The Deeps seeks to refocus on communal storytelling as the heart of horror. For many of us, our earliest memories of narrative horror took place around a crackling fire or huddled together on a stormy night, the storyteller’s face dramatically lit by a flashlight. We first learned to love the dark by being in the dark, and most importantly: we were not alone. The ancient ritual of dark storytelling has its gnarled roots firmly set in oral tradition, in the company of friends and loved ones.

At Spindle House we have a vested interest in the art of traditional storytelling. We believe stories are meant to be shared and read aloud, not to be left dormant on the page. We therefore intend The Deeps as a fireside companion to be used in the ritual of dark storytelling.

Although traditionally a nautical and oceanic expression, we use The Deeps as a general term to invoke the vast shadowlands where dark tales dwell. In the stories we publish, The Deeps may refer to remote forests, dark cellars, cursed wells, frozen wastelands, uncharted caverns, foreign dimensions, or even the vacuum of space itself—and yes, also the depths of the sea.

Our commitment to traditional storytelling guides the types of works we intend to publish in The Deeps. We expect to mostly publish short stories of a length that can be easily read aloud in one sitting. However, we also accept submissions of poetry, because we understand that some dark tales are best told in verse. In keeping with the spirit of Spindle House, we intend to primarily publish dark tales that are gothic, folkloric, cosmic, or psychological. We intend to focus on horror, but we are also open to horror-adjacent stories if they fit with our vision.