🚨 We close our general submission in ONE WEEK! 🚨 Which also means in one week we open up for our annual July call for ghost stories only!!

Thanks for a great #HorrorWritersChat, Eryn. Guess what I just posted for #PrideMonth? It's my featured story for The #ShadowBoxArchives. You can read what it's about in the post below. Also, I just got through rewatching #DeathNote, so article incoming (1/2) bsky.app/profile/rose...

Thanks for the Chat this week, Eryn! Got me thinking about a story I thought was way on the back burner. For this week's promo: my new novella, Funny Taste, is now available for preorder: a.co/d/0aMyXiEa You can read a teaser for it here: www.patreon.com/arcdirective... #HorrorWritersChat

If those spotted, whimsical mushrooms form circles for similarly delightful fairies, then a deadly ring of mold might be a sign of a more malevolent variety. #Horrorwriterschat

🪓 Open call: *Spoon Knife Issue 11* Theme: REMNANTS Seeking speculative fiction, literary fiction, memoir, and poetry exploring what survives after the dust settles. 💰 $30 + $0.01/word 📖 Up to 10,000 words 📅 July 31 deadline horrortree.com/taking-submi... #WritingCommunity

#HorrorWritersChat Q2: I've actually been pondering this very idea for a novella. The way I see it, people already think some tiny things are scary. Hornets. My fairies are highly intelligent semi-humanoid hornets. Think murder hornets that can plot and want to steal babies.

...but not when expected. A child missing for 20 years returned just the same. Not aged a day. #Horrorwriterschat

#HorrorWritersChat Hmm… my first thought was body horror with them taking over people by invading their brains and controlling them like a parasite… But also like the idea of taking the name stealing aspect and applying it to social media. Bring about the end times through online posts.

Their size makes them hard to keep out and keep track of, like a pest. #Horrorwriterschat

Tom here with supernatural horror! If we have to use iron to keep fae folk away, there must be something threatening about them. #HorrorwritersChat

Calling all horror writers: I know it's almost closed, but I just found it, and I HAVE to share! Jurassic Ghosts is accepting paranormal stories themed around the Canadian province of Alberta, fossils, and paleontology. Up to 7500 words, pays $50 CAN, closes June 30 horrortree.com/taking-submi...

My local library hosts an amazing writer's group for workshoping and fellowship. Social media efforts like HorrorWritersChat are great, too. It means a lot to get honest feedback from writers you enjoy.

I've read that if it weren't for The Exorcist, The Mephisto Waltz could have been a part of the old unholy trinity of horror stories decades ago. Maybe a fresh adaptation would remind people of what could have been. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat Angela Carter never gets enough love. I love magical realism and she paints it DAAAAARRRRK

Poe. Right to the original influence. Gothic horror, maybe next door to the House of Usher. #HorrorWritersChat

Collaborations with those who have gone before. Q3: #HorrorWritersChat - Which dead horror creator would you want to collab with? Why? What would you create together?

I have a character named "Ricky from Dallas." His first appearance was as a corpse. That corpse made an impression on me, so I've decided to see what he was like in life. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWriter I have posted recently, check out my review of the #Backrooms. Thanks, and happy reading. (2/2) shadowboxarchives.com/2026/06/03/t...

Check out this entire thread to fill your summer days with chills and thrills. The wonderful folx of #HorrorWritersChat have so much going on!

Thanks for another delightful #horrorwriterschat @marywyrd.bsky.social ! I'd like to promote a friend's book that just came out: Bullets and Balloons: Crime, Culture, and Comic Book History by Dale Berry . Has some horror in there too. Nonfiction. #horrorwriterschat

What fun, Mary! Thank you! Read the story D.J. MacHale described as sounding “crazy fun!” And that Jonathan Maberry called mind bending! NOSTALGIAMARES: Phantom Delivery! www.amazon.com/Phantom-Deli... #HorrorWritersChat

Thanks for another great #HorrorWritersChat Since we talked so much about resurrection, and vampires, I'll share this story about a strange grave in the middle of the woods. The inhabitant of which may not be resting so peacefully. Stay Spooky, everybody ko-fi.com/post/The-Gra...

#HorrorWritersChat Thanks for hosting!!! Nothing really to promote, but I'll add a link to my pinned with a list of my projects bsky.app/profile/spoo...

I'm Tom! I write supernatural horror, and I don't want to he buried in a Pet Semetery. #HorrorWritersChat

I'm not sure I have. Maybe an idea will morph over time and grow in a way that I wasn't expecting, but I don't think I've ever added an unused plot to a different, new story. Though, The Sunday Family Farm did start out in a different story, then expanded into it's own thing #HorrorWritersChat

Horror Writers of BlueSky. Come share your thoughts, your faves, and your work while chatting with fellow horror writers at #HorrorWritersChat The theme: Resurrection. Vampires. Revivals. Zombies. The Dearly Departed. Reboots. #AmWriting #HorrorSky #AuthorSky #IndieAuthor 🩸📚 💙📚

"If Night is a case study in how people behave in a crisis, Day is a case study in what happens when the crisis grows humdrum, when all that’s left to really squabble over is what the few remaining survivors will do with their time." It's amazing what people can accept as "normal" after a while.

Happy Bloomsday!

There's only one correct way to handle a plot hole in your story...keep digging and make it bigger! 🌕🐕🕳️ There's just TWO WEEKS LEFT to submit your flash fiction! The theme for June is SUN DOGS & MOON DOGS 🪐🌟 You have until the end of the month to submit! www.patreon.com/apexbookcomp...

TAILS OF TERROR is open for submissions. 🐍👁️ Seeking grounded 1970s animal horror tied to Rosco’s Pet Emporium. 🩸 Creature horror 🕯 Psychological dread 🦠 Infestation & paranoia 📚 4,000-6,000 words 💰 $25 + contributor copy 📅 Dec. 1, 2026 horrortree.com/taking-submi... #Horror #CreatureHorror

OTHERSIDE is open for Autumn 2026 submissions. 🌈✨ Seeking: 🚀 Science fiction 🧙 Fantasy 👻 Horror 🌌 Slipstream 💰 8¢/word fiction 💰 $50/poem 📚 500–4,000 words 📅 July 1–21 horrortree.com/taking-submi... From @othersidespec.bsky.social #QueerFiction #SpeculativeFiction

Introducing @darkertimes.bsky.social - a new worker-owned website for cultural criticism about all things horror! www.darkertimes.com

Great news. Crystal Lake Publishing now publishes original fiction on our website! Just check under the books > short fiction category on our menu. These will be the winners of our Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. The first two stories are up: www.crystallakepub.com/original-sho...

Excellent questions! If you can bear it, I’ll be on the radio this Saturday, talking about horror, and writing, and writing about horror. Tune in, nod off, etc. hannahkate.net/north-manche...

The genuine surprise or moody atmosphere of some Poe stories would be wonderful to experience for the first time again. #HorrorWritersChat

I'd like to pass on sequels for now because I'm eager to blaze new trails today. That influence will still show up, even if it's not at the center of the story. #HorrorWritersChat

Not just IT, but reading Stephen King showed me how valuable it can be to take it slow with the characters and really get to know them. Even a glimpse at the lives of minor characters makes the world richer. #HorrorWritersChat

I'm Max, I write dark, liminal stories of the uncanny that fall in between horror, fantasy, and reality. I would have to go for Bram Stoker's Dracula, for showing me that horror literature could be far more than jump scares: seductive, melancholic, moving, and atmospheric. #HorrorWritersChat

Tom here with supernatural horror! For nostalgia, I loved how the IT remake relt so much like an '80s adventure. #HorrorWritersChat

We highly recommend this book of horror poems by @pedroiniguez.bsky.social. THE BUILD A MONSTER WORKSHOP explores the monstrous in various forms, from creatures lurking in shadows to the demons that live within us. Get it from @rdspress.bsky.social or your favorite online book sellers!

Happy World Dracula Day to all who celebrate a true connoisseur of travel, architecture, and nightlife!

THE BOOK OF DEMONS is open for submissions. 👁️🔥 Seeking horror & dark fantasy stories about: 😈 demons & daemons 🕯 possession 📜 infernal folklore 💀 supernatural entities 💰 SFWA rates 📚 Preferred: 3,000-4,000 words 📅 Deadline: June 7, 2026 horrortree.com/taking-submi... #Horror #DarkFantasy

Only nine days left to submit your short story, essay, or cover art for our upcoming summer issue! 🔗⏬ #sff #scifi #fantasy #horror #weirdfiction

Thinking about the consent, autonomy, and personhood that have come up today, here's a set-up: Signing up for the trial is the last autonomous decision you get to make. #HorrorWritersChat

It warned there may be minor side effects with or without my consent, so I checked "No." The ink wouldn't show until I finally checked "Yes," but I had given up. That didn't matter. When I turned to leave, the door was gone. #HorrorWritersChat

Chairs lay haphazard on the empty waiting room floor, a consent form at my feet. I noticed my name at the bottom. Exhaling, I was aware of an appalling stench. I choked as I read the minor side effects. Halitosis. Just breathe, I thought, then stopped myself ... Catch 22. #HorrorWritersChat

"Wait, didn't I fill out this form?" "Yes." "Why am I doing it again?" "It's a minor side effect? The form." "This form is a minor side effect?" "Yup. Please fill this out." "Damn it. I just did." "Right. Minor side effect." "Is this ever going to end?" "That's the major effect." #HorrorWritersChat

I actually rarely use gore - it's a sense of emotional/physical/social entrapment that gets me. I. A medical context, this is so often tied up in not being seen as fully human, or human at all. Take trans healthcare, and healthcare for trans people, for example... #HorrorWritersChat

Making medical horror work starts with making it relatable. Start with what folks already experience: Jargon. Ignored pain. Strange symptoms. Remind them with sights, sounds, feelings. Make it real. Then twist the scalpel. Make it weird. Weirder. And nobody believes them... #HorrorWritersChat