Category: Articles

Articles / Guest Post

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Remember James Bama – From Art To Horror

When I was a kid, I visited my local comic shop where I first laid eyes on the Aurora model kits for Godzilla and King Kong. These kits were bright and colorful and really captured my eyes. However, on a small allowance of $5 in 1990, these were not something I could afford, so I begrudgingly stuck to my monthly issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Years later, when I was attending my first convention, I saw more and more of these model kits based on the likes of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, The Wolf Man and other various Universal monsters. I came to learn they all bore the artwork of James Bama, a man I would eventually learn more and more about. It turned out, I had seen his art at various points while growing up – from the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage to his depictions of Native Americans and Cowboys and other styles of western art. 

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: A Child’s Laughter

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Writing Prompt Wednesdays: A Child’s Laughter

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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Articles

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New Year, New Fear in the Mojave Desert

New Year, New Fear in the Mojave Desert

Overview: Inspired by the journey Magdala and her father are forced to take in Kay Chronister’s Shirley Jackson Award Winning post-apocalyptic novel Desert Creatures, this roadtrip will have you traversing through the desolate Mojave Desert toward the neon lights of Las Vegas, Nevada, or “the Holy Land”, as it is known to the characters in Chronister’s book. The father-daughter duo in Desert Creatures are on a healing mission and, if you approach this trip as a way of facing your fears going into the New Year, you can fancy yourself on a healing mission, too. Who or what would you be most afraid of encountering? A ghost? A clown? Cannibals? A serial killer? A religious cult? No matter. On this trip you will face all five. 

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Upon a Starlit Tide
Author: Kell Woods
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: 18th November, 2025

Synopsis: Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. To Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of a wealthy French shipowner, the high walls of Saint-Malo are more hindrance than haven.

While her sisters are busy trying to secure advantageous marriages, Luce spends her days secretly being taught to sail by Samuel, her best friend―and an English smuggler. Only he understands how the waves call to her. Then one stormy morning, Luce rescues a drowning man from the sea.

Immediately drawn in by the stranger’s charm, Luce is plunged into a world of glittering balls and faerie magic, seduction and brutality. Secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface, but as Luce wrestles with warring desires, she finds that her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper.

Or the scales of a sea-maid’s tail.

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Articles / For Readers

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Indie Bookshelf Releases 01/24/2025

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

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

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.

 

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Articles / For Readers / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Chaos, Uncharted Hearts Book 3 by Constance Fay

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Chaos: Uncharted Hearts, Book 3
Author: Constance Fay
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: 11th March 2025

Synopsis: Lore Olympus meets Winter’s Orbit in this pulse-pounding romance between a space mercenary and a super soldier whose mind-control breaks when she touches him.
He’s a mind controlled killing machine, until her touch frees him
Engineer Caro Ogunyemi thinks she has everything in control. Sure, she has a dark secret in her past and aim so bad that she can’t shoot the side of a spaceship when she’s right in front of it, but those are minor details in the life of a space mercenary. When Caro embarks on a solo mission infiltrating a prison planet that is run by the deadly Pierce family, she embraces the opportunity to prove she’s a hero.
It’s there that Caro meets Leviathan, a super soldier with a chip in his head that turns him into a mindless killer. He’s drop dead gorgeous with an emphasis on drop dead, until she touches him and renders his chip inert. The danger begins when she lets him go.
In the heart of enemy territory, where love is at stake, life is treacherous and time is short, Caro and Leviathan must figure out how to recover his agency, protect her crew from Pierce’s sinister machinations, and stage a prison-break before Leviathan is lost to her—and himself—forever.

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Articles

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: On a Ghost Hunt

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Writing Prompt Wednesdays: On a Ghost Hunt

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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Articles / For Readers / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
Author: Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror, Thriller and Suspense
Publisher: Tor, Pan Macmillan
Publication date: 16th January, 2025

Synopsis: There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

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