E.S. Raye

Got some news on a few upcoming short story publication dates!

“Mortem Moratus”

First up, my 2,000 word short horror story “Mortem Moratus” is scheduled to be published by Exquisite Death in their December 2025 issue.

This story was originally written for the 2024 NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. This contest assigns contestants a genre, subject, and character they must integrate into their story. A new genre, subject, character, and lower word count are assigned with each round.

This story was for the first round, and I was assigned horror, procrastination, and a reckless driver. You’ll easily find all three.

I’m proud to say “Mortem Moratus” earned me a spot in the second round, where I was assigned romance, and I did not advance further.

“The Séance”

Set to appear in Blood Moon Rising’s April 2026 issue, the flash horror story “The Séance“ was an attempt to “pants” a story. I am usually a pretty heavy plotter/outliner, but I found doing so was making my flash fiction (in particular) too long. So, I wanted to try something different.

I knew how I wanted the story to begin, but I had no idea where it would go when I started–completely uncharted territory for me.

I was delighted when it was accepted.

“Thirsty”

This cosmic/lovcraftian horror will, appropriately, be published in Lovcraftiana: Walpurgisnacht 2027, in April of that year.

This creepy tale involving an eerie idol, a violent loan shark, an even more violent eldritch being, and a blood debt, was also originally written for an NYC Midnight writing challenge, but for the 2023 Screenwriting Challenge. Like the short story challenge, participants are assigned a genre, subject, and character. Mine were thriller, a shortage, and a loan shark.

Again, this got me through the first round, where I fizzled and didn’t advance with my new assignment.

But, I loved this story. I even showed it off to a few filmmakers, hoping it would spark some movement. There was a bit of interest and excitement, but everyone already had full dockets, so nothing came of it (though I did get to work with a director on a different project, partially on the strength of this screenplay).

Eventually, I decided to rewrite it as a short story and see where it could go in that medium. Lovecraftiana was the second place I submitted it!

Pending Stories

In addition to the previous three that are scheduled for publication, I also have another two potentials.

“Visitors”

I am currently working with Flash Fiction Magazine to edit my flash sci-fi story “Visitors” for future publication.

This one was somewhat experimental for me, as it is told entirely in TV broadcast dialogue. UFOs appear around the world, and the news discusses what it means, and what should be done.

“Dead Wood”

Another NYC Challenge story, this one for the second round of the 2024 Flash Fiction Challenge. It has received a “revise & resubmit” request from Horror Tree: Trembling With Fear.

For this challenge, participants were assigned a genre, a location, and an object. I got horror, a tree house, and a mannequin.

I received strong feedback, but narrowly missed moving on to the third round by only a few places; only the top five move on, and “Dead Wood” came in seventh.

Trembling With Fear has asked for some changes to the ending, and I am currently waiting on word from them to see if they had something specific in mind, or if I have some free rein to come up with something on my own.

A Big Year

All in all, it’s been an incredibly exciting year for me and my writing! If you include the two pending stories, “The Stuff Legends are Made Of” in RARE: A Dark Anthology of Unusual Secrets, which was accepted last year, but published this last February, and Gas Giant Gambit–also accepted last year and published this last September–I will have at least seven works accepted and/or published in 2025!

And that’s not counting the handful of stories that have already been submitted to various magazines and I am waiting on responses for.