Category: Flash

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

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Taking Submissions: Eat Your Heart Out, Volume 1

Deadline: September 15th, 2024
Payment: $15, 5 contributors copies
Theme: Valentine’s themed horror stories

“Eat Your Heart Out, Volume 1” Submissions

 June 10, 2024-September 15, 2024

‘Love is patient’, lurking behind a pristine row of bushes; keeping vigilant watch, being certain to narrow the timing down to the exact second the living room lamp shuts off and the shades pulled. Love turns a copy of the house key around and around in a gloved hand.

‘Love is kind’ of expensive sometimes— when all is said and done, often the price is grief, security, emotions, possessions, or even our very lives…

Campfire Publishing is excited to announce that we are currently accepting submissions for, “Eat Your Heart Out, Volume 1”, the first in our collection of Valentine’s themed horror stories!

Please read below to ensure that your story will be a good fit, and feel free to reach out to us–via the form located on our main page or by sending an email to [email protected]–if you have any questions.

“Eat Your Heart Out, Volume 1” is the first volume in a horror collection dedicated to Valentine’s- themed horror stories. Campfire Publishing aspires to publish multiple volumes in the “Eat Your Heart Out” collection, along with collections specific to a variety of themes in the horror genre.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for WELL-EDITED stories close to 10,000 words that offer a horrific, bloody, or unique lens to view the subject of love, lust, or that looks to the idea of Valentine’s Day—corporate greed, the illusion of social influencers, lust, scorn, or just whatever journey your creativity offers up to you!

Campfire Publishing is keeping its eye out for a wide range of chilling voices from seasoned to novice that offer unique perspectives into the often frightening world of “love”.

We want twists and turns, thrills and chills; make us want to sleep with the lights turned on at night. Show us excitement, culture, and blood-curdling screams!

What are we NOT looking for?

We don’t want works that promote hate speech; and while a romantic note or two or many is fine and dandy in our humble opinions—particularly for an anthology such as “Eat Your Heart Out”.  We are not looking to publish erotica.

General Submission Guidelines:

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Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Book Worms Horror Zine Issue #6

Deadline: September 1st, 2024
Payment: 8 cents a word for fiction and essays (1500 words or less). $25 for short poems (ten lines or less), $50 for longer poem. Also, a contributors copy
Theme: Witchy stories for the Halloween special

All of Them Witches

As Book Worms Horror Zine enters its second year, we’re thrilled to announce that this year’s Halloween issue will be all about Witches. This time around, we’re looking for fiction, poetry, and essays of the witchy kind.

Frequently Asked Question: What kind of stories are you looking for?

We generally enjoy “fun”, “80s style” horror reminiscent of the zine’s old-school vibe, but we’ve also been blown away by fresh voices that take the genre in a new direction. That being said, the best chance for your story being accepted by Book Worms is to follow the submission guidelines. Make sure your story is of the horror genre, mail in your submission versus email, meet the deadline, and don’t exceed the word count limit. And if your story doesn’t make it, please keep trying. We’ve had to turn down many excellent stories due to space constraints alone. A good way to get an idea about what we’re looking for is to read our current issue or one of our back issues that are still available.

A Few Tips:

  • Mail early. Unfortunately, we’ve had a few submissions lost in the mail and that didn’t arrive until weeks after the deadline.
  • Consider writing shorter stories. Sometimes we have just enough room to a 500-800 word flash fiction piece.

It might also be helpful to explain what we don’t want.

  • Paranormal romance (Love the genre. It’s not right for Book Worms.)
  • Anything with a political theme.
  • Beyond the pale violence or pornographic material. Keep it fun, kids.

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Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: NonBinary Review #38

Deadline: November 1st, 2024
Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $10 per poem, $25 for artwork, $50 for cover art
Theme: Rituals
Note: Reprints Welcome

NonBinary Review is currently open for submissions on the theme of RITUALS.

Often, when we think of rituals, we think of robed, hooded figures standing around a large symbol of power etched into the floor, trying to summon a deity who will grant them their every desire. At least, that’s what Hollywood would have us believe. But the truth is that much of our lives is dictated by rituals. The Brushing of the Teeth, The Making of the Coffee, The Feeding of the Pets, The After-Work Drinks, The Watching of the Baking Show – we all have aspects of our lives where we insist on things being done just so, turning something otherwise mundane into a ritual. Rituals can be comforting, or they can be confining. They can help us make sense of our habits, and they can look strange to outside observers.

We want the best speculative takes on ritual – weird rituals, unexpected rituals, little-known rituals. We want to hear not just how rituals are enacted, but where they come from, how they get started, and what unintended consequences happen as a result.

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Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: The Lorelei Signal 2025 Jan – Mar Issue

Submission Window: July 15th – August 15th, 2024
Payment: $15.00 for short stories, $5.00 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces., $5.00 for reprints
Theme: Science Fiction and fantasy stories with complex female characters

The Lorelei Signal is a quarterly SF/Fantasy electronic magazine – one that will feature strong / complex female characters. This does not mean your female character has to be the main hero or villain in the story. What it does mean is no shrinking violets, or women who serve only to get into trouble so the male hero can rescue them.


Each issue I hope to publish:
7 short stories, 1 flash fiction piece and 2 poems
that meet the following guidelines:

My primary guideline is simple:
Write a good fantasy story with strong/complex characters.

What I am NOT looking for – erotica / slash / or other such stories.
Although well written love scenes that are IMPORTANT to the story will be considered on a story-by-story basis.

1) Stories should be no longer than 10,000 words.
However, tell the story – if it takes more than 10,000 words to tell the story properly so be it.
Just try to cut it down if possible – but remember the story is the important part.

2) Stories must feature 3 dimensional / complex characters.

3) I will accept reprints as long as it has been at least 1 year since the story was previously published,
rights have reverted back and you tell me where it previously appeared.
These will be limited to 2 per issue.

4) Please keep the graphic gore down to a minimum
(only what’s needed for the story).

5) Please keep the obscene language to a bare minimum
(again, only what’s needed for the story).

6) Simultaneous Submissions will be considered IF:
a) You tell me up front
b) You inform me immediately if the story has been accepted elsewhere
If I have too many occurrences of finding out a story was accepted somewhere else when I contact an author to tell them I would like to accept their story for The Lorelei Signal – I will no longer accept simultaneous submissions. (more…)

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

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Taking Submissions: parABnormal Magazine 2024 – Second Call

Deadline: July 31st, 2024
Payment: Fiction: $25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints, $6.00 for each poem, $20.00 for original articles, $6.00 for reprints. $7.00 for reviews and interviews.
Theme: Paranormal – this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores.

Submissions are accepted Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 30.

Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread.

We no longer accept simultaneous or multiple submissions.

​

No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, voracious monsters, and dark spirits… But they have not forgotten or left us…

What We Want:

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Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Non-fiction / Poetry / Reprints Allowed / Royalties / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Solar Punk Magazine July 2024 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – 14th, 2024
Payment: Fiction: 1500-7500 words ($.08 per word, $100 minimum), Poetry: One poem of up to three pages ($40 per poem), Nonfiction: 1000-2000 words ($75 per essay or article), Cover Art: $100 for reprints, $200 for original unpublished, Interior Art: $50 for reprints, $100 for original unpublished
Theme: Radically hopeful and optimistic science fiction and fantasy

(At the moment, our nonfiction department is current and always open for submissions. If the fiction portal is closed and you submit fiction through the open nonfiction portal, your submission will be rejected.)

All submissions to Solarpunk Magazine are done via Moksha. Any submissions received via email will be deleted without a response. Please don’t email us to describe your story and ask if it’s something we’d be interested in before submitting. We appreciate the consideration, but its easier if you just submit the story through Moksha.

In 2024, we are particularly looking for stories between 1,500 and 3,000 words. While our word limit remains 7,500, stories that fall between 1,500 and 3,000 will have a better chance of being selected for at least the first few submission periods in 2024.

Please read the full submission guidelines on down below or on our Moksha page before submitting your work. All submission periods end at 11:59 pm PST on the 14th of their given month.

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Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry

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Taking Submissions: Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine 2024 First Window

Submission Window: June 15th – September 15th, 2024
Payment: $10
Theme: Stories that constitutes the ever-moving edge of its kind, as a place between light and dark, consciousness and un, today and tomorrow; work exhibiting the strange, the bizarre, that which is not of the world we know, but more of a twilight realm or even altogether alien place.

I would love to see submissions representing not only multiple cultures but subcultures, exploring issues of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and many things I haven’t thought of. Does this mean you have to represent everybody and everything in 1000 words? Of course not. But be aware that we are creating a magazine that overall reaches and represents the true diversity of the world we live in.

In terms of genre, I am looking for work that constitutes the ever-moving edge of its kind, as a place between light and dark, consciousness and un, today and tomorrow; work exhibiting the strange, the bizarre, that which is not of the world we know, but more of a twilight realm or even altogether alien place. Not necessarily science fiction, not necessarily fantasy, not necessarily horror, and not necessarily not these things. In short, ideally edgy. Maybe even idealistically edgy. I am NOT looking for porn.

Penumbric generally accepts submissions in the following categories: fiction, poetry, illustration, graphic narrative, animation, music, or combinations of these (e.g., a spoken-word version of a poem). If you have something that fits some other category that can be displayed to advantage on the web, try me; I’ll take a look.
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Events / Flash / Magazine / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Mysterion July 2024 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – 31st, 2024
Payment: 8 cents/word and 4 cents/word for reprints
Theme: Speculative stories–science fiction, fantasy, horror–with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology
Note: Reprints Welcome

We are looking for speculative stories–science fiction, fantasy, horror–with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site.

Fiction Guidelines

Technical details

  • Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit–our submission system will enforce it.
  • We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!).
    • Authors are paid once we’ve agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page).
  • We are seeking 6 months’ exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints.
    • We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely.
    • We’re also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period.
    • For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you’re welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like.
  • No multiple or simultaneous submissions.
    • If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits a story written on their own, that would not violate our no multiple submissions policy. Submitting two stories co-written by the same two people would violate our no multiple submissions policy.
  • Don’t resubmit a story we’ve rejected unless we request revisions.
  • We usually manage to respond to everyone within four months of the submission window’s closing. Feel free to query ([email protected]) if it’s been longer than four months since the end of the submission period.
  • Format requirements:
    • Stories must be double spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or Courier font.
    • The story title, your byline, a word count, and contact information should appear on the first page, and your last name, story title, and page number should appear in the header information of all other pages.
    • If you want to make our lives easier, our preferred format is Times New Roman, italics for emphasis, one space after periods and colons, smart quotes, m-dashes instead of double hyphens, and first line of paragraph indented 0.5″ in Paragraph formatting instead of with the Tab key. But we aren’t that particular about any of this when evaluating your stories.
  • Stories should be submitted via the Moksha submissions system: https://mysterion.moksha.io/publication/mysterion.
  • Submit your stories in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format.
  • Your cover letter should contain a list of your three or four most prestigious publications (if any), and any pertinent biographical details: tell us if you’re an astronaut writing about space travel, but not if you’re an astronaut writing about the elf-dwarf war. Invert that if you’re an elf. If you’ve met us in person, feel free to mention it. Finally, let us know if the story is previously published and where it first appeared–even if it appeared on your blog or Twitter feed. Don’t try to summarize your story or explain why it’s a good fit for our publication (if it’s a good fit, we should be able to tell by reading it).

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