Events

Taking Submissions: I Am The Abyss

Deadline: October 1st 2014 Payment: .05/word + royalties and author copies I AM THE ABYSS Now Open to Fiction Submissions for Adventure Stories of Horror and/or Dark Fantasy! We are happy to announce that Dark Regions Press is open to public fiction submissions for the first time in a very long time for our new upcoming anthology I AM THE ABYSS. This very special project will consist of ten original adventure stories of horror and/or dark fantasy each illustrated with an original two-page color spread by award-winning artist Les Edwards. The book is planned to be published in Q4 of 2015. Find the submission guidelines below, and please read them from start to finish before sending us your manuscript. Thank you and we look forward to reading your fiction!   I AM THE ABYSS Submission Guidelines (Must Read Before Submitting) The Idea When each of us reaches the end of our life in this world our consciousness enters a new perpetual reality during the seconds before the brain loses activity. This world is based on the subconscious and experiences we had during our mortal lives. The structures, landscapes, creatures and cities are amalgams of what we perceived during our short journeys on earth, and there our consciousness will stay (unless we find a means of escape). These are ten stories of tortured souls and dark minds whose difficult mortal lives have come to an end. Their consciousnesses have been transported into underworlds of their own making. It is here that they rediscover forgotten corners of their minds, creatures that they never thought their imaginations could conjure, cities grander or more bizarre than anything they had experienced in their mortal lives. In these underworlds the characters will truly discover themselves; their darkest fears and deepest desires will manifest. But within these realms...

Taking Submissions: Serrated

Deadline: October 1st 2014 Payment: All royalties from anthologies will be split evenly between all authors. Note: Just as a warning, since this posting has gone live we've had over 15 e-mails that the press is being run by people who don't pay their authors. Serrated is a collection of short stories and poetry/prose of horror. Examples; Hospitals, insane asylums, all there to help but what if they were stashing body parts, or running experiments on patients. Serrated is about your worst nightmare coming true behind closed doors of a morgue, hosptial, funeral home, or asylum. This is a no holds barred piece. Make it violent, make it bloody. Blurb Behind closed doors, secrets lurk, and madness begins. Trapped in a never-ending nightmare of torture and pain, I welcome you to tales of the macabre. Night falls everywhere, what you don't see is what happens when the shadows hit the walls of the inner-sanctum of the dead. Serrated will show you the likes of which horrors you've never seen behind the walls in the modern-day dungeons of the world. Guidelines Short Stories and Poetry/Prose accepted Supernatural/Paranormal/Non-Paranormal Min Word Count: 800 Words (if it is a bit short talk with me) Max Word Count: 7,000 Words (if you go over talk with me) Poetry does not have a word count Submit to [email protected] Word doc 12-14pt. Georgia or Times New Roman Editing will be provided unless author prefers their own editor Via: Phoenix Fire Publishing.

Taking Submissions: Penumbra: December–Arthurian Legend

Deadline: October 1st, 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word December--Arthurian Legend What ho! (No, we don't mean Guinevere.) For centuries, the magic and mystery of King Arthur and Camelot have enthralled readers. Thanks to great authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley and T.H. White, there's a strong tradition of Arthurian books on the fantasy bookshelf. So add your own myths to the Round Table; send Lancelot out on one more quest. Let's play in Camelot and Avalon until the mists gently cloak us from the modern world. CALL BEGINS AUGUST 1, 2014 CALL ENDS OCTOBER 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...

Taking Submissions: Beyond the Nightlight

Deadline: October 13th, 2014 Payment: $15 and contributor’s copy Theme: Fears fade as years pass. They are never as salient or real as they were when you were a child. Unless they are. For this anthology, we’re looking for the real, true terrors. The creatures that plagued you in the dark hours of the night. The bumps in the night that kept you awake. The characters need not still be children, but the fears must stem from childhood. Think Stephen King’s It, Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, and ghostly slumber party games. Though the theme is child-centric, the anthology is not. This is not horror for children. Scare us. We are looking for fiction prose only, 500 – 13,000 words. We may consider pieces longer than that, but if you send it in, make sure it’s awesome. Must be original works, no fanfiction. Simultaneous Submissions: No Multiple Submissions: Yes Reprints: Yes, but let us know where it has been previously printed and make sure you have the rights to have it reprinted. Questions? Send them to [email protected]. Excited and ready? Click that button! Source: A Murder Of Storytellers.

Taking Submissions: ‘Robbed of Sleep’ Volume 2

Deadline: October 15th, 2014 Payment: Contributor's Copy 'Robbed of Sleep' will be publishing volume 2 in December of 2014. We are currently looking for a sampling of the strangely dark, the darkly humorous, the starkly beautiful, and the hauntingly deranged to feature in its pages. If you are interested in submitting, send your very best work to: [email protected] Subject Line: 'SUBMISSION (Robbed of Sleep, Vol 2.) - , ' An example subject line is as follows: 'SUBMISSION (Robbed of Sleep, Vol 2.) - THE DAY THE EARTH TURNED INTO A WOOLY SCREWDRIVER, 2,500' Failure to follow subject line guidelines is an instant poor first impression. Submissions close on October 15th, 2014. You are strongly encouraged to track your submission with our DuoTrope listing. Guidelines: We are looking for stories anywhere from 100-1,000 word flash pieces, up through 2,000-4,000 word larger pieces. Something falling in between 1,000-2,000 words will be considered, especially if it's great. I am willing to look at pieces above 4,000, but not very. This means that if you are sending me something super long, it better be twice as good as it is long to even stand a chance at inclusion. You are much more likely to get something within the guidelines accepted. Pieces must be submitted in proper manuscript formatting. I remember when a writing friend asked me where I found the format I was submitting pieces in. I responded: "I just tried to make it look nice." That's when I found about proper manuscript formatting. I don't compose any other way now, and I definitely don't submit in other ways. That was a big day for me! So if you don't already use this formatting, I suggest you learn about it now: it'll really make your work look professional. The first installment of 'Robbed of...

Taking Submissions: Bloodlines

Deadline: October 15th, 2014 Payment: 2 copies of anthology and Aus 2 cents/word (GST inc., maximum payment $150)   A new anthology edited by Amanda Pillar Blood will tell... blood holds memory... blood is sacrifice... blood is thicker than water... blood is life. Bloodlines will feature non-traditional horror stories, which take place in an urban fantasy setting. Give me stories about creatures that need blood to live, or blood to do magic, or whose blood is magic. Witches, shamans, faeries, ancient gods and humans can feature in this collection, so long as your story exudes magic and mystery. So long as you enchant me. As for the nitty-gritties: No science fiction stories will be accepted; Romance is acceptable, as long as the story is dark and has horrific themes/elements; Do not send stories written in the second person; While vampire stories can be submitted, please note that it would be in your best interests to wow me with something other than vampires. Lastly, the story must be on theme and meet the above guidelines. It must have blood (its need, use, potency etc.) as a major focus. If it does not, your story will be rejected. The anthology will be published by Ticonderoga Publications in late 2014/early 2015. Submission guidelines: Send me your best dark urban fantasy story. Story length 1,000 to 7,500 words. Original stories only: no reprints, multiple, or simultaneous submissions (please only submit one story). Stories may be submitted via email at [email protected]. Manuscript format: double spaced, large margins, Times New Roman font, Australian English spelling. The editor reserves the right to use their discretion in selecting stories. Submission period: 1 August 2014 to 15 October 2014 Payment: 2 copies of anthology and Aus 2 cents/word (GST inc., maximum payment $150) on publication.   Via: Ticonderoga Publications.

Steal the Spotlight Micro Fiction Contest

Deadline: October 15th Payment: 6 cents per word, receive a free 12-month subscription to Apex Magazine and a short story critique from an Apex editor. Stories for critique can be up to 5,000 words long. Halloween is coming and with it the vampire, zombie, witch, and ghost stories will creep into your hands and whisper “Boo” in your ear. Now I love a good ghost story. Witches are wicked. Zombies give me the chills. And vampires are grand. But… But there’s more out there. Monsters waiting in the wings to give you a fright. And they want their moment to shine! I went to Twitter to ask you, the Apex readers, what monsters you’d like to see steal the spotlight, and did you ever have suggestions. Everything from wendigos to banshees to Jekyll and Hyde. So tell me a story. After the huge success of our Christmas micro fiction contest last year (over 500 submissions!), we’ve decided to do it again. This time with the monsters that are often forgotten. The ones who’s stories don’t get told. Here’s the nitty-gritty: There will be five categories: sea monsters, black dog/Hellhounds, banshees, science experiments gone wrong, and demons (this can include wendigos, succubus, be creative). Write a story to fit one of these five categories, then submit it to [email protected] with the subject line formatted as Title, Author, Category. This is a micro fiction contest. Stories must be 250 words or less. If a story is more than 250 words, it will be deleted unread. You can submit one story per category, five stories total. If you submit two banshee stories, we will consider the first story your submission. Send each story as a separate email with the story in the body of the email. No attachments, please. Submissions are open September...

Taking Submissions: The Asylum Within

Deadline: October 24th, 2014 Payment: Exposure and Royalties. 0.01 cents per word. Deadline: October 24th, 2014 – or until full (12 Stories). Payment: Exposure and Royalties. 0.01 cents per word. Flash fiction & Short Stories (1,000 – 1,400 words). Poetry and re-prints will also be considered. Explore the endless madness and horrors which lie within each soul… The only limits are your imagination! Dark fairy tales, bizarre, horror, surrealism, dark science-fiction and steam punk are all cool here. Submission guidelines: Deadline for submissions – October 24th, 2014 – or until full. Word Count: 1,000 – 1,400 words. Please submit your manuscript as a *.rtf, *.doc or *.docx file (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. No headers, footers or page numbers. Please check grammar. PLEASE!!! Upon acceptance into the anthology, you agree that Miskatonic Press holds exclusive publishing rights for six months from the date of publication; after that date has passed, all intellectual property rights revert to the author with the proviso that Miskatonic Press retains distribution rights in the format of the contracted anthology. This title will be available as an e-book and eventually trade quality paperback. Michael Porter will be presiding over this anthology. Email your submission as an attachment to: [email protected] The email subject line must read “SUBMISSION – ASYLUM – ‘your story title’” or your submission will not be considered for this anthology. Successful applicants will be notified before the deadline has expired.

Taking Submissions: Stygian Abyss

Deadline: October 24th, 2014 Payment: Exposure and Royalties. $20 per story. Flash fiction & Short Stories (1,000 – 1,400 words). Poetry and re-prints will also be considered. Witness the horrific, unknown things from beyond time… This anthology is a celebration of H.P. Lovecraft themed stories. Other than that, feel free to be creative. Dark fairy tales, bizarre, horror, surrealism, dark science-fiction and steam punk. Submission guidelines: Deadline for submissions – October 24th, 2014 – or until full. Word Count: 1,000 – 1,600 words. Please submit your manuscript as a *.rtf, *.doc or *.docx file (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact me prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you.) No headers, footers or page numbers. Please check grammar. PLEASE!!! Upon acceptance into the anthology, you agree that Miskatonic Press holds exclusive publishing rights for six months from the date of publication; after that date has passed, all intellectual property rights revert to the author with the proviso that Miskatonic Press retains distribution rights in the format of the contracted anthology. This title will be available as an e-book and eventually trade quality paperback. Michael Porter will be presiding over this anthology. Email your submission as an attachment to: [email protected] The email subject line must read “SUBMISSION – ABYSS – ‘your story title’” or your submission will not be considered for this anthology. Successful applicants will be notified before the deadline has expired. Via: Miskatonic Press.

Taking Submissions: The Black Swordsman

Deadline: October 24th, 2014 Payment: Exposure and Royalties. $20 per story. Flash fiction & Short Stories (1,000 – 1,600 words). Poetry and re-prints will also be considered. The Knights of the Realm go to war....against the damned and forsaken! For this anthology we are looking for medieval horror, scifi, etc. Other than that, feel free to be creative. Dark fairy tales, bizarre, horror, surrealism, dark science-fiction and steam punk. Submission guidelines: Deadline for submissions – October 24th, 2014 – or until full. Word Count: 1,000 – 1,600 words. Please submit your manuscript as a *.rtf, *.doc or *.docx file (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact me prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you.) No headers, footers or page numbers. Please check grammar. PLEASE!!! Upon acceptance into the anthology, you agree that Miskatonic Press holds exclusive publishing rights for six months from the date of publication; after that date has passed, all intellectual property rights revert to the author with the proviso that Miskatonic Press retains distribution rights in the format of the contracted anthology. This title will be available as an e-book and eventually trade quality paperback. Michael Porter will be presiding over this anthology. Email your submission as an attachment to: [email protected] The email subject line must read “SUBMISSION – SWORDSMAN – ‘your story title’” or your submission will not be considered for this anthology. Successful applicants will be notified before the deadline has expired. Via: Miskatonic Press.