The Horror Tree

Horror Tree is a resource for authors that lists open markets, articles, interviews, original fiction, and more!

Category: Semipro

Semi-Pro Rates

Events / Magazine / Semipro

Taking Submissions: Translunar Travelers Lounge

Deadline: April 15th, 2020
Payment: $0.03 per word
Theme: “fun” stories with speculative elements

SUBMISSIONS WILL BE OPEN MARCH 15 – APRIL 15, 2020.

We are open annually for submissions from March 15th through April 15th for our August issue, and from September 15th through October 15th for our February issue.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

The short version:

  • We pay $0.03 per word with a minimum of $20 in exchange for first world electronic rights in English. We ask for an exclusivity period of 3 months from date of publication.
  • Maximum 5,000 words.
  • Your story should contain speculative elements.
  • We do not accept nonfiction.
  • No simultaneous submissions.
  • Only one submission per open period.
  • Save your manuscript in Standard Manuscript Format as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf and email it as an attachment to translunartravelerslounge AT gmail DOT com.
  • You’re welcome to include a cover letter, but try to avoid summarizing your story. We don’t generally look at cover letters until after we’ve read the story. Also, please limit your writing credits to your top two or three. (No worries if you don’t have any! We love new writers.)
  • Translunar Travelers Lounge is co-edited by Ms. Aimee Ogden and Mx. Bennett North. Feel free to just address your email to “Dear Editors,” but if you decide to use our names, we would appreciate if you mention both of us, since this magazine is a joint effort.
  • You will receive a response no later than two months after the submission period closes, and often much sooner. If you haven’t heard from us, please query ASAP at the above address, using the email header QUERY: Story Title by Author Name.

The long version:

Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. Yes, that descriptor is highly subjective, and ultimately it comes down to the personal preferences of the editors. However, here are a few road signs to get you started on the path into our hearts.

A fun story, at its core, is one that works on the premise that things aren’t all bad; that ultimately, good wins out. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your story has to be silly or lighthearted (though it certainly can be). Joy can be made all the more powerful when juxtaposed against tragedy. In the end, though, there should be hope, and we want stories that are truly fun for as many different kinds of people as possible.

Swashbuckling adventure, deadly intrigue, and gleeful romance are some of the most obvious examples of what we’re looking for, but we won’t say no to more subtle or complicated topics, as long as they fit under the wider “fun” umbrella.

We HIGHLY ENCOURAGE submissions from authors of marginalized ethnicities, sexualities, genders, abilities and perspectives. If you are an author whose experience is not often represented, we absolutely want to hear from you. YES, YOU. If you’re comfortable sharing this information with us in your cover letter, please do.

What we’re enthusiastic about:

  • Characters of all genders and sexualities or lack thereof
  • Settings in non-Western cultures
  • Friendship
  • Happy marriages
  • Stories that pass the Bechdel test and/or the Mako Mori test
  • Afrofuturism
  • Neurodivergent characters
  • Characters with disabilities

What we’re NOT looking for:

  • Pedophilia and rape, especially stories that glorify those things or use them as cheap ways of sidelining female characters.
  • Violence is okay, but torture porn is not. In other words, the violence should serve the story, not BE the story.
  • Similarly, sex is okay, but erotica is not.
  • No fanfiction.
  • No revenge fantasies against shrewish, nagging wives and girlfriends.
  • No stories about how humanity is basically terrible.
  • No works previously published in English. This includes anything that has been published on your own website. In other words, we don’t accept reprints.
  • No stories that we’ve already rejected unless we specifically request a rewrite.

If you’re not sure if your story is what we’re looking for, please send it to us and let us decide! DON’T SELF REJECT.

Via: Translunar Travelers Lounge.

Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Poetry / Reprints Allowed / Semipro

Ongoing Submissions: The Fifth Di…

Payment: Original Stories: $25.00, Reprint Stories: $15.00, Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word, Poems: $5.00, Articles: $20.00
Theme: All genre work with a strong emphasis on character development
Note: Reprints Allowed

The Fifth Di… began with James Baker of ProMart Publishing back around the turn of the millennium. After his passing in September 2002, it was under the editorial stewardship of J Alan Erwine, now of Nomadic Delirium Press. In November 2019, it was handed over to Hiraeth Books.

The Fifth Di… is now published quarterly, in March, June, September, and December, in print [and, eventually, as an eBook]. It presents original science fiction, fantasy, and spooky horror stories. It also presents a few original poems, again along the overall theme.

The Fifth Di… wants original 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.

Stories submitted to The Fifth Di… should be between 4K and 8K words long. Longer or shorter stories will be considered; however, anything less than 4K will be a difficult sell. Anything 1K or less will be considered flash fiction. We will consider reprint stories, provided they adhere to the guidelines; however, they are difficult sells.

Submit your stories as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

Please submit one story at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. We hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Poetry submitted to The Fifth Di… should be from about ten to a hundred lines. Please submit no more than three poems at a time, and wait for the response before submitting more. Again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Submit your poems as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] or IBOE to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

The Fifth Di… also considers articles related to science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Articles include essays and reviews, as well as writing tips. Word count should be around 1K words, up to a loose 5K words. Please submit one article at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. Yet again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Submit your articles as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Boil spammers; inexpensive vegetable oil works best].

The Fifth Di… is not considering cover art at this time.

Payment is made upon publication by check or Paypal as follows:

​

Original Stories: $25.00

Reprint Stories: $15.00

Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word

Poems: $5.00

Articles: $20.00

​

NOTE: If you live outside the United States, you will be paid via Paypal, or must make some other arrangement with the editor.

All submissions must include contact information. This means:

​

Name [yours, not necessarily your byline name]

Address [street, city, country, and zip code or equivalent]

e-mail address

Paypal address

​

If your address changes before the publication date, please let us know.

Queries should be sent to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Grill spammers; the grillwork of a 1950 Buick or a 1953 Packard works best].

Via: Hiraeth Publishing.

Events / Magazine / Reprints Allowed / Semipro

Taking Submissions: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores

Deadline: March 28th, 2020
Payment: 6 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints
Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.
Note: Reprints welcome

Submissions Schedule

We have a regular submissions schedule, easy to remember and plan for:
four times a year, one week each time, midnight E.S.T. to midnight E.S.T., at the beginning of each season of the year:
March 21 – 28, June 21 – 28, September 21 – 28, December 21 – 28

We began <a href=”https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/the-kepler-award/”>The Kepler Award</a> this spring.  The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about <a href=”https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/the-kepler-award/”>The Kepler Award here.</a>

We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles.
Reprints must not have been published elsewhere within the past year or be available for sale online.

For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.

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Writers Guidelines

We accept new work as well as reprints, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored. We also accept poetry.  We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of — if you don’t love it, neither will our readers!  If in doubt, edit it down further.  And further.

For the many writers who valued our feedback on their stories, we have brought back a modified version of the feedback system which will not be time intensive for the editors:
— Writers who would like feedback on their stories should request it at the end of their submissions comments.
— You will receive feedback only if you request it.
— Writers requesting feedback must understand that this is Unedited Feedback Not Intended as Diplomatic Critique; it is the honest and considered opinions of our first readers and assistant editors, designed to help the editors in their assessment of stories.
— There may be repetition and contradictory opinions.
— Readers can opt in or out of having their feedback passed on, so there may be few or no opinions to send you.
— Comments will be passed on without reader names.

Fiction

We are looking for: well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. We care about character, plot, ideas, and storytelling ability.  We accept both serious and humorous work. We like science fiction in all its states of matter, from solid to gaseous to plasma, i.e., from hard as steel to as insubstantial as interstellar space.  If you use real existing science, please get it right.  You can also read the <a href=”https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/about/”>About Us</a> page for more information.

Hard Sells: Vampires, werewolves, zombies, monsters in general, super-heroes, Lovecraftian stories, anthro, robots with feelings, gritty and despairing post-apocalyptic worlds.

We don’t accept: horror, hate, blood &amp; guts, explicit language, excessive violence, angst-ridden romance, fan fiction*, sex, axe-grinding, or stories that leave readers feeling they’ve had the energy and joy sucked out of them. Also, seems we have to say it, we don’t take work that makes fun of grief, suffering, and death, whether of real, imaginary, or religious characters.

Fact

We are looking for fact-based articles, interesting information, reviews, and humor in any discipline that relates to the type of stories we publish or that might provide inspiration and information for writers and artists.

Artwork and Other Imagery

We’re looking for storytelling through images.  We want to see skillful composition, use of color, rendering of form, character, and emotions.   For photomanipulations or photography using models, etc., all stock and resources used must be credited and used according to the stock provider’s rules.

We are not presently commissioning any work.  We are looking only for already existing work for use on site pages or for illustrating stories.  We pay $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used.

For video, if possible send links, and have it available in both MP4 and WEBM formats for compatibility across all browsers.

Just as for written works, we’re not looking for romance, fan art*, hate, horror, blood &amp; guts, excessive violence, sex, nudity, copies of photographs, propaganda, or work that leave readers feeling they’ve had the energy and joy sucked out of them.  We do not accept work using materials that required the death or mistreatment of animals.

*If the original work is still in copyright and was not commissioned or sanctioned by the creator or owner we will not accept it.  Some fan art is accepted or encouraged by the copyright owners — e.g., cosplay, and these works we welcome.
An illustration of a fairy tale, myth, legend, old classic, or any work no longer in copyright would not be counted as fan art.

You can read a copy of our standard contract <a href=”http://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/contracts/”>here. </a>  It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc.

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Please Read Before Submitting:

In the submissions comments, tell us only:
— your name,
— story title,
— genre
— word count
— whether your story is new or would be a reprint, and if a reprint, where and when it was first published. If a reprint, it must not have been published within the preceding twelve months and must not be currently available to read for free or for sale as an individual story.
— <u>Do not include a resume</u>; we will judge the story solely on its own merits.

We may ask for revisions on a story we are interested in, whether it is new or a reprint, but a request for revision is not a guarantee of acceptance.

No simultaneous submissions, and no multiple submissions to the same genre.

Please follow <a href=”http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html”>standard manuscript format</a>

We prefer text in .docx Times New Roman and images as a jpg or through a link.

Use letters and numbers only for filenames or else your file may not load.

For video, if possible send links, and have it available in both MP4 and WEBM formats for compatibility across all browsers.

On the submissions page, check that you agree with the terms of our guidelines before you submit.

A small percentage of people may find that the spam filters on their email host don’t allow them to register.  Adding donotreply at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com and submissions at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com
to your address list may solve this problem.  If it doesn’t, you can email  submissions at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com  and we will manually input you into the system.

Addresses to note and add to address books:
cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com/portal  — login for subscribers to the magazine.
submissions at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com — for questions about submissions.
editor at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com   Fran Eisemann, editor-in-chief
fantasyeditor at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com  Casey Honebrink
eldritcheditor at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com  Aaron Gudmunson

We get a large number of submissions, so please be patient.  Turn-around times are generally between one and twelve weeks.  If you haven’t heard back after twelve weeks, feel free to query.

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Interstellar submitters please use standard Earth formats or query in advance for other arrangements.  We’d love to be the first to publish your work here on Earth!  🙂

When creating passwords for the submissions manager we suggest 12 characters or more with a combination of numbers and both upper case and lower case letters.  Please avoid using the ampersand &amp;, percent sign %,
plus sign +,  quotation marks “,  less than &lt;,  or greater than &gt;

After reading our guidelines, you can login to the submissions manager and submit stories through the link at the bottom of our submissions page.

For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers.
Our thanks go to Glenn Lyvers at Prolific Press for creating this feature for us.

Good luck, and we look forward to reading you!

For people interested in becoming readers for Cosmic Roots &amp; Eldritch Shores, you can read about the process through the link at the bottom of our submissions page.

Via: <a href=”https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores</a>

Via: Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores.

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Semipro

Taking Submissions: Brewtality: Alcohol Infused Extreme Horror

Deadline: May 1st, 2020
Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributors copy
Theme: Extreme horror which involved alcohol

Some call it courage in a bottle while others perceive it as the devil’s cocktail. Alcohol comes in all shapes and sizes, bringing along with it the temptation of sin, the eagerness of confusion and the psychological bombardment on the mind and senses forcing us to play a game between life and death.

BREWTALITY will dive deep in the subconscious where the demons swim, blinding our judgment and guiding us to make bad decisions without revealing the consequences.

  • 3,000 word max
  • Must have elements of Extreme Horror.
  • NO REPRINTS
  • No simultaneous submissions
  • No violence/sex towards children
  • Pay: 3c per word paid through Paypal + (1) print contributor copy
  • 1-year exclusive rights
  • Send as a .DOC or .DOCX attachment to [email protected] with the subject line: BREW SUBMISSION: Title by Author Name
  • Do not copy/paste story in body of email.
  • Include a very brief bio just to break the ice.
  • Deadline May 1
  • Responses by June 1

Via: The Evil Cookie.

Events / Magazine / Reprints Allowed / Semipro

Taking Submissions: LampLight Magazine

Deadline: May 15th, 2020
Payment: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max, 1¢ per word for reprints
Theme: Not locked to a genre and love “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits”
Note: Reprints accepted

We are a literary magazine of dark fiction, both short stories and flash fiction. We want your best. But then, doesn’t everyone? No specific sub-genres or themes, just good stories. For inspiration, we suggest “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and LampLight, Vol1 Issue 1 which is free.

We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling.

We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies, cannibals, high fantasy.

Writers

We have published writers of all backgrounds from all over the world in LampLight, but not everywhere, nor all shapes and sizes of writers. Help us to shine a light on greater diverse writing and keep LampLight a showcase of the best dark fiction out there by submitting and encouraging others to as well.

Edition and Rights

The quarterly is published as print and ebook, and at the end of the year all the quarterlies are bound together in an annual collection.

We are asking for non-exclusive, worldwide, serial rights to your work for both electronic and print. We want to publish it, we don’t want to own it.

We will take reprints, provided you have the rights we are asking for. We will not consider reprints that are currently available for free online.

If you have already been in LampLight, we ask you wait until the next volume to submit again.

Payment

We accept originals and reprints up to 7,000 words (firm). Payment in USD.

  • Unpublished Fiction: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max
  • Reprints: 1¢ per word

Please note: works published to a Patreon or similar site are considered reprints

Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions

Simultaneous submissions are fine, just let us know if it gets accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are not allowed, and will result in all submissions being rejected.

Submission Times

There are two submission periods for LampLight:

    • 15 March – 15 May for the September and December Issues
    • 15 September – 15 November for March and June Issues

Submissions sent outside of these periods will not be considered.

Where to Submit

Submittable is our preferred method of submission. We accept most file types as well. Please use standard manuscript format for your story (although headers and footers are not needed). Please add REPRINT to the subject line, if your story is a reprint!

If you need to edit your submission

If you uploaded the wrong file, have a newer version, anything, please do not withdraw your story. Instead send us an email and we can release it back to you for editing.

Please note:

We can only get 300 submissions a month through Submittable. If the followed link reads “There are presently no open calls for submissions.” then we have filled our quota for the month. You will be able to submit again on the 1st of the following month. But, when the limit is reached on the last month, time is up!

https://lamplightmagazine.submittable.com/submit

Please remember, Submittable is a third party site. Please read the Terms of Service before you sign up.

If you need a reminder about formatting, here is a good link to read:

http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

For queries, you can email: [email protected] – Submissions sent to this email address will not be read.

Via: LampLight Magazine.

Events / Magazine / Semipro

Taking Submissions: Trouble Among The Stars

Deadline: April 6th, 2020
Payment: CAD $0.01/word (i.e. CAD $50 for a 5000 word story), with a minimum payment of CAD $5 for accepted work.
Theme: speculative short fiction and poetry, with an emphasis on science fiction and works related to science.

Submissions are currently OPEN. The deadline for this submission period is April 6th, 2020.

Thinking of submitting to Trouble Among The Stars? Please read these guidelines first:

We publish speculative short fiction and poetry, with an emphasis on science fiction and works related to science.  We do not publish novel excerpts, non-fiction or serialized anything. For fiction, we will review anything between 300-6000 words, and for poetry we will review anything under 1000 words. 

We do accept simultaneous submissions, but you must notify us immediately if your submitted work is accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published work.

We do our best to be very welcoming towards new writers – if you have little or no previous publishing credentials, please feel comfortable submitting to us regardless. We are meant to be by the weirdos and for the weirdos, and we would love to read your newest and strangest work.

We pay CAD $0.01/word (i.e. CAD $50 for a 5000 word story), with a minimum payment of CAD $5 for accepted work. Payments are made via paypal upon publication. We ask for one-time non-exclusive rights to publish your work.

To submit, please send an email to [email protected] with your work as an attached document. Please include a brief cover letter in the body of the email. Please send a total of one (1) short story or up to two (2) poems (exceptions will sometimes be made for suites of poems). Size 12 Times New Roman font is preferred for submissions, with fiction submissions being double-spaced. Please submit only once per reading period.

Please allow us up to three weeks to respond to your submission (though in most cases it should be quicker). If four weeks have gone by and you haven’t heard from us, please feel free to send an email query. We look forward to reading your work, and we wish you the best!

Via: Trouble Among The Stars.

Anthology / Events / Semipro

Taking Submissions: Future Tense: Sex

Deadline: June 1st, 2020
Payment: 2.5¢ per word (maximum of $100 per story.)
Theme: We are looking for short story submissions that explore the shape of sex and sexuality in the decades and centuries to come. Must be science fiction themed in nature.

What will sex look like in the future?

What will change about physical interaction?

What new challenges will sexuality face a hundred years down the line? Five hundred? A thousand?

Future//Tense: Sex is an anthology of transfuturistic science-fiction. The stories within will explore the way sex, intimacy, and kink may change over time, from the near future to far, on Earth or other planets, in humans or those from the stars.

How will society change?

How will we?

About the anthology

Future//Tense: Sex is an anthology of short fiction edited by Madison Scott-Clary. It will comprise several pieces from diverse authors. The anthology will be released in both physical and e-book formats, as well as, depending on interest, audiobook format.

Here is what HYBRID will be looking for:

Submission content
We are looking for short story submissions that explore the shape of sex and sexuality in the decades and centuries to come. There is no restriction on gender of characters or perceived orientation, including anywhere on the asexuality spectrum. Neither is there a restriction on the sexual content of the story. We are particularly keen on featuring #OwnVoices authors. Do keep in mind that Future//Tense: Sex is, at it’s core, an anthology about sex.

HYBRID Ink will not, under any circumstances, publish content that portrays any of the following without justification or in a positive light:

  • Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination
  • Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18
  • Rape, torture, dubious consent, or forced seduction
  • Gratuitous violence, gore, or death

For more information, please see here, and remember that we’re all governed by our code of conduct.

Submission genre
There is no restriction on hard or soft science-fiction, but all stories should fit within those two categories.
Submission rating
G–X — erotica welcome!
Submission length
5,000–15,000 words — if you feel like you will fall outside this range, let us know!
Rate
2½¢ per word (maximum $100 per story. Why?)
Simultaneous submissions
Yes, but please inform us if you are also submitting to other sources.
Multiple submissions
Yes — limit 2. A maximum of 1 will be published.
Prior publication
Previously published works are allowed, but preference given to entries that have not yet been published.
Schedule
Submissions open March 1, 2020
Submissions close June 1, 2020
Submissions read and responded to Within four weeks
Anthology available for sale within six months of contracts

Submission contracts will include a sunset clause. You may see an example contract here.

Submitting to HYBRID

Please submit via email to [email protected].

Include your name and what you are submitting for in the subject line in the format [Submission type] Submission name (for X) by Author. For example, Jace Doe is submitting their story “Something Awesome,” to the Great Stories anthology, they would use the subject line [Story] Something Awesome (for Great Stories) by Jace Doe.

Alternately, for longer work queries, if Anna Doe is submitting a query for her novel Holy Crap, Birds!, she would use the subject line [Query] Holy Crap, Birds! by Anna Doe.

Please submit the entire short work, or the first 10,000 words or so (about twenty pages) for longer work queries. If your work is longer than 10,000 words, please also submit a synopsis. We will accept the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Open Document Format/LibreOffice/Calligra Words (.odt), Markdown, TeX of various flavors. We can also accept Google Docs, but would prefer a standalone file.

If you are submitting to a call for submissions, please be sure to note the following in your submission email:

  • Whether or not you are submitting simultaneously to other markets
  • Whether or not your submission has already been published elsewhere
  • Whether or not you are submitting multiple submissions to the call

We appreciate you following these guidelines, as they help all of us keep submissions organized! If you are submitting to an anthology and do not follow the email subject line guidelines, you will confuse our poor editors, those wily beasts, and we will have to coax them out of catatonia once more.

For published pieces we take non-exclusive print and electronic publishing rights. Bear in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been published in print, e-book, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint. That is, while we accept reprints, that is hardly universal. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work in print and/or e-book formats is really what you want to do.

Via: Hybrid Ink.

Anthology / Events / Semipro

Taking Submissions: The Half That You See: Nightmares, Deliriums, and Illusions

Deadline: April 30th, 2020
Payment: .01 a word
Theme: Literary horror stories that contain major plot elements of nightmares, illusions, hallucinations, delusions, or waking dreams
Note: Slightly early listing on this one

Dark Ink Books, the home of Tom Savini’s and Kane Hodder’s official biographies, is proud to announce an open call for submissions for its newest thematic horror fiction anthology.

 

“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” 

-Edgar Allan Poe, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether 

 

For this submission period, we are asking for literary horror stories that contain major plot elements of nightmares, illusions, hallucinations, delusions, or waking dreams. Quality of writing, adherence to call parameters, originality, and alignment with other stories selected for publication are the determining factors in selection or rejection for this anthology. 

 

Working Title: The Half That You See: Nightmares, Deliriums, and Illusions 

 

Submissions will be accepted April 1, 2020 through April 30, 2020 only. 

 

Response time: Decisions will be emailed before June 1. If a submission is held for more than three weeks, it is likely being considered for publication. 

 

Payment: .01 a word up to 7000 words (firm) 

 

Word count: 1500-6500 words (a little over is fine, but make it worth the space) 

 

Multiple submissions: No, thank you. Please send your one best story. 

 

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere, and if we select your tale, please remove the work from consideration elsewhere immediately. No reprints; work must not have been printed elsewhere in any language, including on a blog or personal webpage. 

 

If your previously unpublished piece is accepted for publication in this anthology, Dark Ink takes First Print, Electronic, and Audiobook Publishing Rights with exclusivity for twelve months from the date of publication. At the end of the twelve months, all rights revert back to the story author. 

 

Anthology will be released as a print book, e-book, and audiobook with a publication date of March 2021. 

 

Guidelines: 

  • Please use traditional Shunn manuscript format (though header/footer is not necessary) 

 

  • Cover email should include a 150-word max biography and a one- sentence summary of the story, all written in 3rd person voice. Previous publication is not a requirement for acceptance; we just want to know about you! Please include this content directly in the body of your cover email; do not attach anything but the Shunn-formatted story for consideration. 

 

  • Document must be in .doc or .docx format and the file saved as “Author’s Last Name_Story Title” (ex: Poe_The Pit and the Pendulum). Please do not lock the document against changes as we may make notes on our copy as it is being considered. 

 

Email your submission directly to the editor: [email protected] 

 

  • Please note that while we want the darkest of fiction and appreciate gore, we will not publish stories that depict pedophilia, animal abuse, or sexual assault in an extraneous or positive light. If you’re unsure about your content, please email us! 

 

Via Dark Ink Books 

https://aminkpublishing.com/open-calls

 

 

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