Events

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: $100usd Independent Legions Publishing is seeking original horror stories in English for the new anthology THE BEAUTY OF DEATH 2 - DEATH BY WATER, edited by Alessandro Manzetti and Jodi Renée Lester, to be published October 2017 in print and digital editions. We’re looking for stories that fit the theme: Death by Water. All types of horror are welcome. Sex or violence in a story should be artistically justified; no excessive gore. No stories about child abuse of any kind. We welcome all subgenres and forms of speculative fiction. Word Count: We are open to stories of 4000-5000 words. Deadline: September 1, 2017 Pay Rate: We pay (via PayPal) $100 for each original story. We buy first exclusive English-language rights for three years. We do not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions, nor do we accept unsolicited reprints. Submissions should follow standard manuscript format (12 pt Times New Roman or Courier fonts, 1” margins all around, line spacing 1½ or 2 spaces). It must be in .doc or .docx format or it will not be considered. Your name and contact information must be at the top of the first page of the story. Page numbers with author’s last name and/or partial story name on subsequent pages would be appreciated. Cover letter is optional, but if you do include one, please add a short bio (up to 200 words). Response time is currently within four weeks. After that, if you haven’t heard from us, please query. We will not be sending confirmations of receipt. ​ To submit a story, go to our story submission form below. To submit your story via email, put “SUBMISSION - TBOD2” in the subject line and send to: [email protected] SUBMIT Via: Independent Legions.

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Unlisted but “will always meet or exceed SFWA minimum compensation guidelines” Retro Future is a quarterly pulp magazine that searches for diverse, surprising, and progressive science fiction in art, prose, essay, and comics. Issue Submission Themes Issue #4: Resistance to oppression. Submissions Guidelines We welcome submissions of art and writing that approaches retrofuturism through a progressive lens. Essays and flash fiction of approximately 250-500 words is especially welcome; longer works may be serialized. Comic submissions should be 1-8 pages of finished work. Anything longer may get serialized across multiple issues. Please note that inside art should be in grayscale (please refer to art and comic templates for details.) Galileo Books acquires first serial rights; upon publication, these rights revert back to you, the author. We ask that you acknowledge Retro Future (Galileo Books) as the venue of original publication when the work appears in your book or is otherwise collected. If a work becomes unavailable while under our review, please contact us via email. Submitted work for specific issues may be considered for other issues if themes fit. Please include your name and contact information (at least an email) at the top of your submission. Art and comic templates are located here. Please make sure that art finals are high resolution (at least 300 DPI), in the RGB or Grayscale color space, and native Photoshop or TIFF files. No JPG or GIF. (Dropbox will ask you to join, you can ignore that and click the 'continue to download' link) Written material should be attached to the email in TXT, RTF or Word formats. Retro Future is a progressive publication. Subjects such as sexual violence, un-examined racism, and other potentially offensive material are often used as fodder for exposition in genre stories–this is not appropriate for...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Between $25 and $100 Tannhauser Press is looking for the short stories for the WHISPERS of the APOC anthology. Here is a set of common items all the submissions must include: The stories will be set after the Zombie Apocalypse has occurred. It could be the day it hit or a year later. The stories are from various locations around the country. No one knows why or how it happened. None of the stories will solve that mystery. Anyone that dies for any reason will become a zombie. The dead will turn Two to Ten minutes after they die, even if they were not bit. Zombies can only be killed with the destruction of the brain. The zombies dry out and mummify the older they get. Zombies hear and see and smell to find prey. It’s all they do. They will eat any mammal they can catch. Cats, dogs, rats, cows, horses, deer. Zombies get slower the older they get. Fresh ones can run and fight hard. Old zombies are shamblers. Zombie bites will not kill you outright. You die in 24 to 48 hours. Symptoms include sweating, extreme thirst, eventually fear of water (like rabies: Hydrophobia). These stories should be character driven and about survival. Stories will take place in a variety of places: Urban, suburban and rural. Even desolate places. The focus is on survival. Stories should be 5,000 to 20,000 words. Authors will be paid between $25 and $100 per story if accepted, with signed agreement. All submissions are to be delivered in MSWord format. Basic Italics and Bold are the only additional formatting used. Garamond 12 will be used. Scene changes will be separated by “ *** ”. WHISPERS of the APOC will be Rated R. The target soft deadline for...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalties I’m looking for stories for the 5th TALES OF FORTANNIS anthology.  About the collection: The TALES OF FORTANNIS series is published by Double Dragon and is available in paperback, ebook, kindle, ibook, and nook. Double Dragon is perhaps the largest science fiction and fantasy e-book publisher out there, and has been around for about fifteen years. They have a good reputation, pay royalties on time, and make sure the book is available everywhere (Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, all e-book distributors). Previously unpublished authors are encouraged to submit, but should be aware that we ask for at least two years of exclusivity which can limit your ability to resell or republish the story later. (You can negotiate the exact terms of exclusivity with Double Dragon.) Once your story appears in TALES OF FORTANNIS, it will severely limit its future possibilities, including a future pay rate. Note as well that while the book will be promoted in a number of ways, sales will not be huge. Don’t give up your day job. You should be submitting mostly for the exposure. As a standard warning that applies in all similar cases, you need to decide if publishing your work in e-formats and/or on the web, giving up your First Publishing Right for a token payment, is really what you want to do. About Fortannis: Fortannis is the fantasy land where my novels ARCH ENEMIES and THE AXES OF EVIL take place as well as Derek Beebe’s recent novel IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH. Your story does not have to take place in the same kingdom as these stories, and you can create your own kingdom and characters; however, the more you can tie your story in with previous stories, the better. Fortannis is a high fantasy world with elves, dwarves, the mysterious...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: $20 per piece Timeless Tales exclusively publishes retellings of fairy tales and myths. We only accept submissions that are retellings of the fairytale or myth listed as our theme. We don't accept original fairy tales or stories outside of our current theme. These are the known upcoming themes: #9. Rumpelstiltskin - Submission window Aug. 18 - Sept. 1, 2017. #10. TBD (But definitely one of the BIG famous fairy tales for our anniversary edition) Subscribe to our newsletter to vote on the theme and to receive notice when we decide on dates Additional Rules:  Length: Up to 2,000 words. Under 1,500 preferred. (For poems, you may technically send us multiple pieces up to 1,500 words total, but please be considerate of our editor and only send your best and most polished work). Genres:  As of 2016, we are now accepting poetry! In general, please think outside the box! We love to see modernizations, sci-fi retellings, prequels, continuations, mash-ups, etc. Just no eroticism, please (see Content section). Formatting: Please put your story's title and the author's name in the file name of your submission. Example: "Pandora's Choice by Zeus Smith.doc". Too often, we'll get a ton of submissions all labeled "Pandoras Box.doc" and it makes it harder to keep track of them.  Want to know what makes an A+ fairy tale retelling?, HERE is my blog post about it. Content: While Timeless Tales is not targeted specifically at children, it is a fairly conservative magazine, especially when it comes to language and sexual content, so I intend to keep the stories in the PG-13 range or below. However, I have a deep appreciation for the darker side of many original fairy tales, so don’t assume I only want “happy” stories. Pay Rate: As of 2016, we have slightly raised our rates. We now pay a flat rate of $20 per piece accepted--both poetry and fiction. You'll also get a free year...