Events

Deadline: August 1, 2015 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction Fall: The old neighborhood was nearly unrecognizable. We love the fact that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually two to three weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way, unless otherwise noted by the editors. The story should be between 300 and 5,000 words (this is more like a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule; going over or under the word count won't get your story tossed from the slush pile). The sentences can be found on the home page of The First Line's Web site, as well as in...

Deadline: August 1, 2015 Payment: $100 The current reading period runs from June 1 - August 1. All submissions during that time will be considered for Issue 18. The theme for this issue is "Enemies." Please note, we are unable to accept any submissions sent to us via email or post. The maximum word count for submissions is 5,000 words. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as you withdraw the work immediately if it is selected for publication elsewhere. All work should be previously unpublished. Please allow up to three months for us to reply to your submission. Submitting to Slice Slice magazine welcomes submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We're looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. We're not drawn to experimental or heavy-handed genre fiction. The best way to get a sense of Slice's content is to read the magazine. You can subscribe here. At the core, Slice aims to bridge the gap between emerging and established authors by offering a space where both are published side-by-side. In each issue, a specific cultural theme becomes the catalyst for articles and interviews from renowned writers and lesser known voices alike. Along with these pieces, we publish fiction and poetry that isn’t bound by the theme—we simply look for works by writers who promise to become tomorrow’s literary legends. We offer all contributors of Slice a monetary award for their work ($100 for stories and essays and $25 for poems). Via: Slice's Submittable.

Deadline: August 8th, 2015 Payment: 3¢/word max $100 “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” — Ernest Shackleton The small press anthology Tales from the Miskatonic Library is now soliciting stories for submission.  This is an anthology of tales about, found in, inspired by, or stolen from the Miskatonic University Library. Your editors are Darrell Schweitzer & myself, and we are looking for tales that: Are good stories. Can be included in an anthology titled Tales From the Miskatonic Librarywithout involving us in elaborate explanations. Aren’t “Boy Reads Book; Book Eats Boy.” So, your chance to have a bit of grim fun: What sort of tales might be found in the Miskatonic University Library?  Kept perhaps in the secure reading room?  Shared by Chief Librarian Henry Armitage over faculty sherry with only a trusted few? And how did Dr. Henry Armitage acquire his position as Chief Librarian?  And what of his successor(s)? What unexpected problems might be faced by an acquisitions librarian at Miskatonic University?  Or a cataloger? Is the Necronomicon quite as rare as it is made out to be? What is the real explanation for the curious gaps in the Dewey Decimal System? What might it take to see the unexpurgated account of the Pabodie’s 1930 expedition to The Mountains of Madness?  Together with their troubling cross-correlations with Shackleton’s private diary? The US Treasury Departments internal report on the incident at Devil Reef off Innsmouth? Why are no students allowed within the stacks?  Are rumors of non-Euclidean spaces within merely rumors?  Why was Einstein called in for a consult in 1944?  And his frequent correspondent Schrödinger brought over  secretly from Ireland that same year? And are series like Warehouse 13 or The Librarian or Charlie Stross’s The Laundry...

Deadline: August 8th, 2015 Payment: $25.00 and contributor's copy The calendar says the first day of spring, but a jealous snow still wraps the world tightly in a white straitjacket.  Winter will not relinquish its throne and the polar vortex is plunging even further south as icebergs gleam in the Bermuda Triangle and snow falls on the Amazon. Blizzards swirl across the Sahara and the world has become a snowglobe from pole to pole.        Is this just global warming? The coming of the next Ice Age?  Or could this endless winter be the result of an ancient curse, an alien attack, the revenge of the Yeti, a weather experiment gone horribly wrong, the wrath of an ignored winter deity, or a nuclear mishap?       Give us those or your own unique reasons for why winter still rules and what tales can be told as humans battle the persistent ice and snow deep into a heatless summer. Is all lost? Can anything be done to thaw the Big Freeze?        Send us your chilliest tales of horror, fantasy, and science fiction from between 3,000-7,000 words. Submissions will be accepted until the last tick of the clock on 8 August 2015 (the 149th birthday of Arctic explorer Matthew Henson) and we intend to publish in the dead of winter 2016. Contributors will receive one print copy and USD $25.00.      We earnestly hope to get to the point where we can pay professional rates, and those willing to work with us as we grow will share in the rewards to come. This anthology is the first step we can take together, so we hope you will join us.      Writers are nothing if not explorers of the vast reaches of imagination, so pull on your parka and take us out into that howling night of...

Deadline: August 13th 2015 Payment: AU4c/word and a contributor copy For this military/sci-fi/horror anthology, we want warriors competing on a futuristic battlefield, fighting against forces threatening humankind, the balance of the galaxies, or life itself. Think Aliens, Halo, Predator, Starship Troopers, and Terminator. Have your heroes defending their way of life against inconceivable odds. Take us along for the ride while your future soldiers take the fight to their enemies. Expect casualties! We want ORIGINAL military-style combat with strong elements of future technology/sci-fi, and we want horror. Give us fear… suspense and tension… we want originality and speculation about future aspects of war. Most of all we want action, action, ACTION! We want something jaw-droppingly amazing. We STRONGLY suggest you read the first, second and/or third SNAFU volume to see what it is we like. SNAFU – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LNXHLJG SNAFU: Heroes – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MSVEY2Y SNAFU: Wolves at the Door – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RQ56AUG Edited by Geoff Brown and Amanda J Spedding Payment: AUD4c/word and one contributor copy in each format released Wordcount range: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query for shorter or longer) Submissions are open now.Closing date is August 13th, 2015 (anything submitted after this time will be deleted without being read) Projected publication date: February 2016 Please follow these guidelines when submitting to us: 1. Please put your full contact details on the first page of the manuscript top left, with word count top right. 2. Standard submission format, with minimal document formatting. 3. Courier or Times New Roman set at 12pt. Italics as they will appear. No underlining. 4. Double spaced. 5. Please don’t use TAB or space bar to indent lines. Use ‘styles’ only. If unsure or using a program that has no styles, do not indent at all. That’s still cool. 7. NO SPACE between paragraphs unless a line-break is...

Deadline: August 13, 2015 Payment: an advance upon their acceptance on a sliding scale based on length of their contribution, 1 digital and 1 printed copy of the anthology Note: Reprints Allowed Hello, I’m Fox Emm. I currently write for Wicked Horror, Gores Truly, and Zombie Apocalypse Defense Force. I’m trying to create a splatterpunk anthology and am currently seeking horror short story submissions. If you’d like to come aboard, please keep reading! It’s true, the splatterpunk horror anthology I have wanted to get off the ground for over six months is finally in the gurgling stages of infancy, and that is where you come in! I’m looking for 20+ talented writers (and possibly poets..? Is splatterpunk poetry a thing? If not, can we make it a thing..?) to contribute to a horror anthology with a theme based around the word “home”. There are of course, a variety of interpretations to the word home within the horror genre. From aliens seeking a new home planet, zombies driving a young family from their home, home invasion by escaped convicts or some other creation you devise… The topic is no more limiting than your own imagination, so I hope to get a variety of interesting and action-filled submissions! For those who aren’t familiar with the term splatterpunk but who love horror, the basic definition would be a horror story with graphic and or gory depictions of violence and which stretches boundaries. For more details on the subject, I would suggest you check out the Wikipedia entry on splatterpunk as well as this thoughtful article by my colleague at Wicked Horror, Nat Brehmer, on Why Splatterpunk Should Make a Comeback. If you’ve ever written a horror story that has been rejected for being too “out there” or had someone read over your work and respond with...

Deadline: August 15, 2015 Payment: Contributor's Copy Zimbell House Publishing is holding open submissions for short stories of a ghostly and grave nature to be featured in an upcoming collection. Tell us your ghost stories! These stories can be true or fictional, about a graveyard, the dead, ghosts, zombies, a cemetery caretaker… They can be mythological, paranormal, science-fiction, steampunk, romantic, or scary. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: August 15, 2015 with a targeted release date of October 1, 2015. There is no fee to enter this contest. Submission Guidelines: No work may be more than 9500 words. Please watch your word count. Submissions over this word count will be disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit up to five (5) unique works, however they must be submitted separately. Work must be submitted as an attachment in an email to: [email protected] Subject line of email must say: Tales From The Grave Submission Work must be in Microsoft Word, double spaced, 12 point font. Body of email must include: contact information and a brief synopsis of the piece. All contributing authors will receive a free copy of the book in softcover. Authors that are chosen for the anthology will not be paid nor receive royalties for their submission. Again there is no charge for the submissions. This is an opportunity to build your platform. Submission Deadline: August 15, 2015. Via: Zimbell House Publishing.

Deadline: August 15th, 2015 Payment: $25.00 (USD) and 2 Contributor Copies Gothic Blue Books were short fictions popular in the 18th and 19th century. They were descendants of the chap book trade and are now a thing of the past. Burial Day Books is now open for submissions for Gothic Blue Book Vol. 5 to be available this October 31st 2015. What was a Gothic Blue Book? Gothic Blue Books were abridgements of full-length Gothic novels. The subjects of these books fell into one of two categories; the first being set in a monastery or convent and the second being set in a castle. In terms of the physicality of the book, they were three and a half to four inches in width and six to seven inches in height, with a page count of thirty-six to seventy-two pages. These little pieces of terror were popular at the time because they were affordable, a sixpence or a shilling each. Their cost affordability led them to be nicknamed Shilling Shockers or Sixpenny Shockers. What are we looking for? Original Gothic Blue Books typically took place in either a monastery, convent or castle. In years past we have asked for short stories that take place in one of these locations, or a modern day location such as a morgue, haunted house or cemetery. This year, we have added new location recommendations – hotel, inn, or bed and breakfast. The haunted hotel has a long, complex history in the field of horror and we look forward to your entries. Please submit a short story or poem no longer than 3,500 words that follows one of the following: A single mention or setting in one of the original Gothic Blue Book settings: a) Monastery b) Convent c) Castle A single mention or setting in...

Deadline: August 22, 2015 Payment: $5.00 for poetry/flash; $10.00 for short stories and a contributor's copy Note: Reprints Welcome The theme for Fossil Lake III: UNICORNADO! will be unicorns and/or natural disasters … preferably both! We want gothy unicorns, metal unicorns, uni-adult content, pretty princess unicorns, whatever! We want thunder and lightning and devastating rainbows, we want quakes and storms, cyclones, tsunamis, avalanches of glitter! We want majestic herds of unicorns galloping out of the clouds, wreaking havoc with their jabby horns. Violence, carnage, and gore. Candylandslides. Thinly-disguised ponyfics. The weirder the better. Go wild. Have fun. Submission Period: July 22, 2015 — August 22, 2015 Word Limit: poetry/flash fiction up to 1000 words; short stories 2000-5000 words. Compensation: contributor copy, $5.00 for poetry/flash; $10.00 for short stories. Standard manuscript format; Times New Roman 12-point preferred. Italics for italics and whatnot.  Send submissions attached as a .doc or .rtf to: [email protected]. “Fossil Lake III” in the subject line, please. What we look for: the dark, the transgressive, the controversial, the surreal. Horror, humor, bizarro, erotica, suspense, fantasy, historical, Lovecraftian … pretty much anything goes genre-wise and content-wise as long as it’s well-written and entertaining to read. Bonus points for somehow involving thematic elements of fossils and/or lakes. What we’re NOT looking for: Crap writing (hey, let’s be honest).  Some editorial pet peeves and tough sells include adverbs, non-“said” dialogue tags, passive voice, “was (verb)ing” and “could (sense)” phrasing, excessive blocking or stage direction. What we’re hoping for: close communication with authors who are willing to work with an editor, can handle criticism, and are just generally personable and fun. What we’re asking: One-time non-exclusive anthology rights. Reprints are welcome; just let us know where and when the piece has appeared before. Via: Fossil Lake.

Deadline: August 25th, 2015 Payment: Payment will be portional to all the authors of 50% of book profit We are looking for great Ghost Stories fiction, non-fiction,  poetry, and photography. Please consider the following guidelines before sending your work: Poetry: 1-3 poems; typed. Please include your name on each poem. Fiction/ Creative non-fiction/ Essays: 500-3500 words; typed, double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font. Please submit all written work as pdf file. Photos: 3-5 black and white .jpg images no larger than 8 x 10 with a minimum 300 dpi resolution. Deadline for all submissions is  AUGUST 25, 2015.  Submit to: sezpublishinghotmailcom SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Each Submission should come in a separate e-mail. In the body of the email include the following: I, (name) am submitting my work to SEZ Publishing (title) for consideration. I offer the rights for this work. sign/date FORMAT DOCUMENT pdf: 500-3500 words; typed, double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font. First page should include title, word count and author information. Paginate in the header upper right corner /Author's last name above the pagination. SELECTION: If selected authors will be contacted to sign a contract. Payment will be portional to all the authors of 50% of book profit. Via: SEZ Publishing.