Events

Submission Window: August 1st - 16th, 2024 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Thriller + Suspense + Psychological Horror that deal with Little Red Flags about cults, cons, and control The warning signs were there: those little red flags. But in the beginning, it all looked rose-colored. You thought you were getting community, belonging, and purpose. Maybe a lucrative new career. Maybe even salvation. Instead, you got control, fanaticism, greed, manipulation, and terror. Bring us your fiction stories of fanaticism, fundamentalism, extremism, and control. We want to read about cons people pull off that make our jaws drop. The horrors hiding just beyond the edges of our better judgment. We want the kind of monsters who hide in plain sight: charismatic cult leaders with a god-complex (think: NXIVM, Twin Flames Universe) and systems built to prey on the vulnerable (think: Lularoe). Give us MLM puppet masters, unhinged homeschooling movements, manipulative or extreme doomsday preppers, and weight-loss cults. We want characters who will give us a peek behind the veneer of a megachurch, an insider's view of the pressure to recruit for a pyramid scheme, an up-close look at love-bombing in action, along with the emotional fallout. NOTE: We’re not interested in stories that revolve around ideologies or theologies. Instead, we’re seeking stories that focus on the ways charismatic predators and extreme ideas lure vulnerable, well-meaning truth-seekers and turn ordinary people into monsters. We will give preference to well-executed, fast-paced, and dark psychological and suspense thrillers. We want twists that are earned and stories that really move and engage. Grab the reader by the eyeballs and don’t let go. This means well-written commercial prose. Think: The Push by Ashley Audrain, or anything Gillian Flynn writes. We want to create the grown-up version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Stories you’d want to read around the campfire to...