Tales of dimwitted criminals and unlucky twits on the wrong side of the law. Nimrods, numbskulls and rejects. Bumbling sidekicks and idiots-gone-wrong. Elmore Leonard and Charles Willeford ain’t got nothin’ on these dipshits.
Edited by Robert Bose
Projected launch date is November 2018. We will be accepting open submissions for 3-5 stories (of up to 5,000 words) to be featured alongside 6-8 stories from some well-known and extremely talented authors. Submissions will are open NOW and close on July 1, 2018. We are specifically looking for darkly humorous CRIME stories. No Sci-fi, no Fantasy.
Payment currently listed at $0.03/word CAD
Please send in .doc or .docx format, in standard formatting. See ourSTYLE GUIDEfor more information.
***ANY SUBMISSIONS NOT FOLLOWING THE PRESCRIBED FORMATTING MAY BE SUMMARILY DISMISSED WITHOUT REPLY***
Deadline: December 31st, 2018 Payment: 1 cent a word for reprint rights. ($60 max)
Is your story too heavy and hardcore for other “best of” anthologies? Then you’ve come to the right place because Comet Press is now accepting stories for YEAR’S BEST HARDCORE HORROR VOL. 4, a yearly collection intended to give recognition to the extreme, harder side of horror, stories that break boundaries and trash taboos.
Editors: Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax.
Requirements: The story was originally (or will be) published in a 2018 anthology, single author collection, magazine, or online magazine. Self-published anthologies and collections are acceptable as well.
Deadline: December 31, 2018.
Length: Up to 6000 words. Word count is flexible and longer works will be considered but please note the max payment is $60.00.
Payment: 1 cent a word for reprint rights. ($60 max)
What to Send
Authors:
In the body of an email:
Author name
Story title
Name of anthology or magazine or online magazine it was (or will be) published in:
If the book is available on Amazon and your story credit appears somewhere on the page, send us the link. If not, send a link to the best source with that information (publisher’s page, etc).
If the story was in a magazine, send us a web link to the issue TOC where your story appears, or if that’s not available send us a scan of the table of contents (print magazines, etc.).
A bio
A short description of the story.
Attach the entire manuscript in rtf, doc format, or a PDF or mobi of the magazine or book it appears in if available. Note: if sending a doc or rtf, please make sure this is the final version of your story, exactly as it appears in the published version.
Important Note: Make sure your contract allows you to publish the story in a “best of” anthology. If you’re not sure, check with your publisher. If necessary, ask them for a waiver.
Publishers
In an email include the following:
Name of publication and publisher, date published and format (print, ebook, magazine, etc)
A pdf, doc, rtf, or mobi of the publication.
If there are any particular stories you feel we might be interested in feel free to make a note of that (optional).
__________
Include in the Email subject line: YEAR’S BEST HARDCORE HORROR
We’ll send a notification within 48 hours that we received your submission. If you don’t get this, please inquire. We may not have received it.
Deadline: May 31st, 2018 Payment: 2 cents per word, minimum of $30 and maximum of $100, which will be paid before publication.
Each chapbook will have a specific theme, and we are seeking 3-4 short stories for each publication.
THEMES:
CHAPBOOK 1:
NIGHTSCAPES — Three to four tales of nightmares, night terrors, the unfathomable dreams. All stories for this chapbook must fit into the previously mentioned concepts. Think the fiction of Thomas Ligotti and Jon Padgett meeting the artwork of Zdzisław Beksiński.
WHAT WE WANT
We are seeking three to four short stories (1,500 to 5,000 Words FIRM). We want your most trippy, disturbing tales that question our notions of reality. Shock us with your imagination, show us how unique and weird your nightmares really are.
CHAPBOOK 2:
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PORTAL?— Three to four tales of inter-dimensional horror. Portals, gateways, archaic and ancient worlds. All stories submitted must follow these themes. Think The Void meets Event Horizon with a little Lovecraft and Barker tossed into the mix.
WHAT WE WANT
We are seeking three to four short stories (1,500 to 5,000 Words FIRM). We want your most otherworldly tales. Show us dimensions made of nightmares, ancient god-like entities breaking into our world, mankind unlocking denizens of ethereal planes. Enthrall us with the horrors that lie beyond our universe.
CHAPBOOK 3:
VOID BECKONING — Three to four tales of deep space horror. Terrifying monstrosities on ancient moons, malevolent spirits aboard spaceships, mining facilities on other worlds uncovering ancient evils, infectious body-morphing diseases plaguing orbital stations. Think Dead Space meets Alien and Prometheus.
WHAT WE WANT
We are seeking three to four short stories (1,500 to 5,000 Words FIRM). We want your cautionary tales of deep space travel, what could possibly lie ahead in the cosmos. Thrill us with the claustrophobia of space in the event of invading creatures, terrify us with tales of ancient evils found deep in the recesses of the universe. Show us what true horror is in deep space.
WHAT WE DON’T WANT
Fiction that isn’t speculative. We don’t want any stories that could possibly be based in reality. All fiction must be otherworldly, supernatural, etc.
Short stories that employ the second person narrative voice.
Short stories that have been previously published. NO REPRINTS.
Erotica, fan fiction, or stories with heavy sexual content.
Fiction that is unoriginal or uses recycled themes. Surprise us!
As always, the most taboo topics are fine, as long as they are used professionally and respectably. Anything with overuse of vulgarity or purposely gross language for the sake of being gross will not be considered.
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS TO A SINGLE CHAPBOOK. You are more than welcome to submit one story to each theme, but be aware that no author will appear in more than one chapbook.
NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS UNLESS YOU QUERY FIRST.
Stories with numerous errors. This should be a given. Always read through your work or have your editor or a friend read through it before sending it anywhere.
Artwork submissions. We have already hired the artists for the covers.
Anything that has been rejected previously for a separate submissions call.
Submit fiction in proper manuscript format. If you need help regarding the formatting, follow this link. We cannot state how severely it will affect your chances if your story has poor formatting. We are expecting a massive volume of submissions for this call, and if it’s not formatted properly, it will slow down the entire process for us. Please consider this when submitting.
PAYMENT DETAILS
Semi-professional rate of 2 cents per word, minimum of $30 and maximum of $100, which will be paid before publication.
GENERAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION FOR ALL CALLS:
Due to the enormous volume of submissions we are expecting, the window will be open from APRIL 1ST—MAY 31ST. So mark your calendars!
We will be seeking 3 NOVELLAS, 5 NOVELETTES, and 3-4 STORIES FOR EACH (3) CHAPBOOK(S).
THE LENGTHS REQUIRED FOR EACH CATEGORY ARE FIRM! DO NOT SUBMIT LENGTHS OUTSIDE THE CATEGORY YOU CHOOSE.
The release dates for all titles will be dispersed throughout 2018 and into the first half of 2019.
ALL PAYMENTS WILL BE PROCESSED THROUGH PAYPAL
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Send all submissions and inquiries to gehennapublishinghouse (at) gmail (dot) com.
Manuscript must be properly formatted and edited before anything else. See format guidelines here.
Title email as follows: (Type of Submission/Chapbook Theme)/(Title of Story)/(Name) Example: Novella/Fragile Dreams/Fracassi, or Nightscapes/Origami Dreams/Padgett
Attach properly formatted manuscript to email as either a DOC, DOCX, or RTF file. No others are accepted. Do not include story in body of email. This will be grounds for automatic rejection.
Include in the body of your email, or as a cover letter to your manuscript, a short bio including any publication history, awards, social media links, etc.
RESPONSE TIME:
We are expecting a MASSIVE amount of submissions for these calls. Please allow 3-5 months for a response before querying. These titles will be released over the next 12 months, so it will take some time to get back to everyone who has submitted. If you don’t receive a story receipt confirmation within 48 hours, PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. The story may have been filtered into our spam. We will more than likely respond to all submissions long before the 5 month point, but we are setting these times as a precaution.
LEGALITIES:
By sending us your work you understand and agree that:
You are the original creator and copyright holder of the work submitted.
You are not prohibited by any prior agreement from the transfer of exclusive electronic & print rights in English, and reprint rights.
All information submitted is accurate and truthful.
You accept sole responsibility for any false statements upon rights not disclosed.
If you are under the age of 18, unfortunately, we cannot accept your submission. These releases will be for an adult audience, and because of this, we require all authors to be of legal age to read and/or submit to it.
Finally, if accepted here and then republished, you are required to cite the release in which you were published.
Deadline: May 31st, 2018 Payment: 2 cents per word, minimum of $150 and maximum of $300, which will be paid before publication.
Whereas the novellas will be standalone, we are seeking novelettes for our Hinnom Magazine spin-off publication, Tales From Gehenna. Each month Hinnom Magazineis not published, we will release a volume of Tales, which will include a single novelette with original illustrations throughout the story. Think Tales From the Crypt but much spookier!
WHAT WE WANT
We are seeking six novelettes (7,500 to 15,000 Words FIRM). The genres we are looking for are in the realms of cosmic horror and weird fiction.
We want novelettes that surprise us, that haunt our dreams. Speculative fiction with elegant prose and original concepts. Stories that make us think, that catch our attention from the first page and keep us glued to the story all the way to the end.
WHAT WE DON’T WANT
Fiction that isn’t speculative. We don’t want any stories that could possibly be based in reality. All fiction must be otherworldly, supernatural, etc.
Novelettes that employ the second person narrative voice.
Novelettes that have been previously published. NO REPRINTS.
Erotica, fan fiction, or stories with heavy sexual content.
Fiction that is unoriginal or uses recycled themes. Surprise us!
As always, the most taboo topics are fine, as long as they are used professionally and respectably. Anything with overuse of vulgarity or purposely gross language for the sake of being gross will not be considered.
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS.
NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS UNLESS YOU QUERY FIRST.
Stories with numerous errors. This should be a given. Always read through your work or have your editor or a friend read through it before sending it anywhere.
Artwork submissions. We have already hired the artists for the covers.
Anything that has been rejected previously for a separate submissions call.
Submit fiction in proper manuscript format. If you need help regarding the formatting, follow this link. We cannot state how severely it will affect your chances if your story has poor formatting. We are expecting a massive volume of submissions for this call, and if it’s not formatted properly, it will slow down the entire process for us. Please consider this when submitting.
PAYMENT DETAILS
Semi-professional rate of 2 cents per word, minimum of $150 and maximum of $300, which will be paid before publication.
GENERAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION FOR ALL CALLS:
Due to the enormous volume of submissions we are expecting, the window will be open from APRIL 1ST—MAY 31ST. So mark your calendars!
We will be seeking 3 NOVELLAS, 5 NOVELETTES, and 3-4 STORIES FOR EACH (3) CHAPBOOK(S).
THE LENGTHS REQUIRED FOR EACH CATEGORY ARE FIRM! DO NOT SUBMIT LENGTHS OUTSIDE THE CATEGORY YOU CHOOSE.
The release dates for all titles will be dispersed throughout 2018 and into the first half of 2019.
ALL PAYMENTS WILL BE PROCESSED THROUGH PAYPAL
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Send all submissions and inquiries to gehennapublishinghouse (at) gmail (dot) com.
Manuscript must be properly formatted and edited before anything else. See format guidelines here.
Title email as follows: (Type of Submission/Chapbook Theme)/(Title of Story)/(Name) Example: Novella/Fragile Dreams/Fracassi, or Nightscapes/Origami Dreams/Padgett
Attach properly formatted manuscript to email as either a DOC, DOCX, or RTF file. No others are accepted. Do not include story in body of email. This will be grounds for automatic rejection.
Include in the body of your email, or as a cover letter to your manuscript, a short bio including any publication history, awards, social media links, etc.
RESPONSE TIME:
We are expecting a MASSIVE amount of submissions for these calls. Please allow 3-5 months for a response before querying. These titles will be released over the next 12 months, so it will take some time to get back to everyone who has submitted. If you don’t receive a story receipt confirmation within 48 hours, PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. The story may have been filtered into our spam. We will more than likely respond to all submissions long before the 5 month point, but we are setting these times as a precaution.
LEGALITIES:
By sending us your work you understand and agree that:
You are the original creator and copyright holder of the work submitted.
You are not prohibited by any prior agreement from the transfer of exclusive electronic & print rights in English, and reprint rights.
All information submitted is accurate and truthful.
You accept sole responsibility for any false statements upon rights not disclosed.
If you are under the age of 18, unfortunately, we cannot accept your submission. These releases will be for an adult audience, and because of this, we require all authors to be of legal age to read and/or submit to it.
Finally, if accepted here and then republished, you are required to cite the release in which you were published.
Deadline: May 1st, 2018 Payment: 2 cents per word up to 10K words. Longer stories are welcome but the pay cap is $200. Note: Reprints Welcome
There’s no doubt that the Holidays are the most magical time of year, but that doesn’t mean dark happenings aren’t lurking beneath your Christmas tree as well.
These books will be available on kindle, hardcover, paperback, and audiobook format. The title page of each story will be illustrated. We are looking for holiday related horror, dark sci-fi, dark speculative fiction, neo-noire, and cyberpunk stories. We like stories with Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza themes. Alternatively, they can simply take place during the holidays (like how Die Hard isn’t really about Christmas) or even just involve wintery or snowy settings. Please read the general submissions for more details.
A word of advice: If you plan on sending us a Krampus story, please make sure it’s a great one! We’ll only have room for one in our collection and we’re anticipating a lot of submissions so send something original!
Below is a little more about the project.
Word Count : 1000-10,000 words. This is not a hard word count. If you think you have a story that fits what we’re looking for, but is a little long or a little short, send it our way.
Payment: We are offering 2 cents per word up to 10K words. You are free to send us longer stories, but we cap payments at $200 per story for this project.
Rights: We are not asking for ownership of your story. Just the right to print it.
Reprints: Yes, we accept reprints. Beggars can’t be choosers and we understand we’re a fledgling brand. If your work appears elsewhere, please make sure you double check with the other publication to make sure your story is eligible to print.
Payment: 1 cent ($.01) per word to a maximum of $50. Poetry pays $20 flat.
WE WANT:
Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below). As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewelyn, S.P. Miskowski, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D. Klein, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Allyson Bird, Laird Barron, Nicole Cushing, Mark Samuels, and many more have produced work that we would love to see subjected to intelligent critical analysis and discussion.
Literary Horror Fiction from 750-6,000 words. Note: We are looking for original work inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes (regarding which, see the list on our main page).
Poetry at a length of no more than 50 lines, dealing with subjects and themes that fall within our area of interest.
Artwork that similarly addresses our subject matter.
The following authors and their work are of especial interest to Vastarien:
Charles Baudelaire
Thomas Bernhard
Aloysius Bertrand
J.L. Borges
William S. Burroughs
Angela Carter
Louis Ferdinand Celine
E.M. Cioran
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Douglas Harding
Shirley Jackson
U.G. Krishnamurti
H.P. Lovecraft
Vladimir Nabokov
Emile Nelligan
Michael Persinger
Edgar Allan Poe
Maurice Rollinat
Arthur Schopenhauer
Bruno Schulz
Paul Valery
Peter Wessel Zapffe
LENGTH: See the specific guidelines above for length requirements for different types of submissions. Additionally, in no case will a submission over 7,500 words be considered for publication without prior approval. Words subject to inclusion in the overall word count shall include the body of the submission and any explanatory footnotes; citations shall not be included in the overall word count.
PAYMENT AND RIGHTS: We pay 1 cent ($.01) per word for nonfiction and prose fiction, to a maximum of $50. Poetry pays $20 flat. Payment for artwork is negotiable. We purchase first serial and electronic rights. Upon publication, rights revert to the author, but we retain the right to continue selling back issues of the journal and the right to archive your work online.
HOW TO SUBMIT: Submission is via Submittable only:
ACCEPTABLE FILE TYPES: DOC, DOCx, and RTF
RESPONSE TIME: We aim to respond to submissions within two weeks (though final selection can take longer). If you have waited longer than 60 days, feel free to query us at [email protected], with QUERY plus the title of your submitted work in the subject line.
INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS: Vastarien welcomes submissions from authors outside the United States.
DIVERSITY STATEMENT:Vastarien believes in promoting a range of excellent writing and artwork from authors of diverse backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. We encourage submissions from authors and artists traditionally underrepresented in horror and pieces that reflect these varying perspectives.
VASTARIEN DOES NOT ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING:
Multiple submissions
Unsolicited reprints (defined as essays, articles, stories, or poems that have already appeared anywhere online or in any other published form)
