Announcing the New Weird Horror Awards & The Best of New Weird Horror Vol. 1

The "New Weird Horror Award" & Best of New Weird Horror: Volume One Anthology

*FOR PUBLISHED WORKS ONLY*

The most exciting time for a genre is when it's defined or redefined, the scope of its themes taking shape before our eyes at the hands of those who engage with it. And that time, for New Weird Horror, is now.

Tenebrous Press presents the inaugural New Weird Horror Awards—to reward and further this unique blend of genres—and its accompanying Best of New Weird Horror anthology series, showcasing the winners of each 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.

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 don’t claim 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 piece of short fiction under 15,000 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, or edited by Alex Woodroe or Matt Blairstone, is not eligible. We already think you're awesome, regardless.

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 1st of November 2021 and the 31st of October 2022 will be considered for Best of New Weird Horror: Volume 1.

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: October 31st, 2022. Send ARCS if necessary to get the submission in on time.

Response: 

We will not send out rejections for this project. Rather, if we want to feature your story, we will reach out to you. There will be a published shortlist, and the shortlisted works that don’t end up being featured will still be mentioned and advertised in the anthology. Final decisions made before the end of calendar year 2022.

How to submit: 

Submissions will open in 2022. Submit whole books or individual works. Electronic submissions only. Submit your work via our handy form—TO BE RELEASED AT THE START OF 2022. Please be sure to correctly fill in the name of the publisher (if applicable), editor (if applicable), and venue where the work was originally published.

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.

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

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.

Questions? Did we miss anything? Drop us a line!

Novella Submissions are open!

Tenebrous Press is seeking Novella submissions until November 30th, 2021. 

Please follow these guidelines to the letter, as this will serve as our first round of cuts. 

Tenebrous embraces the notion of NEW WEIRD HORROR. We love stories that are proudly Pulp but not easily constrained by a single genre. We go by gut feeling a lot.

Nuts and Bolts:

• Target word count : 25,000 - 40,000

• Target age group: Mature audiences

What Gives Us the Creeps (in the best ways!):

• Brave, relentless Horror stories that start with a punch to the sternum and don’t let up.

• Weird Cosmic, Folk Horror, Cult Creeps, Escape Rooms, Body Horror, and anything else you can think of that's fresh and sufficiently Weird

• Genre splicing. Nod to the past; embrace progress.

• Break our hearts and quease our stomachs in one go.

• The Fantastic grounded in Real World Evil. Reality gets as ugly as any Horror story.

• Rich characterization. Buried secrets. Drama. Ethical and moral dilemmas. Philosophy and theology. Crisis and identity.

Due to our limited resources as a small press, please be certain your work has been critiqued, edited, and proofed to the best of your ability. If it isn't polished within a hair of final form: do not submit now (and don't panic! We'll be doing this again soon.)

We aim to reply to each submission within two weeks; barring that, you will hear from us within two weeks of the window closing at the very latest.

To submit your work, follow this link.

In Somnio ARCs available now for Reviewers, Bloggers, Critics and Destructors!

Plus a note on Content Warnings; read on…

If you review book media and would like to read a copy of IN SOMNIO ahead of its November release date, please message us via our Contact form or at tenebrouspress@gmail.com.

A quick note on IN SOMNIO’s Content Warnings:

This work of fiction contains scenes that may be triggering to some audiences. Being Gothic Horror, some violence and death are to be expected. If you have any further concerns, please check the list of stories below for specific potential triggers:

Wild Thing: statutory rape

What We Sow: suicide

Self Storage: mental illness, homophobia

Junk Soul: alcoholism

A House Without Ghosts: mental illness, domestic violence

After the Apples: alcoholism

IN SOMNIO: A Chat with writer Mary Rajotte

A resident of Toronto, Canada, Mary Rajotte has a penchant for penning nightmarish tales of folk horror and paranormal suspense, exploring mythology & superstition. Her work has been published in Shroud Magazine, and in anthologies from the Library of Horror Press, The Great Lakes Horror Company, Fabled Collective and Burial Day Books.

IN SOMNIO editor Alex Woodroe spoke with Mary about Toronto and horror.

***

AW: Does your story touch on anything personal to you?

MR: I didn’t set out to write anything personal but I found when I wrote the scene with Hannah and her Pa, it was indirectly about my own Dad. I started calling him Pa when I was younger and watched a lot of Little House on the Prairie, and it’s a nickname I called him even into adulthood. He passed away in 2001, and I didn’t see him at the end, but I realized the scene with Hannah was inadvertently about me…

AW: What other inspiration did you have?

MR: Most of my stories are in the folk horror realm so it wasn’t difficult to find tree lore to inspire this story. The initial seed came from the idea that some people believed in planting a new tree for each child born in the family. From there, I added my Gothic flair along with the emotional core of what my main character would do when faced with something that would threaten her world. I’d like to think I managed to bring a macabre, isolated mood to the piece.

AW: Is Toronto supportive of horror writers and indie presses? Does it ever influence your writing?

MR: There is definitely a rich horror scene here in Toronto, with many authors who like to walk on the dark side. I wrote a book with a punk rock Reaper set in Toronto and a number of local landmarks, bars and other locales make an appearance. I think living here has definitely influenced my writing—even my folk horror stories, which mostly take place in small towns, is influenced by city living and the fascination of those out-of-the-way places and what might be lurking in the shadows there.

AW: Do you have any specific formative memories that roped you into Gothic fiction?

MR: I took a Writer’s Craft course in high school around the same time I was really into Anne Rice. Our main project at the end of the year was to present a study on themes in the works we read and to write a story inspired by our chosen author. It was a really cool way to explore not just the writing but the themes in the work. I found a lot of Ancient Egyptian details in Anne’s work, which is probably where my fascination for mummies started, too.  

AW: Did you ever embrace the Goth culture? Carry a parasol? Do you still? If not, what was your teen ‘scene’?

MR: Oh for sure! I was the girl in high school with purple hair wearing fishnet tights to school and getting my nose pierced. I still have the purple hair. And the nose ring. I could use some new tights, though ;)

AW: Why Horror? Are you and Horror exclusive, and if not, what else do you flirt with?

MR: As I said earlier, I’m a fanatic about folk horror, superstition and folklore. I find those old wives’ tales and folk tales fascinating, not just the strange beliefs but how they influence people. Those underlying suspicions and fears are a fertile breeding ground for unsettling tales, my favorite thing to write.

AW: Where can people see more of your past/upcoming work?

MR: All updates on my current & upcoming projects can be found on my website. I’ll have a half dozen new stories coming out in the next few months so it’s a very exciting time and a culmination of months of sending out my work until it found the right home. I also have a Patreon where I post behind-the-scenes tidbits on my writing process and share story inspiration.

***

IN HER OWN WORDS:

A selection from Mary’s “The Blight of Black Creek” is below; watch and then click here to support the IN SOMNIO campaign on Kickstarter!