Events

Deadline: August 31, 2015. Payment: 6 cents per word against a pro rata share of royalties We are currently accepting submissions for our first anthology of short fiction, Futuristica Volume 1. The last day to submit your manuscript for consideration is August 31, 2015. All submissions received by 10:35 PM EST on May 25th, 2015 should have received a “Submission Received” email by now. If you haven’t received an email, something went wrong and we don’t have your story on file yet. We are currently reviewing stories submitted between May 17th and May 19th. Submissions Guidelines & Payment Information We pay 6 cents per word against a pro rata share of royalties. We buy first rights and exclusive eBook rights for 6 months after the date of publication. We do not purchase reprints. We accept simultaneous submissions. Manuscripts should be in standard manuscript format. Manuscripts should be between 3,000 and 10,000 words. No prior publishing experience is required. Story Criteria Story content must be original. We do not accept fan fiction or derivative works. We prize diversity, specifically stories that include multicultural backgrounds or lead characters of atypical ethnic origins. Basically, while we have nothing against heterosexual white American males, we feel they are already adequately represented in science fiction and we want stories about the rest of humanity. We are interested in character-oriented fiction. Women Positive We want stories with awesome female protagonists. Zoë Washburn? YES! Princess Leia? Definitely! That blonde girl from The Temple of Doom? No! Bella? Hahahaha. No. Sex Positive Can the story contain sexual content? Absolutely! However, the sexual content should be integral to the story, but not the whole story. Does there have to be sex in the story? Nope. No demeaning sex acts. No rape. Period. Science Positive Stories should explore science fiction, scientific fantasy, space opera, emerging technologies, etc… We have a preference for...

Deadline: August 31st, 2015 Payment: $0.01 per word up to $150 and a split of the profit if the anthology makes one. Here at Wicked Tales we believe an author should write their stories the way they want to. It doesn’t matter what font you use, how big or small the print is, but please use .RTF,  .DOC, .DOCX or .OTD files when submitting to us. Please remember NOT to use strange formatting. Ensure you have a return or enter keyed in at the end of each paragraph, not each line. Avoid using the “Tab” in your document. Send your submission to our parent company at [email protected] with the subject “Short Story Submission – Muffled Scream”. What we are looking for Short Stories – The life blood of an author, short stories can fuel the imagination with so few words. Ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 words, your writing could easily be the pivotal story of our anthology series. The theme for the first Muffled Screams is “Corner of the Eye”. Submissions for the first Muffled Screams opens June 1st and closes August 31st. How to submit to us Submitting to us is easy. You only need two things – Your short story and a small two paragraph bio of yourself. This should be supplied with your manuscript. Attach both to an email entitled “Short Story Submission – Muffled Scream” indicating which anthology you are submitting to and send it to our submissions email address. This email address is set to delete emails with no attachments. If you have a question, please use the contact us form. This is very important. Don’t run the risk of not having your short story published. Please remember to include your bio. Several short stories were received without one, and your submission will be returned if one is not included. We are starting to get busy! Once...

Deadline: August 31t, 2015 Payment: $50 Robot Cowgirl wants you to write a squamous tale of those ancient, unnameable evils which lie in the outer dark, those cephalopodic nightmares which come for us in the night. Cthulhu calls, but he’s not looking for the same old, same old—give us a fresh catch. “And with strange aeons even death may die,” but most of the copyrights for Lovecraft’s genre-defining canon have passed into the great beyond. Yet the enduring power of these tales persists. From Lovecraft’s 1919 Dagon to 1943’s Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft managed to create worlds which existed in the specific places and times of the writer’s experience, but which also transcended those times, invoking mysteries as old as the universe itself which might dwell in madness until the end of time. Following our general submission guidelines, tell us a Lovecraftian tale which summons the ancient evils and heinous otherworldliness of the Cthulhu mythos, but which updates Lovecraft for a new generation, or which spins the context of his tales in entirely new directions. Write well, write with a firm grounding in the mythos, but surprise us. Submissions are due 31 August 2015. Stories should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words. Unlike our previous calls from the lost city of R’lyeh for submissions, this one does build on an existing canon. We will be double-checking, for your protection and ours, that anything you reference in your story is outside copyrights. That said, most everything Lovecraft is fair game. Preference will be given to tales which imbue the Lovecraftian mystique with diversity, humanism, and complexity. On acceptance, payment will be US$50 per story. Via: Robot Cowgirll.

Deadline: August 31st 2015 Payment: $0.03 per word up to $225 Betwixt is open to submissions as of midnight eastern time on July 1. Issue 9 will be guest edited by Jensen Toperzer and Bethany Zaiatz. FICTION Genres and Content: Betwixt publishes speculative fiction of all sorts—fantasy, science fiction, speculative horror, slipstream, weird fiction, steam/diesel/cyber/etc.punk, you name it. We particularly like stories that smash genre boundaries to smithereens, but we also love fresh takes on established genres and in-depth explorations of ultraspecific niches. Experiments in form and style are welcomed enthusiastically—but a straightforward narrative with tight, crisp language is just as beautiful. When it comes down to it, we want stories that will amaze us, astound us, provoke our thoughts, and boggle our minds. Betwixt supports diversity in speculative fiction and welcomes stories by and about individuals of all ages, classes, disabilities, ethnicities, genders, nationalities, races, religions, and sexual orientations. Please don’t send multiple or simultaneous submissions, stories that have been published (including self-published) previously, or poetry. We are not seeking unsolicited nonfiction at this time. We strongly encourage writers to read at least one issue of the magazine before submitting. Our current issue is located here, and back issues can be found here. Length: Stories of 4,000 to 7,000 words are ideal, but we will consider a range from 1,000 to 30,000 words. Rights: Betwixt purchases first worldwide English-language serial, electronic, and print rights. Each story we acquire will be published on betwixtmagazine.com, in an electronic and print-on-demand quarterly issue, and in an electronic and print-on-demand yearly anthology. We may also excerpt stories for promotional purposes. The author retains all other rights. We do not publish unsolicited reprints, and we ask that stories we publish not appear anywhere else for three months after publication. For example, if a story is...

Deadline: August 31, 2015 Payment: $0.01 per word, rounded up to nearest $5.00 US Local Hero Press is pleased to announce we are now accepting submissions for an anthology of original superhero fiction short stories, called Caped. Here is what we’re seeking: Original superhero fiction stories that get into more depth about being a superhero than basic secret origin tales or superhero-versus-supervillain. Who are these people who have strange and wonderful powers and choose to use them for great justice? What makes them tick? Your characters should be original creations. We cannot consider work utilizing licensed characters. Genre: Superhero Style: Open to all/most styles Subjects: Open to all/most subjects Length: Up to 5000 words Payment: $0.01 per word, rounded up to nearest $5.00 USD, paid via PayPal upon final acceptance of the contract by all parties. Type of submissions accepted: Electronic only, see below for precise requirements Reprints? No Multiple Submissions? No Simultaneous Submissions? Yes Submissions close: August 31, 2015. This may be extended if required. Response time: 4 weeks or sooner. Publication date: December 1, 2015 or later if submissions period is extended. Potential Authors: You are submitting your work to Local Hero Press for publication in ebook and print format. We request exclusive worldwide rights for a period of six months from date of publication, followed by non-exclusive worldwide rights for a period of five years that renews every year afterward automatically unless cancelled by you or Local Hero Press. We will make no major alterations to your work, although we reserve the right to make minor copy-editing changes, subject to your approval prior to publication. If we determine we want to publish your work, a conditional offer will be made and you will receive a contract. Submission Requirements: Failure to follow these requirements pretty much guarantees we...

Deadline: August 31st, 2015 Payment: One cent per manuscript word. Max payment of $50.00 (USD) per story - for those submissions that may exceed the alloted word count. Another payment option we are offering is: One-time payment of $25.00 for publication of your story + a physical contributor copy / including cost of shipping / to be mailed out 90 days from date of publication. Scarlet Galleon Publications would like to ask,  HOW DEEP DOES YOUR FEAR GO? Scarlet Galleon Publications is proud to announce our next project, FEARFUL FATHOMS: Collected Tales of Aquatic Terror. This anthology is targeted to launch Memorial Day Weekend 2016, just in time for next year's summer beach reading season! We will be opening a call for submissions on August 1, 2015, which will run through August 31, 2015. We are looking for terrifying tales to comprise this new horror collection that will be the well-anticipated follow up to our acclaimed inaugural publication,DEAD HARVEST: A Collection of Dark Tales, which we are proud to announce debuted at #1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases in Horror and Bestselling Anthologies in Horror. It has remained in the Top 100 since its publication in November, 2014.  For fans of tales such as MOBY DICK, JAWS, THE DEEP, BEAST, MEG, THE ABYSS, BELOW, THE FOG, OPEN WATER, THE LOCH(and far too many other titles to mention here), this new anthology should be right in your wheelhouse! Whatever kind of aquatic tale causes your breath to turn sporadic, and makes the blood in your veins go ice-cold, should be the kind of story you'll want to write. Thematic note: While Lovecraftian tales are certainly welcome, this is not a project soley centered on the Lovecraft mythos.  What we are looking for - Stories set in or around water, which is to say: the beach, the ocean, islands, lakes,...

Deadline: August 31st, 2015 Payment: $40/£24, plus 2 x copies of the anthology Note: Reprints Accepted ‘The Myriad Carnival‘ is an anthology of ‘queer, weird and dark’ stories themed around carnivals, featuring stories from writers including Paul Magrs (The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, Doctor Who), Hal Duncan (Vellum, Ink, Scruffians!), Roy Gill (The Parallelseries, Confessions of Dorian Gray), Evey Brett, Kate Harrad and others. Previously invitation only, we’re opening submissions for the remaining two slots in the table of contents. Pertinent details: –  The collection is nominally shared world; each story features a carnival named the ‘Myriad Carnival’ but other than this the genre, time, setting and peoples of the carnival are in the hands of the writer. –  This is also primarily an LGBT, or queer, themed anthology. Whilst it is not a hard-and-fast requirement that characters be explicitly gay, please not that the queer/weird sensibility is important, and that LGBT elements are likely a leg-up to inclusion. –  There are plenty of carnival archetypes currently unexplored, but steer clear of tarot readers, trick horse riders, tattooed men and electricity magicians. We’ve got those already. –  Payment is $40/£24, plus 2 x copies of the anthology. Reprints accepted. –  Word length: Flexible; average current story length between 2k and 6k. –  Deadline: August 31st. –  Submissions/queries to: [email protected] Via: Matthew Bright.

Deadline: September 1st, 2015 Payment: $25.00 and electronic copy The Monster Waiting in the Woods If An Emby Bestiary is the treat, The Monster Woods is definitely the trick! This is the scary side of that other coin and these stories should be too terrifying to tell children. And here’s the really tricky part: I will be looking for atmosphere above action and characters above carnage. What I’ve been reading for The Ghost Papers is proof that many of you are skilled in writing about bumps in the night instead of buckets of blood and that you can send chills racing up a spine without a single scream. Do that here. Scare the hell out of us with any monster you like, although I will be especially interested in original monsters. Then keep the tension screwed tight and the terror dial on high. Set the stories anywhere - the “woods” in the title are only a possibility. Don’t rely on violence, but don’t be shy with it either. Get psychological. Play with perception. Just make sure that a monster is featured in the story (no hunter required). Edited by: Miles Boothe Submission Period: 2/1/15 through 9/1/15 Reading Period: 9/2/15 through 11/2/15 Acceptances will be announced 11/2/15 Tentative Publication Date: Winter 2016 Payment: $25.00 and electronic copy of the book upon publication. Word Limits: 2000 to 8000 words. Please query if longer. Format: Submissions should be .doc (.docx is fine) or .rtf formats. The entire text will be reformatted, so no need to worry about margins, spacing, etc. Please use a standard font. Genres Accepted: Dark Fiction, Horror, sci-fi. Reprints Accepted: No Simultaneous Subs: (submitting to Emby and another press at the same time) can be avoided by requesting an early response. Multiple Subs: Each author may submit up to 2...

Deadline: September 1, 2015 Payment: $25 For our next anthology, we are offering an open call for stories that involve Witches, Warlocks, Demons, and other Evil Doers. We are looking for stories that tell of wrong doings perpetrated by someone or something with supernatural abilities. We are not looking for stories of werewolves or vampires who need to survive by causing harm. What we want are stories of choice; stories where the protagonist chooses to do harm for a specific reason through means of a power beyond that of a normal mortal. We would prefer that the stories appeal to a broad audience and that period or overly-stylized pieces be refrained from. Your story MUST include all of the following elements: A horror/evil intent based theme that is explained within the story; A protagonist with evil or malicious intent with a specific reason; A protagonist with abilities that an average mortal does not possess; A victim or victims being persecuted for a specific and explained reason. Beyond these specific inclusions, feel free to be as creative as you’d like provided you do not breach the three things we will not consider for publication: Stories containing pedophilia; Stories containing scenes of sexually descriptive rape. Submit a story containing any of the three above EXCLUSIONS, and it will immediately be disqualified. Deadline: September 1, 2015 Reading & Evaluation Period: Two to three months after close of the deadline Word Count: 4,000 – 8,000 words NO REPRINTS WILL BE CONSIDERED Payment: Each story selected for inclusion will receive a one-time payment of $25US For full guidelines, please visit our website at: www:SirensCallPublications.com Via: Sirens Call Publications.

Deadline: September 1st, 2015 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Reprints Welcome FICTION We at the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (GLAHW) are looking for stories that are well written and character driven, preferably with a Michigan or Great Lakes connection, but any well written story with a dark side has a chance with us. All stories need to be Horror, Dark Sci-Fi, Dark Fantasy, or Dark Humor, especially Dark Humor. If you can make us laugh and creep us out at the same time, you have a good chance of acceptance. Please don’t send us sword & sorcery or space opera stories. Tolkien and Lucas have their place, but not here. Also, we don’t and can’t accept “fan fiction” which includes anything based on a video game, book, movie or any other creator’s work or conception unless you have written permission from the creator. If you don’t own the copyright to the characters in your story, we cannot publish your work. By submitting to GLAHW you, as the author of the work, accept responsibility for any possible copyright infringement. Please don’t send us “Slash”, “Fem-Slash” or anything graphic sexual descriptions. Sex is okay as long as it’s integral to the story, but don’t overdo it. Please don’t use gore for gore’s sake. Again, gore is okay as long as it’s integral to the story. After all, we are horror writers. Though we cringe at the thought of violence toward children or pets, we understand that this type of violence does occur in real life, but please make sure it’s integral to your story. Any story that insinuates an act of sexual violence between an adult and a child will be automatically rejected. Please use spell check and proof your work before sending to us. As writers, we should be doing...