Editor Interview: Tales to Terrify

Tales of purest terror

So many amazing horror fiction podcasts out there these days, and such a supportive community. Big fan of NoSleep, Pseudopod/Escape Artists and Drabblecast, among others. Also a huge fan of Dark Matter Magazine. Such a fantastic new publication.

It's so hard to nail down a favourite author. Each has such unique and distinct voices. One of our regular contributors that we always love to hear from, though, is Christi Nogle. But there are so many we're excited to hear from whenever their names pop up in our slush pile.

Tales to Terrify is among the oldest and most well-established horror podcasts, and we're proud take have accomplished that with a very simple production style – straight audiobook-style narrations without any music, sound effects or adornments.

Find out what scares you most and write it. Don't be afraid to take risks. And commit. Follow through until the end, even if it hurts. The worst thing you can do is set a beautifully terrifying stage, then be in a rush to wrap it up.

It's great to have a bit of background, but the writing usually speaks for itself. If we accept a story, we'll ask for more details, but it doesn't affect the process of our story reviews at all. We're as excited to produce someone's first masterpiece as we are to publish an established legend (maybe even moreso).

It depends on the piece. There are a few checkpoints to cross in a story. If we can get past the first sentence, then the first paragraph, we'll usually read to the end.

We have a two rating system, so each story is reviewed twice (both for the content and its suitability for audio production). Then a final read is done by our Managing Editor before it's finally accepted.

We edit very little. We expect that the work we received has been self-edited and reviews and is ready for publication.

We make an effort to nominate stories for the Bram Stoker Awards whenever possible.