Category: Token Payment

Less than Semi-Pro rates

Taking Submissions: Die Laughing Literary Magazine #1

Submission Window: July 15th – 31st, 2024
Payment: $10 for flash – 2 per issue, $25 for shorts – 4 per issue, $30 for cover art
Theme: Stories that are both funny and scary

What we want:

  • That sweet spot of horror comedy that is genuinely funny but also genuinely scary. Can be as goofy, gory, or smutty as you like!
  • Work that punches up, not down. (“If the person on the gallows makes a grim joke, that’s gallows humor. If someone in the crowd makes a joke, that’s part of the execution.” – Alexandra Erin, Twitter.)
  • Do not self reject! (Unless your story has one of the below unfunny things, in which case feel free to self reject.)
  • For cover art submissions, please see toward the bottom of the page.

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Taking Submissions: Carnage House Issue 4

Deadline: August 1st, 2024
Payment: $5
Theme: Splatter-friendly extreme horror stories

We want solid, entertaining writing that evokes feelings. Carnage House is a splatter friendly web ’zine—so nothing against cozy, but cozy, we’re not. We’re looking for gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. For a better understanding of what we’ll take, think of the Hot Blood book series or Love in Vein. Or, as a more practical proposition, read our back issues at carnagehouse.com.

We invite LGBTQIA and BIPOC themes, and we encourage authors from diverse backgrounds to submit to us.

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Taking Submissions: Madam Don’t Forget Your Sword

Deadline: July 30th, 2024
Payment: $5 and royalties
Theme: The story of a hero or villain’s sidekick

Madame, Don’t Forget Your Sword
Length: the target range is between 2000-6000 words.
Time: June 1st – July 30th
Pay per story: $5 + royalties

This anthology is dedicated to all the minions, sidekicks, and henchpeople: the ones responsible for getting the takeout, picking up the kids, and making sure that the evil plan actually works. The ones dedicated to showing how the monster works before the hero comes to save the day! Give them their spotlight: What drama happens when you work HR for a mad scientist? What happens if the sidekicks unionize? What if the red shirts accidentally don’t die?

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Taking Submissions: Hellbound Books’ Anthology of Flash Fiction

Deadline: August 30th, 2024
Payment: $5
Theme: Horror, Noir, and all Things Dark, up to 1,500 words

Announcing a new venture into short horror fiction – curated by Theresa Scott-Matthews.

We are looking for the very best short horror fiction stories – up to 1,500 words (approximately – we’re not going to to turn away cracking tales for being a tad over the word count!).

Anything goes, subject-wise, as long as it fits HellBound Books’ “Horror, Noir, and all Things Dark” philosophy!

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Ongoing Submissions: StoSo Times and StoSo Ink

Payment: Contributor’s Copy and $5
Theme: Speculative fiction – that is stories and poems and art in the genres of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and any combination thereof.

StoSo Press is currently seeking submissions for our new publications StoSo Times and StoSo Ink.

StoSo Times is a monthly online publication that specializes in the genres of Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Horror. StoSo Times will be sent first as a newsletter edition, then shared on our website as part of StoSo Ink. Our goal is to publish at least one story and one poem per genre on our online editions. Every 12 months we will include the year’s publications in a print anthology.

Eventually we plan to expand into publishing novels and nonfiction as it relates to SFFH, such as thought-provoking essays, book reviews and recommendations, author interviews, excerpts from forthcoming books, and other noteworthy industry news. Additionally, we intend to release more SFFH anthologies, video and audio content to further explore the realms of speculative fiction.

If you’re interested in volunteering as a slush reader (or other role) please reach out.

Detailed instructions for submitting to StoSo Press follow.

 

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Taking Submissions: The Quarterly Journal – In The Dark

Deadline: January 31st, 2024
Payment: $5
Theme: What happens in the dark? What lurks there? Show me those intimate moments—or the ones that will freak me the fuck out. Or any combination therein.

A Literary Journal with Some Art, Comics, and Analysis Thrown in for Good Measure
As Quarter Press continues to grow, we’re adding another coin to our pocketful of change. We want to offer a space for shorter works to mingle with art and other bits of nonsense, so we bring you The Quarter(ly): It just makes cents.

Issues are themed; however, we consider all interpretations.
Please Note: All submission windows may be closed early if “full.”

2024’s Themes and Deadlines:

In the Dark (Jan. 31)

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Ongoing Submissions: StoSo Times

Payment: $5
Theme: Speculative fiction – that is stories and poems and art in the genres of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and any combination thereof.

StoSo accepts submissions on a rolling basis — no reading periods and no reading/submission fees!

All submissions will be considered for both StoSo Times and StoSo Ink.

All submissions should follow proper manuscript format (modern edition, preferably). Submissions should be emailed to [email protected]. Please attach all submissions in .doc format—we will not accept submissions embedded in the body of email. Include your bio in your cover letter. The subject line of your email should follow this format: SUBMISSION: [TITLE] (GENRE) (PROSE/POEM)

If your submission is selected for publication, you may receive an email from the Editor-in-Chief with suggested edits. Once edits are agreed upon, the piece will be scheduled for publication.

What We Publish: We’re looking for speculative fiction – that is stories and poems and art in the genres of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and any combination thereof.

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Contest: The Drabble Harvest Contest

Deadline: June 30th, 2023
Prizes: $5 for first place, $2 for second place, all others accepted are $1 per drabble
Theme: A drabble with the idea of: Space Station Duty-Free

A “drabble” is defined as a short story containing exactly precisely no more and no fewer than 100 words. It has a title, which can be from 1 to 15 words– but no more than 15. That’s a drabble.

You have to count each word. Hyphenated words, such as tete-a-tete, count as one word. Don’t use your word count tool to count the words, because that tool will count an ellipsis ( . . . ) as three words, which really should not be counted at all. It will also count dashes ( – ) as words, which is wrong. So count each word by sight, not by tool.


Our drabble contests have themes. For each contest, we will simply throw the theme out there. Whatever the theme inspires you to write, that’s what you write.


The theme of this contest is:

Space Station Duty-Free

This should be self-explanatory. What would people/aliens try to smuggle in? Or out?

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