Events

Deadline: March 1st, 2012 Payment: 1 Contributor's Copy Title: No Rest for the Wicked Edited and Compiled by Stacey Graham Published by: Rainstorm Press Genre: Horror Theme: Think that watch was such a great bargain on eBay? Think again, Sparky. Some items have a history and we want to hear the gory details of what happened after a haunted object enters the picture. Deadline: March 1, 2012 (or until full) Target release date: May 2012 What we are looking for: Ghost stories centered on a haunted object that are well-crafted without a lot of fluff. Write tight! Humor is always welcome. Stories: 3,000 - 5,000 words in length, but will consider shorter stories if it scares the bejeebers out of me Flash fiction: Up to 500 words Poetry: Up to 20 lines What we're not looking for: Gratuitous violence or erotica. Payment: Authors will receive one contributor's copy (print and ebook) plus the option to purchase additional copies at 25% off the retail price. Poems and flash fiction payment will be one ebook copy only. Rights: Rainstorm Press asks for first world print rights, in paperback and digital format, for the first year. After that time, the author may shop the work to other markets, but the work will remain in the anthology for a period of five years from the publication date. No re-prints, please. How to submit: Please submit your story to http://norestforthewicked.submishmash.com/submit. Add your name, contact information (including email address) and a brief bio to the cover letter. Please format your story/poem using examples found here before submitting. You may submit up to three (3) pieces of your work. Questions: Please email norestforthewickedanthATgmail.com. Submissions sent to this email address will be deleted unread.

Deadline: March 1st, 2012 Payment: $50 per accepted piece and 1 contributor's copy The American South is a haunted place — full of ghost stories, native legends, persistent devils & angels, souls sold at the crossroads, and moon-eyed maidens living in the Okefenokee. The South’s best writers — Faulkner, O’Connor, McCullers — all keep this sense of the otherworldly in their fiction. In this spirit, Q & W Publishers is looking for submissions for an anthology of short fiction and non-fiction that explores the fantastic, eerie, and bizarre side of the American South. What To Submit Submit fiction and non-fiction pieces between 1,000 and 4,000 words. Pieces should be grounded in the American South (any time period, pre-historic to modern; rural or urban) and should include elements of the fantastic / supernatural that come from Southern history, tradition, or folklore. Generic vampire and werewolf stories aren’t appropriate. While violence, gore, and eroticism may be part of your submission, they should not be the primary focus — let’s keep it more PG-13 than R-rated. Submissions must be previously unpublished. Payment Payment is $50 per accepted piece. Q & W Publishers will acquire the first publication rights for the piece; all other rights remain with the author. Authors with accepted pieces will also receive one free copy of the published anthology. The anthology may appear in electronic and printed form. How to Submit Please submit your piece to [email protected]. Send a brief introduction and your piece in the body of the e-mail. Include “Anthology” and the title of the piece in the subject line of your e-mail. Timeline Submissions will be accepted until March 1st, 2012. Inclusion decisions will be made by April 1st, 2012.

We're looking for short, dark and scary tales that you can read in one sitting, hence the title. No more than 3000 words per submission, but there is no theme, so just submit your weirdest, freakiest, scariest short story for this one. Closing date is May 1st 2012 Payment will be one printed paperback contributor copy and further copies available at a highly-reduced rate. All manuscripts should be 12pt, double-spaced, and should include author details and word count on the first page. There should be no footers or headers. Submissions can be emailed to [email protected] with the subject of the email being - Submission (followed by the title of the manuscript) Manuscripts will be read and assessed as soon as possible and you will receive a confirmation if we think the manuscript is elegible for publication.

Deadline: March 15th 2012 Payment: Anthology Royalties are based upon distribution channel and percentage of overall content. An Anthology of Lovecraft Inspired Short Fiction Torn Realities is searching for stories about the places where reality is thin and easily torn, where things we accept as part of everyday life (science, religion, What Lies Beyond) become myths, and where the world is not the most important thing going. Selected stories will concern themselves with what happens to the people who find these places, for pure and impure reasons, and discover whatever lies on the other side. We want stories that will leave us unable to turn out the lights and fearful of looking up into the night sky. To quote fantasy writer Catherynne Valente, we want stories of unvarnished awesomeness. We want stories of the darkly fantastical and how the characters involved deal with the impossible circumstances they find themselves in. We want stories that push the boundaries of accepted reality and how ordinary people deal with extraordinary, mind-bending situations of horror. Before we go any further, let's address the elephant in the room, shall we? A lot of these themes are Lovecraftian in nature, but this is not a Lovecraft lovefest of fan-fic (Cthulhu Mythos may be in the public domain, but it's still fan fic). If you give us a Lovecraft pastiche with the serial numbers filed away, you're going to be rejected. Every writer has taken on these themes--from Arthur Machen in The Great God Pan (which predates Lovecraft) to Stephen King's short story "N", to name just a few--and put their own stylistic stamp on them. Now it's your turn. We want your version of what may lie beyond the rim of the universe, beyond what we can see with our senses and our knowledge. The stories...

Deadline: March 15th 2012 Payment: Digital copy and exposure Email submissions to: [email protected] Please put the title of your story, your first and last name, and the word count in the subject line of your email. “Zombie Gone Wild” is a Living Dead-themed anthology. All genres of horror will be considered. Dark, disturbing, suspenseful, supernatural, gruesome, and gory are welcome. Bring out your undead! We want to see the craziest, wackiest, most out there living dead stories you can possibly think of! In fact, the more unique and bizarre, the more likely your story will get the star treatment… Well, at least it will get into the book! Think Dead Alive, Cemetery Man, Undead, Versus, Re-Animator, Evil Dead, Return of the Living Dead III (Hello, Spinal Column Zombie?), Planet Terror We will consider stories approximately 1000 words - 8000 words. We're leaving such a wide open word range to encourage writers to write a story until it is finished without padding your submissions with irrelevant details or chopping out important information to stay below a word maximum. Keep the story as tight, exciting and action-packed as possible. In order to satisfy those who enjoy a “quickie” horror fix, we will be accepting a limited number of flash fiction (i.e. 500 words or less) stories. Payment for the anthology will be a digital copy of the book as well as discounted copies for purchase by the authors. While multiple submissions are allowed, please don’t send in simultaneous submissions or reprints. DEADLINE: The deadline for this anthology is March 15th, 2012. Expected response time is under one month after the undeadline has passed. Please don't query about the status of your submission until 30 days have passed. The projected release date will be in time to use them as stocking stuffers provided...

Deadline: March 15th 2011 Payment: Stories that are under 4,999 words will receive a paperback contributor copy of the finished anthology. Stories that at 5,000 words and above will receive $10.00 and one paperback contributor copy as payment. I'll Never Go Away Edited and Compiled by Lyle Perez-Tinics Deadline: March 15, 2011 (or until full) Target release date: May 1, 2011 How to Submit: Send submissions to [email protected] with “I'll Never Go Away Submission (story title and author name)” in subject line. Please attach a WORD document file containing your story. Please use Times New Roman, size 10 font and please DO NOT double space or use headers or page counts. Page one of the file must contain your contact information (name, mailing address, E-mail and word count) If any of these items are missing from your document, I will reject right away. If this information is there, it makes it easier for me to contact you. What we are looking for: We are looking for the most creepiest, voyeuristic stories you can think of. Have you ever felt like someone was following you; waiting outside your door, or worse, hiding inside your house while you're there? Let your imagination run wild as you explore the world of stalkers and obsessed fans. Almost anything is acceptable, but your story must contain a plot. I don't want stories of a guy following a girl then having his way with her for 3,000 words. There must be a story, and please keep rape and obscene acts to a minimal. Stories must be between 3,500 - 8,000 words. Works that are shorter or longer will not be considered as well as reprints. Please do not query about those. Payment: Stories that are under 4,999 words will receive a paperback contributor copy of the...

Deadline: March 15, 2012 Payment: $15 and 1 contributor's copy Triangulation is an annual 125-150+ page short fiction anthology that publishes science fiction, fantasy, horror, and any other speculative fiction that caught the editors' fancy. Every year we have a theme: 2011's theme is "Morning After". We pay for the work we select and are available online at places like Amazon.com. We're a small outfit but we work hard to produce a quality product; We will consider fiction up to 7,500 words.We are interested in publishing a wide variety of entertaining and literate stories, so the more space a story would take, the more it will need to impress us. We dig flash; there is no minimum word count. We have no interest in getting more specific about the term "speculative fiction." Science fiction, horror, fantasy, magic realism, alternate history, whatever -- if there's a speculative element vital to your story, we'll gladly give it a read. We love creative interpretations of our theme, "Morning After". Don't ask us what it means -- tell us what it means with a story that convinces us you're right. We publish both new and established writers; the level of experience for the authors gracing our pages has ranged from "first time in print" to "Hugo winner" and "Nebula winner". The majority of our stories usually wind up being from American authors, but we've had a number of international contributions; we're happy to consider work from anywhere in the world, just as long as it's written in English. We will run mature content if we like the story. So make sure there's an actual story in that mature content. We will consider reprints, but our focus is on original stories. We are unlikely to accept a reprint that is less than astounding, or one...

Deadline: March 20th 2012 Payment: £10 + paperback author copy + story illustration. (and promotion/profile on the www.cityofhellchronicles.com website.) That’s right folks. City of Hell Chronicles: Volume 1 has been released and the Great Maurr needs more victims. We are looking for 10 stories (4-6k in length) and set in the City of Hell mythos. Here’s a scope document that outlines some basic ‘rules’ of the world and some guidance to the kind of stories we are looking for: CoH2-Requirements It’s imperative that you read the first volume and note how the stories although are set in the world and revolve around the world, they are first and foremost centered on the characters. This is a horror anthology and we pull no punches. However, we are not into pointless torture, there has to be reason and logic for any gore or violence. We are especially interested in psychological horror as much as the violent/gory nature. Each story will be illustrated and as part of the payment, you will receive a hi-res digital copy of your story’s illustration. Deadline day for all stories is March 20th 2012. However, it would be prudent to get your story in earlier, because if we see a story that isn’t quite right but could be with some editing then we would like to give you time to edit and resubmit. Send the entire story attached to an email with 1.5 spaced, Times New Roman .doc or RTF file. Indented paragraphs. (no double spaced paragraphs please.) Include a cover message with the following in the body of the email: Short (max 200words) biography. List of any previous publishing credits (link to books if available.) Mention if we have met, or if you have been invited to submit. Brief synopsis/outline (max 200 words) of the story. Any...

Deadline: MARCH 25th, 2012 Prize: The best pasta (as selected by the readers of Terribly Good Stuff) will receive, by mail, one Edgar Allen Poe Action Figure (Donated Generously by Rorschach Redemption) . Message Body: Terribly Good Stuff is having a Creepypasta Contest! Have a bit of horror flash fiction lying around? Looking to unwind with a bit of fun, laidback, terrifying-storytelling? Well, don't be shy! Submit to our contest! http://www.terriblygoodstuff.com/2012/02/creepypasta-contest-finally.html SUBMISSION PERIOD: FEBRUARY 25th - MARCH 25th, 2012 Prize(s): The best pasta (as selected by the readers of Terribly Good Stuff) will receive, by mail, one Edgar Allen Poe Action Figure (Donated Generously by Rorschach Redemption) . [IF AN ANTHOLOGY IS FORMED, ALL SELECTED AUTHORS WILL RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF THE EBOOK] RULES AND REGULATIONS: So, you've decided to submit a creepypasta. Well, good for you. I'm pretty goddamned honored that you're sending it to me. But first, let's give you a reminder. What IS creepypasta? (ignoring the etymology) A creepypasta is a piece of flash fiction designed to terrify, shock, or, at the very least, instill feelings of misanthropic dread in the reader. The creepypasta audience, generally speaking, is 4chan.org/x/, reddit.com/r/nosleep, and other Internet forums. Your submission should be succinct, frightening, and well written. FIRST AND FOREMOST: THIS IS AN ORIGINAL CREEPYPASTA CONTEST. Do not submit a pasta that has been featured in another anthology/contest/website. Do not submit a pasta that someone other than you wrote. I will find you out, and I will go Liam Neeson on your ass. Anyway, let's get down to the nitty gritty: YOUR SUBMISSION: -Must be in English. But you can be from anywhere in the world. No discrimination here, gang. -Will be no more than 1,600 words (this is not an unbreakable rule, but it is a firm one; any...

Deadline: March 31st, 2012 Prize: $300 Canadian Writers Only Open to Canadian writers. Submissions ONLY accepted Feb 15th to March 31st, 2012. ONLY emailed copies accepted. On Spec has a special story contest for the Apocalypse! We are looking for a variety of engaging "end of the world" theme stories (3,000 to 6,000 words please). The best story will receive $300 and be the lead story in our Fall 2012 issue (said issue to be published, come hell or high water!). Submissions must have "Apocalypse:" in the email title plus the story title (e.g. "Apocalypse: Story Name"). Please follow the submission guidelines: http://www.onspec.ca/submissions/email