Payment: 1 cent per word for original stories and 1 contributor’s copy
Deadline: February 15th 2012

Orrin Grey and Silvia Moreno-Garcia tackle the darkest of all horrors: fungi. William Hope Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night” and its Japanese adaptation, Matango, terrified and fascinated the editors. And – now, they’re back for more.

Fungi is an anthology of dark speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, and any other variant, such as steampunk) focused solely on the fungal. No happy mushrooms from Mario Bros. A fungus of some type must be a key element in the story, not just a throwaway element. A character can attempt to poison someone with a mushroom, mushroom cultivation may be of importance to the story, the dark patch of mould on the ceiling may begin to terrify an unhappy tenant, a group of people may consume hallucinogenic mushrooms, etc.

We are looking for a variety of settings and protagonists. Mushrooms sprout around the world, after all.

Oh, and if you can add a story, novel, movie, or TV episode with mushroomy content, please do it! We are keeping a spreadsheet, here.

Payment
• 1 cent per word for original stories.

• Reprints paid at a flat rate of $35. Canadian dollars, eh. Indicate where and when it was published.

• One complimentary print copy and one e-book copy provided.

Length
Short fiction up to 5,000 words.

Submitting
– E-mail us at fungi.innsmouth AT gmail.com. Subject line: Fungi, [Title of your Story, Author’s Name].
– Do not send more than one short story submission at a time. If we reject one story, you can send another one.
– Include a cover letter with the story word count, salient writing credits and any reprint information (if applicable). Yes, we do read cover letters, so include the information.
– Attach story as an RTF (preferred) or Word document. Use standard manuscript format. Italics as italics, bold as bold. No fancy fonts.
– Stories can be sent in English or Spanish.
– Submissions are accepted from January 15 to February 15, 2012. Do not send anything before or after that date. If you do, we will ignore it.
– Final story selection will take place in the spring of 2012. Check back for updates.

[via: Innsmouth Free Press.]