The Horror Tree Recent Markets, Articles, Interviews, and Fiction!

Trembling With Fear

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Unholy Trinity: The Nightmare Bird by Jane Bryan

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.

 

Dark Scavenger

 

A moonless night falls heavily across clustered rooftops. Wings beat shabby black feathers against its weight. A blue-black heart throbs perceptibly behind gore-mottled ribs as scabbed talons catch the roof-spine ridge that is the apex of a church. Time-tattered wings fold. A raucous caw tears the sky. Red eyes scan a dreaming village.

The first dream comes. 

Red eyes flare to a brilliance that dims the stars. A black tongue flits in pleasure within a cracked beak. A tapped mind nourishes a bottomless dark gullet. 

Dreams flow in succession. 

Dawn stains the horizon. The scavenger reluctantly departs from the banquet.

 

Dream Smoke

 

Valerian, mugwort, passionflower, chamomile. Dried, crumbled, and laced with extract from the blood-red plant that exists outside of man’s nomenclature. The apprentice’s eyes follow intently every measurement, every movement of the master’s hands, knowing the responsibility of the smoke will soon enough fall to him.

“The Nightmare Bird cannot overlook any dream,” the master speaks. “It is compelled to collect all it encounters.” The apprentice holds the pipe, watches the master pack its bowl.  “The smoke will bring the dreams that hold the Nightmare Bird to our village and shield the dreamers’ souls.”

The apprentice nods and swallows his fear.

 

The Nightmare Bird

 

The new moon hides, and my sanity slips. The stars bear down, biding time. Their malevolence is palpable, terrifying. The trees snicker at my fears from the dark. Do I trust my eyes full of profaned bodies of the fallen, or am I the fallen one?

The stray newcomer destroyed the pipe in reckless incredulity. Too few inhaled the smoke that brings the dreaming. No sleep to dream, no dream as offering, the Nightmare Bird has roosted in my mind.

Beyond the village, an unnatural avian cry rends the heavens like a chorus of countless screams.

The world is forfeit.

 

Jane Bryan

Jane Bryan was born and grew up (kind of). She is bipedal, omnivorous, and carbon-based. Her interests include speculative fiction, amateur phrenology, air sculpture, and sarcasm. She lives where her stuff is.

Articles / Interviews

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Jessica Guernsey and Once Upon A Moonless Night

Jessica Guernsey and Once Upon A Moonless Night

By Angelique Fawns

 

On her Instagram feed, Jessica calls herself, “A slushpile reader by day, short story writer by night.” Her business cards give her the title “The Crusher of Dreams.” I met her at Superstars Writing Seminar 2024 and immediately loved her gregarious and welcoming personality. She contacted me recently about listing a new anthology she is working on with “The Brothers Uber” in my monthly market list.

 

What a wonderful opportunity to get the inside scoop on what she is looking for and get to know her better! 

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Articles

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: What’s In The Box?

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: What’s In The Box?

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 / Interviews

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Horror Tree Q&A: Gemma Files, Canadian horror icon

Horror Tree Q&A: Gemma Files, Canadian horror icon

Gemma Files is a Canadian horror writer, journalist, and film critic. Her short story, “The Emperor’s Old Bones”, won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Short Story of 1999. Her novel Experimental Film (2015) won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the Sunburst Award for Best Canadian Speculative Fiction (Novel) in 2016. Her most recent publications include her Bram Stoker Award-winning collections In That Endlessness, Our End (2021) and Blood from the Air (2023).

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Events

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Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores November 2024 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: November 1st-2nd, 2024
Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used.
Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.
Note: Reprints welcome

 

 

Submissions Schedule

The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T.

For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.

We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 8¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles.
For new poetry, we pay $1 per line, and for reprints we pay 50¢ a line  We’re looking for poems up to 40 lines. We’ll consider longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 8¢ per word.

We sponsor The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn aboutThe Kepler Award here.

You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc.

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Rogue Sequence by Zac Topping

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: Rogue Sequence
Author: Zac Topping
Genre: Action Adventure
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Date: 4th June, 2024

Synopsis: It’s 2091 and independent contract companies around the world are producing genetically modified soldiers…to be sold to the highest bidders.

Ander Rade is a super-soldier, a genetically engineered living weapon, and has been dutifully following orders since he gave himself to Xyphos Industries’ Gene-Mod Program several years ago. But when a mission goes sideways, he’s captured, imprisoned, and forced into brutally violent fighting pits for the better part of the next decade…until agents from the Genetic Compliance Department of the United American Provinces appear in the visiting room.

Things have changed since Rade was captured. Shortly after his incarceration, the World Unity Council banned human genetic engineering and deemed all modified individuals a threat to society. Overnight, an entire subculture of people became outlaws simply for existing. But instead of leaving Rade locked behind bars, the GCD agents have come with an offer: Freedom in exchange for his help tracking down one of his former teammates from that ill-fated mission all those years ago.

It’s an offer Rade can’t refuse, but he soon realizes that the situation is far more volatile than anyone had anticipated, and is forced to take matters into his own hands as he tries to figure out whose side he’s really on, and why.

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Articles / Interviews

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The Spooky Six with C. J. Dotson and Willow Croft

C. J. Dotson (she / her) is a generally cheerful but easily unnerved horror lover. She is also the author of the forthcoming “chilling, paranoia-inducing” (Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Cave 13) horror novel THE CUT, as well short horror fiction appearing in such publications as Found 2: More Stories of Found Footage Horror from Vermillion 2 One Press and 99 Tiny Terrors from Pulse Publishing, among others.

When she is not writing, her favorite pastime is to read a book over a meal or a snack (a preference which leads to difficulty, occasionally, if the book she’s reading while she’s trying to eat is particularly gory or gruesome).

C. J. lives in upstate New York, in a poorly-lighted cabin full of far too many bugs and spiders. Aside from the insects and arachnids, she also shares her home with her husband, their nine-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, three cats named Noodles, Jupiter, and Pebble, their puppy Cooper who was named after Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks (pictures of the pets are included at the end of every issue of her newsletter, C. J. Dotson’s Dreadful Dispatch), and over the summer and holidays the family is joined by C. J.’s teenage stepson.

In her limited spare time, C. J. enjoys participating in hobbies to which she brings much more enthusiasm than skill. For example, she dabbles in occasional forays into amateur embroidery. After her kids’ bedtimes she can often be found playing video games, particularly Stardew Valley and a handful of roguelikes (and she loves watching her husband play very story-driven games that she’s better off experiencing as a spectator, like the Remedy Connected Universe games). She also likes drawing with charcoal and painting with acrylics. And when she has time and an excuse, she has a love-hate relationship with baking and decorating cakes.

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Trembling With Fear

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Trembling With Fear 10-13-24

Greetings, children of the dark. Short and sweet intro again this week as I’m presently, at the time of you reading this (if, indeed, you’re the one who waits for it to go live and pounces immediately), at the UK’s Fantasycon in the old Roman city of Chester. That means I’m writing this a good bit earlier than normal (yes, Stuart may well have a heart attack) and in something of a rush. 

So let’s get stuck straight into this week’s TWF menu, with a main course from Louis Inglis Hall and a bus journey that’s a bit out of the ordinary. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Meg Keane’s waking regret,
  • Christopher T. Mayne’s ruined rumination, and
  • Catherine Berry’s gardening tips.

And quickly, a final call for short story submissions! Our autumn/fall window opened on 1 October and will close tomorrow, Monday 14 October, so get in quick. I’ve acknowledged everything received up to Wednesday lunchtime UK time, and will get to the rest of you when I’ve returned from the con life. And yes, there are still a few stragglers from the last open window waiting to hear from us; you’re first in line and we’ll get to you ASAP!

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Join me in thanking our upcoming site sponsor for the next month! Please check out Josh Schlossberg’s ‘Where The Shadows Are Shown’!

“This Ultimate collection is a treasure trove containing revised and expanded editions of The Name of Fear and A Cleansing of the Blood, two all-new Anton novellas, and twelve original short stories. Follow Anton from the blood-stained sands of Rome to ancient battles with unstoppable beasts in the deepest depths of tenebrous jungles and into a dystopian future where even vampires fear to tread. Each story is a unique journey, offering a different perspective on Anton’s world.”

Support our sponsor and pick up Where The Shadows Are Shown today on Amazon!

 

Be sure to order a copy today!

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Hi all!

A lot of back-end stuff this week. We had a couple of older Ongoing Submissions that were reported as being closed markets to clean up and had a spammy e-mail problem that I believe is now resolved. Really, it was mostly administrative work and not much progress. Apologies for a boring update from my side! 

Also, just a reminder that we’re starting to do more social posting for both BlueSky and Threads. So, if you’re over there and don’t follow us, now is the time! 😉

  • Thank you so much to everyone who has become a Patreon for Horror Tree. We honestly couldn’t make it without you all!
  • The paperback is now live! Please be sure to order a copy of Shadowed Realms on Amazon, we’d love for you to check it out!

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

 
 

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

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