Events

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: Roughly $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Theme: Heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September  December  If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed. * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages.   No simultaneous submissions, please. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25. Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany...

Deadline: December 31st 2020 Payment: $0.01/word Theme: The best speculative stories published in 2020 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. We’re Here 2020 is now open for submissions. The anthology will be co-edited by CL Clark and series editor Charles Payseur. Please submit your work here. If anything prohibits you from using the form, please contact us at [email protected] for alternate submission instructions. We are looking for: The best speculative stories published in 2020 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. We refer to queerness that is inclusive of ace/aro stories, trans and nonbinary stories, and intersex stories. What we don’t want to see: Original/unpublished work, unqueer work, non-speculative work. Guidelines: Please submit your story in .pdf, .doc or .docx file, formatted for publication or in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format.  Please use italics and bold as necessary. This should be the final version that was published, not including editor notes or track changes. Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, where/when the story was published, and a brief bio. You may include links to your website/social media, and previous publications if any. Please don’t stress about this cover letter, if we have additional questions about your submission, we’ll ask them. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Multiple submissions are welcome. Reprint submissions from 2020 only. This can include self-published stories, and those published on your blog or Patreon. Submissions are open to all.  Neon Hemlock Press is particularly interested in queer stories and authors.  Authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit.  Please don’t self-reject. The compensation level for stories accepted to WE’RE HERE: THE BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION 2020 is $0.01/word. Submissions will close December 31st 2020. Editors are encouraged to recommend work from their...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits and a paperback copy Theme: For one, Holmes's client must be a real historical figure, for the other, it must be a public domain character and fit in with the Victorian/ edwardian time frame of Holmes and Watson Note: I APOLOGIZE for how short this call is, usually these hit my inbox much sooner. Call for Submissions to Two NEW Sherlock Holmes Anthologies Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction Guidelines: These traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures are sure to be a lot of fun. For Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth Holmes's client is a real historical figure. It could be Queen Victoria, Billy the Kid, President Harrison, The Dalai Lama, Nellie Bly, Laura Ingalls Wilder, or any person who lived during the time Holmes and Watson worked together. For Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction Holmes's client is a fictional character. It must be a public domain character and fit in with the Victorian/ edwardian time frame of Holmes and Watson. Perhaps the client is an elderly Oliver Twist or a young Dr. Caligari. Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson could be visiting London and need help from a detective. Maybe Alice needs help finding Wonderland or Dorothy returning to Oz. Submissions:  Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth - Stories must fit traditional Holmes. Submissions should be 5,000 – 10,000 words in length (it is okay to go over or under some). Since these cases involve historical figures they should be canonical in nature. Holmes and Watson must be their traditional selves.   Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction -  Since these stories involve fictional characters, you have some leeway in adding elements of fantasy, horror, and science fiction (i.e. if you use Dracula, or the Time...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.05 per word Theme: To lost contact (not being specific in the call, just what that means to you, ideas for themes below!) Hi! If you are a writer, this post will be of great interest to you. But, before we get to our big announcement, I do want to point out we’ve recently uploaded several new titles on our homepage. Please check it out and order (or, in some instances, pre-order) a couple books. If you love indie horror, the best way to show that is to support publishers directly, and you can do that by ordering books through our webstore. (We will be issuing out other posts at a later date going into more detail on the new titles uploaded, such as Jessica Leonard’s debut novel, Antioch, which is gonna blow y’all’s minds; seriously, you might as well just go ahead and pre-order it right now before reading anything else in this newsletter–it’ll be the wisest decision you’ve ever made.) Now, on to our announcement… Long-time fans of Perpetual Motion Machine know we have released two critically acclaimed anthologies titled Lost Signals and Lost Films. These anthologies have featured fiction from folks like Josh Malerman, Brian Evenson, Kristi DeMeester, Gemma Files, Damien Angelica Walters, and so on… One thing we’ve been asked about the most, probably, is when are we going to complete the trilogy of these…LOST anthologies. And…well, it’s pretty obvious by now, but we intend on completing the trilogy in 2021. But we need help. Which is why, beginning right now, we are officially open for story submissions for a brand-new anthology called…LOST CONTACT.  Now, what does LOST CONTACT mean? I guess that depends on what the word CONTACT means to you. To lose contact…does that bring to mind something physical, something intangible? Does it give you a sense of isolation?...

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Payment: Small advance + royalties Theme: Horror and Crime fiction Hi, folks! Max Booth here, co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Perpetual Motion Machine. I’ve decided to reopen novel & novella submissions for our 2021/2022 lineup. Long-time fans of our press might notice we haven’t opened to full-length manuscript submissions in quite a while. Seems like a pretty good time to change that, right? And also, full transparency, while in recent years we have managed to publish more diverse authors in our horror magazine, Dark Moon Digest, I fully recognize we haven’t been the best at diversity on the book side of things. If you take a look at our novel roster, the pure whiteness might blind you. Please use caution. Obviously this wasn’t intentional, but I do take total blame in my laziness to seek out non-white voices. I screwed up there and I would like to do better. I love this press. I love the books we’ve published. I’ve dedicated the last eight years of my life to PMMP. But it’s never going to really evolve without making a significant step forward. Which is why, beginning immediately, Perpetual Motion Machine is reading novel & novella submissions from POC writers only. Sorry, white folks, but you gotta sit this open call out. Some general guidelines: Word count: 20k-150k Genres: Horror & Crime Deadline: January 01, 2021 Payment: Small advance + royalties Send all stories to [email protected] with “NOVEL/NOVELLA SUBMISSION_TITLE_LAST NAME_WORD COUNT” in the subject line. Please include a brief author bio in the cover letter. Via: Perpetual Motion Machine.

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Payment: $20 Theme: Killing your... Family Note: Reprints welcome We want you to kill off those family members. Grandma, brother and sisters, even the pet bird. Make it good, make us squirm. Length: 3-10k Single spaced TNR 12pt Word or dox files Re-prints accepted Pay: $20/accepted story Send subs to: [email protected] Via: Terror Tract's Facebook.

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but...

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Payment: £5 per accepted story. Theme: "Commuting" and what that means for you in Horror, Sci-Fi or Fantasy Flash Fiction Note: So this is a completely unique opportunity. Editor Max Green is looking to expand his experience in quite an interesting way. This isn't a publishing opportunity though it would likely mean your work would end up online as a reference which could cause it to be a reprint. Mr. Green is hoping to build a portfolio of edited stories and is willing to pay you for them. If you're a new writer looking for feedback or have a story that just never lands, this could be a beneficial way to get insight and keep the story around for a future collection of your own or anthology which accepts reprints. Also, not every anthologist will see this available in a portfolio as a reprint. Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Overview: An opportunity to send in a flash fiction piece and have it edited as part of a 2020 Creative Writing graduates portfolio. Payment: £5 per accepted story. It’s for a non-profit cause so no further money will be made once approved (either for myself or for you) but you will retain all the rights to your story and receive free editing on the submission if it’s approved. This is a good chance to have your work fine-tuned by a 3rd party who has a degree in Creative Writing and offers further potential to have your work posted online. It would be a great outlet for work that hasn’t been accepted in the past, or old stories that never saw the light of day!  Theme + Word Count: The theme or prompt for these short stories is “Commuting”. I leave this open ended for you to take it...

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Prizes: Grand Prize: $100 USD, First runner up: $50, second runner up: $25 Theme: Inclusion and representation for under-represented characters. The Non-Binary Stars anthology is about all kinds of inclusion and representation for under-represented characters. We are looking for excellent speculative fiction stories containing a character or characters that are representational of oppressed/under-represented groups, whether that be due to issues of gender, orientation, mental/physical health, body size, skin color, etc., in which the characters are just at home in the stories and they are accepted by those around them, and the storytelling itself is the focus. We want people to feel like there are characters out there that represent them and feel "normal". Note: this does not mean the story cannot mention the adversity such figures might face. Note: In order to have as broad an audience as possible, keep in mind that we cannot consider erotica or sex scenes unless they are only hinted at. Sorry for the damper this may put on some entries. HOW TO ENTER Submit your story to [email protected] with the words "Non-Binary Stars contest submission" or similar in the subject line. There is no entry fee. RULES Deadline is January 1st, 2021 and winners will be announced by February 1st, 2021 or as soon as possible after that. We will hang onto your story until the contest is finished, so please keep that in mind. LENGTH: 3,000-7,000 words SPECIFICS: One entry per contestant. Word count limits are absolute. No exceptions. Entries must be written in English. Entries must be new pieces, no reprints. Entries must be exclusive to this contest for its duration. No fan-fiction will be accepted. Include a short bio and your paypal payment address so we can distribute prizes promptly. JUDGING Each entry will be blind judged on a point system encompassing four factors: Creativity, Technique,...

Deadline: January 1st, 2021 Payment: $100 plus a one-year subscription to the magazine Theme: Goddesses, Nymphs and Supervixens Sexy Fantastic Magazine features the absolute highest quality of fiction, comics, book and movie reviews, articles, photos of sexy fantastic heroines, and other cultural delights by top professionals and award-winning authors and artists. We are currently accepting prose fiction submissions for issue 2. CURRENT ISSUE GUIDELINES The theme of Issue 2 is Goddesses, Nymphs and Supervixens. This theme should be interpreted loosely. We are currently looking for stories that loosely relate to that theme. What We Want The absolute best literature possible in the field of fantastic stories. The greatest emphasis of this magazine is the quality of writing. Whether an orthodox narrative tale, a dreamlike vignette, or a poetical prose scene, a story should be comprehensible on some level, stay truthful to the literary world that the author has created, and be pleasing or satisfying. Any type of story with fantastic elements is acceptable, such as a metaphysical or surreal modern tale, magic realism, a dark fantasy thriller, science fiction satire, historical legend, an imaginary world fantasy adventure, etc. The fantastic element may be blatant or only perceived or hinted at. We hope for stories that are either fantastic with at least a hint of eroticism or erotic stories that have at least a hint of the fantastic. In terms of quality and style, some examples would be stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Fritz Leiber, Catherine Lucille Moore, Gore Vidal, Lawrence Durrell, John Fowles, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, Jody Scott, Robert Heinlein, Carlos Fuentes, Anne Rice, Robert Aickman, Jack Vance, Conrad Aiken, Italo Calvino, Giovanni Boccaccio, Chaucer, Voltaire and Shirley Jackson. Comics would be work by creators such Moebius, Manara, or Esteban Maroto.  In TV or film, examples are...