Deadline: May 5th, 2020
Payment: 2 cents per word
Theme: Black market businesses during a pandemic

The COVID-19 quarantine has us all shut up in our homes. Businesses have ground to a halt, the economy is slowed to a snail’s pace, and nobody is entirely certain how long it is going to last.

In the middle of all of this, black market businesses have begun to operate: underground hair salons, photography studios, businesses once completely legitimate and now illegal simply for operating.

If I’d written this call a year ago, it would stop there–but that’s no longer speculative fiction. That’s happening. So instead, Impulsive Walrus is asking for stories about the long haul. What does our world look like if the quarantine just…stays? We’re looking for near-future science fiction stories exploring the comedy, horror, and human drama of a life spent six feet away from each other, and a world where our interaction is done digitally, lest we be ravaged by disease.

Impulsive Walrus Books will be paying a semi-pro rate of two cents per word. Reading period will begin on May 5, 2020, and will end when the anthology has hit its goal of 80,000 words. Looking for stories of between 2,000 and 8,000 words. Please submit by e-mailing a .doc or .rtf file to [email protected] with the subject line GOING VIRAL SUBMISSION.

Via: Impulsive Walrus Books.