Events

Deadline: February 28th, 2025 Payment: Fiction/Non-Fiction: £0.01 per word, $85 for original covers and $15 per illustration Theme: Science Fiction and Fantasy We are open for short story submissions. We’re open for non-fiction and artwork queries. Our submission window will remain open at least until the end of February 2025. We may be open longer. Short Fiction We’re looking for stories for our July issue and for the website. Up to 6,000 words, science fiction and fantasy for publication in Wyldblood Magazine and/or online. Submit via email [email protected] (SUB – name – title on subject line) with a Word/RTF file and a short bio. £0.01 per word. Sim subs okay, but no reprints (except by invitation) and definitely no AI content. Name and contact details on the manuscript. Non-fiction Query us with ideas for articles, reviews and interviews at [email protected]. Don’t send the text – we’ll ask for it if we think it might be suitable. If we buy, it’ll be at our short fiction rate of $0.01 per word. Put ‘QUERY‘ in your email’s subject line, please, otherwise we may miss it. Artwork We need covers and interior illustations for Wyldblood Magazine (one per story). We pay $85 for original covers and $15 per illustration. Query us with samples at [email protected] We are a speculative fiction publisher. Interpret that as you will when deciding what to submit, but bear in mind that we are unlikely to publish fiction without a speculative element (science fiction or fantasy) and we’re not keen on horror, humour or high fantasy. We pay for fiction. Response times We aim to respond to all short fiction submissions within 3 months (hopefully much quicker). If we miss that deadline, please assume it’s a ‘no’ and accept our apologies for being slow. We’re still holding some longer fiction submissions (please bear with us).   . For reference, our submissions guidance (with payment rates) is here. Via: Wyldblood Press.

Deadline: March 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Bravery and courage still matter. Genre: Speculative Fiction Theme: Bravery and courage still matter. Concept: Cruel enemies we have in plenty. Let’s remember that there are some things that still matter more than the cruelty of our enemies or the darkness of the hour. Come on in, grab a seat by the fire, and join us in telling stories where grit, bravery, determination and courage in the face of cruelty and darkness matter. We want kick-ass tales of brave knights and heroic courage. Nihilistic stories of dread and darkness without hope need not apply. And remember, not all knights wear shining armor; not all heroes are square of jaw and fair of countenance. Note: This is a two-volume anthology focused on hope, grit, courage and determination in the face of adversity. Genre: Any. Brave knights and heroic courage are found everywhere you care to look. Word Count: 5,000-10,000 Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: David Hensley Anchor Author(s): TBD Due Date: March 1, 2025 Email submissions to: [email protected] with “Brave Knights” in the subject line. Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore...

Submission Window: January 1st - March 1st, 2025 Payment: 2 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Mixing horror and weddings From Jacob Steven Mohr and Crystal Lake Publishing comes The Joining: Scenes of Wedding Terror, a new anthology set to debut (tentatively) September of 2025. We’re looking for stories between 2,500 and 5,000 words in length concerning the rite of matrimony. Weddings are unusual events, bringing together masses of humanity that might never interact under any other circumstance, requiring them to travel great distances or take part in bizarre rituals ranging from the solemn to the frenzied and sometimes even dangerous… But: stories submitted to The Joining need not concern only the event itself. They might take place at any time, so long as nuptials are central to the narrative. Imagine it: proposals gone wrong, literal bride-zillas, unsettling in-laws, bachelor parties that end in bloodshed—and of course, trips to destination weddings held just north of Hell itself… We will be accepting 10-15 stories from this open call. Accepted tales will appear alongside original yarns from a cast of invited authors, including Gemma Files, Joe Koch, J.A.W. McCarthy, Gordon B. White, Jack Lothian, Rae Wilde, and Scott J. Moses… and one mystery guest, as all weddings should no doubt have! Submissions Open: January 1, 2025          Submissions Close: March 1, 2025 Length: 2,500-5,000 words Payment: $0.02 per word Format: Stories should be formatted in 12 pt. Times New Roman, double spaced. Rights: Exclusive First Worldwide Publication, Print and Electronic Rights for 1 year (from date of publication), and non-exclusive rights thereafter. Contributor Copies: 1 paperback and 1 eBook copy. Simultaneous Submissions: Allowed. But please promptly withdraw your story if it is accepted elsewhere. No reprints or multiple submissions. Contact: All submissions should be sent to [email protected] (Word files only, please...

Deadline: March 1st, 2025 Payment: short story, $25; nonfiction/essay, $25, short-short piece under 1000 words, $10; poem, $10; artwork/photography, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Theme: The Lost Sock Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission : The Lost Sock (March 1, 2025) 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 story, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. NOTE: Stories longer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages will not be considered. 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; nonfiction/essay, $25, short-short piece under 1000 words, $10; poem, $10; artwork/photography, $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...

Deadline: March 1st, 2025 Prize: $50 Theme: 1,000 word stories that tale with Folk Myth & Fairytales Unexplained noises from the house at the end of your street. Bizarre cryptids and forgotten places. Symbols that ward off evil. Places you dare not go. Words you dare not say. This year’s Tales to Terrify flash fiction contest takes us from the dawn of the spoken word to the darkest depths of modern day, with whispered tales of the terrors that have followed us down through the ages. Do your worst.   Contest Rules The story must have horror elements and relate to the theme of Folk Myth and Fairytales. How you choose to interpret that theme is up to you, but it must be central to the story. The image included on this page is for interest purposes only and not intended as a prompt. Deadline to submit is March 1, 2025 (11:59pm CST) It must be previously unpublished. Submissions must be in English, but authors from anywhere in the world are welcome to submit. A minimum of ONE winner will be announced on or before May 1, 2025. The top flash piece will be produced for audio narration on Tales to Terrify and receive $50 (USD). Up to four runners up may also be considered for production. Authors retain the rights to their submitted stories. Submission Format up to 1,000 words Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format Double spaced 12 pt. Courier New or Times New Roman font Please include author, title and word count on first page. Stories pasted into the body of an email will be rejected without being read. For further details on submission criteria and what styles/topics of horror fiction we look for, please check out our standard Submissions page. Enter Contest Via: Tales to Terrify.

Submission Window: March 1st - 3rd, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 8¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 per line, and for reprints we pay 50¢ a line  We’re looking for poems up to 40 lines. We’ll consider longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 8¢ per word. We sponsor The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn aboutThe Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, from a minimum of 1000 words on up.   All else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored, and we have yet to find a story over about 9-10,000 words we...

Submission Window: March 1st – 7th, 2025 Payment: Drabbles and Flash – £5, Short Stories 1001 to 4000 words – £10, Short Stories 4001 to 8000 words – £15 Theme: Stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events. Note: Only publishes creators from under represented and/or marginalized communities. WE ONLY PUBLISH CREATORS FROM UNDER REPRESENTED AND/OR MARGINALISED BACKGROUNDS AND/OR COMMUNITIES We don’t ask for any proof, we take this on trust with the expectation that anyone not from a marginalised background or underrepresented community wouldn’t take up the space of someone who is. We ask you to consider this before submitting. QUARTERLY ONLINE ANTHOLOGY: BRIEF We’re looking for stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something. Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. We want it all. All genres, styles and themes will be considered and we especially love stories that are outside the box in their telling. Ambiguous endings? Non-linear storytelling? Antagonist’s point-of-view? A story told in just one scene? We love it all. SUBMISSIONS: CLOSED PLEASE NOTE: We will close submissions early if our cut off point is reached Quarterly Online Anthology Submission Schedule: March 1st – 7th (Summer Issue) or until we reach 70 submissions June 1st – 7th (Autumn Issue) or until we reach 70 submissions September 1st – 7th (Winter Issue) or until we reach 70 submissions December 1st – 7th (Spring Issue) or until we reach 70 submissions ​We do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events. We are unlikely to publish stories...

Deadline: March 9th, 2025 Payment: Royalties Theme: What happens when magic goes wrong? With guest editor Wally Waltner! Did you stutter over that incantation? Utter the wrong magic words? Do the spirits not understand homonyms? A misread ingredient tossed in the cauldron? "No, I didn't say thigh of newt!" Did Amazon ship your nemesis a blessing instead of the painful affliction you ordered? What happens when spells, potions, and hexes don't go as planned? Your homework for this anthology. Opens: 01/04/25 Closes: 03/09/25 Contracts: 03/23/25 Publication: 04/18/25 Guidelines for all our anthologies (psst! this is important!): 5,000 to 8,000 words. Length and genre are negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept and is entertaining. Any submission must be in Times New Roman (preferred, but you can use Georgian or other readable font), 12PT, double-spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email on it. Name the file as -—. Send it in a .docx format as an attachment—no links. Refer to the submission guideline graphic below for how to format your story—It has all the information you need! Feel free to download it for reference. Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication; after one year, the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all the authors. We’re all in this together. This is why our anthologies are limited to ten stories. IMPORTANT: PLEASE do NOT submit stories until the date the call opens. We don’t want to hang on to your piece for longer than necessary. You might find...

Deadline: March 10th, 2025 Payment: $30 per poem, $70 per short fiction, CNF piece, and short play. $70 per visual art piece, $30 per comic Theme: Stories by Canadian writers with a focus on Echoes We’re looking for heroes, creatures, dreams, and the extraordinary. Folklore. Urban legends. Whispers. Echoes. Stories from your sleepy hometown that come from your grandma’s grandma’s grandma’s grandma. Traditions and the breaking of them. Especially the breaking of them. Tell us—what’s your lore? 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 February 3rd to May 10th, 2025. Who Can Submit? Our mandate is to connect both emerging and established Canadian writers with audiences who care. Issue 4 is Open to Canadian writers (anyone living in Canada for work, school, asylum, etc, as well as artists living on traditional, unceded territories, is welcome to submit). 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...

Deadline: February 28th, 2025, extended submission window of March 1st - 14th for marginalized authors. Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Horror from the windy city by authors who live in or near Chicago The Second City is second to none when it comes to terror. From H.H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer, to the Jane Byrne Interchange at rush hour, there’s an ill wind blowing through the Windy City. In this new anthology, twenty stories by twenty authors from the Chicago area take you on a bloodcurdling tour of the best city in the world. Featuring new stories by Cynthia Pelayo, Nick Medina, Sahar Mustafah, LP Kindred, and Christopher Hawkins, Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories unearths the horrors, both real and supernatural, that populate the White City. 20 Stories by 20 Authors We’ve invited five authors to headline the collection: Christopher Hawkins – author of Downpour and Suburban Monsters LP Kindred – Author and editor of Voodoonauts Presents: (Re)Living Mythology among others. Nick Medina – author of Sisters of the Lost Nation and Indian Burial Ground Sahar Mustafah – author of The Beauty of Your Face Cynthia Pelayo – Bram Stoker Award winning author of Forgotten Sisters, The Shoemaker’s Magician, and others The rest of the book (around 15 more stories) will be chosen from the open call for submissions. Regional Bias In addition to our five invited authors, we’ll be holding an open call for submissions during the month of February 2025 to fill out the rest of the book (approximately 15 more stories). We believe in paying people for their work, so we’re paying HWA pro rates (5 cents per word) for horror stories of 1000-5000 words that take place primarily in Chicago. To submit, you must live or have lived in the following Illinois counties: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will, as well as Lake County, Indiana. General Info The submission window will be open from February 1, 2025 to February 28,...