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Word of the week: Lacuna: a blank space or missing part
Hello, readers. Fall is finally here! I hope you’re ready for harvest festivals, corn mazes, and leaves changing, as the spookiest season of the year is now upon us. If you read our newsletter, then you already know that The Horror Tree is about more than just horror, but there is something special about this time of year. People who don’t read or watch horror regularly often make exceptions for this season and get drawn into the ghosts, vampires, and creepy crawlers that haunt the rest of us all year long.
Horror Tree Update:
We made a small update to our calendar view of upcoming open calls. Previously, if you opened a calendar item you could export it to your calendar only if you used Google Calendar or iCal. NOW, we also have Outlook integration!
We've had a few users reach out about this very thing so I'm thrilled to be able to add the requested functionality! Expanding on this. Do you use our calendar religiously? Do you wish it was more filterable? Consider becoming a Patreon & mentioning that. We need another $89 a year to add an advanced filter bar where we could have it filter on anything from genre to length to pricing!
The Horror Tree Store is back and we've added stickers of our standard logo, and if you prefer other variants you can also get it in sepia, grayscale, and red!
A quick request: If you run a website, we'd love to see more of Horror Tree in print and would truly appreciate any articles written up about Horror Tree, Trembling With Fear, the staff, etc. If you do a write-up, please send in a link to contact@horrortree.com (If you need any promo art or clarification on dates of when things happened for the site such as when HT or TWF launched, staff members joined, etc, let us know!)
Trembling With Fear update:
We're still open for our Halloween Edition of TWF as well and you can read the details right here. Time is running out!
Articles:
It’s time again for a look at articles, news, and new stories from Horror Tree and other corners of the web. This week’s articles contain insights into critical analysis, dialogue writing, and POV. As always, you can find me (Holley) lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto.
Here are the latest articles on writing from around the web.
On craft:
LitReactor: Storyville: Critical Analysis-An Essential Part of Your Process
Literary Hub: The Mistake no Dialogue Writer Should Ever Make
Writers in the Storm: Best Pro Tip for Writing in Deep POV
On the business of writing:
Jane Friedman: How to Format Your Manuscript for a Designer or Publisher
Free Fiction Roundup:
I’m excited to share new stories with you all this week, dear readers. We have a story about wolves that was featured in Daily Science Fiction, and I must say, it is one of the best pieces of flash fiction I’ve read in a long time. I’m also pleased to include a flash piece from Wlyd Flash, which is published by Wyldblood Press. This story about love and resilience is touching. New to me this week is Rabbit Hole, a story suggested by a reader called “Small Town, Good People,” which I enjoyed so much, I read it twice. I’m rounding out this week with a story from Flash Frog. If you haven’t checked them out yet, I highly recommend it! They are publishing some great flash stories.
Now, on to the fiction:
“St. Natalis of the Wolves” by Emory Noakes. Daily Science Fiction.
“Willow” by G. Ekman. Wyld Flash.
“Small Town, Good People” by Christopher Witty. Rabbit Hole.
“Black and White” by Stephanie Parent. Flash Frog.
If you post any writing content during the week and think it would be a good fit for us to feature, do reach out and let us know at contact@horrortree.com
Thank you Patreons! As always, the site's lifeblood is in your hands and we truly appreciate your support.
Looking To Help Horror Tree?
Here are the main things we're looking for:
- Advertising and either Site or Contest sponsorships!
- Article writers (articles, interviews, reviews, crowdsource compilations, etc.)
- Sharing guest posts with us or reaching out for us to be a blog tour host.
- The obvious one here is also to become one of our Patreons!
If you're interested in contributing and think you have something that would help out PLEASE don't shy away from contacting us! (contact@horrortree.com)
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Excerpts:
Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: $ 0.06/word Theme: Horror set in the 1800s Old West Evil awaits you on the dusty trail… With the success of our first three MIDNIGHT anthologies (Midnight In The Graveyard, Midnight In The Pentagram, and Midnight From Beyond The Stars), it’s time to roll out the 4th in our ever growing series – MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH! Silver Shamrock Publishing is announcing the Open Call for the MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH anthology. We’re looking for original splatterpunk western short stories set in the late 1800s Old West. Any horror trope is fair game. You can do a straight up killer cowboy tale, vampires, werewolves, aliens, a Cthulhu sighting, zombies, cryptids, ghosts, ANYTHING! Just as long as it’s horror and you’re not bashful with red stuff. But, we caution, gore doesn’t replace story. If the story isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve painted the pages crimson, it won’t make the cut. So put on your 10-gallon thinking cap and give us a story we can’t refuse! Specific submission guidelines: The deadline for receiving submissions is April 30th, 2022. (anything received after this date will not be considered). Submit by email to: kmckinley@silvershamrockpublishing.com Length: 2,500 – 6,000 words. Format: preferred format is Doc or Docx, double-spaced with author email at the top of the first page. – Please use the anthology title, MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH, in the subject heading of your email. – A writer’s CV with a summary of previous publications, awards, recognition, influences, hometown and social media links. – The word count. – Acknowledgement of receipt of your manuscript will be emailed within 3 business days. – Successful authors will receive a contract upon acceptance. Once we have a signed contract by the author and Silver Shamrock Publishing, payment will be made...
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Finding Your Voice by Cate Pearce In my second year of undergrad (2006), I took a unique creative writing course. It was a night class so about half of the students were “adult learners” at midpoints in their careers. The other half were college kids like me; we fell short of the criteria for the “real” creative writing programs due to missed deadlines or less-than-impressive portfolios. It was a hodge-podge of experiences, ages, and interests. It was also the best writing course I have ever taken. The premise of the class was simple. We had to write the entire ninety minutes. Once class started, we could not talk. If we had something to say to someone, we had to write it, and then read it aloud. The only socializing was done before, or after class. From the beginning, I was intimidated. As my classmates started to read their works aloud I was shocked at the unique perspectives. There was the woman my mother’s age who incorporated recipes into her literary takes. There was the boy who always wore a white t-shirt, no matter the weather, who wrote entirely in prose. There was the girl with the thick, rural Northeast accent who shared crude tales about escaping her trailer park upbringing. We all sat in the same order each class. Most of the same people read aloud. I heard them week after week and began to develop my own imposter syndrome. In my eyes they could all capture something beautiful that I was incapable of, and that made them “better writers”. At the midpoint of the semester, I tried to overcome my feeling of inadequacy by seeing if I could truly change my “style” to mimic the other students’. Not in a mocking way, but as an...
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Submission Window: October 1st – 31st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word and royalties Theme: Short crime or mystery stories to fit the Death of a Bad Neighbour theme Anthology to be edited by Jack Calverley host of the podcast From the rock star in his fairytale Gothic mansion in Central London whose neighbour plans a double basement excavation, to the retiree in a fisherman’s cottage in the northeast of England whose neighbour tells lies to a court to acquire the back garden that is not theirs: we are plagued by bad neighbours. One recent article in the Daily Telegraph Online which reported the trauma caused by at best inconsiderate, but at worst criminal, neighbours accumulated five hundred registered comments within half an hour of being published. It does not take a crime writer to know that a plague of bottom-feeders calls for an exterminator. But it does take the creatively criminal-minded to come up with the bestest plan ever… Such is the inspiration for “Death of a Bad Neighbour: Revenge is Criminal” – an anthology of all-new crime and mystery stories. Submission window is October 2021. Incidentally, the rock star is Jimmy Page, he of Led Zeppelin fame. His expansive neighbour is Robbie Williams, some crooner or other. And the original suggestion for an anthology came from Carter Blakelaw who was mid-discussion of his story “Tinnitus” at the time (please don’t use “Tinnitus” as a story title. Now it will sound second-hand). 10 cents a word plus a share of royalties So, I’m after around 20 short crime or mystery stories to fit the Death of a Bad Neighbour theme, 2,000 to 5,000 words (you’re the best judge of the sweet spot length of the story you tell), paying U.S. 10 cents a word for first English language text (eBook and print) and audio publication rights (exclusivity...
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Submission Window: October 1st – October 31st, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Note: You must identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. khōréō is a quarterly publication of stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. We’re especially interested in writing and art that explore some aspect of migration, whether explicitly (themes of immigration, colonialism, etc.), metaphorically, or with a sly nod and a wink. Most importantly, we’re a new magazine and we’re still finding our identity: therefore, please don’t self-reject because you’re not sure if your work is a good fit. We won’t know until we see it, so please give us a chance to look! See submission requirements & how to submit at the following pages: Fiction Non-fiction Art Voice actors Who can submit? khōréō is dedicated to diversity and amplifying the voices of immigrant and diaspora authors and artists. We welcome, but do not require, a brief description of the author’s/artist’s identity in their cover letter. We invite you to submit if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been...
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Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $25 and a contributor’s copy Theme: Empowering fat characters within the horror community Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology Edited by Sonora Taylor and Nico Bell SUBMISSIONS: September 15 – December 31, 2021 Publication Date: Summer 2022 Send submissions to fatterpunk@gmail.com Description: It’s time to reclaim the “f” word. Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology is dedicated to empowering fat characters within the horror community. Give us your rage over weigh-ins, your detest over detox cleanses, your rebellion against diet culture. Give us bad-ass characters who own their size and never apologize for taking up space. This is a horror anthology, so be sure to have your character in some kind of horror story–but, we are open to what that story is! We welcome haunted houses, ghost stories, creature features, splatterpunk, serial killers, witches, monsters, you name it. Just make sure your story features at least one fat protagonist. Fat people are often degraded in literature, especially in horror. It’s disheartening to see someone’s natural body be portrayed as disgusting and inherently bad. Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology aims to give that trope the heartiest “fuck you” that our big selves can muster. So go on, send us what you’ve got! Submission guidelines: Authors at any stage in their career are welcome to submit. We want to encourage submissions from authors who are women, BIPOC, queer, trans, disabled, and/or neurodivergent; but all are welcome to submit! Stories must have at least one fat protagonist, ideally the main character. While they can be anti-heroes, their fatness must not be part of what makes them evil. We want this to be a diverse and inclusive anthology. We welcome and encourage stories with characters who are queer, non-cis, non-white, disabled, and/or neurodivergent. Story length: 4000-6000 words Payment: $25 flat rate,...
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Submission Window: October 1st-October 31st, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word Theme: Genre-bending and tropes typically excluded from mainstream literary magazines Fiction submissions should be sent to submissions@welkinmag.com with the title of your story in the subject line. In your email, please include a short cover letter outlining past publication credits if any, a brief bio if desired, a word count, and which of our magazines you wish to be considered for. The story should be attached to the email as a word document or other common word processing file. Stories should be in standard manuscript format. We accept simultaneous submissions to other journals, but if your story is accepted elsewhere, please alert us immediately. Please only submit one story at a time for consideration. While we encourage genre-bending and tropes typically excluded from mainstream literary magazines, elements of the fantastic and unusual in your work should not be used as a crutch. If your story is boring without fantastic elements, it is also boring with them. We’re looking for work by both veterans and those without a single byline to their name. We especially welcome stories in translation (if you have confirmed with the original’s rights holder that English translation rights are available), stories that draw on elements and modes beyond the European tradition, and stories from traditionally underrepresented groups. We have no hard rules regarding story length, but we do cap the whole magazine at 80 pages, so don’t send us more than that. A very long story will need to justify taking space that could have gone to other pieces. A short piece may be easy to squeeze in, but creating a coherent, biting story in 1,000 words is always trickier than doing so in 100,000. Our focus is exclusively on fiction. We welcome experimentation, but your...
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Hello all! I’ve been lucky enough to guest post here at Horror Tree a few times, but for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jennifer Anne Gordon. I am the author of Beautiful, Frightening and Silent, which won the Kindle Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2020. I am also the author of the Hotel Series (the second novel in that series When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk is currently a semi-finalist for this year’s Kindle Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2021!) My latest novel Pretty/Ugly is a dark literary horror novel with a dystopian vibe; it was was released in July. When I’m not writing I spend time teaching Ballroom Dance, (scary, I know) and I am the host of the top-rated video podcast on the Global Authors on the Air Network, called Vox Vomitus. I am also the host of a brand-new podcast that is debuting on September 16th called “Let’s Scare Jennifer to Death”. (Check it out, I will be talking with Richard Chizmar, author of Chasing the Boogeyman as well as the editor and creator of Cemetery Dance Magazine. I can’t wait to delve into all the things that scare me to death—bumps in the night, ghosts, ghouls, puppets, scarecrows, serial-killers—it’s a lot of things. Now, that might seem strange for a horror author and true crime addict to be a scaredy-cat, but that’s me. In fact, when I was pitching the idea for the show to my executive producer, she and I had a conversation of what was my biggest fear, and that was easy. Eyes. ANYTHING with eyes. I mean…I can’t watch someone put in contacts, I almost have to reach for the Xanax every time I have to put on my own eyeliner. It’s worse to have someone else do...
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Submission Window: October 1st-15th, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: Un-themed, general horror flash fiction. Preference to dread-inducing stories. Submissions OPEN (Monthly, 1st – 15th). Un-themed, general horror flash fiction. Preference to dread-inducing stories. Length: 500 – 1,000 words. Firm. Author Compensation: $10, paid via PayPal. Publication: Dread Stone Press website (Dose of Dread). Reading Periods: Monthly, 1st to 15th. Any stories submitted outside of each reading period will not be read. Two (2) stories will be selected out of each reading period for publication the following month. Rights: First World Electronic Rights. Non-exclusive rights thereafter. No reprint restrictions after publication. Original stories ONLY. No reprints. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but NO multiple submissions. You may submit again the next month if rejected. If your story is accepted, please sit out one reading period before submitting again. Please, for everyone’s sake, no rough drafts. Successful pieces will require little to no proofreading edits. Email your submission as a Word document attachment to dreadstonepress@gmail.com with “DOSE – [Story Title] – [Author Name]” in the subject line. Please see the General Submission Guidelines below for additional formatting information. General Submission Guidelines Rejections for Dose of Dread submissions will be sent by the end of the month submitted. If you have not received a reply by then, feel free to follow-up. All rejections will be form rejections. It’s not personal, promise. Which also means please don’t respond to rejections. It’s unnecessary. For Dose of Dread submissions, please send your work by email to dreadstonepress@gmail.com with the subject line format: “DOSE – [Story title] – [Author name]”. Address your email to “Editor” or “Alex”. Please provide a brief cover letter in the body of the email (title, word count, relevant info, etc). Do not stress over or overthink this. Please include an author bio of 100 words or less, written in third person, plus any links (e.g. to a website...
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Submission Window: October 1st – October 31st, 2021 Payment: $1 per accepted piece Theme: horrorku, horror themed tanka, haibun, see below for details The Submission may include any or all of the following: · Up to seven (7) horrorku or horror tanka [we will rarely publish 5/7/5(7/7)] · Up to three (3) haibun [title + prose + haiku/tanka — no more than 100 words] · Up to five (5) pieces of cover art All submissions must be original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by a print or web-based journal. Posts in closed, critique-oriented groups and social media sites are acceptable for submission, but public posts on forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are not. By submitting a piece to us, you are guaranteeing that it is your original work and not under consideration or published anywhere else in the world. E-mail submission is required. Type poems into the body of the e-mail; no attachments of poetry will be opened. For art submissions, please include all five pieces in a .PDF file or send us a link to a private gallery. If we purchase an art piece for our cover, we will ask that you provide a 300 dpi version of said piece. E-mail: OtoroshiJournal@gmail.com Subject: Otoroshi Submission Please include a cover letter noting location in the world. Please include handles for Instagram and Twitter for promotional purposes. At this time, only one submission per issue will be considered unless the editors directly request a second submission. Submission periods are one month long: · January for the Spring Issue · April for the Summer Issue · July for the Fall Issue · October for the Winter Issue Acceptances will be sent shortly after the end of each period. Please note: Although most journals may publish your work as is, we are editors,...
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8 ways I name my characters By: Die Booth If you’re anything like me, naming the characters in your stories can sometimes get a little challenging. I’ve been writing for a long time now and as the short stories and flash fictions rack up, things can get a little, well, repetitive. So here are a few tricks that I use to come up with an endless supply of individual character names. 1 – They name themselves This is the ideal situation. Sometimes, the character just names themselves – like that perfect plot that just pops into your head fully formed, sometimes you just know. 2 – Go by their birthday A really neat and easy way to name convincingly is to figure out when and where your character was born and then look up the most popular baby names for that time and place. Of course, this can also lead to repeated names – but the fact is that there really were six Emmas in my class at junior school, so at least it adds realism! 3 – Name by nationality If you name a character Brock or Chase it might be appropriate if they’re a frat boy from California, but it’s going to pull you out of the narrative if they’re meant to be from England. This is another case where those birth-year baby name lists come in really useful, especially if you’re writing a character from a country other than your own. 4 – Name quietly One thing I find with a lot of stories is that nobody’s ever called John. Unless you’re writing sci-fi or fantasy, or it really fits your character, I often find that the less unusual the name is, the truer it rings and the...
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Submission Window: October 7th – 21st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Stories of food, dining, and cookery Diabolical Plots is pleased to announce our first themed issue — stories of food, dining, and cookery, which we couldn’t resist titling “Diabolical Pots”! (Actual pots optional.) We’ll be accepting submissions for this special issue from October 7th – 21st, 2021. In addition to being centered around food, stories must have a speculative element. Pay rate, format, and submission restrictions (no reprints, no resubmits, etc.) will follow our general submission guidelines. So, how can food be integrated into your story? Any way you want! Maybe a crew of space pirates is about to score big on some outer-planet delicacies. Or a tense family dinner gets tenser when the youngest child insists they hear scratching sounds in the wall. Or two witches both reach for the last bundle of herbs and their eyes meet and… For this themed issue, our assistant editor, Kel Coleman, will be taking the wheel and making final selections. Of course, your story should still be a good fit for Diabolical Plots—check out our general guidelines for an idea of what that means—but what might win you extra points with Kel? Well, Kel would love to see: Lush descriptions of food Immersive worldbuilding—food is never just food. Food is love, food is culture, food is survival Science fiction that’s high on emotional resonance, low on unexamined imperialism Any kind of prose—it can be ornate, experimental in structure or tone, or punchy and simple, as long as it is intentional and serves the story David Steffen is the editor, who you may also know from reading The Long List Anthology series or from the Submission Grinder, which you can use to find markets for your writing and track your submissions. Diabolical Plots is a SFWA-qualifying market, so if you...
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Payment: $20/poem for poetry, $25/image for visual art pieces, and the current SFWA rate of 8 cents per word for prose Theme: All genres appear welcome Note: Primarily looking for authors in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, or Utah Fundamentally, our mission is to give a voice to short (flash) fiction, short non-fiction (essay, memoir), poetry, and visual art that is by an author or artist living in the Southwest, generally considered to be California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. The voices we especially want to hear from are those of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ writers. We expect to see your best work, beautifully presented. We pay our writers; we don’t charge them. Well, except for contests. You want to win some decent prize money, right? 100% of contest entry fees are paid back to our winning writers, no exceptions. We currently pay $20/poem for poetry, $25/image for visual art pieces, and the current SFWA rate of 8 cents per word for prose. CCR firmly believes in paying our contributors, and we are working hard to increase the amount we pay them. Payment is at the time of publication via PayPal. We only accept submissions that are previously unpublished. We do accept simultaneous submissions, however, please notify us right away if your work is accepted elsewhere. If you agree to allow CCR to publish your work, we will receive first serial rights and all rights revert back to you upon publication. We ask that you credit CCR as the original publication. We only accept email submissions. We do not use Submittable because we would have to charge our writers to pay for this service. Our response time is 3-4 months. Please wait 3-4 months before inquiring about the status of your submission. Please wait for a response to your...
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