The Chamber seeks horror and dark literature of all genres from around the world. There is no submission fee or submission period. The Chamber accepts submissions 24/7/365.
New stories and poems are usually published on Fridays at 10:00 a.m. U.S. central time. Other material is published sporadically.
Our authors’ and poets’ only pay is publication, exposure, and whatever constructive criticism and compliments you provide. Please like and comment as often as possible and share their works on as many social media as you can.
Bonus Feature: “Reflections on a Wasted Life” Video by Phil Slattery
As a bonus today, I am posting a silent video I posted on YouTube on Tuesday. Let me know what you think of it. Like silent films of the past, it has text and a soundtrack.
“The Cold Spot” Fiction by Janea Speer
“I have a story about ghosts,” Marie said to Dalton and the others while trying to search for something meaningful to say in that awkward moment. Becky, Davis, Kyra and Dalton looked at her with amusement. “I mean…I never have seen… a ghost but…I experienced something strange one time.” She stated […]
“Bad Blood” Poetry by Akubudike Deborah
a bride walks down the aisle, staggers on one foot, & you can hear a poet stutter like her footsteps at every step. she hides her form underneath her veil, wears her father’s corpse on her face like the holy candle praying for a future. when the piano starts to […]
“Cheap Sunglasses” Fiction by Rie Sheridan Rose
Gillian studied her reflection in the mirror with a worried frown. She looked tired—lines and wrinkles she had never seen before marring the smoothness of her skin. Her eyes looked a bit funny as well…there was an almost golden tint to them, and they used to be sapphire blue. Even […]
“Just in Case” Flash Fiction by Garrett Rowlan
The man walked out of the bushes as Paul was walking at twilight along the ravine, the one that ran north toward the Rose Bowl, a mile or so distant. Covered by the stretching shadows of the oak trees, Paul had turned back in the direction of his car, a […]
“Stull” Fiction by Janea Speer
They had come back early from camping at Lake Clinton but it was now dark outside. It was late October and the autumn breeze was cool on her face as they drove the Jeep Wrangler down the highway. She held her brown hair back as the curls whipped here and there wildly […]
“The Demented” Poetry by Fadrian Bartley
Cold feet walk the corridor in silence coming from the awakening, To stray away from a lonely room with forgotten memories in wet footprints. Rebellion without sound went rogue inside the soul. As the windy candles reflected old habits of the elder’s shadow, and deep whispers only the wind could […]
“It’s Raining” Short Fiction by Francene Kilgore
It’s raining. The first drop touched the corner of my inexpressive mouth. Afraid to taste it, I removed the moisture with the back of my hand. Vacant droplets reached my shoulders. The air, an uncontrollable dampness, raked my nerves. Elusive shattered shelter pushed me beyond the dank cold pour of precipitation. It’s […]
“Big Game Hunter” Fiction by Travis Lee
It’s dusk and no one’s coming. The damn beast wasn’t supposed to charge me. I paid $45,000 to come hunt it, an albino rhinoceros with a nice horn. They made me sign a waiver. This land is owned by a diamond mining conglomerate, and when Pavel looked at my signature […]
“The Returning Visits” Poetry by Janice Gomez
In a cold dark room she sat silent on concrete looking down at the space between her toes rocking back and forth, to many triggers shots stealing time preoccupying her mind she reached maximum capacity. “Talk to me,” I whispered. She looked at me once and turned her face. Golden […]
“Touchy Hands” Poetry by Janice Gomez
Boiling water flaming from a baptism killing more than any microorganisms from inside young thighs at age six. The Hallelujahs were to fool y’all and my parents as their Pastor, this preacher, a reacher, stretching his truths could’ve done no wrongs as they praise his messages all week long, their […]
“Forever Young” Microfiction by Diana James
Stuart grinned while his heart fluttered in anticipation. The next stage of his project could finally begin—a new statue for his grand collection. He opened the studio window overlooking the garden where his best masterpieces were on display. His personal favorite was still the first, even nine years later. It […]
Coming Up in The Chamber on Friday, March 26
“Forever Young” micro fiction by Diana Young A dark tale of a sculptor and his statues “Big Game Hunter” fiction by Travis Lee A wounded big game hunter in Africa faces being eaten by the wildlife “Touchy Hands” poetry by Janice Gomez A chilling moment of reflection on the narrator’s […]
“Ashes” Fiction by Ethan Maiden
There you go, daddy. There you go to the next place where mummy is waiting. I was there when he stopped breathing. Just like I had been there with mum. I had become some kind of grim reaper watching over as they passed over. Did I feel fear? Of course. […]
“Guardian” Fiction by Ethan Maiden
Everything has changed in a matter of hours. The girl said the road would be long and they would be following – hunting us until none were left. The human in me is weeping out by the second. […]
“Little Girl Blue” Poetry by Prithvijeet Sinha
Hush! she is a spirit of fine fettle clad in whole nine yards of mystique, haunted by a gossamer fabric of heresy. Maligned in her charm The halo of an apparition, she unfurls her midnight legend. […]
Interview with Author/Poet John Ormsby
Bio: I grew up in Toronto where upon graduating university I landed a job as a copy editor for a legal publisher. The work was poorly paid and mind-numbingly forensic with no room whatsoever for any creativity; we were basically word accountants. Upping sticks, I moved to the UK where […]
Interview with Author Olivia Arieti
Bio: I was born in Pisa, Italy, spent my childhood in Miami Beach, my teen years in Detroit and Milan, graduated from the University of Pisa and settled in Torre del Lago Puccini where I live with my family and my four dogs. Being bilingual (English and Italian) I have […]
Special Feature: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
On Sunday, March 7, a friend of mine, Tim Stamps, whom I have known since college way back in the dark ages of the 70’s, sent me this link to a truly dark video. I thought it would make an excellent special feature for The Chamber. Here’s what he says […]
Fiction by Ethan Maiden: “Pulp”
A strange name given for such a strange find: Pulp. The reason I call it this is because I have no other word in my limited vocabulary to explain it. It’s small, black and has the density of rough dough. Then there’s the colours. Those beautiful and unique flickers of […]
“Cthulhu and Me” Fiction by Jackk N. Killington
Sally was seven, and she liked seven-year-old things. She liked pink dresses, tea parties with her friends, or with her plushies when her friends couldn’t come out to play. She loved going to school and being surrounded by her friends. She also liked slugs, and bats. She kept a lizard […]
“The Abomination” Fiction by John Ormsby
Father Marc assumed his usual seat in the front pew of St Jude Church and unfastened his collar. Each evening after mass the old Jesuit liked to collect his thoughts for several minutes before extinguishing the candles and clearing the altar. His church had a cheery interior by day but […]
Two Dark Poems by John Ormsby
Creepy Crawler A friend of mine who used to teach Said some kids he just couldn’t reach A situation made more grim For they were learning how to swim Meal Deal The female spider dines alone For reasons chilling to the bone Perhaps more dates would turn out right If she […]
Interview with Author Joe Pawlowski
Bio: Joe Pawlowski is the author of four books: The Vermilion Book of the Macabre (where “The Intruder” originally appears), The Watchful Dead, Dark House of Dreams, and, most recently, The Cannibal Gardener. He is a retired journalist living in the Minneapolis area with his wife, Debbie, and rescue dog, Lucy. He is a U.S. Army […]
Interview with Marcelo Medone
Marcelo Medone (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1961) is a medical doctor, lyric tenor singer, painter, journalist, fiction writer, poet and screenwriter. His fiction and poetry has received awards and has been published in reviews and editions in various languages in more than 20 countries, in Latin America, USA, Canada, Spain, France, […]
“I AM THERAPIST” Poem by Levi Johnson
I am the second edge of a neurotic wedgefor which they feel so numb.I am the squirm of all their memory wormssprinting to outrun.I am the squeaky sigh of unhinging mindsturned over and outdone. I am a magic wand of a mystery beyondfree spirit that marquees.I am the time traveller […]
“Fishing Buddies” Fiction by Steve Wilcenski
“Harve?” “What?” “You seen Winston lately?” “Yeah.” “I ain’t seen him in a week.” “Bastard. Borrowed fifty bucks. Said he’d settle when his check came in.” “He’s been having tough times since Clara passed.” “Mebee. Don’t look to get that fifty back.” “He might come up with it.” “Not likely.” […]
“Only in Legend” Short Fiction by Jennifer Patino
Brandon and Jamie shone their lights up into the treetops. The night air was sweltering and David could swear he heard a sound coming from up there. His breathing was bordering on hyperventilation. “Chicken, as usual,” Jamie sighed, letting her backpack fall to the ground. A dust cloud rose up […]
Interview with John DeLaughter, Author and Essayist
John A. DeLaughter M.Div., M.S., is a Data Security Analyst and Lovecraft essayist, horror, and fantasy author. He lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife Heidi. His work has appeared in The Lovecraft eZine, Samsara: The Magazine of Suffering, Tigershark eZine, Turn To Ash, and The Eldritch Literary Review Journal. John is presently editing his […]
Apologies to Jennifer Patino
In my haste to put out the announcements for the works appearing on Feb. 26, I failed to double check myself and mistakenly gave Jennifer Patino’s name as either “Jean Patino” or “Jenn Patino”. I have known people with all three of those first names and got them confused somehow. […]
Interview with Author Niles Reddick
Biography I was born in Southern Georgia to a working-class poor family. I started working when I was 12, mowing grass. I was a custodian and then worked in hotels through high school and college. I worked for the Air Force as a civilian, worked as a counselor, and landed […]
“Bye Polar” Poem by Levi Johnson
Nightly insomnia, a lingering bluesA magazine of mania, for me to muse Gripping thoughts, racing the horseBetter judgements, dash to divorce It’s frantic speed, it’s your heartbeatYour social boldness, exceeds discreet Wild self-esteem, exceeds the moonYour urgent dream, a sexual swoon Verbal forays, a twisting vortexCandor bounces, like a bad […]
“Curious Tears” Micro Fiction by Marcelo Medone
Lisa was a girl full of vitality, enthusiastic and restless. Innocently, she went to see a fortune teller, who announced that she would inevitably die soon. She returned home with a shattered soul. Regretful, Lisa berated herself for her damn curiosity. Heartbroken, she cried endlessly throughout the night. In the […]
“The Sewer Bloodsucker” Short Story by Olivia Arieti
Raymond had no idea of how he got into such a dark, wet and filthy place. It couldn’t be the dungeon as its only water seeped from the cracks of the castle’s centenary walls. For sure, it was that red head’s fault. He was dead thirsty when he entered […]
Interview with Author and Poet Bogdan Dragos
Biography: I was born in 1992 in Romania and had a happy childhood until I went to school. I never had an answer to the question “What would you like to become when you grow up?” and still don’t. But I was lucky enough, after college, to land a job […]
“The Intruder” Fiction by Joe Pawlowski
“The Intruder” is from The Vermilion Book of the Macabre, copyright © 2020 by Joe Pawlowski. There are men who do not rest easily in tranquil homes. Who shoulder no load at any worksite nor bow to any god. They live in a world of their own making by their […]
“Traffic Light Revenge” Flash Fiction by Niles Reddick
When I left home at 5:00 a.m., I didn’t see a vehicle on the road as I meandered the neighborhood and the main road arteries to get to the bypass. A bypass, by definition, shouldn’t have traffic lights, especially ones that aren’t synchronized. To have them interrupts the flow of […]
Interview with Author Tom Garback
Biography I was born the winter of 2000 in Philadelphia to a mother, father, and sister. We enjoyed, for the most part, that middle-class, Irish Catholic, suburban lifestyle. Two dogs and a cat passed through our house. I gave up all the many sports I played in Catholic school when […]
“Imaginary Justice” Flash Fiction by Marcelo Medone
“Thanks to you, Benny, I am now in penance.” Benny stood still, saying nothing. “I’ve already explained everything to Mom, but she doesn’t believe me. She keeps telling me that I was the one who damaged the keyboard. She told me that you couldn’t be the one who spilled the […]
“Guests from the Place Where Darkness Eats” Poetry by Jennifer Ruth Jackson
They knock… intense, insistent woodpeckers
or hopeful guests, unseen as air currents. Walls
Interview with Poet Sun Hesper Jansen
Biography: I was raised in godless, liberal Madison, Wisconsin, where I still live and work in order to support a longstanding travel habit. I always called myself a writer, but it wasn’t until about ten years ago that I really made an effort to learn the craft. That was when […]
“The Exact Same Words” Micro Fiction by Marcelo Medone
“It’s been a long time since you came to visit me,” my mother said, in her best victim voice. I didn’t want to explain her that my relationship with Alice wasn’t going well and the same thing happened to me at work. I looked helplessly at the bouquet of flowers […]
“Potions” Short Story by Tom Garback
I did not know her name, nor if she went by she. It was them, then, who made me this way because I had stolen something. So much for the memory of ghosts. The visual proof of my beautiful body had faded fully. Once on a beach south of here, […]
“A New Vision” Micro Fiction by Marcelo Medone
I never liked flies. Perhaps because I associated them with death and illness, with corpses and worms, with the filthiest of the zoological scale. So, when my Buddhist teacher told me that there was this possibility of reincarnating into a lower being, I panicked. I changed my lifestyle and I […]
“Sonata No. 6 (for Julian Scriabin)” Poem by Sun Hesper Jansen
I shiver when the work is finished, and ask if she is pleased – knowing she cannot answer in any human tongue. I do not breathe until she retreats to the silent murk, sated for now. Such were your words, Papa – murky, nightmarish, and unclean – for the […]
“Ouija Board” Short Story by Bogdan Dragos
Well, when you’re desperate you’re… “Me,” he said. He was alone in the room and lonely enough to have bought one of those Ouija boards from some old woman who called herself a medium. It was time to try it out. All he hoped for was a sexy ghost that […]
Interview with Clay Waters
The Chamber Magazine is embarking on a new feature of conducting written interviews with authors whose work has been published on this website. Today’s interview is with Clay Waters, whose story “Frozen Dinners” was published on January 8. Clay Waters has had short stories published in The Santa Barbara Review, The […]
“Mother of Sands” Short Story by Sun Hesper Jansen
The Hhest, my ancestors, called this soft twilight Ssayat Tlichat – the Awakening Hour, holy to harvesters and hunters and travelers and priests. Holy to the hundred thousand ghosts of the deep desert’s heart, whose numbers I will soon join if no one answers the bell I rang at the […]
“Staticus” Poetry by Jennifer Patino
I know how quickly a lightning bolt can strike, can defuse you. Like the moment in the middle of the highest rope bridge, fingers clutching the netting, swaying blood in tense veins, earthquake rumbling beneath you as fearless children rush past. Wanting to scream at them, [can’t they see you’re […]
“Mother forbade feeding the poor thing” Short Story by Bogdan Dragos
There was a dog outside and it kept barking for some reason. Ah yes, it was chained and the chain was terribly short and the poor animal was hungry. Mother wouldn’t bother feeding it. No, mother wanted it to die because it had been father’s dog, inherited along with the […]
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