The Horror Tree

Category: Pay

Events / Flat Amount / Magazine / Poetry / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Bleed Error #1

Deadline: March 1st, 2022
Payment: $1c per word, and $15 per poem
Theme: The gamut of everything from absurdist horror to bizarre science-fiction to unsettling dark fantasy.

• What are we looking for?
We’re looking for short stories, flash fiction, and poetry that runs the gamut of everything from absurdist horror to bizarre science-fiction to unsettling dark fantasy. We love the uncanny; what we look for is the telling drop in your stomach when you absently look up at the skies and there are far more constellations than you’d remembered, brighter and closer and in configurations you don’t quite recall. We want stories about the bleed error of the universe printing outside the margins of reality.
We are interested in stories with LGBTQ2S+ and diverse leads, especially with narratives that are not confined to tragedy tropes.
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Anthology / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Soldiers of the Old Ones

Deadline: June 30th, 2022
Payment: $25
Theme: Tales of the people who fight for, sacrifice for, and work toward the takeover of the world by the Old Ones.

In this, our seventh anthology of the Lovecraftian series, we are looking for tales of the people who fight for, sacrifice for, and work toward the takeover of the world by the Old Ones. In a previous anthology, we dealt with the worshipers. They helped bring about the appearance of the Old Ones. The soldiers in this anthology are those who actually help the manifest Old Ones in their conquest.

This is war. Conflict. There will be atrocity. Horror in the truest sense of the word, from madness to mayhem. Tell us about the weapons, physical and not, used by the soldiers in their campaigns. Show us the progress or lack thereof toward the endgame of total victory for the Old Ones or humanity. Is it possible humanity can win? Maybe, but show us how.

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Anthology / Events / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Particular Passages 2

Deadline: January 1st, 2022
Payment: Royalty Split
Theme: Trunk stories that haven’t found a home elsewhere

Down another forgotten hallway lie more unexplored rooms.

Each room contains another world waiting to be discovered.

Some are wonderful and beautiful, others are dark and terrible.

You won’t know which until you step inside.

So take a deep breath and open the door…

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Contest / Events / Flat Amount

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Contest: 50-Word Stories December 2021 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: December 1st-15th 2021
Payment: 1 winner each month will win $10 Canadian
Theme: A story at exactly 50-words

If you’d like to have a 50-word story that you wrote featured on FiftyWordStories.com, first make sure that you understand exactly what a 50-word story is, and then read the submission requirements below closely.

Submissions System
Each month, submissions will be open between days 1 and 15 of that month. Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will be deleted, but can be resubmitted the following month. You may only submit one story per month.

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Samhain Sorceries

Deadline: February 1st, 2022
Payment: One cent per word and a contributors copy
Theme: Sword-and-sorcery stories where Samhain/Halloween is relevant to the plot

On October 31, 2021, DMR Books will reopen for submissions once again for a themed anthology tentatively entitled Samhain Sorceries. The concept for this book will be sword-and-sorcery stories where Samhain/Halloween is relevant to the plot. For clarification, sword-and-sorcery is a genre that combines swashbuckling adventure with supernatural elements (usually of a horrific nature) in a pre-industrial setting. Unlike most S&S stories, which are set in an invented world like Hyperborea or Nehwon, the tales in Samhain Sorceries should take place in the British Isles. Any time period is suitable, as long as it’s pre-industrial. Admittedly, not many stories that fall in this category have been written, so I would suggest reading those few that exist to get a better idea of what I’m looking for. Those stories are “The Unlawful Hunter” and “The Haunting of Mara” by Keith Taylor (which can be found in Renegade Swords II) and “All Will Be Righted on Samhain” by Howie K. Bentley and David C. Smith (which appears in Swords of Steel Omnibus).

What we’re not looking for:

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Contest / Events / Flat Amount

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Contest: Micro Madness For December 2021 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: December 1st-7th, 2021
Prizes: 1st place: $100, 2nd place: $50, 3rd place: $25
Theme: cosmic horror, dark science fiction, or weird

Submissions will be ongoing and open the first week of every month for that month’s contest. THREE stories will be chosen per month to be published the month after they were submitted. (If you submit a story on October 3rd and it is chosen, it will be published in November.)

  • Submissions are open monthly from the 1st to the 7th.
  • Submission close at 12 am (midnight) eastern standard time.
  • One entry per writer per month please!
  • No simultaneous submissions.
  • All stories accepted must be currently unpublished.
  • Once a story has been submitted, please no resubmissions!

We are looking for flash fiction (500 words or less) that can be classified as cosmic horror, dark science fiction, or weird. If you are unsure if your work qualifies, submit it and let us be the judge!

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Anthology / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: A Fistful of Demons

Deadline: January 31st, 2021
Payment: $25 per thousand words
Theme: Weird westerns set in the world of ‘The Widow’s Son’ (a link to details below for those who haven’t read it.

Malahas Press will be publishing a Weird West/Western Horror anthology of short fiction titled A Fistful of Demons from both debut and established authors in the Fall of 2022. We are based in the US, and welcome submissions from around the world.

If you’re interested in submitting a short story to A Fistful of Demons, please read the following guidelines.
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Anthology / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Nerve-Janglers: Thirteen Tales of Terror

Deadline: February 28th, 2022
Payment: £25
Theme: All forms of horror, ideally stories that take place outside of suburban America

We are now officially open for submissions to our second anthology and our first young adult horror anthology, titled Nerve-Janglers: Thirteen Tales of Terror. We will be seeking horror fiction of all forms and flavours, all sub-genres and themes, that specifically fall into the category of teen-grade young adult fiction. These will be published as part of a new and ongoing YA horror imprint from Night Terror Novels Publishing, titled Nerve-Janglers. Our cover art will be finalised and uploaded to this page in the near future.

If this has piqued your interest, please scroll down for the full details!

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