Events

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $5 We adore Godzilla, we watch in rapture whenever giant monsters storms across a story, crushing cities, dreams and of course any other monster that gets in its way. Sure, so many of those old movies are hokey as sin now, hardly watchable at times. But we have faith that you can make us tiny mortals tremble once more. We want your stories of massive monsters causing mayhem, from strange things rising from the ocean to dragons emerging from subway tunnels. We crave destruction on a scale that only the Kaiju can bring. We will not accept any stories about rape. Racism/Sexism/Bigotry of any form will never be accepted here. Stories over 1500 words preferred. 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 We provide a digital contributor copy free and at cost+shipping physical copies Acceptance/Rejection letters will be sent out once submissions are closed. Submissions Will Close When Enough Stories Have Been Collected or on 4/30/20 Via: Madness Heart Press.

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: 2¢ per word for original stories ($15 flat rate for reprints) Theme: Twenty Thousand Leagues Remembered will contain short stories that pay tribute in some way to Jules Verne’s novel. Note; Reprints Welcome Pole to Pole Publishing is seeking fictional short stories for its upcoming anthology, Twenty Thousand Leagues Remembered, to be published in June 2020, on the sesquicentennial of Jules Verne’s work. Since June 20, 1870, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has been hailed as a classic, translated and reprinted in numerous book versions, transcribed for stage, movies, and TV miniseries, made into video games and a theme park ride. The book has inspired countless submariners, undersea explorers, and ship designers, not to mention armchair adventurers. We can’t let this anniversary pass unnoticed, so will launch this anthology as our tribute to the Father of Science Fiction and his masterwork. Pole to Pole Publishing welcomes Steven R. Southard as a co-editor of this anthology. Twenty Thousand Leagues Remembered will contain short stories that pay tribute in some way to Jules Verne’s novel. Set your story in any time or place; use characters from Verne’s novel or make up your own. You need not write in Verne’s style. The mood of your story need not be dark, as other Pole to Pole Publishing anthologies have been. Aim to capture, in your own way, the sense of wonder and adventure for which Jules Verne is famous. The connection between your story and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea must be obvious and significant, and your story must not disparage either the novel or its author. Stories should be 3,000-5,000 words (firm). Hard Sells: Profane and vulgar language. Because we market to both adult and YA readers, if you use an F-Bomb, and we accept your story, we’ll probably ask you to...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: horror stories about bedtime, dreams, sleep, and nighttime in general! Note: Reprints welcome We’re looking for horror stories about bedtime, dreams, sleep, and nighttime in general! The parameters for this project are intentionally broad, and the possibilities are endless – monsters under the bed, horrors hiding in closets, things that go bump in the night, beings that lurk on the shore between dream and reality, nightmares that come true, scary (and original) bedtime stories, and whatever else you’re inspired to write!  (Please note: this anthology is not aimed at children, but we are open to stories appropriate for children.) Deadline: April 30th or until filled. As payment, authors will receive royalties divided by word count. These are general guidelines for ALL anthology submissions. 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. ANTHOLOGIES: At this time, we are primarily seeking short stories between 500 and 7500 words for themed anthologies. These submissions will be given priority. You will be notified whether your submission is accepted or rejected. For anthology pieces, you will be notified no later than four weeks after the submission deadline. For all other pieces, you will be notified within 10 weeks of the date of your submission. If you have not received a response by that time, please email us. Via: Soteira Press.

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: Short tales about Native-American healers. Let your imagination roam and put our readers in the middle of the action. We want complete stories from the POV of the spirit walker. We are looking for tales that delve into the rituals and history of being a healer. How does one become a spirit walker? Can a tribe have more than one? How are they chosen? What are they asked to do by the tribe? Do they live apart? Do they have assistants or apprentices that help them? Are they reincarnated? Do they live many lives? 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 4,000 and the maximum word count is 17,500. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: April 30, 2020, with a targeted release date of mid-June 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 automatically disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print or online anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit up to three (3) unique works—please submit them separately. Work must be in Microsoft Word or...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: Punk! punk 1. a loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music 2. a worthless person (often used as a general term of abuse) 3. an inexperienced young person 4. a criminal 5. substance that smolders when ignited 6. in poor or bad condition 7. to trick or deceive 8. to utterly defeat How do you define “punk”? Give us your take on the nuances of this word! Edited by Christine Taylor, a collection of poetic voices ready to explode. Submissions are open February 1, 2020 through April 30, 2020. Please send ONE previously unpublished poem of any style, form, and length that speaks to the vision of the anthology to [email protected] with the subject line “ANTHOLOGY— .” Submissions are free and open to all, including current contributors to the journal. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. We ask for First World Rights upon acceptance, and rights revert to the author upon publication. Contributors will receive a $10 USD honorarium and one copy of the anthology Via: Kissing Dynamite Poetry.

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Stories that offer a riveting reimagining of a historic time period imbued with fantasy and magic. What we want Five original, previously unpublished, literary fantasy short stories between 1000 to 5000 words for our Historic Fantasy Anthology. We are seeking stories that offer a riveting reimagining of a historic time period imbued with fantasy and magic. As always, we prefer stories with a literary quality built upon strong characters, spellbinding language, and believable world-building. If your work is accepted, we will ask you to send us an author’s note (around few hundred words) related to the story that we can include in the anthology. * Deadline We will be accepting submissions until April 30, 2020, or whenever the anthology is filled. The anthology will be published within ninety (90) thereafter. * Response Time, Simultaneous, & Multiple Submissions We will do our best to respond to your submission within one month. Please feel free to check-in with us if you have not heard back after four weeks. We allow simultaneous submissions but ask that you notify us as soon as your story is accepted elsewhere We do not accept multiple submissions. You are welcome to submit again as soon once we have responded to a previous submission. * Editing, Rights, & Payment If we accept your work, we may request minor line-edits for grammar, punctuation and clarity. You will have the opportunity to review and discuss all edits with us before the final version of your work is published. * We ask for First World Serial Rights, First World Electronic Rights and Exclusive Rights for ninety (90) days from the date of first publication. We also ask for Non-exclusive Anthology Rights. Lastly, we ask for Non-exclusive Audio Rights to publish an audio podcast of the work if we so choose. Stories will be published on both our website and as part of...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: .01 a word Theme: Literary horror stories that contain major plot elements of nightmares, illusions, hallucinations, delusions, or waking dreams Note: Slightly early listing on this one Dark Ink Books, the home of Tom Savini’s and Kane Hodder’s official biographies, is proud to announce an open call for submissions for its newest thematic horror fiction anthology.   “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”  -Edgar Allan Poe, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether    For this submission period, we are asking for literary horror stories that contain major plot elements of nightmares, illusions, hallucinations, delusions, or waking dreams. Quality of writing, adherence to call parameters, originality, and alignment with other stories selected for publication are the determining factors in selection or rejection for this anthology.    Working Title: The Half That You See: Nightmares, Deliriums, and Illusions    Submissions will be accepted April 1, 2020 through April 30, 2020 only.    Response time: Decisions will be emailed before June 1. If a submission is held for more than three weeks, it is likely being considered for publication.    Payment: .01 a word up to 7000 words (firm)    Word count: 1500-6500 words (a little over is fine, but make it worth the space)    Multiple submissions: No, thank you. Please send your one best story.    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere, and if we select your tale, please remove the work from consideration elsewhere immediately. No reprints; work must not have been printed elsewhere in any language, including on a blog or personal webpage.    If your previously unpublished piece is accepted for publication in this anthology, Dark Ink takes First Print, Electronic, and Audiobook Publishing Rights...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: Dark fantasy and horror with a historically inspired setting Theme: Royalties VISIONS OF DARKNESS, VOLUME ONE Visions of Darkness, Volume One, is the first of a planned annual anthology of dark fantasy tales to be released each October. What we are looking for Genre: Dark Fantasy Word Count: 7,500 – 20,000 words Deadline: April 30, 2020 Submission Guidelines What to Include in the Email An introduction is always nice. Tell us who you are. Have we met, or did somebody refer you to us? Here is a good place to remind us. The elevator pitch. In one to three sentences, what’s the selling point for the story? What’s it about? What makes it stand apart? What are the genre(s), main theme(s), and word count? The dreaded synopsis. Try to keep this around 500 words or less. We don’t need to know who everybody is or every detail of what happens in the story, just the broad strokes. Give us an idea of what to expect. Think of it like a movie trailer in text! The Manuscript Please attach your manuscript to the email in standard manuscript format as a Word document (.doc or .docx). This should be double-spaced in 12 point Times New Roman or Courier (we prefer Courier) with non-spaced, indented paragraphs. Ensure that your legal name, address, email address, and the word count appears at the top of the first page. If you are not familiar with standard manuscript formats, please review this article. Only original, unpublished submissions will be considered. What is dark fantasy? The definition of dark fantasy can be debated, but it is generally any story with fantastic or supernatural elements that incorporate horror themes and/or a gloomy atmosphere. In all, the genre is hard to pin down with any specific...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 (not in post, confirmed on Twitter from the publisher.) Payment: Flash short story (up to 250 words) – $25, Short story (up to 2500 words) – $100, Long form (up to 7500 words) – $200, Comics – $75 Theme: Queer science fiction, fantasy, and horror by queer authors Decoded is a story-a-day anthology of queer science fiction, fantasy, and horror by queer authors. We will feature writing and comics released to subscribers every day of Pride month. If you want to get an email when subscriptions become available, please sign up for our email list. We are both avid readers, and as such, we welcome a wide array of subject matter. Everything from experimental comics to thinly-veiled fanfiction to good old formulaic genre is right up our alley, so don’t disqualify yourself – submit! Our only rule for the month is that you’re a queer creator – and that you bring your A-game! The point is to create a space for queer folks to build community as fiction writers and comic creators. We seek to center the voices of those most marginalized within queer communities. We want to facilitate works with queer themes, writers, and audiences. If that sounds like you, read more below about logistics and how to submit your story. Fees paid to authors Flash short story (up to 250 words) – $25 Short story (up to 2500 words) – $100 Long form (up to 7500 words) – $200 Comics – $75 Fees will be paid via PayPal. Submitting stories Please email your submission to [email protected] with the title “DECODED SUBMISSION – ” by midnight on April 30th. Attach your submission in a word document with 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced with one inch margins (or something similar). For comics, email us the best way...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 AU Theme: Science Fiction We're looking for fantastic fantasy, super-duper science fiction,  Wonderfulliy Weird, and Macabre. ​ Think classic outer-worldly.  Think swashbuckling adventure.  Think stuff that would give Lovecraft the shivers.  Mad professors, demons of the dark, heroes, monsters, giant robots...  We could could go all day.  You get the idea. ​ New, unpublished writers are welcome! ​ Think you've got the chops?  Here are the rules: Under 18? No problem. Just send a note from your teacher or guardian with your submission, telling us it's ok for you to write for us. No gratuitous sex or excessive profanity.  No nasty sex of any kind unless it's inherent to the story, and not glorified.  Gore is fine if it's written well.  Hate speech, or material we might find offensive is not. ​ We pay a flat rate of $25 AU per original piece of fiction.  That’s low right now, but Rufo’s Dog is still a pup.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to pay more soon.  The best way for that to happen is for you to you tell all your friends to buy a copy and or subscribe, then we’ll have more moolah to throw at the next issue. We pay a flat rate of $100AU for any original colour artwork that makes the cover, and $25AU for any other artwork.  For commissioned work, payment is subject to negotiation with the individual artists. ​ For contributors with an Australian bank account, payments made via bank transfer are possible.  For international contributors, we prefer to pay via PayPal.  We do not pay via Western Union or similar services which charge payment fees.  WU charges $15 AU per transaction, and we just can't afford that. ​ Rufo's Dog will also provide a password and login for the full zine, valid for 12 months, for each contributer we publish. ​ No...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $20 or 2 paperback copies for US residents, $20 for everyone else around the globe Theme: Time Travel Get ready! Smoking Pen Press will be issuing a Call for Submissions for a short story anthology for our Read on the Run series. We do not yet have a title for this anthology, but the theme is Time Travel.  Sci-Fi, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure …  Yes! We welcome stories involving all types and aspects of time travel. Multiple submissions accepted. Simultaneous submissions permitted, but please let us know immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Reprints are accepted as long as all rights have reverted to you; please identify your submission as a reprint when you send it in.  Note: all selected stories (including reprints) will be edited before publication. The Call for Submissions will be open from April 1-April 30, 2020. Stories should be between 1,200 and 6,000 words. Submissions should be polished, (ie, not first draft) in Word (.doc or .docx) format, and written in English. Send to  [email protected] as an attachment. Stories submitted before April 1 or after April 30 will not be considered.  All stories submitted during the open Call will be acknowledged within three days of receipt, and authors of stories submitted during the open Call will be notified of a decision by June 1, 2020. There is no submission fee. As with all previous Read on the Run titles, this title will be published in both digital and paperback form. US and Canada authors of stories that are selected will receive their choice of a one-time payment of $20 USD, or 2 copies of the paperback; non-US/Canada authors will receive their choice of a one-time payment of $20 USD, or one copy of the paperback. For more information —  email us at [email protected] Remember: Submissions accepted: April...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: 1 cent per word, a flat rate of $20 if under 2,000 words. Theme: Speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Magical Realism, Slipstream, or an as-yet-unnamed genre. The Overcast is currently open to submissions three times a year, during the months of January, April, and October. (Note we are no longer reading during July.  Our summers have just gotten too hectic.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Thank you for understanding.)   What We Want We are interested in speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Magical Realism, Slipstream, or an as-yet-unnamed genre.  Anything that looks at the world and life from an unexpected angle.  We want the original vision of William Gibson.  The magic and beauty of Erin Morgenstern.  The uncompromising voice of Margaret Atwood.  The technical brilliance of Ted Chiang.  We want to read stories that transport us to places that we've never imagined.  We want to still be thinking about a story days after reading it.  Be original.  Be amazing. We are based in Portland, OR, and shine a spotlight on writers hailing from, living in, or connected in some way to the Pacific Northwest, as loosely defined by the bioregion of Cascadia.  We feel there is an exceptionally strong talent pool of speculative writers in Cascadia, and we want to celebrate and promote them to a larger audience.  Roughly half the stories we publish are by PNW writers.  That said, we are not exclusive, and the other half of our stories come from authors all over the globe.  So no matter where you live, send us your stories.  If they make us laugh, cry, or turn cartwheels of astonishment, preferably all at once, we will find a place for them on...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 and 2 contributors copies Theme: Rebellious pixies and fae Submission deadline has been extended to April 30th, 2020! We are seeking short stories of up to 10,000 words that deal with the theme of rebellious pixies and fae. Please limit your topic to the mythical beings commonly described as fae (do not submit stories of mermaids, trolls, werewolves, vampires, zombies, unicorns, dragons, or other legendary creatures).   Accepted submissions will be notified via email. All accepted authors of the anthology will receive a one-time payment of $25 and two free copies of the published anthology in either ebook or print format.   Please send your submission to [email protected] as an attachment with the word “submission” in the subject line of the email. Multiple and simultaneous submissions are accepted, and there is no reading fee. Estimated response time is up to eight weeks. Via: Corrugated Sky.