Author: Stuart Conover

Taking Submissions: Fever Dreams

Deadline: November 14th, 2024
Payment: 8 cents/6 pence for each word for new stories
Theme: This is an unthemed horror anthology, open to all sorts of horror content.

We are very excited to announce a new call for submissions which is now open! Please read through the details for submissions carefully before submitting your stories and make sure to include your story title in the subject of your email.

Fever Dreams
A New Collection of Horror Stories

We are very excited to open submissions for this new anthology, edited by Mark Morris (“…one of the finest horror writers at work today” – Clive Barker)! Elemental Forces is the sixth book in Mark Morris’s ABC of Horror, and follows Elemental Forces, which is out now! Mark has once again approached an impressive range of authors but we’ve reserved space for four new stories from the online submissions. This is a prestigious anthology and will be published worldwide in hardcover and paperback. The first book in the series, After Sundown, was nominated for both Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy awards, so we’re looking forward to finding more unthemed horror stories for this sixth collection.

A note from editor Mark Morris:

Halloween is upon us once more, which means it’s time for the submissions window for my 6th annual non-themed horror anthology from Flame Tree Press to be thrown wide open. Next year’s entry in the acclaimed ‘ABC of Horror’ series will be called Fever Dreams, and as ever I’m looking for stories that are as disturbing, strange and original as you can make them. I’m not averse to humour, and neither am I averse to horror tropes like zombies, vampires and serial killers. But if you are going to write stories with such familiar, tried-and-trusted elements, then you need to find a new and unique way of presenting them. I want to be surprised and scared by your stories, and I want them to be populated by characters who are both believable and identifiable (even the evil ones). Your stories can be anything from 2,000-8,000 words, though the sweet spot is round about the 4,000-5,000 word mark. You have two weeks to send me your very best work. Good luck!

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Taking Submissions: Hiding Under the Leaves February 2025 Window

Submission Window: February 9th – 23rd, 2025
Payment: 1p a word to a maximum of £50
Theme: Folk-horror short stories

Hiding Under the Leaves, to be published November 2025, will be an anthology of folk-horror short stories. Think curses and cunning folk; superstitions and the old ways; twisted rural landscapes and dark, creeping woodlands.

Submissions will open 9th February 2025 and will close in the witching hour (midnight again!) 23rd February 2025.

For both anthologies:

Stories should aim to be 2-9000 words, and will be paid at 1p a word to a maximum of £50. Longer or shorter stories may be considered but will be a harder sell.

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Taking Submissions: Dark Hearts

Deadline: January 31st, 2025
Payment: Fiction: 3 cents per word, minimum ($5.50 minimum payout), Poetry: 25 cents per line. ($5.50 minimum payout)
Theme: Speculative stories and poems about women who are anti-heroes

Theme for 22nd anthology: Dark Hearts

Dark Hearts is a women-centered theme for which anyone can submit stories.
The anthology will feature speculative stories and poems about women who are anti-heroes. Send us your stories about shady ladies: women and female-presenting characters breaking the rules, defying social norms, and getting up to no good!

Genre: We accept science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and enjoy intelligent blends of the three. Stories and poetry outside these main genres’ will not be considered.

Editor loves: supportive female friendships. Women with a mastery of weapons or powers. Women in STEM or in disguise. Cyborgs. Hackers. Heists. Underdogs. Romance!

Sex, violence and swearing are fine, but execute thoughtfully.

We love creative interpretations of our themes, but require stories and poems to be a solid fit.

Eligibility: All writers; including those who are known or related to the editorial staff, may submit to Triangulation. New as well as established authors are welcome to submit.

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Taking Submissions: Spirit of the Wolf

Deadline: March 31st, 2025
Payment: $20.00
Theme: Well-constructed speculative fiction stories where wolves play a major role. The only thing we do not want to see is Wolves as evil.

The wolf has been a creature of mythology and legend since humans first told stories. Feared and reviled, or worshipped and loved, the wolf symbolizes wildness and power. In Spirit of the Wolf, we’re hoping to capture the wolf in new stories that celebrate their wildness and freedom, their magic and mysticism.

We’re looking for well-constructed speculative fiction stories where wolves play a major role. The only thing we do not want to see is Wolves as evil.

Proceeds from sales of Spirit of the Wolf will be donated to Mission Wolf located in Westcliffe, Colorado. Check them out at: missionwolf.org

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Taking Submissions: The Cafe Irreal Winter 2025 Issue

Deadline: January 1st, 2025
Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum)
Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below.

Why The Irreal Cafe?

“When I enter a cafe, the first thing I perceive are implements. Not things, not raw matter, but utensils: tables, seats, mirrors, glasses and saucers… Taken as a whole, they belong to an obvious order. The meaning of this ordering is an end — an end that is myself, or rather, the man in me, the consumer that I am. Such is the surface appearance of the human world… Now let us describe the cafe topsyturvy.

“…Here, for example, is a door. It is there before us, with its hinges, latch and lock. It is carefully bolted, as if protecting some treasure. I manage, after several attempts, to procure a key; I open it, only to find that behind it is a wall. I sit down and order a cup of coffee. The waiter makes me repeat the order three times and repeats it himself to avoid any possibility of error. He dashes off and repeats my order to a second waiter, who notes it down in a little book and transmits it to a third waiter. Finally, a fourth waiter comes back and, putting an inkwell on my table, says, ‘There you are.’ ‘But,’ I say, ‘I ordered a cup of coffee.’ ‘That’s right,’ he says, as he walks off.

“If the reader, while reading a story of this kind, thinks that the waiters are playing a joke or that they are involved in some collective psychosis, then we have lost the game. But if we have been able to give him the impression that we are talking about a world in which these absurd manifestations appear as normal behaviour, then he will find himself plunged all at once into the heart of the fantastic.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

What do we serve at The Irreal Cafe? See At Our Cafe.

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Taking Submissions: Astrolabe December 2024 Window (Early)

Submission Window: December 21st, 2024 to January 21, 2025
Payment: $50 upon publication
Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection in all genres with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit

Please read below for details about our next submission window, guidelines, honorariums, and rights.

At Astrolabe, we’re looking for work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another.

And then, once we find one other, the myths we make.

We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky.

We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit.

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Writing Prompt Wednesdays: The Witching Hour’s Guest

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: The Witching Hour’s Guest

Welcome to “Writing Prompt Wednesdays,” a haven where your imagination can roam free in the realms of speculative fiction. As we embark on this weekly journey, it’s thrilling to think about the untold stories waiting to be penned in the domains of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Whether you’re a seasoned author or a budding wordsmith, these prompts are your gateway to unexplored worlds and untapped potentials.

Every Wednesday, we’ll serve up a fresh, thought-provoking prompt designed to ignite your creative spark and challenge your storytelling prowess. Think of these prompts as a key, unlocking the doors to uncharted territories where your creativity is the only limit. From eerie, shadow-laden corridors of Gothic horror to the farthest reaches of interstellar space, and the mystical depths of high fantasy, our prompts are a kaleidoscope of possibilities.

Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to approach these prompts. They are mere stepping stones, guiding you towards the vast landscapes of your imagination. Use them to break free from writer’s block, to experiment with new ideas, or simply as a fun exercise to keep your writing skills sharp.

This week’s writing prompt:

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Taking Submissions: Trash Tales

Deadline: December 31st, 2024
Payment: Contributor’s copy
Theme: The stories must be ‘trashy’ in some way (ideas below.)

Deadline for submissions: midnight, 31 December 2024

We are excited to invite submissions for a new anthology of trashy fiction – TRASH TALES – due to be published in August 2025!

All profits (after expenses) will be donated to literacy charities in the UK and US.

The full submission guidelines are available below.

The collection will be produced by me (CriminOlly) and Alex from micro press Kilter and Rammel. Check out Kilter and Rammel’s site here.

We’re looking for short story submissions, no longer than 5000 words and previously unpublished. It can be in any category or genre you like, as long as it’s what we might all consider of a trashy nature!

Some ideas (this list is non-exhaustive):

  • Naughty nurses and sexy shifters: spicy or sweet category romance
  • One man armies: men’s adventure
  • The Wild, and sometimes Weird West: westerns
  • Trashy Tales of Terror : cheesy horror fiction featuring creepy kids, killer animals, mutants and monsters, etc.
  • Science Fiction Shenanigans: Alien invaders, technology gone haywire
  • Crime, Pulp, That Sort of Thing: Gritty detective fiction, real world or with an added twist of the supernatural/paranormal/occult
  • Mystery-solving Moggies: Cosy crime involving animals, baked goods and such like
  • Level Up: LitRPG (Literary Roleplaying Game) stories.

So get thinking up those trashy stories, and we look forward to seeing what you’ve got for us to read!

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