New Challenge - 11 Word Story

We really want to challenge you this time. Write us a story, something haunting, creepy, scary, spooky, slithering. But you can only use 11 words. Do not distress! You can do this.

The girl tried to stand, but her leg wasn't there anymore.
Being invisible was the best thing of all, until it wasn't.
While eating the pages, Tex didn't see the 'T' with teeth.


Guidelines

The story must be 11 words in length, no more, no fewer. Not eleventy, not eleventeen, 11 words. ELEVEN!!!

Please send your entries to junipertreelit@gmail.com and put "11 Word Story" in the subject line or else your email will be eaten by the Spamster and never found again.

Deadline for submissions is Saturday, August 20. The winner will be announced on Monday, August 22.

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.

For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submissions & Guidelines page.

Be our fiendish friend on Facebook 

Follow our terribly terrific tête-à-tête on Twitter 

Get down with the goods on Google+ 

Don't forget to check out our August Issue

Blast from the Past: Rats Edition - TWO DAYS LEFT!

I can hear your pens scratching away. Two days until the deadline. Quickly, poppets, quickly!

In under 500 words, write us a piece inspired by this photo. Your piece can be poetry or a short story as long as it is under 500 words. If you can think of other creative ways to be inspired by this photo, go ahead and surprise us! The winner (or winners) of the challenge will be featured in the September issue!

Deadline for submission: Saturday, August 6. The winners will be announced Monday, August 8.

With your submission please put in the subject line "Blast from the Past - Rats 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.

For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submissions & Guidelines page.

We look forward to your creative mind-doodles!

Be our fiendish friend on Facebook 

Follow our terribly terrific tête-à-tête on Twitter 

Don't forget to check out our July issue

Blast from the Past: Rats Edition - ONE WEEK LEFT!

You heard right, headless pumpkins, you have only one week to enter your submission for the Blast from the Past: Rats Edition challenge. Haste, friends, haste!

In under 500 words, write us a piece inspired by this photo. Your piece can be poetry or a short story as long as it is under 500 words. If you can think of other creative ways to be inspired by this photo, go ahead and surprise us! The winner (or winners) of the challenge will be featured in the September issue!

Deadline for submission: Saturday, August 6. The winners will be announced Monday, August 8.

With your submission please put in the subject line "Blast from the Past - Rats 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.

For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submissions & Guidelines page.

We look forward to your creative mind-doodles!

Be our fiendish friend on Facebook 

Follow our terribly terrific tête-à-tête on Twitter 

Don't forget to check out our July issue

August Issue Sneak Peek: The Cover

Friends. We are twitching with excitement over here at Underneath The Juniper Tree. Tex hasn't eaten a toe in days, he's so antsy.

It all tastes of bogweed, mind, when something so thrilling is on its way.


I wholeheartedly agree. So far, each monthly issue has surpassed the last. Yes, we've only had two issues, but that just proves my point. The August issue will certainly be a blast of delight. Sound the trumpets, all!

Here is a sneaky peeky at the cover for the August issue illustrated by Ken Lamug. Would you like to illustrate our next cover? Send us some examples of your work to junipertreelit@gmail.com and tell us a little bit about yourself. Don't be shy, Tex only bites what moves.

Keep sending in the general submissions, friends, our September issue is already a quarter full!

Need to something to keep you busy while you await the August issue? Check out our July issue!

Be our fiendish friend on Facebook 

Follow our terribly terrific tête-à-tête on Twitter 

Be one of our Contributors

Being one of our contributors is hard work. Having to write scary stories until they cry,

eating toes to keep invigorated,

running into dark forests to find the fantastically ferocious creatures that inspire their stories; it's really something to be in awe about.

Do you think you could do what our contributors do? Why don't you give it a shot: we are accepting general submissions of short stories (2000 word maximum), poetry, limericks, doodles, drawings, paintings, ghost rants, robot rhymes,

severed toes,

(please send those to Tex only) and any sort of rambunctious and stupendous stanza you might have secretly stowed away in that brain of yours.

Tell your friends. Your neighbors. Deceased ancestors.

Don't forget to check out our July issue

Edward Gorey Challenge Chapter 2 Winner! And a new Challenge: Choose Your Own Mystery

The winner of our Edward Gorey challenge is.....

*Druummmmmm*

Madeline Daniel! Madeline was able to fit a barrage of imagery and thought into three incredible sentences. Below is just a hint of what's in store for the August issue where you get to read Madeline's full piece:

“Oh, that is terrible,” said the oak tree sympathetically.  

Thank you to everyone who submitted work! It was one of our best turn-outs yet. If you'd like to keep up to date with our challenges, contests and giveaways, just subscribe to Underneath The Juniper Tree on the right side of the screen. Now for our next challenge...

Choose Your Own Mystery

This week's challenge is an array of amusements. We will give you character, place and action options and you will create the story. You must choose one character, one place and one action from the list on which to base your story or artwork. So you will have chosen three options altogether. Capiche? Remember that choosing obvious choices will not get you anywhere. Please choose as creatively as possible, as random as possible, as unheard of as possible! Here are your choices:

Character 

1) Wendigo

2) Ghost of an angry child

3) Cockroaches 

Place

1) Decaying castle in Wales

2) Backwoods of Kentucky

3) Deserted hospital 

Action

1) Whispering the words "we all fall down"

2) Eating flesh

3) Head spinning 360 degrees

Guidelines

With your submission please put in the subject line "Choose Your Own Mystery Challenge".

Artists

Only One image can be submitted per person. Please check the Submit Work page under "Dimensions" to see how you should submit your image. With your submission please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Writers

Your piece must be under 500 words and containing your three choices. Be as creative as possible with what you've picked. When submitting your piece, please list your three choices. If you don't, I will be emailing you back and telling you that you are terrible at reading guidelines. And then you will probably not win. You can submit your work as a word document or paste 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.

Deadline for submissions has changed. We are now giving you TWO WEEKS to submit your piece so they better be good!

Deadline for submission: Saturday, July 23. The winners will be announced Monday, July 25.

For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submit Work page.

Don't forget to check out our July issue.

Monthly Contest - Time Travel

Here at UTJT, we not only sneak into dark forests and romp in swamps, we also slip through space in our marvelously metal time machine!

This month's contest is all about time travel. Perhaps your characters glide through time with a jet pack not unlike this image to the left here. Or maybe they use giant, glossy baubles? Or maybe they don't need a time machine at all, instead flying through time by entering a cave guarded by savage crocodile beasts with scales so sharp they cut through bone with the slightest bit of pressure.

Guidelines
Stories and drawings/paintings/doodles must be about time travel. However you think time travel should be done, let us know in short story form (2000 words or fewer) or an image (one image per artist). It must also fit our guidelines in our Submit Work page. Submissions that do not adhere to the requirements will not be considered so read carefully!!!!! If you aren't sure as to what we accept, thumb through our June and July issues or scan the site to see what we're all about.

Only the most curious and imaginative pieces will be chosen and featured in the August issue of Underneath The Juniper Tree. If your pieces doesn't win but we're terribly keen on it (and Tex is in a good mood that day), we'll feature it on the site. The winning images will also be featured in Featured Artists located on the right sidebar.

When emailing us, please put "Time Travel" in the subject line.

With your submission, please include a short bio (50 - 75 words) about yourself written in third person with your name (or alias) and your website if you have one.

Email your story or artistic rendering to junipertreelit@gmail.com
Submission deadline: July 25, 2011
The winners will be announced in the August 2011 online issue which is free for all eager eyes to nom on.

We look forward to reading all your submissions and potentially eating a few. Good luck to everyone!


Don't forget to check out our July issue.

The Boogeyman's Rhyme - Laura Garrison

My parents are shadows that lurk in your closet;

My very first word was an old man's last breath.

I watched from the wings on the night you were frightened

By blood on the white hands of Lady Macbeth.

My laugh is the scuttle of leaves on the sidewalk;

The weeds on your grandmother's grave are my hair.

My friends are the slime-trails that slugs leave behind them,

And I can freeze toads or melt stones with my stare.

My sigh is the hot wind that withers the foxglove;

My heart is the black rat that drowned in your well.

That dust layer under your bed is my dandruff;

The drain in your shower is ripe with my smell.

I might slip a fat spider into your slipper

Or give you an itch in a place you can't scratch.

While you're off at school, I leave lumps in your pillow

(In three or four days they'll be ready to hatch).

I chew on your boogers and old toenail clippings

At bedtime, when serpents and centipedes creep.

Next time you're alone in the darkness, remember:

My children are nightmares that poison your sleep.

The Boogeyman's Rhyme

Laura Garrison

Come back later today to learn about our contest for this month!

'ime'! 'ravel'!

Exactly, Tex. Good show!


Don't forget to check out our July issue.

Friendly Reminder - Edward Gorey Chapter II PLUS winner of Tex's book!

Just a friendly reminder that your Edward Gorey Chapter II submission deadline is TOMORROW!!!

The horror.

Quite. SO! You have until midnight tomorrow night to send them in.

junipertreelit@gmail.com


Now, to more important things: who won Tex's book?


Whose toes did I find the tastiest?


Tex! You didn't tell me you were taking bribes! You bad armadillian. Now, for the winners of the free books...


I drool at the thought...


Tex, they are your books! And the winners are...


Raych and Amanda are our glorious winners of this giveaway! Congratulations on your free books! Email to collect your book booty!


Thanks everyone for helping out and referring your friends and strangers to Underneath The Juniper Tree. And feel free to continue to refer your friends and family and writer friends and friends that doodle. We are always looking for new, great work!


And come back tomorrow for our monthly contest announcement. I'll give you a clue on what it's about–


Toes!


No.


Fingers!


No!


Brains?


It begins with 't' and ends with 'ime' 'ravel'. Until tomorrow!




Don't forget to check out our July issue.

Sunday Poetry: The Fairy Gothmother - Jenn Preston Chushcoff

The Fairy Gothmother haunts children’s dark dreams.

She tends closet monsters that delight at their screams.

She’s queen of the creepies that hide under beds,

commander of crawlies that little ones dread.

She summons her ravens, beasts and black bats

to trouble bad children, like bullies and brats.

If you’re on The Good List there’s nothing to fear,

but if you’re on the Bad you’d better stay clear

of alleys, old mansions and dank moldy cellars,

since that’s where she keeps her shadowy dwellers.

She’s even made pacts with the kind fairy folk.

They get their flowers while she dons poison oak.

You’ll find her brooding with hands on her hips

in forgotten graveyards and sinking old ships.

Call her by name and she’ll help get you through.

You’ll see she’s not mean, just moody and blue.

But don’t ask for a carriage made from a gourd,

life-threatening shoes or a magical sword.

The Fairy Gothmother stirs grief for your foes.

They trip on their shoes and shoot milk through their nose.

She conjures strange sounds with odd bumps in the night,

seeds minds with bleak nightmares to give them a fright.

So if you’re in a jam and a tyrant’s the cause,

call on your FG and she’ll lay down her laws.

She’ll call upon Justice to even the score

since crooked wrongdoers is what she abhors.

There’s just one more thing I think I should say.

“Justice” is her pet and he brings Judgment Day!

Fairy Gothmother 

Written by Jenn Preston Chushcoff

Illustrated by M. Stagi

To see more of this calibre or macabre, check out our July Issue!


Would you like to see your limerick or poem up on Sunday Poetry? Email it to us at junipertreelit@gmail.com and put "Sunday Poetry" in the subject line.

Blast from the Past - Fox Edition Winners!

The entries were nothing short of horribly creative and terrifying terrific! Thank you to everyone who entered. Your creativity and constant rhythm of words never fails to amaze us.

The toe bribes help as well.

Oh, too true, Tex, too true.

Now – the winner of the Fox Edition is......

Jenn Preston Chushchoff with her piece Now He Has None. The piece will be featured in the August issue of Underneath The Juniper Tree.

I hate waiting, you know.

Don't we all Tex, don't we all! So below is her lovely written ditty with a sea shanty tune we can all sing along to in our minds while we toil away at the day. Let it begin, Jenn!

Charles and Victoria booed and hissed as Johnny sang a favorite sea chantey. The song was in poor taste considering the prior evening’s event. 

     Away, away, get the anchor aweigh!

    Our ship must set sail on the bonny sea.

    Goodbye, farewell. Give a heave, get it done.

    We’re homeward bound, we’re leaving.

    If you don’t pull, you’ll walk the plank

    or have your head nailed to one.

To be fair, Charles had a weak upper body. 

Now he has none.

And just a friendly reminder that your Edward Gorey - Chapter II submission deadline is on Tuesday!

The horror.

Quite. SO! Stop procrastinating and get it done and sent it in. You'll feel better about it in the morning.
junipertreelit@gmail.com 

July Issue

Yes! Another issue has arrived for your grabby little hands to twist and turn. Gobble up the words with your eyes, devour the images.

So much to nibble on, so little time. 

Thank you to all our contributors and our Murder of Editors for working so diligently on this masterpiece of musings.

We are currently working on a collection of bios and websites of our contributors so stay tuned to find out more about the insanity and genius that is the melting pot of Underneath The Juniper Tree.

Now, before Tex eats his own hands, I present to you the July Issue!

July Issue



Would you like to contribute to the unbearably beautiful work that graces the pages of Underneath The Juniper Tree? Check out our Contests, Challenges & Giveaways page. Or head over to our Submissions page to see what we accept. If you're feeling particularly bold–

That I always am.

Then send your work directly to junipertreelit@gmail.com and we'll tell you if it fits in our boat of monsters.

Edward Gorey Challenge Chapter 2

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.

July Issue - Sneak Peek

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.

Good luck!

Tex's Tale

Texillian Armadillion

Gobbling up words—that’s why I was born…created…devised, perhaps? My origins are an anonymity even to myself.

I live in a mysterious attic filled with wondrous words, floating around the dust the way that invisible notes of a piano float through a concert hall. Marjorie was revealed to me one day when I saw a tiny toe pass through the darkness. I scrambled to slurp up all of the letters and numbers, punctuation marks and blank spaces I could before the owner of this delicious looking toe took them away from me.

I opened my mouth and inhaled.

Like a phenomenal whirlwind, words and parts of words came dancing into my mouth. And it wasn’t until I finished with the words and started nibbling on that delicious (albeit curious) toe, that Marjorie noticed me.

I am Tex.

I am keeper of the tales.

I am an eerie little creature and I prefer to stay that way. I will eat parts of you even if I love you. I will gnaw on parts of you if I am perturbed. Please do not take offense. As some would ask, “Were you raised in a barn?” Well, no. I was raised in an attic with nothing but alphabet letters and old feline skeletons to keep me company.

Do not feel sorry for me.

For I am Tex.

And I am keeper of the tales.

I hear a symphony when I read words. I see a painting when I watch the alphabet letters dance with the dust bunnies in front of my eyes.

If you must use my beloved letters on that white regurgitated wood, please make them count.

For each letter has a tale to tell, a life to live.

With slobbery toe nibbles and a tip of my bowler hat,