Tagged: Drabble

Trembling With Fear

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Unholy Trinity: Murder She (W)Rote by Nic Tusa

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.

 

Murder, She (W)Rote. Season 1, Episode 1: Honey, It’s Considered Manslaughter if It Isn’t Planned (And No One Knows I Sharpened the Knife)

 

He hadn’t hidden it well; always shit with details. 

Hell, he still thought her eyes were brown.

 

Men are more likely to be stabbed on weekends.

Because they’re home annoying their wives.

 

Veronica toed off her shoes, crossing the dark house to their bedroom.

 

Fun fact: men usually stab underhanded into the stomach, but because women are more tricep-dominant, they tend to stab downward.

 

Her fingertips ached— manicured nails extending into imperfect talons.

 

Plenty of muscle mommies out there will prove you wrong!

More like muscle monsters!

 

Ten precise four-inch substernal wounds were the fastest way to a man’s heart.

 

 

Murder, She (W)Rote. Season 1, Episode 2: I’ve Got the Arsenic for That Tea (Sipping on Secrets, Choking on Confidences)

 

Trapped between the wall and his arms, Christina’s skin crawled like a thousand writhing snakes. 

 

Women kill differently from men.

I expected nothing less.

 

Her fangs had dropped during puberty. Clandestine bumps on the roof of her mouth. If she opened her mouth wide, they mobilized, sharp and deadly as a viper’s.

 

We are more subtle and patient.

Out here, dosing hubby’s morning coffee with a little poison, like “today’s the day!”

 

He leaned into her neck so she did the same, sinking her teeth into his vulnerable skin.

Two pinpricks of blood against her tongue as the venom sang.

 

 

Murder, She (W)Rote. Season 1, Episode 3: Darling, This Embrace is a Chokehold for Your Neck (And I’m Waiting For Your Final Breath)

 

A lot of women will try to make it look like an accident. 

When Shelby capsized their kayak two klicks from shore, Miranda laughed. Shelby was a strong swimmer but Miranda was the water. It would have been easier to break up.

 

So like…

Asphyxiation and strangulation.

 

Bobbing in the sea, small waves caressed her gills. Her legs had fused; scales sprouted to protect her from the cold.

 

You mean like drowning their kids in the bathtub?

Or smothering them with pillows.

That’s awful.

 

In one powerful kick, Miranda closed the distance, wrapping webbed fingers around Shelby’s ankle. 

She dove.

 

Nic Tusa

Nic Tusa spent almost a decade as a NYC paramedic and writes speculative fiction that blends the gritty chaos of reality with the strict rules of magic. She enjoys a good slice of pizza, running, and the emo music of the early aughts. Her short story An Animal Within? was recently included in BDA Publishing’s Your Body, My Rage anthology.

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 4-20-25

Greetings, children of the dark. Sound the klaxons: our latest short story submission window is now closed! If you send in a short story now, it will be returned to you unread and we don’t like having to do that, so please just hold onto it until the next one opens in July. 

Some stats for those playing at home: we had more than 50 submissions in those two weeks. Remember, these windows are quarterly, which means they cover around 12 editions of Trembling With Fear, so there’s quite a bit of competition. (This is also why we moved to the quarterly windows for short story subs; we had authors waiting almost a year, sometimes more, for their stories to be published!) The team’s looking forward to diving into your creative works, but please do bear with us while we get through them. And remember, if it’s a no, we were oversubscribed by more than three times the opportunities, so it’s not you!

While we prepare ourselves for the slush pile, we’ll hand you over to this week’s edition of dark speculative fiction. For our main course, we’re dipping into some urban SF-lite with David McKenna, dealing with an investigation by HQ. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Sascha Reinhard’s unlucky hand,
  • DL Ross’s hospital wallpaper, and
  • Corinne Pollard’s buyer’s remorse.

A final note: It’s been a while since I plugged one of my events, but I’ve got a good ‘un coming up very soon! Writing the Occult: Relics takes a deep dive into the things left behind by those who came before, asking what we can learn from them, and how we can take inspiration for our own creative pursuits. Sessions will look at things like archaeology and horror, shipwrecks, ossuaries and the weird things we do with bones, and Egyptology, plus we’ll have sessions from horror authors Ally Wilkes (a workshop on cursed objects!) and Steve Toase, plus an interview with V Castro about how she sexed-up Aztec relic reparation for her erotic horror Immortal Pleasures. Early bird ticket prices (£35+bf, around US$50) end tomorrow, so be quick! Get the details here: writingtheoccult.carrd.co

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

We jumped from 61% to 78% for our overdue proofing of Trembling With Fear! I’m hoping this Easter weekend doesn’t slow us down and we can get everything sorted and over to our artist to finetune the cover files asap!

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!

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

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Unholy Trinity: Before and After the Cazas by Paul Burgess

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.

 

“Cazadores de Vampiros”

Crowds cheered when President Wolf announced that the last Cazas had been deported. “Cazas”, a Righteous Eagle News correspondent’s coinage, was short for “Cazadores de Vampiros”. Some sheeple insisted the name meant “vampire hunters”, but where there were vampires, there were Cazas. Case closed.

Weeks later, President Wolf tuned in to hear his favorite talking head, Righteous Eagle’s John O’Malley, report on a recent tenfold increase in vampire attacks: “See? Our President knew the storm was coming.” “I did, indeed,” Wolf said with a grin while thinking about how much easier his nightly feeding had gotten without pesky Cazas around. 

​

 

“A Bloody Mis-stake: Perhaps We Needed the Cazas”

The frigid fingers seized Kevin’s throat before he’d had time to deliver the atrocious B-movie pun that would’ve almost justified his death. “I hope you like your ‘stake’ bloody”. He must’ve rehearsed it a hundred times, misspelling the word in his mind each time, on his way to the Count’s estate. Count Andrei, wincing as he used his free hand to pull the stake out of his right breast, suddenly chuckled as he thought of his own pre-kill quip. “Now, I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t slept through Anatomy 101,” the Count said before sinking his teeth into Kevin’s throat.

 

 

“A Reluctant Hunter”

“We’ve been through this so many times, Son. What are you going to do if something happens to me?” Count Andrei said before sinking his teeth into their prey’s throat. “Marius, drink before it gets cold, and next time, you’ll go hungry if you don’t get over this fear of the hunt.” “I’m not afraid, Dad, but it’s just…” “I know,” Andrei whispered gently, “but we didn’t choose to be what we are. Survival can be a brutal game, but we have no choice but to play it.” Marius nodded despite his doubts that the game was worth its cost.

 

Paul Burgess

Paul Burgess, an emerging poet, is the sole proprietor of a business in Lexington, Kentucky that offers ESL classes in addition to English, Japanese, and Spanish-language translation and interpretation services. He has contributed work to Blue Unicorn, The Orchards, Lighten Up Online, and several other publications and has recently begun writing short fiction.

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 4-13-25

Greetings, children of the dark. I don’t know things are where you are, but on our side of this dystopian nightmare I have now added seasonal allergies which is making me *very happy indeed*. There’s nothing like sore, itchy eyes and a constantly-stuffed-or-runny-nose to add to the unfolding apocalypse that is the world in 2025. I’m planning on channelling my rage into a story or two ASAP; how about you?

If you get around to your rage-story in the next 24 hours or so, remember you have ONE DAY LEFT to submit to our April/Spring window for short stories. The window will close decidedly at midnight on 14 April, so get in quick by filling in the submission form, choosing the TWF short stories option, and hitting send. Remember, we cover the dark side of all speculative fiction: sci-fi, fantasy AND horror. The team at TWF Towers looks forward to reading them.

Consider taking inspiration from the talented folks featured in this week’s edition of dark speculative fiction. For our main course, we’ve got an interesting deadly stream-of-consciousness from Samuel Marlinga. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Deborah Sheldon’s troubled birdbath,
  • Geoff Holder’s apocalyptic survivor, and
  • Annette Livingstone’s demented doll.

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

Trembling With Fear’s proofing has gone from 50% to 61% done. It’s so close I can taste it, and hopefully we’ll be able to get ahead on this year’s and start right as this comes to a close, so we don’t have the same problem moving forward. Fingers crossed!

For the new layout, I’m waiting for some internal feedback on a few parts, though more sections are being put together, and it’s looking great so far! I did recently realize that one of our plugins might require that I make a bit of a change to the layout, so I’ll be exploring that in the coming 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!

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

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 4-6-25

Greetings, children of the dark. Keeping it short this week to throw all the attention on this one thing: Our April/Spring window for short story submissions is now open! This is your call to submit, submit, submit! And you know what? It’s spring or autumn, depending on which end of the globe you live in, so let’s make a special call for some folk horror coming our way. It’s either planting or harvest season, so lean into those pagan motifs and get your outsiders into a closed community for some shenanigans. This is my greatest wish for this window. You have until 14 April to get something to us, and then we’ll close again until the summer. 

Until then, let’s celebrate the talented folks featured in this week’s edition of dark speculative fiction. For our main course, we’re following Bob Gielow’s media coverage of the apocalypse. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of a trio of regular contributors:

  • Kevin M. Folliard’s mid-air issues,
  • Robert Allen Lupton’s genetic manipulations, and
  • Weird Wilkins’s brush with the wild.

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

This week was two full days of training, which kept me as busy as last. That being said, the Trembling With Fear crew is officially done with proofing half of the next installment. I’ve almost got the sizing fully sourced to put in the request to have the covers finished size-wise, and then we can push forward! Huzzah! 

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!

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

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Unholy Trinity: Dracula’s Castle by James Nemeth

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.

 

Dracula’s Castle

 

Jim Nemeth’s Journal

31 Oct. Transylvania—

The carriage dropped me at the castle at midnight. Dracula, clean shaven save for a long white mustache and clad completely in black, opened the door, bid me to enter freely and gave me a tour. 

Afterward, I presented my report. “Count, as your Airbnb rep, I have to be honest: the broken battlements, the cobwebs, remote location, lack of servants, the wolves…”

Dracula looked crestfallen. 

“Count, I think we have a real WINNER here!” I said.

The Count beamed. He approached as if to hug me, but instead bit me in the neck.

 

 

Hotep – Seth

 

The archeologist’s face turned to uncomprehending horror as he tried to stop the advance of Hotep-Seth, guardian mummy of the tomb, by thrusting and waving the blazing torch. Hotep-Seth would have laughed if he could as he lifted the defiler by the neck and repeatedly slammed his head against the stone wall. 

Hotep-Seth reached down and picked up the still blazing object that had for centuries been his greatest undoing. So many fiery deaths followed by phoenix-like resurrections. But no more. He gazed at his body, admiring the tomb priests’ work in rewrapping his form in fire-retardant gauze.

 

Nothing Under the Bed

 

Mrs. Grimes grunted as she stood erect from kneeling beside little Johnny’s bed.

“There’s nothing there, Johnny. No clawed and fanged hairy monster. Nothing. Now go to bed!”

“But mom,” Johnny started to blubber.

“No, Johnny! I’ve had it! Night after night screaming the house down! Now, come here. I want you to look.”

“Mom, no!” Johnny pleaded, tears running down his face.

“Do it, Johnny. Now. Or else.” 

Tears still streaming, Johnny kneeled down. His eyes refused to open.

“Open your eyes!” Johnny’s mother bellowed.

Johnny did and whimpered as the clawed and fanged hairy monster winked at him.

 

 

James Nemeth

I am a published author of both fiction and non-fiction. In 1993, I won 1st Prize in a national magazine’s short story writing contest for which novelists Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch were judges. Winning held special meaning for me, as Robert Bloch remains my favorite writer and main literary influence. I have had essays, articles and reviews printed in a variety of magazines, including Filmfax, Mad About Movies, and Scary Monsters. I am the book review columnist for the revived Castle of Frankenstein magazine as well as the webmaster of the Robert Bloch Official Website (robertbloch.net). The year 2020 saw the release of my co-authored It Came From? The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction Films, an examination of 21 classic fantastic films, and the books/stories that inspired them.

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 3-30-25

Greetings, children of the dark on this second-to-last day of March—which, btw, WTAF?! How does time work these days? I am, as ever, back to being behind on life because my brain is refusing to do its job lately, so I’ll just pop one note in here and then let you go about your merry ways…

Our April short story submission window shall be declared open on TUESDAY. Yes, that’s April Fool’s Day, but I promise you this is no prank. 

We’re right up to date on our slush pile now, so come on and fill it right up again! We want your best and brightest (well, darkest) speculative fiction. Your gothic tales and mythological beasts. Your killer-on-a-spaceships and your dystopian futures. Your dark dabblings with magic and your haunted happenings. Come on and submit—just make sure you read our submissions guidelines first, and please please please submit a clean, plain Word document. Bonus points if you do the following:

  • 1.5 or double spacing
  • 12pt font size
  • Arial or similar font
  • Word doc – not pasted into the submission form; not a Google doc link; not a PDF
  • Have your name and story title on the first page

We’re not asking you to follow any strict particular formatting here; just the basics of helping us be able to open and read the document, identify what the story is, and who wrote it. Honestly, it’s formatting issues that have delayed the anthology publication because we now need to go through and proofread it carefully and check it for consistency, so do us a solid and let’s start out with the consistency, yeah?

But now, it’s time for this week’s edition of dark speculative fiction. For our main course, we have a gorgeously dark and haunting morsel from John Dougherty. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • Catherine Berry’s trash,
  • Sean MacKendrick’s possession, and
  • Gideon Smith’s bargain.

Want to join these four in the illustrious pages of TWF? Here’s what we’re looking for:

  • Always, always with the drabbles – those short, sharp bursts of exactly 100 words. Make it dark and make it speculative (scifi, fantasy, horror). We publish three of these every darn week of the year.
  • Unholy Trinities – that’s three drabbles that are connected in some way. Sarah Elliott awaits your tales.
  • Serials, or dark speculative fiction that can be serialised on the site over several weeks. Vicky Brewster is ready for ‘em.
  • Finally, our next submissions window for general short stories opens on Tuesday!

Send your submissions via the form at the bottom of this page (and you may as well read the content of that page, since it tells you our guidelines).

Over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

This week I had 3 full days of training (and next week I have 2), so I hate to say this, but I wouldn’t expect much progress on the new layout for 3ish weeks. 

That being said, more proofing has been done on the next Trembling With Fear print addition! As I’m not currently in charge of getting that together, something IS being done. 

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!

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

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 3-23-25

Greetings, children of the dark. We are heads-down here in TWF Towers, desperately trying to get through the proofreading of the 2023 anthology so we can get it into your hot little hands. No, that wasn’t a typo; I’m seriously talking about the anthology from two years ago. This is how utterly destroyed we were last year—we just did not have the bandwidth to even think about it. Now we have a host of new helpers, we’re trying really hard to catch up (yes, the boss man is even cracking the whip). Hopefully we’ll have a new helper dedicated purely to the anthologies soon, and that will help us get back into shape. Slowly, slowly, dear children of the dark. Be patient with us, for we are emerging from the ashes. 

But enough apologising; let’s dive into this week’s edition of dark speculative fiction. For our main course, we’re dining with some sinners, landlords, and K.A. Sweitzer. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

  • SG Perahim’s glimpse at future film,
  • Sian O’Hara’s snowed-in hotel, and
  • Shiloh Kuhlman’s otherworldly paramour.

Want to join these four in the illustrious pages of TWF? Here’s what we’re looking for:

  • Always, always with the drabbles – those short, sharp bursts of exactly 100 words. Make it dark and make it speculative (scifi, fantasy, horror). We publish three of these every darn week of the year.
  • Unholy Trinities – that’s three drabbles that are connected in some way. Sarah Elliott awaits your tales.
  • Serials, or dark speculative fiction that can be serialised on the site over several weeks. Vicky Brewster is ready for ‘em.
  • Finally, our next submissions window for general short stories opens at the beginning of April. 

Make sure you check our submissions page here for what we do and DON’T want. That last bit is super important – don’t waste your time sending us things we have publicly stated we’ll reject! (Seriously, you’d be surprised…)

And finally, if you’re in the vicinity of Kent, England, this Saturday 29 March, make sure you head to Westgate Hall in Canterbury for the UK Indie Chapter’s next indie horror marketplace. You’ll find all the details over on Facebook. I went to the first one in Birmingham last year and it was fab. This time they’ve got 40 indie horror authors from across the UK and Europe, with book signings, readings and panels throughout the day—plus free entry, so you get more money to buy books directly from the creators. See you there, maybe? 

Over to you, Stuart.

Oh, and PS: Happy birthday to my other half!

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hi all.

More progress on the layout, I believe the main page is done, just working on a few sub-pages and the individual posts. We’re closing in!

Also, progress IS being made on the next Trembling With Fear print addition! It’s moving slow but steady.

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!

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

(more…)