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The Rotting Leaf

@rottingleafmag

A literary space for the eco-gothic, the eco-horrific, the eco-surrealist, and the eco-weird | Edited by @benlockwood.bsky.social Read: https://www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-leaf Submit: https://www.briefecology.com/submissions

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26.10.2025
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Latest posts by The Rotting Leaf @rottingleafmag

It's Friday and you deserve a distraction from The Horrors. Check out these horrors instead

06.03.2026 17:08 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Take a break from The Horrors by sending us some different horrors to read

01.03.2026 00:02 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Get your dead forests and grassland corpses ready, we open to submissions at midnight (EST)!

28.02.2026 15:28 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Get your dead forests and grassland corpses ready, we open to submissions at midnight (EST)!

28.02.2026 15:28 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Did you know that you could read a free ghost story in @rottingleafmag.bsky.social?
www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

#ecohorror #shortstory #ghoststory

26.02.2026 04:29 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Get more from The Deadlands on Patreon a zine containing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about Death

we are

80%

funded

(if you were curious)

80% of a skeleton cannot lift a thanksgiving turkey

80% of a liver is not enough to feed a bear

80% off is a going out of business sale

please keep us in the business of publishing death things 4 u

join us! get fiction!

πŸ‘‡

23.02.2026 20:39 πŸ‘ 67 πŸ” 64 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3

Have you read our February piece from K.M. Greyburn, yet? You should.

18.02.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Have you read our February piece from K.M. Greyburn, yet? You should.

18.02.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Find β€” Brief Ecology

"Through a gap in the barn wall a coyote’s amber eye tracks me. The feral gaze clashes with the smell of old hay and dust, the wild peering into the mundane."

This month from The Rotting Leaf: "The Find" by K.M. Greyburn

www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

14.02.2026 13:35 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3

Chocolate and flowers are OUT

Visceral, gruesome metamorphoses from Scavenger to Hunter are IN

14.02.2026 21:33 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Find β€” Brief Ecology

This Valentine's Day, give your loved one what they really want: a strange, horrific tale of transformation.

The Find, by K.M. Greyburn πŸΊπŸ«€πŸ‘‡
www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

14.02.2026 17:03 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

If you like a bit of body horror with your ecofiction, this very cool piece delivers the goods.

14.02.2026 13:56 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Find β€” Brief Ecology

"Through a gap in the barn wall a coyote’s amber eye tracks me. The feral gaze clashes with the smell of old hay and dust, the wild peering into the mundane."

This month from The Rotting Leaf: "The Find" by K.M. Greyburn

www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

14.02.2026 13:35 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3

It's always a bit jarring when I'm birdwatching and I spot a bird with tiny binoculars staring right at me crossing "big nerd" off his list.

13.02.2026 21:32 πŸ‘ 127 πŸ” 29 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
A medieval illustration of a hedgehog with grapes skewered on its spines

A medieval illustration of a hedgehog with grapes skewered on its spines

It was believed in medieval times that hedgehogs had spikes so they could roll over fruit to carry home to their children, which is not true but is a really cute idea

13.02.2026 11:26 πŸ‘ 7324 πŸ” 1727 πŸ’¬ 70 πŸ“Œ 109
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ergot. innovative + experimental horror

"Seared by its attentions, they understood this knowing mind for the pressure they’d felt for what, now, seemed a span of hours becoming days becoming weeks becoming, becoming."

Today on ergot.: 'Valediction' by Jason Baltazar @jasonbaltazar.bsky.social

www.ergot.press/authors/Jaso...

14.02.2026 01:27 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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J.S. Dougless On ecofiction β€” Brief Ecology I’ve always loved a viral clip of Werner Herzog taken during Burden of Dreams . In it, Herzog is standing in his filming location, a verdant rainforest, looking miserable. He says, β€œTaking a close lo...

β€œOur motives are as opaque to a tree as the tree’s motives are to us. And yet we are surrounded by them” - @jsdouglas.bsky.social on ecofiction

Read the full essay πŸ‘‡πŸ‚

www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

13.02.2026 13:59 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

This essay was a lot of fun to write, I hope you enjoy it!

13.02.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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J.S. Dougless On ecofiction β€” Brief Ecology I’ve always loved a viral clip of Werner Herzog taken during Burden of Dreams . In it, Herzog is standing in his filming location, a verdant rainforest, looking miserable. He says, β€œTaking a close lo...

β€œOur motives are as opaque to a tree as the tree’s motives are to us. And yet we are surrounded by them” - @jsdouglas.bsky.social on ecofiction

Read the full essay πŸ‘‡πŸ‚

www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

13.02.2026 13:59 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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When the ghosts come tumbling in β€” Brief Ecology

We've got a new rotten leaf dropping soon, but in the meantime, make sure you don't miss last month's "When the Ghosts Come Tumbling In" by @jsdouglas.bsky.social

www.briefecology.com/the-rotting-...

12.02.2026 16:51 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We hit our submission quota and are now closed until March! Very much looking forward to reading all these weird natures

01.02.2026 23:10 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

We are currently open to submissions! Send us your rotten ecosystems and haunted biomes

01.02.2026 15:30 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Submissions to The Rotting Leaf open at midnight (EST)

31.01.2026 21:18 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ergot. innovative + experimental horror

"There’s this idea that you never actually see the present. By the time your brain catches up to what your eyes saw, the present has already passed. I guess it’s not even a theory."

Today on ergot.: 'True Circle' by Austin Goodmanson

www.ergot.press/authors/Aust...

23.01.2026 21:22 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Submission Guidelines Speculative Fiction Without Distraction

Mythaxis Magazine is open to submissions again until Jan30!

mythaxis.co.uk/submissions....

This is our first subs window in more than half a year! We're looking for all forms of speculative fiction (plus pieces for our next end-of-year crime issue) to appear in 2026 and 2027.

Info at the link!

23.01.2026 13:42 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s a very cool piece and you should definitely read it, in our unbiased opinion

www.briefecology.com/p/when-the-g...

18.01.2026 22:26 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s a very cool piece and you should definitely read it, in our unbiased opinion

www.briefecology.com/p/when-the-g...

18.01.2026 22:26 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Submission Calls OPEN Zine call (February 1st through 7th) Zine PromptsFor this zine bundle, I’m looking for written pieces about these five prompts: -Cunty Horrors (cunty horror microfiction and mini-essays …

Less than two weeks before we open for horror/Weird fic zine submissions. Get your piece(s) ready! We pay 10 cents per word.
cursedmorsels.com/submission-c...

18.01.2026 20:55 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 30 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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When the Ghosts Come Tumbling In By J.S. Douglas

In case you missed it, our January piece of short ecofiction was β€œWhen the Ghosts Come Tumbling In”, by @jsdouglas.bsky.social. And it’s a weird one (complimentary)

www.briefecology.com/p/when-the-g...

16.01.2026 13:19 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ergot. innovative + experimental horror

"We decided to film it in my unfenced backyard, in the sparse stretch of the Haunts. We figured that there would be no danger, no trouble here, and that, we wouldn’t be a bother, or a trouble, to anyone..."

Today on ergot.: 'Lillie' the debut of TTZ

www.ergot.press/authors/TTZ/...

16.01.2026 16:58 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0