Events

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: 3.0 cents per word, contributors copy, $150 advance maximum on longer stories Theme: Fiction short stories and poetry in support of an election year theme “Dear Leader Tales” (DLT) anthology. We want stories of a humorous or satirical bent which illustrate or lampoon an emperor’s hubris (and lack of clothing). Note: Reprints allowed Theme:  We’re looking for original fiction short stories and poetry in support of an election year theme “Dear Leader Tales” (DLT) anthology. We want stories of a humorous or satirical bent which illustrate or lampoon an emperor’s hubris (and lack of clothing). In that spirit, we don’t want any real life current or past Dear Leaders named directly, but their known foibles are fair game. If you’re one of the oppressed, regardless of who’s in charge, this is your chance to deploy devastating humor, satire, wit, and sarcasm to bring them down a few notches. If nothing else, we can amuse ourselves in a trying time. Examples beyond the political include CEOs who constantly quote Sun Tzu or Machiavelli incorrectly, cats plotting to overthrow their human overlords, in short anywhere clueless oppressors operate. Rules: The stories can range from 1,000 to 5,000 words. First world rights are preferred. Reprint rights will be accepted if the story is good enough. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as well, provided prompt notice is given should the story be picked up elsewhere. Stories may exceed the 5K word count limit, if it merits, however the advances are limited to a maximum of $150 per story. Schedule: Submission period is July 1, 2020 through July 31, 2020, after which no further submittals will be accepted.The email address for submissions will only be active during that period. We plan to release the anthology in mid-September 2020. Team: The evaluation team will consist...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $5 for 500 to 1000 words, $10 for 1000 to 3000 words, $25 for 3000 to 5000 words Tell-Tale Press now has submissions open to SHORT STORIES ONLY for at least one year, from July 1, 2019 through July 1, 2020. We plan to read through submissions as they are received and choose stories to publish on the Tell-Tale Press website online as they are selected. The stories may also be selected for digital and/or print anthologies in the future. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 500 to 5000 words ONLY. Shorter or longer pieces will not be considered, even if it's just a few words. Word count does not include title, author's name and contact information, and any section numbers or section breaks. Original work only. No reprints, unless you are an author who has previously published with Tell-Tale Press. No simultaneous submissions. Only four submissions total per author during this time period. If you send more than four submissions, all of your stories will automatically be rejected. PLEASE FOLLOW STANDARD MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING. This includes one-inch margins, double spacing, either Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font in 12 point, and consecutive page numbers. ANY STORY THAT IS POORLY FORMATTED WILL NOT BE READ. Click here for guidelines on how to create a standard manuscript. YOU MUST USE THE SUBMISSION FORM ON THE WEBSITE, including the upload link as to where to upload your story. Any stories submitted not using this format will not be considered. Your file must be in the format of .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf. STORY REQUIREMENTS The story must fall in the genre of fantasy, horror, mystery/crime, and/or science fiction. There is no specific theme at this time. Some examples of what will be considered are crossover work, such as sci-fi horror or horror western, and subgenres such as historical fiction, steampunk,...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $100 Theme: Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. The first edition of The-Binge Watching Cure encompassed a huge variety of genres. The second edition centered on horrific themes that kept us up at night. For the third volume, we are abandoning earthly conventions entirely in favor of the weird, wild worlds of science fiction. So what is science fiction? SF features stories based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social, environmental, and evolutionary changes. That is just a textbook definition. Science fiction has a huge range of subgenres, and I’d love to see them all. Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. For the SF volume, we are offering a one-time payment of $100 for each story. We will be licensing the non-exclusive print and electronic book rights, including foreign-language rights (but not audio, film rights, or magazine rights). Your name and bio will be included along with your story. Submissions will open January 20th and close July 1st. Use “Last name – SF – word length category” as the subject line of your email. Questions? Visit our FAQ page. Our FAQ page has more detail about the kind of stories we’re looking for as well as details on formatting and publication details. Ready to submit? Hop over to our submissions page. Via: The Binge-Watching Cure.

Deadline: July 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: July 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Tiny Red Suitcase 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 the U.S. For those living outside the U.S., submit manuscript as an email attachment (readable by MSWord ― either as a DOC file or an RTF file), and include the following information on the...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: 750-1500 words - $10, 350-749 words - $5, Reprints at $5 and $3 for the previous word counts. Theme: POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. Note: Reprints Welcome People of Color Destroy Lovecraft  ​Lovecraft wrote some hella scary monsters, on that most horror scholars agree, but he was terribly racist. I would like to see for this issue, POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. My preference for this issue is to have the majority of stories written by writers of color, if not all. Queer writers of color are especially encouraged to submit. Flash/shorts (750-1500 words. No more, no less) for $10 per piece original, previously unpublished. Microfics (350-749 words) will pay at a $5 per story rate for original, previously unpublished stories. NO POETRY OR DRABBLES FOR THIS ONE. Reprints will be accepted on this one. BUT will pay at a $5 rate for flash/shorts (750-1500 words) and $3 for microfics (350-749 words). You must identify your story as a reprint on the cover page of the manuscript and provide the market and date (mo/yr) where it was last published. Please follow instructions on the Guidelines page and include your name, PayPal email, and word count (total, not approximate) on the first page of your story document. Deadline July 1st, 2020.  Via: The Were-Traveler.

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Dark fantasy that includes elemental magic Submission Open: April 1, 2020 Submission Close: July 1, 2020 Publishing timeline: December 2020 SOON Theme: Think Elemental Magic This title is a work in progress Think Elemental Magic DARK FANTASY - Rated R Stories welcome ​ Theme: Elemental Magic - Earth, wind, fire, water and spirit. Dark versus light. We are giving a lot of leeway for story building, but magic must play a part in your world and there must be a dark fantasy element. Create a fantasy world for this to all play out in, or build something in ours. The choice is yours. The only requirement is that you must feature elemental magic. Fae and other realms, magic and witches, dragons or orcs, all magical and fantastic creatures are welcome. This one has opportunities for a lot of world-building so the call out is for larger stories. We will only be accepting a limited number of stories for this project, but volume II is under consideration. Stand-alone stories only, no to be continued. ​ Word Count is 7000 - 15000 (not a hard limit) we are looking for longer stories and small novella's. ​ Compensation: Equal royalty split per story. Digital copy. ​ Formatting guidelines: See our Submission Format guide below ​ How to submit: Submission form will open in April 2020 ​ Multiple Submission: Yes - We will be happy to read up to two stories per author, but note we will only be accepting one story per book. Please send each story in a separate form. Reprints: No. ​ Things that are a hard pass: any animal erotica and all forms of rape Remember to read the submission guidelines in full. Failure to comply could result in your submission being rejected or sent back for correction. At this time we are only accepting manuscripts in English. Word...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: Contributor's Copy Theme: A "found footage" type story on paper. Explanations are found below Note: Reprints welcome Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its fifth volume of its Howlers series, FOUND FOOTAGE. Deadline: July 1, 2020 Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable. Starting with what was called the McPherson Tape, moving on to the Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and V/H//S, found footage films have, for the past few decades, captivated horror lovers everywhere. This anthology asks writers to put found footage into the written word. Largely, we anticipate three major types of written structures: 1) stories that just feature characters using cameras; 2) epistolary stories that "found" by the readers of the anthology and 3) other experimental forms that would become textual versions of found footage. Any of these options (or others you might think of) are perfectly fine for submission. Just remember it's a horror anthology that celebrates the structure and style of found footage films. Please note we are a progressive press and do not publish conservative works. ​ We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff or necrophilia presented in a positive light. If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected] (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) ​ Submit via Submittable at https://weaselpress.submittable.com/submit/163951/found-footage ​ You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order...