Author: Stuart Conover

Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: Slugger Summer 2025 Window

Submission Window: June 15th – July 15th, 2025
Payment: $25
Theme: All subgenres of horror (dark fantasy, sci-fi, noir all accepted as long as horror plays a central role).

SLUGGER is the creative effort of two horror writer pals.

Send us: 

  • In general, we are open to all subgenres of horror (dark fantasy, sci-fi, noir all accepted as long as horror plays a central role).
  • Body horror tickles our fancy the most if we had to pick a subgenre, but SLUGGER will be open to all horror stories.
  • We love subversive and transgressive fiction. Anything that fits the punk ethos is likely to get our attention.
  • Stories can be speculative or not.
  • Our guidelines may change over time, but we are open to the full spectrum of genre to literary fiction, conventional storytelling to experimental, and plot driven to vibes only.

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Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Non-fiction / Poetry / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Plott Hound Magazine June 2025 Window

Submission Window: June 1st – 15th, 2025
Payment: Fiction: 8 cents per word, Poetry: $50, Non-fiction: $100
Theme: Stories with anthropomorphized animals as protagonists in any realm of speculative fiction

Deeply animal, deeply human

We’re on the trail. We got our noses to the ground. In this den there are plott hounds sniffing out for quality animal-centric speculative fiction. Here at Plott Hound Magazine, we want stories that really dig deep into what it’s like to be an animal yet also teach us what it means to be human. Both deeply animal and deeply human. Humans have had enough stories to go around and more. It’s time to make some room for the ones with paws, claws, fangs, and tails. Let’s hear them howl, roar, growl, and hiss. Here, they run wild. Throw us a good bone to chew on. Help us fill this space to make it a dazzling menagerie.

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Events / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: manywor(l)ds June/July 2025 Window

Submission Window: June 1st – July 31st, 2025
Payment: $10
Theme: Stories of any genre by writers who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex.

We welcome submissions by those who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex. This is a space for the words, works, and worlds of and by those whose bodyminds defy social expectations and invite new ways of thinking and knowing.

We do not need to know the specifics of your identity/diagnosis/experience unless you want us to. We invite closeted and questioning people to share their work, as well as those whose experiences fall outside the confines of the language we used above.

We welcome submissions from creators of all ages. We particularly encourage unpublished/emerging/young creators to submit. If you know an incarcerated/institutionalized creator who would like to submit, email us for information as to where to mail the submission, or clearly indicate in your message that you are submitting on their behalf.

We publish on a quarterly schedule, with issues coming out on:

  • February 15
  • May 15
  • August 15
  • November 15

We are open for all submissions EXCEPT during publication months. That is to say, we are open for submissions January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and December.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: The Writing On The Wall: Horror Inspired By The Music Of Iron Maiden

Deadline: June 1st, 2025
Payment: 20$ and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Horror Inspired By The Music Of Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden!!

HORROR ANTHOLOGY OPEN SUBMISSION CALL DETAILS!

I am teaming up with my good buddy, Joseph Murnane, to bring you a real banger of an anthology!

The Writing On The Wall: Horror Inspired By The Music Of Iron Maiden

PAY: 20$ + an author copy in exchange for one year of story rights beginning from publication.

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Articles / Interviews

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An Interview With Denis Kitchen On The Kickstarter For The ‘Oddly Compelling’ Documentary And More!

An Interview With Denis Kitchen On The Kickstarter For The ‘Oddly Compelling’ Documentary And More!

For more than half a century, Denis Kitchen has been the embodiment of punk-rock persistence in comics—equal parts artist, publisher, and First Amendment firebrand. Long before “creator-owned” was a buzzword, Kitchen was stapling together Mom’s Homemade Comics, hawking issues out of head shops, and launching Kitchen Sink Press so voices like Will Eisner, Trina Robbins, and Alan Moore could run wild without a Comics Code muzzle. When prosecutors finally came knocking, he didn’t flinch; he built the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund brick by brick, turning courtroom showdowns into victory laps for free expression. Now filmmakers Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio are rolling the tape on Oddly Compelling, a documentary that threads Kitchen’s hippie-era pranksterism, his thirty-year publishing crusade, and his ongoing fight against censorship into one heck of an origin story for modern horror comics.

Why does that matter to Horror Tree readers? Because every grotesque panel, banned-book challenge, and late-night anthology pitch we celebrate traces back to the doors Denis kicked open. Oddly Compelling isn’t just a look in the rear-view; it’s a rallying cry at a moment when book bans are spiking and moral crusaders have libraries in their crosshairs. So I sat down with the man himself to talk EC horror, From Hell, giant penises invading Manhattan, and the practical ways tomorrow’s creators can keep the gates of weird wide open.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flash / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Dawn Woven Books’ First Anthology

Deadline: June 22nd, 2025
Payment: £10 and each contributor will receive one free contributor copy of the book.
Theme: Triumph, Love and Becoming.

We are honoured to open submissions for our debut anthology. This anthology is the first offering from Dawn Woven Books, a publishing space devoted to soulful and authentic storytelling. Rooted in love, truth and creative expression. This collection will gather stories that explore themes of triumph, love, healing and becoming.

This project is being developed as part of the Artist Incubator Programme with the Black South West Network, supporting creatives to bring powerful, purpose driven work into the world.

As a writer, storyteller and vessel of love. I believe that every voice holds wisdom and every story, when told with heart can bring healing. This anthology is a call to Griots, truth-tellers and heart led writers to share the lived experiences that shaped them. Together, we are weaving a tapestry of voices that honour the past, illuminate the present and make space for new light to rise.

If you have a true story that speaks to the power of perseverance, ancestral memory, self-love or the beauty of becoming, we would love to read it.

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Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Non-fiction / Poetry

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Taking Submissions: Talk Vomit Summer 2025 Edition

Deadline: June 7th, 2025
Payment: Fiction and nonfiction run in the $10-30 range; poetry in the $5-15 range.
Theme: The Uncanny

Our summer edition theme is the uncanny, however you interpret that. What happens when settings look fine — happy, even — on the surface, only for a distortion to be lurking just out of sight? What can the uncanny help us understand about ourselves, our relationships, our communities?

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Audio / Events / Flash / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Creepy Corner Season 1

Deadline: June 15th, 2025
Payment: $20 per 1000-5000 word story, or $10 for stories under 1000 words
Theme: Creepy stories, preferabbly with Fall/Autumn and/or specific Halloween setting and themes and not overly-dialogue heavy

The Creepy Corner is a new podcast format from Straight to the Point Productions, releasing new and classic spooky stories in the lead up to Halloween.

We are seeking original short horror to record and release in an audiobook/podcast format.

Deadline – June 15, 2025

Note – stories may be accepted on a rolling basis, and Straight to the Point Productions reserves the right to close submissions early.

All authors will be notified within 1 month from the close of submissions.

Fees & Compensation –

Selected Authors will receive $20 per 1000-5000 word story, or $10 for stories under 1000 words. Submission is free and there is no limit on number of submissions per author. Authors will be credited aloud in the audio of the episode, as well as in the show notes.

Content Guidelines –

We are accepting stories on any and all themes (with some limits), but with preference for:

  • PG-13 or below rating
  • Fall/Autumn and/or specific Halloween setting and themes
  • Reinterpretations of folklore or classic stories
  • Not overly dialogue-heavy

To get a sense of the editorial team’s taste since this is our first edition, some writers we enjoy include Ray Bradbury, Karen Russell, Stephen King, Octavia Butler, China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer, Shirley Jackson, Tananarive Due, Roald Dahl, Marisha Pessl, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, John Bellairs, and Daniel Handler.

 

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