A Wicked Welcome to All
A contest, a digest and what's to come
Ah, October.
Macabre Monday is shapeshifting, shed its skin and born anew.
No better time to manifest its next evolution than the spookiest month of the year.
From humble beginnings, Macabre Monday was hatched as an idea to celebrate the horror genre, spurred by the creation of Sci-Friday, the brainchild of
and .Since it began a month ago, Macabre Monday has seen staggering growth and participation. If I am being honest, I wasn’t expecting even half as many souls to jump on board this ghost ship, even less see the outpouring of love for all things horror.
With such terrifying results, how could I resist taming this beast and making it something more for us all? Something that will not only celebrate horror, but also serve to prop up the community, help horror enthusiasts connect, put writers in the limelight and showcase their talent.
I could not resist. There is too much potential—too much potential from all of you.
That being said, let’s talk about what Macabre Monday is going to be going forward.
First and foremost, nothing should change. What everyone brings to the table on Monday in the form of posts or notes is the basis for this and the reason this has been put together. What is changing is that every Monday a digest of the best posts and notes from the previous week will be gathered and published here for all readers to see.
That’s right, the best horror content and discussions from writers straight to your feed/inbox every Monday. Likely, this digest will not feature every single post since we have so many participants, but it will feature the ones that sparked the most discussion or have the most content. It should serve as some motivation to bring out your worst every Macabre Monday so you’ll be featured in the next weeks post!
Now, let’s talk about how we are going to let writers bask in the limelight, as they say. Every month, once a month on the second Monday, we will feature one of our communities horror writers in a post. They will be chosen at random and the post will include an interview about them, who they are, why they love horror, how many dead bodies they are hidi— ahem. You get the idea.
Hopefully this will serve to give our beloved writers more attention, as well as serve as insight into where the love and inspiration to write and consume horror came from.
The third Monday will serve as a place to pitch your stories, serials, poetry and whatever else you are working on in the comments for others to find your work. This will be covered more when the time comes for that post, but what I have thought of so far is this; list what you are promoting (poetry, short story, serial, etc.) and then share your favorite line or paragraph from that piece, followed up with a link.
What about the first and last Mondays of the month, Jeff? You didn’t mention those.
Well, let me introduce you to the first ever…
Your eyes do not deceive you, Macabre Monday now presents to you the Wicked Writing contest!
Every first Monday of the month, the theme for a new chapter of Wicked Writing will be posted. Writers that want to participate will have two to three weeks (depending on how many Mondays are in the month) to write and post their piece (a short story) that relates to the theme. A judge will either volunteer or be selected at random from within our own Macabre Monday community and they will be given one week to judge the entries. Come the final Monday, we will post the results of the winners. This months Wicked Writing contest will run from October 2nd to October 23rd, with the winners being announced October 30th, the night before Halloween.
Yes, there will even be rewards! First place will receive a horror book of their choice (<$20), and first through fifth place will have their short stories made into an anthological e-book (If no one takes issue with this), which will be free to the top 5 entries. For anyone else that wishes to have a copy, it will be around 5$ or so, and all proceeds will go back into Macabre Monday for the upcoming contests. Later on, I am considering publishing a longer anthology of the best entries and paying the authors for the word count on their story, but that is far in the future and still TBD.
Excited yet? Let me introduce you to this months judge and theme.
Your judgment shall be administered by none other than
, an adamant contributor to Macabre Monday, horror author and the one that came up with this months theme: Liminal Spaces.Liminal Spaces - Liminal spaces are the subject of an aesthetic portraying empty or abandoned places that appear eerie, forlorn, and often surreal. Liminal spaces are commonly places of transition or of nostalgic appeal. An image of an empty hotel hallway, an example of a liminal space.
What are the rules, you ask? Good question.
The entry must be minimum of 500 words and maximum of 3000 words
The entry must resemble a short story (if your poem can reach over 500 words, have at it).
The entry must be speculative horror/dark fiction and written in English.
Anyone who wishes to enter must be a subscriber to Macabre Monday.
Only one entry per person.
NO AI!!!! Not like that trash would win anyway.
Multiple authors can work on and submit an entry, but only one author can take credit for it. The other authors are allowed to make a separate entry.
The entry must be a shared google document or similar file. Once the entry is complete, send the document to MacabreMondayEditor@gmail.com with the subject line “Wicked Writing Entry” to be confirmed. I will then compile all the documents for the judge.
The entry content cannot be posted to Substack until after the contest is over, in an effort to prevent biased judging.
Must be work that is started and completed within the contest timeline, no sooner.
Any 1st place winner must wait for an additional contest to pass before they are allowed to participate again (this would be a cool time to volunteer as judge, just sayin’).
No personal details (Bio, Substack name, etc.) are allowed in the document in an effort to preserve blind judging. Please provide your name(s) and Substack in the entry email, so I know who submitted the story.
Judging Criteria
Creativity & originality - 25%
Flow, structure and character - 25%
Quality of writing - 25%
Horror intensity - 25%
Disclaimer: Any cheats, bad eggs or otherwise unsavory characters will be subject to their worst nightmares, and not be allowed to participate again.
Your Weekly Horror Digest
wrote a killer article on his favorite horror shows, and quite a great list it is! made a note about horror games coming to mobile phones, specifically Resident Evil: Village. Do you have the courage to make it through without throwing your phone?
That’s all I have for you this week! Check back in next Monday for an interview on one of Macabre Mondays contributors and another horror digest to, well, digest. Stay Spooky.
We’re off to a promising start! This is fantastic, I’m really excited to read everyone’s work. 😁
Hi Jeff!
John Coon told me about Macabre Mondays and I'd love to participate. I'm new here, so I'm still getting my bearings. Please let me know if I can join in on the fun!