Taking Submissions: Serial Killers Tres Tria

Deadline: Open until full
Payment: Digital copy of anthology

After the success of Serial Killers Iterum, JWKfiction is proud to announce a third installment in the horrific Serial Killers series of anthologies. We are now open to receive submissions by new and established authors and artists for this deep dive into the twisted mirrors of our own minds, exposing subconscious desires and asking us if we, ourselves, may be as monstrous as the people we like to read about…

Brilliant cover art by William Cook

Send Work to jameswardkirk@gmail.com with Serial Killers, author’s name, and title in the subject line—in that order. Work should be submitted double-spaced as a Word or RTF document. Please: no headers, footers or page numbers. Times New Roman or Georgia are preferred fonts. Art submitted should be high resolution grayscale.

Payment: There will be three Editor Choice Awards–poetry, fiction and art. Each Editor Choice Award winner will receive a free contributor copy. All contributors will earn a free Kindle edition of the anthology.

[via: JWKFiction.]

Taking Submissions: Wily Writers: Psychological Horror

Deadline: July 31st 2013
Payment: 5 cents per word

The Wily Writers site publishes two short stories per month in both audio and text formats. We host a celebrity editor for each of them, and they choose the stories along with the producer (Angel Leigh McCoy).

We publish only short fiction that falls under the genre umbrella of speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romance / mystery / adventure. We have specific themes that we’re asking you to follow. See below:

Themes are trickling in. More coming soon!

Theme listed here: Horror which is due by March 31, 2013

Submission Requirements

Submissions need to follow the guidelines listed below.

IMPORTANT:
Name your file so that it makes sense. An impressive filename for a fiction submission is: (lastname)-(word from title).RTF
[like this: mccoy-darkness.rtf]
Word count: 1000 – 4000 (Firm. Do not query).
Use standard manuscript formatting. (more info)
No simultaneous submissions to other publishers.
Multiple submissions okay, but only one story per theme.
Story must have a speculative fiction element.
Gore, sex, and adult language okay, but make sure it improves the story.
We do not edit, so make sure you use good grammar, have double-checked the punctuation, and have done a spell-check. We prefer Chicago Manual of Style rules, and we will reject it if it’s a mess, even if it’s an amazing story.
We may request revisions, so if you’re not open to the idea, then let us know in your cover letter. It will save us all some time by communicating that up-front.
We will accept reprints. Make double sure that the rights have reverted to you. By submitting it to us, you affirm that it has been freed from all other commitments that conflict with the rights you give us.
We reserve the right to change these guidelines without notice.
Response Time: We will respond within 90 days after the appropriate issue’s deadline.

Pay: Starting with the themes listed above, we pay 5 cents per word. We pay via Paypal or check.

Rights: With this payment, we’re buying the exclusive right to publish an audio version (exclusive for twelve [12] months) and non-exclusive rights to publish a digital text (RTF) version. You will be asked to sign a contract.

Your story will automatically be a candidate for a “Best of Wily Writers” anthology at a later date.

Submit to Wily Writers via our online submission form.

[via: Wily Writers.]

Taking Submissions: Penumbra : Gaslight Fantasy

Deadline: August 31st 2013
Payment: 5 cents per word

Who needs machines to lend that steampunky feel to Victorian stories? We sure don’t. That’s why we’re really excited about this Gaslight Fantasy issue of Penumbra. We love the foggy streets of London, the creature inching ever closer to the oblivious heroine, and, hopefully, her blood spraying all over the passed out prostitutes on the corner. But then, everyone knows we’re a little bit sick. So send us your best gaslight fantasy—blood on the prostitutes is optional—so we can read this issue by the fire on a crisp, late autumn night.

CALL BEGINS ON JUNE 1, 2013
CALL ENDS ON AUGUST 31, 2013

Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.)

Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable.

Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word.

We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author.

Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk getting lost in our queue and not read before the deadline.

Penumbra uses Musa Publishing’s house style guide, which relies upon the Chicago Manual of Style. All accepted stories will be edited to reflect Musa house style.

If you have never been published before, please tell us. Penumbra likes publishing new authors as much as we like publishing experienced authors. Every month, we select one of the best stories from an author with little or no publishing experience and feature that story and author as our Rising Talent recipient for the month. The Rising Talent author’s story, biography, and a non-fiction essay will be featured on our website for a full year, as well as spotlighted in the Penumbra issue for that month.

We absolutely do not accept fan fiction.

Penumbra accepts both agented and unagented submissions. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us at submissions@penumbra.musapublishing.com..

[via: Penumbra Magazine.]

Taking Submissions: Tell me a Fable

Deadline: July 31st 2013 (don’t submit before July 1st.)
Payment: 1 cent a word US, plus one contributor’s copy.

Dark Opus Press is proud to present Tell Me a Fable, our third annual anthology. We will be looking for stroies base on one of Grimm’s Fariy Tales. We’re sorry, but for the concept we’re going for here we are not accepting poetry, reprints or artwork for this anthology.

Our guidelines are simple. All stories MUST be based on a Grimm’s Fariy Tale and NOT the Disney version. All stories must have a dark bent to them and be between 2,000 and 4,000 words. This word count is firm and stroies outside this word range will not be considered.

MUST be in proper manuscript format. This means: Courier New or Times New Roman fonts, doubled spaced, no extra space between paragraphs, indent paragraphs. Words meant to be italicised or bolded in the final print, please make sure it is that way in your manuscript.

Please read our magazine guidelines to see what we do not want. If you don’t review our magazine guidelines, we will know.

Send your submissions to: anthology@betenoiremagazine.com

In the subject line please put: submission – Your story title/title of Grimm’s tale

For example: Submission – Stewie’s Melancholy/Sloth

Payment for accepted works will be a 1 cent a word US, plus one copy.

The reading period for this anthology will start July 1st and end July 31st or until filled. Stories sent before July 1st will be deleted unread.

All submissions must be in either .doc, .docx, or .rtf

Please be advised: If you require a form to be filled out by us in order for you to get our emails, we will NOT fill them out. We are too busy to take the time to do this. Please approve our email address before hand. If we get an auto response from you, it will just be deleted and we will move on to the next submission.

[via: Bete Noir Magazine.]

Taking Submissions: Neverland’s Library

Deadline June 20th 2013
Payment: 3c/per word

What We’re Looking For
Neverland’s Library will be an anthology focusing on the rediscovery of the fantastic; magic, dragons, the supernatural, etc. We are looking for stories which highlight finding that which was once thought lost, incorporating fantastical and/or fictitious elements. We will not restrict how the story is told. All styles, settings, and tones are welcome.

We are looking for only unpublished stories. If the story has been made available for free or payment online then please do not submit it for consideration as it will be considered ineligible under our criteria. We ask that authors limit themselves to no more than 2 submissions, with no simultaneous submissions. That means when a story is submitted to us, it should not be submitted for publication consideration anywhere else.

If you have questions regarding the eligibility of your story, please send a query email before submitting the story in question and we will get back to you promptly in response to your concern.

Submission Period
(Subject to change)
Submissions will be open from March 5th 2013, until June 20th, 2013. Exact dates may vary depending on volume of entries.

Payments and Rights
Upon successful completion of the Indiegogo funding campaign, authors will receive 3c/per word. If we fail to reach our goal during the Indiegogo campaign (launching April 20th, 2013), alternative funding methods have been considered and the project will continue moving, however at a less rapid pace. Should an author wish to withdraw their entry after the Indiegogo, they may contact us requesting to do and we will remove their story from consideration.

If the crowdfunding is a success and your story is selected for inclusion in the Neverland’s Library Anthology, we will email a digital copy of the contract for the authors examination. Upon agreement of terms, the editor signed contract will be mailed to the story author to be signed. After the contract is returned to us and signed by all involved parties, payment will be promptly delivered via check or PayPal, at the submitter’s preference. We’ll also send you a physical copy of the book for your own personal collection. (Authors outside of the US will be required to provide shipping cost for this, or may opt to receive a digital copy instead)

If your submission is accepted, we will be buying First Anthology Print and First Anthology eBook Rights. These are non-exclusive licenses allowing us to use your story in this anthology only. The author will retain all other print rights, allowing them to sell their story to magazines, websites, podcasts or as individual short stories, or in a collection of their own work, or even sell to another anthology, after six months have passed since the publication of Neverland’s Library.

By submitting a story, you acknowledge that you are in fact the writer and sole owner of the work in question.

DO NOT SUBMIT WORKS IF YOU DON’T OWN THEM.

Length
We are looking for stories within 2,000 – 10,000 words. We may choose to print some shorter or longer pieces, however please try to keep within this targeted range.

(Update: We are no longer accepting stories longer than 8,000 words. Sorry!)

Formatting
Only email submissions will be accepted. Please attach all submissions using Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), Plain Text (TXT) or Open Office (ODT) formats only. Any word processor should be able to save a file as at least one of these formats.

Please have all submissions in size 12 Times New Roman font.

How to Submit (What to include)
Please send your story to Neverland’s Library, using the following subject line when submitting:

[NL] STORY TITLE – Your Name

In the body of your email, please include the following:

Title
Real name — This is the name that will go on the contract. No pseudonyms or nicknames.
Pen name — How you want your name to appear in print. Don’t include if you would like to use your real name.
Word count
Email address
Phone number
Short Bio — This is your chance to tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing experience.
All aforementioned items are required, please do not omit any information. Biography lengths may vary, just let us know what you think we need to know.

We will not share any of your personal information with ANYONE. Contact information will only be used to tell you whether your story was accepted, and update with progress on the Indiegogo, and when the book is finished. We will always attempt to contact you via email first. Phone number will only be used if we need to get in touch with you, and email doesn’t work.

If your story is accepted we will ask you to confirm all information, and you will be given the chance to write a new short biography for publication in the book.

Response Time
We aim to respond to all submissions within 1-2 weeks. If you haven’t heard from us acknowledging that we’ve received your submission by the two week mark, send us an email and we’ll be glad to tell you the status of your submission.

–

Please send all submissions and questions to Roger and Rebecca at NeverlandsLibrary@gmail.com. We will be happy to answer all questions.

[via: Neverland’s Library.

Taking Submissions: Night Land

Deadline: Open Until Full
Payment: 8 pence (approx. 13 cents) per word plus royalties

We think THE NIGHT LAND is one of the most colorful, inventive, and moving fictional worlds ever created. Haunting. Unmatchable. Unforgettable.

But the book, as it issued from Hodgson’s pen in 1912, is crippled by an unreadable style.

For some reason Hodgson cast it in the frame of the future-dream of a gentleman of the 17th century. He attempted to reproduce the language of that period, with scant success.

Hodgson became a much more skillful handler of words later, but he never reworked his first great vison.

We believe that the concept of The Night Land deserves more, and we are offering to buy new fiction set in the Night Land universe.

Fiction:

We are have produced one anthology of stories, entitled NIGHT LANDS, from WILDSIDE PRESS.
We hope to publish future volumes, but at the moment we will typically buy for the web only. .

<> We will pay:
8 pence (approx. 13 cents) per word plus royalties — for FIRST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE WEB-ONLY RIGHTS PLUS FIRST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MAGAZINE RIGHTS AND FIRST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ANTHOLOGY RIGHTS.
4 pence (approx. 6 1/2 cents) per word — for FIRST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE web-only rights
These are our typical rates. Actual rates will be legally established by a contract with you.

Payment on PUBLICATION.

View our sample web contract here

View our sample web “teaser” and anthology contract here

Variations on these contracts may be establised by mutual agreement, for example for the anthology only, for a web “teaser” and anthology only, and so forth.

Accepted stories will be posted on this site as they are purchased. We may in some cases post only teasers.

If we buy web-only rights, the writer will be free to resell the story to any hardcopy publication or web site one month after purchase.

If we buy magazine and/or anthology rights, the writer will be free to resell the story one year after purchase. We make allowances for earlier resale in the case of “Best of the year” anthologies and single-author anthologies.

Note that, currently, our funds limit us to purchasing the equivalent of one moderate-length story per calender month. We will probably not increase this volume much in future: our prime intention is to publish a few very good stories.

Advice to writers

We will try to respond to fiction submissions within one month.

We prefer prose fiction in the 2,000-10,000 word range. We are open to longer works, and to short-short pieces, prose-poems, and the like, but these are not our preferred formats.

Text above the 10,000 word limit will be half rate.

We will publish short poetry.

Very short pieces of prose or poetry, if we accept them, will be treated for purposes of payment as if they had a length of 500 words.

What to write about?

It is of course desirable that this anthology of stories have some internal consistency. Therefore you might first read some of the stories already collected online in Night Lands with this in mind.

Also, you must at least skim Hodgson’s original novel. (start with chapter 2 if you value your life and sanity.)

You may wish to check out the suggested timeline to understand the hints we have given above, and Night Thoughts for some background ideas. However, don’t be bound by these, they are just our own ideas. The Night Land universe includes millions of years of human history. Here are a few suggestions:

Write about the Cataclysm
Write about The Road Makers
Write about the experiments that first let in the Pneumavores.
Write about the building of the Redoubt
Write about an attack on the Redoubt
Write about the age of the airships
Write a story about an explorer from the Redoubt, and what he finds in The Night Land
Write about the colonists who left the Redoubt and trekked down to the Land of Seas and Volcanoes.
Write about the Fall of the Redoubt
Try to write somewhat in the spirit of SF, not fantasy. Explain the Pneumavores, the Watchers, and the other semi-human things in the Land, rationally – but partially.

Erotic (but not pornographic) content is a fundamental part of Hodgson’s vision, and is strongly encouraged.

A short glossary of neologisms evolved in published work so far is appended.

What to avoid?

Do not imitate Hodgson’s style or plotting. No archaisms, no future-dreams. We are not after a rewrite of Hodgson’s own book.

Do not imitate Hodgson’s superficial attitudes towards women. This, after Hodgson’s unfortunate writing style, is the great flaw in the heart of THE NIGHT LAND, and must be addressed.

Hodgson’s treatment of the erotic was not superficial icing. It was part of a serious attempt to build a theory of the human condition that was consistent with existence in a radically Entropic universe. Within a context of universal Darkness, human beings find salvation and paradise in erotic love – a love which Hodgson saw as extending through many lives and (in THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND) , as finding a fulfilment in eternity.

Hodgson was desparately serious about this, but unfortunately he failed abysmally. The erotic passages in THE NIGHT LAND are based on adolescent fantasy, not real human love.

Perhaps you think you can do better. If you think you understand what Hodgson was about and can treat can treat his cosmic eroticism meaningfully – give it a try.

(Yes alright. Consensual flagelation and foot fetishism are OK. Why not ??

Criticism:

If you want to write a piece of criticism or analysis about THE NIGHT LAND or related works we will post it for free. We won’t pay you, but we will listen to you.

Artwork:

Unfortunately, at this time, we can not in fairness encourage you to create new and uncommissioned artwork primarily for the purpose of display on this site. Financial constraints and limited web-space mean that we must make fiction our first priority, and the financial recompence we can offer for artwork will be modest.

However, we will probably commission artwork in future.

(If you have already created and published some sort of artwork inspired by THE NIGHT LAND, we might be interested in buying the right to republish it on this site. You are invited to contact us to discuss this. We have typically paid around UKP 30 for the reuse of each such piece of art.)

Where do I submit stuff to?

E-mail your work to Andy Robertson.

(note. We have had some problems reading .doc attachments, so if possible create .rtf format attachments. If you can’t do that, just pasting the story into the body of your e-mail is perfectly acceptable.)

Who are you?

Andy Robertson?

I’m just a SF fan who has got a bit of spare money. I have been helping out with INTERZONE mag for the last decade or so, so I’ve probably already seen stories by you. If you doubt my good faith, check with INTERZONE’S EDITOR David Pringle.

Nigel Brown?

Nigel Brown has published fiction in Interzone, Aboriginal Science Fiction, and various anthologies. He has enjoyed the work of William Hope Hodgson for many years, and considers the Nightland to be one of the most imaginative and exciting adventure stories he has ever read.

It was Nigel’s idea to “do something” about promoting THE NIGHT LAND. Though he is not very, um, webby, he prompted me to start this website and he is an invaluable help and encouragement.

Do you intend to start charging for this website?

No. The web site is and will be a free site, not a pay site.

We have no illusions about making money. We are doing this just for the sake of the Stories.

And because Hodgson should be famous. Damnit!!

– ANDY ROBERTSON

– NIGEL BROWN

[via: The Nightland.

Taking Submissions: Wily Writers: Speculative Fiction – no specific theme

Deadline: July 31st 2013
Payment: 5 cents per word

The Wily Writers site publishes two short stories per month in both audio and text formats. We host a celebrity editor for each of them, and they choose the stories along with the producer (Angel Leigh McCoy).

We publish only short fiction that falls under the genre umbrella of speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romance / mystery / adventure. We have specific themes that we’re asking you to follow. See below:

Themes are trickling in. More coming soon!

Theme listed here: Horror which is due by March 31, 2013

Submission Requirements

Submissions need to follow the guidelines listed below.

IMPORTANT:
Name your file so that it makes sense. An impressive filename for a fiction submission is: (lastname)-(word from title).RTF
[like this: mccoy-darkness.rtf]
Word count: 1000 – 4000 (Firm. Do not query).
Use standard manuscript formatting. (more info)
No simultaneous submissions to other publishers.
Multiple submissions okay, but only one story per theme.
Story must have a speculative fiction element.
Gore, sex, and adult language okay, but make sure it improves the story.
We do not edit, so make sure you use good grammar, have double-checked the punctuation, and have done a spell-check. We prefer Chicago Manual of Style rules, and we will reject it if it’s a mess, even if it’s an amazing story.
We may request revisions, so if you’re not open to the idea, then let us know in your cover letter. It will save us all some time by communicating that up-front.
We will accept reprints. Make double sure that the rights have reverted to you. By submitting it to us, you affirm that it has been freed from all other commitments that conflict with the rights you give us.
We reserve the right to change these guidelines without notice.
Response Time: We will respond within 90 days after the appropriate issue’s deadline.

Pay: Starting with the themes listed above, we pay 5 cents per word. We pay via Paypal or check.

Rights: With this payment, we’re buying the exclusive right to publish an audio version (exclusive for twelve [12] months) and non-exclusive rights to publish a digital text (RTF) version. You will be asked to sign a contract.

Your story will automatically be a candidate for a “Best of Wily Writers” anthology at a later date.

Submit to Wily Writers via our online submission form.

[via: Wily Writers.]

Taking Submissions: Penumbra : Alfred Hitchcock

Deadline: July 31st 2013
Payment: 5 cents per word

Behind every great movie is a great story. Alfred Hitchcock ranks as one of the top storytellers of the twentieth century. We’re looking for suspenseful stories of psychological horror—Hitchcock with a spec fic twist. Cause let’s be honest—who doesn’t feel a bit creepy crawly when they see a huge flock of blackbirds or seagulls overhead? So whether Hitchcock has his signature cameo in your story or not, the best tribute to a man considered to be the most influential filmmaker of the 20th century is a story he would have loved to put on the big screen.

CALL BEGINS ON MAY 1, 2013
CALL ENDS ON JULY 31, 2013

Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.)

Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable.

Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word.

We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author.

Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk getting lost in our queue and not read before the deadline.

Penumbra uses Musa Publishing’s house style guide, which relies upon the Chicago Manual of Style. All accepted stories will be edited to reflect Musa house style.

If you have never been published before, please tell us. Penumbra likes publishing new authors as much as we like publishing experienced authors. Every month, we select one of the best stories from an author with little or no publishing experience and feature that story and author as our Rising Talent recipient for the month. The Rising Talent author’s story, biography, and a non-fiction essay will be featured on our website for a full year, as well as spotlighted in the Penumbra issue for that month.

We absolutely do not accept fan fiction.

Penumbra accepts both agented and unagented submissions. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us at submissions@penumbra.musapublishing.com..

[via: Penumbra Magazine.]

Story Worms: Writing Wolves

Werewolves are a horror staple, and have been around in folklore since the Middle Ages. They’re also a bit of a horror cliche.

From uncontrolled transformations under the full moon, to organised packs utilizing modern technology, they’ve adopted a few different guises over the years. But we’re still fascinated.

Maybe our love of werewolves comes from a desire to keep in touch with our animal instincts, a wish to break free from the expectations of human society. Or perhaps by a fear and revulsion of losing control, losing our sense of civilization and evolution.

My current work in progress is a werewolf story. I’ve never written werewolves before, and when I saw the call for submissions here on Horror Tree, I really fancied giving it a go.

I’ve gone for something very modern; urban fantasy. I’m always interested in how the fantastical gels with reality, and I’ve enjoyed reading urban fantasy over the years. There are always two ways to approach this – that humans live alongside these creatures, but are completely unawares (a la Underworld), or they are openly living alongside them (a la True Blood). Personally, I find the first option a much more fun prospect for writing. It also allows for elements of alternate history to sneak in there; attributing real life events to fantastical causes.

I have done a few things that I haven’t seen done elsewhere, but forgive me if I keep those under my hat right now. One thing I did have a little bit of a struggle with is dealing with the wolves talking while in animal form.

Through my story, the wolves spend a large proportion of their time as wolves, so I couldn’t have them silent the whole time. I also couldn’t have them transforming every time they needed to speak. Using a wolf language would mean me writing translations constantly, or if I just covered this in the speech tags it would simply add words without adding impact. What about using telepathy? Same issue again. But, somehow, just making the wolves speak like humans felt uncomfortable. It felt like a children’s story with talking animals, not the gritty horror angle I’m aiming for.

It was a conversation on Twitter with a writer friend that solved the problem for me. She didn’t really know how she helped, but what she said sparked an idea. The wolves do speak like humans, I don’t think there was ever a way to avoid that, but in my speech tags I point out that the words feel awkward and clumsy in their animal mouths. It only needs saying a few times, so it doesn’t use up too many words, and it doesn’t interrupt the flow of the speech.

I’m having great fun writing werewolves, and I think there’s still a lot of scope in the idea, a lot of things that haven’t been done before. It’s an idea I intend to return to in the future, perhaps even with the same characters. This story feels like it has more potential than the 9,000 word limit.