HOH Duel Round 6

Here it is. Sorry its a week late, we've all been really ill here and I don't just mean me and the kids LOL. BOth my neighbours are sick, my friend who takes my daughter school everyday - her kids are sick and her 4 month old baby has swine flu! My kids dad has been sick with a chest infection and both his mom and dad have swine flu.

Anyway, if you on't hear from me for a while its because Im trying to take some time away from the computer in a bid to build up some effort to do things. As of now I have zero energy and really cannot be boethered, and that is just wrong.

Running leader Jayradikill

V

Newbie Grim Squall

Can Jayradikill stick it out another week, or will Grim Squall shread in to pieces, all for the House Madams Goodies.

Who knows?

Two arrive, only one will leave. Who will it be? Only YOU can decide.

Who are YOU backing?

Save your Fav and vote now!

The Dungeon

Voting Ends Saturday 19th December

Introducing HOH's next Anthology...

Frightening Fables and Freaky Fairytales

Original Photography by Linda Manning

What I am looking for is stories such as Hansel and Gretal or Peter and the wolf but with a twist of horror. These stories don't need to have the morals within them at all just think about the horror element while keeping to the original Fable or Fairytale.

Stories from 500 words to no longer than 2000 words. I am looking at having about 30 stories in this book.

Official reading period begins 10th January but you can begin sending in your stories now.
Submission close when filled.

Acceptances/Rejections as I receive submissions.

Please send submissions to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com with 'FFFF' and the title of your story in the subject line. Include a short bio of around 100 words and be creative and unique. I don't want a list of your credits, just pick one or two you are most proud of.

Please paste your stories into the body of an email, single spaced, no indents and a hard return after paragraphs. Please indicate scene breaks with three stars with two spaces between each star * * *

Payment is $5 per story.

I am looking for ONE poem to open the anthology which will be paid $3. Please do not title your poem as if accepted it will be titled the same as th anthology.

Ok guys, have fun writing, I know you will!!

Wana earn some extra cash?

I can vouch that this is not a scam. I take part in two of these sites and make good money from this one and I earn vouchers from the other one. Its a great way to make just a litle extra funding, especially people like the most of us who aren't working but trying to fund our sites. Its easy to navigate and it pays via paypal or cheque. If you are interested in having a go then sign up here: Sign up here

Here it is:

Welcome to SquishyCash.com!!! We wanted to introduce you to the site and let you know about some VERY EXCITING things that are going on at SC right now! Getting Started: If you visit the How To page, all information in regards to getting started can be found there, including a link to our step by step visual tutorial. Making FREE Cash: You may be skeptical about how you can complete free offers and get paid for it, well here's the answer: Advertisers want exposure, and the more people they reach, the more money they make, and the larger their companies will grow. Some offers do require a monetary investment, such as product trials. While some trials are free, some cost a few bucks for shipping and handling. We also have shopping offers, where you actually get an item you want and in return we give you cash for purchasing it! What could be better than FREE cash?! When completing offers you'll receive both real money and casino chips. Legitimacy: We also know there are a lot of scams on the internet, this is why we have set up a proof of payment section within our forum. Check it out to give you peace of mind about our program. Why SquishyCash? Here are a few more reasons why SquishyCash is the BEST GPT (Get Paid To) site on the net: Contests & Promotions, Random Cash Promo Code, Monthly Loyalty Bonus, Huge Referral Program, Member Support, Quick Payments, Casino Chips, Squishy Slots and our Forum Community & Games! Contests & Promotions: We offer Daily, Weekly, and Monthly contests and promotions. On the Contests & Promotions page you will find a monthly of everything that's planned for the current month! We have given away over $50,000 since opening the site in March 2007 solely from contests and promotions! You are automatically eligible for all of our contests; all you have to do is complete offers! Random Cash Promo Code: SC offers a brand new $0.01 promo code that will appear randomly at least once every 15 minutes in the grey area above. Enter the code on the promo code page and have a chance at winning $0.01! The code is only good for the 1st person who enters it, so make sure you get it fast! This will be a good way to bump up your cashout! Monthly Loyalty Bonus: We also offer a loyalty bonus: Complete an offer (must be approved) everyday of the month and you'll receive your payment the 1st of the next month! Fee free!!! To check out further details of this monthly bonus click here. Huge Referral Program: Refer your friends and make CASH! When you refer a member to SquishyCash with your referral link, you will make 20% of their offer earnings, 5% of their referrrals earnings, and 2% of their referrals referrals earnings. Click here to view your personal referral links and banners. We also offer account upgrades, where you can catch blank referrals, so those members will be in your downline. Click here to purchase an account upgrade. Member Support: We pride ourselves in having amazing customer service! An account representative personally answers every email, support ticket, and forum post. You are the lifeblood of SquishyCash, so your success is our success! Never hesitate to contact us! Daily & Monthly Payments: We offer daily and monthly payments: All monthly payments are FEE FREE! If you'd like to receive a daily payment, your payment will be sent within 24 hours of cashing out! The only catch for daily payments is that we charge a 33% transaction fee. Casino Chips: When completing offers you'll receive both real money and casino chips. You can redeem these casino chips for cash, gift cards and other great prizes. Click here to visit the Prize Shop. Squishy Slots: We've introduced a brand new game to the site where you can win up to $100 per spin! We added 5 casino chips to your account when you signed up, so check out Squishy Slots now for your free spin! Forum Community & Games: We have a great, active, and thriving forum community. Join our forums and enjoy many great benefits: meet other SC members, ask questions, and participate in games! Check out the “Get Paid To Post” promotion. Make 3 posts a day and win a free casino chip! You'll find a daily trivia section on the forum where the top 15 trivia winners of the month win free casino chips! Click here to join our forum community today!

HoH's First Blog Talk Radio show

Call-in Number: (917) 889-7295

Upcoming Show: 30/11/2009 22:00

Host Name: House of Horror
Show Name: House of Horror 'The Lounge' with Author Alan Spencer in the Chair!

Blog Talk Radio Show

Length: 1 hr

Also on the show:

Shane McKenzie talking about the ruthless anthology
New openings for submission calls
A short story Reading
News on House of Horror
Discussion on Stephen King

Hope to see you all there!!

New Room at the House of Horror

Starting with Issue #8 House of Horror will be opening up a new room called 'The Gallery.'This will be a special room for stories and poems with illustrations to go with them. Either over an illustration or simply a piece of art that goes with it.Please send your submissions to the usual addresses

Short fiction under 2000 words to me (sam) horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com

Long Fiction 2-5000 words to Shane horrorhouse.coeditor@yahoo.com

Poetry to Charlotte horrorhouse.poetry_editor@yahoo.com

Please add the words 'Gallery submission' in the subject line and attach submission in rtf or jpeg, please nothing else or it will be returned un-read.

Sam

House of Horror Duel Round 4 winner!!!

Congratulations to The Atomizer for dethroning Dwight (The Fright) Patterson!!

The Atomizer will now take the lead and go up against Jayradikill.

Next Duel begins Tuesday 1st December.

Dwight is so far the longest running leader, so if no one else manages as many wins as he has by the end of the twelv weeks, Dwight will take away the Runner up prize and also begin the next Contest in 14 weeks time.

House of Horror Duel - Round Four has begun!

The ATOMIZER has threatened to dethrone Dwight so I say BRING IT ON!!

Dwight(The Fright) Patterson V The Atomizer!

This weeks prompt was Zombies. If you enjoy a good old zombie tale, give these two a read and vote for your favorite. Voting ends next Friday.

The Dungeon

Last Chance to vote, your vote could make all the difference SAVE YOUR FAV!!

Dwight (The Fright) Patterson our reigning champion versus fresh faced Wolverine.

Can Dwight stay on top, or is the duel just too much for him to take and hes beginning to flag?

Will Wolverine be able to take him down and out and take the lead?

Heads will roll, but whose will it be? Who are you backing?

Only YOU can decide.

Read and vote for your favorite story. Voting ends midnight next Tuesday.

The Dungeon

Would you like House of Horror to review your book?

House of Horror is always looking for new and exciting books to review. I have just finished my back log of books to read and Issue #7 will be reviewing two fantastic books that I highly recommend.

If you have a book you would like us to review (printed only please) Please send a query to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com

We not only write a review for your book to appear in the issue, but we add your book to our library with direct links where to purchase it.

I'm a little bored now and need something new and gruesome to read, be it wereworlves, vampires, ghosts, or psychological thrillers, send them along and I look forward to checking them out.

House of Horror Duel - Round Three!

Dwight (The Fright) Patterson our reigning champion versus fresh faced Wolverine.

Can Dwight stay on top, or is the duel just too much for him to take and hes beginning to flag?

Will Wolverine be able to take him down and out and take the lead?

Heads will roll, but whose will it be? Who are you backing?

Only YOU can decide.

Read and vote for your favorite story. Voting ends midnight next Tuesday.

The Dungeon

Chapter One of my NaNo story

Chapter One

“Feo, are you alright?” asked her mother walking into her daughter’s bedroom. It was morning and she had been woken by Feadora’s screams.

Feo opened her eyes to the sound of her mother’s concerned voice. The morning sun was peeking through the crack in the curtains. She watched the dust motes dancing in the ray of light letting her mind wonder to thoughts of cleaning her bedroom again, dusting especially.

“Yes, sorry I’m OK thanks mom,” she replied with a heavy sigh. “It was just a dream.”

“The same dream you’ve been having for a while?”

“No, no, this was a different one,” she lied, wiping her sweat drenched fringe from her face. “I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“OK, well, you're going to be late for work if you don't get up soon.”

Feadora nodded and stretched. Her mother left the room.

She lay there in her bed for a moment thinking about the dream. Her mother was right. It was the same dream that she had been having for a while now. It had been plaguing her her for several weeks and was beginning to impact on her life. The young girl in her dream was so terrified. Every dream was different but all had the same theme. A young kidnapped girl being tied up and tortured. Last nights dream hit a whole new level. She was sure the girl had been raped by her captor. Feo could almost feel her pain. Everytime she closed her eyes she was right back in that dark and dingy room with – him. She never once saw his face.

Trying to shake the images from her head, Feo sat up and swung her legs over the bed. Checking the clock she realised there was only an hour before she had to be at work, and raced to get in the shower. Work was in the local burger bar. Leaving school with virtually no qualifications had hit her life bad, and that was about the only job was hiring. Her mother had tried to convince her that re-sitting at college would be much more beneficial but Feo had decided the more money she could make, the quicker she could get out of this godforsaken town. In a small town like Cheslyn, everyone knew your business. There were no secrets.

Turning on the shower, Feo let the water run while hunting her bedroom for a clean uniform. The steam from the bathroom filled the landing and crept into the bedroom. Closing the wardrobe doors, Feo turned around and froze. As the steam from the bathroom swirled around her room, it began to take on the shape of a person. A girl, a young girl. It swirled around Feo, a voice echoing in her head.

Help me Feo, help me, please.

Feo screamed and waved her arms about her head, cutting through the steam, trying to make it go away. It filled the room until she couldn't see anything. Huddled on the floor she squeezed her eyes shut begging for the voice to go away.

“Feo, Feo, is everything alright?”

Feo slowly opened one eye and then the other. The steam had left her room but filled the landing outside her door.

“Feo, what the hell are you doing?” cried her mother racing up the stairs.

Clambering to her feet, Feo looked around the room. Had she fallen asleep and dreamt the whole thing? She could hear the shower running in the bathroom.

“I-I must have fallen asleep,” she stuttered, as she shakily headed for the bathroom. Her mother had beaten her to it and turn the shower off.

“Were you actually planning on taking a shower this morning?”

“Yeah, I was. But forget the shower, I'm going to be late.”

“Damn straight you are,” her mother stated angrily. “What were you doing?”

“Mum, not now, I have to get to work.” Feo walked back into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

“This isn't finished young lady,” cried her mother from the other side of the door. "Mark my words!”

Laying her uniform out on her bed, Feo began to get out of her pyjama's. She thought about the strange voice calling out to her. Was it at all connected to her dream? She had never heard that voice before. In her dreams the girl never spoke. Not even a whimper. It was as if she was mute. Surely these dreams didn't mean anything more than eating too much junk food late at night.
But there was no time to think about it, she had to get to work. Burgers needed to be flipped and money needed to be earned.

* * *

“Late again, Miss Banderaz,” said Mr Coslack, tutting and tapping his watch at the door. “That would make it three times this week.”

“I'm so sorry, Mr Coslack,” puffed Feo, rushing through the doors and ripping open her coat. She threw her ruck sack onto one of the tables and grapped an apron from behind the counter.

“And what have I told you about coming to work in your uniform? You get changed when you arrive Feadora, not before you leave the house. It is un-hygienic.”

“I know, I know. I got up late and thought it'd be quicker just to put it on and race on over here. It won't happen again Mr Coslack.”

Mr Coslack shook his head and sighed. He was a tolerant but firm man. He expected the rules to be followed, but believed that everyone makes mistakes. He had been tolerating Feo, ever since he had given her a job and there was only so much he could take.

“Feadora, this is happening way too often now. There are a hundred other kids who want this job and many that would do a much better job. But I know that you need the money so I am prepared to give you one last chance. Consider this your final warning.”

Feo, hung her head and nodded. She understood him all too well. He was a fair man and she had been messing up way too many times recently. At work and at home. She needed this job and was grateful to her boss for allowing her to prove to him she could work harder. She nodded and looped the apron over her head, tying it in a bow at her back.

“Now get to work.” He smiled and winked at Feo. She smiled back, grabbed her bag from the table and hurried into the staff room to put her things away in her locker.

* * *

Coslack Burger Bar, was central to the town of Cheslyn. Most of the kids from the two schools came here every lunchtime and many of the workers from the other shops near by. It didn't bother her that she waited on girls from her high school, that once looked up to her. It didn't even bother her that her mother and grandmother would often come in for a burger meal. What did bother Feo, was knowing that until she had enough money for her over sea's trip, she would spend every morning, noon and night, flipping burgers and salting fries and going home every night with her once beautiful blonde hair, stinking of smoke and grease. It was times like these, that she wished she hadn't goofed off so much at school, and actually knuckled down and studied. Maybe if she had gotten a few more qualifications, she may have been working a better job, paying more money and better prospects. Not that she would have stayed in the job for any length of time. As soon as she had enough for a round the world plane ticket and plenty of spending money, it would have been a case of 'goodbye job, goodbye mum, hello Hawaii!' At least in a better paid job, her dreams would realise much sooner. But no, she was destined to serve fat slobs who ate nothing but fast food, and snickering cliques of girls from her old school, laughing behind her back about how tragic the Famous Feadora Banderaz – school joker and detention queen, had become. Not that any of that mattered much anymore. If she didn't get her at together soon, she would once again be out of a job with no chance of getting a good reference.
Feo stood in front of the fryer, silently watching the round slabs of meat sizzle, the smoke rising and swirling around the kitchen. She thought about what had happened in her bedroom.

Help me Feo, help me, please!

The voice swirled around her head as did the smoke, until another voice, an angry one, broke through her thoughts.

“Hello? Can I order please?” an angry customer was shouting from the other side of the bar.

Samantha, one of the waitress's, walked into the kitchen clutching a bowl of rubbish under one arm. She was more of a bus girl, collecting the rubbish from the tables, but occasionally took the odd order. But today, Mr Coslack had put Feo on the till as well as the kitchen in an attempt to fire up her work attitude.

“Feo, aren't you serving today?” asked Samantha, dumping a load of empty coke cups and burger boxes into the bin. “You do realise you have a customer right?”

“I think everyone realises, his mouth is big enough,” she muttered under her breath.

Mr Coslack appeared in the door way to his office. He leaned up against the door frame and crossed his arms. Feo glanced at him then averted her eyes as she wiped her hands on her apron and moved to acknowledge the angry customer.

“Yes sir, what can I get you,” Feo asked through gritted teeth, a fake smile planted across her face.

“Some lunch before lunchtime is over, would be nice,” replied the man sarcastically.

“Sorry about that sir, I was just getting some burgers ready. Now, what would you like to order?”

NaNoWriMo 2009 is here!!

OK, so its day 2 of NaNoWriMo and I'm chugging on quite nicely. At 5350 words, I am above the daily target which I am happy about. The only thing, is finding the time to actually sit down and write. With kids and housework, and everything I have going on with House of Horror including the Duel and the Best of 2009 anthology, it is just so tiring! I managed it lasy year and sailed through it finishing my 50,000 word novel 'False Awakenings' in just 29 days, and I really pride myself on being able to do that. But last year I wasn't the Editor of an ezine growing in popularity. I didn't have 50+ submissions a month to go through etc.

I can see me getting about half way through and ending it there. I plan to at least make it half way through anyway and then even if I don't complete Nano this year, at least I will have something of Novella length that I can work with. I only have one completed novel to date and a few unfinished ones. It would be nice to see more of my work in print - something to show the kids when they are older, and definitely something to sell (Not that my first novel is doing oh so well!!)

So, all in all, I really should get back to it. The housework is done, the kids have been fed and watered and come bedtime, I will finally be able to sit down with a cheap glass of wine and stare blankly at the computer screen! No, seriously. I know what I have to write and after finishing off last night, I managed to set up my next scene and chapter quite well so I know I will manage at least another thousand words tonight if not more. But I am still working on another novel along with the stuff for House of Horror. I can't let NaNoWriMo get in the way of other more important priorities.

So, how are all my nano friends doing out there? Are you finding it hard to keep the momentum. Is the first day flow of writing beginning to slow already? Let me know how you are handling Nano with everyday life also.

Thats me done moaning for the day, off to start the bedtime routine with the kids. The earlier they go to bed, the earlier I can get to that glass of wine....

House of Horror Best Of 2009 Anthology

Stories:

The Ocean and my feet - Shells Walter
Little White Crosses - Kerry Morgan
The Making of Me - Chris Bartholomew
The Family - John Arthur Miller
Dead Love - Lucas Pederson
PussyKat - Allan Leverone
Neighbors - Angel Zapata
Theres always someone dying - Matt Baker
Scrabbled - Steve E. Lowe
Out of Order - Linda Evans
A New Way of Being - Davin L. Kimble
Acceleration - Natalie L. Sin
The Magnificent Maggot Face - Neil Buchanan
On The Third Day - Graeme Reynolds
A Job at the Blood Bank - Scott Wilson
The Cat Called Follow Me - Sean Greenhill
The Haunted - C.A. Dawson
Deadly Climax - Donna Jean Lyons
Getting Any Bites? - Shane McKenzie
The Waiting Room - Seve Mazy
Road Map - Chad McKee
Cicadas - Annemarie Boggart
Welcome Home - Rober C. Eccles
Caught in a Time Warp - Suzie Bradshaw
Staying Dead - AJ Brown
A Shot Gun Wedding - Matthew Glen Ward
Victor - Linda Manning
Stalkee - Gayle Arrowood
Figaro, Figaro - Norman A. Rubin
Cauliflower - Chris Reed
The Samhain Dance - Jesse Janicki

Poems:

Ragnarok - Thom Olausson
Halloween - Sharon M. White
Graven Images - Ken L. Jones
Macabre! Macabre! - Roxanne Hoffman
Eternity's Basement - Samuel Minier
Mres Seatons Study - Kristine Ong Muslim
The Languishing - John C. Mannone
Killing You - Alba Spahi
A Zombie's Voice - Theresa C. Newbill

Artwork:

Milan Smith
Teresa Tunaley
Christopher Woods
Jack S. Rogers
Richard Sampson

Interviews

Eric S. Brown
LB Goddard
Michael H. Hanson

This book will be available on pre-order from tonight, details to be given later.

Payment will be:

Stories $5
Poetry $3
Artwork $5

Interviews are not paid for.

Sneak Preview of th Ruthless Anthology Cover (Incomplete)

RUTHLESS
An Extreme Shock Horror Collection

House of Horror’s Co-Editor Shane McKenzie, will be taking on the hard slog of putting together a new anthology for House of Horror. This venture will not be for the faint hearted or the easily offended. Submissions are open now and will close 1st December.

Formatting:

Standard formatting. Prefer to have stories in the body of the email. No attachments please.

Send all stories to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com

Submission Guidelines:

We are looking for stories that will shock the reader, make them feel uncomfortable as they read. Give us your sickest, weirdest, craziest stories. The gorier and stranger, the better. That being said, the story still has to be strong. Gore for gores sake will not cut it, but a great story full of gory details is what we are looking for. Since House of Horror donates to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, we cannot accept any child brutality stories. On the other hand, children handing out the brutality is fine.

Nothing cliché is going to cut it. We want stories that will make the reader wonder about the writer’s sanity. Give us your worst.

Stories between 2000-5000 words, no flash fiction. We have a limited amount of space, so no stories longer than 5000 words please. Place “Ruthless” in the subject line.

We want Bios from all writers as well. Make it fun. No boring lists of previous publications. Pick your favorite 2 or 3 if you like, but we want creative bios.

We will be giving a prize of $25 for our favorite story. We are unable to give contributor’s copies at this time.

Shock us!

House of Horror Duel - Round Two

The next Duel has begun!

Victorious, Dwight (The Fright) Patterson v New Meat, Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby.

Can Dwight keep his head on his shoulders for another seven days, or will this time next week be his final walk on the earth?

Will Sir Bodsworth be able to keep his cool, or will he crumble in defeat?

Only YOU can decide the fate of these two brave warriors fighting for their life and the House Madams Goodies....

Please read and vote. Voting ends this time next Friday.

The Dungeon

Week One of the Horror Writing Duel From House Of Horror

Because of the excitement building up for this new contest. House Of Horror decided to go ahead and begin tonight.

The first duel is live! Please visit the Dungeon, read and vote for your champion.

http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk/#/the-dungeon/4536120352

Can you Defeat Death? House Of Horror Duelling Rules!

Ok we've had so much response for this and have around 20 competitors so far.The first duel will begin October 31st.

Dwight (The Fright) Patterson 'V' Nightmare!

Prompt: Horrotica

Word Count: 1500 words.

Both Stories will be displayed in 'THE DUNGEON' of House of Horror with one comment/vote box and will run for 7 days. Readers can leave a small comment but must make it clear who they vote for within their comment. On the 8th day, the winner will be announced and also the new contender will be contacted and the next prompt will be set. The next duel will have four days to prepare their story and will go up on the 14th day.

So in effect there will be a new duel every two weeks. Please join in with the votes. Reminders will be left here, facebook and myspace. The contest will run for 12 weeks and the winner of the final duel will win all the prizes and will be the reigning champion into the second contest.

I hope to make this a regular thing if everything goes well.

Can you defeat Death? House Of Horror's Writing Duel!

House of Horror are looking for duellers to fight to the death with words of terror. Two challengers take the stand, they have one week to write a 1000 story based on the House Madam's prompt.

The two stories will be put up at the House of Horror for three weeks and the public will vote on a winner. The Winner and the new competitor will be announced one week before the next issue goes out.Only one will win. The Grim Reaper takes away the loser in shame and the winner stays on. (The looser will receive a banner for their efforts to display on their webpage and sticks and bookmarks in the post.)

The contest will run for twelve weeks beginning on the 31st October. The champion will win a collection of prizes - Books, T-shirt, book marks, stickers and a yearly subscription to the House Of Horror special print Edition.Who is ready for a challenge?

Contact the House Madam! at horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com with your duelling name and you will be placed on the list.

Female Horror writers - Girls Night Out!

Join Sonar4 Blog radio show Nov 4th 6pm EST for a female horror writers girls night out. Or should that be girls night in?

Myself and L.B. Goddard will making guest appearances again along with show hosts Shells Walter and Tonia Brown.

Come join in all the fun, ask us questions by calling in or just listen and chat with others in the chatroom. I can tell you now that when us girls get together, all hell breaks loose and all boundries are crossed. Not for the faint hearted, prudish or easily offended!

Come and learn more about some of the most prolific female writers in the horror industry and see what makes us tick, and how we deal with real life against the dark back drop of the horror world.

Well October is here horror fans!

October - my favorite month of the year! Nights are drawing in earlier, yet it is still relativly warm in the evenings with a light wind. Halloween is almost upon us. A time for the elderly to double lock their doors, home owners to stock up on Candy and children to figure out what their tricks will be this year.

In actual fact, nothing really happens around here on Halloween. I may let me eldest go trick or treating as we live in quite a close knitt village where we know pretty much every one who lives here - no doubt her friends will be doing it this year as they are a little older. She has a costume, she will beg me to let her wear it so I may just cave in. I of course will stock up on candy and will probably carve one - just one (we're still in a rececession ya know!) little pumpkin for the front window.

As I am Wiccan, when the kids have gone to bed, I will be receiting my usual yearly chants etc, giving thanks to the goddesses for all the luck I have had this year.

Some things to look out for from House Of Horror:

Creature Features is now available for pre-order by visiting the book shop at House Of Horror www.houseofhorror.org.uk It should be ready for shipping just in time for Halloween so you will all have a great monster book to read.

Mausoleum Memoirs sales have fallen a bit. Please grab your self a copy of HOH's very first anthology.

The Special Edition Print Issue 2 is out 1st November, featuring the best of the last three months of stories, poems, art work, interviews and reviews. Look out for it and grab a copy for just £7.49

Tonight myself and L.B. Goddard - Editor of The Monsters Next Door ezine, will be appearing live on the Sonar4 mag Blog Talk Radio sho, talking about our recent projects. Please join us in the chatroom at 11pm UK time 6pm EST

A couple of new publishing ventures have been posted also, the guidelines are listed in blogs below.

I think that is pretty much it for now. Hope you join us for the interview - House Of Horror will be giving some special prizes away too!

Special episode of Sonar 4 Talk show! Sam Cox and LB Goddard

Special episode of Sonar 4 Talk show! Sam Cox and LB Goddard

Shared via AddThis

Submission call for New Anthology: Ruthless!

RUTHLESS
An Extreme Shock Horror Collection

House of Horror’s Co-Editor Shane McKenzie, will be taking on the hard slog of putting together a new anthology for House of Horror. This venture will not be for the faint hearted or the easily offended. Submissions are open now and will close 1st December.

Formatting:

Standard formatting. Prefer to have stories in the body of the email. No attachments please.

Send all stories to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com

Submission Guidelines:

We are looking for stories that will shock the reader, make them feel uncomfortable as they read. Give us your sickest, weirdest, craziest stories. The gorier and stranger, the better. That being said, the story still has to be strong. Gore for gores sake will not cut it, but a great story full of gory details is what we are looking for. Since House of Horror donates to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, we cannot accept any child brutality stories. On the other hand, children handing out the brutality is fine.

Nothing cliché is going to cut it. We want stories that will make the reader wonder about the writer’s sanity. Give us your worst.

Stories between 2000-5000 words, no flash fiction. We have a limited amount of space, so no stories longer than 5000 words please. Place “Ruthless” in the subject line.

We want Bios from all writers as well. Make it fun. No boring lists of previous publications. Pick your favorite 2 or 3 if you like, but we want creative bios.

We will be giving a prize of $25 for our favorite story. We are unable to give contributor’s copies at this time.

Shock us!

New Publishing Venture.

Dreams And Screams

John Arthur Miller (JAM) from Liquid Imagination has come up with a publishing idea involving (so far) 6 publications:
Lame Goat Press, House of Horror, Silver Blade, Liquid Imagination, Static Movement and Aurora Wolf

What we are going to do is take two stories from each publication listed here and two totally new stories never before published and put them all in a book entitled: Dreams and Screams - it's a Fantsay/horror book. Here is the pay scale:

Each story is paid $10.00.

Cover artist would receive $10.00.

We'll have one poem to launch the work. Poet receives $10.00.

If you want to be a part of this on the House Of Horror side, please email your submission to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com place Dreams and Screams in the subject line and write a short bio. Stories must be between 3-5000 words but not exceed 5000 words. No Horrotica and no child abuse/violence. Stories must be of a horror/fantasy nature.

The final four chosen authors will be contacted and told of the next stage and their contracts.

My two favourite stories have already been chosen so there are only two spaces left for new stories.

Submissions must be BRAND NEW NEVER BEFORE SEEN stories and cannot be simultaneously submitted to any of the other publications involved in this project. You can of course submit a story to each of the publications but not the same one.

We will ask for first anthology printing rights and payment will be made via paypal upon publication

This will be published by LIP (Liquid Imagination Publishing)

The deadline is somewhere around two months...

Creature Features Book Trailer!

Mausoleum Memoirs Book Trailer!

 
Everyone knows where they can find a haunted house. Some may have even lived in one, taken a tour of one, or even just simply set up a den in an old abandoned one as children. There are so many stories of ghosts and paranormal activity plaguing these interestingly old buildings, but who knows whether these spooky events are facts or fictitious? We all live in a society where a good old haunted house ghost story is the height of every child’s sleepover, or a party at Halloween, but have you ever experienced anything that is even close to being terrifying?
‘Mausoleum Memoirs’ holds thirty haunted house stories, written by very talented writers of the horror fiction community.
This anthology is hosted by House of Horror ezine, an on-line magazine for horrific tales, poems and erotic stories, along with book reviews, author interviews and upcoming horror movie-trailers.
You can check out the site www.houseofhorror.org.uk and see what we are all about. Mausoleum Memoirs will ultimately rekindle those lost thoughts of that strange house in the middle of nowhere; unusual activity emanating from it – especially on Halloween. Mausoleum Memoirs is a book to read when you need to give yourself a good scare.
If you love a good horror story, then Mausoleum Memoirs is for you!

S.E.COX
Editor, House of Horror ezine

Novel Excerpt ~ Forbidden Love

I raced down to Faroaks forest hoping to catch Jonas before he left for home – wherever that may have been. I was lucky, as I ran I could see him walking at a relatively slow pace in the distance.

“Jonas,” I cried breathless as I pushed my speed to the limit. There was no one around so hopefully there was no one to see me dart through the forest leaving only a blur between the trees. “Jonas, please wait up!”

He turned around briefly, and then continued walking. I slowed down as I reached his side, grabbing his arm spinning him around.

“Rosella, I can’t do this, we can’t do this, you know we can’t, it’s just too hard,” he said to me, not able to meet my eyes.
I wanted to hold him so tight and tell him that everything was going to be ok, but in theory it wasn’t. We were effectively from two completely different worlds.

“Jonas, I love you,” I cried in earnest. “I have never met anyone like you before. You can’t leave me!”

“Rosella, I have killed people. I am sure your father has filled you in on all of the details.”

As if on cue the sky turned dark and slowly, the much anticipated rain descended upon us. I shivered as the rain soaked my clothes, raindrops balanced on my eyes lids as I blinked them away several times. “Jonas, I don’t care,” I almost gargled, as rain poured into my mouth as I spoke. “If you could just try and speak to Ricardo...”

Jonas laughed and flicked his head back running his hand through his hair. Rain sprayed all around as he did so. “Were you not in the kitchen just?” he cried exasperated. “You saw what he was going to do to me if I hadn’t of left when I did.” He yanked his arm away from me in frustration and turned to walk away.

Again I ran to his side. “Jonas you can’t go.” I lifted up my arms and tried to wrap them around his neck to show him just how much I needed him. “Meeting you was like finding a missing piece of my life.”

With one swift move, Jonas grabbed both of my wrist and held them up in front of him. His grip was painful, I was suddenly frightened of him, something I never thought would happen. The expression on his face scared me. It was almost clear how much of an Avelonian he was. His eyes darkened and he clenched his jaw tight. His grey skin faded several shades and I could see the anger of the situation taking over him. As I tried to wriggle out of his grip, he held my wrists tighter.

“Jonas, you are hurting me,” I cried, unable to understand why he was doing this to me – deliberately trying to cause me pain.

“See what I mean,” Jonas growled at me. “Don’t you see Rosella? If I stay, I will only hurt you in more ways than I dare to even think about.”

My eyes flickered involuntary from the rain that was now falling harder. It was almost complete darkness as the clouds gathered together in the thunderous gloomy sky. “But if you go, I might as well be dead.”

He ignored the harshness of my words. Obviously he didn’t quite understand that I surely couldn’t go on without him. I had been waiting so long for someone to come along and change my world. I wasn’t about to let him go without a fight. “Don’t you realise how long I have waited for you?” I cried.

He screwed his face up in a painful scowl. I wasn’t sure if it was the pain of having to leave me or the pain that he had just realised that he had been leading me on all along.
He took a deep breath. “Rosella, I have to go,” he said, finally releasing me from his grasp. He walked away.

“Jonas, please don’t do this,” I wept, chasing him through the forest. I made another attempt to grab his arm and try to make him see sense. Within seconds he threw me to the ground with such force, I skidded backwards through the gravel sending a cloud of dust into the murky air.

“Rosella, are you OK?” shouted a voice, somewhere beyond the trees.

I jerked my head up, trying to see where it was coming from. Jonas stopped also. Out of the shadows I could make out a figure racing towards me. It was Adrian Torres.

“Hey!” he shouted. I assumed it was directed at Jonas. Adrian ran over to me and helped me to my feet, all the while glowering at Jonas. “Is that any way to treat your girlfriend?”

Jonas turned and began walking towards us. As he approached I could see the differences in size and height between the two of them and urged Adrian to back off. “Addy, please just leave him, he isn’t my boyfriend anymore.”

It was no use. Adrian had already taken a step towards Jonas. With his shoulders square, he puffed out his chest, ready to take whatever Jonas had to throw at him, hopeful he could get in a few of his own.

Jonas smirked. “You think that you can take on me little man?” he said with a hint of sarcasm in his low gruff voice. “Well, bring it on friend.”

“You’re no friend of mine, and I think Rosella would be better off if you just went back to wherever you came from,” said Adrian, trying to make his words sound strong and bold. I could see in his stance just how scared he was of Jonas, but I guess he thought that by standing up to Jonas, it would somehow win points with me.

That wasn’t how I saw it.

He was crazy if he thought squaring up to a vampire was clever, although he didn’t know that. He soon would though.

With one quick swoop he had his hand tightly compressed around Adrian’s throat. “You wana’ take me on now friend?” sneered Jonas, lifting Adrian into the air until his eyes were level with his own. Adrian’s feet thrashed about, around two feet from the ground. I could hear the compressed chokes escaping from Adrian’s mouth and the loud grunts being forced from his nose.

“Jonas, put him down. Now!” I screamed at him. “He has done nothing wrong.”

Jonas glanced at me and then looked back at Adrian. “Are you in love with Rosella?” he asked, still with a look of malevolence etched across his face. “Well, do you?” He shook Adrian high in the air.
“Let him go Jonas!”

Without taking his eyes off me, he threw Adrian to the ground. Adrian gasped for breath, choking as he tried to stand. I ran over to him. “Addy are you ok, has he hurt you?” A bit of a superfluous question, I thought as the words left my mouth. All he could do was nod, gasping for air.

I whipped my head up and glared at Jonas, my blood pulsating, anger overtaking any feelings of love that I had for him.

“See what I mean?” was all that he could say before he ran and disappeared into the darkness.

My heart swelled quickly and the feelings of worship came flooding back now he had gone. He had only done this to Adrian to show me what he was capable of doing if he got too close and stayed amongst humans. But how could I go on without him? I had to figure something out. I couldn’t just let him walk into my life and then walk straight back out of it like this. I had to find a way for us to be together without hurting anybody.

Creature Features Anthology - Final Line-Up

Earthen Demons - Kerry Morgan

The Lake - Jack Burton

The Things Lullabye - Rick McQuiston

The Promise - Terrence Kuch

The Third Floor - William Pauley III

Butter Flower - A.J. Brown

So That's How the Cookie Crumbles - A.E. Churchyard

The Messers - Suzie Bradshaw

Jonah and the Dead - Eric S. Brown

Lunatic Brigade - Kevin Wallis

What is Left Behind - John C. Lewis

Night Crawler - Donna Jean Lyon's

Manifestation - John Bruni

Mardi Growl - Shane McKenzie

Returning to Eden - Jameson T. Caine

The Thought Things - Jeff Skinner

Mine - C.A. Dawson

Wet 'N' Wild - William Wood

The Worms - Deborah Walker

The Beast of Hindu Kush - Steve E. Lowe

Derelict - William WildeOscar - Doug Murano

Big Sisters Get What They Deserve - Kathryn Ehrlich

Tooth - Philip Harris

Breaking and Entering - Stephanie Scarborough

Then Silence - Philip Frank

Incubites - S.E. COX

The Lake Pact - David Bearnstein

Beach Comber - Kevin White

Creature Features (Poem) - Charlotte Gledson

Introduction - John C. Lewis

All stories will be illustrated by the fantastic Shane McKenzie

Cover art by Kaolin Fire .

BLATENT PLAGIARISM!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up an email from a fellow writer yesterday to find that she had read an article on another writers blog about plagiarism. http://arageofangel.blogspot.com/2009/09/ive-been-plagiarizedand-im-not-alone.html . What is worse, is that when I read the blog post, it was revealed that a writer whose submission I had just recently accepted, had been ripping off stories of others.

Then it got worse...

This guy had not only ripped off relativly unknown writers, but also a story by Stephen King of all people!

What shocks me the most about this blatent plagiarism accusation, is that this guy didn't even try to hide the fact that he had simply copied and pasted others work into his own stories! He even sent the Stephen King rip off to me, as a submission to our up coming anthology - Creature Features. Luckily both me and my co-editor didn't like it and rejected it anyway!

You wana know the guys name?

RICHARD RIDYARD.

Well that has been the name he has used for all of this, but no doubt he has several other alias's.

Anyway, I urge everyone to read Angel Zapata's post and thank him for his fantastic detective work on this case. Thanks to him, a lot of zine editors and writers have been saved a lot of trouble.

Angel, if you happen to read this - you really are an angel!

So, OK. I am new to blogging!!

I have tried several times to blog and never once kept it up for more than a few days. I think now I have become an editor, I need to get my ezine out there more and maybe this is the way to do it.

So why are you really here? I hear you all whispering.

Well.

I am the editor of House of Horror ezine www.houseofhorror.org.uk and I would like all of you great writers out there to come visit us and take a look around. I thought I would use this blog to tell you what is going on with us up at the old horror house.

Come meet the staff -

Me, House Madam!

Shane McKenzie - co-editor and occasional artist

Charlotte Emma Gledson - Poetry Editor

Kaolin Fire - Anthology cover artist

Lucas Pederson - Special Edition Print issue cover artist

So come, come take a tour of our humble home. Join in all the fun. We'd love to have you over for dinner some time...