Events

Deadline: August 31st 2013 Payment: 5 cents per word Who needs machines to lend that steampunky feel to Victorian stories? We sure don't. That's why we're really excited about this Gaslight Fantasy issue of Penumbra. We love the foggy streets of London, the creature inching ever closer to the oblivious heroine, and, hopefully, her blood spraying all over the passed out prostitutes on the corner. But then, everyone knows we're a little bit sick. So send us your best gaslight fantasy—blood on the prostitutes is optional—so we can read this issue by the fire on a crisp, late autumn night. CALL BEGINS ON JUNE 1, 2013 CALL ENDS ON AUGUST 31, 2013 Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.) Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable. Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word. We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author. Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk getting lost in our queue and not read before the deadline. Penumbra uses Musa Publishing's house style guide, which relies upon the Chicago...

Deadline: 31 August, 2013 Payment: Exposure Only Forgotten Tomb Press is proud to announce its first anthology, now open for submission. 100 Doors To Madness is a horror anthology of flash and micro fiction celebrating the diversity of the genre. 100 scares. 100 authors. 100 ways to creep into readers’ minds. We are looking for original stories that chill the soul and leave a lasting impression. All types of horror or dark fantasy are welcome, and we do not consider anything off-limits. Word Count: 250-1200 words. Closing Date: 31 August 2013. Reprints: Yes. Multiple Submissions: No. Simultaneous Submissions: Please do inform us if your story gets accepted elsewhere before the end of the reading period. Payment: This anthology is a for-the-love market. Rights: Forgotten Tomb Press request One Time Print and Electronic Publishing Rights for each story published. How To Submit: Submit it as a .doc or .rtf attachment to [email protected] with the subject line “100 Doors”. Include the word count and a brief biography in the body of the email.

Deadline: August 31st 2013 Payment: Writers will receive a pro rata share of royalties paid quarterly. Still Hungry for your Love! OK, as predicted, zombies never die. As we await season 4 of Walking Dead, and the opening of World War Z, it’s time for more zombie loving. So I am putting out the call for stories for Still Hungry for your Love, the second volume of my zombie romance anthology. Zombie love knows no boundaries. I’m looking for stories of love amongst the undead, between zombies and the living, and (we hope) many stories about the hot, alpha male and female zombie killers. These stories can take place in the zombie apocalypse, alternative reality, the future or on another planet. You can cross genres (zombie steampunk?) and even sexual proclivities (not sure I can even imagine zombie BDSM). But, hey, let's be creative. and rip that envelope! But seriously, folks. The zombie metaphor is rich. You know - we're all really zombies; our jobs make us zombies; zombies are a reflection of the mindless horde that is America, rotting on its own abundance. And the socio/political/scientific elements of the zombie mythos are still ripe for exploration. What's it like to be king of the Zombies? Would zombie TV be any different? What exactly would it be like to be a zombie in love? Or to love a zombie? So, hit me with your best shot. Short stories should run between 1500 and 5000 words, and novellas between 20,000 and 30,000 words. Deadline August 31. This will be an October title published by Riverdale Avenue Book in both ebook and print. Writers will receive a pro rata share of royalties paid quarterly. PLEASE NOTE: Because of the nature of this anthology, the emphasis in these stories should be on the...

Deadline: August 31st 2013 Payment: £10 token payment, a copy of the finished book and if it clears it’s costs profit share for the first two years sales. Ok foxy folk we have a new anthology call for Christmas Release. ‘Girl at the End of the World’. What we want: pre, during, post and not remotely related to apocalyptic stories, in the SF, Fantasy, Horror and Crime genres. Clearly female lead characters who pack a punch. Roughly speaking 5,000-10,000 words per story. It’ll be £10 token payment, a copy of the finished book and if it clears it’s costs profit share for the first two years sales. The closing date is 31st August 2013 so we can get it sorted in time for a Christmas release, because nothing says Merry Christmas like the end of the world. These details will be added to the submissions page, where you can already find details of house style etc for your story submission. When we do request submissions please read the guidelines below carefully as submissions not adhering to them will be rejected. Rights We ask for: First World English (for the print book), First World Electronic (for the eBook), and Anthology rights. We also require rights to special editions, omnibus editions or anthology editions where appropriate. For anthologies we require one year’s exclusivity from the submission deadline unless otherwise agreed. Submission Guidelines Email [email protected] Subject of your email must be ‘submission’ and the relevant call eg ‘novella open call’ or the title of an anthology. I may be receiving submissions for several projects at once and it needs to be clear what you are submitting for. The email must contain your real name, your writing name if different and the title and synopsis of your submission (no more than 100 words) In...

Deadline: August 31st, 2013 Payment: five cents per word "No good moves," Bina says. "They call that Zugzwang," Landsman says. "'Forced to move.' It means Black would be better off if he could just pass." "But you aren't allowed to pass, are you? You have to do something, don't you?" "Yes, you do," Landsman says. "Even when you know it's only going to lead to you getting checkmated." - Michael Chabon, from The Yiddish Policeman's Union "Zugzwang is like getting trapped on a safety island in the middle of a highway when a thunderstorm starts. You don't want to move but you have to." - Arthur Bisquier, American chess Grandmaster Mutually Assured Destruction. The Mexican Standoff. The babysitter hiding in the bedroom closet as the maniac mounts the steps. For our inaugural issue, "Zugzwang", (tsoog-tsvung) we want work that drops protagonists into apparently impossible dilemmas and then shows us how their choices play out, for good or ill, and we're paying pro rates (five cents per word) for your work. We want short and flash fiction and poetry. We want horror, SF, fantasy, slipstream, adventure tales, noir exercises, bizarro experiments, boxing stories, and sea-yarns. We want well-written pulp fiction. Genre boundaries are unimportant. If your work attempts to astound, unsettle, thrill, baffle or completely terrify the reader, it probably qualifies. We want huge twists, epic journeys, two-fisted adventures, maximum drama, and we want it accomplished in under 3,000 words. We want writers unafraid to read their work before an audience, to record their stories for mass download, to be part of the process from typesetting to cover art to publication and beyond. This part is crucial; it takes more than a good story to be part of this, which is why we are strongly biased towards submissions from local writers....