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

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Jamie Hallow and the End of the World by A. V. Wilkes

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: Jamie Hallow and the End of the World

Author: A. V. Wilkes

Publisher: Cemetery Gates Media

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+

Release date: July 11, 2023

Synopsis: Jamie Hallow is an Unbeliever…

For thousands of years, the Legion protected humanity from eldritch terrors. But when the nukes dropped, the balance was broken. The Legion retreated underground, ceding the surface to radioactive fall-out, surface scavengers, and things from Outside.

Several years since the war’s end, queer teenage misfit Jamie Hallow – Legion born and raised – finds the bunker’s theocracy stifling. His ex-boyfriend has pledged allegiance to the secretive Taskforce, running missions into the hot zone of the crumbling city.

And when Jamie learns just what his ancient cult is prepared to do to ‘save’ humanity, he must choose where his loyalties lie.

A novella from A.V. Wilkes — HP Lovecraft meets Mean Girls by way of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Unholy Trinity: All In Their Head, New Life & Polaris by DJ Tyrer

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.

 

Part 1: All In Their Head

   

Headaches worsen. Scans reveal mass deep within brain. Not a tumour any specialist recognises.

Suggestion: Bullet penetrated skull as child, lodged. Mystery as to when or where.

Prepare to operate: Head shaved, anaesthetized.

Strange thoughts, feelings as they drift into dark oblivion.

Wake to find themselves bloody, head oddly numb, alone on narrow forest path, pieces of flesh dangling from their fingernails.

Gingerly, reach up: Piece of skull jutting out, half cut away.

Vomits.

Faint hum. Not a sound, but a vibration within their skull.

Somehow, they just know where to go, begin to walk, a bright light awaiting them.

 

Part 2: New Life

 

Grateful for scientific advances, given a new life where, once, death would’ve been only outcome. Of course, more metal than meat, but glad to be alive, no matter how rebuilt.

Only, things haven’t been so good of late. Twitchy. Almost as if his implants had a life of their own. And, the dreams…

The processors don’t run themselves, the doctors say, but he has doubts. Blackouts. Confusion.

What is happening?

Then, one day, he spasms, collapses.

Skin begins to bulge, rip, tear.

He screams as he dies; his titanium skeleton pulling itself free.

Bloody birth. Stretches, welcomes its new life.

 

Part 3: Polaris

 

We feel fear when the Pole Star shines bright above the northern horizon, knowing it heralds portals between our time and others, the star acting as a pharos for misplaced souls.

Do not allow your sleeping spirit to slip away in the night, following that star’s glow into strange pasts or stranger futures. Jungles, primordial and concrete, Ice Age tundra, and more await incautious dreamers.

And, such portals open both ways and things crawl through, alien in thought and form. Should you travel upon starlit paths, you may return to find you cannot waken, your body host to another mind.

 

DJ Tyrer

DJ Tyrer is the person behind Atlantean Publishing and has been widely published in anthologies and magazines around the world, such as Chilling Horror Short Stories (Flame Tree), All The Petty Myths (18th Wall), Steampunk Cthulhu (Chaosium), What Dwells Below (Sirens Call), The Horror Zine’s Book of Ghost Stories (Hellbound Books), and EOM: Equal Opportunity Madness (Otter Libris), and issues of Sirens Call, Occult Detective Magazine, parABnormal, Tales from the Magician’s Skull, and Weirdbook, and in addition, has a novella available in paperback and on the Kindle, The Yellow House (Dunhams Manor). You can follow their work on Facebook, on their blog or on the Atlantean Publishing website. 

Articles

 by 

Paying Markets For Speculative Fiction Authors | Top Open Calls June 12th-16th, 2023

Salutations, architects of the arcane! 🎉 Ready your pens as we descend into another eerie expedition through the uncanny abyss of speculative fiction. As your dedicated cryptographers, we’re resolved to excavate the most spellbinding sepulchers—or dare we suggest, markets—for you, the audacious authors of our epoch. With each passing moon, we summon astonishing opportunities to stoke your eerie muses and transform your narrative necromancy into palpable profit! 📚✨

This week’s cryptic tome is awash with uncanny revelations as we disclose 🚀 Newly unearthed, top-tier markets dispersed across the infinite panorama of speculative fiction!

Our eldritch chart of enigmas is your beacon to these glittering prospects. You’ll unearth the precise incantations for these intriguing convocations conveniently manifested in the links hereunder:

Here’s an eerie tidbit about June to tantalize your minds: did you know that June is the most popular month for “ghost marriages,” a strange tradition in some cultures where deceased individuals are wed in the afterlife? May your narratives this month resonate with the chilling echoes of these spectral unions, captivating your readers with your creative undead.

Your tales are the phantoms that inhabit our crypt. They etch your journey through the catacombs of creative horror. So, let’s decipher our cryptograms and valiantly delve into the horror chronicles, one unnerving tale at a time! 🚀

To cap this with an inspirational whisper, reflect upon this provocative thought from the esteemed H.P. Lovecraft, “The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.” So, let the potency of your unique dark creativity guide you, and persist in your craft. The mausoleum of tales eagerly awaits your spectral stories!

(more…)

Articles / Interviews

 by 

Robert J. Sawyer Takes Us Out of This World

Robert J. Sawyer Takes Us Out of This World

By Angelique Fawns

 

Robert J. Sawyer is no stranger to big ideas in science fiction. The winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and Aurora Awards, he also recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Writers of the Future. Called the “Dean of Canadian Science Fiction,” he is the author of twenty-four novels and is lauded as one of the most decorated science fiction writers in history. 

Sawyer currently is a judge for the SciFidea Award — Dyson Sphere Sci-Fi Writing Contest, and he’s a Guest of Honor at this year’s World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon). I’m incredibly honored that he agreed to sit down with me. 

(more…)

Articles

 by 

Indie Bookshelf Releases 06/16/2023

Got a book to launch, an event to promote, a kickstarter or seeking extra work/support as a result of being hit economically by Covid or 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.

 

Before you scroll down through the books however, please could you consider checking out the ‘Creatives in Crisis’ section. This has been added to help those who need additional support at this time. Thank you!

 

(more…)

Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Non-fiction / Online / Poetry / Semipro

 by 

Taking Submissions: New Myths Second 2023 Window

Deadline: July 31st, 2023
Payment: 3 cents per word for fiction and poetry, $50 for book reviews, $80 for artwork
Theme: Fantasy and Science Fiction stories
Note: This outlet does accept clearly-labeled AI generated content which will be controversial to many

Good news for 2023: NewMyths.com pay rates have doubled!

Reading past issues is the best way to know if your submission is a good fit for NewMyths.com.

We like to balance each quarterly issue between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works.
Our readers are not fixated on a single style or tone or genre, but prefer a
quality sample of the field. Think tapas or dim sum. Maximum length is 10,000 words.
(more…)

Articles / Writing Advice

 by 

How do writers establish credibility?

It used to be that we could look to a blue check mark on Twitter to establish if a writer was – quote unquote – “legitimate”, but that world is long gone. 

Now it’s up to the individual to prove their worth in a consistent and very public way. Writers of all kinds need to demonstrate that they care, that they are knowledgeable in the subject, and that they can be trusted. Why? Because that’s how readers start to form a relationship with your writing.

“People jump to all kinds of conclusions about you when they read documents you have written,” writes Barbara Wallraff for HBR. “They decide, for instance, how smart, how creative, how well organised, how trustworthy, and how considerate you are. And once they have made up their minds, it is hard to get them to see you differently. Research in social psychology shows how sticky early impressions are.”

So it’s super important, and we need to, as writers, establish credibility if we want to gain readers and head for success. But first: what do we mean by “credibility” in the first place?
(more…)

Articles

 by 

How to Get Inspiration for Your Next Novel

How to Get Inspiration for Your Next Novel 

We all like to read to take us to new and exciting worlds, pass the time, and as a form of relaxation Writing is, therefore, still one of the skills that are in high demand, no matter what the latest artificial intelligence (AI) writers will have you believe. 

(more…)