I read the news about Shadows and Tall Trees going on indefinite hiatus with a heavy heart. It really is a huge loss for all readers and writers of horror and dark fiction. Shadow and Tall Trees was a beautifully presented publication, providing short fiction from writers as prolific and important to the genre as Gary McMahon, Gary Fry, Ray Cluley, Lynda E. Rucker and Nina Allen, among others.
I also have a bit of a personal connection to the publication, as in 2012 editor Michael Kelly took a chance on a short story of mine called Red Rabbit. It went on to become my first ever published short story, and my name & work appeared alongside Reggie Oliver, Robert Shearman and VH Leslie – I could barely believe it at the time and still have to stare at the back page for a while to be sure it really happened. Giving new authors the chance to put their name and their writing out there for all to see is such a valuable thing, and I’ll always be grateful to Michael Kelly for giving me that opportunity.
Some of my favourite short stories have appeared in Shadows and Tall Trees – Karin Tidbeck’s ‘Moonstruck’, recently nominated for a British Fantasy Award, is probably up there with the best short stories I’ve ever had the good fortune to read. Robert Shearman’s ‘Bedtime Stories for Yasmin’, Ray Cluley’s ‘Night Fishing’, Michael Wehunt’s ‘Onanon’, Claire Massey’s ‘Casting Ammonites’ and VH Leslie’s ‘Senbazuru’ are all fantastic pieces of fiction, and those are only off the top of my head.
It’s a terrible shame to be losing it, but you can still get back issues – 6 volumes in total – and I would highly recommend getting hold of them while you still can.
Dispatches from the Sinister Room 