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Articles / For Readers / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh

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: Where the Brides Gather
Author: Nuzo Onoh
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Titan Books
Publication date: 22nd October, 2024

Synopsis: Bata, an 11-year-old girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin’s door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.

A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.

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Articles

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Beneath The Ice

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Beneath The Ice

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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Anthology / Flash / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Patterns

Deadline: May 31st, 2025
Payment: $0.01 per word
Theme: Dark stories with the theme of patterns

PATTERNS

Submission window now open.

Deadline: May 31st 2025

We’re looking for dark stories (2-4k words) on the theme of patterns.

Please interpret this theme however you like. Write us a quiet mood piece or an action-packed powerful, character-driven story. Make it humorous or as dark as the night. Send us your best speculative, horror, dark fantasy or dark sci-fi stories, as long as it’s full of the feels. We are not, however, the market for violent, bloody, racist, homophobic, or masochistic fiction. And no poetry please, just short fiction.

Some ideas: the pattern could be in the narrative technique (fragmentation, mirror writing, foreshadowing, meta-fictional repetition), the thematic composition (think cycles of death and birth, family curses, sin and retribution) for example. Or how about incorporating chants, supernatural rituals, or echoes in your prose? A story with temporal patterns in it might float our boat (although be careful, we don’t want our inbox flooded with time loops and cyclical stories, unless done exceptionally well or with a novel twist). Seasonal patterns, recurring times, patterns in nature, patterns in objects which feature in your tale, geographical patterns, repetitive architecture, patterns in weather, behavioural ticks, recurring nightmares, obsessions…any tenuous link will do, just make it your best work and give it a good edit prior to sending it our way. You get the idea. Surprise us.

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Articles / Interviews

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An Interview With R. Haven

  Author R. Berry has been writing since the age of 9. He has written several novels and shorts stories. His work explores not only queer themes but also video games, rogues, and even horror recipes! A lot of fun to talk to and read (go check out www.theirritablequeer.com), we discuss writing, life and what makes Berry tick. Berry also discusses his forthcoming book The Other Face of Sympathy coming out September of 2025 with Renaissance Publishing.

      His new novel shows how traumas can turn people into monsters. His trans protagonist, Edward Barrett, discovers various diaries of trauma victims and follows them into darkness. There are trigger warnings listed.

You can watch the interview below:
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Articles / For Readers / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: You’re Not Alone in the Dark, ed. Eugene Johnson & Eric J. Guignard

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: You’re Not Alone in the Dark
Author: Various, ed. Eugene Johnson & Eric J. Guignard
Genre: Non-fiction, essay and interview collection
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications
Publication date: 22nd November, 2024

Synopsis: “The world can be an overwhelming and terrifying place. People often feel as if they are beaten, trapped, hunted-pursued by the very real monsters of mental illness, disabilities, abuse, loss, and countless other fears.

Featuring essays and interviews with some of the best writers in the horror genre, and compiled by the highly acclaimed Stoker Award winning editors Eugene Johnson and Eric Guignard, this non-fiction anthology lets people know that no matter how dark it gets, they are not alone. Contributing authors range from NYT best sellers to indie publishers, each sharing their own personal experiences, their struggles, their coping mechanisms, and what the genre community has meant to them.”

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Trembling With Fear

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Trembling With Fear 01-12-25

Greetings, children of the dark. Before we get into it, let us wish our Californian friends much luck and safety as those fires continue to grip. Be well; seek refuge. 

It’s all systems go here at TWF Towers, almost like we never took a break, so we have a few parish notices. First up, our new editorial assistant Annette Livingstone has officially taken over managing the Horror Tree inbox, so you’ll see a new name popping up to acknowledge your submissions. Please don’t worry – she’s won’t bite (much). 

Also, you may have seen on social media that we’re looking for a new assistant editor to take over the special editions. That call-out has morphed a little: the boss man liked my suggestion of widening our team even further, and so we’re actually seeking an editor take on each of the special editions – four in total! That will not only give us more back-up in the world of TWF Towers, but it’ll also help YOU specialise in whichever holiday grabs you most. We think we’ve got a new Valentine’s editor, fingers crossed, so if you have a love of summer horror, of festive darkness, or you consider yourself Halloween royalty, please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you: [email protected]. 

(Remember, these are volunteer positions; as much as we’d love to pay our team, any earnings the site makes need to go into keeping the lights on and paying for submissions. We don’t do this for the glory!)

And so onto this week’s edition, where Sarah Cline brings us a main course dripping with blood and regret. This one is truly haunting, but does come with content warnings for animal harm. That’s followed by the short, sharp (and coincidentally ghostly and somewhat vehicular) speculations of:

  • F.M. Scott’s accidental hitchhiker,
  • Crystal N. Ramos’s anniversary grief, and
  • Shiloh Kuhlman’s lingering soul.

Before we leave you to it, though, permit me a final plug? Writing the Occult: The Uncanny happens this Saturday 18 January,. Want to learn more about the uncanny valley, doppelgangers, creepy dolls, and how the uncanny goes beyond horror and into all of speculative fiction? Details are at writingtheoccult.carrd.co. 

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

It has been a busy week! We’ve been reaching out recently to find our new specials editor, and we’ve also been working on getting last year’s anthology, which is very overdue at this point out into the wild. We have a draft that I am taking a break from proofing to write my section in the newsletter!

I’ve also worked a little on our new site layout. Fingers crossed, it is coming sooner than later.

Now, for the standards:

  • Thank you so much to everyone who has become a Patreon for Horror Tree. We honestly couldn’t make it without you all!
  • Be sure to order a copy of Shadowed Realms on Amazon, we’d love for you to check it out and leave a review!

Offhand, if you’ve ordered Trembling With Fear Volume 6, we’d appreciate a review!

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree as we’re not really active on Twitter anymore, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

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Articles / Interviews

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Sam Asher and The Cosmic Background Kickstarter

Sam Asher and The Cosmic Background Kickstarter

By Angelique Fawns

Sam Asher writes strange, beautiful, and slightly disturbing prose. (I bought his collection of short stories Really, Shockingly Bad Things at the mass autograph session at World Fantasy Con 2024.) He also runs an e-zine called The Cosmic Background where he bought a story of mine when the magazine first launched, called “The Sentient Sea of Sargassum.”

You can read it here: https://www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/angelique-fawns-the-sentient-sea-of-sargassum

This is my second time interviewing Asher, and I thought it would be nice to touch base again as he is running a kickstarter. 

Check it out here!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecosmicbackground/the-cosmic-background-year-two/rewards

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Articles / For Readers / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter

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: The Crimson Road
Author: A.G. Slatter
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Publisher: Titan Books
Publication date: 11th February, 2025

Synopsis:  A captivating dark gothic fantasy set in the same universe as the award-winning author’s All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and The Briar Book of the Dead. A tale of vampires, assassins, ancient witches and broken promises. By turns gripping and bewitching, sharp and audacious, this mesmerising story takes you on a journey into the dark heart of Slatter’s sinister and compelling fantasy world.

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