Events

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Other Virginia The Other Virginia (November 1, 2020) 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...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: Winter: Loud music filled the room, making it hard to hear anything else. Due date: November 1, 2020 We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually three to four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $0.01/word + a print copy of the anthology Theme: Adventure horror Off Limits Press is now accepting short fiction submissions for Far From Home, an anthology of adventure horror. Please carefully read the submission guidelines below before submitting. Submission Guidelines: Far From Home is an anthology of adventure horror. We are seeking original, unpublished short horror stories which strongly incorporate adventure. Adventure is intended to be interpreted broadly and may include, but is certainly not limited to, tales involving mountaineering, cave diving, the open sea, parkour, rafting, treasure hunting, arctic expedition, and caving. We are interested in and welcome most horror sub-genres, so long as the theme is strongly incorporated. Stories may include horror steeped in realism and/or the supernatural. Word Count: 2,000 - 8,000 words Deadline: The submission deadline is November 1st, 2020. Notification Deadline: All submissions will receive a decision by December 1st, 2020. Payment: $0.01/word + a print copy of the anthology Formatting: Please send submissions in standard manuscript format as a MS Word or PDF attachment. Please include a brief cover letter in the body of the email, including title, author name, and word count. Please put the title of the submission and the author name in the subject line. Please send submissions to: [email protected]. Please note: Cover art is subject to change. Submissions will not be accepted outside of the posted deadline. Via: Off Limits Press.

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $75 Theme: Second chances We are pleased to announce there will be a short story anthology for Bouchercon 2021. Our goal is to raise money for the New Orleans public library, which is desperately in need of funding. All of the proceeds after publishing costs will be deducted and the rest will go to the library, along with the proceeds from our live and silent auctions. In addition to stories published by some of our guests of honor and invited authors, we are asking for blind submissions from our Bouchercon friends. We hope most of the stories in the anthology will come from these blind submissions, and will include emerging voices, new voices, and authors who are in the early years of publication. We are eager to hear from everyone, but if you have never been in a Bouchercon anthology before, we urge you to please submit! Submission guidelines: Short stories must be less than 4000 words. Stories must not have been published anywhere else previously. The theme of this anthology is second chances, redemption, second try, play it again. Since this is the second Bouchercon in New Orleans, we may call it Second Time Around— but that is still in the works.  Any ideas, love to hear them. The story DOES NOT have to be set in New Orleans. Your story should be submitted only to me at the email below. I will blind it and send it on to our staff of reviewers and readers. You will be paid $75.00 for each story we publish so you meet the guidelines for certain awards in our industry.  But you could donate that money back to New Orleans Public Library and get a tax write off and help them in their time of need. If...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $15 fee Theme: Haunted holidays Submissions are currently open for one issue of The Periodical, Forlorn: Volume I, Issue II ​ Theme: Haunted holidays. ​ For this issue, we don't want tales of peace on earth and good will to men. We don't want to hear about the warmth of family gatherings or how the Christmas spirit inspires a new outlook on life for those once thought irredeemable We want to know how misfits and outcasts approach the holiday season. We want to know how ghouls and goblins and all manner of pagan creatures mark the season. ​ Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Guidelines for All Submissions: Word Limit: 6,000 words ​ Compensation: flat $15 fee upon publication, plus a digital copy of the magazine (which you're free to share). ​ Format: We will accept short-form fiction any way you want to write it. This can include poetry, flash fiction or short stories. We're particularly interested in the subversion of form. We don't care about hard and fast rules, so don't worry too much about formatting. If you feel its good, chances are that shines through in the writing. And we want to read it. ​ Genre: Anything that's dark, creepy, weird and just a little off-kilter. We're open to genre fiction, particularly anything related to horror, science-fiction, speculative fiction or weird fiction. But we're also interested in anything that twists or subverts these genres in some unexpected way. ​ Simultaneous submissions: We will accept simultaneous submissions, but please inform us if this applies to you. If a story may be pulled away from us at the last minute, we want to know as this may affect our decision on acceptance. ​ Multiple Submissions: Please only send us one submission at a time. If your submission is rejected, we will then accept another...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: 4 cents per word Theme: The Bonds That Unite Us / Los lazos que nos unen The Themes for Year 1 are: #1: The Bonds That Unite Us / Los lazos que nos unen #2. Myths and Monsters / Mitos y monstruos #3: Beyond the Stars / Más allá de las estrellas #4: Love Needs No Translation / El amor no necesita traducción The Bonds that Unite Us Constellations are the product of human imagination, giving meaning to the patterns we see in the sky. From these scintillating dots lighting up the night, we’ve created stories about heroes, legends, and mythological creatures. We created those bonds, and we give them meaning. Each culture that has looked up at the sky with wonder has its own interpretation of these connections, and now we want to hear yours. What are the bonds that unite our cultures and languages around the world? How are these bonds formed, and what upholds them? How can they be broken and forged again? What unites an alien civilization to humankind? What ties the dragon to the unicorn and prevents it from making a meal out of her? Sometimes these bonds are ones of blood. (Vampire tastes may vary.) Sometimes they’re shaped by shows of courage and strength, and the common struggles we face. These bonds can topple walls and bring down civilizations, and sometimes they’re the foundation for something new. The theme is open to interpretation, as long as the stories fit under the speculative fiction umbrella. Myths and Monsters Since the dawn of time, humans have stared into the abyss and wondered what hid in the darkness. Tell us about the myths and monsters that have shaped your perception of the unknown. Do your monsters hide in broad daylight or lurk in the shadows? Are they under the bed or...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: A school of magic that accepts, promotes, and celebrates diversity. We want characters of racial, disability, gender, and sexuality diversity in this anthology. It doesn’t matter where your Dogbumps location is, and you can name the teachers and schoolmaster what you will. Note: Reprints welcome Editor: Jonathan W. Thurston Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable “Welcome to Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Wixards. We have locations across the globe and maybe even multiple in your country. We take in all types: Latinx, trans, disabled, lesbian, black, gay, etc. We are pleased to have you enrolled at our school and even more pleased to give you, whom society has deemed 'lesser,' a place where you can be celebrated just as you are.” Wayward (adj):  difficult to control or predict because of unusual or perverse behavior Hell no, we won't be controlled. Or silenced. It’s time for a school of magic that accepts, promotes, and celebrates diversity. We want characters of racial, disability, gender, and sexuality diversity in this anthology. It doesn’t matter where your Dogbumps location is, and you can name the teachers and schoolmaster what you will. The genre or type of narrative is completely up to you. Whether spell students are trying to research a forgotten curse or the alchemy instructor is exploring polyamory with two non-witches outside the school, it’s up to you! The rating of this anthology can go up to R, but nothing X or higher. So basically, no explicitly described sexual scenes although sex can happen. We don’t want this to be an erotic book. Also, watch that you don’t use any copyrighted characters, names, places, spells, or ideas in your story! World notes: The school is called Dogbumps Academy of Wayward...

Deadline: November 1st, 2020 Payment: $0.01/word Theme: The darker side of baked goods ​Sliced Up Press is looking for short stories involving cake for its debut horror fiction anthology, Slashertorte: An Anthology of Cake Horror, edited by Ben Walker. Delicious as cake might be, we want you to bring out the darker side of baked goods and give us something scary, disturbing or just plain wrong. What we’re looking for: All submissions must be in the horror genre. While bizarro, splatterpunk and extreme horror are welcomed, we will not consider stories involving rape. We are especially interested in stories from under-represented groups in horror i.e. women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors. All submissions must be original. We will not accept reprints, or stories published elsewhere including on blogs, social media etc. No reworked pizza stories please. Submit your best work in standard manuscript format, as an MS Word .doc or .docx attachment. Authors may submit one story maximum for consideration. Do not re-send rejected stories. No simultaneous submissions. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & TERMS: Please email submissions to [email protected] using the following format in the email subject line: Submission: – – . (so your email should look like this: Submission: Joe Bloggs – Cake or Death – 1,500 words) In the body of the email, please include an author bio of 3-4 sentences maximum. Payment: $0.01/word Length: 2,000 words maximum – longer pieces will not be considered. Deadline for submissions: 1st November 2020, or until filled Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 30th November 2020 at the latest. If you have not heard back by the closing date of 30th November 2020, your story has been rejected. If you do receive a rejection, it will be a form letter – we will not critique your story. Please do not email to enquire after your submission, unless you...