Weekly Posts from The Horror Tree for 2/25/22
Feb 25, 2022 10:15 pm
Hi there,
Word of the week: cattywampus – in disarray or disorder; askew.
Welcome back, readers. As Women in Horror Month winds down, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that women have, historically, and continue to have a large influence on the horror genre. At Horror Tree, we've interviewed authors, editors, and other women working in horror, and we will continue our mission of supporting them year-round. Some groups have decided to shift celebrating Women in Horror Month to March this year, so hopefully, you'll have even more female-centered content in the coming month. I want to take a moment and thank all of the women who provided links to their stories, and those who agreed to be interviewed. Your contributions and hard work in the horror community are greatly appreciated.
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.!):
We've had a great Women in Horror Month so far and just as a reminder, next year we'll be likely making the switch to March for it as so many others have. With how many posts we double and triple up at the end of the month, this should make it a bit easier to spread out the spotlight we try to shine on so many wonderful women!
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:
The articles for this week cover a range of writing advice in craft and general writing resources. Writers Helping Writers published an article titled "The Measure of a Character," in which the author asks, "At what point do they [characters] become 'sentient'?" Nathan Bransford published an article on crystalizing the stakes in fiction. Having never heard this particular term before, I was intrigued. Bransford describes this as giving the stakes of a story some type of tangible form. It's an interesting article, and I'd encourage you to give it a read. diy MFA provides us with "The Seven Deadly Sins of Speculative Fiction" which might prove useful for some of you newer or emerging writers. Lastly, Mythcreants takes on everyone's favorite speculative (though it goes beyond spec lit) trope of putting together a crew.
Craft:
Writers Helping Writers: The Measure of a Character
Nathan Bransford: How to Crystalize the Stakes
General:
diy MFA: The Seven Deadly Sins of Speculative Fiction (and How to Fix Them)
Mythcreants: How Should My Hero Recruit a Crew?
Free Fiction Roundup:
This is my last week of fiction for WiHM 2022. I want to thank everyone who shared stories and links. I was so grateful for the HUGE response. I am hoping to do this again in 2023 to share even more excellent stories to highlight women writing horror.
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:
"I Wrote to My Queen" by Saswati Chatterjee at Flash Fiction Online.
"The Fashion Police are Watching" by Jane Brown at Metastellar.
"Frost" by C.L. Spillard at Luna Station Quarterly.
"What Goes Down, Must Come Back Up" by Susan L. Lin at Rougarou.
"Fairest Snow and Scalpel" by Marilee Dahlman at The Molotov Cocktail.
"Isobel Dreams of Childhood Things" by Megan M. Davies-Ostrom at Frost Zone Zine.
"Toes in the Sand" by Lannie Stabile at Overheard.
Short Stories:
"A 9-Tailed Fox & How My Genes Travel In & Out of Myth" by J.A. Pak at Asian American Feminist Collective.
"Mushroom Head" by Marla Bingcang at Apparition Lit.
"Nocturnal & Nameless" by María Badillo at Parhelion.
"Traces of Us, Hot Enough for Dinner" by Ephiny Gale at the Dread Machine.
"Dust Bunnies" by Shannon Lawrence at Novel Noctule.
"The Genius and the Devil" by Stephanie Feldman at Catapult.
"Devoured Stars Over Dublin" by Méabh de Brún at Giganotosaurus.
"A Cruel God Makes a Cruel Woman" by Autumn Christian at Bear Creek Gazette.
"Rituals of a Witness" by Billie Willett at The Crow's Quill (Issue 5).
"Unshackled" by Gwen C. Katz at Cinnabar Moth Literary Collections.
"The Son of Immortals" by Valeriya Salt at The Chamber Magazine.
"The Short Straw" by Vanessa Reid at Gutwrench.
Novellas and More:
"Nightmares: A Collection of Scary Stories" by Kate DeJonge (free via Kindle Unlimited)
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 Nico Bell
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 anthologies in the horror industry.
We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Nico Bell.
Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?
I’m Nico Bell, a horror author, editor (Shiver: A Chilling Horror Anthology and co-editor of Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology), and book reviewer.
Originally, I wrote romance and inspirational fiction, but I made the switch to horror in 2017.I love all things scary, especially B-camp movies and books with strong female protagonists....
🗒️ WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Angela Yuriko Smith
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 Angela Yuriko Smith.
Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?
Sure, and thanks for having me here!
Most of my life has been spent writing non-fiction for newspapers, online lifestyle and marketing.
I moved into fiction in 2011 as the result of an argument at a writers conference....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Tasavvur Q1 2022
Deadline: March 15th, 2022 Payment: 2.5 cents per word Theme: South Asian speculative fiction Tasavvur is now open for short story submissions!
Send your South Asian speculative fiction our way!
Please submit your stories before 15th March 2022 using the form below or send to submit@tasavvurnama.com Submission Guidelines Give us your dreamscapes and nightmares, your soaring fantasies, your futuristic miasmas.
Give us also your unstructured ramblings, where a story exists at the edges, dripping with lush, brilliant prose.
We are not sticklers for the usual 3-act, 5-act structures, because great storytelling is so much more than that....
Submission Window: April 1st-30th, 2022 Payment: $0.03 per word up to 4000 words Theme: Take your least favorite horror trope and make it work.
What is your least favorite horror trope?
Why?
Has it been overdone?
Is it predictable?...
🗒️ Ghoulish Books 2022 Novella Window
Deadline: May 8th, 2022 Payment: Small advance + royalties Theme: sleaze, body horror, unhinged characters, oddball premises, anti-commercial, weirdo shit that’ll get you kicked out of any major NY publishing house should you even discuss it on their property.
Ghoulish Books is open for horror novella submissions, and we will remain open until Sunday, May 8th (11:59 P.
M.
CST).
What we are looking to publish: sleaze, body horror, unhinged characters, oddball premises, anti-commercial, weirdo shit that’ll get you kicked out of any major NY publishing house should you even discuss it on their property.
Art for sickos and by sickos....
🗒️ WIHM 2022: Anita Blake, the Vampire Slayer
Celebrating Anita Blake, the Vampire Slayer By: Corinne Pollard Before Buffy, there was Anita Blake.
From the first novel ‘Guilty Pleasures’ to ‘Rafael’, the female protagonist Anita Blake has been slaying vampires, befriending the supernatural and holding onto her own humanity since first publication in 1993- and wow, what a journey!
Laurell K Hamilton has written about thirty Anita Blake narratives with some even published as Marvel comics.
Hamilton’s badass vampire slayer has remained an interesting woman, engrossing me with her detective work, her relationships and her everyday life in a St Louis, USA filled with vampires and shapeshifters as legal citizens.
I have re-read the series more than once and even persuaded others to read her story.
Now I wish to explore further.
Why is Anita Blake inspiring?...
🗒️ WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Michelle River
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 anthologies in the horror industry.
We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Michelle River.
Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?
Hello, my name is Michelle and I am the owner of Eerie River Publishing.
I have smart and feisty four year old daughter and fifteen month old son, so I pretty much survive on lukewarm coffee and determination these days.
What is (or was) the most rewarding aspect of editing an anthology, magazine, or collection?...
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Demonic Medicine – Take Your Pills a Demonic Anthology
Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: 2 Contributors Copies Theme: Mixing up some humor, horror, and medicine!
Whose advice do you trust when your health seems amiss?
Are you afraid of going to the doctor?
Dentist?
Voodoo Doctor?...
🗒️ Taking Submissions: The World Unknown Review 2022 Window
Deadline: October 31st, 2022 Payment: $15 and 3 contributors copy Theme: No genre, fiction, poetry, essays, art The World Unknown Review has taken an unexpected hiatus in the past few years, but we are proud to announce plans for it to return on a new schedule for a potential late 2022/ early 2023 release!
The submission period for the World Unknown Review runs annually from January 1st to October 31st.
We’re looking for a little bit of everything, so please send us your best fiction, poetry, essays, art, or whatever else in between.
There are no genre, theme, or word limitations, although anything over 17,500 words will fall automatically into the novella competition.
There is no entry fee, and writers may send in as many works as they like, though only one is likely to be chosen....
Enjoy,
Horror Tree
