Category: Articles

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: The Hanging Tree

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: The Hanging Tree

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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An Interview With R. B. Wood on ‘Winter in the City’ and More!

Winter in the City

An interview with R. B. Wood

By Sarah Elliott

 

It feels like winter is coming. Long nights herald the chills: physical, psychological and perhaps emotional. For some, it may already be here. That time of hibernation. Time to retreat to the safety of the sofa and lose yourself in a book, choosing total immersion in the words of others. Winter in the City is the first anthology to be published by Ruadán books, run by R.B. Wood. Want to know more? Read on.

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An Interview with With Mia Dalia

An Interview with With Mia Dalia On ‘Haven’ and writing dark fiction!

Mia Dalia is a lifelong reader and reviewer turned writer. She has published two novels, Estate Sale and Haven, as well as several novellas and many, many short stories. I came to Dalia’s work through her debut novel, Estate Sale, and her pirate story in Call of the Sea from Black Ink Fiction. Her work can be found in an impressive number of anthologies from a wide variety of publishers. While a lot of her fiction is dark, Dalia also writes in a variety of other genres and is on her way to becoming quite prolific. I was pleased to get the chance to interview and get to know Mia Dalia better.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Bestiary of Blood, ed. Jamal Hodges

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: Bestiary of Blood
Author/Editor: Jamal Hodge
Genre: Horror/fable
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Publication date: October 4, 2024

Synopsis: Bestiary of Blood was conceived in a moment of revelation, born from the visceral experience of watching nature’s savage ballet- lions tearing into flesh, hyenas gnawing on bones, sharks thrashing in crimson waters. These raw spectacles gave rise to a chilling epiphany: life and death are intertwined in a grotesque dance, each feeding the other in a ceaseless cycle of transformation, creating… beauty.

This paradox is captured in its full glory in Bestiary of Blood, a modern anthology of predatory horrors inspired by the timeless tales of Aesop’s Fables, modernized for a more complex, unforgiving world. Explore the joy in our hurts, the wrongs in our rights, and the suffering in the shadows of our light, Bestiary of Blood invites you to the intersection of human and animal experience, crafting dark tales that resonate with life’s endless cycles of transformation.

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Jason Palmatier Interview- Life After Winning Writers of the Future

Jason Palmatier- Life After Winning Writers of the Future

By Angelique Fawns

 

Jason Palmatier won Writer’s of the Future and appeared in volume 39 with his story “Under My Cypresses.”  I met him at World Fantasy Con this October in Niagara Falls and thought I’d ask him where his career has gone after his dream accomplishment. Learn more at his website! https://jasonpalmatier.com/about-me/

If his last name is familiar, his brother Joshua Palmatier runs the Zombies Needs Brain, LLC. (Rumor has it they will probably be opening for subs in the spring!)

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Indie Bookshelf Releases 12/06/2024

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 Thursday 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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Epeolatry Book Review: Don’t Let ‘Em Take the Children by R H Williams

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: Don’t Let ‘Em Take the Children
Author: R H Williams
Genre: dark fantasy, occult horror, coming-of-age, mystery, thriller, supernatural
Publisher: The Book Guild
Date: 28th September, 2024

Synopsis: Desperate to prove his mother’s death was caused by a supernatural force haunting his hometown, thirteen-year-old Ned discovers evidence linking a missing child to his own quest.

Joined by his friends, Ned embarks on a mission to investigate the boy’s disappearance. However, when they uncover their town’s dark secret, they must find a way to stop the unexpected and dangerous enemy without unleashing a greater evil on the world.

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The Spooky Six with Dan Fields and Willow Croft

I can only hope that Dan Fields can appreciate a New Mexican spin on enchiladas, as that’s my go-to culinary influence at the present time (red, green, or Christmas chile, Dan?). Enjoy “feasting” on this interview, HT readers!

Dan Fields hails from Houston, Texas, where he lives with his wife and two children. He absconded with a film degree from Northwestern University in 2006, and has worked in a variety of media disciplines including music, photography, video, animation, fiction, criticism and even the odd (very odd) sculpture. In the late 2000s he was frontman of the Chicago chaos-and-blues act Howlin’ Tumbleweeds, and he is a founding member, songwriter and performer for the Lone Star blues, country and rock band Polecat Rodeo (established 2010).

Since 2015, Dan has published over two dozen stories of horror and the weird with Pseudopod, Nocturnal Transmissions, The NoSleep Podcast, Sanitarium Magazine, Grotesque Quarterly, Hellbound Books, Novel Noctule, Cowboy Jamboree Press, Frontier Tales, Improbable Press, Weird Christmas and more. His fiction has been broadcast (or rather podcast) in multiple accents across the English-speaking world, and has also been translated into Russian by the poet Katarina Vorontsova for Darker Magazine.

In July 2020, his story “And Every Living Thing After Its Kind” was anthologized in the 10th edition of the Kendall Hunt college textbook Analyzing Short Stories.

In 2021, he released an original story collection entitled Under Worlds, After Lives, which a reviewer for HorrorNews.net called “an immensely compelling anthology that preys upon your subconscious long after the final pages.”

Dan’s latest work of short fiction, entitled “The Fair Child,” will appear in a future anthology from Fabula Press.

Dan and fellow Harvest Time writer Chris Robinson have also published several collaborative stories, under the joint pseudonym “Lyman Graves,” with the likes of Swamp Ape Review, Grotesque Quarterly, Nocturnal Transmissions, and The Great Void. Red Room Press included Lyman’s story “When The Owls Call” in their anthology Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, Volume 4. A new Lyman tale entitled “So, I Hear You Eat Houses” is scheduled to appear in a forthcoming anthology from Three Ravens Publishing.

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