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Taking Submissions: All Dark Places 3

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: Royalties Deadline – July 31st, 2021 Publication – October 2021 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level. IMPORTANT INFORMATION Maximum of two submissions per anthology per author. Authors can submit to all anthologies simultaneously. Reprints from third party sources accepted IF author currently holds full rights. We will not publish duplicate stories within DSP. Royalties are paid quarterly. Anthology story rights revert back to the author after one year from publication date. Do not submit anthology stories with chapters. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s deadline. After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. POETRY SUBMISSIONS: All poetry needs to be contained within a single email. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Taking Submissions: Haunted: A Ghostly Anthology

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: Flash fiction 500-1000 words: $5AU, Short story 1000 - 5000 words: $10AU, Short story 5000 - 10000 words: $15AU, Short story 10000 - 15000 words: $20AU Theme: Stories featuring haunted places, people and objects Note: Australian and NZ based authors only Note: Reprints Welcome Haunted: A Ghostly Anthology We are looking for original poetry, flash fiction and short stories 500 - 15000 words featuring haunted places, people and objects with an anticipated December 2021 release date. Reprints are welcome, but the author must own relevant rights. SUBMISSIONS OPEN TO AUSTRALIAN AND NZ BASED AUTHORS SUBMISSIONS OPEN FEB 1 2021 TO JULY 31 2021 Token payments for accepted works are as follows: Poetry: $5AU per poem, up to 4 poems allowed Flash fiction 500-1000 words: $5AU Short story 1000 - 5000 words: $10AU Short story 5000 - 10000 words: $15AU Short story 10000 - 15000 words: $20AU TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: Every page of the manuscript must include a header with the following information: STORY TITLE justified left, Author’s first initial and full last name justified right Every page of the manuscript must include a footer with a centered page number. One-inch (1″) margins all around Use only .doc or .docx formats. No other formats will be accepted. All manuscripts must be double-spaced. Indent the first line of each paragraph by .5 inches. Use Calibri 12 pt font. Do not manipulate the font or formatting, other than italics for emphasis. Do NOT use tabs, instead use paragraph format settings for first line indents. Submit Now Via: Specul8.

Taking Submissions: 𝘊𝘦𝘤𝘪 𝘯’𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘥’𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘳 (𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺)

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: £15 and a contributors copy Theme: Horror-focussed stories inspired and influenced by the transgressive fiction genre We have a very exciting announcement to make today; we are now officially open for submissions to our debut anthology, titled Ceci n’est pas une histoire d’horreur (This is Not a Horror Story). The title is inspired by artist René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images, and we are seeking short stories of surrealist, transgressive fiction with a horror twist. Our cover art will be finalised and uploaded to this page in the near future. If this has piqued your interest, please scroll down for the full details! What are We Looking For? First and foremost, we are looking for the unusual and the provocative. We are seeking horror-focussed stories inspired and influenced by the transgressive fiction genre. Short fiction in a similar vein to authors such as Kathy Acker, J. G. Ballard, Poppy Z. Brite, William S. Burroughs, Brett Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Hubert Selby Jr.. In terms of setting and theme, we are open to anything, so long as the narrative bears the hallmarks of transgressive fiction; protagonists that rebel against society and its norms, themes of struggling with one’s own identity, disillusionment and frustration. How those concepts are interpreted and presented is up to you. We are also open to the experimental and the abstract. Stories that play around with standard form and convention. Think short fiction similar to that found in Paul Tremblay’s Growing Things and Other Stories. The more bizarre, the better. We are not the squeamish sort, so be as wild and grotesque as you wish. Erotic content is fine too and will be considered, so long as it exists to serve the narrative. More or less anything goes, though if your story is blatantly racist or homophobic it will be instantly rejected. We encourage...

Taking Submissions: Beneath the Yellow Lights

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Theme: A modern world overrun by fantasy, details below! Thank you for your interest in Oddity Prodigy Productions! We are thrilled to announce that we are now accepting submissions for our latest anthology "Beneath the Yellow Lights" a collection of stories featuring urban magic and fantasy. On the heels of our successful horror anthology "Scary Stuff" we decided to change gears and move into the realm of the mystical! The details are listed below in this email. We look forward to your submissions, Oddity Prodigy Productions Details: Oddity Prodigy Productions is proud to announce we are open for submissions on our latest anthology: Beneath the Yellow Lights! This will be the second anthology published by OPP to accept submissions, following the success of Scary Stuff, our previous anthology. There is a planned kickstarter to cover publishing costs. Publishing date and distribution is as yet undecided. The deadline for Submissions is July 31st, 2021 What We’re Looking For: Imagine your favorite coffee shop is run by elves, or the band playing speed metal at the club is made up entirely of orcs. That graffiti on the side of the building that seems too high for humans to have reached? Maybe it was painted by wizards? Beneath the Yellow Lights is the place to explore the urban fantasy landscape! Finding the places where magic and modern day meet is our goal. We are looking for urban fantasy stories that feature fantasy elements such as magic and mythical creatures in urban environments. Take a look at the Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher, the works of Charles de Lindt, Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty series, or Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. What We’re Not Looking For: We aren’t looking for science fiction, futurism, cyberpunk, high fantasy...

Taking Submissions: Monsters, Monsters, Monsters, Monsters

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $5.00 Theme: ...Monsters!   We are looking for monsters, of course, be it werewolves, vampires, unspeakable creatures from the darkest depths of space or the innermost circles of hell, and any manner of earthly animals running amok. And, don't forget the most heinous monster of them all, who just may be the sweet, unassuming neighbor who lives in the house next to yours... PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 4K-10K word count * Write 'MONSTERS' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) Deadline: 31 July 2021 NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 120K words in total.   Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Taking Submissions: NonBinary Review #25 Prohibition

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word for prose, $10 for poetry Theme: Prohibition NonBinary Review is a quarterly digital literary journal that joins poetry, fiction, essays, and art around each issue's theme. We invite  authors to explore each theme in any way that speaks to them: re-write a  familiar story from a new point of view, mash genres together, give us a personal essay about some aspect of our theme that has haunted you all  your life. We also invite art that will accompany the literature. All submissions must have a clear and obvious relationship to our theme. Submissions with no clear relationship to the theme will be rejected. Although you may submit more than once, we can only accept ONE piece per author/artist per issue. We are open to submissions which relate to the idea of PROHIBITION.   We know — the United States during Prohibition, which lasted from January 17, 1920 through December 5, 1933, was tough. We've heard all the stories about the bootleggers and the rum runners and the speakeasies. We've read all about Carrie Nation, the American Temperance Union, and Eliot Ness. We'd like to see what else you've got. Have you got a story about what life would look like if orange juice had been prohibited, rather than alcohol? How about a story of someone from another country coming to the US during Prohibition? How about a story about things that were invented during Prohibition specifically because alcohol wasn't available? We'd LOVE to see those! PROSE, WHICH INCLUDES FICTION, CREATIVE NON-FICTION, AND FLASH NonBinary Review accepts fiction and creative non-fiction of up to 3,000  words in length, although shorter is probably better. Fiction should be double spaced, 12-point type, in Times New Roman in a  Word document or text file. We do not accept .pdfs. Authors...

Taking Submissions: Spirit Machine (Early Listing)

Submission Window: June 1st - July 31st, 2021 Payment: $0.08/word Theme: Stories that merge Science Fiction with Spiritualism and/or a dash of Steampunk. We are seeking stories that drift in alternate realities of Spirit Machine, an anthology that merges Science Fiction with Spiritualism and/or a dash of Steampunk. To be published in the Winter of 2021 by the Air and Nothingness Press. Theme Seance Fiction - A mashup of Spiritualism (seances, ouiji/spirit boards, kirlian auras, discarnated entities, ghost talking) and Science Fiction and/or Steampunk genres. Be wild, take chances, submit stories that are left of center. Show us your fireworks! Stories must combine elements of both Spiritualism and Science Fiction/Steampunk SF. No fantasy stories, no standalone ghost stories, no SF without aspects of Spiritualism. All stories are requested to be between 1500 and 3500 words in length. How to submit: Email your story to us. Submission Dates Submissions open: June 1, 2021 Submissions close: July 31, 2021 Reading/Review begins: August 1, 2021 Reading/Review ends: September 30th, 2021 All authors will be contacted by: October 15, 2021 Download the complete OC submission PDF here. General Submission Information We like to seek out new authors and book ideas ourselves rather than be contacted directly because we are a small, self-funded press, and only publish 4 books a year. We usually offer open call submissions on anthologies we decide to do, or we contact authors directly if we have particular needs. Ideal story lengths are between 1000-3000 words. We pay upon $0.08/word for the stories we publish. All of our books are limited editions of between 100 and 125 copies and we prefer to print physical books over creating ebooks. If, however, you are familiar with the sort of books we publish and you have a smashingly provocative collection of stories, a unique novella or...

Taking Submissions: Antifa Splatterpunk (Early Listing)

Submission Window: July 1st, 2021 – July 31st, 2021 Payment: $100 Theme: Anti-fascist splatterpunk stories This summer, I’ll be editing ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK, an anthology dedicated to–you guessed it–anti-fascist splatterpunk stories. In addition to pure splatterpunk, I’m also open to extreme horror with weird, bizarro, historical, or science fiction elements. Just keep it anti-fascist. The anthology is open to all writers, but I would especially like submissions from antifascist writers of marginalized groups. Note that some writers have specifically been invited to contribute. The anthology will be a mix of solicited stories and stories selected from the open call submission period. Stories should be between 2,000 and 4,500 words. Multiple submissions are not allowed. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but withdraw your submission immediately if it gets accepted elsewhere. No reprints. Open for submissions July 1st, 2021 – July 31st, 2021. I will announce accepted submissions by August 31st, 2021. Anthology will be published as both an electronic and print book in winter 2021. OTHER SUBMISSION CONSIDERATIONS If you’re retreading old ground and well-established tropes, make it fresh. I’m fine with horror that has erotic elements, but emphasis should be on the horror. Yes, make it anti-fascist, but don’t be moralizing. I want nuance. Stories that deal with bigotry are fine, but bigoted stories are not. I don’t want stories with graphic depictions of sexual violence. This is a splatterpunk anthology, so gore and extreme elements are encouraged, but make sure they serve story, character, and theme. FORMAT Use standard manuscript format. Send a doc/docx attachment. Do not copy-paste your story into the body of the email or submit it in any other format. We won’t read it if you do. Please send submission to [email protected]. Include your name, story title, and word count in the subject heading (e.g., Firstname Lastname— “Fascism...

Taking Submissions: Mythic Magazine 2021 Submission Call #1

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $0.04 cent a word and a contributors copy Theme: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. MYTHIC is seeking diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. We publish both new, original fiction. Authors are encouraged to submit their stories during the specific reading periods listed below. Reading Periods June 1 through July 31 December 1 through January 31 Guidelines Works should be between 2,000-6,000 words. (No wiggle room above or below.) 1.) Submit in Standard Manuscript Format We prefer Times New Roman or Courier and 12 point type. Double-spaced pages. Do not have tabs in your manuscript; please set first line indents. Please include your name and contact information at the beginning of the story. Submit in .doc, .docx, .rtf format. 2.) Please NO simultaneous or multiple submissions. Rights Purchased: For NEW/UNPUBLISHED FICTION, We are purchasing World English Rights Following an exclusivity period, all other rights revert to the author. MYTHIC retains a nonexclusive right to keep stories in the issue they appear for as long as the issue remains in print. Compensation: At this time, we PAY $0.04 CENTS A WORD for NEW short fiction. We provide authors with one free copy of the issue in which their story appears. Payment made upon publication via PayPal. (We are not responsible for any transaction fees). To submit fiction: Send all stories to [email protected]. Your story should be attached. Put “New Submission: Title of Your Story” in the subject line. Please include your name, title, word count, and contact information in the body of the email. Note on nonfiction: All articles and other content are chosen in-house. Please do not submit queries at this time. If you have further questions, use the contact form.   Thank you for your interest in MYTHIC. Via: Mythic Magazine.

Taking Submissions: Otoroshi Journal 2021 Fall Issue (Early Listing)

Submission Window: July 1st - July 31st, 2021 Payment: $1 per accepted work Theme: Horror Poetry of specific types, details below What We're Looking For Otoroshi is looking for horrorku, horror tanka, and horror haibun. We also purchase cover art. We follow the modern, English understanding of these genres as they have been adapted to English since the middle of the 20th century. We expect people submitting to be familiar with these conventions. For horrorku, we are looking for clear, concise imagery with a strong juxtaposition. We prefer three-line poems, but single-line poems with clear juxtaposition will also be welcome. For horror tanka, we are looking for clear, concise imagery as well as an emotional element. For horror haibun, we are looking for pieces of no more than 100 words with a clear shift between the prose and the poetry section. For cover art, we are looking for pieces that are clearly within the horror genre. These images must be PG-13, so please no nudity, limited violence, and limited gore.   The Submission may include any or all of the following: · Up to seven (7) horrorku or horror tanka · Up to three (3) haibun · Up to five (5) pieces of cover art All submissions must be original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by a print or web-based journal. Posts in closed, critique-oriented groups and social media sites are acceptable for submission, but public posts on forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are not. By submitting a piece to us, you are guaranteeing that it is your original work and not under consideration or published anywhere else in the world. E-mail submission is required. Type poems into the body of the e-mail; no attachments of poetry will be opened. For art submissions, please include all...

Taking Submissions: Aurealis Magazine Global 2021 Window (Early Listing)

Submissoin Window: July 1st - July 31st, 2021 Payment: A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words, A$20 is for unsolicited work. Theme: All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a “speculative” nature will be considered Aurealis is open to submissions as follows: Submissions from Australian and New Zealand writers: 1 February – 30 September Submissions from anyone anywhere: 1 July  – 31 July 2021 Subscribers are fast-tracked through the assessment process. Fiction guidelines Aurealis is looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words. All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a “speculative” nature will be considered, but we do not want stories that are derivative in nature, particularly those based on TV series. We do not publish horror without a supernatural element. Although we are an Australian-based publication, we are open to submissions in English from anywhere in the multiverse during specific reading periods. Stories containing an unacceptable number of spelling mistakes and typos, and those that do not conform to our guidelines in other ways, will be rejected automatically. This may seem harsh, but we are being honest about it. Please take the time to polish your work in every way before you send it to us. Aurealis pays between A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words, but assume the lower rate for unsolicited submissions.  Payment is made soon after the publication of the issue containing your story. Minimum payment is A$20. You will also receive a free electronic copy of the issue containing your story. We buy First Electronic Publication Rights and the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print and digital anthology. All other rights remain with the contributor. The story must not be published elsewhere for a period of twelve months after it appears in electronic...

Taking Submissions: Pulp Harvest

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: £15 Theme: Serial Killers and slashers edited by Nick Harper Submissions open from June 13th to July 31st. Please send your submission to [email protected] with the subject heading "STORY TITLE - AUTHOR NAME" and include an author bio (up to 150 words).  ​ We're looking for stories between 1,000-5,000 words with a theme of SERIAL KILLERS AND SLASHERS. Bonus points if you can work in any references to autumn, Halloween, or the harvest, but we'll consider any story within this theme. Please ensure any scenes of a sexual nature are necessary and non-exploitative. Submit Now! Please refer to individual submissions calls for guidelines on theme, length, and where to send your work, etc. as these can vary from book to book. ​ In general, please follow these guidelines. Any submissions not following these guidelines may, unfortunately, be rejected. ​ 1. Email your submission to the email address that corresponds to the submissions call you are applying for. For example, email any "Pulp Harvest" submissions to [email protected]. Please include your name and the title of your submission in the subject header. ​ 2. Please make sure your work is double-spaced and in a 12pt font. Please DO NOT use the "tab" or "space" key to indent your paragraphs - instead, use the ruler at the top of the page.  ​ 3. Make sure you're happy with the piece you're submitting. Most of our submissions windows are fairly wide, and we're always happy to take into consideration edits at a later stage, but we want you to be as confident in the work you're submitting as you can be.  ​ 4. You will notice that the email address for each of the upcoming submissions windows is open, and accessible from this page - please do not send us your submission...

Taking Submissions: Halloween Horror: Volume 3

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $20, $5 for reprints Theme: Spooky, scary, gross, funny, dark, or demented tales about Halloween! Note: Reprints accepted Halloween Horror: Volume 3 It's time for another round of Halloween Horror! Same as last year, we're looking for spooky, scary, gross, funny, dark, or demented tales all about our favorite holiday, Halloween. We look forward to reading your stories about the horrors lurking in the dark on All Hallows' Eve. Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $20 plus electronic contributor copy. $5 plus electronic contributor copy for reprints. Word count: 2,000 - 15,000 (A little over or under is fine)   Important Bits · Include a bio or greeting with your email. We don't need a lot, but at least let us know who you are. · Please send all submissions as a .docx or .rtf attachment with the subject line of your email as: DBND - HH3 - Story Title.  · Stories sent after the submission deadline will be rejected unread. · Multiple submissions welcome. · Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your submission is picked up elsewhere.   Send submissions to: [email protected] Via: DBND Publishing.

Taking Submissions: Mysterion Fall 2021

Submission Window: July 1st - July 31st, 2021 Payment: 8 cents/word and 4 cents/word for reprints Theme: Speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology Note: Reprints welcome Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!). Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits a story written on their own, that would not violate our no multiple submissions policy. Submitting two stories co-written by the same two people would violate our no multiple submissions policy. Don't resubmit a story we've...

Taking Submissions: 34 Orchard Fall 2021 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: July 1 - July 31st, 2021 Payment: $50 Theme: Dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. What We Publish At 34 Orchard, we like dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad. We like things we can’t put down and things that make us go “wow” when we’ve finished. But our main goal here at 34 Orchard is to publish the stuff we like to read, and you’re not in our heads. So don’t over think it. Just submit. We are an international journal and welcome submissions from everyone, all over the world. Word Counts Short fiction from 1000 to 7500 words Poetry any style or length When We Publish We publish two issues per year, one in the spring (April) and one in the fall (November). Issues are hosted on this site as PDFs. Reading Period Our reading period for the Spring Issue is January 1-January 31. Our reading period for the Fall Issue is July 1-July 31. We only accept submissions, therefore, during January and July. Anything submitted to us outside those months will be deleted unread, and no response will be sent. Simultaneous Submissions Yes, we welcome and encourage them! Just notify us at [email protected] if it’s been accepted elsewhere as soon as you know. Multiple Submissions No. We only consider one piece of fiction per writer at a time. Poetry: you may send up to three at once as three separate documents attached to one email. Reprints No. We don’t accept anything from our open submissions call that has been previously published. How to Submit and Formatting Industry Standard (see Shunn), Times New Roman 12 point font/Double spaced Send as a .doc only (no docx, rtf, pdf) attachment to [email protected] Please note that if you send us anything but a .doc, your story will be automatically rejected unread. We will not be...

Taking Submissions: Front Zone Issue #5 – Halloween & Holiday Horrors

Submission Window: July 3rd - July 31st 2021 Payment: flash: 600-1000 $6.00 CAD, short story 1001-2499 words $10.00 CAD, short story 2500-3500 words 12.00 CAD poetry: 6.00 CAD per poem Theme: Halloween & Holiday Horrors issue Canadian eZine of Horror, Dark Fiction, and Poetry SUBMISSION GUIDELINES and TERMSfor Issue 5 Guidelines and terms change from issue to issue, so please read. To re-visit guidelines/terms as they were for issue 4 see here. NOTE: Beginning with this issue, Frost Zone Zine is an electronic publication: eZine, eBook, NO print copies. (There will be other print opportunities in the future, for different projects.) THEME for this issue: Halloween and Holiday Horrors Stories set on or near Halloween, Christmas, Yule, or other winter Holidays. Seasonal settings of autumn and early winter are also acceptable, as long as the season plays a significant role, otherwise please do not send general horror or poetry, all submissions must fit the theme to be considered.October through December holiday stories from the southern hemisphere (and with spring/summer settings) are also fine — but such stories must include Halloween, Christmas, or other holidays, otherwise they are general horror. SUBMISSIONS OPEN JULY 03 – JULY 17 What we want: Supernatural. Quiet Horror. Gothic. Paranormal. Eerie. Strange. Magic. Preferably 20th or 21st century, real-world settings. Clear and concise is the way to go. From our interview with Matthew G. Rees in issue 4:“It’s important in a story not to go overboard with reams of description: a short story needs to get on with the business of telling its story. But meaningful, sensorial things need to be brought (economically) into play.” Fiction.Original, unpublished, never-broadcast short stories 1200-3500 words. Submit 1 or 2 stories for consideration. Please EDIT your work prior to submitting it.Also non-paying* opportunities: Poetry, Fiction under 1200 words (includes flash fiction 400 – 1000 words, drabble (exactly 100 words), and microfiction 101-400 words. Submit...

Taking Submissions: Executive Dread

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $.005 per word. Theme: Stories of workplace horror In “Executive Dread” we seek stories of workplace horror. We've all had the terrible boss. Also, the great boss, but the corporate creeps atop him or her that drop all the bullshit. The crazy coworker. The obsessed client. The workplace farter who coughs all over everything. The theft of your food from the office refrigerator. There are a million more things. We seek stories that take place at the office. Before many of us started working from home due to COVID-19. That’s a whole other anthology. Please no stories focusing solely on sexual harassment or discrimination. Those are troubling real-life work horror stories, but not ones we want to feature in this anthology. "Executive Dread" Guidelines Here are a couple of tips to put your story in better position to be accepted. 1. Fit the theme. Office. Horror. Scare us and make us wanna retire immediately. 2. Be within our word count guidelines (for “Executive Dread”, 2000 to 5000) or query us for shorter/longer. 3. No matter how good your story is, if it hasn't been edited, there is a big chance we won't accept it. In the past, we've accepted stories that needed a lot of editing work, but it took so much effort to make them presentable. We aren't doing that anymore. If within a page or two of reading the story we find a bunch of editing issues, it's going to be rejected. 4. Be unique. No matter what the theme of the anthology is, you should always be unique. If it's a stalker anthology for example, and your ex or some guy you work with is your stalker, it's trite. If your grandma is stalking your fiancée, well, that's unique. 5. At Jolly Horror Press, we prefer subtle horror. We generally don't like gruesome...

Taking Submissions: Enchanted Entrapments

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: Something or someone beautiful that will enslave or destroy you Theme: The discovery of and entrapment within hidden, magical realms. Beautiful, magical lands that draw you in and rip you apart. Gorgeous men and women that enchant then enslave or poison you. Deadline: July 31, 2021 or until full Word count : 2,500 – 5,000 words Author eligibility : All authors are eligible Reprints : Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Maximum of two submissions per author Simultaneous Submissions : Not allowed Author Compensation: $10 per accepted story How to submit : Please follow classic Shunn formatting guidelines. Send your story as a Word format attachment to [email protected]. The file name must include your pen name and story title. Your email subject should be “ – – ” The body of the email must contain the name of the anthology, the word count, the author’s real name, and the author’s pen name. We will notify you of our decision no later than 4 weeks after the submission deadline date. Thank you! Via: Mad House Book

Taking Submissions: K is for Kidnap

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: £10 Theme: K is for Kidnap Being kidnapped must be a pretty terrifying ordeal – we’re looking for stories that convey that feeling of terror but we’re also looking for diversity. Think about who is being taken and by whom, are the kidnappers even human? We are currently calling for submissions for a series of horror anthologies – The A-Z of Horror. The series will be based on a variety of themes and will consist of twenty-six books in total. We are looking for short horror stories, between 4000 and 8000 words, on each of the themes listed below. You may submit to more than one book, but we will only include a maximum of one story from each author, in each book. Being accepted into one book does not guarantee acceptance into one of the others. The story must be your own work, to which you hold the rights. The story must not be available elsewhere and, if accepted, we will hold the rights to it for three months from the date of publication. After that time, you may use the story however you wish. Any sub-genre of horror is suitable, even extreme, so long as the story fits the theme of that book and does not include anything which may unnecessarily cause offence (glorification of child abuse, rape, etc.). Payment for the story will be £10, to be paid by PayPal, as well as a contributor’s e-book of the finished book. Please send submissions in a Word document (ideally Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced) to [email protected] with the title of the book you are submitting to in the subject line. Please ensure you have included your name on the Word document. If you have any queries, feel free to get in touch using...