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Deadline: July 13th, 2024 Payment: 1 cent per word and a contributor copy Theme: Cozy horror. Fun horror. Classy horror. Dare we say, wholesome horror? Cozy horror. Fun horror. Classy horror. Dare we say, wholesome horror? Oxymoron? We don’t think so. One place you can start your exploration of this idea is an article from Nightmare Magazine penned by one of our co-founders. But perhaps the easiest way to understand what we mean is to read stories by some of the old masters we love: Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Roald Dahl. Watch classic episodes of Thriller, The Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery. Read old horror comics. Listen to radio dramas like Suspense, Quiet, Please, and Inner Sanctum Mysteries. Consume enough vintage horror, and you’ll probably begin to get an idea of the type of thing that’s likely to appeal to us. In short, we’re looking to provide a space for a type of storytelling that has largely gone out of style – dark and scary, but playful and approachable with an emphasis on plot. For a concrete example of the kind of thing we’re likely to love, grab a copy of our first issue, ON SALE NOW! To clarify further, here’s a list of things we want and things we don’t, which may help you hit the sweet spot. THINGS WE LOVE: Stories with a moral core. It need not happen in every tale, but we like to see good prevail (or at least evil punished). Ironic justice, in which cleverly nasty things happen to bad people, as in old EC comics, makes us chuckle with ghoulish delight. Well-earned twist endings. There’s nothing we love more than a really good surprise or a clever way to subvert our expectations. Pull the rug out from under us and leave us gasping. High concept settings and situations reminiscent...

Submission Window: July 1st - 14th, 2024 Payment: Advance and Royalties Theme: Atmospheric and thought-provoking novellas that intertwine a fascination of the natural world with horror and dread, and those that explore how we, as individual humans, interconnect with our communities, other species, and whole ecosystems Violet Lichen Books seeks to work with authors who have a strong attachment to the themes, people, or places they’re writing about, and who sling their dark tales straight from the heart. We are especially interested in works by marginalized and under-represented authors. What We’re Looking For We are looking for atmospheric and thought-provoking novellas that intertwine a fascination of the natural world with horror and dread, and those that explore how we, as individual humans, interconnect with our communities, other species, and whole ecosystems. We love weird fiction that unsettles, expands perspectives, and plays with bending reality, traditions, or tropes. Response Please allow at least 12 weeks for a response. After this, feel welcome to query! What We’re Not Looking For   Slasher horror, shock horror, extreme horror. Classic monsters (Unless completely subverted in a new and weird way). High fantasy, sword and sorcery, superheroes space opera. YA or MG. Full-length novels. Short story collections. Reprints. Word Count Novellas of 20,000 to 40,000 words Payment Industry standard advance and royalties. No AI We are not interested in works written by AI in any form or at any stage. We work with human-made art only. Our Wishlist New Weird, Weird, folk horror, eco-horror, eco-science-fiction, surreal horror, body horror, literary SFFH. Via: Violet Lichen Books.

Deadline: July 15th, 2024 Payment: $20 per story or artwork Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. submissions at electricspec (dot) comPlease don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may work with the author to edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story and the author has final approval. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up...

Submission Window: June 1st - July 15th, 2024 Payment: $50 for story, $25 for poem Theme: Speculative fiction including a black cat A black cat approaches, do you eagerly cross its path, or run in the opposite direction? From the superstitious to the unlucky, from a witch's familiar to a soul stealing grave robber, black cats have captured our imagination and remain solidly in the realm of the dark. Dazzle us with your best black cat story or poem. A black cat or a clowder of black cats must be featured predominantly in your story and not simply set decoration. Think outside of the box and show us something we haven't seen before. Submission Guidelines: Each author may submit 1 story and 1 poem, but must make two separate submission entries, one for each piece. Simultaneous submissions are allowed but we ask you withdraw upon acceptance elsewhere as soon as possible (email: [email protected]). All pieces will be screened through AI/Artificial Intelligence detection software and will be auto-rejected if AI is found. Double-check your work before submitting, any misspellings will make us grumpy and less likely to choose your piece. Genres: horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, erotica, weird westerns, cyberpunk, steampunk...we're open to all but prefer dark fiction. Word Count: 500 - 3,500 words for story, max 25 lines for poetry. These are firm guidelines, one word over or under and it's an auto-reject. Payment: $50 for story, $25 for poem via PayPal Reprints: We are only accepting original work for this anthology. No reprints please, that includes blogs, emails, websites, anthologies, podcasts, etc. Format: Submit your work in Shunn Standard Manuscript Format (Modern or Classic). Do not include your address. Please list your penname and email only. Your manuscript should be in DOC, DOCX, or PDF file format. Submission Window: Opens June 1st, Closes July 15, 2024 at midnight PST. All...

Deadline: July 15th, 2024 Payment: $20, and a hardcover copy of the anthology Theme: horror stories of all subgenres about souls wandering the earth after being separated from their bodies Word Count: 2,000-5,000 Call Open: June 1-July 15, 2024 Publication: One story included in each edition of our bi-weekly newsletter, July thru December 2024. In January, all stories will be published in a special hardcover anthology. Call: We’re looking for horror stories of all subgenres about souls wandering the earth after being separated from their bodies, but before arriving at their final destinations (though part of the story may take place pre-death or post-arrival). Undertaker Books is a royalty-paying, full-service publisher. This means we do not charge fees to the author at any time. We pay a royalty rate of 50% of distribution payouts. This can mean you will earn different rates for books sold through different outlets. Our contracts are for digital and print worldwide English rights. At this stage, we do not provide advance payments unless specified for anthology calls. SUBMISSIONS ARE TO BE SENT TO: [email protected] Modern Shunn Format is preferred. Please review this website if you are unsure how to proceed. Submit the first 20 pages of your manuscript as a single .doc(x) file attachment. If submitting for general consideration, please include a one page synopsis of the plot (including the ending) with working title, category or subgenre, and word count. In the body of your email, please include a cover letter containing: a short author bio,your legal name, pen name (if applicable), social media links, and website. WHAT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT No AI-generated content. If an author’s work is discovered to be generated by AI, the work will be rejected (or unpublished). View our AI Use Policy. No depictions of sexual assault against children. No animal abuse. No reprints or previously published...

Deadline: July 15th, 2024 Payment: $10 Theme: horror stories of all subgenres about executions, public or private, ancient or modern (Charity Anthology benefiting Witness to Innocence) Word Count: 2,000-5,000 Call Open: June 1-July 15, 2024 Publication: September 2024 Call: We’re looking for horror stories of all subgenres about executions, public or private, ancient or modern. The execution does not have to be completed, nor does it have to be government sanctioned. An execution for our purposes is a willful decision to end a life as a consequence for the condemned’s actions. Undertaker Books is a royalty-paying, full-service publisher. This means we do not charge fees to the author at any time. We pay a royalty rate of 50% of distribution payouts. This can mean you will earn different rates for books sold through different outlets. Our contracts are for digital and print worldwide English rights. At this stage, we do not provide advance payments unless specified for anthology calls. SUBMISSIONS ARE TO BE SENT TO: [email protected] Modern Shunn Format is preferred. Please review this website if you are unsure how to proceed. Submit the first 20 pages of your manuscript as a single .doc(x) file attachment. If submitting for general consideration, please include a one page synopsis of the plot (including the ending) with working title, category or subgenre, and word count. In the body of your email, please include a cover letter containing: a short author bio,your legal name, pen name (if applicable), social media links, and website. WHAT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT No AI-generated content. If an author’s work is discovered to be generated by AI, the work will be rejected (or unpublished). View our AI Use Policy. No depictions of sexual assault against children. No animal abuse. No reprints or previously published works. No unfinished stories or rough drafts. At Undertaker Books, we tend to...

Deadline: July 15th, 2024 Payment: $15 and a contributors copy Theme: Dark Humor WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR We're summoning the darkest, most devilishly witty scribes for our upcoming anthology of dark humor. Unleash your ink and submit your darkest chuckles. We're searching for tales that tickle the funny bone while sending shivers down the spine. Dare to delve into the abyss of laughter with us? Submit your morbidly hilarious masterpieces today! SUBMISSION INFO Submissions must be no longer than 2,500 words (Word counts are firm) Title, submitter's name, pen name (if different), story word count and author email address must be at the top of your submission. Submissions must be sent to [email protected] Please include TWISTED LAUGHS SUBMISSION in the subject of the email. AI cannot write submissions (Artificial Intelligence.) I will disqualify any author that submits work that is not written by them from submitting to Exploding Head Fiction in the future and all future anthologies. Submissions must be written in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1" margins, double spaced. All scene breaks must be three asterisks, centered on the page, with no spaces in between (***) Submissions must be in .Docx or .Doc format. Submissions should be clean and edited to the best of the author's ability. Submissions must contain elements of horror and dark humor. Everything else is up to you. Submissions must not have been published elsewhere before in any form. Authors may submit as many stories as they want for review, however, there will be a limit of one published story per author. Please include in the email's body any content warnings (if you chose to use them). Simultaneous submissions are allowed; however, we ask that you inform us immediately if another publisher picks up your story. Twisted Laughs will be released October...

Deadline: July 15th, 2024 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: science fiction and speculative fiction GENERAL (i.e. non micro-fiction) GUIDELINES We are currently OPEN to GENERAL flash submissions. For Volume 5, we will remain open until July 15, 2024. Proceeds from Volume 5 will go toward Palestinian relief organizations. We want science fiction and speculative fiction. So long as it falls into one of these categories, we will happily read it. If other elements are present, that is fine, but it must include science or speculative fiction. NOW ACCEPTING TRANSLATIONS (MORE INFO BELOW) No more than 1000 words. This is a firm limit. Please no queries about longer pieces. NO AI-GENERATED/ASSISTED STORIES Pay rate is professional - $0.08 US/word This is for marginalized members of the sci-fi/spec community—this includes people of color, the LGBTQ2S+ community, members of marginalized genders, and disabled and neurodiverse people. If you are not a person of color, LGBTQ2S+, neurodiverse, disabled, or of a marginalized gender, please DO NOT send us your work. Authors of all accepted pieces will have the option to include a short bio in the anthology. We understand the sensitive nature of gender identity and sexual orientation, so if you wish this status to remain unwritten and/or if you prefer to be anonymous, we will print only what you wish to be printed. If you would like your piece published under a pseudonym, please indicate this on your submission. If you would like your pronouns included, please indicate those as well. DO NOT send us anything hateful. No gratuitous violence, torture, rape, or any work that promotes an ideology unbecoming of an inclusive society – no stories supporting racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or any other of the many forms of hate. Minutiae Please prepare your submission according to standard guidelines, which you...

Submission Window: July 1st - 17th, 2024 Payment: 3 cents per word for fiction and non-fiction, $20 for interior artwork and $100 for cover art Theme: Weird and cosmic fiction What do we want? Weird and cosmic fiction under 5,000 words When do we want it? Twice a year: January 1-7 and July 1-17 How do we want it? Submitted via email to [email protected] as a .doc or .docx file. Please also include a short cover letter with some background information about you, the word count of the story, and a brief synopsis. Other Stuff! Please only submit your work once, and please only submit one work per submission period. Please only resubmit works that have already been rejected if invited to do so. We believe that the horror genre’s diversity is its greatest strength, and we wish that viewpoint to be reflected in our story content and our submission queues. We are especially interested in hearing from those whose voices are underrepresented in the cosmic/weird. If comfortable, feel free to drop this information in your cover letter. We strongly favor stories that use contemporary narrative styles. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please withdraw immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. We pay 3 cents (USD) per word for original fiction. We do not take unsolicited reprints. What we don’t want: We do not take any work that used AI in its creation, work that uses established genre tropes in a standard way, and queries. Work written in an antiquated, Lovecraftian style is a hard sell. Authors we love: Mike Allen, Paula D. Ashe, Mona Awad, Laird Barron, Nadia Bulkin, Nicole Cushing, Brian Evenson, Gemma Files, John Langan, Thomas Ligotti, Preemee Mohamed, Jon Padgett, Hailey Piper Submissions (Non-Fiction) OPEN What do we want? Non-fiction essays that explore weird and cosmic horror concepts under 5,000 words When do...

Submission Window: June 20th to July 20th, 2024 Payment: $50 upon publication Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection in all genres with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit Please read below for details about our next submission window, guidelines, honorariums, and rights. At Astrolabe, we’re looking for work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another. And then, once we find one other, the myths we make. We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky. We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit. Read about Astrolabe for details on our mission and what we’re doing with the Universe. The details We pay a $50 honorarium upon publication of one or more pieces from your submission. To help fund those payments, we alternate between free and paid submission periods throughout the year. Our free periods begin the day we publish new work—on the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice—and stay open for a month. Here are the free periods for 2024: March 20th to April 20th June 20st to July 20st September 22nd to October 22nd December 21st to Jan 21, 2025 Some additional details: We currently accept three types of work: fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. See below for genre-specific instructions. We’re not a market for lineated poetry at the moment. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work was accepted for...