Category Archives: Horror Stories
34 ORCHARD ISSUE 9 IS HERE!
The twenty-one artists in 34 Orchard Issue 9 examine all aspects of waiting: its ups and downs, its held-breath nature, its power. A dead girl languishes instead of going towards the light and a predator banks on his next meal. One mother is driven to pursue a reunion with her daughter, another’s moment for revenge finally arrives, and generations of sons resist—yet compulsively anticipate—the inevitable. A frozen town dreads its death knell. An angry specter prays for her misery to have company, while spirits trapped in the brick and mortar of a bridge wait for nothing more than the next passer-by.
Sooner or later, the waiting’s over, but when we finally get what we want, was it everything we’d imagined? At the end of it, was it really worth it—or did it turn out to be the beginning of yet another long wait for something else? Find out and get your copy at this link today!
Once again, the ToC:
Cover Art: When the Light Dies – Keith Molden
D-Day – Norie Suzuki
Revenge – Dan B. Fierce
Lake Effect – Jason P. Burnham
There – L.T. Ward
First Day Jitters – Donna J.W. Munro
Humans Suppress and History Reveals – Sonali Roy
The Man in the Gray Suit – Fariel Shafee
You Have Summoned a Demon – Ray Daley
Search Underway for Missing Submarine Bringing Tourists to Titanic – John Jeffire
Stillbirth – Jaclyn Eccesso
Suyuntu – Christine Lajewski
Skyline – Jennifer Fanning
Hot on the Trail – Josh Schlossberg
The Seduction – Elizabeth Falcon
Halloween Notes from Bloody Mary of the Philippines– Caroline Hung
The Ghosts at Yazá Bridge – Andrea Ferrari Kristeller
Family Heirloom – Christopher Emmerson-Pace
Last Stop – Brenna Monaghan Behel
Eleven Ways the World Could End – Jack Powers
Unidentified Climbing Object – Angelique Fawns
IT’S RELEASE DAY!! 34 ORCHARD ISSUE 8 is here!
It’s release day for 34 Orchard Issue 8! You can head here to get the PDF: https://34orchard.com/issue-8/
(Issues are free, but donations are appreciated).
A clown questions his actions during the Hartford Circus Fire, a woman spends hours calling for the missing, and a man’s unsettled conflict with his brother rents his world in two. A dog mommy may fail at making the ultimate choice and an uncertain slaughterhouse worker may end up without one. In Issue 8, twenty-four artists ponder the dangers in unanswered questions, and the effects on us when things are left unresolved. Once again, our Table of Contents: Read the rest of this entry
Announcing 34 ORCHARD’s Table of Contents for Issue 8, Autumn 2023 – Coming November 10!
I’m thrilled to announce 34 Orchard’s Autumn 2023 issue’s Table of Contents!
Teeming with unreliably-narrated ghost stories, Issue 8 includes many burgeoning and experienced voices as well as special surprises. We’re privileged to bring you a brand new tale by Read the rest of this entry
34 ORCHARD ISSUE 7 HAS BURST ONTO THE SCENE!
IT’S RELEASE DAY!! I’m thrilled to announce that 34 Orchard ISSUE 7 is here! Heralding the coming of spring and the concept of the fresh start, Issue 7 has another winner from Nigeria’s Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí (Issue 1’s “Christmas Chicken,” about which we STILL get mail!) and a few other 34O alums, as well as work by others familiar and brand-new.
Plunging into the visceral rip tides of lost love, medieval history, personal agency, folklore, witchcraft, grief, motherhood, and so much more—and rendered in everything from magical realism to soft science fiction, horror, and literary—there’s something for every taste!
Get your free copy here: https://34orchard.com/issue-7/
Once again, our ToC:
Cover Art: Optic Nerve – Page Sonnet Sullivan
An Old Romantic – Mark Towse
Little Monster – Elin Olausson
The Doe – Brandon McQuade
Wildfire – Alexandra Provins
The Flute – Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí
The Perimeter of Others – Marie-Andrée Auclair
Simulacrum Vehemens – Remo Macartney
Twenty Birthdays with You – Karen Cline-Tardiff
Penelope Learns to Weave a Double Helix – Shelly Jones
The Squealing – McLeod Logue
Where’s Lucy? – W.T. Paterson
The Procedure – Jeff Adams
poisoned earth – Corey Niles
There Is No Tomorrow – David H. West
The Triple G – Gregory Jeffers
I Once Worked There – Christian Hanz Lozada
The Last Day – Elaine Pascale
The Choice – Jenna Moquin
With the Turbulent Flow … – Angi Shearstone
The Shrine of Saint Amandus – Rex Burrows
How to Make a Vase – Kieran Thompson
Announcing the ToC for 34 ORCHARD ISSUE 7, SPRING 2023 – Coming April 25!
I’m thrilled to announce the Table of Contents for 34 Orchard Issue 7, Spring 2023! Heralding the coming of spring and the concept of the fresh start, Issue 7 has another winner from Nigeria’s Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí (Issue 1’s “Christmas Chicken,” about which we STILL get mail!) and a few other 34O alums, as well as work by others familiar and brand-new.
Plunging into the visceral rip tides of lost love, medieval history, personal agency, folklore, witchcraft, grief, motherhood, Read the rest of this entry
We’re still making decisions — and announcing our SPRING 2023 Cover!
We haven’t made our final selections for the Spring 2023 issue of 34 Orchard yet–we’re finishing those up in the next few weeks. HOWEVER, I’M THRILLED TO SHOWCASE OUR COVER, featuring Optic Nerve by Page Sullivan. We’re only three months away from release!
I wanted to take a moment, also, to thank all of our supporters–writers who send in work, those who donate, our reading volunteers, those who have jumped in to save my ass whenever I’ve needed it, and our incredibly loyal readers. When I founded this publication back in 2019, I was going to be happy if I just had a little magazine that ten of my friends read. Never would I have dreamt that so many people would read and enjoy it. It has completely blown past all of my expectations, and we plan to continue to deliver quality experiences for many issues to come.
PERFECT STOCKING STUFFER! “Sea Legs” available in Lovecraftian Microfiction Vol. 8!
How CUTE is this tiny book on a Christmas tree?
I’m thrilled to announce that my piece, “Sea Legs,” is now available in Lovecraftian Microfiction Volume 8!
“Sea Legs” is one of thirteen winners in the 2022 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon Microfiction Contest, and the collection makes the perfect stocking stuffer (tiny trim size is so cute too!!). It’s also two books in one, with Tales from the Tainted Inkwell—stories from the past that are out of print, including by cosmic favorites Cody Goodfellow and Peter Rawlik—on its flipside.
In “Sea Legs”: On a North Sea island, villagers are grateful for what the sea goddess gives—until what She tries to take in return may force one of them to go to unusual extremes. I was trying my hand at a cosmic/folk horror blend, something about which I learned at this year’s Necronomicon in Providence, RI in August.
Fill a stocking, put it under the tree, or treat yourself. You can get it here:
Yay! My short story “Let the Rain Settle It” accepted for HUSH, DON’T WAKE THE MONSTER—Stephen King homage anthology!
So excited to announce that my short story, “Let the Rain Settle It” has been accepted for publication in Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster—A Women in Horror Anthology containing stories inspired by Stephen King but with a female spin!
“Let the Rain Settle It” is an homage to Stephen King’s “Rainy Season,” which I read in the early 1990s and has haunted me ever since. Here’s the introduction I penned for my submission:
Why I chose Stephen King’s “Rainy Season”
It’s been said the experience of a story is different for each reader, because it depends on what that person brings to the table. I didn’t read Stephen King’s “Rainy Season” until it was reprinted in his 1993 Nightmares & Dreamscapes collection, but of all the pieces I’d read of his, this is the one that stuck. As a starry-eyed twenty-two year old who was, at the time, blissfully unaware she was engaged in a toxic relationship, I connected most with the subtle clues King presents about the broken young couple heading toward not just physical demise, but eventual emotional disaster if they did survive. While John and Elise aren’t the focus of King’s narrative—the spotlight, as always, shines on unsettling Mainers—they’re clearly in a place where the ordinary drudge of life and its reactionary transgressions have squelched the blush of love and romance. The blinders are off, they see each other for who they really are, and it’s not pretty.
While it’s been accused of being too similar to Jackson’s “The Lottery,” and a “time passer,” “Rainy Season” isn’t just another folk horror tale or creature feature. It’s a warning that the killer toads of life are always at your romantic door, and sometimes, it’s just better to let them in.
I’m so excited and honored my story was chosen for this unique project, and I can’t wait to read everyone else’s stories! Watch this space for pre-order and ToC announcement—Hush will be released March 2, 2023!
