Trembling With Fear 8-4-24
Greetings, children of the dark. I’m trying to get a few weeks’ worth of TWF done in the coming days because I’m headed out: off to Worldcon in Glasgow in a few days, and then the following week I’ll be spending some time in nature, right in the heart of Bronte Country and in the shadow of Pendle Hill (also known as the site of one of England’s worst witch trials). Filling the well and all that. If you’re at Worldcon, hit me up on social media and say hi! You’ll find me most lunchtimes at the British Fantasy Society’s table in the fan hall, but other than that I’ll be lurking around and trying not to make too much of a nuisance of myself.
With that deadline pressure in mind, let’s get swiftly to the good stuff.
This week’s menu of dark speculative fiction kicks off with Harley Carnell’s denial twist. That’s followed by the short, sharp – and, this week, somewhat sci-fi – speculations of:
- W.H. Vigo’s soul searching,
- Nicolette Ward’s blood beast, and
- Ron Capshaw’s small town blues.
Finally, a note: our summer special has now closed as July has passed us by. If you’ve submitted a story to it since 31 July, I’m afraid we’re unable to consider it. I’ll get to the inbox ASAP to let you know, because there’s a few of you. If you want to remind yourself of our various deadlines, you’ll find them always on our submissions guidelines page.
To recap, our open windows are:
Special editions
- Valentine’s: 1 December and 31 January.
- Summer: 1 April to 31 July.
- Halloween: 1 August to 13 October.
- Christmas: 1 November to 7 December.
Short stories for the weekly edition
- Winter: 1-15 January
- Spring: 1-15 April
- Summer: 1-15 July
- Fall: 1-15 October
Remember, we’re open round the clock for drabbles, unholy trinities, and serials.
Over to you, Stuart.
Join me in thanking our upcoming newsletter sponsor for the next year! Please check out Charlotte Platt’s ‘One Smile More’!
Ena Sinclair, a Scottish mage and spy, abandons her role in a prominent Edinburgh college and escapes to London to avoid an arranged marriage.
But London is not safe: a mage killer is on the hunt…
Abducted by vampires ‘for her safety’, Ena is terrified the nest owner will drain her to fuel his power but also curious to learn about his magic. Taking this once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn more about what her college had warned were dangerous creatures, Ena finds herself fond of the nest, particularly their bonded leaders, Addison and Tobias.
As survivors of the Immortal War, the pair still navigate a schism in vampire society that they are trying to heal. They now seek a peaceful life and offer Ena protection until she finds her own path.
…and dark things await them all.
Ena’s college seeks to forcibly return her to Edinburgh, and a killer is still on the loose. Hidden resentments surface, and Ena pays the price. Magically unstable and isolated, she must rely on her non-magical training to avoid being turned or used as a weapon to harm the nest she has grown to care for.
Be sure to order a copy today!
_____________________________________________
Hi all!
Not much to add this week. I’ve been still working on our new theme but didn’t have too much free time to make a lot of progress as my wife’s schedule was busier than mine, so I took over most of the getting kids to and from camps this week on top of my normal work and Horror Tree responsibilities. On a positive note, we did set a meeting for our new Trembling With Fear staff for this weekend, so next week, I should have a few more welcome shout-outs to make 🙂 We’ve got some great stories lined up so I won’t add any filler here, let’s get to the reading!
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!
- The paperback is now live! Please be sure to order a copy of Shadowed Realms on Amazon, we’d love for you to check it out!
Offhand, if you’ve ordered Trembling With Fear Volume 6, we’d appreciate a review! 🙂
Harley Carnell
Harley Carnell lives and writes in London, England. His work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Vastarien, Penumbra, Sarasvati, and Riptide Journal, among others. It has been performed on the NoSleep Podcast, The Drabblecast, Tales to Terrify, and Nocturnal Transmissions.
I Did Not, by Harley Carnell
I did not see a ghost.
I did not wake up into a nightmare, a dreamlike figure curled around the end of my bed. I did not see that figure seep itself into the shadows and disperse like whispers in the wind. I did not feel my body drain of blood.
A swarm of melancholy, a premonition of dread, a certainty of chaos did not envelop me.
I did not get out of bed, and follow the figure through my house. I did not feel the air, rank with damp and rot, lap at my ears with its frost and sprinkle its mould into my eyes. I did not scour at my arms, as though trying to conjure blood back into my veins. I did not continue walking through my house, unthinkingly as though commanded by something far outside of my control.
A distant voice did not correct me, calling me and diverting me to turn the other way. I did not feel all hope draining from me on hearing that voice. I did not feel convinced I knew that voice while simultaneously feeling convinced that I would never want to know such a voice, and certainly wouldn’t want to see the face that produced it.
I did not follow that voice, no matter how much I did not want to. I did not follow it as it led me into a corner of the cramped house I could not previously recall existing. I did not feel my nerves strained, like a spider web in the wind. I did not feel as though the slightest brush against my skin would be enough to stop my heart. I did not feel as if this dead corner birthed out of nothing had a strange density to it, like a black hole sucking in the detritus of the universe.
I did not crawl into that corner, and see vistas stretching before me so wide my eyes could not scale them. I did not feel my heart soar. I did not feel my soul enveloped. I did not wonder how such impossibilities were so mundanely possible. I did not rub my head; I did not massage my chest.
I did not see the tattered remnants of my life laid out before me like a sodden map. I did not try to clutch at it. I did not feel the tears running from my eyes. I did not think of all the lives I might have had instead. I did not feel the weight of all the minutes and the days and the hours.
I did not look far out into the universe within our world.
I did not see the figure move closer, and slough off the shadows that swarmed around it. I did not look straight at that figure. I did not see the hatred in its eyes. I did not see the fire in its soul. I did not see who that figure was. I did not feel terror engulf me.
I did not see that it was me.
I did not. I did not.
The Prize
Whatever was left of her had followed him home.
Staggering closer to Omar’s kitchen window, it groaned through the darkness and rain. He’d chosen her grave. Laid his roses. Business as usual. But why did she transform? A dark beast with bat wings, its chest covered with faces howling in her voice:
“Give it back!”
Omar looked at the glowing ball of light in his hand, then swallowed it. No time for spells or prayers. Instead, he’d fight.
The beast crashed through the window and screamed:
“Give me back my soul!”
Omar smiled, eyes burning red. “Come and take it.”
W.H.Vigo
W.H.Vigo is a Jamaican-Canadian horror and speculative fiction writer based in Switzerland. Their short story ?Captured Land? was published in the dark fantasy anthology Fairy Tales from the Rock by Engen Books in spring 2023. Their debut novelette Beneath the Rio Cobre was published by The Great Lakes Horror Company the same year. Vigo completed the Horror Writers Association (HWA) Mentorship program for new writers in 2021, and is an active member of the organization. They have been a three-time panellist (2022 and 2023) at Canada’s largest horror event, Frightmare in the Falls, and a two-time panellist for HWA Ontario. Vigo specializes in the research of unconventional or lesser-known supernatural folklore, mythology, and urban legends from around the world, which they share on Instagram. Vigo is currently completing a novel-length manuscript.
At The Hollow Step
William took one step towards the cowering human, then another.
“You see what I am?” he asked. “I am tired of playing at being mortal. To the best of my knowledge, I have never died. There are many names I go by, but you’re not familiar with any of them. They are lost in the midst of time. Even though you’ve called me Bill for a long time, I don’t care. To me you are nothing more than food.”
Then he reached out, his talons stained with blood from the death he had caused, a beaming smile on his face.
Nicolette Ward
Nicolette Ward lives in Manchester with her long-suffering partner and rescue cat – Sigi Kneebiter the Shadow Cat. She is the author of the Handy Little Book of First Lines and has written over 400 original and fanfiction stories. Her favourite type of fiction to write is dark and twisted fiction. She loves writing drabbles but recently has branched out with two 30k dystopian stories that are currently with her beta. She is interested in all types of the gothic and supernatural, and Halloween/Samhain is her favourite festival. She can be found on Twitter (it’s not X).
Life Among the Tombstones
The teenagers had the recklessness of youth and the boredom of those trapped in a small town. Thrill junkies, they soon tired of drunk-driving by foot – so they played hide and seek in the cemetery.
Without respect. Without fear.
Until the night the figure rose from the dirt.
Their youthful sense of invulnerability forever gone, they fled. The figure chuckled, and the sheriff came out of the shadows.
“Better than jail-time. The little bastards will have nightmares for years.”.
They clinked beer bottles and belly laughed. Until a blue-veined claw shot out of the dirt and yanked the sheriff underground.
Ron Capshaw
Ron Capshaw is a writer based in Florida. His novel The Stage Mother’s Club was released last year by Dark Edge Press.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Lauren McMenemy wears many hats: Editor-in-Chief at Trembling With Fear for horrortree.com; PR and marketing for the British Fantasy Society; founder of the Society of Ink Slingers; curator of the Writing the Occult virtual events. With 25+ years as a professional writer across journalism, marketing, and communications, Lauren also works as a coach and mentor to writers looking to achieve goals, get accountability, or get support with their marketing efforts. She writes gothic and folk horror stories for her own amusement, and is currently working on a novel set in the world of the Victorian occult. You’ll find Lauren haunting south London, where she lives with her Doctor Who-obsessed husband, the ghost of their aged black house rabbit, and the entity that lives in the walls.
