Tagged: Drabble

Trembling With Fear

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Trembling With Fear 1-7-24

Greetings, children of the dark, and welcome to the first TWF of 2024! No, I can’t believe it either. I’m currently entertaining the family, who’ve come over from Australia for the festive period, so I’m keeping this first one short and jumping straight into it. More from me next week. 

The first dark and speculative TWF menu of 2024 kicks off with a gorgeously chilling (and very BIG) short story from Mackensie Baker. Then we’ve got three fabulous tasty morsels for dessert:

  • DJ Tyrer twists a fairy tale, 
  • Chris Clemens battles in space, and 
  • Cassandra Daucus speaks from the shelf.

Finally – two quick notes.

First, our Winter window for short story submissions is open for just one more week, so get in quick! 

And secondly, and relatedly, I have totally been dropping the ball on the TWF inbox (work and life commitments converged to leave me with no breathing space whatsoever), so please bear with me while I catch up over the next couple of weeks. If you haven’t heard back and you submitted or emailed us more than a couple of weeks ago, please drop us a line to help jog our collective memory. 

Over to you, boss man.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

LOOK! A distraction due to me still being behind on things! I’m going to blame it being my birthday weekend (which, isn’t the real reason that I’m behind on things but I’m hoping you take pity on both me and this poor floor who is being viciously attacked by her octopus.)
 
Don’t forget – Trembling With Fear Volume 6 is out in the world, and if you’ve picked up a copy, we’d love a review! Next year, we may be looking to expand past just the Amazon platform. If we do that, what stores would you like to purchase your books from?

ATTENTION YOUTUBE WATCHERS: We’ve had some great responses so far but are open to more ideas – What type of content would you like to see us feature? Please reach out to [email protected]! We’ll be really working on expanding the channel late this year and early into next.

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree on places that aren’t Twitter, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

If you’d like to extend your support to the site, we’d be thrilled to welcome your contributions through Ko-Fi or Patreon. Your generosity keeps us fueled and fired up to bring you the very best.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 12-31-23

Well, children of the dark, that’s another year almost done and dusted. I don’t know about you, but 2023 has been both enlightening and exhausting in equal measure. I’ve learned so much about myself this year… but I’m so damn tired of all of it. Just, y’know… *waves hands* all of that. So as I’m winding down the year and thinking of what the next one holds, I’m manifesting good things for us all. (Except for you—I know what you did.)

I missed out on the Solstice rituals for leaving the darkness behind, so I’m going to do it tonight instead: join me, won’t you, in saying good riddance to bad rubbish, and welcoming all sorts of good stuff into our lives for 2024. And if that good stuff includes more submissions and hoping for more publishing—or maybe even your first publishing credit!—I’m pleased to say our Winter submissions window for short stories opens tomorrow, 1 January, and will last for two weeks only. Anything received in our inbox after 15 January will be returned unread with a suggestion to resubmit it in the next window. Remember, we’re only reading short stories in four separate 2-week windows now as our tiny volunteer team was struggling to keep up with demand. We love your work, but we want to give it the attention it deserves! 

Now, for the last time in 2023, allow me to present the dark and speculative TWF menu. We’re ending this year with a super strong (and super creepy) bit of spec fic from Maura Yzmore. Then we’ve got three fabulous tasty morsels for dessert:

  • Nikki Anderson feels some side-effects of medication, 
  • Samantha Lee Curran finds some comfort in the dark, and 
  • Lauren Kessinger fixates on a bridge.

OK—over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Can you believe that we’re done with the world already? I hope that you all did a much better job at hitting, exceeding, or at least getting closer to your writing goals than I did! The last half of my MBA took up SO MUCH more of my time than the first half and everything really just fell to the side. Thankfully, that is over with now. I’m still adjusting to this world of having time again but I truly hope that will translate to an improvement to both my writing and expanding ideas for Horror Tree – only time will tell! 
 
Don’t forget – Trembling With Fear Volume 6 is out in the world, and if you’ve picked up a copy, we’d love a review! Next year, we may be looking to expand past just the Amazon platform. If we do that, what stores would you like to purchase your books from?

ATTENTION YOUTUBE WATCHERS: We’ve had some great responses so far but are open to more ideas – What type of content would you like to see us feature? Please reach out to [email protected]! We’ll be really working on expanding the channel late this year and early into next.

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree on places that aren’t Twitter, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

If you’d like to extend your support to the site, we’d be thrilled to welcome your contributions through Ko-Fi or Patreon. Your generosity keeps us fueled and fired up to bring you the very best.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear – Christmas 2023 Edition!

Welcome to our special Christmas Edition of Trembling With Fear! Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, there is so much to enjoy about this time of year. Whether it’s the festive lights, the presents, the warm cups of cocoa, the snow or delicious food, the holidays are filled with so much to see and do. That also means that there is so much to inspire new tales and new takes on well-known stories. 

I am always amazed and delighted to see what our writers do with the themes of each holiday, and this edition did not disappoint. We’ve had excellent submissions this year, and we’ve selected the best to be a part of our holiday collection. It was a joy to put together, I hope you enjoy our little gift to you.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Shalini

Shalini Bethala

Editor, Trembling With Fear

It’s cold outside, so we’ve got some great tales to warm your soul with terror to celebrate the howl-i-days. I hope that you’re having a great time no matter what you celebrate (or don’t celebrate) this season, and I really am thrilled that we’ve got this present of fantastic fiction to deliver to you. For once, I’m feeling a bit more like St. Nick and not Krampus… I’m sure none of you have been naughty this year and deserve presents instead, right?

Have a great one, and I truly hope that you enjoy all of the stories that have been submitted for your enjoyment! (Remember, if you love a story, give the gift of thanks to the author in either comments or on social media.)

Stuart Conover

Editor-in-Chief, Horror Tree

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Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 12-17-23

Hello, children of the dark. As I write this, we are one week away from the Winter Solstice in the UK. The days are getting VERY dark indeed, and the wind has a chill that goes through your bones. Some people revel in this time of year, and you’d think I was the same given my penchant for dark tales—but actually, I’m a child of Australia, and I do need a decent balance of light and dark for me to feel alive. At this time of year, I am lethargic. Even more so than usual! I struggle to get out of bed. I crave cosy blankets and a giant mug of steaming hot tea. But then, as I was saying to a colleague yesterday, we’re made to be hibernating at this time of year. These things are natural!

So the year is winding down well and truly, but I take solace in knowing the light will soon return. I hope you and yours have been enjoying the season, whatever your beliefs.

For your holidays, this week we bring you the dark and speculative TWF menu. The short story comes from regular contributor Addison Smith, a terrifying take on tech horror—but not for the reason you think. Then we’ve got three fabulous tasty morsels for dessert:

  • D’vorah Shaddai has a shower, 
  • Epiphany Ferrell makes a final wish, and 
  • Nicolette Ward seeks the crossroads.

Finally, submissions are now closed for the Christmas special. TWF special editions editor Shalini is going through the (frankly) huge amount of stories we’ve received, and submitters will hear from her over the course of the next week. Keep an eye out for this one on Christmas Day—aka a week tomorrow! 😱

Now, it’s over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

I’m done with my class so I’m really trying to get everything finalized for our release of Shadowed Realm. This is something we’ll really be mixing things up with if we continue next year to streamline the process. While I’m working on that, I’ve also been putting together the start of a goals list for the site on how we can optimize and expand it moving forward. Fingers crossed that with my time clearing up we’ll see some real progress over the next few months! 
 
Don’t forget – Trembling With Fear Volume 6 is out in the world, and if you’ve picked up a copy, we’d love a review! Next year, we may be looking to expand past just the Amazon platform. If we do that, what stores would you like to purchase your books from?

ATTENTION YOUTUBE WATCHERS: We’ve had some great responses so far but are open to more ideas – What type of content would you like to see us feature? Please reach out to [email protected]! We’ll be really working on expanding the channel late this year and early into next.

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree on places that aren’t Twitter, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

If you’d like to extend your support to the site, we’d be thrilled to welcome your contributions through Ko-Fi or Patreon. Your generosity keeps us fueled and fired up to bring you the very best.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

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Unholy Trinity: Medea by Lena Kliendienst

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.

 

Rowan / Host

 

They watched her birth from the belly of a tree, she was small and anxious. A constant sting in her mouth, the strength lay dormant inside her. The magpies whistled from the height of the oak, tall, and unkillable; she was safe in its shelter. 

When she’d grown just north of childhood, the humans in the woods drew her in their notebooks. Males pay no attention to the sprout but to the “alluring” forest girl. The sirens killed sailors, mythology more tempting than mortals. The other woman, the terrible, seductive Medusa. Affairs with girls in the trees, explorer men conquer.

 

Medea / Comfort

 

The clicking of the creature turned to muffled screaming, and fingertips appeared from the blackness. They’re long and slender, pulling apart an invisible prison, ripping it open, high in the air. A bald head emerges, her eyeliner is smudged, a series of spikes and thorns. The woman looks down at the Dryad from her throne. She wore the invisibility like a costume she was removing, her visible fingers pushed against its body. 

She holds large bronze scissors, the same ones their grandma used in her sewing room. She cuts the matted ends of Rowan’s hair. The clumps fall back into the marshes where she was buried.

 

Lyssa/ Rage

 

When she turned twenty, she rose with the magpies. She sang at 6 AM to wake the men from dreams of her. Her spiked fingers command the forest to her will. Branches snapped from grinning trees, flying like spears into human camps. 

She would make a list, the list would make her strong. 

Children felt safe around her, and she wouldn’t know what that meant until she looked in a mirror. Her mouth wouldn’t close, skin scarred where the top lip met the bottom. Her face was lumpy and swollen, but her sickness grew to strength. Her power to comfort.

 

Lena Kliendienst

Lena Kliendienst (@variastrixx), is a USYD art student and English Major. Their writing has been included in their artworks, which have been featured in Salience and The Junction magazines under their artist name (Maggie Kelly). The author uses their experience with mental illness using their horror, musical, and artistic interests. Their writing fits into literary and general fiction, horror and thriller, as well as short story collection genres, and contains memoir elements.

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 12-10-23

Hello, children of the dark. This last week has been a bit fraught on the Horror Tree socials, so I just wanted to take this opportunity to address what’s been going on on other parts of this site. 

You’ll have heard and seen Stuart talking about how super-overloaded he is right now, between MBA and job and family and running the behemoth that is Horror Tree and all his other extracurriculars. Having hit a particularly tricky patch of deadlines, he had taken a few articles from long-time and trusted contributors on trust, not giving them the usual review. Unfortunately, one of these articles turned out to espouse the virtues of using ChatGPT to edit your work, which is very much against everything we stand for—and, quite rightly, caused a Twitter furore as writers felt let down and disappointed in the site they’d trusted for more than a decade. As soon as Stuart realised what had happened, he jumped to attention, addressed the issue, took down the story, and made his views on the matter clear. But some still weren’t happy with this, so I just wanted to make it 10,000% clear:

Trembling With Fear does not condone nor accept work that has been generated by AI, including in the editing process. 

This of course becomes more nuanced when you start to consider the tools we use everyday that are driven by AI—things like Grammarly, for starters. But the spirit remains true: if you ask AI to write your story, then you tidy it up and submit it under your name, you’ll be banned. If you write a story then input it to AI and ask it to edit it for you, you’ll be banned. Human endeavour is what we’re looking for here, and is what we celebrate and embrace. 

And if you missed Stuart’s post addressing the issue, you’ll find it on Twitter here, and the new version of the article is here.

With that out of the way, let’s just jump straight in with this week’s dark and speculative TWF menu. Our short story offering from Laura Stone is totally twist-tastic. Then we’ve got three fabulous tasty morsels for dessert:

  • Joshua Ginsberg goes meta, 
  • Lauren Kessinger waits in the asylum, and 
  • DJ Tyrer returns to the nursery..

Finally, submissions are now closed for the Christmas special. TWF special editions editor Shalini is going through the (frankly) huge amount of stories we’ve received, but you’ll likely hear from her much closer to the date of publication as to whether you’ve been successful.

Over to you, boss.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

By the time you’re reading this, I should be done with my MBA class and be able to breathe again. I still have a ton on my plate but it is absolutely what had put me over the top on getting anything productive done. 
 
As Lauren pointed out above, I made a huge misstep while trying to get through this class and let an article go up without actually reading it. I can (hopefully) guarantee that is never going to happen again. Either I or someone with editorial prowess will be making sure to go over everything that we publish, as well as running everything through AI detectors. (Which, there seem to be a ton of, and I’m not going to publically be stating which one(s) we’ll be using for anyone looking to game the system.) I’ll also add to Lauren’s statement on AI. We’re not against spellcheckers and grammar checkers and whatnot, it is currently generative AI that is hurting the creative world and what we’ll be  
 
At this point, everyone who submitted to Shadowed Realms should have been contacted. Between the busy season of holidays, we’ll be working on getting everything finalized here. 
 
Don’t forget – Trembling With Fear Volume 6 is out in the world, and if you’ve picked up a copy, we’d love a review! Next year, we may be looking to expand past just the Amazon platform. If we do that, what stores would you like to purchase your books from?

ATTENTION YOUTUBE WATCHERS: We’ve had some great responses so far but are open to more ideas – What type of content would you like to see us feature? Please reach out to [email protected]! We’ll be really working on expanding the channel late this year and early into next.

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree on places that aren’t Twitter, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

If you’d like to extend your support to the site, we’d be thrilled to welcome your contributions through Ko-Fi or Patreon. Your generosity keeps us fueled and fired up to bring you the very best.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Unholy Trinity: We Are Loved by Cameron Edwards

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.

We are loved, and the sea comes rushing in, all at once, vodka-clear and terribly cruel. It desires to invade us, to envelop, caress and consume us, to become the last thing we ever feel, ever know. There is an obtuse grandeur to it–the onrushing towering tide–but also a fundamental, particular care that can only be found in love and hatred and the poisonous, gorgeous nectar-sickly-sweet pit where they intertwine. It’s beautiful that something so awesome conspires to deliver us suffering. We are going to be loved, loved oh so crushingly dearly, loved in and through and by our torment.

 

II.

We are loved, and Prometheus suffers on his rock, suffers with his strewn innards and displaced viscera, because he gave us a gift. He is tortured, day and night and unceasing aeon, because he loved us as only a god could: love without expectation, without possible requital. There is nothing we can do, nothing we can burn or light or cauterize, that will ever justify an eternal sacrifice. We cannot even hear him scream, anymore. So we are left here, alive and warm, safe from the terrors of the night, because they are all called to torture one shuddering never-corpse.

 

III.

We are loved, and the stars’ soft green light infuses our souls with wonder and awe and cold fear. We do not have a say in the matter: to be trapped down here, under the dark sphere of night, is to be in a position of kneeling obeisance. We will receive that which is intended for us, that which has been crafted in burning, roiling celestial cauldrons. The ruinous truth is that a stellar symphony nightly proclaims its unceasing love for you, and you will never escape its sight. The sky above is not uncaring, and it never, ever, blinks.

 

Cameron Edwards

Cameron Edwards (they/them) is a librarian and aspiring fiction writer currently living in Montreal, Canada. Much to their surprise and infrequent worry, they seem able to only write weird fiction and horror stories. They have previously been published in Polymorphic Magazine Volume 1.

Trembling With Fear

 by 

Trembling With Fear 12-3-23

Hello, children of the dark. How’s your week been? Mine has been so crazy busy and overwhelming that I absolutely, honest-to-god nearly forgot to put together this week’s issue. The boss likes to have these mid-week so he has plenty of time to do his thing and schedule it all in. This week? I’m sitting at my desk at 1pm on Saturday afternoon, prepping Sunday’s edition. Whoops. Sorry, Stuart!

With that in mind, let’s just jump straight in with this week’s dark and speculative TWF menu. Our short story offering from Alyson Faye sees a young woman find her forever-soulmate. Then we’ve got three fabulous tasty morsels for dessert:

  • Robert Allen Lupton will make all the writers groan with this one, 
  • Jordan Kocevski is rushing to escape from something, and 
  • Ron Capshaw writes this one in tribute to the late, great Shirley Jackson.

Finally, we’ve been getting an absolute influx of subs to our 🎄Christmas special🎄. The deadline for submissions to this one is the end of this week, so get ‘em in quick. TWF special editions editor Shalini is going through the (frankly) huge amount of stories we’ve received, but you’ll likely hear from her much closer to the date of publication as to whether you’ve been successful.

Now, it’s over to you, Stuart.

Lauren McMenemy

Editor, Trembling With Fear

Hey all! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. This is the LAST WEEK of my current class. On top of that, I’ve got a huge project at work. After this week, our focus will be getting Shadowed Realms contracted, formatted and out into the world. 
 
 
Don’t forget – Trembling With Fear Volume 6 is out in the world, and if you’ve picked up a copy, we’d love a review! Next year, we may be looking to expand past just the Amazon platform. If we do that, what stores would you like to purchase your books from?

ATTENTION YOUTUBE WATCHERS: We’ve had some great responses so far but are open to more ideas – What type of content would you like to see us feature? Please reach out to [email protected]! We’ll be really working on expanding the channel late this year and early into next.

For those who are looking to connect with Horror Tree on places that aren’t Twitter, we’re also in BlueSky and Threads. *I* am also now on BlueSky and Threads.

If you’d like to extend your support to the site, we’d be thrilled to welcome your contributions through Ko-Fi or Patreon. Your generosity keeps us fueled and fired up to bring you the very best.

Stuart Conover

Editor, Horror Tree

(more…)