Events

Deadline: May 31st, 2023 Payment: Contributors copy and $30 for short stories and $10 for poetry Theme: Speculative fiction that explores the body and our relationship to it Note: For authors originally from, or living permanently in, Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand What is a body? In the modern world, the body is an object, separate from the self. The body is an inconvenience whose needs are a barrier to overcome in pursuit of productivity. The body is a collection of features. The body is an asset in which we invest to increase value. The body is sanitised, with illness and death hidden from public view. The body is effortless; evidence of exertion is edited out, except perhaps a single drop of sweat for aesthetic emphasis. BODY OF WORK rejects this dislocation of the body from self. The body belongs to us in all its glory. The 2023 CSFG anthology seeks speculative fiction that explores the body and our relationship to it – how we live in it, how we die in it, and how we transform it – from the good to the bad to the just plain weird. We invite authors to consider the following themes: Bodily autonomy Transformation and metamorphosis Adaptation and mutation Curses Shapeshifting Gender and sexuality Illness and wellness Disability and accessibility Beauty standards Body modification Birth, aging, and death Life cycles Survival Cyborgs, hybrids, and monsters Medicine, medical history, and public health Writing We are seeking submissions from authors who are: Over 18 Originally from, or living permanently in, Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand Made out of meat (no AI-generated stories, please) Submissions may take the form of poetry (max 40 lines) prose (max 5,000 words) All entries must be the author’s original work. CSFG is not accepting reprints at this time. Stories will be selected...

Submission Window: May 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: Short Fiction: .05 per word (up to .08 if stretch goal is met) Poetry: $1 per line up to 50 lines (up to $2 if stretch goal is met) Theme: Horror telling a tale of music Submissions for Playlist of the Damned, the 2023 Kickstarter anthology from Weird Little Worlds Press will open on May 1st, 2023. This anthology is the third Kickstarter anthology from WLW Press, and features authors such as Gemma Files, Philip Fracassi, Lisa Morton, Eric LaRocca, Hailey Piper, Premee Mohamed, Craig L. Gidney, and more. The press will take 9 additional stories and poems from its open submissions period, with a potential to take more, depending on the Kickstarter’s funding. Weird Little Worlds Press has become one of the strongest publishers of short horror fiction, with Humans are the Problem: A Monster’s Anthology (2021) and Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (2022) both being recognized on the Bram Stoker Award® Preliminary Ballots. Stories from the press’s anthologies have also appeared on the yearly Pseudopod fiction highlight roundup as well as Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year anthologies. The 2022 Mother is also on the final Stoker ballot for Excellence in an Anthology, and the co-editors of this year’s Playlist, Jessica Landry and Willow Dawn Becker, are both Stoker-nominated editors (Landry, There Is No Death, There Are No Dead; Crystal Lake Publishing, 2021)(Becker, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror; WLW Press, 2022). The Authors Playlist of the Damned looks to meet the same level of excellence as the press’s previous anthologies and includes brand new fiction from award-winning authors including: Gemma Files Philip Fracassi Premee Mohamed Castro Richard Chizmar Hailey Piper Lisa Morton Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito Craig L. Gidney Maxwell I. Gold Mercedes M. Yardley Sofia Ajram Tim Waggoner Linda Addison P. Miskowski Eric LaRocca The Pitch In December 2020, hiker Jeremy Schall finds a cassette tape in an abandoned mine reading DO NOT PLAY....

Deadline: May 31st, 2023 Payment: 3 cents per word for the winner, 2 cents per word for second place, and 1 cent per word for third place Theme: Red The theme for next month's flash contest is... "RED! The colour of blood, and love, and danger. Flashing lights, glowing eyes, cooking flesh; the blinding hue of rage, the windswept locks of a Celtic warrior princess. Give us something red – serve us something raw and dripping, a fresh cut that only you can deliver." This theme is courtesy of last month's winner, Matthew R. Davis, who will also read all the submissions and pick the finalists. Before we get to the submission guidelines, please know that only the top 15 to 20 stories will be posted on our Patreon page for our patrons to vote on. The winner will receive $0.03 per word, publication, and an Author Spotlight on our newsletter and Patreon page. The second place winner will receive $0.02 a word, and the third place winner $0.01 per word. The winner will also have the option of hosting the following month’s contest for an extra payment and a profit share from any new patrons joining our Patreon during that month. Submission guidelines: -Max 1,500 words -Submit your entry in the body of an email to [email protected] (no attachments) – please notice the new submissions email (no longer our main email account) -The email subject line should be the story’s title and your author name / pseudonym -The deadline is midnight at the end of May, wherever in the world you may reside. -No multiple submissions (only your best story) -Reprints are allowed if they naturally fit the theme. -Put your bio below your story (max 500 words). Please take note… You do not need to be a Crystal...

Deadline: May 31st, 2023 Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. Theme: Science Fiction Note: Reprints Welcome Escape Pod is a science fiction market. We are fairly flexible on what counts as science (superheroes! steampunk! space opera! time travel!) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre. We want stories that center science, technology, future projections, and/or alternate history, and how any or all of these things impact individuals and society. Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hopepunk and optimism rather than grimdark and gloom. We love to see funny stories, which can include dark humor that doesn’t punch down, and satire that isn’t painfully bleak. Remember that the failure mode of irony is sincerity, so if you’re mocking something, be sure you’re hitting the right target. We’re not interested in stories that contain sexual assault, rape, child abuse, animal cruelty, gore, or horror. We also do not want to see stories that treat the hardships of marginalized people or groups as thought experiments. While we may have published stories with that type of content in the past, they are not currently a good fit for Escape Pod. Our primary audience is adult listeners and readers. Strong language and sexual situations are fine, but we are not an erotica market. We publish our stories in text and audio, but audio is our primary format. Because our audience cannot easily reread or skim, we prefer stories of high clarity and tight pacing. Complex syntax, elaborate structures and typographic novelties (e.g. footnotes) are difficult for us to publish. When in doubt, query us! Please visit PseudoPod for horror, Cast of Wonders for young adult, and PodCastle for fantasy fiction. Wordcount: Short stories – original fiction: 1,500-6,000 words (sweet spot: 2000-4000) Short stories – reprints ONLY: 1,500-7,500 words (sweet spot: any)...