Author: Stuart Conover

Pixelated Nightmares: The Psychology of Fear in Horror Games and How Writers Can Use It

Pixelated Nightmares: The Psychology of Fear in Horror Games and How Writers Can Use It

 

The best horror games are, of course, the ones that scare or make us jump off our couches or from behind our computer screens. Aside from the jumpscares and terrifying creatures, ghosts, and monsters, however, another trait of a good horror game is its storytelling and its ability to get in the player’s head and make the most of their fear. Let’s examine a bit of how this fear can work so we’ve got a better idea as to how it can be applied to our writing.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: It Was Paradise

Deadline: June 22nd, 2025
Payment: 15 cents per word for fiction and $75 per page for poetry and artwork.
Theme: In a world devastated by catastrophes, we need stories that confront these horrors.
Note: Prioritizing work by people with lived experience of war and conflict.

It’s time to announce the call for submissions to It Was Paradise*, a special issue of Reckoning edited by Sonia Sulaiman and with cover art by Moníca Robles Corzo. In a world devastated by catastrophes, we need stories that confront these horrors. This is all out war on the planet, on life itself. War and conflict are the themes for this volume of Reckoning. Probe into the heart of extinction, genocide, and climate crisis. Expose the exploitation of the earth. Show us how the world could be on the other side. Send us your stories of environmental justice, of violence, imperialism, fascism, and resistance, of destruction, survival, and of triumph.

It Was Paradise is open for submissions now through the summer solstice, June 22, 2025, with tentative release scheduled for October. Payment rate will be 15 cents (US) per word for prose, $75 per page for poetry and art. As always, we’re seeking submissions from Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, trans, disabled, neurodivergent, imprisoned, impoverished, and otherwise marginalized human beings from everywhere, but in particular for this issue, we will be prioritizing work by people with lived experience of war and conflict. We’ll continue to accept submissions to our communication-themed regular issue, Reckoning X, throughout. Also, during this submission window only, we’re relaxing our usual rule about multiple submissions to allow folks to submit to both calls simultaneously.
(more…)

Taking Submissions: Burial Books Is Looking For Horror-Themed Articles For Their Website

Deadline: October 31st, 2025
Payment: $5 and a contributor copy if it goes to print
Theme: Horror and almost all it contains! Details below

What We Want: We are seeking 500 to 2000 word articles to post on our website. You can send one already completed or send us a proposal. The articles should be about something horror related including, but not limited to, such things as a horror movie review or discussion, a horror product or toy review or discussion, any musings on the horror genre you want to discuss or comment on, any nonfiction article related to the horror genre, horror flash fiction or poetry, and anything that would be considered an article in the horror genre that is entertaining. You could write an article on how bad the newest horror movie was. You could write a short history or analysis of an historical event, production, or person in the horror genre. You could write a philosophical analysis of the treatment of children, plants, or hats in horror movies. We’ll even post creepy flash fiction or poetry. You can write almost anything at all as long as it’s got an element of horror and it’s creative and fun. You can send art with the article for posting as well if you have accompanying artwork. All blogs posted on Burial Books website may be compiled into a book annually called The Blogs of Burial Books. So, you must be cool with this.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: Tiny Terrors 2025

Deadline: October 31st, 2025
Payment: .02¢ per word
Theme: Tiny Terrors is our short fiction program for when a novel just won’t do. Just a short shocking scream to keep you awake at night …

Tiny Terrors is our short fiction program for when a novel just won’t do. Just a short shocking scream to keep you awake at night …

Graveside Press is again looking for submissions for our Tiny Terrors short fiction program.
(more…)

Taking Submissions: (s)crawl Fall 2025 Issue

Deadline: May 29th, 2025
Payment: $20 CAD
Theme: Diverse horror, showcasing short stories, poetry, and essays written by queer, neurodiverse, BIPOC, female, and disabled writers.

Thank you for your interest in submitting your work to (s)crawl magazine.

We are a Canadian-based magazine that publishes the best in diverse horror, showcasing short stories, poetry, and essays written by queer, neurodiverse, BIPOC, female, and disabled writers.

We accept submissions globally, however we currently only publish works in English. We welcome both seasoned and emerging writers to submit.

Please review our submission guidelines carefully before submitting your work.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: Planet Scumm Fall 2025 Issue

Deadline: May 7th, 2025
Payment: 8 cents per word and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Speculative Fiction, ideally with sci-fi elements if not sci-fi itself

People of the World!
Planet Scumm accepts submissions from writers across the world. Our pages have hosted the imaginative work of authors from every contintent but Antartica. We want to hear from writers with as various experiences, identities, and points of view as possible.

Please do not busy our big-hearted slush readers with AI-generated tripe. Stories generated in part or whole by AI are in violation of our author contract.

Specs

WHAT TO SUBMIT

  • Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain

  • Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream

  • Basically anything that pleases Scummy, our megaphone-toting slime buddy, will be considered for entry to the interstellar archive aboard Scummy’s saucer

(more…)

Taking Submissions: Hearth Stories 2025 March Window

Deadline: March 1st–31st, 2025
Payment: 1¢ per word for accepted stories (with a minimum of $20 regardless of length)
Theme: Speculative fiction that explores connection, family, relationships, comfort, and the natural world.

These submission guidelines our for our standard magazine issues. Are you in the right place? (Or are you looking for our anthology, Springtime Fair, submission guidelines?)

Reading periods/When to send

Submissions will be open as follows:

  • March 1st–31st (closing at 10pm PST on the 31st), for a June release
  • September 1st–30th (closing at 10pm PST on the 30th), for a December release

What to send

Hearth Stories publishes slice-of-life stories with a focus on nature, forests, connection, family, romance/relationships, and comfort/kindness. We are primarily focusing on stories set in a pre-industrial-revolution time period (or a fantasy world resembling such), preferably not in city settings.

We accept works from 1,000 words up to 10,000. However, the ideal length may be something in the 1,500-3,500 word range. We do not currently accept poetry or non-fiction. We will potentially accept literary fiction (i.e. non-speculative work) if it takes place before ~1825 or so, please let us know in your cover letter if you are submitting a story that is not speculative (this is a new type of submission for us and we want to gauge interest).

Things we are looking for

  • Cozy, sweet, cute, kind, hopeful, and romantic stories (especially, but not limited to, queer romance)
  • Medievalism, peasant life, arthurian-style settings and stories (without the war and combat), chivalry
  • Rural/pastoral life, village fairs/festivals, herb gathering, traditional crafts (sewing, weaving, spinning), and song (include lyrics or sheetmusic if you have them)
  • Works that take place in nature, wooded spaces, mountains, and fields, stories that feel like spring (or, really, involve or evoke any seasons in a meaningful way)
  • Stories involving food and cooking. However, we are a vegan publication; stories that feature animal products may result in a pass on the story or a request for removal of the animal products
  • Stories involving hermits, issolated places, cottages, or wandering in the woods
  • Witches, paganism, magic
  • Bonus points for stories backed by vegan, anarchist, collectivist, communal, and eco-conscious themes

More generally, we are wanting the small adventures of daily life rather than adventures with swords, conflict, etc. We accept simultaneous submissions (but we do not accept multiple submissions at the same time, unless specifically requested).

It seems unlikely that we will be sent any, but: we would potentially love to publish works in middle english, early modern english, or a made up version of english (for example, like the one used in The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth). Maybe let us know in the cover letter if you send us something in an alternate version of english like this (we will be very excited).

(more…)

Taking Submissions: The Cafe Irreal Spring 2025 Issue

Deadline: April 1st, 2025
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.

(more…)