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Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Price: $30 Theme: Stories set in the Starship Blunder universe (links to that universe below if you're unfamiliar with the world.) The Starship Blunder is an aging military vessel and part of a small space federation. Please read the Setting Overview, Character Profiles, and Intro story before submitting your story. WHAT WE WANT: Writers must be at least 18-year-old to submit their story. Diverse Storytelling: Humorous tales are our core, but feel free to delve into darker themes, explore romance, or follow whatever path your creativity takes you. Word Count: Ideally, stories should be between 2,000 and 10,000 words. Exceptional stories outside this range will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Originality in the Universe: We welcome your fictional planets and alien species. Expand the Starship Blunder universe with your imagination! Character Diversity: Bring us characters of all shapes, sizes, and species. We love variety and uniqueness in our cosmic cast. Engaging Narratives: Whether it's a light-hearted escapade or a thought-provoking journey, we're looking for stories that captivate and entertain. Ready for Print: Submissions should be well-edited and ready for publication, requiring minimal editorial changes. Multiple Submissions: If you feel sufficiently inspired by the universe, feel free to submit multiple stories! Submission Process: Submissions must be made through this form.  Excessive Gore: While a bit of space skirmish or alien encounter is fine, we prefer gore that serves the plot and isn't gratuitous. Erotica: Romance? Absolutely! But please, no explicit erotica. Child Abuse: Stories involving any form of child abuse will not be considered. Dismantling the Core World: Please don't destroy our beloved Starship Blunder or Neptune. Also, avoid killing off any canonical characters. AI Generated Stories: AI is great, and feel free to use it to brainstorm, outline, and correct grammar, but all of the prose of your story should be your own. More Details Payment: $30 per accepted story. Publishing Details: The Starship Blunder...

Deadline: June 30, 2024 Payment: $15 Theme: Speculative fiction, primarily horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Note: Reprints welcome Formatting Guidelines This is proving to be a recurring problem, so we're putting it up front. Please, for all our sakes, read this next part carefully. All submissions should be sent by e-mail (no letters or telephone calls please) to [email protected]. Below are some formatting rules to help us process your submission more quickly. EMAIL AND COVER LETTERS Email is accepted in both text and HTML formats. When submitting, please put this in the subject line: Submission: (Title) - (First and Last name) Include the following in the body of the email and in the attached submission: Your name Name to use on the story (byline), if different Your preferred email address Your mailing address The story's title The story's word count You may also include a cover letter in the body of the email. We get a lot of strange stuff in cover letters, so if you're unsure of what goes in them (and especially what doesn't) please refer to these cover letter tips: How to write a cover letter | What not to put in a cover letter by Jed Hartman SUBMISSION FORMATTING We ONLY accept submissions as attachments! All stories submitted as an attachment must follow standard manuscript formatting. We will no longer read any story not properly formatted. (And we much prefer Courier New to Times New Roman) For explanations and tips on what SMF is and how to do it with word processing programs, please see this article. Please send your submission as an attachment in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Rich Test Format (.rtf) only. Other formats, such as Works, WordPerfect, Open Office, etc., have proven difficult to open. Please note that we no longer accept "inline" submssions; that is, submissions with the stories pasted...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: 6 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Cosmic Horror stories set in and around Arkham, Innsmouth, and other mythos related areas that take place in or are associated with Lovecraftian tales AND which feature a public or private institution of some sort Dragon’s Roost Press is please to announce the open call for our next anthology. We have previously published collections of short stories which mix Lovecraftian Mythos with elements of Romance (Eldritch Embraces: Putting the Love Back in Lovecraft) and with Humor (LOLcraft: A Compendium of Eldritch Humor). This time instead of focusing on emotions, we want to look at setting. Specifically, we want to look at how different institutions have to deal with the eldritch abominations of Lovecraftian horror. Arkham Institutions (tentative title) will feature 10 – 15 short stories focusing on the various aspects of government and business and their relationship with the oddness that creeps up in and around that most (in)famous New England Town. What We Are Looking For We want to see Cosmic Horror stories set in and around Arkham, Innsmouth, and other mythos related areas that take place in or are associated with Lovecraftian tales AND which feature a public or private institution of some sort. What does Arkham Elementary teach? What weird cases does law enforcement have to deal with? What kind of people are seen in the Emergency Room? The psych ward? The local library? We are still looking for character driven stories, but make sure that these places are characters in their own rights. Draw us in and make us feel like we are there. NOTE: We are not looking for stories set at Miskatonic University nor the Orne Library. There are plenty of stories with these settings. Give us something new. What We Want Original short stories, 3 – 5K words...

Submission Window: June 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Your take on the idea of what "The Earth Bleeds At Night" means, some examples and samples below ​We want you to get creative with this one and use the title for inspiration. Looking for a suggestion? Take the theme 'earth' and write us an eco-horror, go full body horror and run with the 'bleeds', or use "night" and give us your nighttime stalkers, your dark dwelling monsters... Whatever you decide and however you spin the title, remember to give us your best! We are NOT looking for stories that glorify sexual assault, rape, or bestiality. OPEN NOW May 14, 2024 - June 30, 2024 ​ ​ ​ Payment:  Professional rate of ¢5 per word USD after approved edits. ​​Word count: 2000 - 5000  (up to 20% wiggle room. Please don't email us asking if you can submit.) Reprints? No ​Multiple Submission? No 💀 Only one submission per author per theme/quarter.  ​Formatting: Shunn - Follow the details on the link below, please. Proper Manuscript Format for Fiction Writers | William Shunn   How to submit?  We will be using a Google Docs form when the submission window has opened. ​ What we are looking for: Unique, clever, and terrifying stories. Well-written relatable characters with flaws and real dialogue. Take us on a journey and scare the sh*t out of us while doing it.  ​ What we are not looking for: Erotica (some sex is fine, just not all of it), rape, and animal abuse (kill the dog, but don't f* it). ​ Curated by Holley Cornetto and Michelle River SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 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. ...

Submission Window: June 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: 1 cent per word Theme: Stories of cozy cosmic horror that illuminate the elegance and grace and compassion that persists against the vast background of unrelenting emptiness At the end, when the last star dies and the cold begins to seep in, what will be the totality of our accomplishments? What will have been the point? And will anyone notice that we’re gone?  Probably not.  Well, your cat will notice because who is going to get annoyed when they knock a teacup off the desk? And what’s the point of barfing on the rug in the middle of the night if someone doesn’t step in it the following morning?  If the true terror at the center of cosmic horror is the vast indifference the universe has for us, does that mean the closest thing we have to any sort of compassionate connection is . . . our cats? Ah, we are doomed.  Pay attention to them while you can, then, but not for more than five minutes at a time, and don’t—don’t ever—rub them like that.  This fall, Underland Press is publishing Even Cozier Cosmic, a follow-up anthology to last year’s The Cozy Cosmic. The cosmic indifference of the Universe (and of the dreaded intelligences that swim out there) may be unrelenting, but we still have to go about our days. We’re looking for stories of cozy cosmic horror that illuminate the elegance and grace and compassion that persists against the vast background of unrelenting emptiness. We reject nihilism and rejoice in the comforting weight of a furball in our laps (never mind that its razor-sharp claws will cut us the moment it thinks we’re going to move). We want to teeter along that fine line between big-eyed devotion and stark raving madness. The...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Pament: £0.015 per word (Flat £5 rate for under 300 words) Theme: Poetry that will be released as audio with the theme of: All Flowers Keep The Light In our world, nature and artifice blur, balancing us between oblivion and salvation.  Virtual habitats.  Immortal pets.  Bionic babies.  Unwind as an insect in the Metaverse  Or sow microchips like flowers.  AI. Cloning. Genetic engineering.  Nature has many new faces.  ​Plant stories that embrace nature's paradox; poems and music that dance between artifice and authenticity. Show us how our existence is intertwined with nature's complexities in this bold new world. Current Theme Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Submission Guidelines (check website for full guidelines): - Up to 5 mins or 500 words for poetry/flash fiction/songs - Up to 15 mins or 1800-3000 words for short stories/plays - Compensation: £0.015 per word (Flat £5 rate for under 300 words) - Original work only. Reprints accepted. - If the current theme doesn’t suit you, please feel free to send in your work anyway, as it may be suitable for future themes. Website: www.thelostpoetryclub.com Email: [email protected] The Lost Poetry Club is an audible zine. We aim to create a kaleidoscope of voices and materials. Chosen work will be dramatized, but you are openly encouraged to contribute to our M.A.F.P. (mind-altering frequency protocol) with your own recordings and performances for a fully collaborative experience. What to Submit: ​​ Short Stories/Scripts/Non-fiction: Up to 15 mins or 1800-3000 words. Poetry/Flash Fiction: Up to 5 mins or 500 words. Songs/Music/Other: Up to 10 mins. ​ Compensation:  Over 300 words: £0.015 per word.  Under 300 words: £5 flat rate. ​ Rights: If previously unpublished, we claim first-world on-going non-exclusive rights (text and audio) with 120 days of exclusivity from publication. However, we do accept reprints.  Any audio adaptations produced belong to us solely. Other formats like...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: $30 per poem, $70 per short fiction, CNF piece, and short play. $70 per visual art piece, $30 per comic Theme: Queer-focused stories of any genre: space opera, niche cryptid horror, experimental formats, and anything in between! Eavesdrop is a queer-focused multimedia magazine. Our tone is inclusive, playful, and passionate. Eavesdrop accepts any and all genres. Space opera, niche cryptid horror, experimental formats, and anything in between. We love genre fiction, especially when it’s done well. However, please note that we will not accept graphic sexual violence, hate speech, or discriminatory works. If your piece contains violence, deliver it with purpose. We recognize that violence is, unfortunately, part of our queer experiences, and we never want to censor anyone’s experience, but Eavesdrop wants to create a safe community for our content consumers and fellow artists. If you have any questions about this policy, please feel free to email us at [email protected]. This submission period will be from May 31st to June 30th, 2024. WHO CAN SUBMIT? Our mandate is to connect both emerging and established Canadian writers with audiences who care. For this issue, we are accepting international submissions. We prioritize submissions from BIPOC writers, writers with disabilities, LGBTQ2SIA+ writers, and writers from marginalized groups, but accept submissions from everyone. We also gladly accept submissions from artists we’ve published before, but will make a concerted effort to spread the love as much as we can so we can share more voices. Please send us your work, and tell your friends! WHAT WE ACCEPT: Fiction and Plays For this issue, we are seeking short stories and short plays of no more than 2500 words. Poetry We accept up to 5 poems in a submission. Each poem should be no longer than 2 pages single-spaced. Creative Non-Fiction...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky Note: Only considering fiction and non-fiction from writers who have never been published before Hello, ghouls! We are thrilled to announce that we are, once again, reading submissions for a new issue of our magazine Ghoulish Tales. This will be for our fourth issue. Issue 3 is in the process of being finalized and will come out next month. We strongly encourage you to subscribe now so you don’t miss it once it’s available. Plus, if you are not already familiar with the style & tone of the magazine, we highly encourage you to read one of our previous issues. Beginning this weekend, we will also start posting past stories on GHOULISH.RIP and our newsletter for free. With this new issue—Issue 4—we are doing something slightly different with our open call. This time, we are only considering fiction and non-fiction from writers who have never been published before.We want to see work from new writers only. I suppose you could call this the New Ghouls issue. Again, just to clarify: We only want writers who have never been published before, either in physical media or digital. Self-publishing counts as having been published—but we’re reasonable ghouls. If you simply posted a story on your blog or something, or perhaps printed out some DIY zine that you only shared with friends or whatever, you may still submit. Use common sense and, if in doubt, send us an email at [email protected] to state your case. This is just something we’re trying to do to help spotlight new writers and get their spooky feet in the door, right? No need for any of us to stress out too much about loop holes or technicalities. Also, if you’ve recently sold a work elsewhere, but it hasn’t come out yet,...

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: £10 Theme: Vampires! We're looking for short stories up to 5000 words, and poetry of any length. Submissions will close 30th of June, midnight GMT. Please send your work to us as a Word document with no headers/footers and no page numbers. We will accept one submission per author. Successful authors will receive a £10 payment, and it's free to submit your work to us for consideration. Please send your submissions to [email protected] Via: West Avenue Publishing.

Deadline: June 30th, 2024 Payment: $25 Theme: Dark Fantasy Call for Submissions – Dark Fantasy Short Stories Worldsmyths is now open to short story submissions for Dark Fantasy stories between 2k and 15k words. Dark Fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that features horror elements, disturbing or frightening themes. What we don’t want: We want darkness without tipping into despair, darkness without going into grimdark. Stories don’t have to have a happy ending for this submission. We also don’t want religious texts or essays. Stories below or over wordcount will be deleted unread. No AI generated or assisted stories. Submission Period: Now until June 30th at 11:59pm Length: 2000-15,000 words Genre: Dark Fantasy Pay: $25USD Rights: Exclusive right for a year, reprints after Reprints Accepted: No Simultaneous Submissions: No Who Can Submit: Anyone Where to Submit: https://forms.gle/aa2vwf5MnkxhLnT99(edited) Via: Wordsmyths.