Deadline: March 31st, 2021
Payment: $.005 per word
Theme: Stories of tragic love, preferably with a horror theme

In “Fornever After” we seek stories of tragic love, preferably with a horror theme, although we are well aware that tragic love is often a horror story all on its own. These kinds of stories tend to be heartbreaking, but they can also be wonderful in other ways. After five years, did you finally get the nerve to confess romantic love to a friend? Did he or she feel the same? Did you get that nerve because you were both in a scary situation (fighting a vampire, home invaders, etc.) that you might not make it out of? Did they not survive it, leaving you all alone and kicking yourself that you waited so long. How tragic. At least you said something though, you know? We are not interested in tales regarding the loss of children, parents, or siblings.. Just lovers. Scary new twists on the Romeo and Juliet theme perhaps. Rip our hearts out with tales of tragic love, and if it’s within a traditional horror story, that’s what we are looking for. If you can manage some humor in it too, even better- although with this anthology, humor is not necessary. We will probably like those stories better though. Your story must include elements of both horror and tragic love. Specific guidlines are below:

“Fornever After” Guidelines Here are a couple of tips to put your story in better position to be accepted. 1. Fit the theme. Tragic Love. Horror. Scare us and rip our hearts out. 2. Be within our word count guidelines (for “Fornever After”, 2000 to 6000) or query us for shorter/longer. 3. No matter how good your story is, if it hasn’t been edited, there is a big chance we won’t accept it. In the past, we’ve accepted stories that needed a lot of editing work, but it took so much effort to make them presentable. We aren’t doing that anymore. If within a page or two of reading the story we find a bunch of editing issues, it’s going to be rejected. 4. Be unique. No matter what the theme of the anthology is, you should always be unique. If it’s a stalker anthology for example, and your ex or some guy you work with is your stalker, it’s trite. If your grandma is stalking your fiancée, well, that’s unique. 5. At Jolly Horror Press, we prefer subtle horror. We generally don’t like gruesome and overly bloody stuff. If someone is getting hacked to bits in your story, it’s probably not for us. 6. We seriously still get racist/sexist/anti-gay stuff. Don’t send us this stuff. 7. If there is any kind of animal killing or torture, not for us. We want old cat ladies to enjoy our work too. 8. Surprise us! 9. We love new and unpublished authors, provided you can follow 1-8. 10. No reprints. And for this one, adding 11. No XXX rated stuff. Subtle

Diversity and Inclusiveness: Yes, we want stories from all sectors, from all kinds of people! We encourage submissions from women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. We seek to include writers from all walks of life who have a scary/funny story to tell.

The Details: Please see our generic submission guidelines page for how to submit.

Open submission period: February 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021.

Reading Period: April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021.

Expected publication Date: August 2021

Payment: $.005 per word.

Via: Jolly Horror.