Events

Deadline: March 1st 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word May--Superheroes It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a superhero theme where the only rule is that you can't use someone else's superhero. No fan fiction please, as much as we'd love to see your Spiderman slash. And keep in mind, too, that you don't have to wear a cape to be a superhero. So dust off your powers, focus on your archenemy and then save the universe. In this issue of Penumbra, we expect Marvel-worthy deeds of daring. CALL BEGINS JANUARY 1, 2014 CALL ENDS MARCH 1, 2014 Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less.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....

Deadline: March 13th, 2014 Payment: 5 cents/word RESURRECTION HOUSE is seeking science fiction, fantasy, horror, and creative non-fiction for a loosely themed anthology to be released in the winter of 2015. Stories should be between 1,000 and 7,000 words, and pay will be 5 cents/word. Reprints are not out of the question, but will be handled on an individual basis. Deadline for submissions is March 13th, 2014. Stories should be sent as email attachments in either .RTF or .DOC format to [email protected] with the word “XIII” somewhere in the subject line. When Mark Teppo, the founder of Resurrection House, acquired Underland Press, he wanted to start numbering the titles that would be released under the new imprint. Before doing so, he wishes to acknowledge and celebrate What Was and What Will Be. “Thirteen” is the first month of a new yearly cycle, wherein the old skins have been shed and the newborns are still learning to walk. “One” and “Three” make “Four,” which is the number of completion, of coming home, and of realizing the form that has been in process for some time. Nothing is true; everything is possible. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. The thirteenth Tarot card is Death, and he is the symbol of transformation and rebirth. This is the genesis and root of XIII. Some broad examples of transformative stories are Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, Franz Kafka’sMetamorphosis, Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, Matt Wagner’s Grendel comic series, and David Lynch’sLost Highway as well as his Fire, Walk With Me. Also consider the plight of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Innana’s descent into the Underworld, and the stories of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis. Via: Resurrection House.

Deadline: March 15th 2014 Payment: Payment is author share divided equally among the authors. We pay twice a year. At Sky Warrior Books, we’re not above…well, anything. Hence, we love Vampires – but NOT the sparkly kind. We’re betting you love vampires too. So, send us your best work on vampires, original or reprint (must have the rights), of stories 500 to 7000 words in length. Can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Sure, we’ll take standard horror and dark fantasy, but you can be creative. vampires in space, vampire critters, vampire love stories (uh, no erotica or sparkles), fantasy vampires, steampunk vampires, vampire humor (a strong plus), vampires on stakes…well, you get the idea. Payment Payment is author share divided equally among the authors. We pay twice a year. Deadline Our deadline is March 15th, 2014. We’re planning on the e-book coming out in October, just in time for Halloween, and Christmas/Yule/Solstice/Kwanza/Hanukah/Winter Holidays/Did we miss anything? How to Submit or The Nitty-Gritty We accept RTF files via e-mail only to the publisher at [email protected]. Put the words: VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE SUBMISSION in the subject line with the title of your piece. Send us a virus and we will never accept anything from you again. Double spaced manuscript in Times New Roman or some other pretty font (not Courier!). Use italics, not underlines. Have your contact information on the manuscript including your email address. Let us know if this is a reprint and from where. Again, be sure you have the rights to reprint – we won’t chase down permissions. Fiction, nonfiction, humor, science fiction, fantasy, light horror, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, etc. No fan fiction or rip offs of popular vampires and unless you are writing humor – your vampires must NOT sparkle! And above all the story MUST HAVE...

Deadline: March 15th, 2014 Payment: Exposure Only “That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.” What We Want: Lovecraft style horror stories, particularly new takes on the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraftian horror is defined as a style of storytelling involving a set of supernatural, pre-human, and extraterrestrial elements. The hallmark of Lovecraft’s work is cosmicism: the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person. Lovecraft’s work is also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England, and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that “that which man was not meant to know” might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization. Word Count: 500-2,500 words. Closing Date: 15 March 2014. Submissions may close sooner if the anthology fills quickly. Reprints: Yes. Multiple Submissions: No. Simultaneous Submissions: No. Payment: This is a non-paying market. Payment for your story is exposure in the anthology. How To Submit: Submit it as a .doc or .rtf attachment to [email protected] with the subject line “Lovecraft”. Include your name, story title, word count, and a brief biography in the body of the email. Via: Dreamscape Press.

Deadline:Martch 15th, 2014 Payment: Equal share of royalties Visionary Press Is Looking for Horror with a Spring related theme. The title has yet to be determined, but think spring break trip gone bad, or perhaps the Easter Egg hunt that didn’t quite go as planned. What did the neighbor bury in her garden last year that has the flowers coming up so… ravenous? Think blood, think gore and be creative.  Word Count is to be 3,000 to 5,000 words. Reading period begins January 15th and ends March 15th. We are looking to publish close to Easter or soon after.  All authors share equally in the royalties.  Mail submissions to [email protected] with the heading, Spring Horror. Via: Visionary Press.

Deadline: March 23rd 2014 Payment: For flash fiction, the pay is $3 per story; for short stories, pay is $7 per story; for essays, pay is $11; for poems, pay is $13 per poem. In addition, each contributor will receive a digital copy of the anthology in which they appear. Note: There are 2 other guidelines linked to at the bottom of the post, if you are going to submit I suggest reading them all A long time ago, there were two ancient cities that have come upon their own unique reputations among the cities of history and legend: Sodom and Gomorrah. How you interpret the legend does not matter to the garden gnomes. We care more for how the inhabitants of the city dealt with their circumstances after the departure of Lot and his family. Tell us a story. “Sulfurings” is the title we’re giving our anthology of stories concerning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 19, God rained down burning sulfur on the cities. The question for you is this, Who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah and how did they cope with this sudden calamity? We want apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic visions. Please focus on the characters and their attempts to survive – both during and after the rain. The garden gnomes are accepting flash fiction pieces, short stories, poems, and essays that deal with this theme. All formats should present a provocative glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants of these ancient cities. Show us their lives unraveling in the rain of God’s wrath, their clothes tattered and torn, their hearts reaching out to those they love and those they loathe, but most of all, give us your speculative storytelling best. We have just one stipulation: No characters can be member’s of Lot’s family. Create from...

Deadline: March 31st 2014 Payment: $25 Reading Period: Open through 3/31/14 Word Count: 2,000 to 10,000 words Payment: $25 per story Files Accepted: Doc, Docx, RTF No Multi-Subs or Sim-Subs Genres: Fiction, Horror, Sci-Fi. Stories may set in the past, present or near future. There is nothing quite like sailing upon the sea at night. The size of your craft matters little as you realize that nothing mankind has ever made could be considered large out here. The knowledge that things larger than you and your craft are swimming beneath you is another sobering thought. They have tentacles and teeth. You are utterly helpless in the water. Should the frail safety of your craft fail you, you will almost certainly die a most horrible death as you become a meal. All of this is enough to send panic coursing through your veins, and these are just the simple realities of the sea. The tales that are dreamt of and told are worse. Much worse. These are the stories thatLEVIATHAN is looking for. Give us the Kraken. Give us giant sharks. Give us undiscovered depths, unexplored islands and all of the horrible things that live there. Give us any monster you can dream of that lives in or around the sea… Then give us the hunters that battle them. Submit to Emby Press Source: Emby Press.

Deadline: March 31st 2014 Payment: $25 Reading Period: Open through 3/31/14 Word Count: 2,000 to 10,000 words Payment: $25 per story Files Accepted: Doc, Docx, RTF No Multi-Subs or Sim-Subs Genres: Fiction, Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy. Stories may set in the past, present or future Sometimes one of us possesses power and ability greater than others. When we use these for the greater good, we become heroes. But it is not easy to be different, to carry the responsibility that comes with the power or to bear the burden of what else might come with it – weakness, vulnerability and the other things that must remain hidden for the power to survive… And survive that power must, because the others are out there, lurking in the shadows. With mighty powers of their own and a thirst for mayhem, destruction, or blood, they cannot be stopped by the common man. Only by you. Protect your identity. Guard your weaknesses. Use the powers that only you have to fight the creatures and forces of evil as they prey upon humanity. THE GOOD FIGHT is looking for these stories. Give us a traditional superhero, a giant fighting robot, or a child with a link to the ‘other side’. Let them protect the world against monsters large and small, inhuman or a human so subverted by evil that they are no longer one of us. Make the fights spectacular. Make us cringe for the hero and want to fight the villain ourselves. But most of all, give great consideration as to whether or not the power that the hero holds is enough, because sometimes it isn’t… Submit to Emby Press   Source: Emby Press.

Deadline: March 31st, 2014 Payment: Prizes below For this contest we’re seeking speculative fiction short stories set in a post-apocalyptic world. It can be Earth or some other world. For our contests, speculative fiction is defined as any story in any genre that responds to the question “What if?” in a way that depends on science or on any fantastic elements. The genres include science fiction (hard or sociological), science fantasy, fantasy, magic realism, psychological horror (no slash and gash please), ghost stories, urban fantasy, paranormal romance (no erotica please), etc. With that in mind, send us your best effort. Contest Rules There is no reading fee or entry fee for this contest. Entry deadline, 31 March 2014 (may be extended if we do not receive enough entries) Previously unpublished short fiction only 1,000 to 10,000 words Email your submission as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf attachment to [email protected] Enter as many stories as you like, one story per email We accept simultaneous submissions but let us know immediately if it’s accepted elsewhere Name and email address must appear in upper left corner of the first page of the story Past tense is the natural voice of narrative; please, no present tense narrative (of course, dialogue will be in present tense, as will the unspoken thoughts of characters) Notes We will announce the winners by email to all entrants approximately one month after the contest closes. Please be certain we have your valid email address. We will endeavor to correct any inadvertent errors in a submission (e.g., email address missing from the manuscript) but we will not read entries that are under or over the word-count limits or that are presented in present tense. Prizes — All winning entries, including all honorable mentions, will be included in an anthology to be published as an ebook by...

Deadline: March 31, 2014 Payment: Contributor Copy Calling all Monsters Minor Arcana Press desires your writing, visual art, and beyond for a new journal of high-, low-, and no-brow content: Monster Fancy, the magazine for the discerning monster enthusiast. Don’t limit yourself to genres. Monsters are bigger than horror, greater than simple fear, and not confined to neat categories. Get intricate. Get intimate. Genre and form are entirely open. Go wild: Lies. Truth. Fiction. Friction. Poetry. Drama. Criticism. Magic spells. Hybrids. Experiments. Visual art. Sounds and visions for the website. Translations, mistranslations, and mutations of language. Shifts of shape; Others; explosive disquiet; messy, ugly things; myths, fairy tales, urban legends; humor, satire, and parody; disability, disease, and power; chastity and queerness; shock and its antithesis; horrors of the supernatural and the all too banal; academic and anti-academic; punk and polished; rampant and restrained; Monsters. Submission guidelines: Please submit writing as .doc, .docx, or .pdf file still art as .tiff, .png, or .pdf sound and video as links we can follow to hosted pages (Dropbox, etc.) Straightforward prose: double spaced, up to 7000 words Straightforward poetry: single spaced, up to 10 pages Hybrids and experiments: 20 pages or fewer, use above suggestions for spacing forms Undeadline: March 31, 2014. Please allow four months response time. Address: minorarcanapress {@} gmail {dot} com Subject line: Monster Fancy submission Simultaneous submissions and previously published content: why the Hell not? Just as long as you own the rights, and let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Be a monster, and don’t be a dick about it. Contributors paid in copies as of now, and we’re invoking grants and donations to cover possible monetary payment.  Monster Fancy staff: Publisher & Creative Director: Evan J. Peterson Visual Editor: Anne Bean Submissions Editors: Emmett Montgomery and Amy...