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Deadline: February 1st 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word April--Issac Asimov Of all the greats, who's easier to recognize than Asimov? We want to see stories that are written in the style of this master, that are in homage to him, or that include Asismov as a character. Also, please include a brief paragraph at the beginning of your story, letting the reader know what Asimov story inspired you to write this one. CALL BEGINS DECEMBER 1, 2013 CALL ENDS FEBRUARY 1, 2014 Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.) Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable. Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word. We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author. Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk getting lost in our queue and not read before the deadline. Penumbra uses Musa Publishing's house style guide, which relies upon the Chicago Manual of Style. All accepted stories will be edited to reflect Musa house style. If you have never been published before, please tell us. Penumbra likes publishing new authors...

Deadline: February 1st, 2014 Payment: $25 and two contributor’s copies     Call For Submissions for: Boroughs of the Dead II – An Anthology of New York City Ghost Stories  We are looking for your best original short horror and ghost stories set in and around New York City. This anthology of urban horror will focus on telling tales of terror from the five boroughs. Any style of horror is welcome, from the weird tale to supernatural stories, and nothing is off limits. Stories can be historical fiction or pure imagination – the only parameter is that your tale must take place in one of the five boroughs or within a reasonable distance (e.g. Yonkers, or in a tunnel under the Hudson River). The city plays a huge part in this anthology, and it is critical that the setting contribute to the story in a significant way. Think of New York City as a character in your tale, and let the story tell us why it is so. For an idea of the type of story we’re looking for, check out   Boroughs of the Dead Volume 1 or The Friendly Horror and Other Weird Tales.   Word count is generally limited to 3,500 words but you may query longer stories up to 5,000 words if you feel they fit the parameters of this anthology. Flash fiction and poetry will be considered, but preference is given to short stories between 1,000 – 2,500 words. Contributors will receive payment of $25 and two contributor’s copies. This anthology will be edited by Anthony Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Andrea Janes and published by Myth Ink Books. Sub stories in body of an email to Myth Ink Books (Click here to open email) (no attachments, please). Please include a brief note with your submission telling us where in NYC your...

Deadline: February 1st, 2014 Payment: $0.02 USD per word and contributor's copy Aercastle Narratives:  Speculative Fiction Magazine is currently reading submissions for Issue 1. Accepted submissions will be featured in Aercastle Narratives’ debut issue, scheduled for publication in March 2014. We are open to writers and voices of any genre (adventure, fantasy, horror, humor, mystery, occult, psychic, paranormal, supernatural, romance, science fiction, thriller and western stories, and very interested in reading writers who are unafraid of combining any of these genres). We are open to debuting and seasoned writers alike. We’re looking for quality tales that take us away, make us think and make us feel. To be considered, speculative elements must contribute to your story. We’re looking for those tales which have the potential to keep our readers engaged, on a plane, commuter train, library, or in the comfort of their living rooms. 2014 SUBMISSION DEADLINES: Issue 1, March 2014 deadline: February 1, 2014 Issue 2, June 2014 deadline: May 1, 2014 Issue 3, September 2014 deadline: August 1, 2014 Issue 4, December 2014 deadline: November 1, 2014 MANUSCRIPT FORMAT Submitted manuscripts must be at least 500 words and no longer than 2,000 words in length. Use a professional, easy to read font, 12pt in size. SUBMISSION Please e-mail manuscripts as an attachment, in either *.doc, *.docx, or OpenOffice *.odt files. In the subject of the e-mail, begin your subject line with “Submission” and the title(s) of your submission. We are seeking First Electronic Rights, First Print Rights, or Reprint Rights where applicable. Please include a brief author bio in your e-mail submission, with publication history and/or website with us. We’d love to tell our readers about you. E-mail submissions to:  [email protected] PAYMENT Payment for accepted works is $0.02 USD per word (i.e. $10 for 500 words, $40 for 2000 words) Payment in the form of PayPal transfer or money order (contributor’s preference) upon publication. Contributor’s copy....

Deadline: February 1st, 2014 Payment: 1-cent-per-word to a maximum of $50. Contributors will also receive 2 copies of the journal.   The submission window is August 1 through to February 1. (Note, I may close to subs if the book fills up before February 1).   Thank you for your interest in Shadows & Tall Trees. From issue 6 onward, Shadows & Tall Trees is an annual trade-paperback and eBook anthology published in May.   Fiction Guidelines It’s evident potential contributors are not reading the guidelines below, so here are some quick bullet points. Unfortunately, it’ll mostly read like a laundry list of things I don’t want, as most of the submissions I receive are inappropriate. But please read the full guidelines. I’ll know from your cover letter if you haven’t. - I want literary horror, weird fiction, strange tales, à la Robert Aickman. (If you aren’t familiar with Aickman, you are unlikely to place a story at Shadows & Tall Trees). - Original, previously unpublished fiction only, please. - Manuscripts should be no more than 7500-words - Payment is a princely 1-cent-a-word to a maximum $50, plus 2 copies, for first English-Language rights - No overly long and effusive cover letters. I don’t read them. - Do not summarize your short story! Do not summarize your short story! Please. - No multiple or simultaneous submissions. I shall respond fairly promptly. - No familiar tropes. i.e. vampires, werewolves, and zombies. - No science fiction. Telling me that your horror story is set on Mars does not cut it. - No elves, dragons, or faeries. Seriously. If I read one more story of evil faeries in mystical woods, I will likely die in an all-consuming rage. Full guidelines below. I publish quiet, literary horror fiction. Fiction that is offbeat and eclectic; dark, bizarre and psychological....

Deadline: Feb 20th, 2014 Payment: Exposure & Royalties Dark in the Limelight Deadline: Feb 20th, 2014 Payment: Exposure & Royalties Flash fiction & Short Stories (1,000 – 4,000 words) Poetry and re-prints will also be considered “I promise you, one and all, that fame will not change me.” - Harietta Morgan Old stage lighting burns centre stage on a budding actor, singer, dancer? They’ve made it to the middle mark. Fame and fortune await them. But just how did they get so lucky as to have their dreams fall into their laps? Was it hard work that got them where they are today, determination, talent, even? Or perhaps it was something else, something much more sinister that gave them their gifts and their powers. There’s something dark in the limelight. Can those held beneath its spell survive the curse their greed has brought upon them, or will they perish like so many others? The price of fame can be Hell. No taboos, just let your imagination run wild. Dark fairy tales, bizarre, horror, surrealism, dark science-fiction and steam punk are all cool here. Submission guidelines: Deadline for submissions – February 20th, 2014. Word Count: 1,000 – 4,000 words. Please submit your manuscript as a *.doc or *.docx file - rtf is acceptable also (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact me prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you). Font and formatting: Please submit in Times New Roman, 12 point font; single line spacing. Please format the document to 1st line indentation of 1″. The page margin should be set to .1″ on all sides. Please check grammar. Upon acceptance into the anthology, you agree that Horrified Press holds exclusive publishing rights for six months from the date of publication; after that date has passed, all intellectual...

Deadline: February 20th, 2013 Payment: $10 per story   Each monthly flash fiction call has a theme. We ask you to write an SFF story (SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, or related sub-genres) that fits the theme in some way. You’ll find a list of upcoming themes below. Please only submit a story for a particular theme during that theme’s submission period. Stories submitted during the wrong submission period will be deleted unread. Though this is a flash fiction contest, we’re still looking for stories with a strong narrative arc. We want stories that introduce us to character, world, and conflict in the opening 1-2 graphs. (Conflict isn’t just a fight, by the way.) We want a middle free of too much backstory; we want forward momentum. Last, we want an ending the resolves the plot, directly or subtly. We only want stories between 500 and 1,000 words, inclusive. We pay a flat rate of $10 per story, regardless of length. Now, without further ado, let’s showcase the themes, shall we?   Send your submission in an email to kazkasubsgmail.com. Attach your file to the email. Don’t forget to include your cover letter in the body of the email. Subject Line: Flash Fiction Contest (e.g. “Flash Fiction Contest ” for the ‘Sax & Violins’ prompt). Imprecise subject lines may result in lost submissions. Here are the rules and details. Word Count: We’re looking for a piece of flash fiction that is between 500 and 1000 words long. Thus: 499 < YOUR STORY < 1,001 We won’t publish stories north or south of this mark. Deadline: At midnight, as the 20th rolls into the 21st in California, we’ll stop accepting submissions for the current month’s contest. All dates and times relate to California time (Pacific PST/PDT). Manuscript & Cover Letter: Please get close to standard manuscript formatting. However, we’ll be formatting your...

Deadline: February 21st, 2014 Payment: An equal percentage split of 50% all sales p.o.d. and e-book What kind of content are we looking for? We are looking for dark fiction / horror / psychological horror. Stories about love and loss, life and death. Feel free to pour your heartache over the loss of a loved one into your story. We are going to be very discriminative in our selection process. We are looking for literature. Not just stories. If you’re going to explore a traditional genre, we expect you to do something new with it. If you send us another textbook genre book, you will receive a polite letter of refusal and suggestions for other markets that may be better suited for your work. What we’re looking for is writing that actually frightens. We don’t want scary, young adult content. We want terrifying writing that will make us leave the lights on after we’re done reading. Or something so depressing it will make our hard luck stories read like love songs. If you think you’ve got something that fits the preceding description, feel free to review our submission policy below. If you can’t write a short story in a month, you may want to consider submitting to another publisher. We’re not looking for the next Stephen King or Clive Barker or Anne Rice. We’re looking for authors with a unique voice all their own. No children’s books, no Young Adult, and if you’re going to submit something zombie-genre it had better be amazing. NO EROTICA! Go peddle your vampire/werewolf adult content somewhere else. No explicit gore, violent sex, rape, torture, or necrophilia. If you’ve got something that would be X-rated if it were adapted into a film, our sub-label Radiation Sickness Books is putting together a similarly themed anthology for...

Deadline: February 28th, 2014 Payment: $10/piece + a hard copy of the issue your piece appears in. Despumation is a literary magazine published by Despumation Press (go figure). Before you do anything, read this. Seriously. As a matter of fact, it’s a really good idea if you read everything on this page and the links provided, which actually isn’t very much. Because we can tell if you haven’t read it. You’ve been warned. For our first issue, we’re concentrating on song stories: short fiction based on your favorite metal song. To get a good idea as to what we’re looking for, click here. When I read your story out loud, I want to hear the metal. Trying to figure out how to structure your story? Listen to (a) song; use its rhythm and tempo to hammer out (a) plot and timing. Are you at a place where the topic or action seems particularly “metal” to you? Read it out loud. What does it sound like? Are there some consonants that sound more pounding, or sharp, or burning, or stabbing? Are there some vowels that drone on, drag out? Use those words, but don’t sacrifice meaning. How about your setting? Does it evoke the plodding of the drums and bass? Does it look like the vocalist sounds? I know, right? It’s harder than you thought it’d be. This is what I’m looking for. Stories that celebrate a (metal)’s theme(s) and sound; stories that read like a live show. Stories that make the reader feel like they’ve just spent twelve hours with a warm beer in their hand, satisfyingly half-time nodding to the bowel-shaking pulse of a double bass, or like they’ve just crawled out of a pit and are wondering if maybe something is broken. It’ll be a challenge for the writer, but I...

Deadline: February 28th 2014 Payment: Equal share of profits in the form of royalty payments We are currently looking for submissions for our first ever publication! Closing date: 28th of February, 2014. More than anything we want to see horror stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words. The tales can be any type of horror fiction, from perverted lunatics to rampaging aliens. All we ask is that it is something original. Gore is acceptable as long as the story is not just violence. We're looking for interesting characters and narratives. If your story takes place in an alternate universe or on a distant planet, then above all it has to be believable. Stories do not need to be straight up in-your-face kind of horror, sometimes a more subtle approach is just as entertaining. We hope to attract a wide range of submissions. Document format is not particularly important, but all manuscripts should be created in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). When submitting please use the word 'Submission' as the subject. Please include your name and email address at the top of your manuscript and please also number the pages. Should you wish to hype your own ability by telling us of awards you have won or previous publications you have had, then please do so in the main body of the email. If your submission happens to be unsuccessful then we will aim to provide you with some feedback and we hope that it will not put you off the idea of submitting again in the future. We intend to make our debut release via Create Space to save on cost. All contributing authors will receive an equal share of the profits, NoodleDoodle Publications will take one author's share. If I (the creator of NoodleDoodle) use one of my stories I...

Deadline: February 28th 2014 or until filled Payment: There will be five Editor’s Choice Awards for $30 CAN each. Each Editor’s Choice Award winner will receive a free contributor paperback copy and $30 amok (also amuck) adv. 1. In a frenzy to do violence or kill; 2. In or into a jumbled or confused state; 3. In or into an uncontrolled state or a state of extreme activity.   The flagship title for our planned series of volumes under the banner 'Short Sharp Shocks' is 'Amok!'. Why not 'Amuck'? We like Amok more.   Who, exactly, should be running amok? That's up to you. An average Joe snaps, an old-folk's home goes on a murderous rampage, giant monsters level your least favorite city, a good old psychopath picks up his favorite mask and hatchet or irradiated gerbils terrorize a town - the sky's the limit!   What we are looking for: Short stories with a sting in the tail. Stories that grab the reader from the opening line and shake them into submission, finally delivering a punchline like a slap in the face with a large fish. Don't be afraid to inject a little dark humor if need be, but slapstick is out.   Settings: Anything goes, any genre, any time period. If the story is compelling and the characters relatable, then we will be happy to consider your work.   Story length: We are looking for stories in the 2000 - 5000 word range. See the submissions page for other requirements.   Submission period will be from December 1st 2013 until February 28th 2014 or until book is filled, so don't wait until the last minute.   Multiple submissions: YES. Simultaneous submissions - NO.  Reprints - NO. Acceptances and rejections will go out as work is reviewed.   All submissions should be attached in an email and sent to [email protected] The subject...