Category: Call Type

Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: A Coup Of Owls Autumn 2025 Issue

Submission Window: June 1st – 7th, 2025
Payment: Drabbles and Flash – £5, Short Stories 1001 to 4000 words – £10, Short Stories 4001 to 8000 words – £15
Theme: Stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events.
Note: Only publishes creators from under represented and/or marginalized communities.

WE ONLY PUBLISH CREATORS FROM UNDER REPRESENTED AND/OR MARGINALISED BACKGROUNDS AND/OR COMMUNITIES
We don’t ask for any proof, we take this on trust with the expectation that anyone not from a marginalised background or underrepresented community wouldn’t take up the space of someone who is. We ask you to consider this before submitting.

QUARTERLY ONLINE ANTHOLOGY: BRIEF
We’re looking for stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something.

Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. We want it all.

All genres, styles and themes will be considered and we especially love stories that are outside the box in their telling. Ambiguous endings? Non-linear storytelling? Antagonist’s point-of-view? A story told in just one scene? We love it all.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Fearmoji: Queer Emoji Horror

Deadline: August 1st, 2025
Payment: $25 USD and a contributors copy
Theme: Adult queer body horror that somehow strongly incorporates the use of emoji

 

Emojis carry a lot of weight in contemporary societies drenched by social media interactions. This theme is very open, but must feature emojis as the primary driving force of the narrative. Give me sentient emojis, cursed emojis, a secret combination of emojis that unlocks a demon, a serial killer whose signature is the love heart reaction, disaffected youths whose use of the shrug emoji comes back to haunt them, a coder with an emoji axe to grind… The potential here is limitless.

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Anthology / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Stellar Parallax: Hope in A Grimdark World

Deadline: June 30th, 2025
Payment: $50
Theme: Science fiction that follows the title of the book

We at Inked in Gray Press are excited to announce a new anthology in collaboration with AJ Van Belle!

STELLAR PARALLAX: HUMAN HOPE IN GRIMDARK WORLDS.

Let’s not sugarcoat it — things are rough, and we don’t know what the next year or even month will bring.

This is why we need stories in which hope shines through the darkness. Give us your grimdark in space, in a near-future dystopia, in a far-future galaxy, or in a sci-fi version of the present day.

This anthology will feature gritty sci-fi in which the personal message is hopeful while the external world is dark. We want world-building that’s vivid, immersive, and believable, with the focus on the characters’ direct experience. Sweeping spans of time and vast civilizations aren’t necessary here, nor are nifty tech or clever political machinations — but feel free to include any of these if they serve the story.

Regardless of scale or time period, show us the characters’ sensory perceptions, physical experience, and emotional arc. Sci-fi is a genre uniquely equipped to allow expression of character growth because it lets us explore universal human experience within specific, sharply imagined futures.

STELLAR PARALLAX will sit at the place where seemingly impossible circumstances meet the inventiveness of human agency, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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

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Taking Submissions: Book Worms Horror Zine Issue #8

Deadline: May 31st, 2025
Payment: 8 cents per word and $25-$50 on poetry depending on length
Theme: Cryptids

Call for Submissions: Cryptid Horror – Summer Issue

This summer, we’re hunting monsters—and we want you to join the chase.

Our upcoming issue is diving deep into cryptid horror, where folklore meets fear and the shadows are never empty. From the fog-drenched hollows of Appalachia to the eerie stillness of primeval forests, we’re looking for stories that stir that ancient dread—the kind that makes you glance over your shoulder… just in case.

Whether it’s beasts from local legend or psychological horrors born from the depths of your own personal wilderness, we want your weirdest, wildest, and most chilling creations.

Think: backwoods folklore, eerie encounters, survival nightmares, and twisted myths.

Unleash your inner cryptozoologist and show us what’s hiding just out of sight.

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Anthology / Events / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Yay! all queer: Free and Queer

Deadline: June 30th, 2025
Payment: Royalties
Theme: Stories where the main character falls in the LGBTQ+ community in any genre

Submission Period: April 1, 2025, to June 30, 2025

Theme: Yay! all queer II – An LGBTQ+ anthology. We’re searching for LGBTQ+ characters who have a central position within the story. This will be a diverse and inclusive anthology.

There are no restrictions on gender or sexuality. Feel free to create an engaging story with your favorite genre or setting. Mystery, romance, fantasy, or sci-fi are all welcome if the story and characters grab the reader’s interest.

Stories that contain infanticide, gratuitous gore, or rape, including dubious consent, will not be considered. Explicit romance will not be appropriate for this anthology, bring it down a notch, and we’ll certainly give it a look.

Submission Period: April 1, 2025, to June 30, 2025

Submissions: No AI, 1 per author; no reprints, no simultaneous submissions;

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Events / Novella / Royalties

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Dancing Star Press Is Open to SciFi and Fantasy Novellas

Deadline: June 30th, 2025
Payment: Royalties
Theme: Queerer weirder softer ragier hopier anarchier lovelier transier resistier indigenousier earth-lovingier resiliencier justicier LESS WHITE stories that are science fiction or fantasy

What am I looking for? I want to publish queerer weirder softer ragier hopier anarchier lovelier transier resistier indigenousier earth-lovingier resiliencier justicier LESS WHITE stories. I love both fantasy and science fiction, but tend to be pretty picky about horror.

Please no:

  • Splatterpunk
  • Graphic depictions of rape or sexual assault
  • Needless brutalization of women and children
  • Depictions of brutalization or abuse of people with disabilities
  • Graphic abuse of animals

I am not currently interested in works that are a part of a series, but works that are a part of a shared universe are okay.

I am not looking for young adult, middle grade, or children’s works at this time.

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Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Online

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Taking Submissions: Something Old, Something New

Submission Window: June 1st – 30th, 2025
Payment: Stories under 5,000 words will receive $10. Stories up to 10,000 words will be serialized over 2 months and will receive $20
Theme: Speculative Fiction that fits the vibe of unreality, suggest reading previous work from the publisher before submitting
Note: Reprints are acceptable if the story is not freely available online

Our Ko-fi minizine for subscribers

Submissions for this call will be OPENING for the month of June 2025.

The Pink Hydra is starting a Ko-fi minizine!

This is a way to build a subscriber base and steady income without sacrificing our commitment to accessible fiction. Starting July, every ‘off’ month when we’re not publishing The Pink Hydra, we will post a new, exclusive short story on our Ko-fi, paired with a piece of classical artwork, and accompanied by short reviews of stories or books The Pink Hydra loves. For this eclectic mix of classic and new elements, the minizine will be known as Something Old, Something New.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Lesser Cryptids of Appalachia

Deadline: September 15th, 2025
Payment: $50 and 2 contributors copies
Theme: Lesser known (lost or undiscovered) cryptids of Appalachia

Cicada Books / Brood XIV Books is planning a horror anthology about the lesser (lost or undiscovered) cryptids of Appalachia. We are seeking stories about lesser known creatures from regional authors: no Mothman or Bigfoot, please.

If you are a new or established fiction writer we invite you to submit your original short fiction (3-5k words) for inclusion in this anthology. We are seeking thrills, suspense, and horror! We would add weird, but it feels unnecessary for cryptid tales.

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