Tagged: Trembling With Fear

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

So this week we welcome Lauren McMenemy to TWF’s editorial team. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting up with her in real life, first at the UK Ghost Story Festival last November and again the recent Chillercon in Scarborough. I love being able to make ‘real life’ connections. Over to Lauren:

I’m a writer with various hats – journalist, copywriter, content marketer, fiction – and consider myself a storyteller at heart. For the purposes of this introduction, you’ll want to know that I write gothic and folk horror and am currently working on a novel set in the world of the Victorian occult. It’s the supernatural and the occult that really give me goosebumps, and a good ghost story or vampire tale with a rising sense of dread will always pique my interest (and yes, Midnight Mass hit many of my buttons). I also have a developing fascination with folklore, the old ways and our fast-changing relationship with the natural world; this sneaks into my writing, too. I’ve had short stories published in various small press anthologies and am looking forward to being on the other side of the fiction editor’s desk for Trembling With Fear. Let’s learn together!

In The Real World, I spent more than 20 years as a professional content creator. In that past life, I led global content teams and created editorial strategies, including setting up content newsrooms for some of the world’s biggest tech and finance brands. I was a music editor for a daily newspaper in my native Australia (a good gig and the beach remain my happy places), though I’ve been London-based for 16 years and now am increasingly spending more time writing fiction and working as an editor, proofreader, marketer, and writing coach. (Enough with the corporate world – it’s too scary.) I’m also a big mental health advocate; I work for a mental health charity and my Substack, How to Be Self(ish), tracked my year of sabbatical and self-care in 2021.

You’ll find me haunting south London, where I live with my Doctor Who-obsessed husband and our aged black house rabbit. You’ll also likely find me hosting Writers Hour sessions for the London Writers Salon a few times a week.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/novicenovelist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lozthewriter/
Website: https://laurenmc.carrd.co

Thank you, and welcome, Lauren! Next week, you’ll have a chance to discover more about the other half of the new team, Chris McAuley.

 

Our first story this week in Trembling with Fear is Auntie Bettie Finds her Forever Home by Cecilia Kennedy. This is written in the style of a gloriously morbid fairy tale, a visceral interpretation of the ties that bind. The visuals in this short piece are wonderful.

238,900 Miles by Jay Rounds is a little sci-fi showing how the curiosity of man can have unintended consequences. I love that this genre is making its presence felt more in recent submissions!

The Last Supper by Pedro Lucas Martins is a grim re-interpretation of a recognised biblical scene. There are so many aspects of the Bible ripe for re-interpretation in this manner although a number of stories are as much horror as anything modern writers could come up with!

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

 

I would also like to share a very warm welcome to Lauren McMenemy. To be honest, we’re still getting to know one another but I already feel that Lauren is more organized than I am which will be a true boon to not just Trembling With Fear but Horror Tree on the whole!

The new editions of ‘Trembling With Fear Year 5‘ And ‘More Tales From The Tree 4‘ is officially both out in the word both digitally and physically!

As mentioned the last couple of weeks, we’re a bit low on drabbles at the moment so if you have 100 words of speculative fiction that you’d like to send our way, we’re very open to it! 🙂

Last week we broke 450 subscribers on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. The new goal as we continue adding content? 500! Please reach out with what you would like to see featured on the channel.

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

Last week I mentioned the editorial changeover. I was delighted to be able to meet the two wonderful people who will be stepping into my role in a couple of weeks’ time via zoom last weekend and have a chat – although my internet played up a bit, as is the way of things. I am happy to share with you the news that Lauren McMenemy and Chris McAuley have joined the team. I’m not going to say anything else about them, they will each be introducing themselves here over the next few weeks. Lauren will lead the way next week with her introduction. Please give them all the love and support you have shown me in my five years onboard TWF. 😊

This week has seen the publication of my metal found poetry collection, Metallurgy. This is something I’ve self-published, poetry being very much something I do for myself. I didn’t even try looking for a publisher for this one. Over the years I’ve picked up skills in formatting and publishing, plus those I already had from my tech author days, and that has given me the confidence to take such a step. If any of you are considering self-publishing, it is not as daunting as you think and I would say why not give it a whirl? The hardest part is the marketing and that is something where I, like many, have yet to find the magic ingredient!

Trembling with Fear starts with When You See It by F.M. Scott is creepy. The sensory detail in this tale is excellent, contributing to the sense of helplessness in one and power in the ‘other’. A very effective ‘takeover’.

Error and Trial by Hank Helstrom is a reminder that revenge can still be taken after death. I like the way that this was done in a lab and was a refreshing twist on the revenge trope.

Mouth by Gully Novaro is a bleak addiction tale, very cleverly told.

My Enemies I Fear Not But Protect Me From My Friends by Michael Bettendorf is a bit of sci-fi which rings warning bells as more and more AI is delivered by microchip.

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

 

As Steph mentioned above, you’ll be meeting our two new editors over the next couple of weeks! Steph is still part of Horror Tree and will likely help with a few pieces for TWF while the transition happens though I can’t stress enough how much we’ll all miss her as the ehad editor here.

Also mentioned last week, the wait for the new editions of ‘Trembling With Fear Year 5‘ And ‘More Tales From The Tree 4‘ is almost over as both are now available for pre-order. You can read all of the details right here!

Last week we broke 450 subscribers on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. The new goal as we continue adding content? 500! Please reach out with what you would like to see featured on the channel.

This is the last week I’ll be mentioning this one but wanted to make sure it was seen: At the request of one of our readers, I’ve added an “Artwork” category, for those of you who are also artists or know some. I haven’t had the time to actively update all of our existing posts into it, though will be adding all future ones as they come in. This can be found quickly as the bottom option under “Non-Anthologies” on the main menu. If you know of anything that you’d like to see added to the site, please reach out!

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

Well, I escaped unscathed from the plague that has affected a number poor souls at Chillercon. And my luck is currently holding as I nursemaid my son who sadly succumbed to covid following his graduation, he’s getting better slowly though. I spent a lot of last week playing catch up with TWF and we’re pretty much there. Things are also happening behind the scenes in terms of the editorial changeover. I’m really excited to see how they’ll take TWF forward.

One polite note before we go over to this week’s stories. Please remember that I do not go into my Horror Tree emails everyday and in fact have been trying to avoid weekends. Whilst I generally respond quite quickly, there are times when I’ve left the emails for a while on other days because I’ve already spent a few hours on TWF or other Horror Tree work and I simply get tired! Have pity on this old soul 😊

Trembling with Fear starts with Out of Gas by Ron Capshaw. This has a great build up, an apparent victim, a bigoted cop, a remote spot. You think you know where this is going, until you get to the punchline. Nice pace and sense of mood.

An Unintended Effect of Climate Change by RJ Meldrum plays with the effects of climate change. There are so many hidden consequences of its impact on Nature and this one brings something long hidden.

Lost Girl by Kevin McHugh is an illustration of the lengths a person will go for in terms of furthering their career. How far? You’ll have to read for yourselves!

The Devil’s Time by Mike Rader sets up a lovely bit of historical horror, not only in the nature of the witch-hunt, but also the personal vendetta’s which often drove it.

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

 

The wait for the new editions of ‘Trembling With Fear Year 5‘ And ‘More Tales From The Tree 4‘ is almost over as both are now available for pre-order. You can read all of the details right here!

Yesterday, we also had a meeting with some of the new TWF editors and more will be revealed about them in the coming week!

We’re aiming to break 450 subscribers on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. If you’re into tubing, you should check us out!

At the request of one of our readers, I’ve added an “Artwork” category, for those of you who are also artists or know some. I haven’t had the time to actively update all of our existing posts into it, though will be adding all future ones as they come in. This can be found quickly as the bottom option under “Non-Anthologies” on the main menu.

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

It’s been a manic week, trying to clear the decks TWF and Horror Tree wise before going to ChillerCon, then returning from the con to travel to Cardiff for a graduation ceremony, then back home and catching up with TWF and Horror Tree. My life is a loop!

I have written up ChillerCon for HorrorTree and you should find it in the articles section, there are even a few pics. If you read it, you will gather I had a brilliant time. Conventions can be a daunting experience, especially if you are new or on your own. I’ve been lucky, in that my husband always comes along for moral support – and he gets to know the folk I speak to online as well which is great. One thing I try to do is introduce people to each other, even if I’ve only just met someone and another person I know joins us, I will make sure to share names. I think such a simple little gesture of politeness automatically makes you feel part of things rather than someone ‘on the outside’. I still feel as daunted as anyone but would seriously recommend attending a con if you can. It relieves the isolation, makes you realise you have embarked upon a valid career, and gives your enthusiasm for writing a serious boost. Plus you make friends!

As I move into my last month at TWF, I want to say thank for the kind messages I am continuing to receive (remember I am not leaving Horror Tree completely as I will still be running the Indie Bookshelf Releases and helping with some admin aspects). Who will take over? That’s all in hand and I’m sure we’ll announce soon!

Our first story this week in Trembling with Fear is From Little Acorns by Sam Dawson. This is a well-executed treatment of a sensitive subject, bringing in the revenge factor served on behalf of the innocent. Apart from being extremely well-written, I particularly enjoyed the use of metaphorical language with regard to Brittanee and her mother and the trees. Metaphors, when used with subtlety, are a good way of showing and not telling!

Escape by April Yates includes blind dates and betrayal, murder and a clever nod to Rupert Holmes’ Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – without getting us into copyright trouble!

Judgement by Christopher O’Halloran is a prose poem delight. Rhythm and word choice carry this, carving emotive images with ease.

Single File by Ryan Marie Ketterer gives us some post-apocalyptic imagery – or does it? The clue is in the last line.

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

 

Last week I promised news on Trembling With Fear both staffing and the new release.
Well, we’re half way there (and living on a prayer!) The new Trembling With Fear pre-orders ARE LIVE! The staffing, we’ve figured out but are just getting everything in place and will be announcing the two latest editions to the Horror Tree family SOON!

We’re aiming to break 450 subscribers on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. If you’re into tubing, you should check us out!

We’re still prepping the layout changes and will be putting some major time into it later this month. A lot of the layout will be the same. If there are any changes that you would like to see though, please do reach out. Speaking of layout changes… Another piece of news from last week:

At the request of one of our readers, I’ve added an “Artwork” category, for those of you who are also artists or know some. I haven’t had the time to actively update all of our existing posts into it, though will be adding all future ones as they come in. This can be found quickly as the bottom option under “Non-Anthologies” on the main menu.

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

It’s been a busy week this week. Chillercon – what was to have been Stokercon UK 2020 – has been and gone. I attended all days and took part in a couple of panels: Folk Horror – with James Brogden, Jan Edwards and Paul Kane, and Indie Presses with Justin Park, Gemma Amor and Steve J Shaw. I think it all went well(!). It was also lovely meeting many of the folk I only get to talk to online. Now I’m just wondering if there’s going to be a covid breakout as there was at Stokercon recently! Fingers-crossed this doesn’t happen.

Another bit of good news was the re-release of my folk horror novel, The Five Turns of the Wheel, by Brigids Gate Press. It’s got a lovely new cover and I hope some of you will check it out. I’ve recently completed its sequel and done the first edits on that. I confess to choking up at the end!

I also want to give a callout for more drabbles! We do have a number on file but these are by the same author(s) and so will be spread out over the year. This leaves a bit of a gap. More 100 word delights, please!

Now to Trembling with Fear. Our first story this week is Cold Fireplace by Kevin M. Folliard. This story, told from cat’s perspective, is a beautiful tragedy. The emotion it evokes from the reader as the cat discovers the changes in its owner and how it tries to make sense of its world, is heartbreaking.

Family Dinner by me! A little blood-offering to fill in the gap during our drabble shortage.

Nobody is Home is a great gothic shape poem by J.J. Monro. Appropriate word choice to give it this gothic edge!

The Stalker by Patrick Wynn has a nicely-turned last line to this stalker tale.

 

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

 

News on staffing for Trembling With Fear (and Horror Tree) soon! 

The Trembling With Fear proof copies are both in! I’m busy going over them and will be setting pre-orders soon. VERY SOON. In the next week soon. More details to come! I also have the rough write up of what we’re looking for in the new theme and will be going through that shortly. 

There were some sound issues on our first weekly round-up on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. These have been resolved! Please, subscribe to the channel, like the video, and comment on the video if you like it and email any suggestions or thoughts in!

I’m still planning the layout changes which will be similar though slightly expanded to what we currently have. If there are any features or ‘things’ that you would like to see in a new layout, please reach out!

At the request of one of our readers, I’ve added an “Artwork” category, for those of you who are also artists or know some. I haven’t had the time to actively update all of our existing posts into it, though will be adding all future ones as they come in. This can be found quickly as the bottom option under “Non-Anthologies” on the main menu.

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

This week will be a much shorter intro after last week’s news. I’d like to thank everyone for their good wishes with regards to stepping back from TWF and hope that some of you out there are considering taking up my role from the end of June. Please contact Stuart at Horror Tree if you would like to do so, I would love to see this zine continue to flourish. Speaking of which, over to this week’s offering!

The Sandman by Jesse Martinez-Kratz weaves you in and out of a child’s dream. Whilst we don’t normally rate stories which have a dream as the main focus of the story, this one cleverly builds the child’s terror allowing it to play out to a satisfying conclusion.

Abomination by Laura Nettles. Sometimes we think the danger to our survival is our own behaviour – which does play a small part here – or something attacking us from outer space. But could there be something more than that, much closer to home? Nice to see a writer considering a different direction!

His Newly Pinned Insect-Collection by Will H. Blackwell Jr makes your skin crawl, simply by the subject matter! And more is said by implication than explicitly stated, allowing you to consider a few scenarios to make you shudder.

Waterfall by Kevin M. Folliard has a lovely build up in terms of creating an idyll which then contrasts perfectly with the twist at the end.

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

Well, we’ve had a few people reach out to potentially start working as the primary editor on Trembling With Fear. Initial conversations are happening and fingers crossed that we’ll already have a winner in this mix! I again can’t say enough good things about Steph and am so glad she is staying with the site and just stepping back from editing. Whoever does jump in has some pretty big shoes to fill! That being said, we may have a few ‘new’ spots opening up so if you enjoy scheduling and drafting posts in WordPress, do reach out on our contact page!

Speaking of Trembling With Fear, the proof copies of the next installments are on order and will be delivered by the 25th! So, hopefully next week we’ll be working out pre-orders and all that fun jazz. With that caught up, I have a couple of main goals in mind. One is to spec out the new theme changes that we’re making to Horror Tree this year which will hopefully help the mobile experience of the site as well as add some features I’ve long had in mind. Secondly, is two secret expansion projects that I’ve hinted at in the past and hopefully will finally come to fruition. More on both of those later this year.

Okay folks, this is week 3 of this announcement and I promise you that I won’t keep it up after this but it is just so exciting to once again be in such great company! Thank you Writers Digest for recognizing our contribution to the publishing world!

We’re still working on sorting having a weekly round up on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. Please, subscribe to the channel, like the video, and comment on the video if you like it and email any suggestions or thoughts in!

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.

Welcome back to Trembling with Fear, our online flash zine. We publish both new and established writers with many becoming familiar faces and being an ongoing open market, we are always after material. Submissions don’t have to be horror, they can be dark sci-fi or fantasy or some other aspect of the speculative fiction field. Nor are we averse to a touch of noir or a dark thriller. Humour is also welcome!

Dear all, changes are afoot. First, good news on the house front. We’ve found a house, had our offer accepted and things are in motion – though I know that can still be at a snail’s pace. And the other news – this summer will see me reach my fifth year with TWF. When I stepped away from the day job last year, I thought it would free up my time to cope with both my own writing and Horror Tree and everything else. But things don’t go as planned. I will admit openly here to having a horrible time with the menopause – that word which you are not supposed to mention – and the effects of that have been hitting me hard for some time. In addition, the time I had planned to slot all projects into has simply not materialised and I have reached the point where something has to give.

For me, I have realised it is now time for me to step down from editing Trembling with Fear. I will be around until the end of June, by which time someone else will have taken over these reins, and I will also see through the 2021 anthologies but after that, I will sink into the background. Though I might send in the odd drabble! I am not going from Horror Tree itself completely, however. I will continue with the Indie Bookshelf posts and behind the scenes prep the review posts sent in. I have also said that if ever there’s an emergency, I will do what I can to help.

So, I would like to say thank you to everyone for all your wonderful stories and friendship. I have got to know many fantastic writers through TWF, and it is a time I will never regret. The only thing that remains is for me to ask – is there anyone out there who would like to take on this role? If you’re interested, please let Stuart know.

Beelzebub by Hilary Ayshford is our first story in Trembling With Fear. This is such beautiful writing despite the horrific tragedy which unfolds as you read it. Innocence and vulnerability shine through with the use of first person POV and this makes it all the more heartbreaking.

Citrine Screams by Tess P. is a dark sci-fi with a very bleak time-controlled scenario. More sci-fi please.

Risen by DJ Tyrer delivers some great atmosphere with his depiction of the stirring graveyard.

The Road by Simon Kewin has some lovely scene setting in the introduction and a nice twist at the end. But this is not a ‘lazy’ twist, the story flows into it without jarring.

I hope you enjoyed our stories, now send us yours!

Steph

First off, I’m going to say that Trembling With Fear wouldn’t exist today without the help of Steph. I don’t say that lightly. She’s truly made TWF what it is and I’m both terrified and excited for where we’ll be going from here. I’m also thrilled that she is still staying part of the Horror Tree family!
So, yes, we are going to be open to a new head editor that will be helping with:
– Reviewing stories as they come in for inclusion.
– Light editing advice if warranted.
– Scheduling the posts and writing intros for them in WordPress.
– Helping with our yearly Anthology release.
If this sounds like something that you would be interested in and passionate about, please do reach out today on our contact form or directly to [email protected]!

Okay. With being in between classes I’ve been starting to plan out some of the upcoming changes for HT. We’re currently reevaluating our hosting plan in order to speed up the backend of the site and the front end on mobile as well as how our theme works. (We’ll likely be keeping it but adapting it for speed and usability on mobile devices.) Things are progressing, slowly. There are also three areas that we’re currently looking to expand though there might be a small pause as we work through TWF editorial changes. We’ll see! 🙂

Finally, if you missed it last week: we heard some REALLY good news. The latest Top 101 Websites for Writers are out in the current Writer’s Digest. Below is the cover and our inclusion!

We’re still working on sorting having a weekly round up on our Horror Tree’s YouTube channel. Please, subscribe to the channel, like the video, and comment on the video if you like it and email any suggestions or thoughts in!

For those looking to support the site, we’ve recently launched a Ko-Fi and always have our Patreon going.

As always, I hope you had a great weekend.