Deadline: January 20th, 2023
Payment: 6 cents per word
Theme: Classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around the winter holidays.

Edited by Gaby Triana

Release Date: September 21st, 2023

LITERALLY DEAD is back for more ghostly atmospheric moodiness with a new volume: Tales of Holiday Hauntings. We’re inviting writers of dark fiction to submit short stories of classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around the winter holidays.

#ownvoices, BIPOC, gender-diverse, LGBTQIA, and authors of other marginally represented groups highly encouraged to apply.

NOT looking for:

Children’s, poetry, long fiction, novellas, flash fiction, slasher, vampires, werewolves, zombies, extreme, or creature horror. Just ghost stories that take place during the winter days of Christmas, Hanukkah, winter solstice, Yule, Kwanzaa, etc. Whimsical, action-packed, funny, terrifying, melancholy…the tone is up to you.

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Contributors so far: Ramsey Campbell, Cynthia Pelayo, John Palisano, V. Castro, Hailey Piper, Jonathan Janz, Stephanie Wytovich, & more!

No reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions. Original fiction only.

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Pay: $0.06/word

Length: 2,000 to 4,000 words

Submission Deadline: January 20, 2023

Expected Publishing Date: Sep. 21, 2023

Submit .doc or .docx attachment to: [email protected]

Subject line: LITERALLY DEAD 2 – “Story Title” by “Author Name”

Via: Alien Head Entertainment.