HAG News: #2
Featuring: Team news, new releases, events, craft and indie insights, Women’s History Month, and magazines currently accepting submissions.
The British Horror Authors Guild is a professional community for independent British horror writers. Our mission is to support, connect, and empower writers working in horror and dark fiction by providing a space for shared knowledge, practical advice, and peer support.
Note, early adopters might have have seen the articles in the Craft Corner and the Indie Business Corner before. To save word count in the newsletter we are moving to a retrospective format.
Keep your eyes peeled, we have new articles coming out this month.
Guild Desk
Updates from the team
Newton Webb, Editor, Co-Founder
Greetings, my wicked darlings.
My month was riddled with COVID, followed by the common cold, which was lovely. So, I’m a week behind schedule, not to mention getting distracted by a 15k cosmic horror military sci-fi novella that struggles in the third act.
I did pump out three short stories though, which isn’t too terrible.
I’m looking forward to St Patrick’s Day and will raise a glass of chilled Guinness to you all. I’m releasing a special free story to celebrate it, called The Leprechaun.
Last month, I submitted two articles to the British Horror Authors Guild on the business side of self-publishing. If anyone wants to send in articles, we’d be happy to review them.
Sweet Screams!
Newt
Terri Brown, Co-Founder, Social Media Manager
This month has been quieter on the overt horror front, but perhaps more quietly sinister beneath the surface. I haven’t devoured a stack of new releases or binged anything blood-soaked, but I have been steeped in story in other ways. Teaching, writing, and observing real life has reminded me that horror rarely announces itself with violins and fog machines. It slips in through the ordinary.
I’ve been exploring character work, playing with the idea that the most unsettling moments aren’t the loud ones but the pauses, those silent spaces where something feels slightly off. The missed call. The door that was definitely closed. The sense of being watched in a well-lit room.
Sometimes stepping back from consuming horror is what sharpens the appetite for creating it. I’m quietly refilling the well, ready for whatever strange thing crawls out next...
Bronte Rowan, Co-Founder, Social Media Manager
Time’s moving fast. Can’t believe that it’s March already!
In the last month, I researched more vampire and witch mythology, registered for a non-horror related conference where I’ll still be bringing a tiny bit of Gothic, and worked on the details for an idea for my first novel. Expect history, queer rights, and lore from all corners of the world.
A few books that I read recently/am still reading and finding helpful in my endeavours are The Horror Theory Reader, edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, for an insight into how horror works and why we are drawn to it; Joyce Carol Oates’s Blonde for sharp, Gothic prose and learning how to make the reader feel what you want them to with small details; and Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory for how it draws upon events in history that must not be forgotten.
Stay haunted, and keep supporting each other!
-Bronte
New Releases
A E Deakin
A J Burton
Bronte Rowan
Colin Devonshire
John Watson
Mata Haggis-Burridge
Newton Webb
Will Parslow
Events and Meetups
For the Love of Horror
18-19th April, 2026
BEC Arena, Manchester
FOR THE LOVE OF HORROR is part of the Monopoly Events family of pop culture conventions, attracting over ten thousand fans annually to our home venue, Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester. The main attraction every year is of course the star guests, and we always endeavour to bring you a variety of then most exciting names in the horror genre! In previous years For the Love of Horror has been proud to host the likes of Linda Blair, Simon Pegg, Nick Castle, Corey Taylor, Kiefer Sutherland, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard and Tim Curry!
Craft Column
Indie Business Corner
Community Notes
It’s Women’s History Month, and the perfect time to check out your British authors. If you need an introduction, here are five excellent authors to start with:
I am looking forward to interviewing Tracy on HAG Chat this month, so keep your eyes peeled.
Opportunities Board
ANOMALY
Submissions open on the 1st through the 7th of every month
Dark Sci-fi wanted.
Anomaly is interested in science fiction stories under 300 words in length, for publication on their Patreon, with the right to collect stories into a future anthology. We’re looking for dark and disruptive stories that have strong emotional resonance. We like stories that stick with us after reading, that get us thinking about the twisted use of technologies, the way the world may be, or how characters might react to an evolving technological future.
• Length: up to 300 words
• Payment: .08 USD per word
• Submission Guidelines: https://www.patreon.com/posts/124086163?collection=1379866
Apex Magazine
Currently open for submissions
Exceptionally well-written science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all its sub-genres.
• Length: up to 9,000 words
• Payment: .08 USD per word
• Submission Guidelines: http://www.apex-magazine.com/submission-guidelines
AUREALIS
Submissions open March 1st - 31st, 2026
Aurealis is an Australian publication looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words. All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a “speculative” nature will be considered, but we do not want stories that are derivative in nature. We do not publish horror without a supernatural element.
• Length: between 2,000 – 8,000 words
• Payment: A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words, but assume the lower rate for unsolicited submissions
• Submission Guidelines: https://aurealis.com.au/submissions/
Crepuscular Magazine (drabble/flash fiction)
Submissions open (ongoing)
Microfiction stories exploring places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas between this and that, here and there, night and day, alive and dead, evil and good, feminine and masculine, up and down, real and unreal. If you’re not quite sure what that means, lean into that feeling... While we lean toward speculative pieces, we have a love for those in-betweeny pieces that blur genre. We accept horror (both spec and non), fantasy, science fiction, general/literary fiction, and everything in between.
• Length: up to 250 words (micro fiction)
• Payment: .10 cents a word
• Submission Guidelines: https://www.patreon.com/posts/submission-85137677
THE DARK
Submissions open (ongoing)
The monthly e-zine publishes horror and dark fantasy. Sean Wallace is the founder, publisher, and editor of The Dark, and has also edited for Clarkesworld and Fantasy Magazine.
• Length: 2000 - 6000 words
• Payment: .05 USD per word
• Submission Guidelines: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/submission-guidelines/
MERGNASER MAGAZINE
Merganser Magazine is a free online literary magazine, featuring an array of fiction, poetry, and visual art. We aim to publish many writers and artists whose work transcends disciplines and genres. We are now accepting submissions - we encourage you to submit!
Length: up to 2,000 words
Payment: .08 USD per word
Submission Guidelines: https://mergansermagazine.com/submit/
NIGHT SHADES
Submissions open December 26th, 2025
Please read Night Shades to get an idea of what the magazine publishes. Sci-fi, horror, and fantasy that’s light on magic are all good bets. I also like slice of life or less plot-driven stories that create a world or a feeling or an image. Urban fantasy is a hard sell for me. Your best bet is something genuine and strange, that takes big swings with language, and that takes advantage of the short form rather than strains against it.
• Length: 500 words max
• Payment: $65.00 USD (minimum $.13/word)
• Submission Guidelines: https://www.nightshadesmag.com/submissions/
THE NO SLEEP PODCAST
Submissions currently open
All things horror. We are a horror anthology podcast, so we exclusively want horror. Any type. All types. If it’s within the realm of the macabre, scary, or unnerving, we want it.
Stories with great audio cues. Our production relies heavily on good suspense complimented with audio cues.
We have a strong preference for stories written in first person perspective. If third person perspective is necessary to tell the story in the most effective way possible, that’s fine, so long as the piece lends itself well to audio. If a story can be adapted into first person, we recommend it.
• Length: up to 8,000 words (sweet spot is 2,000 – 2,500 words)
• Payment: Flash fiction (up to 1199 words): $60, Regular stories (1200+ words): $250
Submission Guidelines: https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/submissions