Events

Deadline: July 31st Payment: 8 cents per word NOTE: During the last submission window there were some problems with email notifications getting through to users.  If you think of it when submitting, write down the tracking number shown in your browser; you can use that to check the status at any time.(normally that would also be emailed in an auto-notification).  If you didn’t write that down, you can query as described below–just be careful not to mention your story title to disqualify, just say the email address you used to submit. David Steffen is the editor.  He will be reading all submissions himself, no slushreader.  Be sure you read the guidelines and pay close attention to the requirements around anonymity–since there is a staff of one, the requirements for anonymity are extra important to avoid disqualifying your submission.   FICTION OVERVIEW Genres: science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have speculative element, even horror). Word count: 3500 words or less. This is a firm limit.  If you submit a longer story, it will be rejected unread and that will count as a submission. Do not query to ask permission to submit something longer either–the answer will be no. Pay rate: 8 cents per word (more than the professional rate as deemed by SFWA) Multiple submissions: A total of TWO submissions per author during this submission window.  You don’t have to wait for one response to send the second one–you can just send both whenever you want during the window.  We’re aiming to publish a couple stories of complementary length per month–one very short with one longer or two middling length ones–so I suggest that it would be a good idea to submit a short and long yourself if you have them available. Simultaneous submissions: No. Reprint submissions: No. That means you should not submit anything...

Deadline: July 31st, 2016 Payment: 1 cent per word Note: Female authors only Reprints allowed 'Killing it Softly'—Women. The softer sex. Maybe, but trust me, the frightening tales from the women in this anthology will not be soft. Not in any way. This select group of female authors will take you for a ride into the darkest part of your psyche; to places you’ve been too afraid to go. And once you’ve been there—you’ll never be able to ‘unsee’ the horrors they’ll bring… Suzie Lockhart - Managing Editor Welcome to Digital Horror Fiction. We are excited to announce a new open call for reprint short stories in the horror fiction genre - dedicated to stories by female* authors. These stories will be published as part of an anthology (Killing it Softly) of short stories, flash fiction, and some poetry under the Digital Horror Fiction imprint, by the publisher, Digital Fiction Publishing Corp. (Note that flash fiction and poetry are by invitation only and will be solicited directly by the Editor, this open call is for horror reprint short stories of 3,000 to 7500 words in length only.) We are looking for reprint short stories that have appeared in professional or semi-professional books, magazines, collections, or anthologies, and that are available to be re-licensed by Digital Horror Fiction and published through Amazon and elsewhere in an anthology of stories. We are not looking for (and will not license) self published stories (in any format/venue), stories that have been published and are available to download on-line (free or paid) as stand-alone stories (in collections and anthologies is fine), or stories that are available free on-line in any form (magazine, archive, blog etc, but podcasts that have not been made available in print are fine). Basically, if we search for your story on-line and find it, in writing, by title or content, and it's free in any format we won't license it - no exceptions. Reprint short stories must have a...

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: a percentage of the final product based on how many stories are in the collection. The Project:  In Fall 2016 we’ll be releasing our second collection of stories under the wide umbrella genre of ‘Horror.’ It will be released as one large volume. This collection will be edited by Head Editor of Onyx Neon Shorts, Jeffrey P. Martin. What genre are you looking for?: This isn’t for a specific sub genre, but more of a call for anything that fits under the larger umbrella of “Horror.” Stories about haunted houses, killer dolls, classic gore, weird fiction, or various other topics will fit right in. What authors inspire you? We are inspired by authors like Laird Barron, Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, Nathan Balingrud, M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft How will this work? We’re looking for 13 stories and they will be released in one large collection in October/November. What’s the length? Because it’s a collection of stories they can range anywhere from 0-30,000 words. So, no minimum limit. What we pay: Our standard collection rate is a percentage of the final product based on how many stories are in the collection. What’s the deadline: Because the collection comes out in the fall, no stories will be considered if they come in after August 1st. We need time to read through stories and decide if we want to include them. This isn’t a moveable deadline. This is literally the final deadline that we will take submissions for the collection so please, be aware. First Print and Electronic Publishing Rights: It must be stated that when your story is published for the first time that publisher has taken your stories First Print Rights. What this means is that every publication that publishes the story after that has to list where the stories were published. In this case we...

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: $25.00 – $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 – $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars). We also send you a copy of the issue in which your piece appears. You’ll receive your money and issue at the same time. Fall Prompt: Mrs. Morrison was too busy to die. 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. (Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines.) 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...

Deadline: 8/01/16 Payment: $5 for flash fiction and $10 to $20 (depending on length) for short stories "We are not afraid." Body Parts Magazine is an online literary magazine of horror, erotica, speculative fiction, essays and art. Each themed issue honors Eros and Thanatos, the Greek gods of libido and mortido—life and death. We celebrate the vast and various expressions of dreams and darkness, our primitive desires and urges, and seek to encounter—and embrace—those shadowy monsters who dwell in the dimly lit corners of human experience. Submission Guidelines Upcoming Themes Submissions for each issue are accepted through the last day of each reading period (if specified). You are welcome to submit material for any issue--simply indicate which issue you would like your work to be considered for. Issue #7: Fairy Tales, Mythology and Gods & Monsters (Fall/Winter 2016) Submission deadline: 8/01/16 Fiction Body Parts accepts well-written, thoughtfully structured horror, erotic horror, speculative fiction, dark fantasy (including fairy tales and mythology), exceptional stories about ghosts, ghouls, monsters and wretched creatures, Gothic fiction, and all combinations of the above. Our boundaries are few and far between. Flash Fiction: 1,000 words or fewer. Short Stories: up to 8,000 words. Serialized or Longer Fiction: query us with total word count. Art/Photography We accept your original artwork and photography reflective of an issue’s theme. Email a query with a link to your art online (web, Dropbox, Google album, etc.) Payment varies. Essays & Interviews We accept short essays and interviews (up to 1200 words) about topics that fit within our themes, people integral to the type of work published in Body Parts (writers, artists, photographers, etc.). Query first. We do not accept book/game/music reviews. Payment varies. Payment Body Parts is a paying market. We offer an honorarium of $5 for flash fiction and $10 to $20 (depending on length) for short...

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: $25.00, plus digital and 1 trade paperback copy upon distribution Elven, Dwarven, Orc or Mage. Fae and Seelie leap off the page. Poems, sagas, epics too, this is what we ask of you. With parchment and quill in hand, take us to your mythic land. Build a world ethereal and fair, bring it to us so we can share. An anthology for us to build, helping us, the lily gild. Please do not use or reference stories, characters etc that are already established and/or property of someone else. No copyright infringements please.  We are looking for original work with original characters and the plot should be original as well. Please, NO fan fiction. Characters must be your own, originally created, and not a version or fan fiction of an existing character. Do not use the names or personalities of existing trademarked characters. No references should be made to characters from well-known sources. Please keep stories relatively clean as we are looking to make this available to all ages. Therefore in keeping with the Codes of Chivalry, profanity, gratuitous violence, sexual themes and the like will be deemed as unsuitable for this work. Only submit unpublished, original stories, and characters. Story length, between 2,500 minimum and 8,000 maximum words. This is going to call for a high level of skill to keep your story fast paced and interesting without falling back on those particular crutches to carry the plot along. We are looking forward to some high quality, entertaining reading. We are looking for short stories between 2500 and 8000 words. Please spend time reviewing the guidelines, this will ensure that your best work is submitted free of editorial issues, such as spelling, formatting, and grammar. Any submission with EXCESSIVE formatting, spelling, grammatical or editing issues...

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: $50 Great fiction never simply reinforces what we already know, and a good scary story, by the same token, goes beyond a mere exploitation of those fears with which we have become familiar. Old, dilapidated houses, primordial forests, dark alleys, and cramped, creaking elevators may provide familiar settings, but a good scary story does more than remind us of the everyday dangers inherent to these uncomfortable places. What we find in truly terrifying fiction is not only the possibility of violence or even annihilation, but a confrontation with a world that is utterly different than we perceive it to be. To fear not just a set of negative outcomes, but the utter dissolution of reality, is the challenge and triumph of every great scary story. While most of us have at some point in our lives feared the death of a loved one, rarely do we stop to consider the ramifications of our departed returning home a half-feral and decaying corpse, but this awful scenario is precisely what Nathan Ballingrud forces us to consider in his horrifying and heartbreaking story, “The Good Husband.” Many people suffer from a natural revulsion to cockroaches, but those who have read “Mimic” by Donald Wollheim have found themselves pondering in disgust the possibility that their strange and mysterious neighbor might be an unidentified species of man-sized bug with an apartment full of fertilized eggs. The devices and methods by which fiction can terrify its readers are as broad and twisted as the imaginations of the authors who dream them up. Scary stories can come in all shapes and sizes, from surrealistic fever dreams like Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor” to contemporary, enigmatic ghost stories such as Kelly Link’s “I Can See Right Through You,” from vicious retellings of classic fairytales...

Deadline: August 15, 2016 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Anthologist: Kate Wolford Krampus, Santa's dark companion, is in the spotlight these days. Thousands of people across the globe celebrate Krampusnacht on December 5th of each year. And the movie, Krampus, was a hit during the 2015 holiday season. Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus, which I anthologized and World Weaver Press published, was a hit as well. So, World Weaver Press and Enchanted Conversation are publishing another volume. For now, it's just called Krampusnacht Two. Remember, Krampus is the "corrective" to Saint Nick or Santa's indulgence and generosity. He carries a switch and chains, and sometimes throws very rotten children in a basket he carries on his back. He has horns, hooves, and a creepy, long tongue. He's horrible and fascinating at the same time. You can learn a lot about him from this site , and you should read Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus as well, to see what we like. But we are interested in new, fresh stories, not retreads of what we have already published. We’re looking for short stories that explore every possible Krampus angle. He’s a nasty old dude, and we hope your imaginations will get the better of you. Now for the fine print. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and paperback copy of the anthology. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. We are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains non-exclusive right to continue to publish for life of the anthology. Open submission period: May 15 - Aug. 15, 2016. (Please do not send stories before May 15!) Length: 1,000 to 10,000 words. Submission method: Email cover letter and story to enchantedconversation gmail com...

Deadline: August 15, 2016 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Sorry about the short notice on this one, just hit my inbox. We’ve learned a lot while creating our first book “Asylum of the Ancient Ones” is that it takes a long time to collect submissions. This time around, we are working on multiple books at once. It sounds kind of crazy, but it makes sense to us. We are looking for both short stories and artwork. Guidelines for Submissions: All work must be original. All submissions must be horror of some kind. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, etc…classic horror stuff. No limit on how many stories or how much art you can send in, as many as you want. You can send both art and stories. If the artwork goes with the story, all the better, but it doesn’t have to. No limit on story length, as long as it’s a well-developed story. Focus on content, not length. Artwork can be any medium, as long as the content is horror. Artwork must be in JPEG format, please get all the image in the picture without cutting anything off. Stories must be double-spaced, have paragraphs, and one space between sentences. All stories should be spell checked and grammar checked prior to being sent in. Some minor mistakes are expected, but if the document has too many, it will be rejected. All submissions must include Name, address, and an optional short bio, along with any websites you’d like people to visit. All submissions must be sent to [email protected], with “Horror Submission” in the subject. All submissions must include a release form for all submissions. We have one for art and one for stories. If you have multiple submissions, you can do one for all art and one for all stories if there is enough space. Here...

Deadline: August 22, 2016 Payment: $5.00 for poetry/flash; $10.00 for short stories and a contributor's copy Reprints Allowed Anticipated Release Date: February 2017 in print and ebook. Once again, the title should tell you all you need to know for the theme. Sharks and/or dinosaurs! We expect teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. Beyond that, pretty much anything goes. Fighting each other? Chomping teenagers on spring break? Teaming up buddy-cop-movie-style and learning to respect one another’s differences? The doomed romance of star-crossed lovers? Time travel? Monstrous hybrids? Magical musical singing and dancing? Bring it! Submission Period: July 22, 2016 — August 22, 2016 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 IV” 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.