This Week in Speculative Fiction with The Horror Tree for 12/5/2025

Author

Stuart Conover
December 05, 2025

In partnership with

Word of the week: Haematogenesis - the formation/development of blood.

Hi readers and writers! Welcome back (or if it is your first time here, hello there) to the Horror Tree Newsletter. On 3rd December, it was International Day of Disabled Persons, which is a celebratory day to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities. The past week, I’ve been posting on Instagram about my own disability and how it has influenced or inspired my writing. Please check it out below if you get the chance. From mental health poetry to cozy horror, my work has been influenced by my disability journey from the start, and I hope to continue to bring more disability representation to the horror community. Also, it is the first week of December, so you may wish to start your holiday shopping if you haven’t already, and in our free articles, there is a list that could inspire you.

You can find me (Corinne Pollard) lurking on Bluesky @corinnepwriter.bsky.social, Instagram & Threads @Corinnepwriter and my website, corinnepollard.wordpress.com  Now, onto the latest articles on writing from around the web.

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🌟 Horror Tree / Trembling With Fear Updates

Hi all.
As I’m writing this, it’s 18 degrees F out, and my heat’s been out for about 18 hours. Needless to say, it’s not much warmer inside! What a day to pick to work from home (my fingers are icicles…). At least I was here so we could get someone to work on it (not that they’ve had much luck after the last 5 hours so far…)

That being said, I’ve had a little time to work on the new layout this week (which has been on the back burner for a while), so that is finally making some forward movement again (YEA!) And the anthology is still being reviewed, so hopefully we’ll have some news on that soon :)

Now, for the standards:

- Thank you so much to everyone who has become a Patreon for Horror Tree. We honestly couldn't make it without you all!

And now, I will return you to your regularly scheduled newsletter!

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-Suzan Palumbo Author of Countess and Skin Thief.

🌟 Articles

This week, I’m sharing articles from General, Business, and Craft. Firstly, Helping Writers Become Authors provides 12 Days of Christmas Gifts for Writers. Do your family and friends struggle to buy for you? Give them this list to choose from. Some wonderful ideas, at least if nothing takes your fancy. In business, Writers in the Storm has the Founder and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., Penny C. Sansevieri, who reveals how to name your book to sales success as a crucial marketing tool in the publishing world. With a list of title mistakes, you can learn how to create the best title for your book. I’m not great at titles, and though I haven’t written a book yet, I found this list very useful for title suggestions for short fiction, too. Lastl,y in craft, Jane Friedman has author and book coach Amy L. Bernstein posted how to edit and shrink your overwritten novel. For some, it is easy to write over the word count, so how do you shrink your novel? The word count is generally the rule, as most readers won’t read over 100,000 words (unless the author is someone like Adrian Tchaikovsk,y of course,) so it is in your best interests to shrink. 

General:

Helping Writers Become Authors: “12 Days of Christmas Gifts for Writers”

Business:

Craft:

From Horror Tree:

🌟 Free Fiction Roundup

Free Fiction Roundup: 

This week’s free fiction is abnormal horror, from an anatomy model to ghost leopards. Firstly, “The Third Iteration of Me” is a sci-fi horror about an anatomy model who grows more ‘alive’ with each upgrade. From the model’s point of view, this flash story looks at repetitive abuse and the consequences. A very compelling read. Next, “Thicker” is a dark short story about a mother and daughter who visit a drowned village. The daughter, Vassia, is visiting for the first time and learns multiple stories of how their family’s home got flooded. This short story looks at the importance of roots and never letting history die. Lastly, “Ghost Leopard” is a dark fantasy story about a lesbian protagonist who follows society’s rule that in order to apply for a household registration record and become an adult, they must bring home a leopard. Except every leopard the protagonist hunts is a ghost who eats a piece of her heart. It is a strange story with content warnings of homophobia, sexism, and hunting and harm to animals. Enjoy reading!

“The Third Iteration of Me” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman at Flash Point SF.

“Thicker” by Eleanna Castroianni at Uncanny Magazine.

“Ghost Leopard” by Crystal Koo at Inner Worlds.

🌟 Writing Prompt

Writing Exercise: Snowman Revenge

Your protagonist is a stay at home father, and one weekend, it snows. He gathers his children outside to play, and by the afternoon, they’ve built an army of snowmen in their back garden.

That night, he wakes to snow pounding on his window. Thinking it is a teenagers’ prank, he bellows out the window onto the street, but there’s no sign of them. There’s no footprints in the snow either.

Then wham! A snowball hits him in the face.

“Give us legs!” Another snowball hits him, but this hits harder, sharper. Inside is a stone.

As blood trickles down from his scalp, he gapes at the army of snowmen who are gathering more weapons.

What happens next is up to you…Let your imagination run wild!

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🌟 Weekly Post Roundup

Carnage House Issue 10 – Splatterpunk & Extreme Horror Call

Carnage House is open for Issue 10, seeking splatterpunk and extreme horror! 💀🩸

🗓️ Submission windows:

• DIED window (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled authors): Opens Dec 1, 2025

• General submissions: Dec 14, 2025 – Jan 14, 2026

📏 Word count: 500–5,500 words

💵 Payment: $5

They want wild, plot-driven horror with real characters and emotional impact, plus pro-LGBTQIA+ and pro-BIPOC themes.

Details and full guidelines on Horror Tree:

Brink Literary – Chaos Themed Hybrid Submissions (Jan 2026)

Brink Literary Magazine is open Jan 1–31, 2026 for hybrid and cross-genre work on the theme of Chaos 🌪️


🧷 Hybrid / cross-genre, any length

🧷 Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, visual/literary mixes

💸 Pay (USD): $25–$100 depending on form/length


Details via Horror Tree:

Cosmic Horror Monthly – Weird & Cosmic Fiction Call (Jan 2026)

Cosmic Horror Monthly is open Jan 1–7, 2026 for weird and cosmic horror under 5,000 words. 🌌

💵 Pay: 3¢/word (USD)

💻 Submit via Moksha

🚫 No reprints or AI work

Details via Horror Tree:

Solarpunk Magazine – January 2026 Call for Submissions

Solarpunk Magazine is open Jan 1–14, 2026 for hopeful, future-focused work about defiance, change, and achievement. 🌱

Accepting:

• Fiction: 1,500–7,500 words – $0.08/word, $100 min

• Poetry: Up to 3 pages – $40

• Nonfiction: 1,000–2,000 words – $75

• Cover art: $100 reprints / $200 original

• Interior art: $50 reprints / $100 original

No AI-created or AI-altered work.

Details:

Three-Lobed Burning Eye – Spec Fic Call (Jan 2026)

Three-Lobed Burning Eye is open Jan 1–16, 2026 for original speculative fiction with strong narrative voices.

👁️ Horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction

📏 500–7,499 words

💵 Pay: $0.08/word (USD) + contributor copy

🚫 No reprints, simsubs, or AI-assisted work

Details via Horror Tree:

Dark Age Press – Fantasy & Sci-Fi Novel Submissions (Jan 2026)

Dark Age Press is open Jan 1–31, 2026 for science fiction and fantasy novels.

📏 Completed, unpublished novels 90,000+ words

💰 Advance: $500–$2,000, plus royalties & copies

📚 Indie press focused on SFF & literary fiction

🤖 No self-pub, no AI-generated work

Details via Horror Tree:

Thanks for reading!

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