The Horror Tree

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Category: Pro

Pro Rates

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Pro

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Taking Submissions: The Wild Hunt

Deadline: February 28th, 2021
Payment: 8 cents a word and a contributors copy
Theme: Stories related to The Wild Hunt

We are seeking stories for an anthology to be published in the Spring/Summer of 2021 by the Air and Nothingness Press.

Theme: The Wild Hunt – New stories of the Wild Hunt incorporating its diverse mythology and drama.

The Wild Hunt occurs in European folklore and typically involves a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters passing in wild pursuit. The hunters may be elves or fairies or the dead,and the leader of the hunt is often a named figure associated with Odin, but may variously be a historical, legendary, or biblical figure, or an unidentified lost soul or spirit either male or female.
Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. People encountering the Hunt might also be abducted to the underworld or the fairy kingdom. In some instances, it was also believed that people’s spirits could be pulled away during their sleep to join the cavalcade

Stories may be of any genre as long as they fit within the idea of the Wild Hunt. We are open to Grimdark, New Weird, Science Fiction, Fantasy and genre bending/breaking.

All stories are requested to be between 1000 and 3000 words in length.
How to submit: Email your story to [email protected] (Submissions open July 1, 2020 and close February 28, 2021)
Compensation: Our pay rate is 8 cents a word. Anthology authors will receive one print copy of the anthology, plus wholesale pricing for additional print copies (40% off the retail price).
Rights: AaNPress purchases North American serial rights for one year from the date of publication. All subsidiary rights released upon publication.
Submissions: New authors are as welcome as established writers.
AaNPress does not accept reprints, multiple submissions,  or simultaneous submissions. We will consider mature content only if we like the story and find the mature content to be integral to it.
Manuscript Format: Please use the industry standard manuscript format – .doc or .docx (MS Word), .rtf (Rich Text Format). Please also send a one paragraph biography.
Editorial Process: AaNPress will read submissions as they are received. If a story does not work for the anthology, we will reject it. If we think the story has potential but is not quite complete yet, we will request a rewrite. Stories that are accepted for the anthology will be held for publication.

Regardless of the decision, you will receive email from us notifying you of our decision in a timely manner. Our final line-up will be chosen in the Spring of 2021 and all authors will be contacted with any copy edits or minor word change requests.
Response Time: Final decisions will be made by March 15, 2021.

Via: Air and Nothingness Press.

Ongoing Submissions / Online / Pro

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Ongoing Submissions: Baffling Magazine

Payment: $0.08/word
Theme: speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent.

At launch, Baffling Magazine will publish one flash story a month on our Patreon. Subsequently, each quarter of published work will be shared for free online on our website. We will publish additional work each month as our Patreon grows and will share those guidelines as we get closer to each milestone.

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The compensation level for original stories accepted to Baffling Magazine is $0.08/word. Stories will be published first on our Patreon, then made available in our quarterly issues, and finally in an annual print anthology.

Submissions are now open. Please submit your work here. If anything prohibits you from using the form, please contact us at [email protected] for alternate submission instructions.

We are looking for:

  • Wordcount: Under 1,200 words.

  • What we want to see: We are looking for speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. We want queer stories and we want trans stories and we want aro/ace stories. We want indefinable stories. We welcome weird, slipstream, and interstitial writing.

  • What we don’t want to see: We’re not interested in unexamined bigotry or sexual violence; pieces that include such should be nuanced or looking at the post-event experience of the survivors.

Guidelines:

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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Upon a Once Time

Deadline: February 28th, 2021
Payment: 8 cents per word and a contributors copy
Theme: Fairy Tales – choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new.

Upon a Once Time
Theme: Fairy Tales – choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new.
Stories may be of any genre as long as they incorporate two fairy tales. We are open to Grimdark, New Weird, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dying Earth and genre bending/breaking.

All stories are requested to be between 1000 and 3000 words in length.

How to submit: Email your story to Air and Nothingness Press. Submissions open July 1, 2020 and close February 28, 2021.

Remember, when submitting to the ‘Upon a Once Time’ open call be sure to tell us what two fairy tales you are working with and what genre you have chosen. Fairy tales can be from any of our world’s diverse cultures, in fact we encourage that.
A mash of a western and an asian or african faiy tale exploring the multicultural symbols unique to each story and then integrated into the genre choice but subverting it … a tall order we know for our word count but authors are amazing and surprising in their talents.
Explore, create, take a chance and show us your fireworks.

Download a PDF of the full submission information.

We are seeking stories for an anthology to be published in the Spring/Summer of 2021 by the Air and Nothingness Press.

Theme: Fairy Tales – choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new.

Stories may be of any genre as long as they incorporate two fairy tales. We are open to Grimdark, New Weird, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dying Earth and genre bending/ breaking.

All stories are requested to be between 1000 and 3000 words in length.

How to submit: Email your story to [email protected]

(Submissions open July 1, 2020 and close February 28, 2021)

Compensation: Our pay rate is 8 cents a word. Anthology authors will receive one print copy of the anthology, plus wholesale pricing for additional print copies (40% off the retail price).

Rights: AaNPress purchases North American serial rights for one year from the date of publication. All subsidiary rights released upon publication.

Submissions: New authors are as welcome as established writers.

AaNPress does not accept reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions. We will consider mature content only if we like the story and find the mature content to be integral to it.

Manuscript Format: Please use the industry standard manuscript format – .doc or .docx (MS Word), .rtf (Rich Text Format). Please also send a one paragraph biography.

Editorial Process: AaNPress will read submissions as they are received. If a story does not work for the anthology, we will reject it. If we think the story has potential but is not quite complete yet, we will request a rewrite. Stories that are accepted for the anthology will be held for publication.

Regardless of the decision, you will receive email from us notifying you of our decision in a timely manner. Our final line-up will be chosen in the Spring of 2021 and all authors will be contacted with any copy edits or minor word change requests.

Response Time: Final decisions will be made by March 15, 2021.

Upon a Once Time is an anthology featuring new interpretations of fairy tales for modern audiences.
– Snow White and the 3 Little Pigs as Detective Noir
– Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk as a Grimdark fantasy
– The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf and the Snow Queen as Epistolary Science Fiction

Authors have chosen two of their favorite fairy tales, as well as a genre style, and have created new tales from the old.

Via: Air and Nothing Press.

Anthology / Events / Poetry / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Chiral Mad 5

Deadline: December 31st, 2020
Payment: $0.06/word, contributors copy
Theme: The End Is the Beginning / The Beginning Is the End
Note: Only open to underrepresented demographics (POC, LGBTQIA+, female)

My voice needs to be heard. How can I submit?

If you are not part of an underrepresented demographic (POC, LGBTQIA+, female), please do not submit at this time, but feel free to send recommendations; otherwise, if you feel your voice needs to be heard, send your submission to [email protected] (or just click the email link, but read the next part before doing so). There are no formatting guidelines other than file type: .doc, .dotx, .rtx, or plain text. The words are what matter.

What can I submit?

  • Fiction (5,000 words or fewer recommended, payment capped at 5K), only one submission at a time. If you receive a rejection, feel free to submit again, immediately. No reprints.
  • Poetry (50 lines or fewer, payment capped at 50 lines), up to 5 poems at a time. If you receive a rejection, feel free to submit up to 5 more, immediately. No reprints.
  • Artwork (9.25 height x 6.25 width, 300 DPI, black-and-white), .jpg preferred for initial consideration.

Payment

  • Fiction – $0.06 per word, US, capped at 5,000 words
  • Poetry – $1 per line, US, capped at 50 lines
  • Artwork – exposure only, unless contracted individually
  • Contributor copies of all editions

Deadline

  • December 31st, 2020 (end of the year, basically)

Contract

A publishing contract will be made available for all accepted work, to be signed by both parties prior to publication. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Written Backwards requests first worldwide print rights
  • Rights revert back to the creator immediately upon publication
  • You’re allowing your work to be published in this anthology for as long as there is a need for the anthology, but you get your rights back the moment it goes to print
  • Simultaneous publication in deluxe hardback (exclusive to this campaign), trade hardback, trade paperback, and eBook

Via: Chiral Mad 5’s Indiegogo.

Anthology / Events / Pro

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Taking Submissions: No Police = Know Future

Deadline: August 15th, 2020
Payment: $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction.
Theme: Potential (and hopefully positive) futures that involve alternatives to modern day policing.
Note: Reprints Welcome

After the brutal murder of George Floyd by the police, the world responded in righteous protest, with cries of “Black Lives Matter.” The police responded to these calls in large part with even more brutality, with video after video emerging that showed an assault on the public. And more cries came forth, with calls to defund the police.

But what’s that mean?

Science Fiction writers, this is your call to arms. Give us your potential (and hopefully positive) futures that involve alternatives to modern day policing. We want stories that replace the police entirely, dramatically reform them, or create parallel systems to refocus policing. We’re also seeking alternate concepts of rehabilitation and punishment as well, more emphasis on the carrot. In a world where police are perpetually brandishing their batons, I think we’ve all seen enough sticks.

 

SUBMIT TO NO POLICE KNOW FUTURE

Now, We know it may be difficult to think of a world without the police. They have been there all of our lives, in meticulous uniform, reinforced by countless movies. We recommend this article https://lifehacker.com/lets-abolish-the-police-force-184392… and this infographic at https://www.reddit.com/…/what_do_we_mean_when_we_say_defun…/ for inspiration.

Story length is up to approximately 4,000 words for original fiction. We’re not going to reject something that stretches this limit out of hand, but know that the longer it gets, the harder a sell it becomes. Reprints can be up to 6,000 words. Most veins of SF welcome, with the exception of steampunk, dieselpunk or other SF that nestles us comfortably in a previous era.

We are here now, in tumultuous times, and cannot go back. Let’s face a possible, achievable future bravely.

Amazing Stories encourages visible minorities, QUILTBAG writers and members of other minority or marginalized groups to submit to the magazine. The future will be diverse; we would like to see that reflected in the stories we tell and the writers who tell them.

Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. We are a SFWA qualifying market for original fiction.

Rights: Amazing Stories buys first world publication rights. In addition, we are buying non-exclusive electronic archival rights, in perpetuity, and the right for non-exclusive publication in the quarterly issue (ebook and print on demand, as well as a print “collector’s edition”). We also ask for non-exclusive rights to republish the story in an anthology for a separate fee.

Submit submissions using our online submission system at https://submission.amazingstoriesmag.com/no-police/ Submission window ends on August 15th , 2020 or until anthology fills.

Are you ready to give a beleaguered public your vision of a better tomorrow? We stand ready to listen.

Via: Amazing Stories and

Anthology / Events / Pro / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Spawn: Weird Horror Tales about Pregnancy, Birth and Babies

This is a full color digital illustration of a book cover depicting skeletons.

Deadline: August 31st, 2020
Payment: 6c per word for original stories, 2c per word for reprints
Theme: Speculative fiction about Pregnancy, Birth and Babies
Note: AUS Authors only
Note: Reprints accepted

Deadline: 31 August 2020
Payment: 6c per word for original stories, 2c per word for reprints (Australian currency)
Publisher: IFWG Publishing Australia (co-published in North America through the IFWG Publishing International imprint)
Note: Open to Australian writers only (citizens, residents and ex-pats)

To be edited by award-winning author Deborah Sheldon, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies will comprise stories from Australian writers obtained via commission and open callout. The commissioned writers are the multi-award-winning and bestselling authors Isobelle Carmody, Jack Dann, Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams.

On-spec submissions are welcome from Australian writers of every persuasion including non-parents. Ideally, stories should be between 1500 and 5000 words, give or take. (Stories significantly longer than 5000 words would have to be outstanding.) Reprints will be considered, but must not be available for free anywhere online—the anthology will have only a small number of reprints, regardless. Artwork by commissioned Australian artists will complement selected stories.

The anthology will be a visceral, frightening read. Each story must nominally tick the box of “body horror” but there is no restriction on subgenre: anything from sci-fi to fantasy to gothic to supernatural to psychological and beyond will be given equal consideration. Feel free to play with the theme and not take it too literally. Ideally, your story should make the reader feel uncomfortably aware of their physicality, morbidity or mortality.

While graphic violence and swearing are acceptable, submissions must have a literary bent. Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies aims to deliver an elegant—and elevated—anthology of body horror.

What to avoid:

  • Gratuitous gore used purely for shock value.
  • Familiar tropes, such as Rosemary’s Baby, The Handmaid’s Tale, the face-hugger/chest-burster from the Alien film franchise, Martians kidnapping and impregnating female Earthlings, and so on.
  • The submission of first drafts, often indicated by spelling and grammatical errors.

Required rights:

  • First worldwide electronic and print rights in the English language, exclusive for one year, and non-exclusive rights thereafter.
  • For reprints, non-exclusive rights apply.
  • If the story is subsequently reprinted, please credit Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies (IFWG Publishing Australia) as the original publisher.

How to submit:

  • Your story must be in a Word document, double-spaced, Times New Roman in 12pt.
  • Your name, contact details and word count should be on the first page above the title.
  • Use double-quotation marks, single space after full stops, first-line indents, page numbers, and Australian-English spelling. No tabs and no double-returns between paragraphs.
  • Send to Deborah Sheldon at [email protected] with the story title and your name as the Subject heading.
  • In the body of your email, provide an author bio of about 100 words (give or take), and include your Australian citizen/resident/ex-pat status.
  • If your story is a reprint, provide the full details of its first publication in the body of your email, with links if possible.
  • You can submit more than one story. Submit each story in a separate email.
  • Stories that require anything more than line editing or adjustments for house style will be rejected. Please submit only polished work of a high standard.
  • No simultaneous submissions, which means do not submit your story to another market at the same time.
  • Give yourself the best possible chance—please do not ignore these guidelines.

Response issues:

  • All acceptance and rejection emails will be sent by 31 October 2020.
  • No feedback will be offered for rejected stories. Please don’t ask.
  • Do not resubmit a rejected story, even if you have made substantial changes.
  • Accepted writers will receive payment via PayPal or bank transfer within 30 days of the contracts being signed, rather than on publication.
  • Accepted writers will also receive an ebook and one complimentary paperback.

Important note about the publication date

Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies was originally slated for release in February 2021. In response to the economic turndown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, IFWG Publishing Australia has decided to delay release of every upcoming new title. Therefore, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies will be released later in 2021, with a strong likelihood of a mid-year publishing date.

Crowd-funding for a hardback edition, which would include illustrations for each story, is also being considered.

IFWG Publishing Australia will provide further updates on the anthology’s publication schedule in due course.

Via: IFWG Publishing.

Novel / Novella / Ongoing Submissions / Pro / Royalties

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Bad Dream Entertainment Is Open To Novels And Novellas

Payment: Pro Market, Royalties
Theme: Science Fiction Horror

We are now accepting novel and novella-length sci-fi horror manuscripts. If you have something that you think would fit, read the guidelines below and send it in. However, keep in mind that if you don’t actually read and follow the guidelines you’re just wasting time for both yourself and us, so please, please pay attention to what we’re looking for and how we want to get it. It’s not hard at all, we promise.

We are looking for SCI-FI HORROR, that means the story should have elements of both. The science fiction can be hard, near-future, or weird, but the horror elements have to be strong regardless (this is BAD Dream Entertainment, after all, not Mild Dream Entertainment). Generic creature-feature or zombie virus stories will be a VERY hard sell; we are looking for originality and weirder stories, including bizarro, probably stand a better chance. Cosmic horror is welcome, as long as it is not Lovecraft related (and yes, that can actually be a thing) and includes sci-fi elements.

Remember, sci-fi horror, not just sci-fi, and not just horror. Sci-fi horror. If you’re wondering why we’re stressing this so much, you’ve never read a slush pile.

  • Manuscripts should be at least novella-length (24k words), there’s no ceiling on word count, but don’t send something long enough to be a multi-book series. If sending chapters, include at least three.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you let us know to pull your manuscript out of the queue as soon as you place it elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions aren’t allowed; only one at a time.
  • Send your story in standard manuscript form. We’re not sticklers for exact formatting, but have your contact info and word-count on the top corner of the first page, along with author name and title.
  • Manuscripts should be sent as DOCs, RTFs, or ODTs (not PDFs) to: submissions [at] baddreamentertainment [dot] com. You should receive an automated response acknowledging that we got it, if you don’t you can ask to confirm through our regular contact email address. Keep in mind, if you send a PDF it will likely be auto-deleted and we’re not going to take the time to ask you for a different format.
  • Response time are going to start at 2-4 weeks; that may change based on volume and if it does we’ll update that info here.
  • Bad Dream Entertainment is a pro-rate paying market (min $0.06/word). Rights purchased will be world-wide exclusive (rights-reversion optional after a negotiated period) but for English language only. Royalties will be based on gross sales since we operate on a POD distribution model.

Handy tips for submitting to us (or any other publisher)

  • Read and follow the guidelines. It seems simple enough, but any editor or slush reader will tell you that getting most people to do it is like squeezing water from a rock. A very, very dry rock. You probably noticed there are a few repeated bits in our guidelines; the simple fact is that we’re still likely to end up with a quarter of all submissions not even fitting the genre we asked for. Start ahead of the pack in any publisher’s submission window by paying attention to what they’re looking for and following the simplest of rules they give you.
  • Be patient; most submission call-outs for any publisher result in a pretty large slush pile for readers and editors to dig their way through. Sometimes things get lost or fall through the cracks, so if you haven’t heard back within the response time then by all means reach out to us, but not before then. You’re not doing yourself any favors by bugging the editor when your submission is still within the window.
  • Don’t respond to rejections. Really, even it it’s something nice like a ‘thank you for the consideration anyway’, it’s just adding to a likely already full inbox (editors do appreciate the sentiment, just not the time). And if it’s something negative, instead reevaluate whether you should even be trying to participate in the world of publishing, because you likely don’t have a future in it if you’re that kind of person. Fix your life.

Via: Bad Dream Entertainment.

Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Non-fiction / Online / Poetry / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Reckoning 5

Deadline: September 22nd, 2020
Payment: eight cents a word for prose, thirty dollars a page for poetry
Theme: Creative writing about environmental justice

We’re currently reading for Reckoning 5! Please refer to the specific calls from poetry editor Leah Bobet and fiction/nonfiction editor Cécile Cristofari!

To understand what we’re looking for, try reading Reckoning 3, Reckoning 2, Reckoning 1, the interviews, the Reckoning twitter, or LCRW 33.

The short version: creative writing about environmental justice. Fiction preferably at least a tiny bit speculative, nonfiction preferably more creative than journalistic, poetry tending towards the narrative and preferably with some thematic heft, art leaning away from the pulpy heavily towards the political. But the heart of what we want is your searingly personal, visceral, idiosyncratic understanding of the world and the people in it as it has been, as it is, as it will be, as it could be, as a consequence of humanity’s relationship with the earth.
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