson is a man of many talents, an award-winning editor, filmmaker and artist. He will be will be selling his art, book covers, book art, logo designs, making prints, offering short story critiques/edits, special book projects like a coloring book he’s creating with another author and more for a small fee. Initially to fund desperately needed repairs on his car, once that is complete he hopes to turn his focus towards helping others that need support. Join him in his endeavours in getting this help to those who need it. Contact him via https://plaiddragonpublishing.com/ and he can also be found on https://www.facebook.com/eugene.johnson.14855. If you’d like to help him get his car fixed that bit quicker, please drop in on his Fundraiser set up by friends. (I think another link will be set up in the near future regarding his services and I’ll update it here when that happens.)

Editing – Elle Turpitt, elleturpittediting.com, is facing redundancy. Help her by considering her as an editor. She is available for all editing work – short story, novella, novel, or chapter extracts. She also has a Ko-Fi (ko-fi.com/elleturpitt), or if you’d rather send a little gift to help her smile at a stressful time, she has a wishlist set up for this month (amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls). All support is appreciated.

Book Covers! – Max Stark, known for his prints and photography work here, is now also available for book and magazine cover commissions. A sample is shown right. Get in touch with him on twitter @Max_Stark8.

Artwork! Cassie Daley – literally one of the most colourful characters around needs more support. She has an etsy shop with an amazing range of products including colouring books, stickers, prints and more at shopletsgetgalactic.com. Please note – Cassie has recently gone public with some health problems which means she still needs support from the community but also understanding and patience as she adjusts to her new regime (https://www.patreon.com/posts/52841984). Please continue to support however you can.

Writing and Editing Services from Ben Long. Go to Ben for ‘Killer Copy, Creative Content, and Eye-opening Edits’! Ben is ‘a passionate and engaging freelancer with 2+ years of experience in a variety of writing and editing endeavors. He is also a regular contributor to several online brands in the horror niche.’ You can find out more about him here https://readingvicariously.net/services/.

Events

Please send us details of any online panels, conventions, festivals and workshops and we’ll list them here.

Charity Anthologies

Latest Book Launches

Horror Tree Sponsor* and Patreon Releases!

*All Horror Tree sponsors are able to claim a spot at the top of our listing during the donation of their sponsorship. Please use our contact form for more advertising pricing.

Contact form link: https://horrortree.co1m/contact/

They Slipped Through the Net

July

August

September

1 1 1 1

1 3 3 4

6 6 7 7

10 14 20 21

21 21 22 26

28 30

October

1 1 1 1

5 12 14 15

15 16 19 21

26

November

12

Kickstarters and Gofundme!

From their page: ‘Don’t Go Into The Cellar! have been touring the U.K. since 2010 performing their own unique brand of Victorian Gothic theatre. However, since the lock-down was enforced all theatres have been forced to close their doors to live performances.
This campaign is to prevent our business folding.
It costs us £1000 per month to stay afloat (insurance, basic wages, website hosting, storage costs).
We broadcast fortnightly live broadcasts via our Facebook page, as part of our Sunday Down The Cellar season. These performances are free to view, but all donations are gratefully received.

https://www.facebook.com/CellarTheatre/

Please spare whatever you can to help us to continue what we do, and to keep the arts alive in our own macabre way! Thank you.’ Click the image to go to the fund page.

Happy reading.

Steph

on behalf of Stuart and the Horror Tree Team

Trembling With Fear

September 12, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Trembling With Fear 09/12/21

Please note: We are temporarily closed to short flash stories (unless for one of the Specials) but open to drabbles, unholy trinities and serials. We hope to reopen later in the year once we have caught up with the publication of those already accepted. Please also remember to read our guidelines, especially on word counts!

We’re having a last blast of summer here in the UK and moaning it’s too hot. Give us another week and we’ll be moaning it’s too cold. Moaning about the weather is what we do best 😊. My writing this week has seen the start of a gothic novella set on the streets of the Victorian East End. The Ripper may be around but he is not the focus. My interest in the East End stems largely from a branch of my family which lived there at the time and were amongst the poorest of the poor. This tale gives me a chance to delve deeper into the horrors of 19^th century London.

Reading has seen me finish Becky Wright’s Priory – a gothic story with the pace of a thriller and start Eric LaRocca’s The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales. I’m also reading Bruce Robinson’s They all Love Jack which is another take on the Ripper story and is literally tearing the establishment to pieces. A great read, I’m hoping to finish all 800-odd pages of in a day or two. As a theory, I’m finding it extremely logical and all too believable.

Our first story in Trembling with Fear is The Mystery of the Apples by Harris Coverley. A chilling story written in the same tone as the darker stories of many earlier haunted stories but avoiding the flowery language of those times.

Full Tank by Mike Rader gives us a gas station in the middle of nowhere. A life-saver – or is it?

Grandpa by Patrick Winters reveals a skeleton in the closet. A subtle bite of the macabre.

Sleep Tight by RJ Meldrum questions the truth behind childhood terrors and the stories parents tell to get their kids to tow the line.

Enjoy our stories and send in yours!

Steph

Stephanie Ellis

Editor, Trembling With Fear

I don’t really have anything new to add this week as I’ve been behind on catching up with more housekeeping for Horror Tree (working on setting up payments to authors, getting our Summer Edition finalized, etc!) So, to recap from last week (which is still all valid):

Trembling With Fear is open for our Halloween Edition until October 13th, so be sure to get your stories in! Full details can be found here.

Offhand, if you run a website and would like to write an article about Horror Tree or Trembling With Fear, we’d really appreciate that! Please reach out with any questions for facts in the article (who does what, when sections were started, etc), any promotional artwork, or with a link once it is live so we can feature it on the site and on our social media.

Have a great week everyone!

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Articles

September 10, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Indie Bookshelf Releases 09/10/21

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.

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

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