Category: Events

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

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Taking Submissions: The Orange & Bee Issue #2

Deadline: May 31st, 2024
Payment: Flash & Fiction: 8 cents per word, Poetry: $50, other written options, 8 cents per word
Theme: All styles and genres when it comes to fairy tales

Submissions are currently OPEN for Issue #2. This window will close at midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 31 May 2024.

Upcoming submission windows

  • Submission window for Issue #3: 1 to 14 August (closes midnight AEST on 14 August)
  • Submission window for Issue #4: 1 to 14 November (closes midnight AEST on 14 November)

What we are looking for

We are especially interested in work from or about diverse perspectives and traditionally under-represented groups, settings, and cultures, written from a non-exoticising and well-researched position.

Please read the FULL guidelines below for the type of submission you are sending us, and our preferences in terms of format and cover letters. Currently, we only accept original, unpublished work. We have a swift turnaround time on submissions (about two weeks), and so ask that you do not submit your work to other markets while it is under consideration for The Orange & Bee.

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Events

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The Haunted Casino: Movie Review

The Haunted Casino: Movie Review

 

There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when making a good horror movie that can draw in a large audience and be appreciated by critics. From themes to actors, images, to the title and the musique, each element counts. The best element of a horror movie should be a perfect blend of thrilling moments of fear and comical relief, ushering viewers to a sensational climax. 

 

What does an average viewer expect from casino movies? Glamour? Luxury? Suspense? Complex characters? Tension? It is a specific genre that, mixed with the wrong themes, could be a total failure and waste of money. 

 

The Haunted Casino is an interesting storyline directed by Charles Band and Domonic Muir. The movie is based on Matt Dragna, the main character of the movie, who inherits an old rundown casino from his late uncle. His close friends, including his girlfriend JJ, then decided to check out and investigate the casino. Perhaps they should have stayed home and played fun casino games at Bovada, but if they did, we wouldn’t have this scary movie!

 

At first, the movie is all love and light as the characters enjoy themselves in a casino setting. However, it gets dark as the movie unfolds, with the characters discovering violent and revenge-seeking spirits that haunt the casino. These are the spirits of ruthless Las Vegas mobster, Roy Donahue, and his devious right-hand man, Gil Wachetta. 

 

Now, the pertinent question that lingers in the movie is: Can Matthew and his friends survive an evening at the casino with these bloodthirsty, revenge-seeking ghosts?

 

In-Depth Review

Its well-written script, with shocking blood, gore and well-timed jump scares make The Haunted Casino a watchable movie for any fans of the horror genre. The first two-thirds of the movie are filled with dialogues and the audience is given the storyline behind the group with clear backgrounds of each character. However, the real interesting parts of the movie are not the dialogue but the scary ghosts. 

 

While the movie is about haunted casino ghosts, they barely show up until the midway point of the movie, but their sudden appearance saved the narrative. Disappointingly, while Sid Haig’s name is plastered all over the movie posters, he only appears in only a few scenes as the ghostly leader of the group, and he played his role to perfection. 

 

Even worse, Michael Berryman only got a few lines and never got the chance to do anything but look silly standing around with Haig. Thankfully, Robin Sydney, who featured in almost every Full Moon movie in the 2000s, was able to own the lead role as Mathew’s girlfriend JJ. Except for the few explosions of anger and swear words that seem unnatural, no one can put a fault on her character. 

 

Jessica Morris, who later starred in two more Full Moon’s films, The Dead Want Women, and Reel Evil, released in 2012, also appeared as Melissa. She played the role of a promiscuous slot girl, bringing all her star power to the movie. 

Despite an intriguing premise, the plot suffers from a lack of clarity and depth. The reasons behind the hauntings and the means to stop them remain vague, leaving viewers with unanswered questions. 

The Haunted Casino has its moments and a nostalgic charm for fans of Full Moon productions, but it struggles with pacing and character development. Most importantly, the film could have benefited from a tighter script and more screen time for its veteran actors.

On the other hand, the production design is decent enough given the film’s budget, and we can’t complain about the script given it is an independent movie. The Haunted Casino is a good choice for anyone who loves the Full Moon and wants to relax on a Friday night.

 

Indeed, there is no doubt that horror movies centered around a casino setting are always a favorite for watching a movie at home or with friends or family members. It is not hard to see why horror casino movies are appealing because the viewer is presented with a bizarre combination of fear and suspense with the luxury of a casino. 

 

Haunted Casino is action-packed and fast-paced and can be highly entertaining to both horror and movie viewers. The feeling of horror that many people seek when watching horror films is definitely achieved by this movie. 

 

When creating the mood for a horror movie, we are naturally drawn to darkness and creepiness, while casinos portray glitz and fun. In this movie, the two worlds clash, making the Haunted Casino quite interesting and engaging. 

 

The Haunted Casino also presents another noteworthy aspect besides the generally thrilling and exciting attraction. Its mood, mixing tension and suspense, makes it even more fitting for the theme of the movie. 

 

The unpredictability of the casino setting increases the unpredictability of what’s going to happen next, and this makes viewers even more curious about the events portrayed in the film. 

 

Finally, the excellent action sequences in this movie give a perfect touch to this adventurous and very amusing script with a good cast and originality. We believe this subgenre is a powerful horror of the year contender.

 

Events / Flat Amount / Online

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Ongoing Submissions: Neon Dystopia

Payment: $20
Theme: Cyberpunk

We have a pretty broad idea of what cyberpunk as a genre is and isn’t. We’re living in it, so why stamp it down to some cookie cutter bullshit? Neon Dystopia looks for nuanced takes on genre fiction, talks on the writing process, the world around us, and what these things mean to us NOW, not later or then.

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Artwork / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: Electric Spec August Issue 2024

Deadline: July 15th, 2024
Payment: $20 per story or artwork
Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we’re willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres.

submissions at electricspec (dot) com
Please don’t query us about your story submission. We don’t have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it’s not possible.

A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may work with the author to edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story and the author has final approval.

Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary.

We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Eat The Rich

Deadline: April 30, 2024. Submissions will be kept open for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, chronically-ill/disabled, and writers from other historically marginalized groups until May 15, 2024.
Payment: $.05 per word and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Speculative fiction about billionaires being eaten

Submissions will be open from April 1 – April 30, 2024. Submissions will be kept open for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, chronically-ill/disabled, and writers from other historically marginalized groups until May 15, 2024.

The Rules

Eat the Rich is a speculative fiction anthology of billionaires being eaten. That’s it, full stop. Give us carnivores, cannibals, kaiju, cryptids, and, of course, capitalist comeuppance. So long as some kind of obnoxiously wealthy fuck gets eaten — somewhere, somewhen, somehow — the sky’s the limit.

*we’re looking for interpretations of literally being eaten, but what that means is entirely up to you
*billionaires are the cause of 9 out of 10 problems, but if you want to set your sights on lower-tier wealth, go ahead

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Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount / Magazine

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Taking Submissions: Eidetic Quarterly – Beach Horror

Deadline: April 18th, 2024
Payment: $10 and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Beach Horror

We’re back baby and we’re looking for your best creepy stories. The talented team – Nora B. Peevy (Managing Editor and Submissions Reader) and Thomas Stewart (Art Director and Submissions Reader) will be working together to bring you the newly vamped version of Eidetic Quarterly. Our inaugural summer issue is coming out on July 4th, Independence Day, 2024. 

We are accepting ten stories.

Theme: Beach Horror

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

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Taking Submissions: NonBinary Review #37

Deadline: August 1st, 2024
Payment: $10 for poetry, $25 for artwork, 1 cent per word for fiction
Theme: False Memories
Note: Reprints Welcome

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

False memories first came to public consciousness in the 1980s when a group of pre-schoolers at a California preschool were coached by well-meaning social workers and police investigators into “remembering” Satanic abuse that never happened. The fallout from that episode wasn’t just the persecution of an innocent family, but a nationwide mass delusion now known as “the Satanic Panic,” where authorities were warning the public about supposed widespread satanic cults committing heinous acts of abuse. Not a single one of these warnings were founded in fact, and it is now known that a large number of them were propaganda.

But false memories aren’t always bad. There is a common phenomenon wherein people hear stories of their early childhoods so often that those stories turn into “memories.” It is common in dreams to have “memories” of things that happened to the dream self, but not to the real self. Or a person might believe that they took their regular medication, brought in the garbage bins, or picked up the mail when they haven’t.

We’re looking for weird and wonderful stories of not just the memories themselves, but of their production, their repercussions, their wider meanings. We’re looking for false memories that might have changed history, that led to remarkable discoveries, that impacted lives.

We’re NOT looking stories of recovered memories. Recovered memories are memories of real events that have been suppressed because they’re traumatic, and are a widely disputed phenomenon. We would also like to avoid stories centering abuse, trauma, and violence.

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

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Ongoing Submissions: Flash Digest

Payment: Original Stories: 1 cent a word, Cover art: $15.00, Interior art: $5.00
Theme: Original stories that are entertaining and/or have a serious point to them. We prefer to see stories with plot, tension, suspense, conflict, and character development.

Flash Digest is published quarterly, in January, April, July, and October, in print and as an ePub and PDF. It presents original science fiction, fantasy, and spooky horror stories of flash fiction length, which we regard as less than 1500 words. The lead editor is Terrie Leigh Relf.

Flash Digest wants non-AI original stories that are entertaining and/or have a serious point to them. We prefer to see 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.

As we will publish no more than six to eight stories per issue, we will be very picky with what we select. Just sayin’.

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