July 25, 2021

Trembling With Fear 07/25/21

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.

As we continue to bask in the glow of summer (poetic version) or melt in the pressure cooker (reality), life has taken a tiny step forward. If you live across the border in England that is, where some restrictions have been lifted. Here in Wales we have to wait a bit longer. And even then, some things will remain for the duration of the pandemic.

Regardless of the politics and personal views on the matter, I think looking back over the behaviour of both government and individuals will certainly feed into the stories we write. To be restricted in what you do, where you go, who you can see, touch, hug is a degree of micro-management of personal life I never thought we’d experience. Writers and poets have a part to play in exploring and developing these themes, holding up examples of ‘what if’ for society to consider and use as a challenge to the law-makers, ensure that what we are told to do is for a genuine reason and not dictatorship by the back door.

Writers – authors, poets, journalists – are dangerous creatures, it’s why many non-democratic governments imprison them on trumped up charges. Writers have a place as social commentators and freedom fighters as well as entertainers. And genre writers, especially horror, hold a unique place in that they can really dig deep into the psyche and explore the darkness that could so easily erupt in a world of ‘what if’. Use your anger, your frustrations to birth a story and give the world a wake-up call.

There have been people asking if books set in a pandemic will be popular, will people read them. I’ve not been put off. But in particular, I think there will be a growth in dystopian literature as we try to work out exactly how we feel about this lived experience and what we can or can’t tolerate, the polarisation of views, the censorship and self-censorship of speech. Life has become a tightrope and I think horror writers are perfectly poised to explore this world of extremes. I love dystopian work and it would be great to see a touch more at TWF.

The first story in this week’s Trembling with Fear is The House of Dennis Eath by Tom Hook. I’m glad my experiences of house buying did not feature a character such as Mr. Eath and I don’t think I’d have signed on the dotted line but sometimes the price is just too good. Or is it? Lovely chill in the last sentences directing the reader to think only one thing.

Desert Vengeance by Ken MacGregor is a great story for this heatwave – or not, if you consider the consequences. Nicely brutal.

Kraken by Elyse Russell paints a picture of roiling ocean life, some great imagery here.

When Darkness Falls by Dee Grimes brings us another monster of the deep. Terrific description of the creature also shows its intent – without telling. Lovely.

Enjoy our stories and send in yours!

Steph

Stephanie Ellis

Editor, Trembling With Fear

This week, we’re trying something new on our newsletter! I’m trying to step back a bit in preparation for having help for it while I’m away for a couple of weeks coming up. So, Holley Cornetto will have written this one and it’s worth checking out! (She’ll be doing a few of the upcoming ones as well!)
All of this year’s Trembling With Fear copies are now available both in physical and digital format which you can find below! Please, if you’ve ordered these or previous installments, do leave a review on Amazon!

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

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Trembling With Fear

July 23, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Unholy Trinity: Three Drabbles by Alan Moskowitz

Our church worships at the altar of the Unholy Trinity. Its gospels are delivered as a trio of dark drabbles, linked so that Three become One. All hail the power of the Three.

When Time Runs Out

Doctor Sturges tried to look sympathetic through his mask when he told Jim that it was only a matter of time. He was sorry, but Jim couldn’t visit her, due to contagion.

Jim went into Margate’s room anyway. He took her hand, watching in sorrow as the woman he had loved all his life struggled to breathe, her eyes filled with panic. “No worries my old girl, you won’t be alone for long.”

He took off his mask, kissed her on the lips, breathing in her love and then sat beside her, and waited. Her fear disappeared, and she smiled.

A Moment of Spite

Carla rushed breathless into the hospital room apologizing for being late. She chatted nervously about his grandkids to no avail. He began his usual critique of her carelessness, her weight and her life. The usual feelings of shame crawled over her.

Then the final barb, “Where’s your sister, she’s never late!” Anger bloomed, Carla retaliated, “Roby died years ago, Dad, remember?”

The old man burst into tears. Carla sat silently satisfied as he cried away the afternoon.

The next visit he asked about Roby and Carla told him she was cooking dinner for his grandkids, and the day went well.

Sacrifice

The doctors surrounding the body were wondering what to do next. An attending suggested sending it to the morgue. Dr. Sturges scoffed, “So you want to lose your license, your career and your future? Leave it to me.”

The team left with their tablets filled with unauthorized research that could provide a cure.

While rolling the body to the crematorium Sturges thought about the old guy’s long life, his love for his family, his losses and triumphs and his final selfless act.

If his family knew they would probably be pleased at his contribution to the fight against the virus.

Alan Moskowitz

Alan Moskowitz is a retired screen and TV writer pursuing his passion for writing short genre fiction for his pleasure and, with hope, the enjoyment of others.

Articles

July 23, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Indie Bookshelf Releases 07/23/21

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.

Buzz Book Expo 2021 4th – 5th Sept. Showcases horror novels and novellas due for publication Sept 2021 to Dec 2022. Organised by Mary Sangiovanni, Somer Canon, Matt Wildasin and Katie Southard. Click the image for more info.

Charity Anthologies

Latest Book Launches

Horror Tree Sponsor* and Patreon Releases!

24th June

9th July

*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.com/contact/

They Slipped Through the Net!

June

9th 11th 14th 15th

15th 15th 16th 17th

18th 18th 24th 25th

26th 29th 29th 29th

30th 30th

July

1st 2nd 2nd 4th

6th 6th 7th 8th

9th 9th 12th 14th

14th 15th 15th 15th

16th 20th 20th 20th

21st 23rd 29th 30th

August

3rd 5th 6th 6th

17th 26th

September

1st 1st 6th 7th

10th21st 22nd 28th

30th TBA

October

1st 1st 19th

November

12th

Kickstarters!

MEMENTO MORI – A Horror Noir Graphic Novel. A 64-page full-color story about the serial killer who resurrects Victorian Post-Mortem photography into a modern work of art.

Happy reading.

Steph

on behalf of Stuart and the Horror Tree Team

Trembling With Fear

July 18, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Trembling With Fear 07/18/21

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.

It’s been a quiet week in terms of anything happening, I’ve progressed my novella and started writing a short for a submission call I’ve on Horror Tree – and I’m still waiting on submission news. I’m reading an ARC of Coy Hall’s Grimoire of the Four Imposters and loving it and I’ve bought even more books recently to add to my TBR pile – the Waterstones in Birmingham (UK) is wonderful by the way!

As TWF moves forward, you will find Amanda Headlee, our specials, trinities and serial killers editor, becoming more involved in the day-to-day running of things, eg acknowledging receipt of stories. Amanda has been a terrific addition to the team and I value immensely the load she has taken on her shoulders. I will freely admit it’s stopped me turning into a gibbering wreck. If you would like to read any of her own work – she released a novel, Till We Become Monsters earlier this year – pop over here to find out more.

Now to this week’s Trembling with Fear. Our first story is House of Evil by Damon Sweeney which plays to the murder house trope and automatically triggers the impulse to shout ‘don’t go in there’ when you seen someone about to do just that. Sometimes though, evil doesn’t just live in a house – it takes a walk around the neighbourhood and calls you friend. Is anyone what they seem?

Life and Death by Ben Coppin gives a different perspective on life and death via this zombie tale. But who is the zombie?

Like a White Snake by Christina Nordlander has an ethereal, nightmarish quality to her lab reminiscences. Nice setup using ‘what if’.

Fly Tipping by April Yates sets a typical scene of something apparently dumped where it shouldn’t be, plays to assumptions and then throws in the unexpected.

Enjoy our stories and send in yours!

Steph

Stephanie Ellis

Editor, Trembling With Fear

The unpacking continues, interrupted only by children, my day job, my MBA program (yay, did well on my midterm!), and keeping the site running. So, basically, I’ll be unpacking for the next seventeen years 😉

So, the latest update on the Trembling With Fear copies, the first two below are both digital and physical while “Serial Killers: Volume 2” is still digital only at the time of writing this update. Hopefully, soon! 🙂

If you pick up a copy of any of the above or our previous anthologies, we’d truly appreciate a review on Amazon.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

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Articles

July 16, 2021

by Stephanie Ellis

Indie Bookshelf Releases 07/16/21

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? 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.