Introduction

Horror Stories by Comedy Writers? Yeah, that's right. After all, the connection between the two genres is well documented. For more on that, check out this helpful introduction from Editor in Chief Ritch Duncan. It's informative, entertaining, and includes a charming little aside where the actress Sydney Sweeney murders a guy.

About Deathbed

Deathbed is an independent web publication and digital newsletter of original, short horror stories by comedy writers launched in September 2025.

Your free subscription to Deathbed gives you access to this website as well as regular emails with the latest stories.

Deathbed writers include published authors, winners of prestigious awards including Emmys, Peabodys, and Grand Clios, and have writing credits that include The Daily Show, SNL, The Onion, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show, Billy On The Street, Sesame Workshop and more.

Deathbed is not intended for children. Some of the stories are spooky and funny, some are scary and gross. To help you manage your expectations of our stories, we have created the ultra-scientific Deathbed Clown-o-Meter.

To date, Deathbed stories have featured Poisoning, Immolation, Killer Plants, Possession, Insanity, Axe-Murder, Dismemberment by Pruning Saw, Dismemberment by Chainsaw, Nudity, Alcoholism, Suicide, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Animal Cruelty, Mountainous Cleavage, Gunplay, Clowns, Facebook, Netflix, and unwanted invitations to improv comedy shows.

We go hard.

Deathbed is powered by Ghost, a platform we chose in part because it sounded spooky. Other perks include the fact that Ghost is an open-source, writer-friendly newsletter and publishing medium that allows us to grow slowly, retain our own audience, and do so without sharing a platform with Nazis.

We prefer to keep company with fictional horrors.

Submission Guidelines

Are you a comedy writer who would like to write a horror story for Deathbed?

Great! Here's how:

Send us an email to inquire how to submit. Please do not send stories or pitches until we have replied. Unsolicited pitches and stories will not be read or considered. We are currently accepting short fiction and poetry.

Here's the specs:

• To get a feel for what we like, please read Deathbed. While creating this site, we read a lot of pre-code EC Horror Comics and Stephen King's Night Shift. We grew up on Joe Bob Briggs, Dan O'Bannon, David Cronenberg, and the Creature Double Feature. Write accordingly.
• We aren't interested in: horror-themed comedy pieces, non-fiction, true crime, horror parodies/fanfic using existing IP, or AI-generated stories or art.
• A Deathbed submission should be no more than 4,000 words. Less is better.
• No pay (yet). We're new, and still figuring this out.
• Stories previously published on your personal blog/newsletter or social media are potentially fine (with link back), but not pieces previously published elsewhere for pay. 
• A seasonal or timely story (Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day themed stories, etc) would be fantastic, but we would need at least two months in advance.
• Expect a reply in one to two weeks.

Thanks so much for your interest!

Staff

Ritch Duncan: Editor-in-Chief
Dan McCoy: Contributing Editor
Kevin Maher: Editor Emeritus

Jeffery Kaufman: Igor
Ben Zelevansky: Mysterious Groundskeeper Who May Be Concealing a Sinister Past

Munich Art Studio : Original Artwork and "Skully" Logo Design

Contact

Website: DeathbedWriting.com
Email: TheDeathbed@outlook.com