Weekly Posts from The Horror Tree for 12/17/21
Dec 18, 2021 4:46 am
Hi there,
Word of the week: Sealioning – a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with persistent requests for evidence or repeated questions, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity.
We are already halfway through December, readers! Can you believe it? For those of you who exchange gifts this time of year, I wanted to share a few useful columns and articles with you. Sadie Hartmann’s article on LitReactor “10 Holiday Gifts to Give Your Horror Hound” is a good place to start. Cultured Vultures also published “26 Best Horror Gifts You Should Check Out,” back in October, but I think you’ll find the suggestions appropriate any time of year for the horror lover in your life. (Editor's Note: Also be sure to check out our '2021 Gift Guide For Authors' and our 'Indie Bookshelf Releases that features our sponsors, patreons, and staff'!)
As always, you can find me (Holley Cornetto) lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto. Now, onto the latest articles on writing from around the web.
Sponsor:
This month we're being sponsored by Were Tales which includes some amazing authors (including some who write for and frequent Horror Tree) so you should pick up a copy today!
Horror Tree / Trembling With Fear Update (This section updated by your fearless editor and chief, Stuart C.!):
REMINDER: There are only a few days left to enter our 'Spawn Anthology Giveaway'!
With my MBA temporarily on pause, I'm trying to get a few things done while also doing the holiday season activities! My main focus is still to bring about an updated layout and launch a secondary fiction site to go hand-in-hand with Horror Tree, but I'm doing some minor site changes as: allow users to subscribe to our calendar view, which has been previously requested multiple times.
Articles
This week, I’m including another installment of Helping Writers Become Authors. This time, the topic is “The Two Halves of the Climactic Moment.” If you haven’t yet read any of the articles in this series, this would be a great one to start with, as the climactic moment of your story is one of the most important elements. It is the part of the story in which the promises you’ve made to your readers will be fulfilled, or not. An unsatisfying climactic moment may sour your readers on an otherwise impressive story. diy MFA offers “3 Ways the Holidays Can Revive Your Book,” offering advice for how to turn this, sometimes a stressful season where it’s difficult to write, into moments of curiosity and creativity.
One of the most commonly asked questions in author interviews is some version of the question: “Where do you get your ideas?” For those of you who have trouble finding the right idea, you may find something to spur your imagination in this list of suggestions. The last article I’m sharing is an article at LitReactor titled, “Dune is an Inspiring Film, and an Excellent Resource for Authors.” This article comes with a warning: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE NEW DUNE FILM. As such, please don’t read this article unless you’ve already seen the film, or if you don’t mind being spoilered.
Craft:
Helping Writers Become Authors: The Two Halves of the Climatic Moment
diy MFA: 3 Ways the Holidays Can Revive Your Book
General:
Reedsy: Please Steal These Ideas! 30 Things to Write About.
LitReactor: Storyville: Dune is an Inspiring Film, and an Excellent Resource for Authors
Free Fiction Roundup:
Welcome to the weekly fiction round up. I’m starting this week off with a story coauthored by Chris Kelso and Brian Evenson titled “Jenny Longlegs” which appeared in latest issue of Three-Lobed Burning Eye. 3LBE is consistently one of my favorite magazines because of the variety and quality of stories they publish in each issue. “Jenny Longlegs” is no exception. This story is weird and wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I hope you will, too. “Leaf Piles” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman was a great read over my morning coffee this past week. As readers, we experience so many stories with main characters that are young and attractive. I enjoyed being immersed in the point of view of an older woman. Dark Recesses Press continues publishing shorts for their webzine. I particularly enjoyed Dan Le Fever’s story, “Should Have,” which is a claustrophobic and horrifying read. The fear is amplified by despair and loss of hope in this short. The last story on this list is the longest, “The Truth Each Carried” by E. Catherine Tobbler. I hope you enjoy this week’s picks.
Now, on to the fiction:
“Jenny Longlegs” by Chris Kelso and Brian Evenson. Three-Lobed Burning Eye.
“Leaf Piles” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Daily Science Fiction.
“Should Have” by Dan Le Fever. Dark Recesses Press.
“The Truth Each Carried” by E. Catherine Tobler. Bourbon Penn.
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)
🗒️ I’m Thrilled To Announce A New Feature For Those Who Use Our Calendar View!
While it isn’t used by everyone, I know that those of you who love our calendar view swear by it.
Sometimes, seeing the deadlines are just the way to go for being visual or needing that impending feeling of doom constantly there to get the words out.
Whatever the reason, I’m thrilled that we’ve now been able to make it even better!
Our last change 3 months ago allowed you to export it to Outlook, and now we’ve added a feature to subscribe to the calendar!
(Note: This feature is currently available only to (If this is a feature you’d love to thank us for, think about thanking us by becoming a Patreon or buying some ‘Trembling With Fear‘ releases and leaving reviews!
To use this feature, you’ll need to head over to our calendar view and scroll to the bottom....
🗒️ Contest: 50-Word Stories January 2022 (Early Listing)
Submission Window: January 1st-15th, 2022 Payment: 1 winner each month will win $10 Canadian Theme: A story at exactly 50-words If you’d like to have a 50-word story that you wrote featured on FiftyWordStories.com, first make sure that you understand exactly what a 50-word story is, and then read the submission requirements below closely.
Submissions System Each month, submissions will be open between days 1 and 15 of that month.
Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will be deleted, but can be resubmitted the following month.
You may only submit one story per month.
From the stories received in those 15 days, the best stories will be selected to be published that same month.
Only enough stories will be selected to publish two stories per weekday.
There is no payment associated with stories....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Fantasy Magazine January 2022 Window (Early Listing)
Submission Window: January 1st-7th, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories.
All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome.
Note: This is an early listing to give you some time to plan ahead for next month or to remember to finish revising your story for the upcoming month!
Note: We are trusting that the submission windows listed in the ongoing call are valid for this publisher.
If they are not, please let us know and we’ll look into revising accordingly....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores January 2022- EARLY
Submission Window: January 1st-3rd, 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 6¢ 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....
🗒️ Contest: Shallow Waters January 2022 Theme
Deadline: January 5th, 2022 Prizes: 1st place: $0.03 per word, 2nd place: $0.02 a word, and third place $0.01 per word.
Theme: No Way Out.
Your January theme is… No theme at all.
Since it’s the holidays and we’re already a third into the month, I don’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on anyone.
If you do need a theme or a bit of inspiration, let’s go with No Way Out....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Horror That Represents You
Deadline: January 31st, 2022 Payment: 11 US cents / word Theme: Horror that represents you by marginalized authors Quick Specs: Looking for: Short stories Word count: 1000 to 7000 Payment: 11 US cents / word Open to: Mainly marginalized authors; see specifics below Audience: Adult Genre: Horror Subgenre: Horror that represents you Status: Unpublished Simultaneous submissions: YES Multiple Submissions: NO Poetry: Only if it’s a vehicle for a narrative; will be judged as a story first What’s it gonna be?
This horror anthology comes courtesy of a collaboration between editor Alex Woodroe and the publisher CatStone Books, and will hopefully be the first out of a series of yearly anthologies aiming to give voice to marginalized authors and their stories.
CatStone Books is a 501(c)3 nonprofit publishing company that believes in promoting diversity in speculative fiction.
This anthology will benefit from CatStone’s full support and resources, and would be released with fanfare in Q4 2022.The total 75.000 words available will mostly come from this open submission call, with a small handful of stories requested from leading voices in the genre.
What We’re Looking For: Submissions from marginalized authors: but you get to decide what that means....
🗒️ Early Listing: Nosetouch Press To Open For Gothic Novels And Novellas
Submission Window: January 1st-31st, 2022 Payment: 35% royalty on print books/45% royalty on ebooks and 10 author copies Theme: Gothic novels and novellas With its emphasis on a sublime atmosphere of picturesque scenery, extraordinary and exotic locations (period or contemporary), mystery, and horror, Gothic Fiction carved an indelible impression in the literary world.
Beginning with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto in 1764, the Gothic has stalked the literary shadows for centuries, delivering tangled and tortured narratives of family trauma, psychological distress, and terrible secrets.
The terrifying appeal of the Gothic lies within its ability to invoke a pleasing and memorable dread.
Nosetouch Press is excited to open a call for a Gothic novel (60,000 words+) or novella (35,000 words+), encouraging writers to delve into the darkness and send us their best work.
Previously unpublished work only—no reprints.
No YA, poetry, or short story collections.
Diverse voices are welcome....
🗒️ Horror – Writers – Ink: Community and Your Writer’s Toolkit
Community and your writer’s toolkit One thing I’ve learned is that community is one of the biggest assets available.
It’s community that pulls you through, holds you up, and keeps encouraging you to persist.
Writing is a solitary craft, and sometimes writers need more than the fictional voices in our heads to help us succeed.
While community isn’t for everyone, I’ve certainly seen it true for most.
There are many ways of being part of a community too.
I’m a Melbourne-based author and I write in several genres with my nonfiction covering topics from hauntings to spelling to sport, and my fiction either literary or speculative....
Enjoy,
Horror Tree
