Submission Window: March 15th-April 1st, 2024
Payment: 1 cent per word
Theme: Stories set in the taiga or boreal forest biome (details below)

A conservationist stumbles into a part of the forest untouched by humans for centuries. A hiker encounters a bear and her cubs on a lonely section of a trail. Two lovers abandon their tents when they hear screams calling across a Northern Light-filled sky. A dilapidated, forgotten cabin becomes temporary refuge for a documentary film crew in the midst of a violent snow storm.

The taiga or boreal forest biome is one of the largest land biomes in the world. Norway, Scandinavia, Iceland, Canada, Russia, and even Japan have locations where these wild, dark woods and the creatures that inhabit them roam.

Strange Wilds Press is looking for stories cemented in the taiga biome for its first anthology. I love stories that are character-driven, gothic, gloomy, and full of grief or existential horror. The idea of the lost and the unknown nestled in those deep, dark woods is something I get really excited about.

Some other things I like include: eco-horror, supernatural, creature, cult, ghost, and cosmic horror.

Hard sells are extreme, splatterpunk and slasher.

• Stories should be firmly 2000-5000 words. Traditional Shunn format.

• Payment is 1¢ per word.

• Unpublished stories at this time; no reprints please.

• Multiple submissions are okay. Maximum of 2 stories, please.

• Simultaneous submissions are okay. If it gets published elsewhere, please let me know.

• I will not accept anything that involves sexual assault.

• I will not accept anything with gratuitous animal violence. I understand some may be necessary to tell a creature horror story but I do not need excessive violence represented.

• I will not accept stories that promote hate, bigotry, antisemitism, transphobia, racism, or sexism.

• I DO NOT accept AI generated content. Never. Don’t do it.

Submissions open at 9 a.m. March 15th and close April 1st at midnight. Please send all submissions to [email protected]. Please put BOREAL along with your story title into the subject line of the email. The reading period will be 2-3 months after submissions close and acceptances and rejections will go out after that time.

Expected publication is first quarter 2025.

Thank you!

Via: Katherine Silver.