Weekly Posts from The Horror Tree for 3/4/22
Mar 04, 2022 9:36 pm
Hi there,
Word of the week: munificence– the quality of being very generous
Welcome back for this week's roundup of some of the best articles and fiction posted online this week. I hope you all have your pencils sharpened and your laptops open, because I've seen some incredible calls for submissions opening up recently. It's amazing to see so many magazines and anthologies searching for content. What a great time to be a writer, and a reader. I have a backlog of books and anthologies just waiting to be read, and every day my TBR list grows longer.
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.!):
Now that Women in Horror Month has come to an end, I'd like to send out another reminder that we'll be moving it to March next year as there has been an increase in the horror community in making that switch.
Thank you Patreons for helping keep the site afloat! For anyone who has any questions, comments, or things they'd like to help the site out with, please reach out at contact@horrortree.com or use our contact form.
Back to you Holley!
Articles:
This week, Richard Thomas has a new article up at LitReactor. I regularly feature his articles because I find Thomas to be one of the most insightful voices in the speculative publishing industry today. In this article, he walks readers through some of the most important elements of story craft. Mythcreants have published "Five Common Weapon Mistakes in Speculative Fiction," that some writers may find useful when planning out fight scenes. We also have articles on writer's block, and changing genres, which may be of interest to writers who find themselves writing in multiple genres.
Craft:
LitReactor: Storyville: Building Up Your Horror Story Before You Tear it Down
General:
Mythcreants: Five Common Weapon Mistakes in Speculative Fiction
Writers Helping Writers: How to Make Writer's Block Work for You
Writer's Digest: The Rewards of Writing Epic Fantasy Fiction (After Writing in Another Genre)
Free Fiction Roundup:
This week, we're returning to our regular format of featuring a few fiction stories each week, free to read online. Because this space was reserved in February for Women in Horror Month, I'm a bit behind on my reading. I'm happy to jump back in with this week's picks. First, we have a touching piece of speculative flash by Katie Jordan. Dark Recesses Press continues publishing excellent stories as a part of their free online webzine. This week, I'm featuring John Kiste's "The True Economics of Haunting" for an interesting take on ghosts and the afterlife. The last featured story this week is called "The Infinite Shape of Regret." The title of this story pulled me in, and I was not disappointed.
"When Time Runs Out" by Katie Jordan at Wyld Flash.
"The True Economics of Haunting" by John Kiste at Dark Recesses Press.
"The Infinite Shape of Regret" by J.R. McConvey at Dose of Dread.
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 again 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)
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Strange Sunsets: Terrors on Distant Planets
Deadline: August 31st, 2022 Payment: $30USD Theme: Terrors on Distant Planets Title: Strange Sunsets: Terrors on Distant Planets Theme: Science fiction stories that take place on another planet.
There must be an element of horror.
Gore and splatterpunk is welcome, but may not be a first choice.
Word Count: Preferred 2500-7500.Hard cap on 10,000 words for exceptional stories....
🗒️ Taking Submissions Folk Horror (Early Listing)
Submission Window: May 1st – July 1st, 2022 Payment: ¢1 per word CAD after approved edits – up to $70 CAD Theme: Folk Horror Welcome to our folk horror series!
We are searching for stories that fall into the theme of Folk Horror.
Theme: Give me your rituals, your sacrifices.
Give me your isolated communities and their backwards practices.
Give me your old or forgotten gods and the creatures that men fear to speak of above a whisper.
Give me idols, pagan practices, and harvest festivals.
Think movies like The Apostle, Wicker Man, Midsommar, The Ritual, and Kill List....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Kingdoms of Wrath and Ice (Early Listing)
Submission Window: April 1st-April 30th, 2022 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Tales of stone cold villains (literally on the cold!
) From castles atop snow crested mountains to the cold isolation of the frozen tundra, the lure of darkness beckons us all.
For Kingdoms of Wrath and Ice, Tourmaline & Quartz seeks your tales of stone cold villains.
Show us the frosty ice queens, the conniving fae lords we love to hate and hate to love.
Give us your dragons with hearts as cold as their gold, or the witch who summons a snowstorm to save herself from the hunters.
Tell us about your morally gray outcasts that crave vengeance while the heroes are seeking warmth....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: THEMA – The Crumpled Yellow Paper
Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Crumpled Yellow Paper To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here .
ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE.
NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright.
The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental.
NOTE: Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred.
Indicate premise (target theme) on title page.
Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript.
Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission.
Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned....
🗒️ The Horror Tree Presents….An Interview with Tade Thompson
The Horror Tree Presents….
An Interview with Tade Thompson By Ruschelle Dillon Ruschelle: Welcome to Horror Tree, Tade.
Grab a sturdy branch and let’s dish on your upcoming novel: The Legacy of Molly Southbourne, the film deal for the Molly Southbourne series, your prestigious Arthur C Clark award for Rosewater, and your career as a hospital psychiatrist!
I’m certain there’s so much more going on in your life so, how do you balance all the pieces of Tade?
Tade: Hi Ruschelle!
I’m glad to be here.
Balance is not a problem.
I think anything I am (doctor, psychiarist, writer, anthropologist) is a part of my identity, and that’s just because I don’t see identity as being composed of removable parts.
Atomised me would still contain all those parts in tiny amounts....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology
March 31st, 2022 Payment: $.08 per word + contributor copy Theme: Lunarpunk Story Length: 500 to 7,500 words Story Payment: at least $.08 per word + contributor copy Poem Length: 5 poems or 5 pages Poetry Payment: $30 per poem + contributor copy Submissions Open: March 1 – 31, 2022 Expected Publication: 2023 Editor: Justine Norton-Kertson This will arguably be the first Lunarpunk anthology to be produced.
As such, it is an opportunity for you, as an author, to help guide and define a relatively new science fiction subgenre.
Please read the full guidelines before submitting.
The submission link is at the end of these guidelines What is Luarpunk?
Lunarpunk is a relatively new subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that is closely related to and is an offshoot of Solarpunk....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Midnight in the Dying Garden: Fairy Tales for the End of the World
Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: Literary horror with a fantastical twist Theme: $25 – $150 CAD for original work depending on length, $10 – $70 CAD for reprints Note: Reprints welcome Nestled in a forgotten wood deep within a shadowed valley lies the hidden heart of the world: A dark, enchanted garden where every blossom holds a secret, every tree bursts with ten thousand memories, and each mushroom pulses in an endless relay, transmitting tales from half a world away.
The wind itself whispers forgotten sorrows to the only creature left in the garden: The terrifying and enchanting Storyteller.
But the garden’s lushness is a lie.
Its explosion of ferns and flowers hides a terrible secret: the garden is dying.
Without listeners to sustain it – without imagination, hearts, and souls to feed it – the heart is fading, and taking the world with it....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Tempered Tales: Medusa
Deadline: March 15th, 2022 Payment: Complimentary copy of the magazine.
Short stories are $0.08 (eight cents a word) USD.
Drabbles and poems are $50 (fifty dollars) USD.
Theme: Medusa Title: Tempered Tales: Medusa Type: Magazine (horror/fantasy/dark fantasy/mystery) Theme: Medusa.
The work can be set in any time period, including now or the future....
Enjoy,
Horror Tree
