The Horror Tree

Category: Flash

Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry

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Ongoing Submissions: Breath & Shadow

Payment: $20 for poetry, $30 for fiction, and $30 for nonfiction.
Theme: All forms of genre
Note: This is a market only for those with a disability

We are always looking for submissions. Please read our guidelines thoroughly.

Breath & Shadow only accepts work from people with disabilities. We use the term “disability” broadly to encompass anyone with a physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, or sensory impairment that significantly affects one or more major life functions. We accept writing from people of all ages. If a writer is under 21 years old, we suggest you include your age in your cover letter so we can judge your work accordingly. In some cases, editing/revising assistance may be offered to younger writers.

We know that friends, family members, and care providers of people with disabilities also have important things to say about their experience of disability. However, Breath & Shadow is a forum for people with disabilities to speak for ourselves. We hope that our allies will support this endeavor.

  • Breath & Shadow accepts writing on any topic for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama; these pieces do not have to be “about” disability. However nonfiction, academic, and similar articles (profiles, interviews, opinion pieces) do have to relate to disability in some way.

  • We accept all forms of poetry, with a limit of 3 poems per submission. In addition to written work, poets may also submit audio/video links to performances of their work. Youtube and Soundcloud are preferred services, although we are open to other sources.

  • All forms/genres of fiction are accepted, with a maximum of 3000 words. Book excerpts are considered, but they should stand on their own.

  • Any subject matter or style of creative nonfiction is accepted. We strongly prefer pieces under 3000 words, although on occasion we will consider longer, exceptional works.

  •  The nonfiction category is wide open, with a maximum of 3000 words. We especially seek interviews with people involved with the disability movement (artists, writers, leaders, activists); reviews of books, performances, movies, etc. as they relate to disability; insightful commentary on trends or issues facing the disability community. If you have an idea for a nonfiction article, we encourage you to query us before you write it.

  • Any topic or style of drama is accepted. One person shows, excerpts, or performance art is also accepted, with a maximum of 3000 words.

  • Keep in mind our name and focus: Breath and Shadow. We’re particularly seeking work that speaks to living, beingness, inspiration, imagination, spirit, expiration, endings, movement of time, shadow sides, hiddenness, mystery, darkness, and casting new light on your subject.

  •  We are not interested in inspirational stories of people overcoming their disability, or simply coming to terms with it. We are not looking for stories with a moral. We tend to shy away from sing-songy rhyming ‘Hallmark card’ type poems. Same goes for medical articles, stories about cures or miracle treatments, or religious agendas.

The following must be included in your submission email: Your complete contact information, a brief third person biography, and an indication of your disabilities.

The subject line of your email should include your name, the category of your submission, and the title: “Jane Smith, Fiction, Rejection Issues”. For poetry, indicate the number of poems (Maximum 3).

We encourage submission of original work, although we will consider previously published work. When submitting, please indicate where/when the piece was previously published.

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Send all submissions and questions to [email protected]!

Compensation

Payment is upon publication. The pay scale is $20 for poetry, $30 for fiction, and $30 for nonfiction. In the future, as the journal grows, we hope to be able to pay more.

In addition to publication and payment, Breath & Shadow will post links to contributors’ work on other sites and to their Web site or e-mail address.

Via: Ability Maine.

Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Poetry / Reprints Allowed / Semipro

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Ongoing Submissions: The Fifth Di…

Payment: Original Stories: $25.00, Reprint Stories: $15.00, Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word, Poems: $5.00, Articles: $20.00
Theme: All genre work with a strong emphasis on character development
Note: Reprints Allowed

The Fifth Di… began with James Baker of ProMart Publishing back around the turn of the millennium. After his passing in September 2002, it was under the editorial stewardship of J Alan Erwine, now of Nomadic Delirium Press. In November 2019, it was handed over to Hiraeth Books.

The Fifth Di… is now published quarterly, in March, June, September, and December, in print [and, eventually, as an eBook]. It presents original science fiction, fantasy, and spooky horror stories. It also presents a few original poems, again along the overall theme.

The Fifth Di… wants original stories with plot, tension, suspense, conflict, and character development. Remember, if readers do not care what happens to your main character[s], they won’t read the story. The narrative should maintain a sense of wondering what’s going to happen next; of what’s lurking just around the corner. Showing is better than telling. Frex, instead of telling the reader that it’s cold, show your character shivering, stomping feet, or having ice form on beard or hair. The inner thoughts and emotions of your character[s] are just as important.

Stories submitted to The Fifth Di… should be between 4K and 8K words long. Longer or shorter stories will be considered; however, anything less than 4K will be a difficult sell. Anything 1K or less will be considered flash fiction. We will consider reprint stories, provided they adhere to the guidelines; however, they are difficult sells.

Submit your stories as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

Please submit one story at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. We hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Poetry submitted to The Fifth Di… should be from about ten to a hundred lines. Please submit no more than three poems at a time, and wait for the response before submitting more. Again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Submit your poems as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] or IBOE to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

The Fifth Di… also considers articles related to science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Articles include essays and reviews, as well as writing tips. Word count should be around 1K words, up to a loose 5K words. Please submit one article at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. Yet again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Submit your articles as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Boil spammers; inexpensive vegetable oil works best].

The Fifth Di… is not considering cover art at this time.

Payment is made upon publication by check or Paypal as follows:

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Original Stories: $25.00

Reprint Stories: $15.00

Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word

Poems: $5.00

Articles: $20.00

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NOTE: If you live outside the United States, you will be paid via Paypal, or must make some other arrangement with the editor.

All submissions must include contact information. This means:

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Name [yours, not necessarily your byline name]

Address [street, city, country, and zip code or equivalent]

e-mail address

Paypal address

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If your address changes before the publication date, please let us know.

Queries should be sent to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Grill spammers; the grillwork of a 1950 Buick or a 1953 Packard works best].

Via: Hiraeth Publishing.

Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Poetry / Royalties

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Ongoing Submissions: Pif Magazine

Payment: $5 and royalties

Pif Magazine primarily publishes fiction, poetry, and author interviews. We have been known to accept book, film, music and zine reviews — and we have published our fair share of essays and critiques.

What are we looking for?

The content we seek is aimed at aspiring and working writers alike. Free thinkers. Art lovers. You. Pif may be a literary magazine, but it’s also a resource for readers and writers who—like us—are inspired by originality.

Our preferred word count for macrofiction is under 2,000 words. We still read submissions that clock in over this word count, but ask that contributors keep this in mind. We’re interested in expanding our collection of humor writing, as well, and are actively seeking fresh voices that tackle this genre.

(more…)

Flash / Flat Amount / Ongoing Submissions / Online

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Ongoing Submissions: Folded Word

Payment: $5

fiction, poetry, literary essays, travel narratives, translation, novelettes in verse / flash

As we head into our 10th anniversary (October 2018), our editorial focus is honing in on one particular aspect of our mission to explore the world one voice at a time. This shift in editorial focus aligns with our new vision:

To become a sustainable archive of short-form literature that explores the intersection between humans and the landscape — including any/all of its inhabitants — inspiring readers, writers, editors, and researchers to engage with and speak for their local ecosystems.

Additional details will be released throughout the spring and summer, but the gist of things can be gleaned from the central circle in the diagram found here:
https://folded.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/wanted-travel-narrative/

IMPORTANT:

  • We ARE reading single works for publication on our blog. Please see the “New Guidelines Overview” section below for details.
  • We are NOT reading unsolicited queries for book-length and chapbook-length manuscripts. Going forward all chapbook manuscripts will be selected on a solicited basis only, from our current authors and regular contributors to the blog who have demonstrated professionalism and community spirit. Any unsolicited chap/book queries/manuscripts will be discarded/deleted without response.

Please be sure you have read some of the works published on this blog prior to submitting your work so that you get a better feel for our editorial tastes. We will make every effort to respond to your submission within 30 days. We believe in a robust editorial process, so revisions may be requested prior to publication. Be sure to take all of these considerations into account before deciding to submit your work to us.

New Guidelines Overview:

  • Editor: JS Graustein | Assistant Editors: Sarah Gibson, Casey Tingle, Zakariah Johnson
  • Reading Period: year round
  • Issue Close Date: 31 December of each year
  • Publication Date: Wednesdays.
  • Number of Pieces Needed: a total of 52 per year across all genres
  • Maximum Number of Pieces per Submission: one (more details below)
  • Simultaneous Submissions: no
  • Previously Published Submissions: no (exceptions below)
  • Royalty: $5 US. Cash royalty paid via PayPal. Authors residing in countries for which individual PayPal accounts are unavailable may select a chapbook from Folded Word’s in-stock titles instead.
  • Other Perqs: Folded Word’s editors may solicit chapbook manuscripts from writers with multiple works published on this blog.

We will respond to submissions as quickly as possible, but initially it may take some time to decide on the best works to launch this new concept.

Submission of Work:

To be considered, a work must:

  1. Have a title, which must be 70 characters or less*
  2. Fit within our format limits:
    1. Poems = 25 lines or less
    2. Flash fiction, literary essay, travel narrative = 500 words or less
    3. Cross genre = reasonable length in reference to limits in A + B above. (For example: 8 lines + 300 words, 4 lines + 400 words, 15 lines + 150 words.)
  3. Be previously unpublished. EXCEPTIONS: a work only published on your own blog OR only published in print.
  4. Follow all submission guidelines. Submissions that do not follow the guidelines will be deleted without notification.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Please only send us one work at a time — and wait until you hear from us on your first submission before sending us another. We’ll only be posting one selection per week (generally on Wednesdays), so please send your best effort.

*If your work is untitled, please give it a unique numerical identifier such as the date it was written or submitted. Example: 2017.07.11 for a poem submitted on 11 July 2017. If your work is haiku/senryu or other traditionally untitled form, simply use the first line followed by an ellipsis (…).

To Submit, Go Here: Folded Word.

Flash / Flat Amount / Ongoing Submissions / Online

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Ongoing Submissions: Nanoism

Payment: $1.50 for stories and a flat $5 for serials.

Nanoism is a twitterzine, an online publication focused on nanofiction, which in this case refers to stories that clock in at a maximum of 140 characters (conforming to the inherent limitations of the Twitter service).

@Nanoism accepts all genres. However, we are most interested in literary fiction—stories that move us with their writing. We are looking for staying power: pieces that leave an impression disproportionate to their length. Make us think.

Please submit only one story per week: we want your very best! However, we are willing to accept previously published “tweets”—just provide us with a link. We’re interested more in quality than exclusivity. If it’s already available online (even your personal Twitter account), we consider it published.

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Submit: Send entries of up to 140 characters by email to [email protected]. Include your name, third-person bio (up to 134 characters), and subject line: “Nanoism Submission”

We don’t need titles, as we won’t be including them during publication.

Rights: You own your story and can do with it whatever you wish after publication. We do retain the right to keep the story in our archive and to include it in future anthologies, electronic and/or print. By submitting you agree to give Nanoism these rights if published.

Response Times: We do our very best to respond within 0-7 days. If you don’t hear back within a month three months, then it was probably lost en route—send it again (via email, editor [at] nanoism [dot] net) and let us know what happened.

Report your response times at Duotrope's Digest

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Serials: Nanoism is currently accepting unsolicited submissions for serialized stories. Serials can be between 3-7 segments/episodes/tweets long and can (but do not need to) include a title. Each segment must stand alone as well as form part of the larger narrative. Due to this challenging constraint, we publish very few serials.

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Payment: We believe in the importance of being paid—even a token amount—for your work. We pay $1.50 for stories and a flat $5 for serials. We also include a short bio with your story, and we’ll gladly link to your personal site and/or twitter account (just fit it in the bio). If you plan to submit more stories in the future, we can hold payments until the amount is larger. Additionally, you can donate your commission to Nanoism (we appreciate it!) to help us pay for future stories. If so, we’ll be sure to send you a complimentary copy of an e-book if it spontaneously creates itself. This is a labor of love; we have no resources.

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Support: If you’d like to support Nanoism, you can do so somewhat effortlessly by clicking this link before shopping at Amazon.com. We will earn a small commission on the books and finery you purchase, and nothing happens to you (except for the good feeling inside from supporting a fine digital literary venue).

Via: Nanoism.

Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions

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Ongoing Submissions: The Arcanist

Payment: $50
Theme: Fantasy and sci-fi flash fiction

Welcome to The Arcanist! We’re a digital literary magazine that focuses on fantasy and sci-fi flash fiction.

We strongly believe that fantasy and sci-fi are two of the most important genres in the literary world, helping us escape to distant lands, reflect on our shared humanity, and gaze into the future. We want to provide readers snippets of the genres they love and we want to give writers of these genres a paid place to publish their work. (That’s right, we pay you.)

We are open to submissions year-round and publish on a weekly basis (every Friday at 9 AM). You can read our work here  or through our digital subscription, which you can sign up for by clicking subscribe in the top right corner!

Thinking of submitting!

Here’s What We’re Looking For:

We specialize in flash-fiction so we want stories that are 1,000 words or less. We know this is a tough task given the lengthy, world-building heavy nature of the genres, but we believe in you!

Sadly, if you exceed the word count we will not consider your work.

We are open to simultaneous submissions and multiple submissions. Please do not send more than three stories to us at a time, though. As soon as a story is accepted or rejected, feel free to send us another.

Stories should be actual stories. They need to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We do not publish poetry, non-fiction essays or anything that isn’t a proper flash fiction story. Make sure something happens.

Here’s a breakdown of what we want:

  • 1,000 words or less
  • A complete, well-crafted story
  • Original work
  • Great characters that we feel something about (love, hate, love to hate, something!)
  • Sci-fi and fantasy based only! (this includes horror and other sub-genres of SF/F)

We love humorous works, horrifying works, timely works, and are generally pretty open-minded when it comes to stories. That being said:

The Hard Sells and What We Don’t Want

While we are open to many different ideas, story structures, and tones, we do have some hard sells, too.

  • Meta stories (stories about writing a story, etc.)
  • Stories with passive characters
  • Excessive gore (don’t be gross just to be gross. Gore is fine if there’s a reason)
  • Excessive sex and/or porn (Character has a sex scene? Fine. But, again, there better be a reason why you’re dwelling on it)
  • No fanfiction (There are other places for this sort of thing)
  • Extremely vulgar works (Keep your potty mouths in check)
  • Hate speech, racism, and other offensive material (‘nuff said)
  • No poetry

Rights, Rights, Rights

When we accept a story from you we retain the right to publish the piece online and elsewhere under The Arcanist name.

We do not retain these exclusively. If you want to publish your story somewhere else after we publish it, more power to you. We’re not in the business of kidnapping a writer’s work. We’re writers, too, and we’d hate to have that happen to us.

Payment!

We pay a flat $50 USD rate for stories. We use PayPal to process all of our payments.

Writers are always paid before their story goes live.

Okay, How Do I Submit?

We use a Google Form to process our submissions where you can upload your story after filling out a few questions.

Here’s that link again: Submit here.

If you can’t manage the Google Form, you can submit to us via email, which is listed on the form.

You will also get a receipt when submitting to the form.

Unfortunately, The Arcanist no longer accepts work submitted via email, unless authors have been otherwise instructed by one or more of the editors.

Speaking of which:

How Long Until I Hear Back?

We typically respond to submissions within 1–2 months, depending on the volume we have at the time. If it’s been quite a while and you haven’t heard back, feel free to give us a gentle nudge and we will make sure everything’s running smoothly.

Please refrain from emailing us a day after you submit asking why you haven’t heard back. We know that waiting to hear back can be an anxious process, but we’re working as fast as we can. When we have to double check on the status of a submission and write responses, it makes everything take longer. If you didn’t get an email bounce back or a form error, trust that it’s with us. If we have a problem accessing your story, we will reach out — we promise.

Everything You Need to Know

Here’s a wrap up of everything you need to know when submitting to us:

  • SF/F stories only
  • 1,000 words or less (seriously, it’s like the first thing we check)
  • Original works, please
  • Actual stories. No poems, flowery descriptions or essays. Real, honest stories that have characters, an arc, etc.
  • Read our hard sells
  • We pay $50 USD for stories we accept
  • We retain the right to publish your story online and elsewhere under The Arcanist name. We do not exclusively retain these. You are free to resell.
  • You can submit using this form.
  • It can take 1–2 months to hear back. Be patient. We do not use slush readers!

Thanks for your interest! We look forward to reading your work!

Via: The Arcanist.

Flash / Ongoing Submissions / Online / Reprints Allowed

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Ongoing Submissions: Deadman’s Tome

deadmans-tome

Payment: Deadman’s Tome offers published authors pay calculated by the amount of views, likes, and comments that pertains to published work featured on the site. As of the rate in which payment is calculated is .10 cents per view, like, and comment for a year. Payments are sent via PayPal.
Note: Reprints Allowed

2016 Submission policy.

All Submissions should meet this criteria:

Medium: Short stories and Flash Fiction

Genre: Horror, Dark fiction, Dark Erotica

Format: Attach the .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX in the email, we do not like the body to be flooded with text.

Make sure length is reasonable, no more than 7000 words.

Multiple Submissions okay. Deadman’s Tome offers published authors pay calculated by the amount of views, likes, and comments that pertains to published work featured on the site. As of the rate in which payment is calculated is .10 cents per view, like, and comment for a year. Payments are sent via PayPal.

Submit a brief bio, we don’t care if you have no work history, give us a brief bio of yourself.

Those that get published will also be featured in our Author Shrine.

Submit to Editor.

 Authors of any accepted and published submission will receive payment in the amount agreed between Deadman’s Tome and Author. The original creator, being the credited name on the work or within  the submission of the work, agrees to give Deadman’s Tome the right to publish, edit, modify, and/or republish submitted published work. If the original  owner wishes to cease publication they must inform us before publication date,  if it is after publication the owner then has 15 days to notify us so that we can pull the respected item*. Any compensation for redacted published material must be refunded before such a request can be fulfilled. By granting us the right to publish, whether for compensation or  not, it will lose First Publishing Rights and would be considered a reprint for future publications, in which case the value would be negatively affected.

*Any time table, unless otherwise noted, is subjected to a reasonable grace period that may change based on situation.

Send submission to
[email protected]

Via: Deadman’s Tome.

Flash / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Online / Poetry / Semipro

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Ongoing Submissions: Bracken

Payment: $.02/word

Submit fiction, poetry, and artwork.

The Fine Print

Bracken supports diversity in speculative fiction and welcomes stories by and about individuals of all ages, classes, disabilities, ethnicities, genders, nationalities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.

Bracken purchases first worldwide English-language serial and electronic rights. Each story or poem we acquire will be published on brackenmagazine.com in an electronic quarterly issue. We may also excerpt stories and poems for promotional purposes. The author retains all other rights.

Send all submissions in the body of an email to subs AT brackenmagazine.com. Read on to find out more about what we’re looking for. We aim to respond within 30 days.

Fiction

We’re seeking lyrical, character-driven myths, born out of the wood. We accept most genres, although we’re biased toward magic realism. Send us your in-between-genre pieces, your heart’s tears, your midnight reveries. We’ll take good care of them.

Requirements:

  • 2,500 words or less
  • original and unpublished
  • no simultaneous or multiple submissions

Include:

  • subject line: Fiction Sub “<Your Story Title>”
  • your name and contact information
  • the title of your piece and word count
  • a bit about yourself, including brief publication history
  • your story in the body of the email; no attachments

Payment: $.02/word

VIa: Bracken Magazine.