Weekly Posts from The Horror Tree for 2/18/22
Feb 18, 2022 9:41 pm
Hi there,
Word of the week: sylph – a slender graceful young woman.
Happy Friday, readers! I hope February is treating you kindly. I follow several writers on Twitter, and lately I’ve been seeing many of you post about progress, acceptances, and even rejections. I love seeing these posts, because it demonstrates just how strong the writer community is on social media. Of course there are always negative people, but the majority of posts I see are full of kind words and encouragement. These exchanges make me feel so fortunate to have platforms like Twitter, which make it possible for people in the writing community to have an open and continuous discourse with others they might otherwise not have been able to meet. Please keep sharing your progress, and know there are some of us out there cheering you on from the sidelines.
As always, you can find me (Holley Cornetto) lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto. Now, onto the latest articles on writing from around the web.
Horror Tree / Trembling With Fear Update (This section updated by your fearless editor and chief, Stuart C.!):
Hi there!
We're closing in on the final week (and day) of Women in Horror Month! If you want to see our full coverage of it so far, you can check out our Women In Horror Month 2022 section! There is a GOOD chance that we'll be moving it to March next year which will add-in for some more days as well as allow for other events to take place in February. More on that in a bit!
As always, if you're looking for ways to help out the site we're always eager for more Patreons to pitch in. If you have another way that you'd want to help out, please reach out at contact@horrortree.com or use our contact form.
Now, Back to Holley!
Articles:
We have articles this week on craft, general writing advice, and information about the business side of publishing. Helping Writers Become Authors published an article about archetypes and story structure, and how they are connected. Writer’s Weekly published an article that touches on motivation and deadlines for writers. While I don’t agree with all of the points discussed in the article, I believe that some writers will find the advice therein helpful. Jane Friedman’s site provides us with an article about how to finish off a book. The advice here goes back to basics, with my personal favorite tip being “Love your story.” The last piece comes from Writers in the Storm, and contains tips and valuable information about publishing. I hope you find something here to enjoy!
Craft:
Helping Writers Become Authors: Archetypes and Story Structure: How They’re Connected
General:
Writer’s Weekly: Is a Friend or Colleague Sabotaging Your Writing Career
Jane Friedman: 3 Shifts You Need to Make to Finish Your Book
Business:
Writers in the Storm: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Published: Part II
Free Fiction Roundup:
I’m continuing to share stories written by women in horror that were recommended to me by all of you on Twitter. I’ve been reading/listening to these stories throughout the week to decide what to share. This week we have everything from flash to a couple of novellas free to snag at Amazon via Kindle Unlimited. I hope you enjoy these stories, and perhaps find a few new favorite authors.
General content warning: These stories are classified as being a part of the horror genre, and as such may contain disturbing themes and imagery. Please read at your own discretion.
Flash:
“Death and The Maiden” by Christina Ladd at We Are the Quiet Ones.
“Just a Quarter” by Melody E. McIntyre at Dark Recesses Press.
Short Stories:
“Too Fond” by Leanna Renee Hieber at Tor.com.
“Someday You Will Regret Not Replying” by Nadia Bulkin at Southwest Review.
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo at The Dark.
“Mandibles” by Laura Diaz De Arce at Moonchild Magazine.
“Thread Count” by Cynthia Gómez at Strange Horizons.
“A Human Stain” by Kelly Robson at Tor.com.
“Still Life With a Vial of Blood” by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas at Nightmare Magazine.
“An Evening’s Run” by Shannon Frost Greenstein at Malarky.
“The Undertaker’s Kid” by Mackenzie Hurlbert at Coffin Bell Journal.
“Billy Ray: Mississippi Ghost Story” by Jennifer Winters at The Moonlit Road.
“They Feed” by C.J. Dotson at Night Shift Radio.
Novellas and More:
White Ibis by Wendy Dalrymple (free via Kindle Unlimited)
The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson (free via Kindle Unlimited)
Podcasts/audio:
“Winter Solstice” by Emily Henry Burham at Tales to Terrify
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!
- Someone to help create videos for social media (we have tools, but not time!)
- 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)
🗒️ WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Rebecca Rowland
In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we are continuing to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines and story collections in the horror industry.
We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Rebecca Rowland.
Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?
Hi!
My name is Rebecca Rowland, and I write and curate dark fiction....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Enchanted Conversation: 2022 March Window (Early Listing)
Submission Window: March 1st-3rd 2022 Payment: $50 Theme: Weather.
A new theme, weather, starts in January 2022.Hi there!
We’ll no doubt write more about this later in the next year, but for now, what follows below will tell you all you need to know.
Added March 3, 3021: Although it states below that only one work per author per submission, I am suddenly getting multiple poems at a time....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Modern Magic
Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: Royalties Theme: Stories about magic in today’s world We all need a little extra help in today’s world.
A little extra push.
A little something special that gives us an advantage.
A little … magic.
Submission dates February 15, 2022 to April 1, 2022 We want stories about magic in today’s world....
🗒️ WIHM 2022: An Interview With Laurel Hightower
The Horror Tree Presents… An Interview With Laurel Hightower You grew up in Kentucky but studied in California.
How have these different backdrops influenced your writing?
Kentucky has always been my home—I moved here at two months old and have spent the majority of my life here.
Living in California gave me a taste of somewhere far different from my usual, and it was utterly gorgeous—I’m grateful for the experience.
If anything, I hope it helped broaden my range with respect to characters and landscape.
I met a lot of amazing folks out there and everyone left their mark on my life, and therefore my writing.
I think Kentucky will always be the biggest influence, though....
🗒️ Taking Submissions Wyngraf Spring 2022 Window (Early Listing)
Submission Window: March 1st-8th 2022 Payment: $0.01 (one cent) per word Theme: Cozy fantasy Wyngraf is currently closed to submissions.
Our next submission window opens March 1st, 2022 and ends March 8th, 2022.Wyngraf buys First North American Serial Rights to short stories of cozy fantasy from 4,000 to 10,000 words long.
We currently pay $0.01 (one cent) per word.
We know that’s not much, and we hope to increase our rate as soon as possible....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: The Cafe Irreal Spring Window 2022
Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: One cent U.
S.
per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below.
The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English.
This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges.
As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined....
🗒️ WIHM 2022: Ten Great Ghost or Spooky Stories written by Women
Ten Great Ghost or Spooky Stories written by Women by Alyson Faye Here’s a little known fact to ponder:- between the 1830s and the onset of World War I (1914) – the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of the ghost story – 70% of the ghost stories were written by women.
There was a huge market and public appetite for these supernatural tales in the literary magazines and they were both a fun outlet for writers and a steady way of earning income.
Any of these names ring a ghostly bell?
Mary E Wilkins Freeman?
Evelyn Henty?...
🗒️ Taking Submissions: The Quiet Ones June 2022 issue (Early Listing)
Submission Window: March 7th – April 14th, 2022 Payment: $25 Theme: Post-Apocalyptic Pride We will be announcing the theme and open submission dates for June’s issue soon.
Short Stories up to 3,000 words Flash and Micro Fiction up to 1,000 words Poetry Author Compensation: $25.00 (USD) per piece Rights: We request first worldwide and digital rights for four months following publication.
Thereafter all rights revert to the author.
All copyright remains with the author.
June ’22 Theme: Post-Apocalyptic Pride Call Status: CLOSED (Opening Soon…) Publication: Digital Formats Submission Period: March 7, 2022 – April 14, 2022 Decisions By: May 14, 2022 Release Date: June 30, 2022 What We’re Looking For: feel free to interpret the “Post-Apocalyptic” part of the theme as broadly as you like, from entirely ruined worlds to the confines of a single-family dwelling after, for example, a catastrophic fire....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores March 2022- EARLY
Submission Window: March 1st-2nd, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.
Note: Reprints welcome Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.
S.
T.
Only one submission per person.
For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.
We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles....
🗒️ Pitch Wars Is Coming To An End
I hate being the bearer of bad news.
After ten wonderful years, Pitch Wars is coming to an end.
Here is the official announcement from their Twitter account: After ten amazing years of building mentorships and an online community of writers, #PitchWars and #PitMad are coming to an end.
As an entirely volunteer-run event, we are truly overjoyed and grateful for the opportunity to assist so many writers on their journeys.
While this decision was difficult to make, we are confident that the many other wonderful writing mentorship programs that now exist will carry our common mission – to help writers grow and connect – forward....
Enjoy,
Horror Tree
