SJ Townend

My 9-year-old's writing a story about a castrated cat who shape-shifts into a man who trains as a midwife and then devotes his career to vengefully cutting the balls from newborn babies, and I honestly dont know if I should be encouraging my child's creativity or telling him off.

❄️ Now Taking Submissions!
Frost Zone Stories Books 3 & 4 seek Dark Literary Fiction, Quiet Horror, and Literary Horror.

💰 $15 CAD + copies
🗓️ Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
Send your subtle, chilling, and strange tales.
👉 horrortree.com/taking-submissions-frost-zone-stories-book-3-and-4/

Gorgeous, as always, Thomas!

Damn right.

New story - GIVE AND TAKE - by me, available now to Sley House Publishing Patreons.

:)

www.patreon.com/posts/give-a...

Tomorrow, I have scheduled some time to myself to write. First time in literally months. Quite excited.
🖤

"Only 3% to go until...Lesley and Rebecca host a Watch a Horror Movie with the Editors night!"

Current Kickstarter funding: $7,323

There's just 17 DAYS LEFT to back the 2026 Apex Magazine Kickstarter! We've been supporting outstanding authors writing strange, shocking, beautiful stories for 20 years...help us keep doing it for 20 more! 💜👽

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

Thanks, CB! X

a man in a green jacket is driving a car with a sticker on the windshield that says airbag ALT: a man in a green jacket is driving a car with a sticker on the windshield that says airbag

Contract signed :)

Pleased to announce that my story, YELLOW CAR, will be published in HELLBOUND HIGHWAY by Hellbound Books.

Do you want to play a game?
Do you want to play the yellow car game?

Coming soon!

The Programme for World Fantasy 2026 is now live!

worldfantasy2025.co.uk/programme/

Whizzed through this collection by Alison Moore today. So bleak. Loved it.

October not haunted enough for you yet?

After some spooky stuff?

There's a creepy story in here by me called GIVE AND TAKE that might unsettle you nicely:

I just finished reading this. It's brilliant. That closing story! Wow.

Oh, how exciting! I shall bring a book for you to sign!! (If you're open to signings, that is.)

As the world goes dark, smuggler Rosi and her crew sail their truck across a murky sea of nothingness. But something hungry lurks below... THE NIGHT SHIP BY ALEX WOODROE PREORDERS OPEN! Coming January 20, 2026 from Flame Tree Press

The Night Ship is up on Netgalley for those of you so inclined! Reviewers, friends, enemies, anyone, if that's not accessible for you drop me a line, I *am* keeping a list of who has asked and will be dropping emails shortly. ♥️

www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

Cradled in his skyborne sanctuary, Ru watches on as his mother, her bare feet illuminated only by her swinging lantern's glow, runs towards the ladder. The earth begins to tremble. She trips. Her light dips. Ru opens his mouth to scream, but no sound comes. But their home groans. Oh, how it wails.

Sending writing mojo your way! X

Drafted a short story today. In my head. But the ghost of an outline is there.

For a girl who hasn't put pen to paper for over six months, it's a start.
I'm back.
Or part of me is.

Step into the Light cover

Tomorrow will see the release of LMS in Carnage House. A story about the End of the World, a rare topic for me.

Did you know I once tackled the subject in I'm a House but I must Scream, published by Bag of Bones - edited by @sjtownend.bsky.social - in their Step into the Light anthology?

Links 👇

Before they make you feel better. Best to confide in a loved one/close friend before you start taking meds so they can keep an eye on you along with your GP etc. Best of luck. And well done for reaching out and asking for help...first step to feeling better! X

I'm in England. Your GP will probably ask you to complete a short questionnaire to assess how depressed/anxious you are. If you score high, they'll probably offer you meds there and then. Low dose to start, and will ask to see you again a few days/ a week later. SSRIs can make you feel weird/worse

News Round-up Week Ending 25 July 2025 Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week … Out now from author S J Townend and Sley House Publishing, Your Final Sunset This newest collection …

I've just queued up tomorrow's @thisishorror.bsky.social news, but while you wait, take a look at last week's edition: www.thisishorror.co.uk/news-round-u...
Your Last Sunset by @sjtownend.bsky.social - out now @sleyhouseeditor.bsky.social ...

1/2

Thanks for sharing this, Kev x

It's being republished by Pebumbric Magazine at the end of the year! Thanks for sharing, Basile. Made me smile :)

Daniel Mowery's review of Step into the Light 4/5: Step into the Light is a clever and consuming anthology of daylight themed horror, proving once and for all that evil and fright are not merely shadows, but irrepressible and diurnal. “This time,...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ review of Step into the Light, from Bag of Bones Press, ed. @sjtownend.bsky.social

"A clever and consuming anthology of daylight themed horror, proving once and for all that evil and fright are not merely shadows, but irrepressible and diurnal."

www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A houndstooth glove reaching out from the crack of a door.

"From inside, came the tips of fingers, then the hand, like a houndstooth glove extending between the folds of crumpled clothes in the bottom of the closet..." read Houndstooth now in the Patterns anthology edited by @sjtownend.bsky.social. mybook.to/patternspape...

On a gray background, centered, a black and white photograph of the author (a person with long, dark hair and dark eyes, looking directly at the camera). Top text: SJ Townend's story "You Always Drive Too Fast" is free to read on the Die Laughing Website. In the lower left corner, the Die Laughing logo peeks in (an illustration of a dead clown in a coffin, with red hair and white gloved hands crossed over his chest. He has silver coins over his eyes). In a speech bubble, the clown says "You haven't lived until it's smiled at you."

If you're feeling rushed today, why don't you slow down a bit and read the first free story from Issue 4 of Die Laughing Mag? No, slower than that. Slower. Slooooowwwwwwer..... Check out "You Always Drive Too Fast" by @sjtownend.bsky.social!

dielaughingmag.com/2025/07/25/y...