Trembling With Fear is Horror Tree’s free fiction arm, published right here on this site every week. We publish stories of various lengths in our regular column, our themed calls, and our special editions. And, everything we publish goes into an annual print and digital anthology, sales of which help to fund the site and keep it going.
Before you submit, take heed!
Our submission guidelines are here; they include the topics that will not make it past our censors, so make sure you read them. We’ll always email to confirm we’ve received your submission, but be aware this is a manual process—it might take us up to a week to acknowledge receipt. Nothing automated and fancy at TWF Towers!
Make sure you use the submission form on the submissions page and/or our contact page. Choose the right section from the drop-down menu, and if you’re submitting to a themed call then make sure you tell us which one in the body of the email.
Do not copy and paste your story into the message box. Please upload it as a document (not a PDF!). Make sure you include a short bio with your submission, too.
Every submission is read by multiple members of the team to make sure we reach a consensus.
Weekly edition, published every Sunday
- One short story of up to 1500 words
- Three drabbles of exactly 100 words each
Drabble submissions are welcome year-round (and our Drabble beast has an insatiable appetite), but short stories must only be submitted within the four 2-week open windows: the first two weeks of January, April, July, and October. Any short stories submitted outside of those dates, or over our maximum word count, will be returned unread.
Unholy Trinities, published Fridays
Three drabbles which serve as standalone stories, but are also connected to tell a larger story, idea, or theme.
Serials, published Saturdays
Expanded stories of up to 15,000 words, but which can be broken into distinct chapters and published over consecutive Saturdays. Think of it as the old-style serialised works that made Dickens and Sherlock Holmes household names. As for the theme of these stories? Just make it darkly speculative, please—it doesn’t have to be about serial killers!
Themed calls, published seasonally
- Valentine’s: submissions open between 1 December and 31 January
- Summer holiday: submissions open between 1 April and 31 July
- Halloween: submissions open between 1 August and 13 October
- Christmas: submissions open between 1 November and 7 December
Stories submitted to these seasonal specials can be up to 2500 words, but must be clearly set to the theme in question. That means jilted lovers and ghostly sweethearts for Valentines; campfire stories and backpacking horrors for summer; evil Santas and decorations that are out to kill you for Christmas. As for Halloween? This is quite open, but we get an awful lot of pumpkin-based stories at this time so maybe try to avoid that? Think about the wider idea behind Halloween, the thinning of the veil between worlds, the monsters on the rampage, the lost souls a-wandering…
Meet the people that make it happen
Stuart Conover, Publisher
Based in: Chicago, USA
Stuart Conover is a father, husband, published author, blogger, geek, entrepreneur, horror fanatic, and runs a few websites including Horror Tree.
Lauren McMenemy
TWF Editor-in-Chief
Based in: London, UK
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.
Sarah Elliott
Assistant Editor – Unholy Trinities
Based in: Nottingham, UK
Sarah Elliott is a writer, spoken word artist, poet and self-published author (Warrior Wisdom Sun 2022, United Under One Sun 2023). She regularly hosts writing hours and monthly flash fiction workshops with the London Writers’ Salon. Her articles, stories, and author interviews can be found on the Horror Tree website and her work has been published in Red Rose Thorns magazine, Writing in Community anthology and Hope is a Group Project. Sarah is currently writing a tarot-inspired collection of flash fiction, short prose and poetry. She documents her writing journey in her Substack newsletter, A Writer’s Life. Sarah serves as a social media officer for the writing organisation 26 and is a member of the British Fantasy Society. Based in Nottingham, England, Sarah lives with her cat, Bella. A speculative fiction enthusiast, she enjoys books, films and TV series in the genre. More from Sarah here.
Vicky Brewster
Assistant Editor – Serials
Based in: South Wales, UK
Vicky is an academic and editor from South Wales. Their research focuses on 21st-century horror fiction, and they have presented at Romancing the Gothic, the UK Ghost Story Festival, and at numerous academic conferences. They have edited speculative fiction for seven years, and count among their clients prize nominees, Amazon bestsellers, and traditionally published titles. They also produce the podcast, Words Have Power. When not reading, writing, or editing, Vicky enjoys LARP and tabletop roleplay, indoor climbing, and hanging out with their cats.
Jane Morecroft
Assistant Editor – Valentine’s Special
Based in: London, UK
Jane Morecroft, is half-English, half-Italian but 100 percent coffee-fiend. She’s lived across Europe, and worked as a journalist for many years, where she’s covered EU policy and financial markets, interviewed politicians, milkmen and drag queens. Jane has loved speculative fiction since first stepping inside the Narnia wardrobe. She’s participated in a novel writing course at the Faber Academy and is finalising an urban fantasy novel. She’s an editorial assistant at US literary fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies and reads for Andromeda Spaceways magazine. She also helps organise events at London Speculative Fiction writers’ group Spectrum. She’s too busy reading for social media, but if you do find her, it’ll be on Bluesky, @janeymwriter.bsky.social.
John Nugent
Assistant Editor – Summer Special
Based in: Wisconsin, US
John Nugent is a lover of all things horror: books, movies, manga, videogames, and whatever else he can get his hand on. He is an avid collector and researcher of small presses, specifically in the vein of signed, limited editions. He lives with his fiancée, without whom he would be horribly lost in life, and is a proud Badger. He is consistently working towards becoming a published horror author.”
Angela E. Zolner
Assistant Editor – Halloween Special
Based in: Alberta, Canada
Angela E. Zolner is a textile artist and a writer, with stories upcoming at Whisper House Press and Illustrated Worlds Magazine. Her deepest desire is to be cosy and frightened simultaneously, which she achieves by listening to to spooky podcasts while walking her dog through the deep, dark woods of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Occasionally, she happens across an abandoned cabin. She always goes in.
Alissa Eichhorn
Assistant Editor – Christmas Special
Based in: US
Ahlissa Eichhorn is a media journalist and creative writer specializing in horror and poetry. Her poetry has been featured in Shakespeare Unleashed, Bookworms Zine, Outpost 28, and Midnight Ink. Her non-fiction work can be found in FANGORIA, Collider, Haunted magazine and The Feminine Macabre.
Annette Livingstone, Editorial Assistant
Based in: Derby, UK
Annette is a novice writer with a lifetime’s experience in reading. By day she works in accounts, but at night she will often be found with a book, a mug of coffee and a cat curled up on her lap, or attending another online writing course. She loves all things horror and paranormal—books, films, ghost hunting, and, of course, Halloween (it is her birthday after all). Annette is currently working on her first novel, a paranormal story about a possessed artifact that is inspired by real events from a location she has investigated several times. She started a book review journal this year, which combines her love of reading with her love of stationery and is one of the reasons why she wanted to join the TWF team: to gain more experience and knowledge in writing professional reviews and articles for publications.
