Category: Events

Taking Submissions: Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mystery 1889 & 1890

Deadline: Deadline for proposals is April 30th, 2025. Submission deadline for stories is June 30th, 2025.
Payment: $125 dollars and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Sherlock Holmes stories that are canonical in nature and fit the timeline below.

“When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years ’82 and ’90, I am faced by so many which present strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know which to choose and which to leave.” – Dr. Watson

Synopsis: The year 1889 was a particularly busy one for Holmes with a number of cases including The Hound (Sept. 25-Oct. 20); “The Beryl Coronet” (Feb. 19-20); “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (June 18-19);  “The Naval Treaty” (Aug. 1); “Cardboard Box” (Aug. 31- Sept. 2); “The Engineer’s Thumb.” (Sept. 7-8);  “Crooked Man” (Sept. 11-12);  and “Blue Carbuncle) (Dec. 27). Although things slowed a bit in 1890, prominent cases included “Copper Beeches” (April 5-20); “Silver Blaze” (Sept. 25-30) and “The Red-Headed League” (Oct. 9-11). But what other cases did our heroes encounter in these years? Find out in  Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mysteries – 1889 &  Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mysteries – 1890.

Submission Guidelines: The stories must be Canonical in nature and fit with the timeline. Holmes and Watson should act like they do in the original stories. As you can see above, a number of the original cases from this period are specifically dated, so please bear that in mind when you are writing your story.

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Taking Submissions: Mythaxis April 2025 Submission Period (Early Listing)

Submission Window: April 23rd-30th, 2025
Payment: €0.01 per word, with a €20 minimum.
Theme: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction.

We are open to submissions within the following periods:

  • January 23rd-30th
  • April 23rd-30th
  • July 23rd-30th
  • October 23rd-30th

Submissions received outside of these dates will unfortunately be lost and therefore not responded to. When open, we seek and offer the following:

  • Length: 1,000-5,000 words. These are firm limits. Shorter or longer works will be considered, but the further a story goes outside these bounds the more it will need to impress.
  • Compensation: €0.01 per word, with a €20 minimum. Please be aware that payment is via PayPal only.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours of submission, please get in touch. We aim to accept or reject within 14 days of acknowledgment, but rl (real life) and rl (reading load) can get in the way. If you do not hear from us after 30 days, feel free to query.

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Taking Submissions: Trollbreath Magazine April 2025 Window

Submission Window: April 1st- 30th, 2025
Payment: Fiction: 4 cents per word for original works, and 1/2 cent per word for reprints. Poetry: $25 flat fee for any poem. Non-Fiction: $40. $150 for cover artwork.
Theme: Speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction of all kinds with a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms

Trollbreath Magazine is a journal of speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, publishing electronic issues on a quarterly schedule. Our interests are as varied as the endless amount of genres, from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between. We have a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms, but what motivates us most are great stories by wonderful authors eager to share their visions of the past, the future, the in between, and everything that lies outside the margins. Coloring beyond the lines encouraged. Feel free to review our already published stories and poetry to get an idea of what we like.

Stories, poems and articles will be available at the beginning of the quarter to paying members. Web Memberships give the subscriber the opportunity to read the issue on our website; eBook Memberships provide the additional right to download the issue in PDF or epub file format(s). Over the course of the quarter, a new story will be released from the paywall every Friday to the those without subscriptions, until all stories are available to the public.

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Taking Submissions: Untitled Creature Feature Anthology

Deadline: April 30th, 2025
Payment: 1 cent per word and a contributors copy
Theme: Creature Feature with the premise of situations where something is being sought out by a person/group.

My first foray into horror was creature features. Growing up, I loved movies that involved monsters: Them!GodzillaThe BirdsSwamp ThingCreature from the Black LagoonThe Fly, and many more. Pair that with my background in anthropology and biology, and it’s a Petri dish of ingredients bound to spawn new terrors. What better way to celebrate the second year of Inky Bones Press than to publish an anthology based on the subjects that inspired me to both love and write horror. I can’t wait to read your twists and interpretations of the requirements lurking below.

What horrors will you unleash?

Theme:

Situations where something is being sought out by a person/group. They could be grave robbers, treasure hunters, archaeologists, cryptozoologists, entomologists, biologists, hide-and-seek fanatics, anything you choose—as long as their plans go awry. Get weird and creative!

Must Include:

  • Bones: you can mention the word itself or be more specific. Ex: spine, skull, vertebrae, ribs, skeleton
  • A creature of your choice: tiny, monstrous, an alien—just make sure it’s scary!

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Taking Submissions: Strange Legacy: 2025

Deadline: April 30th, 2025
Payment: $20 and a contributor copy for US authors or $35 for non-US authors
Theme: “Classic” monsters creature feature story (think all of the old Universal Monsters for inspiration.)
Note: Reprints welcome

Strange Legacy: 2025 (Creature Feature) is actually a continuation of the Strange Aeon anthology series. We are going in a slightly different direction this year thematically with a bit of a break from purely cosmic horror and focusing instead on the creatures, both traditional and original. The editorial style will remain the same. As usual, these style preferences apply to gore and sex as well: think early Weird Tales, no excessive language or explicit sexual references. (You do not have to remove all profanity from your submission—I can read around it—but, if your story is accepted, you will be required to remove it from the final version.)

The theme of this year’s anthology is the “classic” monster story—from old favorites like vampires and werewolves to Lovecraftian creatures [1] to the byproducts of insane science experiments. That being said, please send anything you consider a good story. Feel free to query for any questions. If you are planning to write a story especially for this anthology, by all means query the idea first.

I am especially interested in stories of mad science, monster-based horror, weird western, and stories that “peel the onion.” Indeed, I cannot emphasize strongly enough the need for these categories. Victoriana and Lovecraft era period pieces will have a much harder time finding acceptance.

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Taking Submissions: Thema: I Wish I’d Said That

Deadline: July 1st, 2025
Payment: short story, $25; nonfiction/essay, $25, short-short piece under 1000 words, $10; poem, $10; artwork/photography, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display.
Theme: I Wish I’d Said That

Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission [postmarked]:

The Lost Sock (March 1, 2025)

ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE.

NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright.

The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the story, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. NOTE: Stories longer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages will not be considered. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline. NO READER’S FEE.

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Taking Submissions: Roses & Wildflowers Autumn 2025 Issue

Submission Window: March 1st – July 15th, 2025
Payment: Short Stories: $20, Poetry: $10
Theme: An issue dedicated to hope. Solar-punk, hope-punk, envisioning a better future. Fantasy that explores hope and grace.

Spring 2025 Call for Submissions: MYTHO-ANARCHISM

An issue dedicated to hope. Solar-punkhope-punk, envisioning a better future. Fantasy that explores hope and grace.

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Taking Submissions: Something Out There

Deadline: April 30th, 2025
Payment: $25 and a contributor’s copy
Theme: Stories taking place in a specific area based around a UFO festival

Welcome to Bellflower, a sleepy (fictional) Nevada town where nothing much happens. Well, except for the influx of tourists asking about Area 51, which lies to the southwest, and the annual UFO festival, which happens every August. For years, man watched the skies. In Bellflower…the skies watched back.

We’re looking for submissions that take place during or around this festival, a town-wide event where locals dress up, set up telescopes, take tourists on shady desert tours, and stay up all hours of the night, hoping for a glimpse of something from the great beyond.

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