That's right. You have until tonight to subscribe to this amazing magazine and you, my darling toe-pie will be entered into our contest to win one of Tex's recommendations.
Oh please, oh pick me. Oh yes, oh yes me!
Tex, these are your books. You already own them.
I LOVE CONTESTS.
Collect all your friends and family, get them to subscribe to our feed and then tell us you did that! So easy. Tell us on here (anywhere on here!), Facebook, Twitter or even mail us a letter and we will enter you into the contest. Winner to be announced tomorrow July 1st with the July issue! You don't want to miss out. It's new, improved, decorated and anticipated.
She looked up at the sky. In all her time living in England, Elizabeth could not recall the sky ever looking like Hell was about to break loose. The once slightly moody sky gave way to an intense concoction of red and black.
The wind steadily picked up speed and the rain turned to a wall of sleet causing the temperature to drop significantly. Elizabeth considered herself grown up; she thought she was mature for her age, what with being 13 and all. Still, slithers of fear began to creep across her body. Then a drumming of hail pelted the path and for the first time Elizabeth conceded the notion that she might never leave the London Zoo.
The Zoo
Tanya Andrious lifesdenouement.blogspot.com
For the rest of The Zoo plus many more exciting and horrifying tales and art, come back tomorrow for the July issue!
And don't forget to enter our contest by telling a friend about Underneath The Juniper Tree. You could win one of Tex's favourite books!
First off, don't forget about our Friendly Contest! We want to give you free books. It's easy to enter and anyone can enter as many times (as many friends) as they have/want! Please pay attention to what you have to do or else you won't be entered and we want you to win. So.
Good luck!
Since the unprecedented popularity of the original Edward Gorey Challenge, we have decided that this needs to be a common thing (the Gorey Challenge, not the unprecedented-ness).
We, Tex and I, are hereby instating a monthly Edward Gorey Challenge to honor the murky and mysterious illustrator and Creator of Eerie-ness. All those in favor say "I".
I.
I've already counted you. That is two Yays and zero Nays and so here we are. Welcome to the Edward Gorey Challenge Chapter 2.
For this challenge we want to you look very, very hard at the image below. Good. Now write us three sentences inspired by, describing or relating in any other way to this image. And your three sentences MUST HAVE A TITLE (the title is not considered part of your three sentences so feel free to be as creative as you want)!
Artists, your challenge is to illustrate one image that portrays what you see when you read the sentence below:
"Dreadful, dreadful, DREADFUL. He must be mad to go on enduring the unexquisite agony of writing when it all turns out drivel. Mad. Why didn't he become a spy?"
One image can be submitted per person. Please check the Submit Work page under "Dimensions" to see how you should submit your image.
Deadline for submissions: Monday, July 4. The winners will be announced Friday, July 8.
With your submission please put in the subject line "Edward Gorey Challenge - Chapter 2".
You can submit your work as a word document or directly in the email to junipertreelit@gmail.com and please forgive us in advance if we don't write back to you immediately. Tex is fairly anal about reading and viewing everything we get. With your submission please tell us a little bit about yourself.
For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submit Work page.
And don't forget about our Friendly Contest ! We want to give you free books. It's easy to enter and anyone can enter as many times (as many friends) as they have/want! Please pay attention to what you have to do or else you won't be entered and we want you to win. So.
In next month's issue I will be touching on something very near and dear to me.
Me?
The Beast. Most of you don't know about the animal that haunts the shadows in my house. Find out in the July Issue. Come back July 1st for the whole tale as I dive into the story that has become legend of The Beast and I.
The Beast and I – Part I:
I watched him gallop around, exploring the world with his teeth. Laying down, he was already as tall as I was standing up.
It wasn’t long before they were after us. Get that monster out of here, they hissed.
Now you can keep up to date with our weekly challenges, monthly contests and giveaways! They are all on the right side of the screen.
And don't forget about our Friendly Contest! We want to give you free books. It's easy to enter and anyone can enter as many times (as many friends) as they have/want! Please pay attention to what you have to do or else you won't be entered and we want you to win. So.
Sam McKenzie! Congratulations on a job well done. Sam submitted a limerick to us that was not only filled with astonishing alliteration but it rhymed! No small feat, Sam.
Good show.
Thank you to everyone who entered! And please remember there is still time to submit your piece for the Blast from the Past - Fox Edition challenge!! Don't be late or I'll send Tex out to hunt you down and chew on your fingernails. Now, without further ado, here is Sam McKenzie's piece for the Alliteration Obliteration challenge:
Hello poppets. Remember all those free books you want? Don't forget to tell your friends to sign up and have them let us know on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments section of any post on this site. Just let us know!
They subscribe just to the right of this post under the "Follow your curiosity" text in that neat little rectangular space.
Subscribing to our feed not only puts you in the running for your choice of the books below, it also will keep you company while you drink your tea at four in the morning. We all need a little company.
For our July issue we conjured up the horrific and painfully beautiful artwork of Jason Smith. The contest during the month of June was Robots Need Love Too and Jason has taken that concept and ran off with it.
July's cover features the endearing edibility of our very own Texillian Armadillion. Take a bow, Tex.
I can't, I'm made of armor plates.
Then just do the Queen's wave.
Come back July 1st to see the whole thing, lightning and all!
Hello toe-stuffed dumplings. We have a new series of challenges for you.
I will eat all the challenges.
NOT YET TEX. So – Tex and I were up in The Attic the other day pilfering through a dusty, old trunk looking for moth-eaten scarves when we came across a rusty tin box and in that tin box there lay a bundle of photos tied with a string. Tex quickly snipped the string with his sharp beak and we began looking through what was to become our inspiration for some new challenges.
Yes, readers/writers/artists, we have something shiny and new for you.
The Sailor, the fox and the cat - a mighty trio
In under 500 words write us a piece inspired by this photo. Your piece can be poetry or a story as long as it is under 500 words.
Plus some extra words for me to nibble on.
Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, June 29th. The winner will be announced on Monday, July 4.
With your submission please put in the subject line "Blast from the Past - Fox Edition".
For the name of your document please put your story/artwork name, underscore and your name. Ex: ToesForEating_MarjorieMerle.doc
You can submit your work as a Word document or stick it directly in the email to junipertreelit@gmail.com and please forgive us in advance if we don't write back to you immediately. Tex is fairly anal about reading and viewing everything we get. With your submission please tell us a little bit about yourself and please send us your website if you have one. If you don't have one, get one. They are free, you know.
Goodies. We want to give you goodies but you have to work for it.
Shall I get the carrot and the string?
Not now, Tex. Here is what we want you to do. We want you to successfully encourage –
Forcefully insist –
Oh yes, I like that better. Forcefully insist three (or more!) of your friends/family –
Playful strangers.
To subscribe to Underneath The Juniper Tree.
But how will they do it, Dear Marjorie?
Easy, Tex.
The referrees click in the box below "FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY TO RECEIVE EMAILS ON WEEKLY CHALLENGES, CONTESTS AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE!" on the right hand side of the screen.
They put their email address in it. Voila! Subscribed!
THEN the person who just subscribed has to tell us either on our Facebook page or on ANY POST at Underneath The Juniper Tree in the comments section that they did this. We will pick FOUR winners. That is TWO referrers and TWO referrees. Each person gets to pick a goody.
And what will those goodies be, Tex?
Well, Marjorie, each winner gets to choose a book from MY library to have as their own.
And how much will this cost them, Texillian?
Nothing, dear. Just two minutes of their time to subscribe to Underneath The Juniper Tree.
Brilliant.
So what are you waiting for? Get to it! The more people you blabber on about Underneath The Juniper Tree to, the more chances you have of winning. You can refer as many people as you like but they must subscribe to the site and let us know about it in order to win.
This was a FANTASTIC outcome of submissions. There were so many to chose from and even though we couldn't pick every single one, we will show them all off in our July issue so check back July 1st to read all the submissions.
Onward and upward. The winner (or should I say winners) of the Mysteries of Juniper Tree challenge are....
....are.....
.....are.....
The anticipation is making my skin shed prematurely!
Eachnight, thewordsgerminated as he slept, drinking up his twisting dreams and soaking in the dark.
Congratulations to both of you for being so incredibly visual in so few words. And thank you to everyone who submitted. You are all my darlings.
I thought I was your darling.
Always, Tex, always.
Want to keep up to date with the weekly challenges, winners and wonderful writing and art here at Underneath The Juniper Tree? You can sign up with your email in the right bar under Follow Your Curiosity. Don't miss out on the next eerie, hairsplitting, nail-chewing piece of writing. IT MIGHT BE YOURS!
This piece is from our youngest contributer who is a stately 9 years old. Thank you Madeline for submitting such a horribly wonderful piece of writing AND artwork!
The Mouse
“P-U!” yells Izzy as she runs down the hallway. “You’re SO gross! Having you as a sister is like living in a roach-infested dumpster!"
I am just trying to show her a dead mouse I found on our front walkway. I saw it being ripped apart last night by the owls that live in the nest next to my house.
Izzy is in the fifth grade and thinks she is better than me because I’m only in the third grade. She and her friends think I’m weird, but I bet I could melt them with the poisonous potion I’m making. It’s made of dog food and mushrooms I found outside.
Anyway, I decide to have a funeral for the mouse. I go upstairs and take a piece of red and yellow striped origami paper out of my desk drawer. On my windowsill I notice what is probably left over mouse guts. I think I’ll use these later in my poisonous potion. I start folding the paper and keep on folding until I have a box. I lay the mouse carcass inside the box and grab a red marker to bring with me downstairs.
Outside, I look for just the right place. I decide on a spot under our cherry tree.I choose this spot because it is where I buried a dead bird that I found a few weeks ago. I start digging with my hands. It is hard work because I have to dig a hole deep enough for the box, but I power through it anyway. I put the origami box inside the hole I’ve made and cover it back up with dirt. Then, I recite my speech that I came up with during all my work.
“That mouse was a good creature. His family probably misses him, but it’s definitely too late to save him now I didn’t have much time to spend with him, but I know at the bottom of my heart he was an owl’s dinner. This is good and bad. The good part is since the owl ate its meal, it will stop hooting so loudly. The bad thing is that mouse is dead. Amen.”
After that, I search for a good size rock. I find one and, using my red marker, I write:
The last thing you heard was an owl "hoo" Too bad he had to disembowel you
Don't forget to submit your piece for Robots Need Love Too.
Their toes are so...metallic.
Need some inspiration? Watch this video with pen in hand.
Guidelines
Stories must be about robots. It must also fit into our guidelines in our Submissions Page. Submissions that do not fit the requirements will not be considered so read carefully! If you aren't sure as to what we accept, thumb through our June Issue or scan our site and see what we're all about.
Only the most curious and imaginative pieces will be chosen. Winning images and stories will be featured in the July issue of the Underneath The Juniper Tree. The winning images will also be featured in Featured Artists on the side bar.
When emailing us, please put in the subject line "Robots Need Love Too Contest Submission".
With your submission, please send us a little blurb about yourself, your name (or alias) and your website.
Email your story or artistic piece tojunipertreelit@gmail.com
Submission Deadline: June 25, 2011.
Winner will be announced in the July 1, 2011 monthly online issue.
Do you have an eye for illustration? Do you doodle in your dreams? Do words sometimes not make sense so you cut them up and mash them all together until they form the shadow monsters in your mind?
Do you have toes to spare? Maybe even a few f-f-f-FINGERS or–
Settle down Tex. If you are any of the things above, then we want YOU. We want your dark, children's fairytale-inspired art. We want your creative genius splayed on the table under the hot lamp. We want to paint the town red with your art.
So...very...red...
Underneath The Juniper Tree is currently looking for artists to fill it's white, ravenous pages with your work. It can be color, it can be black and white, it can be collage or photos or drawings.
Think you have what we want to gobble up? Email us some low res examples of your work to junipertreelit@gmail.com.
Can't figure out our style? Check out our June Issue and see for yourself what we're into.
Deadline for cover submissions is Monday, June 20.
In the subject line for your submission please put, "Cover Artists Wanted - Apply Within".
My favourite letter is M. It's a menacing letter. It's maniacal, magical, marvelous!
Munchable?
Precisely.
Morose?
Quite right.
Makevelijughuyokiiuuijbu?
I'm doing well today, thank you, and yes. This week we'd like from you – you daring dumplings – to write a piece (up to 500 words) that uses alliteration. A great example of this is used in Horrid Haiku by Laurel Kahaner:
"My blocks are more powerful than your Horrid Haiku," the young girl said to the man in the black hat and fur coat. “This block of a T contains tornadoes, Terpsichore and tandemonium, (I really don’t care that the word usually begins with a P). It’s not that I don’t like haiku. I do. It’s just that your haikus are mean-spirited and Terrible. Tremendously Too Troublesome.”
“I’m about to place the T block onto the A block,” the girl continued, moving the block into place. The body underneath the A block was stiff causing the blocks to shift.
“Then the Tarnadoes will be Tarrific. Ta.” The blocks threatened to topple. The man looked at the blocks, worry wrinkled his forehead. “Ta is a friendly goodbye in Scottish, you know. Now, if you don’t Toddle off this instant I shall be forced to aim this T at your heart. I don’t expect the block will find a heart but my aim is strong and I will make you wish you never attempted to haiku your way into my nursery. You are disturbing my block play.”
The A block began to sigh, “Ahhh, ahhhhhhh.”
“Thrice I’ve told you,” the girl said, “Begone! Or we will build your Tomb in this room. Ta!"
The black-coated man looked longingly at the A and T blocks then shuffled away, trying to create a haiku that could explain the little girl. But he could not.
Deadline for submissions: Tuesday, June 21th. The winners will be announced on Friday, June 26.
With your submission please put in the subject line "Alliteration Challenge". For the name of your document please put your story/artwork name, underscore and your name. Ex: ToesForEating_MarjorieMerle.doc
You can submit your work as a Word document or stick it directly in the email to junipertreelit@gmail.com and please forgive us in advance if we don't write back to you immediately. Tex is fairly anal about reading and viewing everything we get. With your submission please tell us a little bit about yourself.
For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submit Work page.
