Events

Deadline: May 26th, 2017 Payment: a percentage of profits after six months of anthology sales Reprints Allowed It took some time, but the time has come: we’re putting together an anthology of poetry and flash fiction about spirits, ghosts, seances, Ouija boards, famous hauntings, not-so-famous hauntings, possessions, and anything else relating to supernatural bumps in the night (or day, we aren’t fussy). Submissions are open from 31st March 2017 until 26th May 2017, and the book will be published in late summer (August). This anthology will be edited by Kate Garrett and Caroline Hardaker. As this is a centuries old vein of storytelling, originality is important – whether it’s a new angle on the themes, a very obscure bit of lore, ghosts in mythology, a different view of famous literary ghosts (e.g. Hamlet’s father, the spirits in A Christmas Carol, you get the idea), or a very specific ghost story (by ‘story’ of course we mean folklore: a haunted library or pub in your town, something along those lines, not a Susan Hill book…) not many know about, to name a few examples. It isn’t as hard as it sounds – it’s just what we don’t want is the plot of every ghostly horror film over and over again. So all of that being said: just send us your best work! Please submit: 1-5 poems (no line limit, within reason) 1-3 flash fictions (up to 1,000 words – we’ve increased the limit!) or a mix of the two not exceeding 5 pieces in total in a Word document (if submitting multiple pieces, send them in a single Word document please) or the body of an email (please NO PDFs) to [email protected]. Please mark your submission as ‘Ghosts and Hauntings – Your Name’ (e.g. mine would be Ghosts and Hauntings – Kate Garrett) in the...

Deadline: May 27th, 2017 Payment: Up to 10¢ per word Cicada YA/teen lit magazine seeks fiction, poetry, comics, and essays on the theme of Puppets & Dolls. Around the world, puppets and dolls serve many purposes—children’s toys, storytelling props, decoration, conduits for the supernatural. How do we pull one another’s strings to get what we want? How do we project our feelings onto one another? How can this harm a relationship? Respectful works exploring manipulation/toxic relationships: great. Exploitative, explicit, or abusive works: nope. Also encouraged: works about totally non-metaphorical dolls and magnificent puppetry performances. CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. We publish poetry, realistic and genre fic, essay, and comics by adults and teens. (We are also inordinately fond of Viking jokes.) Our readers are smart and curious; submissions are invited but not required to engage young adult themes. CICADA does not distribute theme lists for upcoming issues. Especially welcome: works by people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQAI+ folks, genderqueer folks, and other marginalized peoples. Not welcome: cultural appropriation. Fav writers, YA and otherwise: Sarah McCarry, Nnedi Okorafor, Sherman Alexie, David Levithan, Daniel Jose Older, Debbie Urbanski, Nalo Hopkinson, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ntozake Shange, Anne Carson, Jacqueline Woodson, ZZ Packer, Angela Nissel, Sofia Samatar, Richard Siken, Malory Ortberg, Saeed Jones, Octavia Butler, Andrea Gibson, Via: Cicada Magazine's Submittable.

Deadline: May 30, 2017 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Open for Submissions: April 1, 2017 - May 30, 2017 Expected Publication: Winter 2017 Story Length: up to 10,000 words Payment: $10 + contributor copy For a long, long time Santa Claus has hogged the spotlight relegating his wife to the shadows, but no longer. Now it’s Mrs. Claus’ turn to shine! We’re looking for stories that let Mrs. Claus (or is it Ms. Claus?) take centre stage. Whether she more closely resembles Michelle Obama, Betty White, Shohreh Aghdashlooor or Maggie Smith, Mrs. Claus must be a developed, independent character and not simply an extension of her husband. She can help and support him—of course she can—but there needs to be more to her than only that. What’s her role on Christmas Eve? What about the other days of the year? Is she into sleek red snowmobiles or is she more of an old-fashioned magic sleigh kinda gal? Does she prefer baking cookies or kickboxing? Betting on the Reindeer Games or Avon parties with the elves? And what is her first name, anyway? Stories are encouraged to re-imagine the North Pole in new and interesting ways (steampunk? alien? magically relocated to the equator?) and to explore a variety of other settings as well. They can also take place in time frames both real and imagined—Christmas in 1940 Poland, Mars in 2050 or a rediscovered Atlantis in 2017 would all be welcome in this anthology. Note: This anthology is intended for an adult audience, please don’t submit children’s stories. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and nonexclusive right to continue to publish for...

Deadline: May 30th, 2016 Payment: 6 cents per word. Note: Only female authors. Announcing an open call for submissions for Broad Knowledge: 35 Women Up To No Good, an anthology of dark and speculative fiction in the Women Up To No Good book series, co-edited by H.L. Nelson and Joanne Merriam, to be published by Upper Rubber Boot Books. Authors must identify as female, non-binary, or a marginalized sex or gender identity. This anthology will be themed around the idea of knowledge (learning/science/education/training/etc). Stories may be funny or serious, set anywhere on or off the world, in any time period, but must feature female protagonists whose knowledge is integral to the plot/conflict. Word/page count: Up to 5,000 words/story. Payment: six cents per word. Genres: Dark and speculative fiction encompasses horror, science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, and we welcome all of these genres. Publication history: Original stories only. Reprints may be submitted by invitation only. Multiple submissions: No. Simultaneous submissions: No. Deadline: 30 May 2017. We plan to reply within one to two months from the deadline. To submit: Send to joanne at upperrubberboot dot com: (a) your complete manuscript as a .RTF, (b) a bio of 100 words or fewer, and (c) make sure you provide the following information: legal name (if different from the name you write under), mailing address, and word count. Put “WOMEN UP TO NO GOOD” in the subject line. If the work is a translation, please also provide a statement from the rightsholder that you are authorized to translate and submit it (both author and translator will receive full payment). We encourage and welcome stories from voices underrepresented in speculative fiction, including (but not limited to) writers of color, LGBTQ writers, writers with disabilities, and writers in translation. Via: Upper Rubber Boot.

Deadline: May 31st, 2017. Payment: 5 cents per word Chiral Mad 4 is officially open for submissions! The anthology is scheduled for publication in the first or second quarter of 2018 by Written Backwards, an imprint of Dark Regions Press, to be edited by Bram Stoker Award winning editor Michael Bailey. Much like Chiral Mad 3 and The Library of the Dead, this latest installment will be published in trade paperback, eBook, and deluxe hardback editions. Unlike past Written Backwards projects, this fourth volume in the critically-acclaimed series of anthologies will be a completely collaborative effort of originality, collecting 4 short stories, 4 novelettes, 4 novellas, and 4 graphic adaptations (to celebrate this 4th book), all co-authored and/or co-created. The anthology itself may even possibly be co-edited. We’re also seeking individuals willing to write a co-introduction for the book. Email [email protected] if interested in either of these opportunities. The goal of Chiral Mad 4 is to help bring our creative community together, to make us stronger, to strengthen relationships already in place, and to help create new relationships entirely. It’s time for all of us to play nice, to get along, and to do what we do best: create somethings out of nothings… and we’re going to create these beautiful somethings together. Have a specific writer/artist you’ve always admired? Well, now’s your chance. Reach out. Ask! That’s all it takes to get started. Find a partner, or two, or three, and start collaborating! The more unique the collaboration, the better the chances you have of making it into Chiral Mad 4. The more diverse the collaborations, the better the chances you have of making it into Chiral Mad 4. Now, here’s the hard part: knowing whether or not someone is already collaborating… Email [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about this. While half the anthology will be filled with commissioned works (the book is...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: Novella (17,501 to 40,000 words) — $150 + two print courtesy copies Novelette (7,501 to 17,500 words) — $100+ two print courtesy copies Short Story (2,501 to 7,500 words) — $50 + one courtesy copy Poetry (one or more poems; 100 lines total) — $25 + one courtesy copy; additional $25 for each 100 lines Micro Story (less than 2,500 words) — $10 + one courtesy copy Anthologies are a great way to get your stories noticed. Caffeinated Press sponsors an annual house anthology titled “Brewed Awakenings,” with a new volume released every autumn. The first volume, released on March 2, 2015, contains the work of eight invited authors from West Michigan who penned stories under the loose theme of “all goes dark.” The second volume shipped in September 2016; subsequent volumes will follow each October. The anthology ships in print format (vol. 1); print and ebook (vol. 2); print, ebook and audio book (vol. 3 and subsequent). We are currently in the reading window for vol. 3. The window closes 5/31/17. We recommend that you read the Q&A that follows, then visit our Query page to read our formal house editorial guidelines. The submission form for proposed Brewed Awakenings content is at the bottom of the Query page. It will be to your advantage to read both of these documents in their entirety before you consider whether you should submit to us. Q&A When can I submit stories? What’s the deadline? We accept stories year-round. The cutoff for each autumn’s volume is May 31. Submit before then, you’re in consideration for that year’s copy; submit after that, and you’re in the pile for the following year. You obtain neither benefit nor disability from submitting well in advance of the cutoff, but technical errors in the submission...

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent a word Submissions for the horror collection THE EDGE: INFINITE DARKNESS, the second book in The Edge series, are now open. Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Send your story as a message, not an attachment, and include a short bio about yourself above the story so we can get to know you. Format your submission title as: "Darkness Submission - Title - Author Name". Please edit your story before sending it because if I can't read it, I won't. (NO REPRINTS - NO REPRINTS - NO REPRINTS) Pay: 1 cent a word (7,000 words = $70 = 0.01 x 7,000) Requirements: 500-7,000 words a story – multiple submissions are allowed within reason, spam is not allowed. My only rule vs multiple submissions is more of a warning than a rule. If I don’t like the first submission, then I can’t promise I will read the following submissions. Timeline: Submissions will be viewed until either May 1st or the book reaches its goal length, whichever comes first. That is, unless the stories received are unsatisfactory and I’m forced to leave submissions open longer, but let’s hope that’s not the case. This collection is the embodiment of Darkness. There is no direct theme in terms of “ghost”, or “monsters”, or anything like that. What darkness can you bring forth that is hidden from the world? A darkness that perhaps exists in the woods, or your basement, or in the back of someone’s mind. Take the reader by the throat and drag their struggling body into the confines of this darkness and make them beg for their own sanity that you let them go. Dark. Twisted. Sick. Perhaps psychological. Write something that would make the school psychologist call you in for questioning. Write something that...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: Up to $100 and a contributor's copy We are currently requesting submissions for a new horror anthology of short stories we plan to publish this year. We're paying up to $100 per published story based on word count, AND a free printed version of the anthology.  We are looking for edited, well-written, horror stories from 5K to 10K words in length.  Scare us so we can't sleep at night!  Your stories need to be previously unpublished - exceptions to this will be handled on a limited basis as long as you still retain all rights to the work.  We are looking for original content. If you have previously published your story to a blog or social media account, we will not be interested. Please email your story to the address below and in the subject line and enter the words "Horror Anthology." Then, copy and paste your story in the body of the email, do not attach files. If accepted, we will notify you and ask you to submit an MS Word document.  Payment amount to be determined based on word count. We will discuss terms upon acceptance for publication. Submissions will close midnight, May 31, 2017. Other submissions are closed at this time. Please send your submissions to: Via: Rice Paper Press.

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: $15 and a contributor's copy if in the US There are things that define us. Things that separate us from the whole. Everyone’s a stranger in some way or another. Whether by coming to a new land, practicing different traditions, estrangement from your own people, or becoming a refugee forced from your home only to find yourself at the mercy of a tyrant… whatever the circumstances, strangers are compelling protagonists and so the theme of our anthology. The Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers Group’s third anthology will be a collection of short stories about strangers. We want to see stories about estrangement, oddballs, and those who simply do not follow rules. We want to see outsiders and those deemed unworthy by society. Outcasts are welcome. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Submit your work in standard manuscript format to [email protected] with a subject line beginning with “Anthology Submission:” and ending with the title of your submission. Maximum word length is 7500 words. Payment is 15$ and a contributor’s copy. (Only writers within the U.S. will receive a physical contributor’s copy. Writers outside the U.S. will receive an e-book contributor’s copy.) Please only send speculative fiction. That’s science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between. We are looking for compelling storylines and, more importantly, compelling characters. Please no erotica or gratuitous violence. Please no multi-submissions or reprints. We will respond within thirty days of submission. Please do not query about submission status until thirty days have lapsed from when your story was submitted. If querying, please email with a subject beginning with “Query:” and ending with the title of your submission. The deadline is May 31, 2017. Via: Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers Group.

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word advance and royalties Note: Reprints ONLY Dust off your dragon stories. It's time to "releash" them on the world in the first DFF Dragons anthology. No word on publication timing as this will depend on the quantity and quality of reprint short story submissions. The Basics Theme: Dragons Open: Now Closes: May 31, 2017 (Or upon receipt and contracting of a full TOC; so don't wait.) Stories: Approximately 30 Reprint Stories; Total Words: Approximately 150,000; Story Words: 750 - 10000 Words - Or by prior invitation/permission more or less words; Type: Reprint Only - prefer semi-pro to pro prior publication; Rate: 1 cent per word advance - (less fees charged to author by PayPal). Participation in royalty sharing after advance; Rights: Non exclusive World English print (paper & hardcover), ebook/digital, audio - all for the complete anthology only. Publication: Complete anthology only - no one offs and no individual story license. Response Time: Could be 3 weeks, but if we've short listed your story it could be considerably longer while we build out our TOC. You may submit your reprint to other markets; just us know if it is no longer available (and congrats). However, we will do our best to keep authors in the loop. Submissions will be reviewed for inclusion upon receipt. Please submit only ONE story for consideration at a time; multiple entries will be rejected. IF your story is rejected you may submit another story for consideration - but just one at a time, please. IF your story is accepted then additional stories require pre-approval to submit. We are not looking for and will not license stories that are available to download on-line for free as a stand-alone story from any venue. Notes Dragons - bad-ass dragons. Dragons that destroy things...