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Taking Submissions: Consumed

Deadline: August 15th, 2020 Payment: $20 for the first 3,000 words, then a 1/2 cent per word + print contributor’s copy Theme: The Wendigo Hunger. Insatiable hunger. Hunger that changes you…consumes you…turning you into a nightmare version of what you once were. Denver Horror Collective is looking for stories of the Wendigo. The point of view could be a person becoming the Wendigo, from a Wendigo, pursued by a Wendigo, or a witness to a Wendigo-esque situation unfolding. Submissions may cover cannibalism, lust, plague, war, anxiety, greed, power, or any topic a person or animal could become obsessed with. Read the Wiki on the Wendigo at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo, then feel free to think outside the box and let your imagination run wild. Submissions do not have to have characters turn into a literal Wendigo. Character(s) must go through some sort of a transformation due to the “hunger.” You do not have to use the term Wendigo. We just ask that authors use the core concept of the Wendigo as inspiration for their story. Please take a moment to read the KEY NOTES and all submission information below to ensure your story content and format fall within guidelines. DEADLINE: August 15, midnight WORD COUNT: 3,000-12,000 words (lower limit firm, query for longer) PAYMENT: $20 for the first 3,000 words, then a 1/2 cent per word + print contributor’s copy REPRINTS: No SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: No MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: No (if you have more than one idea, you’re welcome to query as to which concept we would be more interested in) FORMAT: -Use the Shunn format ( https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ ) with the following caveats: -12-point Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial font -Use paragraph formatting for paragraph indents. Do not manually tab or space in. -No headers, footers, or page numbers SUBMISSION: -Submit in DOC, DOCX, or RTF...

Taking Submissions: The New Gothic Review #2

Deadline: August 15th, 2020 Payment: $15 for short stories Theme: Gothic fiction for the 21st century. What we’re looking for: We’re looking for previously unpublished short stories that embrace and reimagine Gothic fiction for the 21st century. Compelling plots with a strong literary bend. Eerie atmosphere is key. Stories with Weird elements are welcome. You can’t have Gothic without a little bit of terror & horror… that being said, we are not a horror fiction magazine. Our previously published works will provide the best indication of what we are looking for. Our past issue is available for free here. What we’re not looking for: Stories that contain gruesome violence, gore, or explicit sexual content. Fantasy. Strong science fiction. True Crime. Word count: 1,500 – 6,500 words (though we keep an open mind) Rights: We want authors to retain all the rights to their work. We ask for non-exclusive rights, meaning you are free to take your work elsewhere even after we publish it. Payment: Upon publication, we currently pay $15 for short stories we publish. In this early stage, we acknowledge that this payment is merely a token; however, as we grow, increasing our compensation for writers is our highest priority. How to submit: Please submit your work to [email protected], using the subject line (Submission-). In the body of the email please include a very brief cover letter with a 1-3 sentence bio describing your relevant writing background. Please, only submit one work at a time. We will not consider multiple works submitted at once. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. Your submission should be: Double spaced In a standard font (Times New Roman) 12 pt. font PDF or .docx Word count on title page Timing: we do respond to submissions as quickly as we are able. Please allow at least five weeks for us to...

Taking Submissions: Luna Station Quarterly – Winter 2020

Deadline: August 15th, 2020 Payment: $5 USD Theme: "Most" Speculative fiction, read below for specifics. Note: Open only for women-identified authors. Simply follow the schedule below to be notified when we close and open for submissions. Criteria Luna Station Quarterly publishes speculative fiction written by women-identified authors. We think women write awesome characters and really cool stories and we want to show it to the world. We will consider stories submitted by any woman writer, regardless of experience or writing resume. If you consider yourself on the woman end of the gender spectrum in any significant capacity, you’re welcome here! Stuff we want: Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera New Fairy Tales (not retellings) Some creepiness Stories that explore the nooks and crannies of an original world Big events from the everyman perspective Unique settings and storytelling forms Well written stories with strong characters Stuff we don’t want: Anything biased toward any religion, race or moral preference Extreme gore or sexual content, in particular no explicit rape or sexual assault. (everything in moderation) Bizarro fiction Poetry Fan Fiction (original stories only, please) Bad grammar/punctuation (please proofread and watch your sentence structure!) Plagiarism A further note about sex and violence in submissions. Science fiction has a long-standing tradition of pushing boundaries and asking difficult questions. It is meant to challenge us and ask us to look at ourselves and how we treat each other and the world around us. That said, LSQ is centered on uplift and so any story that contains explicit sexual situations or violence especially toward women will be considered more carefully than other stories and the content must be justified within the story’s arch. Format and Details Stories should be 500 to 7000 words in length. We may publish longer or shorter works, but the greater your story is...

Taking Submissions: No Police = Know Future

Deadline: August 15th, 2020 Payment: $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. Theme: Potential (and hopefully positive) futures that involve alternatives to modern day policing. Note: Reprints Welcome After the brutal murder of George Floyd by the police, the world responded in righteous protest, with cries of “Black Lives Matter.” The police responded to these calls in large part with even more brutality, with video after video emerging that showed an assault on the public. And more cries came forth, with calls to defund the police. But what’s that mean? Science Fiction writers, this is your call to arms. Give us your potential (and hopefully positive) futures that involve alternatives to modern day policing. We want stories that replace the police entirely, dramatically reform them, or create parallel systems to refocus policing. We’re also seeking alternate concepts of rehabilitation and punishment as well, more emphasis on the carrot. In a world where police are perpetually brandishing their batons, I think we’ve all seen enough sticks.   SUBMIT TO NO POLICE KNOW FUTURE Now, We know it may be difficult to think of a world without the police. They have been there all of our lives, in meticulous uniform, reinforced by countless movies. We recommend this article https://lifehacker.com/lets-abolish-the-police-force-184392… and this infographic at https://www.reddit.com/…/what_do_we_mean_when_we_say_defun…/ for inspiration. Story length is up to approximately 4,000 words for original fiction. We’re not going to reject something that stretches this limit out of hand, but know that the longer it gets, the harder a sell it becomes. Reprints can be up to 6,000 words. Most veins of SF welcome, with the exception of steampunk, dieselpunk or other SF that nestles us comfortably in a previous era. We are here now, in tumultuous times, and cannot go back. Let’s face a possible, achievable future bravely....

Taking Submissions: Infernal Clock: Dante’s Inferno

Deadline: August 15th, 2020 Payment: £10 Theme: Open to: LGBTQIA and POC Note: Payment: £10 and ebook Theme: Dante’s Inferno Closing Date: 15th August 2020 Open to: LGBTQIA and POC Length: 3-5k The Infernal Clock is the side-project of Stephanie Ellis and David Shakes. After a year’s break, they are bringing it back with the Inferno edition. Stories have been by invite but we are opening up 9 spaces to members of the LGBTQIA and POC communities only in order to be more representative. The theme is Dante's Inferno and each story will be set in one of the circles or the passages to/between circles.  Whilst there are nine circles, there are a number of rings - or pouches - within each circle so there is a lot of scope. How you interpret your chosen circle/ring is up to you, eg it could be set below in the Inferno itself, it could focus on a particular sin, or you could recreate this hell actually on earth.  We are particularly interested in stories set in the Second and Eighth Circles as we do not have any of these yet, although you are welcome to write in the other circles as well. Stories need to be dark (but with the usual boundaries against extremes and gratuity) and 3-5k with flexibility, although we would prefer 4k. Stories must be submitted in standard manuscript format as .doc or .docx to [email protected]. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. No reprints. Payment will be by paypal on publication. If you have any queries please contact us at the above email address.