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Zombie apocalypse mystic background. Illustration contains transparency and blending effects eps 10. Deadline: February 28, 2016 Payment: $200.00, 1 digital copy, and 2 physical copies LESS THAN DEAD — LGBTQIA Anthology Call — There’s nothing quite so terrifying as a corpse that moves, a creature that even death can’t stop. Sometimes they’re a minor nuisance, other times they’re a nigh-unstoppable terror. On rare occasions they turn out not to be a nightmare at all, but an expected ally. Less Than Three Press invites you to submit tales of zombies, be they the enemy, the ally, or something else entirely. THE DETAILS: Deadline is February 28, 2016 (give or take, we won’t kill you for sending it off the following morning). Stories should be at least 10,000 words and should not exceed approx 20,000 words in length. Stories may be any pairing except cisgender heterosexual M/F (trans* M/F, M/M, F/F, poly, ace/aro, and all permutations thereof are acceptable). Stories must adhere to the theme of zombies. Stories must have a happily ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN) end. Any sub-genre is gladly accepted: sci-fi, mystery, contemporary, steampunk, etc. All usual LT3 submission guidelines apply. Less Than Dead is a general release anthology, which means authors will receive a flat payment of $200.00 once LT3 has a signed contract. Examples: Lovely, Dark and Deep, A Touch of Mistletoe. Authors will receive one copy each of the ebook formats LT3 produces and two copies of the paperback compilation. Stories should be complete before submitting, and as edited as possible—do not submit a first draft. They can be submitted in any format (doc, docx, rtf, odt, etc) preferably single spaced in an easy to read font (Times, Calibri, Arial) with no special formatting (no elaborate section separation, special fonts, etc). Additional formatting...

Deadline: February 28 2016 Payment: 5¢ a word Before submitting to SpeckLit, please read the submission details below carefully, then fill out the contact form at the bottom of this page to let us know a bit about yourself. Do not send us your submissions directly. We want to get to you know you first. Include your pen name, website, Twitter, and a link to your most recently published work (if you have one) in your initial contact. Fiction:  We are suckers for plot. If it ain’t got plot, it ain’t a story. We want each piece to have the feeling of a beginning, a middle, and an end (or inciting incident, attempt(s) to fix it, and climax). All fiction must be original. There are lots of places for fanfic – this isn’t one of them. And finally, of course, it also has to be speculative – fantasy, science fiction, myth fairy tale, dark fantasy, etc… – but no erotica and no gore. A well-placed swear word, the recognition that we are sexual beings, and off-camera violence are all okay, but within limits, eh? Besides, with the focus on plot, there’s no time to get all graphic. Titles do not count as part of the 100 words, and after your drabble, add a bit of an explanation of how you got there from the topic (but remember to keep it short!). Non-fiction: We also publish drabble-length reviews of spec-fic containing media – books, movies, video games, comics, TV shows (or even specific outstanding episodes of TV shows), etc… Make sure your reviews are non-nasty (negative reviews are fine, but be nice!), and of course, spoiler free. Again, you don’t have much space, so get to the point. Your hundred words do not need to include the title, author, director, stars,...

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: 1.5 cents/word with a minimum payment of $30 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Submission Guidelines: New Myths will no longer consider submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry outside of specific reading periods. These periods run from June 1-July 31 and from January 1-February 28. Artwork, requests for book reviews, and other correspondence can still be submitted at any time.   No Multiple Fiction Submissions Please do not send more than one fiction submission at a time. Wait until you receive an answer before sending a second story. No more than three fiction submissions total from any one author will be considered during a given reading period.    Poetry is different. See below. Submission period: Currently open to submissions. Contact information:   Please send submissions to [email protected].   Please send queries for book reviews to [email protected]   All other correspondence to [email protected] NewMyths.com publishes speculative fiction of every stripe except graphic horror. We like each issue to have an eclectic variety of stories:  funny, frightening, hard and soft sci-fi, adventure, thoughtful, etc. Every issue includes at least one nonfiction piece dealing with some aspect of science, myth, folklore, or literature as it relates to speculative fiction, usually of the well-researched essay variety rather than opinion or editorial. Speculative poetry is welcome. We tend to receive a lot of free verse and not enough "form" poetry. We also buy one piece of artwork per issue, and occasionally commission one. We publish book reviews of recent releases about every two weeks. If you have written a review, or have a book coming out soon, please contact us. Reading an issue is the best way to know if your submission is a fit for NewMyths.com or not. Responses take 60-90 days on average. Feel free to...

Deadline:February 28th, 2016 Payment: $25 and contributor's copy This is an anthology born in a panel at Balticon 49 in May 2015. The panel was all about being a fan of problematic things, and the example of loving the work of an author who is not a good person came up, particularly Lovecraft and his Cthulu Mythos. Many people love the Mythos and Cthulu pervades a lot of geek culture, but Lovecraft himself was a rampant misogynist, racist, and anti-Semitic. An audience member jokingly suggested that there should be a collection of stories that would make dear old Lovecraft roll over in his grave – like a black lesbian Jew triumphing over the Unspeakable. And all the authors on panel and in the audience said – “Heeeey, that sounds like fun!” Here is the call for that anthology, which we plan to debut at Balticon 50 in May 2016. It only seems fitting. Send us your best Mythos story, but make sure it would make dear old Lovecraft roll. What we don’t want to see: Gratuitous anything – violence, sex, profanity, doesn’t matter. If it is not integral to the story and it’s not advancing the plot or character development, we don’t want to see blood, gore, or sex just for shock value’s sake (this goes for language too). We are not opposed to violence, sex, or profanity – as long as it belongs in the story and it’s not just there to shock and titillate. Some things would be a very hard sell for us, like rape or torture of any sort, and torture of children or animals will get an immediate rejection. Think of how far we’re willing to go based on the well known movie rating system – if it would qualify for a PG, PG-13, or...

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: $25 and a contributor's copy BOB as in Battery Operated Boyfriend… This one is for the adults – what happens when one of your sex toys gets a mind of its own, literally? We’re thinking about demon possessed blow up dolls, haunted vibrators, perhaps a golem sex-slave who is tired of her existence and convinces one of her lovers to use the word of power to destroy her as a safe word. Given the topic, yes, we expect at least some on page sex, but the focus of this anthology is not erotica (as lovely as said erotica might be). We’re looking for the thoughtful, funny, or horrific implications of your solo playmate possessing some level of sentience. What we don’t want to see: Gratuitous anything – violence or profanity, doesn’t matter. If it is not integral to the story and it’s not advancing the plot or character development, we don’t want to see blood or gore just for shock value’s sake (this goes for language too). We are not opposed to violence or profanity – as long as it belongs in the story and it’s not just there to shock and titillate. Some things would be a very hard sell for us, like rape or torture of any sort, and torture of children or animals will get an immediate rejection. Think of how far we’re willing to go based on the well known movie rating system – we’re trying to keep it at the upper end of what would be tolerated for an R. Word Count: We’re looking for stories that fall in the 3,000 to 10,000 word range. We will consider looking at stories outside this range, but they need to be just too good for us to pass up. You have a...

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: $30 and a contributor's copy Nightscript is published annually, during grand October, in both trade and electronic editions. Each anthology will feature twenty contemporary fictions ranging in length from 2,000 to 7,000 words. Note: I am currently OPEN to submissions. My reading period for Nightscript (Vol. 2) begins January 1st and ends February 28th. N. is a venue for ‘strange tales’, a term used to describe fictions supernatural, uncanny, weird, and so forth. In other words, I am looking for subtle and darksome literary horror. If you feel that your work has been inspired in no small part by authors such as Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, Dennis Etchison, Flannery O’Connor, Terry Lamsley, Lisa Tuttle, Thomas Owen, Mary Shelley, Arthur Machen, then N. is probably the venue for you. Authors are asked to submit their original tales via the email provided below and should allow 1 to 8 week(s) for a response. (If a submission is held for longer than two weeks this typically means that it is being considered.) Submit .doc files to: [email protected] (Please send only one story per reading period.) Payment is $30 and includes one contributor’s copy. N. is a labor of love, and as such I shall endeavor to produce an aesthetically pleasing product for which all contributors can feel proud. That said, I look forward to reading your work! Thank you kindly for your interest. C.M. Muller, editor & publisher To keep abreast of all things N., please consider following its Facebook page. Via: Chthonic Matter.

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: Royalty Split Note: Sorry about the low submissions time on this one, just came across it today. UnCommon Origins:  Creation Stories, Feral Children, Spontaneous Evolution, anything you can think of which relates to the beginning of something new and unique. Stories may be of the grand scale of Gods or the more personal scope of the individual.  Stories need not be based in reality, in fact, fantasy and magical realism elements are encouraged. The collection as a whole will be geared toward an adult audience, although your story does not need to be. Stories displaying hatred or intolerance of any kind will not be accepted. Submission Details: Submissions must be in American English and written to the highest quality you are capable.  Passive voice is discouraged.  A pass with an editor before submission is encouraged. Maximum Word Count is 10,000 however I’m not going to turn away something awesome that’s a little over. This is a paid market anthology, with a royalty cut for each author. Details available upon request. The author retains all rights to their story. All submissions will be edited and sent to the author for final approval before publication. The submission period runs from Jan 1st until Feb 28th. Open internationally, but submission must be in American English. There is no fee to submit. Please, no reprints or simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions accepted. Limit of two submissions per person. Any genre is fine. However, we are not looking for nonfiction at this time. Adult language and sexual situations are permitted. Submissions must be sent in WORD doc or docx, 12pt Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing, full justified with0.3″ indents on the first line of each new paragraph (Do NOT use TAB), no extra spacing between paragraphs and no headers/footers/page numbers, one space after end of sentence...