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

Articles

 by 

Indie Bookshelf Releases 11/01/2024

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.

 

(more…)

Articles / Interviews

 by 

Horror Tree Q&A: Angela Slatter and Australian gothic

Horror Tree Q&A: Angela Slatter and Australian gothic 

 

Angela Slatter has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, a Shirley Jackson Award, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. She is the author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns,The Briar Book of the Dead and the forthcoming The Crimson Road – all of them gothic fantasies set in the world of the Sourdough, Bitterwood and Tallow-Wife collections. The hardcover collected edition of her Hellboy Universe collaboration with Mike Mignola, Castle Full of Blackbirds, from Dark Horse Comics was published in July 2023.

Angela is also the author of the supernatural crime novels Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as ten other short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, A Feast of Sorrows: Stories, and The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories.

Angela has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. In 2016 Angela was the Established Writer-in-Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth. She has been awarded career development funding by Arts Queensland, the Copyright Agency and the Australia Council for the Arts.

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Draakensky by Paula Cappa

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: Draakensky
Author: Paula Cappa
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Date: 27th September, 2024

Synopsis: The Chief of Police discovers an elderly woman dead in the Mianus River. There is a ghost who resides here and flings its words through the spinning air. River magic too, streams across Draakensky Windmill estate, conjuring a secret in Bedford, New York.
Sketch artist Charlotte Knight arrives on Draakensky to a bright opportunity. She is hired to illustrate the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke under the direction of Jaa Morland, the recluse spinster of Draakensky. Jaa, a believer in ghosts, instructs Charlotte to ‘draw the ghosts.’
From the first night, Charlotte hears the watery voice of Draakensky’s ghost speak to her. Sinister dark eyes watch at the window. Fear mounts when a strange man stalks her through the village cemetery and shops. When a wicked force of nature strikes Charlotte, warning her to flee Draakensky, she is shaken to the bone.
Needing solid ground, Charlotte meets the local restaurant owner, Marc Sexton, who knows the ghostly Otherworld and the magickal practices from his Celtic ancestry; he sports a silver wolf amulet at his neck. Their romance takes Charlotte into a piercing adventure through darkness and doubt, passion and aching love.
As dark magick accelerates on Draakensky, Charlotte is driven into realms of owl magick, witchcraft, and necromancy. She battles her own fear of ghosts and wrestles with how to trust Marc Sexton, a man with hidden realities.
If magick is destiny, then Charlotte must survive the world of ghosts or surrender to a more powerful source in this literary tale of mystery, sorcery, and love.

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

A Trembling With Fear Special Edition: Halloween 2024

The nights are closing in. The veil between worlds is thinning. The dead are getting ready to cross over to our streets for one night only…. Yes, ’tis that time of year when even the normals get spooky and go all-in for Halloween. And in amongst the trick-or-treating and the parties and the dressing up, there’s a very real message that’s often forgotten: not everything is always as it seems, and just in the corner of your eye, something sinister lurks. 

This year’s Halloween special has been a massive team effort by all at TWF Towers, so my big thanks to Vicky Brewster (who usually looks after our serials) and Sarah Elliott (queen of unholy trinities) for stepping up and helping while the bossman was crazy busy and our specials editor Lynn was unable to steer the ship for personal reasons. And let us tell you: there were so many great stories this year! We had to make a lot of very tough calls, so please don’t be disheartened if you didn’t make it in. You might have come closer than you realise. 

Importantly, a lot of those stories who didn’t make the cut just weren’t Halloween themed. Remember that these special editions are a chance to go all-in and camp it up. We were looking for jack o’lanterns and urban myths that take place on 31 October; we have our other sections for those stories that are merely dark, spooky, featuring zombies or vampires or curses. This Halloween edition presents those stories that could ONLY take place around Samhain, and we hope you enjoy them. 

Much spooky love,
Lauren, Sarah, Vicky, Stuart & all at TWF Towers

Trembling With Fear Team

(more…)

Articles

 by 

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Paper Faces on Parade

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Paper Faces on Parade

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:

(more…)

Articles / Interviews

 by 

The Fantastical Five with Andrew Najberg and Willow Croft

I’m really glad to have created the structure of these preset interview questions like these “Fantastical Five”, the “Spooky Six”, and the “Four Red Herrings” because the possibilities for me to go into deep-dive tangents are endless. Take Andrew Najberg, for example: we could compare our synesthesia-inspired colour assignations, or science/quantum physics (my poetry book is even titled “Quantum Singularity”)…but I’ll let you discover more about this author for yourselves. Enjoy the journey!

Andrew Najberg is the author of the best-selling (#1 US Horror Amazon) novels The Mobius Door (Wicked House Publishing, 2023) and Gollitok (Wicked House Publishing, 2023), as well as The Neverborn Thief (Olive-Ridley Press, 2024), the forthcoming collection of short fiction In Those Fading Stars (Crystal Lake Publishing, 2024) and the forthcoming novel Extinction Dream (Wicked House Publishing, 2025). He also anticipates an end of the year release for the choose-your-own-adventure novel Try Not to Die in the Shadowlands. His short fiction has appeared in Fusion Fragment, Khoreo, Translunar Travelers Lounge, Utopia Science Fiction, Prose Online, Psychopomp Review, Solar Press Horror Anthology, and more. Currently, he is working on a novel called Eat the Light, signed for an early 2026 release through Wicked House Publishing.

He also has published the poetry collection the The Goats Have Taken Over the Barracks (Finishing Line Press, 2021), and the chapbook Easy to Lose (Finishing Line Press 2007). His book Fighting Fermi is forthcoming through Walnut Street Publishing (2024). His poems have appeared in dozens of journals online and in print, including North American Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Yemassee, Cimarron Review, Louisville Review, and Good River Review. He was the winner of a 2010 AWP Intro award in poetry, and the 2022 Brain Mills Press poetry month grand prize winner.

When he is not writing, Andrew is an avid tabletop gamer who received his first game writing credit as part of the licensed title for Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, and he is currently working on an original title with author and board game designer Jon Cohn. For fun, he plays board games, Dungeons and Dragons, and video games with his kids, trains in Tae Kwan Do, periodically paints, draws with pen and ink, and plays drums.. Currently, he teaches creative writing, Japanese literature, rhetoric and composition, and honors seminars in the humanities for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he also serves as the director of programming for the honors residential college.

(more…)

Artwork / Flash / Flat Amount / Non-fiction / Ongoing Submissions / Online / Poetry

 by 

Ongoing Submission: Sometimes Hilarious Horror Winter

Payment: Short horror stories of up to 15,000 words – Original:$25 Reprints: $10, 1-4 original horror-centric poems with a connecting theme – Original: $25 Reprints: $10, , Novel chapters w/a complete narrative: $10, Cover Art: $25, Regular Columns or featured articles: Pay negotiable.
Theme: Horror with humor

Featured Guest Author Submission Guidelines: Sometimes Hilarious Horror

Hi, and thanks for your interest in submitting to Sometimes Hilarious Horror. We’re really proud of our little mag and excited to check out your submission.

What exactly is a Guest Author? If selected, we’ll include your submission in an upcoming issue of Sometimes Hilarious Horror, offered exclusively to subscribers of the Sometimes Hilarious Horror Ko-Fi page. Payment for selected original short stories is $25. In addition to publication of your story, we’ll ask you to complete a short interview so our readers can get to know you. Guest authors are encouraged (though not required) to market their appearance on social media and to your existing readership, families, etc.

What are we looking for? Great Question!
–Original, unpublished short horror stories of up to 15,000 words (pay $25)
–Submissions of 1-4 original, unpublished horror-centric poems with a central or connecting theme (pay $25).
–Reprints (previously published work that you currently own the rights to) of the above categories. (pay $10)
–Novel chapters will be considered provided they are a complete narrative. (pay $10)
–Cover art (pay $25). Accepted artists are also invited to be interviewed for the issue in which their work appears.
–Have an idea for a feature article or a regular column? Tell us all about it. Pay negotiable.
(more…)