Deadline: June 30th, 2013
Payment: $25 CAN per story

We will continue to consider submissions for PstD 5 until June 30, 2013,

at which point we will be closed to submissions until spring 2014.

Please keep an eye on this page for submission information and check in here before submitting to us.

We are looking for works of short fiction (up to 3500 words). While we are open to a variety of approaches and styles, we are interested in original work that pushes and plays with(in) the boundaries of the fantastic, the marvelous, the uncanny, and the horrific. We are not interested in formulaic re-treads of genre conventions, but in work that revises and interrogates the relationship between genre writing and literary experimentation. We welcome challenging, edgy fiction that embraces not only elements of classic horror, but also dark fantasy, urban fantasy, slipstream, (new) weird fiction, and surrealism

While we are open to English-language fiction by writers of all nationalities, we also strive to support Canadian writers and artists, and maintain at least 50% Canadian content in any given issue. Bearing this in mind, please include with your submission notification of whether or not you are a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.

We offer fiction contributors $25 CAN per story (payable through PayPal), regardless of length. We will also provide a complimentary electronic version of the book to each contributor. Contributors have the option of purchasing hard copies at a low contributor’s rate (30% off.)

We ask for First Print publishing rights for pieces we accept, as well as non-exclusive reprint rights, as we plan to eventually make each volume available as an e-book and/or for print on demand. We ask potential contributors to bear in mind that most publications will not re-publish pieces that have been previously published (whether in print, e-book, or on the web), so after your work has been published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint.

We treat submissions on a first-read first-considered basis, and will do our best to notify you of our decision within two months of receiving a submission.

We do accept multiple submissions, although we rarely print multiple works by the same author in any given issue.

We have no problem with simultaneous submissions, but ask that you keep us updated on the availability of your submission, and that, once you have agreed to let us publish it, you immediately notify any other venues to which you have submitted, letting them know that your work is no longer available.

Expect minor editorial changes to accepted stories. We ask that you do not re-submit revised pieces, except upon request, and that you do not submit a piece to us that is still undergoing extensive revisions. Please polish and proofread your work thoroughly before submitting it. The version we review and accept is the version we will publish, excepting minor editorial changes.

The best way to get a sense of the stories we gravitate toward is, of course, to get a copy of our earlier volumes (see the “Buying our Books” page). You may also want to browse through the quotes posted in the “Inspirational Suspirations” section of this site to get a sense of some of the authors/ideas/approaches/influences that resonate with us. Due to time constraints and the high volume of submissions we receive, we cannot generally offer critiques or suggestions to submitters.

If you are a visual artist and are interested in providing (black and white) illustrations for the book’s interior, or colour art for a future cover, please inquire by contacting us at the email address below. We offer interior artists $20/original image as well as an electronic copy of the book. Illustrator’s also have the option of purchasing hard-copies at a reduced rate. If you want to send us samples of your work, that’s great, but note that we only publish, and pay for, original, solicited images which are directly inspired by one or more of the fictions in the issue.

Please email fiction submissions (as a Word or rtf attachment) as well as inquiries to [email protected].

For fiction submissions, use the following format for your subject line: PSTD [volume #] submission, [story’s title]. Ex.: PSTD 5 submission, “The Collect Call of Cthulhu.”

If your submission does not follow these instructions, we cannot guarantee that we will review it.