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Deadline: February 24th, 2020 Payment: $25 Theme: Your work MUST also contain elements of the natural world. (Not fans of genre heavy work.) NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS THROUGH FEBRUARY 24TH FOR ISSUE FOUR: EQUINOX Theme: STRIPES We look forward to surprising and evocative interpretations of this theme!   NEW: Submissions are now initially read BLIND. Please do not include your name anywhere in your uploaded file. WHAT Please familiarize yourself with Claw & Blossom’s About page to get an idea of the type of work we seek. (For instance: your work MUST contain elements of the natural world.) For more detailed information on our submission hopes-and-dreams, it’s also a good idea to check out our interview at the Six Questions blog. For POEMS, send one poem per submission. We are partial to free verse and NOT keen on publishing traditional forms (haiku, haibun, sonnet, rhymed couplets, etc.). For PROSE, send up to 1,000 words. This can be one piece or linked micros. Feel free to send what moves you, but it’s safe to say we are not big fans of gore/thriller/slasher stories, or romance/erotica. Genre work that comes our way will probably be a tough sell. We do not consider multiple submissions. We ask that you wait for a response before submitting a new piece. We do not consider unsolicited submissions of previously-published work. We encourage simultaneous submissions. Should your work be accepted elsewhere while under consideration with Claw & Blossom, please withdraw the piece from us as soon as possible by using the Withdraw option in Submittable. There is no submission fee. We pay $25 USD per acceptance upon publication via PayPal. (Linked micros are considered one acceptance.) WHITHER By submitting your work to Claw & Blossom for consideration, it is understood that you understand and accept the following terms: That you have actually read our About page, as well as perused some earlier Issues, so that you are not sending...

Deadline: February 25th, 2020 Payment: $3 Theme: Ideas: Spring Break, International Women's Day, Purim, Daylight Savings, Ides of March, St. Patrick's Day, first day of spring (Vernal Equinox), Feast of the Annunciation We are looking for some suitable stories for March 2020, including: Spring Break International Women's Day Purim Daylight Savings Ides of March St. Patrick's Day first day of spring (Vernal Equinox) Feast of the Annunciation The deadline for these stories is February 25, 2020, at the end of the day (11:59 PM Pacific Time). Writing Guidelines Every Day Fiction is looking for very short (flash) fiction, of up to  1000 words. There’s no such thing as too short — if you can do the job in 50 words, have at it! — but our readers prefer pieces that tell or at  least hint at a complete story (some sort of action or tension rising  to a moment of climax, and at least a clue toward a resolution, though  it doesn’t have to be all spelled out). All fiction genres are acceptable, and stories that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. While personal experiences and other  non-fiction can be great sources of inspiration, please turn them into  fiction for us, or send them elsewhere. Our readership is adult, so children’s stories are unlikely to be accepted unless they are relevant to adults as well. On the other hand, we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence, or pointlessly foul  language; edgy content should be necessary and appropriate to the plot  and characters. It ought to go without saying that any story submitted to Every Day Fiction must be your own unpublished original creation. If  you publish a story on a blog, even your own personal blog, or any  website accessible to the general public (i.e., if the...

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: We’re looking for speculative literary poems that touch the heart as much as the head; poems of the liminal, the fluid, and the fantastic. In anthropological terms, liminality is the midpoint of a ritual: the threshold where a person is no longer quite who they were, not yet who they might become. In between masks, what face might you have? What might you be in transit? Where will you go? Everything is possible in that moment; change is its own goal. Liminality is the space between. Liminality is an online quarterly magazine of speculative poetry edited by Shira Lipkin (co-founded and co-edited through our third year by Mattie Joiner). We are very pleased to meet you. We’re looking for speculative literary poems that touch the heart as much as the head; poems of the liminal, the fluid, and the fantastic. We’d love to see work that shifts shape, refuses to be to be easily pinned down or categorised. We actively welcome diversity; we want to hear new as well as established voices. Tell us tales we thought we knew, the way only you can tell them. Give us new myths. Liminality pays $10 per poem, for first worldwide publication rights and non-exclusive anthology rights. We will be open: January 1-February 28 April 1 – May 31 July 1 – August 31 To submit, send up to five poems to liminalitypoetry AT gmail.com with the subject line “SUBMISSION – ”. Please include your poems in the body of the e-mail; if you have formatting that makes that untenable, you may attach the poem as an .rtf. You may send up to five poems per reading period. We do not accept reprints or simultaneous submissions. (If the poem has been publicly viewable online, yes, it would be a reprint.)  “Dear Editor”, “Dear Shira”, and “Dear Mx. Lipkin” are...

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: $10 per flash, $1 per drabble Theme: Weird fiction where the setting is a carnival, theme park, circus or fair/festival Now Issuing a Call for Submissions for the theme of SuperFreak—Freakpunk Issue 2. Freakpunk is a genre I named that encompasses weird fiction where the setting is a carnival, theme park, circus or fair/festival. That's kind of broad, I know, but I'd like to give the writers options when crafting their tales. Clowns can be part of the story, but they don't have to be. A creepy carny is just as good. Can there by a science fiction or dark fantasy freakpunk story. Hell yes! To get a good idea of what Freakpunk is, read some of the stories in the first Freakpunk issue: Issue 13: Come One, Come All! To the Southern Fried Freak Show! Send flash stories less than 1500 words and more than 700 words (any more or any less and your submission will be rejected). Flash will pay $10 upon acceptance, with first rights. Send drabbles of 100 words (exactly, not counting title). Drabbles will pay $1 No double or triple drabbles this time around. Only looking for 3-5 flash stories and 2-3 drabbles. No reprints on this one. Submission Deadline is February 28th, 2020, launch to be April or May 1st 2020 Submissions may cut off prior to this date as the submission manager only gives us 100 submissions per month. If your submission bounces back, check this page to see if the call has been closed. Be sure to read the guidelines before you submit. Via: The Were-Traveler.

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: $.01/word Theme: We publish an annual anthology of the best vegan science fiction and fantasy of the year. We are open for submissions in the winter of every year. Note: Reprints Only! We publish an annual anthology of the best vegan science fiction and fantasy of the year. We are open for submissions in the winter of every year. What ‘vegan’ means here: We’re looking for stories happen to be vegan – no meat, no hunting, no horse-riding, no leather. Stories don’t have to be about veganism (though we don’t mind that). Still not sure? Here’s one definition of veganism: https://www.vegansociety.com/try-vegan/definition-veganism Formal requirements: Vegan – Stories must be entirely vegan, and they must have been vegan when originally published. Reprints – We’re only looking for stories that were published in the previous year. Length – 1,000 – 8,000 words Venue – We’re restricting eligibility to stories originally published in venues that paid $.01/word or more. Original form – The stories must be presented as originally published, except for correction of typographic errors and similar minor corrections. Again, we don’t want stories that have been ‘veganized’ for this anthology. Simultaneous: Yes. Simultaneous submissions are fine. We’re buying non-exclusive rights. Sell your story as often as you can. Multiple: You may submit a total of two stories. Choose your best. Format Follow the industry standard format defined by William Shunn. He has templates available, or you can use ours. We prefer a proportional, serif font like Cambria or Caladea. Use italics for emphasis, not underlining. Use smart/curly quotes. Use em dashes, not double hyphens. Your story should be in one of the following file formats: ODT, DOC, DOCX. If you’re submitting an ODT, please add a few blank lines at the bottom. Otherwise Submittable’s presentation manager will cut off the last line of your story. Pay We pay $.01/word for non-exclusive...

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: $0.03 per word, minimum of $30.00 dollars for short stories. $30 per poem Theme: Transfiguration Note: This call doesn't officially open until the 15th but is going live early due to the short submission window Apparition Lit is open for poetry and short story submissions four times a year. February 15-28 May 15-31 August 15-31 November 15-30 Submissions received outside of posted open dates will be deleted unread. Our themes for 2020 will be: Experimentation (Submission period November 15-30, 2019 CLOSED, Published January 2020) Transfiguration (Submission period February 15-28, 2020, CLOSED Published April 2020) Redemption (Submission period May 15-31, 2020, CLOSED Published July 2020) Satisfaction (Submission period August 15-31, 2020, CLOSED Publishing October 2020) Our previous themes for 2019: Resistance (Published January 2019) – Ambition (Published April 2019) – Retribution (Published July 2019) – Euphoria (Published October 2019) for 2018: Apparition (Published January 2018) – Delusion (Published April 2018) – Vision (Published July 2018) – Diversion (Published October 2018) Apparition Lit also holds monthly flash fiction contests. These stories will follow selected themes and be published online. For more information on themes and submission guidelines, please see the flash fiction drop down below. PAYMENT: Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.03 per word, minimum of $30.00 dollars for short stories (excluding flash contest. See details in the Flash Fiction dropdown for flash rates) and a flat fee of $30 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: (Click on the sections to see detailed guidelines for each classification.) SHORT FICTION SHORT FICTION: We will only accept stories between 1000-5000 words. If the story is complete with an extra hundred words, then it will still be considered. Any stories over 5,100 words, or incorrectly formatted, will automatically be rejected. PAYMENT: Apparition is a semi-pro magazine, paying $0.03 per word, minimum of 30.00 dollars...

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: A contributors copy and: £50 for original work, £20 for reprints. Theme: An upcoming mass extinction. Note: Reprints Welcome The next Midnight Street Anthology (#4) will be published in the New Year. The submissions window will close on 28th February 2020. WHAT I WANT: The world is in a mess. It seems that from a human perspective, we’re pretty well screwed. Is that TRUE? Maybe the generation that comes after ours will be able to save the planet for human habitation. Who knows? It seems that this generation has pretty well messed up everything that would ensure the long-term survival of humanity. Why is that? Greed, political imperatives, narrow- minded thinking, poverty, ignorance. There are many reasons. It remains true that we are experiencing very strange days. There’s a mass extinction happening and it may well include our species. What do you think? Can you come up with an original story that reflects this approaching catastrophe? I’m looking for stories – sci-fi, horror, slipstream, weird – that reflect the strange times we are living in and that sum up the precariousness of modern existence. WHAT I DON'T WANT: Badly written and constructed stories. To me, spelling and grammar are important. That doesn’t mean you can’t push the boundaries, but remember that you have to know the rules before you can break them. Slasherfests that rely on violence and cliché to propel the stories. Poor, badly constructed characterisation whose only function is to drive the plot towards an unconvincing, or contrived conclusion. Waffle that bears no relationship to the plot, but only serves to slow down or unnecessarily bulk out the story. Excessive strong language that does not help to shape characters or events. If it’s necessary & appropriate: no problem. RESEARCH: As part of your research, read...

Deadline: February 28th, 2020 Payment: $5 Trigger Warning is our annual celebration of upsetting stories. Each year we choose a theme and ask for your grossest, most violent , most genuinely upsetting stories in your arsenal. For 2020, our theme is psychosis, specifically we want the most horrendous hallucinations driving the most terrible actions. Stories of the things only the mad can see. Give us the decline of the upstanding member of society into something changed, different and monstrous. Bring our own anxiety to life and make us wonder if the thing we see out of the corner of our eye is real, just the first stages of the end. We will not accept any stories about rape. Racism/Sexism/Bigotry of any form will never be accepted here. Minimum word count is 1500. Double check your grammar and spelling. Format your story correctly. Please submit all stories in DOC/RTF format. We prefer stories that have not been published before. We prefer to avoid multiple and simultaneous submissions. We retain exclusive publishing rights for 12 months. We pay $5.00 for stories Acceptance/Rejection letters will be sent out once submissions are closed. Submissions Will Be Closed Once Enough Stories Are Accepted or On 2/28/20 Via: Madness Heart Press.

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: Contributor's copy and potential payout depending on crowdfunding. Theme: The anthology will include all original stories centering around the idea of boys’ lives being disrupted in some way. Anthologists: Ronald Linson and Deidre J Owen Genres: Varied; previous volume (“Little Girl Lost”) included Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Crime Drama. See below. Submissions: Dec 1, 2019 – Feb 29, 2020 (or until anthology is filled) Compensation: Contributor copy (print & ebook); cents/word dependent on crowdfunding. See below. LITTLE BOY LOST: MORE TALES OF YOUTH DISRUPTED will be a companion volume to our newly released anthology Little Girl Lost: Thirteen Tales of Youth Disrupted (released Oct 15, 2019). The anthology will include all original stories centering around the idea of boys’ lives being disrupted in some way. It could be through vanishing mysteriously, experiencing a life-altering event, or…? We are seeking well-written, imaginative tales that explore this idea to its fullest. Use your own interpretation as to the meaning of ‘lost.’ Surprise us! Submissions period opens DECEMBER 1, 2019 and will remain open until February 29, 2020 at 11:59PM (EST) or until the anthology is filled. Submissions received outside of this period will not be considered. We are seeking original, previously unpublished stories of the highest quality between 2,000 (hard minimum) and 7,500 words. We are willing to look at stories up to 10,000 words, although they are less likely to be accepted. Genre: Your story can be in nearly ANY genre so long as it fits the theme of the anthology, with the firm exception of erotica/adult content. Subjects we WILL NOT accept include (but are not limited to): Erotica or adult content Pedophilia Depictions of rape Graphic depictions of child abuse Sexual activity involving persons under the age of eighteen (18) Gratuitous or excessive violence or gore Racism, bigotry, or slander...

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: “You know what this Christmas party needs? Ghost stories.” “Bring back the tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas!” “You know what this Christmas party needs? Ghost stories.” “Why does Nightmare Before Christmas have to be a Halloween or Christmas movie? Why can’t it be both?” Immortal Works has heard your pleas and we are excited to announce our latest anthology, A Haunted Yuletide, slated for publication December 2020. And we need your submissions! We’re looking for stories that send shivers up and down your spine and make you want to check under your bed for monsters. We want stories that will make you afraid to to go sleep on Christmas Eve, because who is this Santa person, really? Tell us about the family home in New England where Aunt Enid is buried under the floor. We want to know about the ghost of that little kid who keeps hanging around the bakery downtown. In addition, please note the following: Contributions should be short stories (between 1,000 and 10,000 words in length) that include ghosts and Christmas, although other winter solstice holidays will be welcome also (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc). Stories should adhere to Immortal Works’ submission guidelines, i.e. they should be free from graphic sexuality, gory violence, and use of the f-word. Send your work to [email protected] as an attachment in .docx format, and put Haunted Yuletide in the subject line. Use the standard Shunn short story format (found here: https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html) The submission deadline is midnight MST on 29 February, 2020. The editors of A Haunted Yuletide will be Jay and Julie Barnson. Jay Barnson is the author of the Blood Creek novel series. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. Julie Barnson is a professional storyteller of the oral tradition...

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: 3 cents per word Theme: Extinction Triangulation is open for submissions. We are Parsec Ink’s speculative fiction anthology, now in our 16th year. We’re looking for outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror–from new and established writers. Take the theme and run with it. Tell us a story we won’t forget. Theme: Triangulation: Extinction Every day, another species creeps closer to extinction, often brought on by things out of their control. The world changes every time an insect, a rhino, a macaw ceases to exist. These changes are tangible. Tell us about them. Bring us stories of imposing threats, extraordinary creatures brought low, stories of those warriors who fight tooth and nail for their survival. What does extinction mean to you? We like our stories to be profound, relatable, poignant yet familiar. Tell a tale for the ages. While we appreciate and value creative freedom, please note that this issue of Triangulation has a strict theme. We don’t want to read a hundred stories about dinosaurs and asteroids; we want gritty commentaries and hopeful ruminations. Last year’s issue, Dark Skies, wrestled with light pollution, and similarly, this issue addresses an equally as challenging—and real—topic. Let’s do it justice. Submission Requirements Submissions Open: December 1, 2019 Submissions Close: February 29, 2020 Word Count: We consider fiction up to 5,000 words, but the sweet spot is 3,000. There is no minimum word count. Stories over 5000 words will be rejected unread. Genre: We accept science fiction, fantasy, and horror–and enjoy intelligent blends of the three. Stories without a speculative element will not be considered. We do not accept reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions. If we reject a story before the end of the reading period, feel free to send another. We love creative interpretations of our themes, but we do require...

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: $10 for one thousand words or less. One cent a word for stories 1,000 words to 3,000 words in length., $10 per poem Theme: Science fiction, Weird Fantasy, Horror with SF aspects, Lovecraftian horror. Note: Contributors must be Canadian or a resident of Canada. Note: Reprings accepted Contributors must be Canadian, or at least resident in Canada. I prefer Science Fiction over Fantasy, though of course SF can include fantasy elements, so I’m flexible. Weird Fantasy would intrigue me. Also interested in Horror with SF aspects. Have a weakness for Lovecraftian Horror. Nothing obscene or ultra-violent. Idea-driven combined with character-driven would be ideal. Particularly interested in beginning writers who haven’t made a sale yet. The primary purpose of this zine is to encourage beginning writers. I welcome experienced authors but will judge unpublished writers as a separate category so they won’t have to compete with pros. Ideally at least two to three first-sale stories will be in in every issue. Be sure to mention whether you have been published or not so I’ll be sure to place you in the proper category. SPECIFICS: I offer First Publication English Language World Serial Online (PDF) Internet Rights with a post-publication exclusivity period of just one week, after which the author/artist is free to sell as a reprint to anyone anywhere. The exclusivity period is unusually short because I have no financial stake in holding on to rights and am more than willing to encourage the author to sell again ASAP. Note that reprints are less desirable to most publishers and are more difficult to place. On the other hand, my payment rates are so low you might even make more money selling your work as a reprint than you did selling it to me as a first publication!...

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Looking for anything that fits the "How the Internet has impacted your life" category, including genre work Cyber Lives, has transformed into Cyber Smut. To those who have already submitted under Cyber Lives, rest assured, your submissions will not be affected by this. The theme remains the same: we want to know how the internet has impacted your life. We are seeking poetry and short stories (fiction & nonfiction) from the UK and Ireland. Closing date for submissions is 29 February 2020. This is wide open in terms of interpretation, and anything goes - poetry, memoir, erotica, literary fiction, sci fi, essays, etc - as long as it aligns with the theme. Things to consider: our daily lives are saturated with the internet, impacting our minds and behavior. Miscommunications and mishaps. Lust and desire for fame and money. Hilarity and tragedy with Tinder or Grindr. This is rich and fertile ground, and surely there are countless ways to approach this theme. We are thrilled about our next anthology and hope you are too. Closing date for submissions - 29 February 2020. Short stories (fiction & nonfiction) - 1000-5000 words. Poetry, up to 5 pages. Writers from the UK & Ireland - this includes anyone living or born in the UK or Ireland. Unpublished work only please. We are not able to accept previously published work, print or online. Standard Royalty Contract for successful submissions. Click here to submit via Submittable. Memoir Submissions We are also open for memoir submissions. Seeking bold writers with ballsy stories. We are interested in narratives about cyber life, art, music, travel, although any topic is fine. If you would like to submit your work, please send the first 5000 words of your manuscript, a one-page summary and your bio. Send to gutspublishing gmail.com....

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: Maybe. Funds are being raised on the side to pay contributors if they hit a certain goal. Note: I don't usually list markets that won't be a guaranteed paying market but it is for a good cause AND I love the concept of the anthology. Many writers and creatives are plagued by depression and anxiety, often referred to as “The Black Dog.” Ironically, it is during these dark days that our furry friends become our strongest supporters.I’m working with a fantastic team to put together a horror/dark fiction anthology with a strong, canine theme where all sales go towards supporting mental health and suicide prevention charity: The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. Open call for submissions We are excited to share this open call to writers of horror and dark speculative fiction. We want you to submit your best short story between 2,000 and 6,000 words for our forthcoming charity anthology “Black Dogs, Black Tales”. This will be a dark, doggy-themed collection where absolutely anything with a canine connection goes, with one essential caveat – the dog does not die. Everyone else can be slaughtered by zombies, or lost in the depths of deep space, but the dog (or dogs) will always survive. What are we looking for? We want you to think outside the box (or kennel) with this one. Perhaps the dog is the killer, or maybe the dog kills the killer. The dog might be your protagonist, unreliable narrator, or any other major character. We welcome robot dogs and Frankenstein-creature dogs, mutated or evolved dogs, dogs with a sixth sense, or dogs that are just very special in their own right! They can be real life dogs, ghost dogs, demon dogs, or the proverbial black dog. Most importantly, surprise us with your best writing....

Deadline: February 29th, 2020 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: A Collection of Time Traveling Tales A Collection of Time Traveling Tales Zimbell House is holding open submissions for short time-traveling tales. Let your imagination roam and put our readers in the middle of the action. We want complete stories from the POV of the time-traveler. Background: Begin your story at the ‘assignment of correction.’  This is the meeting of the League of Guardians where the council assigns a traveler to a particular time in history to correct an imbalance. It is up to you to pick the time in history, what the ‘imbalance’ is and how it will be corrected. Will your traveler be successful? Will he/she have help from other travelers? What happens if the traveler decides not to follow through? Give our readers a well-plotted tale that draws them in and leaves them wanting more. Please keep foul language to a minimum-it loses its punch if over-used. Dialogue needs to be believable, and please keep dialects/slang to a bare minimum if you must use them. No head-hopping or POV changes. Pick one point of view and stick with it. Please show more of the action than just telling the reader what happens. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,500 and the maximum word count is 20,000. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: February 29, 2020, with a targeted release date of late April 2020. Submit your best work. Poorly formatted and unedited work will be turned down. Please use Americanized English spellings. We will be doing light editing as necessary to fit the standards we strive to maintain. Submission Guidelines: Any work under 4,500 words will be...

Deadline: March 1st, 2020 Payment: $25 flat rate per story Theme: Short story submissions that explore the implications of non-cisgender life within the context of furry. As furries, we base large swaths of our identity around species. We search for what fits, we let our species choose us, and find ways to be happy as such. Species isn’t the only portion of identity that we explore within this subculture, though; given the relative safety of our community, gender is also something that we frequently explore. More than 8% of furries describe themselves as non-cisgender, and a further 6% describe their gender as ‘complicated’ (via the 2016 Furry Survey). Furry is often a means of wish-fulfillment for us, the players of our characters and the bearers of our avatars, so we often present ourselves as we desire to be seen. Within a fictional furry world, though, there’s little reason to expect that similar statistics around gender identity and expression would not also be the case. Genderful: Green and Gold — How would those in a such a world explore their gender in a day-to-day context? What are the mechanics of hormone replacement therapy - transdermal patches obviously being out of the question - or of gender affirming surgery? What are the social implications of gender transition in a society already differentiated by species? Genderful: Blue and Silver — How would those in a such a world explore their gender in a sexual context? What are the effects of hormone replacement therapy or of gender affirming surgery on one’s sexuality? How does sex and sexuality work in a setting with complex scents and sensitive noses? Dating, already scary, gains a new layer of tension; romance, already complex, gains a new layer of difficulty; and sex, already fraught with gender, becomes even more complicated. About...

Deadline: March 1st, 2020 Payment: Short story: $10/printed page (up to a maximum of $100), Flash: $25 per piece Theme: fiction and poetry that shocks, surprises, moves, and tickles - not genre work Funicular Magazine publishes quality fiction and poetry that shocks, surprises, moves, and tickles us. Maybe all of those things in a single piece. We are a Canadian magazine and we want to publish Canadian voices, but don't be shy if you aren't Canadian. We love sharing international writers with our readers too. General Guidelines ✅ Font: We don't care, just make sure we can read it or, y'know, we won't ✅ File Type: PDF, Word, Text file ✅ Simultaneous Submissions (please withdraw your piece if it is being published elsewhere) ✅ Multiple Submissions (see specific submission limits below) ❌ No previously published stories (in print or online). Self-published is fine. ❌ No genre fiction. There are places for genre fiction. One of those places is not here. ❌ Do not put your name anywhere in the document or filename. We read submissions blind. What We Want If we like your work, we will ask for online and/or serial publication rights. Short Fiction Julio Cortazar said that the novel wins by points, the short story by knockout. Think about that when sending us your work. A short story can normally be read in one sitting, and if your sciatica is acting up you usually won't be sitting for very long. 3000 words max. You can go a little over the limit. Don't stress. Everything is going to be fine. Submissions Allowed Per Entry: 1 Poetry William Carlos Williams, Ford Maddox Ford, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Henry David Thoreau, William Butler Yeats, Edward Estlin Cummings. These are the names of some poets we know with three names. If you are...

Deadline: March 1st, 2020 Payment: Pro-order split and six contributor copies Note: Must be a subscriber to Chris Morey’s free e-mail newsletter As a lifelong fan of survival horror I've been aching for years to create a project in that vein. I'm very excited to announce to you Survive the Night - Three at Dusk, One at Dawn, a new survival horror anthology from Dark Regions Press. Now available for preorder at darkregions.com/survivethenight and 10% of the total preorder sales are added to the writing contest prize pool until the last day of the contest timeline. Thanks to everyone who joins us for this fun and exciting new Dark Regions Press writing contest. If you have any questions or concerns please contact darkregions.com/contact We can't wait to read your survival horror stories! SURVIVE THE NIGHT - THREE AT DUSK, ONE AT DAWN WRITING CONTEST GUIDELINES   THEME: Survival horror story involving three central characters (optional secondary characters) who become trapped at dusk with one or more forces outside that are capable of killing them. Only one of the three central characters survives until dawn.   WORD COUNT: 3,000 to 8,000 PAY: Contest with growable $3,000 prize pool (10% of Survive the Night preorder sales at darkregions.com/survivethenight get added to the prize pool until contest ends March 1st 2020) – Prize pool will be evenly divided among the selected authors. Editors will select at least 7 up to 10 winning stories from the open submissions contest. Selected authors receive 1 ebook and audio option, 5 trade paperbacks and 1 deluxe signed & numbered hardcover as free author copies.   ENTRY FEE: None but you must be a subscriber to Chris Morey’s free e-mail newsletter at chrismorey.com/newsletter to qualify.   SUBMISSION RULES: No reprints or stories published anywhere else before including author websites. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. Only...

Deadline: March 1st, 2019 Payment: $20 “Turning words into art is unnatural. It begins with a contrary attitude. It says, I am unhappy with the way things are and desire to make things different. Rather than represent the world, I will make something wildly and savagely new. I will defy logic. I will invest in new perceptions. I will combine and recombine and fabricate and juggle until something that I have never experienced is experienced. The process is alchemical. The process is violent. It goes to the heart of creativity. It disrupts and shatters. It is splendid with provocation. It is an aggression against banality. It is sharp and loud like a janitor scraping frost from a window. The hectic bounce of steam on a street after a truck roars by. The anarchy of waters, the comedy of the face, dangerous feelings vented from a cage of skin.” ~ John Olson Poetry — We believe poetry is contrary by nature, always defying, always tonguing the tang of novelty. We look especially for plurality of meaning, for dual reverberation of beauty and concern. Contrary’s poetry in particular often mimics the effects of fiction or commentary. We find ourselves enamored of prose poems because they are naturally contrary toward form – they tug on the forces of exposition or narrative – but prose poems remain the minority of all the poetic forms we publish. Please consider that Contrary receives vast amounts of poetry and that we can publish only a small percentage of that work. Please submit no more than three poems per issue. Our poetry editor is Shaindel Beers. Fiction — We ask our fiction writers to imagine their readers navigating a story with one finger poised over a mouse button. Can your story stay that finger to the end? We have published long stories on the belief...

Deadline: March 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission : Not of this World To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here . ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE. NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright. The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline. NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission. BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside...

Deadline: March 2nd, 2020 Payment: $5 Theme: Work meant to honor and value the life perspective and worldview of underprivileged individuals by serving to validate, recognize, and share the value of those who are oppressed. UPDATED GUIDELINES FOR THE 6TH COLLECTION & AFTERWARDS BEGINNING JANUARY 2019 SUBMISSIONS TO THE WIRE’S DREAM MAGAZINE TWD Magazine accepts original, unseen creative work in the following categories: Fiction Creative Nonfiction Poetry Art Photography Combined Work Work must be original and unseen. Please do not send work that has already been published or is pending publication. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. There is no creative limitation on the style of work submitted. There are no fees for submission. NEW: Accepted Contributors will receive a $5 payment for their work. A max of 2 Contributors per category will be featured. GENERAL GUIDELINES Submissions are accepted through Submittable. Submission Period: January 1st to March 1st (Summer Issue) Reading Period: March 2nd to April 30th Tentative Digital Magazine Release: June 30th** July 1st to September 1st (Winter Issue) Reading Period: September 2nd to October 30th Tentative Digital Magazine Release: December 31st** **Dates are subject to change due to volume of submissions received; may be delayed by a week or two. Cover Letter Subject: Name of Category, Your Full Name (Or Pen Name) Body: Brief introduction, short bio (300 words max) with publication links (if applicable). No bio picture. Please indicate if your submission is simultaneous and at what date it was first submitted elsewhere. Address to Accept $5 Payment: If work is accepted, please be prepared to provide a full valid address where you would like to receive your payment. PO Box addresses are acceptable. Complimentary Close: Your full name declares that your submission adheres to TWD Magazine submission guidelines. Attachments: Please read specific category guidelines. SPECIFIC CATEGORY GUIDELINES Fiction 1 – 2 pieces per submission...

Deadline: March 9th, 2020 Payment: £25 Theme: Other Worlds Note: Women only ISSUE 86: OTHER WORLDS The theme for Issue 86 is ‘other worlds’ – the mysterious space/time realms of the scientifically plausible: the ‘dust’ of Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials, the time-travelling TARDIS, the alternate realities of Schrödinger’s cat… Deadline: 9 Mar 2020 Twice annually we ask for themed poetry and prose submissions for the Showcase (previously New Writing) section of the magazine. Winners are selected by our Guest Editors (in the past they have included Julia Blackburn, Nicci Gerrard, Pascale Petit, Rachel Cusk and Sarah Dunant) and are published in the magazine. We also make a small payment for most submissions we publish. We look for stories of up to 2,200 words, poems of up to 40 lines, and short scripts (for theatre, radio or film) of up to 1,000 words (including character names and stage instructions). Please note: we only accept up to four poems, two short stories and two short scripts per entrant. Submitting your work Entries are judged anonymously, so please put your name on a separate cover sheet and omit your name from your poem or story. To send us your submissions online, fill in the form below and upload your submission document . To send your entries by post, write to Mslexia Publications PO Box 656 Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1PZ. If you would like an acknowledgement of your submission’s arrival, please include a SAE. If you have any questions regarding your submissions, please read the Themed Writing FAQs. In the unlikely event your query is not answered there, please email us or call 0191 204 8860. Good luck with your writing! Via: Mslexia.

Deadline: March 10th, 2020 Payment: 50% of the sales will be split between each author of each particular book after printing costs Theme: Horror To submit your short story to the Bi-Monthly Breaking Rules Publishing Horror Anthology, starting in January 2020 - released by the end of the month - please send an email to [email protected] by the 10th of the book release month. ​ In your email - please include your contact information, including location in the body of your email, as well as a "Word Doc" attachment of your work. We will confirm your submission within 24 hours, as well as get back to you within one week on the possibility for publishing options. All submissions must - Be sent in a "Word Doc" - 8.5 x 11 format - a clean, edited story with the authors name and title at the top of the page - please, no special margins - your story should be indented properly - single spaced - in a 12 font - no double spaces between paragraphs - and no headers or footers. Page limit is 30 max  - 15 min - all submissions but be sent in by the 10th of the book release month. Publishing starts January 2020. Work that is sent incorrectly will be sent back. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Breaking Rules Publishing but also don't want to add additional work for our formatting team. ​Editing: By submitting you agree to allow Breaking Rules Publishing to provide a light edit, spell check, formatting, appropriate grammar, to all stories published. Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. With your consent, BRP may publish of your work in future journals and publicity pieces, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, Breaking Rules Publishing. Please note that other publications may not accept...

Deadline: March 15th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Positive futures, SF, urban fantasy. Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses - Positive futures, SF, urban fantasy. The future we all want. Examples might include effects of technology on the young (online learning, socialization), climate mitigation and adaptation, new opportunities to boldly go where none have gone before The untented Kosmos my abode, I pass, a willful stranger My mistress the open road And the bright eyes of danger (Robert Louis Stevenson, Youth and Love) Reading period: February 15 - March 15, 2020 Writer deadline: March 15, 2020 Publication date: June 1, 2020 Third Flatiron Publishing is based in Boulder, Colorado, and Ayr, Scotland. We are looking for submissions to our (approximately) quarterly themed anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We want tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios. Light horror is acceptable, provided it fits the theme. Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Inquire if longer. Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, Iain Banks, Alastair Gray, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today. For each anthology, we will also accept  a few very short humor pieces on the order of the "Shouts and Murmurs" feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy...

Deadline: March 15th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents/6 pence for each word (SFWA qualifying market rate) and 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Theme: The Lovecraft Mythos, more details below! Note: Reprints accepted Lovecraft Mythos Anthology Featuring a foreword by Ramsey Campbell, this offering of H.P. Lovecraft's shared universe will be a thrilling immersion into the world of Old Ones and the Elder Gods, an ancient race of terrifying beings. In Lovecraft's vision we live in a deep, but fragile, illusion unable to comprehend the ancient beings, such as the Cthulhu who lies dead but dreaming in the submerged city of R'lyeh, waiting to rise then wreak havoc on our realm of existence. Lovecraft used the mythos to create a background to his fiction, and challenged many writer companions to add their own stories. Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner were amongst the first but over the years many others such as Ramsey Campbell, Lin Carter and August Derleth added their voices to the many mythic cycles, developing themes and new fictional pathways for the town of Arkham, and the creatures Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. The Lovecraft Mythos is fertile ground for any writer of supernatural, horror, fantasy and science fiction, so for this edition we are opening our submissions for brand new stories, many published here for the first time, to continue expanding the shared universe. Word count is 3000 - 7000 and submissions will be accepted between 24th February and 15th March - please send to [email protected]. Payment will be 8 cents/6 pence for each word (SFWA qualifying market rate) and 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. If your story is a reprint please let us know in your submission email. Multiple submissions are accepted. We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 4 months of the...

Deadline: March 25th, 2020 Payment: $50 Theme: Poetry, Short Essays, Fiction, and Art by those affected by gun violence. Swallow Publishing, in association with Mythic Picnic, is soliciting works for HUMANS IN THE WILD: Reactions to a Gun Loving Country. The anthology features Kathy Fish, author of Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild, and we will choose approximately 30 additional works from other authors, artists, and people at large. Submissions must be original, but may be previously published works, and should be no more than 2,500 words in length. Selected authors will be paid $50. The anthology will be sold in print and eBook. We will be donating a percentage of net proceeds from sales to charity, and encourage you to donate to a charity of your choice as well. If you choose to donate your $50, please tell us about your chosen charity and why you choose to donate. Though the editors of HUMANS IN THE WILD prefer donations to anti-gun violence charitable organizations, we understand there are many problems in the 21st century that may be nearer to your heart. And if you’ve lost faith in charities, you can tell us about that if you want to as well. An index at the back of the anthology will include a bio on each contributor, including your explanation of where the $50 is going and why, but only if you wish to include that information. Paste your submission into the body of the email, or attach as a PDF/Docx/JPG. Include your contact information in the body of your email, your bio, and remember to tell us about your preferred charity, your reason for donating, or your reason for choosing not to donate. Donation, and explaining your donation, is totally optional and is not a requirement for acceptance. Please send submissions to [email protected]. The last day for...

Deadline: March 28th, 2020 Payment: $3 Theme: Ideas: April Fool's Day, Passover, Easter, Tax Day, Earth Day, World Immunization Week We are looking for some suitable stories for April 2020, including: April Fool's Day Passover Easter Tax Day Earth Day World Immunization Week The deadline for these stories is March 27, 2020, at the end of the day (11:59 PM Pacific Time). Writing Guidelines Every Day Fiction is looking for very short (flash) fiction, of up to  1000 words. There’s no such thing as too short — if you can do the job in 50 words, have at it! — but our readers prefer pieces that tell or at  least hint at a complete story (some sort of action or tension rising  to a moment of climax, and at least a clue toward a resolution, though  it doesn’t have to be all spelled out). All fiction genres are acceptable, and stories that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. While personal experiences and other  non-fiction can be great sources of inspiration, please turn them into  fiction for us, or send them elsewhere. Our readership is adult, so children’s stories are unlikely to be accepted unless they are relevant to adults as well. On the other hand, we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence, or pointlessly foul  language; edgy content should be necessary and appropriate to the plot  and characters. It ought to go without saying that any story submitted to Every Day Fiction must be your own unpublished original creation. If  you publish a story on a blog, even your own personal blog, or any  website accessible to the general public (i.e., if the story can be  found and read online without a password or friend status or other  limitation), it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for...

Deadline: March 28th, 2020 Payment: 6 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome Submissions Schedule We have a regular submissions schedule, easy to remember and plan for: four times a year, one week each time, midnight E.S.T. to midnight E.S.T., at the beginning of each season of the year: March 21 - 28, June 21 - 28, September 21 - 28, December 21 - 28 We began <a href="https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/the-kepler-award/">The Kepler Award</a> this spring.  The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about <a href="https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/the-kepler-award/">The Kepler Award here.</a> We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 - 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. Reprints must not have been published elsewhere within the past year or be available for sale online. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and 'forget password' have a captcha compatible with screen readers. &nbsp; Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored. We also accept poetry.  We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you're new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of -- if you don't love it, neither will our readers!  If in doubt, edit it down further.  And further. For the many writers who valued our...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. Note: Reprints welcome and preferred. Toasted Cake Podcast is doing a short Run of Hope! > We will be open from March 15-March 31. > I will be buying a few stories immediately, so I can start podcasting immediately, and then some more stories from the hold pile in April. Not sure how many yet. > At this time, I am ONLY looking for stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. (But as always, do not self-reject.) > <3 #####     What to Submit: > Toasted Cake is a speculative fiction flash fiction podcast. At this time, please only send stories between 650-1200 words. (Sweet spot is 700-1000.) > A few descriptors I like are weird, quirky, twisted, funny, fun, literary, puzzling, bizarre, tongue-twistable, singable, patter-friendly, elocutionary, experimental, witty, and wistful. > I mostly run reprints. Original stories fine too (given that I like rather odd things, and sometimes these are hard to place, feel free to try me.) You may send stories that have been previously podcast if it has been at least 2 years since they aired. Please let me know all publication details. > I am incredibly interested in stories told from all the myriad diverse perspectives of our world. Please send them to me. How to Submit: > Send your submissions to tinaconnolly at gmail. > Subject line should be "Toasted Cake Submission: " > You may send up to three flash during the submission period (all in one email is fine), as text in the email or as attachments. >...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment (In Canadian): Poems (4-100 lines): $50 plus one contributor’s copy, Short-short stories (under 1000 words): $50, plus one contributor’s copym Fiction (6000 words max.), 1000-2999 words: $125 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 3000-4999 words: $175 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 5000-6000 words: $200 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription Theme: Speculative fiction of all kinds, but read below 2020 Story, Poetry and Art Submissions to On Spec open until end of March 2020 Please read all the author instructions carefully first. What are we looking for? And what are we NOT looking for? We like to pride ourselves in searching out the most interesting and innovative works of fiction and poetry in the genre. So what do we want? Speculative writing of all kinds, but nothing derivative. Try to avoid what you think are trends, because by the time we’d publish them, they won’t be. Remember, you are a trendsetter, not a trend follower. We’ll gladly look at works up to 6,000 words, but keep in mind that most of these will eventually need a hard edit to reduce a thousand words of exposition. If you do that, yourself. it makes us more likely to pick up your story. We’d prefer a standard manuscript format, in a readable font. If you are new to this, do some research. The work must be previously unpublished in English in North America. We buy First NA Serial Rights to your work. We are not fond of graphic sex and violence. And we are not fond of horror that is simply “messy”. When we say “character-driven”, we mean it. A story that exists because a character is pushed along by outside influences and has absolutely no agency, will...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $100 for stories and $25 for poems Theme: Heroic Fantasy Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is currently OPEN for submissions for the month of March, 2020. Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September  December  If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed. * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages.   No simultaneous submissions, please. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25. Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each new issue. Please review art from the past two issues to see the style we prefer. Image...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: 25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints. Theme: The paranormal. Read "What We Want" below to find out exactly what they consider Note: Reprints welcome parABnormal is open to short stories, art, articles, and reviews. 2020 submissions open Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 31. Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread. ​No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, of voracious monsters, dark spirits, vampires, and shapeshifters… But they have not forgotten or left us . . . ​ What We Want The subject matter of parABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. ​Creatures like vampires, werewolves, and zombies are not paranormal. Shapeshifters, for the purpose of this magazine, refer to the spiritual shift, not the physical. Think Native American shaman. Paranormal activity centers around the human, not the creature. ​Please, no stories that involve excessive blood, gore, digestive tracts, and so forth. If you write a dark story, make sure it is spooky. Makes sure...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.01 per word and a contributors copy Theme: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales CLOCKWORK, CURSES, AND COAL: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Open for Submissions: February 1 - March 31, 2020 Expected Publication: early 2021 Story Length: up to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word + contributor copy Steampunk’s core is a re-imagined 1800s using steam-powered technology so it is all about gears, goggles and gaslamps. And corsets and courtship and exploration (often in the form of colonialism). I want the bustles, parasols, high tea and airships, of course, but I also welcome stories which confront the darker, problematic side of Victorian sensibilities and attitudes. Plus fairy tales. For example: What if a shoemaker was visited at night by tiny automatons? What if the little mermaid didn’t have to escape the ocean to be with her prince, but instead her social class? What if a woman’s upper class family was embarrassed by her scientific endeavors so they locked her in a tower… or tried to, anyway? Or a mechanized cat discovers a pair of fantastic boots? Or an explorer climbed a giant beanstalk and found a whole new, forgotten world? Original fairy tales are welcome, as are retellings. If you choose to retell a familiar favourite, make sure your story offers something new and interesting. I’d rather see stories that reflect the long history of fairy tales as social commentary than those which simply tell the same story with a different setting. Although steampunk tends to be focused in the American ‘wild west’ or Victorian England, this anthology needn’t be. I am open to stories set all over the world, and would love to see ‘Own Voices’ stories. As with the first book in the Punked Up Fairy Tales series, Grimm, Grit and...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $5 Theme: Serious horror and comedic/bizarre horror. The online form at the bottom of this page is the sole method of submission and contracting for the upcoming Corpus Press publication Two-Page Terrors. Please read all information thoroughly. You will be signing a contract with Corpus Press by placing a submission. *** Corpus Press is seeking original horror stories (no reprints) ranging in length from 400-550 words (approximate, see additional details regarding length below) for a 2020 publication titled Two-Page Terrors, which may evolve into an ongoing series. Submissions will be accepted until 11:59pm, March 31, 2020 (EST). We are seeking stories of two types: 1) Serious horror and 2) Comedic/bizarre horror Please select which category your submission best falls under when completing the submission form below. Individuals are permitted to make up to two submissions in total, but only one submission per category. Any additional submissions by a single individual will not be reviewed. STORY LENGTH REQUIREMENTS ADDITIONAL INFO The story must fit onto no more than two full pages, regardless of overall word count, and not be shorter than a page and a half. Most stories ranging in length from 400-550 words will fit the length requirement easily, but significant dialogue will reduce the overall word count. Story title and author name will be placed on a separate page, so do not factor those elements into the length. HOW TO TEST STORY LENGTH To ensure your story meets length requirements prior to submission, we have provided this template for download: LINK: Length Test Template - Two Page Terrors Alternatively, you can test length by creating a document of your own using the following settings: * 1-inch margins all around * 14pt Palatino Linotype font * Line spacing of 1.15 * Paragraph spacing: 0pt before, 10pt after ONCE YOU ARE CONFIDENT...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: .05 per word Since 2010, Mocha Memoirs Press’s mission is to amplify marginalized voices in the areas of speculative fiction (science fiction, horror, and fantasy). SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire will follow the steps of our previous published bestseller anthologies An Improbable Truth: The Paranormal Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters (A Bram Stoker nominee). What we are looking for: Vampires have been around in the horror genre for centuries. We are looking to tell a different vampire story. Ones where they may sparkle, but it is a dark one. This call is seeking unpublished short stories that tell stories of the vampire noire, the black vampire. We want stories of vampire hunters, of anti-vampiric heroes/heroines, and more. If you can take the story out of westernized culture, we’d love to see those, too! We want stories that speak of inclusivity. So, if your vampire is disabled or suffers from an alignment, send those stories too. LGBTQ+ stories are also encouraged. To point, we want stories from the African diaspora. If you do not follow the guidelines, your submission will be deleted unread. Seriously, read the guidelines. Follow them. Upon results of a successful crowdfunding campaign, we will pay HWA pro-rate of .05 per word for publication for First World Rights. Still interested? Here are the guidelines. • Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 5,000 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology, meaning the protagonist must from the African Diaspora. Remember, this entire anthology is dedicated to stories of the black vampire. They can be in space, superheroes, but they must be from the African Diaspora. • Manuscripts should be in Shunn manuscript...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror stories set in Hawaii Note: Reprints Welcome An anthology dedicated to the unique horrors of Hawaii. We want readers to experience the darkest, scariest, weirdest, most terrifying elements Hawaii has to offer! We’re seeking short horror stories between 500 – 7500 words. Stories must be horror, and they must be reliant on Hawaii somehow. The “how” is entirely up to you! Originals preferred, but reprints will be considered. Submission Deadline: March 31st or until filled. The anthology target is 50 stories. There is no limit on the number of submissions per author, but we reserve the right to limit the number of accepted stories per author. As payment, authors will receive royalties divided by word count. First and foremost, all submissions must be horror. However, we recognize that horror is a very broad and nuanced genre. To that end, we’ll read stories that fit into other genres (thriller, family drama, coming of age, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, romance, et cetera) as long as the story contains horror, and as long as horror is integral to the narrative. ALL submissions MUST meet the following requirements (documents that do not meet these guidelines will be returned to authors for correction): 1. 12-point Times New Roman font ONLY (no other fonts, please) 2. Use “SMART QUOTES” 3. Submit all documents as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .pages format Submit via email to [email protected] In the body of the email, include your name and contact information. Unpublished stories are given preference, but we consider reprints on a case by case basis, as long as all rights have reverted to the author. If your previously unpublished piece is accepted for publication in an anthology, we take First Print and Electronic Publishing Rights, with exclusivity for twelve months from...

Deadline: March 31st 2020 Payment: 50% Royalties We crave hardcore horror stories that keep readers glued to the page. Fast-paced, edgy tales based on creative concepts and well-developed characters. Our goal is to engage our audience with a mix of extreme horror and vivid narratives that haunt readers long after finishing our books. ​ We’re a professional market publishing high-quality writing in the bizarro, erotica, splatterpunk, body and extreme horror genres. We accept dark fantasy and sci-fi, supernatural thrillers, neo-noir and other sub-genre mashups as well, but all manuscripts should contain strong elements of the taboo. After all, this is Red Line! ​ We want stories that are frightening, unsettling, shocking, well-written, and imaginative. Some of the writers we like include Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, KJ Moore, John Skipp, Edward Lee, Wrath James White, Poppy Z. Brite, Clive Barker, and Kristopher Triana. An easy way to tell if your manuscript is right for Red Line, is to familiarize yourself with our publications. Before you submit, please review issues 1, 2, & 3 & the D.O.A. series, so you are comfortable with the content we're expecting. ​ In addition to the details below, editor John McGuiggan is  holding a special "rural exploration" call for Red Line. Click here for more details. ​ Formatting & Guidelines ​ ● Novellas under 50K words ● Previously unpublished in any medium ● Bizarro, Erotica, Neo-Noir, Body, Extreme, Rural Exploration, & all dark sub-genres that push the boundaries of traditional horror ● We will also consider short stories (500 - 3,000 words) for website-only publication ● Open from Dec. 1st - March 31st 2020 ● Times New Roman, 12 pt. font double spaced ● Attached as a .doc or .docx – saved as “Title_Author Last Name” ● Please alert us if it is a simultaneous submission ● 50% Royalties ​ Acquisition Editors When emailing,...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror stories set in Louisiana Note: Reprints Welcome Horror USA: Louisiana – An anthology dedicated to the unique horrors of Louisiana. We want readers to experience the darkest, scariest, weirdest, most terrifying elements Louisiana has to offer! We’re seeking short horror stories between 500 – 7500 words. Stories must be horror, and they must be reliant on Louisiana somehow. The “how” is entirely up to you! Originals preferred, but reprints will be considered. The submission deadline is 31 March 2020. Our target is 50 stories. There is no limit on the number of submissions per author, but we reserve the right to limit the number of accepted stories per author. As payment, authors will receive royalties divided by word count. We’re looking for stories between 500-7500 words. A few words under or over won’t necessarily disqualify a story, but please keep as close to the guidelines as possible. Stories MUST fit within the horror genre. First and foremost, all submissions must be horror. However, we recognize that horror is a very broad and nuanced genre. To that end, we’ll read stories that fit into other genres (thriller, family drama, coming of age, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, romance, et cetera) as long as the story contains horror, and as long as horror is integral to the narrative. ALL submissions MUST meet the following requirements (documents that do not meet these guidelines will be returned to authors for correction): 1. 12-point Times New Roman font ONLY (no other fonts, please) 2. Use “SMART QUOTES” 3. Submit all documents as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .pages format Submit via email to [email protected] In the body of the email, include your name and contact information. Unpublished stories are given preference, but we consider reprints on a case by case...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $20 Theme: Stories set in the "perfect" town of Fox Hollow, details below! CALL FOR ENTRIES for the online short story anthology: Nothing Ever Happens in Fox Hollow. We are looking for previously unreleased short stories that could fit in the world of Fox Hollow. The selected short stories will be featured on the “Nothing Ever Happens in Fox Hollow” webpage (foxhollowstories.com). There will also be an audio version of the stories released on the related Fox Hollow YouTube channel (YouTube.com/foxhollowstories) as well as the Fox Hollow podcast. There is also a possibility for an e-book and a paper book anthology released at the end of the year, as well as an online audio version of the anthology. The stories should be no longer than 1200 words. We’re looking for horror, supernatural, and dark content. Submission is free. We will pay $10 to each author whose work is selected for the anthology. Read all this information before entering: Fox Hollow is a typical American small town. It’s as boring as can be. Unless… We sneak a peek behind the curtain. It seems that every home in Fox Hollow has a dark secret. When writing a story that takes place in Fox Hollow, the plot should revolve around the events surrounding only one person up to just a few people. The story should never involve the masses. The supernatural elements and the horror in the town is always hidden in the background. Nothing disturbs the peace of Fox Hollow. Nothing noteworthy ever happens here to the outsider or even the other residents. You can read the stories at foxhollowstories.com to get the idea. Please send your entries to [email protected] The Call for Entries ends on March 31st, 2020. Via: Fox Hollow Stories.

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $.08 per word for the first 7,499 words, with payment capped at $599.92 for stories longer than 7,499 words. For re-printed stories that are not currently available elsewhere on the internet for free, we pay $.02 per word for the first 10,000 words, with payment capped at $200 for stories longer than 10,000 words Theme: Slean fantasy and sci-fi stories. Note: Reprints Welcome Thank you for your interest in submitting to Deep Magic. What you first need to understand is that we aim to be the dominant magazine for clean fantasy and sci-fi stories. It’s our tag-line. If you can tell a gripping story that doesn’t rely on sex, swearing, and graphic violence—you’ve come to the right place. If not, there are plenty of other magazines and venues out there. Move along. Move along (Jedi hand wave). Please consider reading Deep Magic to get an idea of the type of stories we publish. You can read our inaugural issue for only $.99. We are keeping the June 2016 issue at this special price so authors can check out our style without breaking the bank. Deep Magic is a quarterly electronic magazine that publishes clean short fiction in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Our issues are also filled with author interviews, art features, book reviews and tips for writers. Most of our non-fiction pieces are invitation only to industry professionals and Deep Magic staff, but if you have a fantastic piece, please send it our way. Not all the authors we feature write exclusively clean fiction. We don’t judge. But everything you find inside Deep Magic will be. – The Deep Magic Team It may be helpful to read the following articles before submitting to help you understand what types of stories we’re looking for: *An interview...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror stories set in Alaska Note: Reprints Welcome An anthology dedicated to the unique horrors of Alaska. We want readers to experience the darkest, scariest, weirdest, most terrifying elements Alaska has to offer! We’re seeking short horror stories between 500 – 7500 words. Stories must be horror, and they must be reliant on Alaska somehow. The “how” is entirely up to you! Originals preferred, but reprints will be considered. Submission Deadline: March 31st or until filled. As payment, authors will receive royalties divided by word count. First and foremost, all submissions must be horror. However, we recognize that horror is a very broad and nuanced genre. To that end, we’ll read stories that fit into other genres (thriller, family drama, coming of age, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, romance, et cetera) as long as the story contains horror, and as long as horror is integral to the narrative. ALL submissions MUST meet the following requirements (documents that do not meet these guidelines will be returned to authors for correction): 1. 12-point Times New Roman font ONLY (no other fonts, please) 2. Use “SMART QUOTES” 3. Submit all documents as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .pages format Submit via email to [email protected] In the body of the email, include your name and contact information. Unpublished stories are given preference, but we consider reprints on a case by case basis, as long as all rights have reverted to the author. If your previously unpublished piece is accepted for publication in an anthology, we take First Print and Electronic Publishing Rights, with exclusivity for twelve months from the date of publication. If we accept your reprint for publication in an anthology, we take nonexclusive reprint rights. A copy of our publishing contract is available upon request. Via: Soteira Press.

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: “dialog light, action heavy” fiction Submissions: OPEN Submission deadline for inaugural issue: Tuesday, March 31st, 2020, 11:59p. Editorial decisions: Thursday, April 30th, 2020. Publication of inaugural issue: Friday, June 12th, 2020. Length: We prefer short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). These limits are firm. No more, no less. Style: We prefer “dialog light, action heavy” fiction that is unselfconsciously literary but nevertheless takes joy in an occasional old word that gives the breath of antiquity.   Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in WHETSTONE, authors will (1) be paid an honorarium of $10 and (2) will be asked to provide, by contract, "First North American Serial Rights." In our opinion, this means that copyright is NOT transferred. All copyright stays with you, the writer; however, you will have sold/transferred a form of "exclusive use rights" called "First North American Serial Rights" (FNASR). This is the right to publish your unpublished work for the first time, and ONLY the first time, no more. The important thing to remember is that some professional publications may ask for FNASR upon acceptance of a specific work; you are not legally permitted to provide those for that specific work after publication in WHETSTONE, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in WHETSTONE, that works' associated FNASR have been sold/transferred. You CAN publish your previously published work elsewhere as a reprint but only as long as that publication does not require FNASR. This is a long way of saying that WHETSTONE is an amateur publication, meant for showcasing emerging talent for the consideration of professional markets (which is why we kept the...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.06/word IT’S TIME TO MAKE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL… With the success of our first MIDNIGHT anthology, MIDNIGHT IN THE GRAVEYARD, it’s time to roll out the 2nd in the series, MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM. Silver Shamrock Publishing is now accepting submissions for the MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM anthology. We are looking for original Occult/Demons/Possession/Satanism horror stories with an Exorcist/The Omen/Rosemary’s Baby/Hereditary meets EC Comics/ Creepshow/Tales From the Crypt kind of vibe. Specific submission guidelines: Submit by email to: [email protected] Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Length: up to 6000 words Format: Preferred format is Doc or Docx, double-spaced with author email at the top of the first page. - Please use the anthology title, MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM, in the subject heading of your email. - A writer's CV with a summary of previous publications, awards, recognition, influences hometown and social media links. - The word count. - Acknowledgement of receipt of your manuscript will be emailed within 3 business days - Successful authors will receive a contract upon acceptance. Once we have a signed contract by the author and Silver Shamrock Publishing, payment will be made within 30 days via PayPal. Payment: Professional rate of $0.06/word. Note: This is an invitation AND open-submission anthology (approx. 75% invitation/25% open-submission). With the All-Star cast of horror writers we assemble, this will prove to be a very competitive open-submission, with us only taking the very best entries. Good luck! Via: Silver Shamrock Publishing.

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment:  Contributor's copy and possibly another form of payment Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2020. Reading begins after this deadline. Publication date is June 1st, 2020. The Closet It wasn’t right. That’s what they said. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t natural. Well, GX38 thought, if it’s not natural, why do I feel this way? GX loved the feeling of human flesh against its metallic shell. It loved the way humans made sounds for joy, sounds for fun, and even the sounds they made when they “sang”. But the Programmers were against it. That’s not what GX had been designed for. That’s not how things worked. GX stared in awe, sensations thrilling through its circuits as Elizabeth literally danced back into its view, a smile on her face as she laughed and spun. “To hell with what the Programmers say,” GX determined. “I love whom I love.” What We Want We want your stories about what it was like having to be in the closet, or when you came out of the closet, and how your life has been affected by being part of the LGBTQ+ community. Talk about being Ace. Talking about being gender fluid. Talk about how people perceive you, love you, hate you, accept you, or not, but tell it in the way YOU need to tell it. As the above example, a robot loving a human is “unnatural”, but it could easily be the metaphor of any homosexual relationship. So, write your experiences – be they good or bad – and tell them in full honesty, tell them in fantasy, tell them in science fiction, or however else you feel the need to express yourself. We want your stories. We want you to vent, to cheer for friends, to show how awful...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Organic Ink: Volume Three (Poetry) (Not Rated) Deadline – March 31st, 2020 Publication – June 2020 Word Count – Word count limit has been revoked. Theme – There is no theme for this anthology. Poetry about love, hate, greed, depression, etc. Haikus, epics, etc. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-250 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog post on the topic of how to submit to a publisher.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.