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The Horror Tree Recent Markets, Articles, Interviews, and Fiction!

Events / Magazine / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: The Cafe Irreal Fall Window 2022

Deadline: October 1st, 2022
Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum)
Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below.

The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we’re interested in stories by writers who write about what they don’t know, take us places we couldn’t possibly go, and don’t try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, “What is irrealism?”) pages on this web site.
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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Not a Pipe Publishing Untitled LGBTQIA+ Anthology

Deadline: September 1st, 2022
Payment: Contributors Copy and royalties
Theme: Speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, or any other works with a speculative element
Note: Authors must be LGBTQIA+ writers

We are so proud of our anthologies Strongly Worded Women, Shout, Denial Kills, and our forthcoming Stories (Within) (available on August 5th of 2022). We want to do it again! When we look at our country and our industry, we’re very concerned about attacks on LGBTQIA+ folks in the USA and around the world. We worry about how those attacks are silencing the voices of LGBTQIA+ authors, poets, and artists. We want to do what we can, so, just as Strongly Worded Women included only female-identifying writers, our next anthology will only feature the work of LGBTQIA+ authors, poets and artists.

Our panel of editors evaluating and selecting submissions is entirely LGBTQIA+ and includes incredible writers like Christine Sandquist, Lydia Valentine, and Claudine Griggs, and our co-publisher Viveca Shearin.

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Articles / Guest Post

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How the Duck to Write with a Newborn

How the Duck to Write with a Newborn

by Gwendolyn N. Nix

 

Can you tell I’m tapping away at my phone here? I have a two month old passed out on my lap and moving him to his bassinet will result in a cranky, awake infant. The first days of early motherhood were ones of exhaustive leisure full of cooing and awing before tapping away at my phone while he was on feeding #20 or nap #176 or, dare I say, doing both at the same time. But this “free time” quickly whittled away when faced with the onslaught of sleep deprivation, crying, holding, singing, playing, and overall being a constant vaudeville show for one tiny human. Hey, it’s all supposed to help with brain development. Just wish the ticket sales would break even.

 

And I know things are only going to keep getting… well, “worse” is the wrong term… more like the vaudeville show is going to add a couple more acts like “Toddler Acrobatics” and “What’s That In Your Mouth?” bracketing the 8-hour intermission of “Full-Time Job.” 

 

So, how the duck am I supposed to get anything done?

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Events / Magazine / Pro / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores September 2022 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: September 1st-2nd, 2022
Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used.
Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.
Note: Reprints welcome

 

 

Submissions Schedule

We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020:
The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T.
Only one submission per person.

For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.

We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles.
For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word.

We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here.

You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc.

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Anthology / Events / Pro

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Taking Submissions: TBD Gothic Romance

Deadline: September 30th, 2022
Payment: $0.08 a word
Theme: Gothic romances that are equal parts horror and romance.

Submissions Open: August 1st through September 30th 

Title: TBD Gothic Romance 


Type: Anthology of short stories

Editors: Heather & S.D. Vassallo

Theme: We’re looking for gothic romances that are equal parts horror and romance.
The short stories should be mysterious, atmospheric, and include a HEA (or happy for
now). This is an open call with no slots reserved for invitation pieces. Women
(including transgender and people otherwise marginalized because of their gender
identity) and non-binary authors only.

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Articles / Interviews

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Brandon Butler from T.Spec talks Tarot Cards

 

Brandon Butler from T.Spec talks Tarot Cards 

By Angelique Fawns

 

Does the idea of writing about a Science Fiction Tarot card intrigue you? TDOTSPEC and Brandon Butler are looking for 22 stories; one tale for each of the major arcana cards. The submission call is open until October 4, 2022, and pays at a rate of 3 cents a word. I sat down with Butler to learn more about his concept and journey into the publishing world.

 

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Anthology / Events / Flash / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Unspeakable Horror 3: Dark Rainbow Rising

Deadline: September 30th, 2022
Payment: $0.10 (ten cents) per word
Theme: Original short stories up to 6,000 words that explore this idea of great terror growing from the LGBTQIA community’s great strides forward.
Note: Stories must have a strong, central gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer focus/slant/theme

Unspeakable Horror 3: Dark Rainbow Rising
Edited by: Vince A. Liaguno

When the pendulum of civil rights and social change initiatives swings toward progress, the LGBTQIA community often holds its collective breath in anticipation of the inevitable backlash when the pendulum swings back. Even with these gains, we are constantly looking over our shoulder—waiting for the next shoe to drop, for the next attack on our personhood. The community’s enemies see progress as a perceived danger to their own heteronormative bubbles—and any advancement threatens to burst those fragile bubbles. Even as we hoist the rainbow flag in celebration, a dark rainbow rises on the horizon…

For this third volume of the award-winning Unspeakable Horror series, we are seeking original short stories up to 6,000 words that explore this idea of great terror growing from the LGBTQIA community’s great strides forward. We want your terrifying interpretations and extensions of this theme—not a literal reading.

Questions to explore:

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: There’s No Place

Deadline: September 30th, 2022
Payment: 0.08CAD per word and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Storytellers who have experienced—or are experiencing—homelessness.

IN SHORT

What: A pro-rate anthology of short fiction pieces on the theme of “home” (500-3500 words) on the theme of HOME

Who: Storytellers who have experienced—or are experiencing—homelessness.

When: Submissions are open from July 1, 2022, to September 30, 2022. Publication is scheduled for fall of 2023.

Where: While we will prioritize Canadian submissions, submissions are open to writers throughout the world.

How: Scroll below to see our guidelines!

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