**UPDATE: Submissions now Closed** SPLIT SCREAM is open for NOVELETTE submissions

SPLIT SCREAM NOVELETTE SERIES SUBMISSIONS: OPEN January 17 - January 31

SPLIT SCREAM has a new home at Tenebrous Press!

Editor Alex Ebenstein is seeking novelette length weird horror stories for SPLIT SCREAM: A Novelette Double Feature. Each book in the series will contain two stories from different authors. The goal is to provide an outlet for that “hard-to-sell” length of story, as well as give more individual exposure to authors in a multi-author setting. Remember Split Albums/EPs that the music industry used to do? Kind of like that.

Submit your novelette! Here are the deets:

Word Count: 10.000 to 20.000

Payment: Modest advance + Industry standard royalties

Reprints: No

Simultaneous Submissions: Yes

Genre: New Weird Horror. Wanna know what that means, and what floats our boat? Read this.

Target Age Group: Mature Audiences

Rights: World English first rights in print, electronic, and ebook, and a three-year exclusivity period. All copyright belongs to the author.

Submissions portal here.

SPLIT SCREAM Volume Four is out now!

SPLIT SCREAM has a new home at Tenebrous Press! Editor Alex Ebenstein brings his acclaimed split-novelette series back for a fourth round featuring:

Nonsense Words by D. Matthew Urban

An aging professor of ancient history strikes up a friendship with her new colleague, Dr. Paul Duncan, a scholar of undecipherable inscriptions. As she finds herself drawn into Dr. Duncan's life—his brilliant wife and mystical daughters, frightened students and uncanny associates—darker forces behind his research emerge, plunging her into a nightmare of mythical absurdity and ritualistic death. Dark academia meets cosmic horror in Nonsense Words, where the incomprehensible is granted a conjured form—but too much imagination can be a dangerous thing. If the cosmos is nonsense, merely a divine or demonic joke, will she live to have the last laugh, or will she die a punchline?

Bone Light by Holly Lyn Walrath

An icy surf batters Bone Light as its beacon calls to weary souls at sea. This edifice built of bone and wretchedness sits atop a cursed rock, surrounded by death, watched over by the ghosts of light-keepers past. Their records tell of the inhospitable environment, but it is Mary Long’s writings that show the heart. Misfortune necessitates the arrival of her dear Ida, laying bear to the obstacles that shaped their history—a husband and taboo among them. These log entries illuminate Mary’s world—the banality, the heartbreak, the magic. In Bone Light, a beacon of death might finally be the thing to give life to a long-denied romance.

Cover art by Evangeline Gallagher.

Interior illustrations by Echo Echo.

Purchase SPLIT SCREAM print edition.

Purchase SPLIT SCREAM eBooks.

THE BLACK LORD by Colin Hinckley is out now!

THE BLACK LORD

by

Colin Hinckley

OUT NOW

“Combine Shirley Jackson’s haunted claustrophobia, Stephen King’s nail-biting plots, and the cosmic otherworld-horror of Stranger Things, and you get one wholly original Colin Hinckley. Spend a few hours in [his] mind, and I guarantee you’ll be drawing the curtains tight for weeks.” - GennaRose Nethercott, author of Thistlefoot

Eddie’s parents may be arguing about the disappearance of his infant brother Danny, but Eddie’s facing a terror all of his own. There’s a strange figure outside that claims it has Danny safe and sound—all Eddie needs to do to get his brother back is open that window. 

Eddie’s father is filled with guilt over his relationship with his own lost brother. His mother has been abandoned to navigate her grief and terror alone. And his grandmother carries a disturbing, all-too-relevant truth about their shared family history. 

As minutes tick by and hope for Danny grows ever smaller, the very fabric of their world disintegrates, welcoming eldritch terrors of unspeakable provenance to their doorstep. The family is losing a decades-long struggle against an entity that is not of this world, and its hunger threatens to swallow them whole.

“A deeply moving, horrifying fairy tale, woven from grief, sorrow, and monsters. Full of characters you will relate to—even when you wish you didn't—The Black Lord will leave you broken.” - Jessica Leonard, author of Conjuring the Witch 

“The Black Lord brings to mind a low-lit tavern; you there with your drink, overhearing the hushed talk from a nearby table. Start this book at dusk, within view of a tree line. Feel something stare back. This is my first Hinckley, but it won’t be my last.” - Scott J. Moses, author of Our Own Unique Affliction

Cover art by Matt Blairstone.

Interior illustrations by Echo Echo.

BUY THE BLACK LORD HERE.

Submissions Open: The BRAVE NEW WEIRD Awards volume 2!

Art by Matt Blairstone

REMINDER: THIS IS FOR ELIGIBLE REPRINTS ONLY

Tenebrous Press presents the SECOND YEAR of the Brave New Weird Awards—to reward and further this unique blend of genres—and its accompanying Brave New Weird: the Best New Weird Horror of the Year VOLUME 2, showcasing the winners of the year, care of editor Alex Woodroe.

We define New Weird Horror as a Horror subgenre focused on progress, creatively capturing themes and questions that bleed into fiction straight from the modern reader's life and future. It acts as a challenge to break new ground in terms of form and content and to engage with the unknown. Beyond that, New Weird Horror will be defined by the winning pieces themselves.

Buzzwords: speculative; eclectic; horror-centric but genre-blended; progressive and innovative in terms of content, social themes, form, or voice; concept-driven.

Does this sound like your writing? Submit your previously published work to the New Weird Horror Awards today!

Disclaimer: 

TENEBROUS IS A YOUNG PRESS LOOKING TO HAVE FUN IN THE WORLD OF HORROR AND BUILD A COMMUNITY OF LIKE-MINDED PEERS. WE’RE NOT CLAIMING THIS AWARD WILL WOW YOUR DREAM AGENT OR SINGLE-HANDEDLY SELL YOUR BOOK. IT’S A WAY TO SHOWCASE REPRINTS THAT WE LOVE IN A GENRE THAT WE CARE ABOUT, AND GET THEM INTO THE HANDS OF MORE READERS—NO FUSS, NO LOBBYING, NO HIDDEN COSTS.

Eligibility: 

Any previously published piece of short fiction under 7.499 words originally published in the English language within the eligibility period.

You may submit NARRATIVE poems only; poems will be judged on their storytelling.

Stories published in other languages are welcome if there is an English translation available.

Reprints of stories originally published before the eligibility period are not eligible.

Any work published through Tenebrous Press is not eligible. We already think you're awesome, regardless.

Previous year’s winners are not eligible this year. Nominees are eligible.

If you are unsure of the genre of your story, as long as it’s dark, speculative, and eligible, send it in.

Eligibility period: 

Works published between the 31st of October 2022 and the 31st of October 2023 will be considered for the Best New Weird Horror of 2022. 

Simply: If it's published before Halloween, it competes for this year's award. If it's published after Halloween, it competes for next year's award.

Final submission deadline for this year's award: November 1st, 2023. Send ARCS if necessary to get the submission in on time.

Response: 

as this is an award, there will not be any rejection notices. 

Instead, if we want to award & feature a story, we will reach out to the author. There will be a published shortlist, and the shortlisted works that don’t end up being featured will still be mentioned & advertised in the anthology. Final decisions will be made before the end of the year.

Results:

Selected authors will be asked to sign a non-exclusive contract allowing their reprint to be featured. 

A reprint payment of $25 + two paperback copies + one award certificate will be given to the selected authors.

How to submit: 

Submit individual short stories as a link or as a .doc or .docx

ANYONE may submit up to five stories. Readers, editors, and the authors themselves are all welcome to submit

***UPDATE*** Anyone submitting on behalf of authors other than oneself is allowed to double the number of submissions. Due to increased interest and participation from editors and readers wanting to submit a wide range of authors, we’ve decided to update this rule and foster that spirit of support and community. ***UPDATE***

Electronic submissions only. Submit your work via our handy form here, using a new form for each story.

Authors: Be sure your contract stipulates you are allowed to participate in Best Of anthologies, or ask permission from your publisher BEFORE submitting. 

Publishers/editors: Be sure your authors give you permission to submit their work before submitting.

Readers: Do your best to fill out all the data, but rest assured that we will look for whatever is missing. Please don’t feel discouraged from nominating works just because you don’t have all the info.

Other rules: 

You may speak about this award, submitting to this award, and being shortlisted for this award, in any way you like. 

You may have multiple submissions of the same author/publisher; up to five (see above).

If we missed anything, drop us a line or DM!

***SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN.***