Tagged: Drabble

Greetings, children of the dark. At the risk of becoming a broken record, another plea from me this week: if you submitted to our last short story window, please know we will get back to you as soon as we can. It takes a long time to read through the submissions and collate our thoughts – we always make sure multiple people read them so we don’t introduce any bias – and we’re all volunteers so things can get stuck for a while, especially over summer. We do try to make sure we get back to you before the next open window, which is coming up quickly!

But also: remember we’re only open to short story submissions for two weeks every season. This is to help us manage the submissions, because we were getting such a backlog that people were waiting over a year to be published, which I’m sure you’ll agree is less than ideal. We don’t have infinite space or budget, alas, and so we can only take one short story every week. That means there’s only 52 spots each year, and we get more than that for each two-week open call. You’re all way too keen and talented! 

But now, it’s time to prep for this week’s darkly speculative menu. This week we head to a birthday party for a very particular mother, thanks to Dave Musson. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

• James Callan’s rural drama,
• Jonathon Worlde’s otherworldly issues, and
• Troi-Jeantte’s trapped trauma

Some quick reminders to finish up:

Did you meet and greet all the new residents of TWF Towers? In case you missed it, last week we announced our new Assistant Editors, one to oversee each section of submissions. Meet them over in this article, but please join me in welcoming:

• Assistant Editor – Specials: Lynn Huggins-Cooper
• Assistant Editor – Serials: Vicky Brewster
• Assistant Editor – Unholy Trinities: Sarah Elliott

Remember we’re currently open to:

• Submissions for our Halloween special
• Serialised stories
• Drabbles
• Unholy trinities

But we won’t open to regular ol’ short story subs until 1 October, when our next 2-week window creaks open. 

Over to you, Stuart.

Greetings, children of the dark. Did you meet and greet all the new residents of TWF Towers? In case you missed it, last week we announced our new Assistant Editors, one to oversee each section of submissions. Meet them over in this article, but please join me in welcoming:

• Assistant Editor – Specials: Lynn Huggins-Cooper
• Assistant Editor – Serials: Vicky Brewster
• Assistant Editor – Unholy Trinities: Sarah Elliott

A lot of this week’s intro is going to echo the last one, mainly because the call-outs are the same!

• We’re currently open to submissions for our Halloween special!
• We’d love to see more Serials coming in!
• And please feed the drabble beast!

If you submitted to our last short story window, please know we will get back to you as soon as we can. It takes a long time to read through the submissions and collate our thoughts – we always make sure multiple people read them so we don’t introduce any bias – and we’re all volunteers so things can get stuck for a while, especially over summer. We’ll be much quicker with these things now we have extra hands on deck.

Enough with the welcomes and the caveats: let’s get to this week’s darkly speculative menu. This week’s gothic main course is some quietly longing hauntings that whisper in the air, courtesy of Mave L. Goren. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

• Ryan Benson’s emotional depths,
• Christina Nordlander’s woodland waiting, and
• Andrew Leonard’s skewed caring

BTW as a final thought, let me direct your attention to a blog published by the inimitable Gabino Iglesias last week. He’s using his investigative journalism background to trap scammers preying on the self-publishing market. Very worth your time; you’ll find it on his Substack. 

Now, over to you, Stuart.

Greetings, children of the dark. I got a bit of a shock earlier—always a good way to introduce some dark fiction, right? Someone had asked me how long I’d been editing TWF and I honestly couldn’t remember, so I looked back at my files to see… that this edition marks my 112th in the editor seat! I can’t believe it’s been that long. More than two years! It feels like yesterday the great Stephanie Ellis sat me down in Scarborough to see if I’d be interested in stepping into her shoes, and now, here we are, more than two years later, introducing a new and expanded team for TWF.

Yep, we’ve given each section of TWF a dedicated editor, and I’m so grateful to these wonderful people for putting their hands up to move into TWF Towers and help the bossman and I with this mega-thing we try to lovingly caress into existence every week. You’ll find out more about our new Assistant Editors over in this article, but please join me in welcoming:

• Assistant Editor – Specials: Lynn Huggins-Cooper
• Assistant Editor – Serials: Vicky Brewster
• Assistant Editor – Unholy Trinities: Sarah Elliott

You may recognise Sarah as our new Interviews Coordinator, too—she’s taking over! (Look out, Stuart…)

We also welcome Annette Livingstone to the team as our Editorial Assistant. She’ll be helping Stuart and I keep on top of the always-overflowing inbox and general administrative bits and pieces to keep us ticking over. An absolute godsend, if you ask me!

And that just leaves me to remind you we’re currently open to submissions for our Halloween special—and Lynn looks forward to reading them!—and we’d love to see more Serials coming in, too. (I think Sarah’s got a healthy dose of Unholy Trinities, but could always do with more!)

Oh: and please feed the drabble beast! It’s looking at me far too closely, like I’m just right for its next meal… 

So to this week’s darkly speculative menu. We kick off this week with Andy Martin showing why you need to be careful dancing around a stone circle. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

• Rich Duncan’s eldritch stirring,
• F.M. Scott’s CCTV antics, and
• Richard Meldrum’s grumpy survivors.

Now, over to you, boss.

Greetings, children of the dark. It’s the first of the month, and the first day of a new season, and we’re getting ever-closer to our favourite month of the year: Spooktober. We are, of course, running our Halloween special again this year and are still open to submissions for that—please make sure your story is themed to Halloween! If it’s a general short story, you’ll have to wait until our next submission window is open, which will be in exactly one month from now. 

Let’s whet your appetites by diving into this week’s darkly speculative menu. We kick off this week by going behind the scenes of a webcam girl facing some peculiar monsters, thanks to Devon Fall. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

• Jen Poteet’s woodland wander,
• Shiloh Kulman’s unwanted visitor, and
• Mansi R’s visionary child.

Before you jump in, one quick plea to those who’ve been considering subbing to us: we are looking with much effort for MORE DRABBLES, as always, but also our serialised stories need some love. Have you got a longer story (up to 15,000 words) that can be easily broken into chapters for us to publish over a weekly period? We have a new serials editor who awaits your great and magnificent new worlds! Sub in the usual place. 

And a final plug: on Tuesday (3 September), I’m hosting a panel of writers from across the fantasy spectrum—James Logan, Kit Whitfield, and Peter Mclean—at Waterstones Covent Garden, in central London, on behalf of Arcadia and the British Fantasy Society. Join us to hear about the speculative fiction market in the UK, and what it’s like to be navigating it in the trad pub way. Tickets and details over here. 

Now, over to you, Stuart.

Greetings, children of the dark. Ever been exhausted from just too much creative stimulation? Worldcon was an absolute bloody blast but so overwhelming – I gave up on attending panels by the end of day 3, and spent the final two days wandering the halls, chatting to people, and being present at the British Fantasy Society’s fan table (we signed up so many new members!!) – and I was glad to have a few days in rural Yorkshire to recover. But the creative stimulation just kept coming: our cabin was nestled by a babbling brook and surrounded by trees so was just gorgeously relaxing; I spent my birthday hanging out in the shadow of Pendle Hill, the site of one of England’s most infamous witch trials (and the legal precedent that let Salem use children’s testimony); and then a very gothic and rainy afternoon in Haworth, home to the Brontes. My brain and my heart were full… until I returned to reality with a thud! Why do we need to earn money and stuff like that? It’s so stupid.

Anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed the darkly speculative offerings over the last few weeks, because we have another edition for you today chock full of the good stuff. This week’s menu kicks off with a tale of family traditions (or is it curses?) and a set of doomed twins from Christopher Pate. That’s followed by the short, sharp speculations of:

• Hannah Greer’s zombie heartbreak,
• Andrew Keyworth’s disturbing art, and
• George Davey’s tree surgery.

Before you jump in, one quick plea to those who’ve been considering subbing to us: we are looking with much effort for MORE DRABBLES, as always, but also our serialised stories need some love. Have you got a longer story (up to 15,000 words) that can be easily broken into chapters for us to publish over a weekly period? We have a new serials editor who awaits your great and magnificent new worlds! Sub in the usual place. 

Over to you, Stuart.