Tagged: Drabble

Trembling With Fear 2-16-25

Greetings, children of the dark. Did you enjoy your international day of corporate love? I’ve never been a Valentine’s gal, but I sure did enjoy the V-Day edition of TWF assembled by our own Jane Morecroft. Thanks to all who submitted – next special edition is the Summer one, and we have another new assistant editor to take the helm of that one. I’ll introduce the revamped team very soon, I promise! Just got to get over this stupid virus first…

In other news, I’m very excited to almost be up to date with our short story submissions reading. That hasn’t happened in… oh, I don’t know… YEARS. The expanded team is truly helping, and I would give each of them a massive hug if I could. Thanks to all in TWF Towers for all you do. Including the boss man, who is the world’s busiest man and I honestly don’t know how he does it all and still finds time to write and submit!

Speaking of submissions: I’m in a mode, my friends. I actually wrote an almost-10,000 word story last month and submitted it to an anthology being put together by the amazing PS Livingstone. No word yet on how/when it will be released, but I feel so smug for having actually done it that I’ve now got my sights on two folk horror anthology calls that close in the coming fortnight. And considering I’ll be off at the UK Ghost Story Festival this coming week, and then at the British Fantasy Society’s annual retreat at the iconic Gladstone’s Library the following weekend, well, maybe my writing journey might be getting back on track? Don’t make too much of a fuss; I don’t want to alert the universe to this anomaly. 

Soooo, let’s quickly and seamlessly transition to this week’s edition, where Adam Hannah tries to keep Friday’s love-fest going but takes it in a much more familiar TWF-y dark direction (aka revenge). That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Autumn Bettinger’s art experiments,
  • Crystal N. Ramos’s therapy tech, and
  • Shiloh Kuhlman’s generational trauma.

And one last thing: I often mention the British Fantasy Society here, mainly because I volunteer as its marketing officer, but there’s something afoot you should really know about. We’ve recently announced a mentorship programme, and there’s a whole range of speculative fiction bods lining up to offer mentorship across everything from ideation to writing a manuscript to editing and querying to, yes, marketing and building an author brand (that one might be me). It’s only open to BFS members, but with membership starting at just £20 per year and open to anyone, anywhere, there’s really not much stopping you. Right? Details over here.

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

This week has been quite busy! For Trembling With Fear, we’ve been putting a huge dent into our backlog of submissions and putting out our Valentine’s Day edition! We have our internal readers going over the document for our overly late physical edition to see where it stands on going to Amazon for release. (This year’s installment looks like it’ll be split into two editions again due to size.)

For my own writing, I received a rejection and submitted a novella and a short story this week. We’ll see how those go! 

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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Trembling With Fear 2-9-25

Greetings, children of the dark. I’m loaded full of cold and flu right now so will cut to the chase today with just a few parish notices:

  • We are now closed to Valentine’s submissions. Our V-day editor Jane Morecroft will be getting in touch in the coming days – if she hasn’t already – to let you know if you were successful. Make sure you keep an eye out for the Dark Love edition hitting the interwebz on Friday!
  • We are slowly, slowly working our way through the regular ol’ short story submissions from both the October and January window; please bear with us but we’re catching up slowly.
  • We’re also now proofreading the 2023 anthology, which should hopefully be ready soon. Thanks to the legend that is Steph Ellis for helping pull this together, and some of our fresh new residents of TWF Towers who are divvying up the proofreading to help out.
  • Finally, this is your regular reminder that we have an insatiable need for drabbles – like, all the damn time. Get your little darklings of exactly 100 words over to us via the submission form, and make sure they’re a complete story in and of themselves; as much as I love reading extracts from longer works, our drabbles need to work on their own more than anything. 

And so onto this week’s edition, where P.A. Cornell (a Nebula finalist, no less!) has a neighbour who takes a bit too much and faces the consequences. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Nico Martinez Nocito’s glimmer in the dark,
  • Kelley Tai’s star-crossed lovers, and
  • Nissa Harlow’s woodland wanderings.

Over to you, Stuart.

Oh, PS: for those who have been following my creative burnout journey, guess what? I only bloody well finished and submitted an almost-10,000 word short story this week! I know, I can’t believe it either. It’s probably why I’m sick now…

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

This week, I took some ‘me’ time to work on a novella that I’m hoping to submit before an upcoming deadline. I’ve got two to possibly three that I’m hoping to send to publishers this year. We’ll see if that happens! 

For Horror Tree, I did work on reading a LOT of fiction for our Valentine’s Day special and some drabbles. However, I still have a ton of shorts to read and to get our physical copy moving forward again. I also worked a ‘little’ on the website, waiting for a bit more internal feedback before the next set of updates. Hopefully, we’ll get that truly going soon! 

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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Trembling With Fear 2-2-25

Greetings, children of the dark. Finally – finally! – the neverending bullsh*t of January is over. But that does mean it’s now February, and time marches ever onward. I’m consoling myself with the fact the daylight is staying around slightly longer every day. 

The arrival of February also means we’ve officially started reviewing our Valentine’s submissions, but you’ve got a few more days left to get yours in – hit our submissions page for details, and make sure you’re channeling your best jilted monster lover, ghostly unrequited feelings, and other obsessions of the soul. Which brings me to introducing the first of our new residents in TWF Towers: welcome, Jane Morecroft, who’s now laser-focused on your dark hearts. Jane is a journalist as well as a creative writer, a slush reader for Andromeda Spaceways, an editorial assistant at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and now the Assistant Editor for the Valentine’s Special Edition at TWF. Needless to say, she’s pretty darn qualified to sit in the loveseat.

Wanting to catch her eye? Jane says she’s looking for character driven stories with a twist, and a close narrative voice is very appealing to her. All the usual TWF submission guidelines also apply, so head over here to check those and get submitting. 

And so onto this week’s edition. For today’s TWF main course we get weird – real weird – on a stormy clifftop with Andrew Keyworth. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Catherine Berry’s warning, (trigger warning: sexual harassment)
  • Brian Rosenberger’s vengeance, and
  • Henry Gibbons’s impatience (trigger warning: talk of suicide)

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

Another week of working on the new layout, we’re closing in! I didn’t have much of a chance to work on the anthologies, however. Hopefully, this week! 

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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Unholy Trinity: Rats by Alex Grass

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.

 

An Influx of Vermin

 

There’s a nasty dead rat on the tabletop. It’s dried out, like roadkill left on a desert road during a drought. A balloon-shaped snifter hits the table, the burning spoon goes flying, and cognac soaks the rat’s tail. The air is dense with fumes like old furniture and dried fruit. The rat’s tail fattens like a dry paper towel eating up a spill.

No one else watches, no one else notices, but fascination keeps his eyes on the rat. There’s a creaking sound like a branch groaning just before it breaks. The rat’s eyes open. The rat looks at him.

 

A Wriggling Purge

 

The woman’s flesh looked like someone took a cheese grater to it, unevenly scraped off her eyebrows, scalped her, dragged her lips from her face. I’ve seen her walking outside Emory University, and today I saw her when I pulled into the Headquarters’ parking lot off off Clifton Road. I stopped my car and rolled down the window. There aren’t that many people to talk to anymore; beggars can’t be choosers.“Afternoon,” I said.

The woman smiled. Then she started retching. I was about to perform CPR. But I was paralyzed by the sight of her mouth spewing out rats.  

 

The Bubonic Transfiguration

 

People used to kill each other over this place. There’s blood in the stones, soaked into the ground. The sun rises over the temple wall. It reminds the boy of the floating ball illusion; the sun is the magician’s ball, the limestone wall a two-thousand year old prestidigitator’s rag.

The boy thought he was the only one alive who didn’t have a tail like a worm with fur. Then, the old man came and started praying. With each day of supplication, his head worn raw from pressing it to the stones, the old man changed. He became like a vermin.

 

Alex Grass

I am a writer born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I live in Brooklyn now with my wife and kids. It’s important to me that I find the readers who I can make feel about my writing the way I feel about my favorite authors.

Trembling With Fear 01-26-25

Greetings, children of the dark. And it really is dark out there, isn’t it? I hope you’re staying safe, staying kind to yourself and to others, and finding what you need to get through this. It’s going to be a long haul, but we’ll get there together. 

And if issuing our weekly missives of dark speculative fiction from TWF Towers helps in any way to keep you chugging along, then we’re very happy to oblige. Soon, we’ll have new residents moving in, and I hope to introduce them soon. We’re still seeking someone to take on our festive special editions, so please do get in touch if you’d like to join the crew. Obviously we have a bit of time up our sleeve, but it’d be nice to complete the crew sooner rather than later!

The good news is that our newly-expanded crew is also helping to get our very overdue 2023 anthology into your hands, so they’re already making an impact. And, of course, all credit, glory, and gifts go to the incredible Steph Ellis who’s jumped back in to help with the technicalities of that project. 

And so onto this week’s edition. For today’s TWF we head into the furthest reaches of space with Anna Orridge. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Kara Kahnke’s artistic needs (trigger warning: domestic violence),
  • Robert Allen Lupton’s assessment of manking, and
  • DJ Tyrer’s lost city.

Until next time, stay strong.

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

The last week has been spent doing a few things:

  • Working more on the upcoming overdue anthology releases.
  • Looking over the new layout that we’re hoping to get in place. I’ve been trying to remember what still needs to be done so am working through that.
  • Removed our “Missing Letter” connection which was used to promote old posts on Facebook and Instagram. We may look to bring it back later since we do enjoy showing support for our older posts, and people do seem to go back and read them! However, we’ve just had too many problematic ones come up (interviews with authors who ended up not being great people, etc.) So. It is something I want to bring back, once we can better vet what goes to it.
  • Working on 2 short stories and a novella that I’m hoping to submit by deadlines.

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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Unholy Trinity: Hide Seek Find by Devlin Giroux

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.

 

Hide

 

Champion. Talented. So good.

I was always good at hiding. So I was told. No seeker found me unless I let them. Up high is good, but plain sight is more fun. For best hiding, though, be small. Keep tiny and quiet. Even the best eyes overlook the small and silent.

Don’t gasp at the footsteps. Shallow breaths.

But always…always…keep eyes open. Eyes don’t make a sound.

Wait…do they reflect light?

Footstep.

Slow breath. Mouth open. Breathing through the nose might whistle.

It’ll be okay. Champion.

The only talent I ever had.

So good at hiding. Years of doing it.

 

Seek

 

She has to die for the whole to survive. Not my rules. Just the way of the modern world.

Things don’t change. Neither do people. Decades don’t matter.

Plague. She nestles it within her. Cherishes it and thinks it’s special. To be nurtured. Can’t be allowed to spread. It will seep in and corrupt the rest. Creeping, insidious. Disguised as new and bright. That’s how it hides. In plain sight.

Or seen as small and helpless. A victim.

Not a victim. An aggressive infection to be excised and burned away.

Glint of light.
Time to cleanse. Cleanse and protect us.

 

 

Find

 

So loud. They bicker and stalk. They run through me like I’m a game. Why do they make so much noise?

“Please no!” she said, small and scared.

“Needs to happen,” he said, stern and resolved.

Over and over. They reset and begin again. He kills without remorse or passion. She returns brimming with hope for acceptance. Over. And. Over.

And it is the same. Same noise. Same ending. Always.

They hide. They seek.

This time, I find.

Found them. They don’t see me. Nothing left after. No sound. 

All still. All silent.

Gone.

Without them, I rest. I fade.

 

Devlin Giroux

Devlin Giroux is a horror writer with some forays into high fantasy. His short stories have been published in both print and digital media with stories chosen for, and adapted to, horror podcasts such as the No Sleep Podcast. His one-act plays have been produced through La Petite Morgue and Kraine Theatre in New York.

Trembling With Fear 01-19-25

Greetings, children of the dark. How’s your 2025 emerging? I’m already berating myself for not sprinting out of the gates, so it feels right to remind you tomorrow, 20 January, is the third Monday of the month which makes it Blue Monday. While this was originally a marketing gimmick for a travel company, it’s ballooned into a global mental health awareness day. January can be dark in more than just weather ways, so check in on yourself, check in on your friends, and keep each other safe. It’s ok to not be ok, and it’s definitely ok to ask for help. 

With that, I have some parish notices for you before launching into this week’s edition:

  • First, our January short story submissions window is now firmly closed. We will not be taking any more short story submissions until the next window opens in April; find the details over here, and note they’re also on the submission form itself if you need a reminder!
  • That said, we are always open for drabbles – those tiny tiny complete stories in 100 words – as well as unholy trinities and serialised stories. You’ll find details for those over in the submissions page as well.
  • Finally, thanks to those who’s expressed interest in joining our assistant editor team to help out with the special editions. I’m hoping we have three out of four confirmed now, but are still seeking a volunteer to take ownership of our Christmas special edition. Could it be you? Do you love a bit of festive darkness? Get in touch and let us know!

And so onto this week’s edition. The TWF dark and delicious menu today is centred around Jessie Atkin’s strange growth. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Jane Bryan’s gloomy warning,
  • Joshua Ginsberg’s dark omen, and
  • Weird Wilkins’s thirst for knowledge.

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

More progress on the overdue anthology. We found a ton of work that had been missed, which is good – because we aren’t missing it now. However, it isn’t good because I think we’re now going to be at two books again.

We were able to get away with one book last year, which was pretty great; however, doing that this year would likely be able to be used as a weapon with how big it would be. We’re still working it out but should be able to get into the final edits, followed by cover creation, in the coming week or two. 

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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Unholy Trinity: Wicked Amber by Niko Lapidus

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.

 

I.

 

It was amber that caused it. A yellow stone, formed of sap of a tree from a deep and dark forest. When the amber was found in Utah, nobody knew what it really was. But like true amber, it held something. Not an insect or leaf, but a presence. Something old and hateful, with hands that reached and eyes that stared. The amber seeped into the ground, and it seeped into minds. Told folks to do bad things. Flies eating people. People eating people. People eating themselves. The amber took them slow, like a tumor. All because of that amber.

 

II.

 

I ate the berries, just like we all did. It wasn’t my fault, what I did. I didn’t know. What I did to Ma and Pa and baby Paul, it wasn’t my fault. They would’ve been the same anyway ‘cause they ate the berries too. None of us knew. We had seen papers, heard what happened with that yellow stuff over in Utah. We even saw the odd yellow patches on the berries, but we were hungry. Baby Paul was weeping with hunger. So we ate them, and by the time we all knew, the amber made me eat them.

 

III.

 

They called my vessel amber, but I was more than that, more than they could ever imagine. I had fallen from the stars, dripping from the trunk of a squirming black tree beyond mortal comprehension. I saw the world of humanity, and it was ugly to my many staring eyes. In their infinite stupidity, they thought me just a mere stone. But soon they learned. With cities and minds ablaze, they learned the true power of the amber that held my will and flesh. I took them like they took me, with tumors and boils and their own rotting hands.

 

Niko Lapidus

I’m Niko Lapidus, a 14 year old fantasy and horror writer. I’m from Berkeley, CA, and currently working on my debut novel, Voidbreaker. I’m also a stand-up comedian, and you can check my work out on spotify.