The Horror Zine

The News Page

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best of

THE BEST OF THE HORROR ZINE: THE MIDDLE YEARS contains fiction from Bentley Little, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Chizmar, Scott Nicholson, Nancy Holder, and also stellar works from emerging writers. Find it HERE

The News Page

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THE HORROR ZINE IS NOW ACCEPTING OPEN SUBMISSIONS FOR OUR NEW ANTHOLOGY TITLED THE HORROR ZINE'S BOOK OF MONSTER STORIES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We are looking for monsters, creatures, beasts, mutants, monstrosities, frightening oddities, malformations, altered insects or animals, mythical creatures, monsters from space or from bodies of water, or something we can't even imagine but you can.

We are not looking for vampires, werewolves, mummies, or Frankenstein (unless it is something totally unique). We are not looking for ghosts. We are not looking for human beings.

All stories must be original: never before published anywhere. Word count is between 2K and 5K words. All submissions must be on Word or RTF (no PDFs), single spaced, with 0.3 indentations of paragraphs. Please do not use the space bar over and over to create paragraphs indents.

We are accepting original story submissions beginning on February 1, 2023 and ending May 15, 2023. We do not accept simultaneous submissions.

Payment will be $20 upfront per accepted story in lieu of a contributor's copy. Of course, the theme is monsters.

Story acceptance will not be easy, so please only submit your best works to thehorrorzine@gmail.com. Please put the words "Monster Anthology" in the subject line of your email.

Please note:

The Horror Zine does not accept any material that contains adult or sexually explicit content; abuse or harming of women or children; any rape scenes; serial killers; slasher; gore for gore's sake, or splatterpunk. We do not accept any religious or political themes. We do not accept any submissions written in Olde English, Victorian, or 19th Century styles. We do not accept any submissions told in a diary or letter or journal format, or told entirely as dialogue (someone recounting past events). We do not accept fan fiction.

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Call for Submissions for Poetry Showcase Volume X

The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the Poetry Showcase Volume X beginning April 1. Angela Yuriko Smith will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Angela, will include Colleen Anderson, Timothy P. Flynn, Katherine Quevedo and Eugen Bacon. Maxwell I. Gold has agreed to take over as the editor for the next two volumes to follow, HWA Poetry Showcase volumes XI and XII.

Only HWA members (of any status) may submit. The reason for this can be found in the word “Showcase.” The HWA is very proud of the tradition of poetry in the horror genre and of the HWA’s support for poetry. This volume is limited to members of the HWA in order to showcase their talents in dark poetry. We will verify membership and if a non-member submits they must obtain some level of membership prior to the final cut for the volume to be considered.

The rules for this year’s volume will be similar to previous years:

  1. No more than 35 lines. Each author or group of collaborators on a single poem may only submit one (1) poem. Speculative and dark verse is welcome but it should have a “horror” slant.
  2. No fancy formatting, dual columns, lining of poems in the center of the page, poems that require strange configurations to look like an image and similar formatting. This is difficult to translate to a single page for publishing. Poems should be submitted in .rtf, .txt or Word formats.
  3. Any form – free verse, metered, rhyming, haiku, Tanka etc. – is acceptable. But, if you do use a more traditional form, please remember that poor writing, overly heavy reliance on cliché and imitation will significantly reduce any chances of acceptance. We need good poetry. For example: George (Lord Byron) Gordon already owns the phrase “She walks in beauty, like the night.” Evangeline Walton and many others have overused the phrase “She Walks in Darkness.” Stay away from these type of archetypal clichés.
  4. English only, please. 
  5. No previously published works or simultaneous submissions.
  6. Rights will revert on publication with the HWA retaining the right to use the poem in relation to promoting the volume.
  7. PAYMENT: The HWA will pay contributors a flat rate of $10.00 (ten USD). Contributors will also receive a paperback copy of the volume.
  8. HWA will also provide accepted authors with an e-copy of the volume.

Submissions will open April 1 to celebrate National Poetry Month. Submissions will close May 1 at 11:59PM Pacific.

Our hope is to have a decision on the accepted poems, along with the top three poems of the Volume, before the end of June with publication slated for September. This is a great opportunity to help the HWA celebrate and promote the contribution of poetry to the genre. We look forward to reading your work.

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Ten things you might not know about the movie Phantasm

By William Burns

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10. The alien dwarves bear a strong resemblance to the Jawas of Star Wars, but the design for the dwarves was already completed before Star Wars was released.

9.  A significant deleted subplot involved the character of Jody working in the family bank after he had inherited the job from his father, his clashes with the stuffy manager, and had a bigger role for his girlfriend, played by Susan Harper, who was one of the tellers.

8.  In the scene before the funeral, when Jody is confronted by The Tall Man for the first time, Bill Thornbury proved to be nearly as tall as Angus Scrimm, so Scrimm had to perform the scene standing on an apple crate

7.  The idea to create the film came about when Reggie Bannister approached Don Coscarelli with the idea to adapt Ray Bradbury’s novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes, which was to star Michael Baldwin. However, the two learned that very week that Bradbury had sold the novel’s rights to Disney, and so Coscarelli sought an idea for a similar type of project.

6.  There are several references to Frank Herbert’s Dune, including a bar named “Dune” and a scene where Mike is forced to insert his hand into a black box that inflicts pain as part of a test.

5.  The 1971 Plymouth Barracuda was chosen because Don Coscarelli remembered a guy in high school had one, and was a little envious of him. A Barracuda was made to look like the Hemi ‘Cuda. Though in one scene you can see the designation of 440-6 on the hood. Indicating the car had a 440, with a “six pack” (3 two-barrel carburetors).Bill Thornbury then took the car to a friend of his and had it custom striped so it felt like it was really his car. The true purpose of the car was so the brothers Mike and Jody could have a means of bonding. In fact, Michael Baldwin learned to drive in that car, he was only 14 at the time. After the movie was finished, the car was sold, and to this day nobody is sure what really happened to it

4.  The “ball” scenes were simple special effects. The sphere was thrown from behind the camera by a baseball pitcher and then the shot was printed in reverse. The ball attaching itself to the man’s head was filmed by sticking it on his head, then pulling it off, and printing the shot in reverse.

3.  Although being very tall, standing at 6 feet 4 inches, Angus Scrimm wore suits several sizes smaller and boots with lifts inside that added 3 inches to his height.

2.  Don Coscarelli took the title “Phantasm” from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. It is a term frequently used by Poe in his writing

1.  This film’s original running time was more than three hours, but writer/ director Don Coscarelli decided that that was far too long for it to hold people’s attention and made numerous cuts to the film. Some of the unused footage was located in the late 1990s and became the framework for Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998). The rest of the footage is believed to be lost.

See more HERE

 

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THE HORROR ZINE IS PUBLISHING BOOK REVIEWS 

The Horror Zine welcomes book review requests.

To learn how to submit your book for review, go HERE.

 

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Bubonic Plague!

Plague

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Would you survive the bubonic plague? Find out HERE

Triumph of Death

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women in Horror Convention in San Francisco
Larkin Edge of Dark Water All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky Joe R. Lansdale