Events

Deadline: October 1st, 2017 Payment: $20.00 - $40.00 and a contributor's copy Fiction: All stories must end with the last line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way, unless otherwise noted by the editors. The story should be between 300 and 5,000 words (this is more like a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule; going over or under the word count won't get your story tossed from the slush pile). Also, we understand that writers may add our last line to a story that they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our last line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our last lines. All Stories: Writers should include a two- to three-sentence biography of themselves that will appear in the magazine should their story run. Multiple Submissions: We don't mind if you want to submit multiple stories for the same issue. However, it is unlikely we will use more than one of your stories in the same issue. Submissions: We prefer you send manuscripts via e-mail to submission (@) thelastlinejournal (dot) com. We accept stories in MS Word or Word Perfect format (we prefer attachments). Please do not send .pdf versions of your story. Make sure your name and contact information, as well as your bio, are part of the attachment. Stories also can be sent to The Last Line's post office box (PO Box 250382, Plano, TX, 75025-0382). No manuscripts will be returned without an accompanying SASE with sufficient return postage. Here is the last line for 2017: Benjamin was a man of his word. Due date: October 1, 2017 Notification: We don't make decisions about stories until after...

Deadline: October 1st, 2017 Payment: Contributor's Copy Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its furry anthology, Furry Frolics (tentative title); Fred Patten, editor. Deadline: October 1, 2017 Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable Humor has been a rarity in furry fiction.  We aim to change that!  Furry Frolics will friz your fur and tickle your tail.  We want your funniest fiction. There have been stories with anthro animals mixing with humans in our civilization:  what would it REALLY be like for a furry in our world?  Having to wear clothing on top of thick fur?  The ever-popular "tails and doors don't mix"?  Or having tails and wearing pants at all; or tails and chairs with no tail-holes?  Being in a stinky crowd with an animal's enhanced scent?  Or: being the manager of a hotel that caters to all sentient animals, predators and prey, of all sizes?  (Think Zootopia.) Funny-animal stories will be accepted, but try to make it a genuine anthro-animal story, not one that would work just as well if the characters were all humans.  Also remember that "funny" is not the same thing as "silly", although if you can make it both, go ahead.  (What is the anthro equivalent of a pie in the face?  Remember that most mammals besides humans and horses don't sweat.) We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light. If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get an outright rejection! You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any)....

Deadline: October 7th, 2017 Payment: $.02 a word and royalties B Cubed Press is proud to Open Cosmic Caravans for submissions. Cosmic Caravans is a science fiction anthology that will focus on Pre-Teen readers. The work will be illustrated. We are looking for stories or poems that re-enforce strength of character and scientific principles in a way children can relate to. We want to entertain and challenge curious readers to learn more about the universe, life, and the science that makes it all possible. See our Facebook Group, Cosmic Caravan Your sci-fi story or poem can be funny, scary, somber, mystery, wibbly-wobbly, thriller, or a fantastical romp through time and space. Whatever it is, you should be sure to explain the science behind it. Leave the reader learning something. Cosmic Caravans, from B Cubed Press: we’re putting the science back in fiction. Guidelines + Other Info ● Submissions can range from 300-3,000 words. We’re looking for quality over quantity. ● Stories must be presented in age appropriate ways. Anything over a “PG-13” rating will be automatically rejected. If Star Trek wouldn’t air it, it’s too risky. ● Fanfiction is not allowed. Sorry/not sorry. ● Payment is $.02 a word, plus a royalties share. Poetry pays $0.25 per-line (up to $25). ● Submissions are open from July 1-October 7. Please allow 2-3 weeks for our editors to review your stories. ● Manuscript format is required. Unsure what that means? Feel free to ask! ● Reprints are accepted. ● Multiple submissions are accepted, however we ask that you notify the publisher if your story is bought elsewhere. ● Cosmic Caravan will be edited by Bob Brown, Cheyenne Brown Ockerman, and Nathan Ockerman ● Submissions can be sent to [email protected], with the subject line “Cosmic Caravan Submission; .” Via: Cosmic Caravan's Facebook Group.

Deadline: October 15th, 2017 Payment: $20 per story Please don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and tell us as soon as it's accepted elsewhere. We do not publish reprints, including anything that has appeared on a website. We pay $20 for each story we publish. We buy first-printing world exclusive rights for four months....

Deadline: October 21st, 2017 Payment: 3¢/word, minimum $5, maximum $25 for previously unpublished poetry or prose and a $5 flat payment for reprints. Flat $10 payment for art Note: Reprints Allowed During this reading period we are specifically interested in horror-themed metafiction, poetry and art* for our Samhain (Halloween) issue.  Submissions do not have to be overtly scary (humor is fine) but MUST draw on the tropes of horror writing—monsters, myth, masks, fear, the grave and beyond, twisting dark passages, brooding skies, and things that go bump in the night—while ALSO adhering to our general guidelines (see below). We DO NOT WANT generic genre fiction—we want self-aware stories and poems, and/or writing about writing. Submissions that engage the senses in celebration of the season will receive special attention. Please note: we are not fans of graphic gore, blood content, or gratuitous violence.  Send that somewhere else. *We will consider non-fiction on any theme for this issue (does NOT have to be horror-related) Be sure to read the guidelines (below) to get a sense of what we want and how we want it. The submission window is narrow and the issue is already mostly full.  Work that breaks the rules or does not fit our milieu will not have a snowball’s chance.  You have been warned. Please read all of this before submitting.  No, really. Editorial Focus: Riddled with Arrows seeks (short) metafiction and metapoems, and writing that celebrates the process and product of writing as art. No restrictions on genre or form, so long as the work is about writing, straight up, or comments on itself (consciously or not) in interesting and meaningful ways..  (What is metafiction? We’re so glad you asked…) Genre/Style: We prefer tight, clean (as in no typos), vivid, evocative writing.  Spare the purple prose. We are open to all genres and styles.  Literary? Yes.  Fantasy/Sci-Fi? Absolutely.  Horror? Ok. Experimental? Surprise us....

Deadline: October 31st, 2017 Payment: $25usd and contributor's copy $25.00 PLUS COPY Min word count: 3,000 words. Max word count: 10,000 words. Send submissions to: [email protected] DEADLINE: OCT 31ST 2017 THE ANATOMY OF MONSTERS VOL. 2 We’re looking for new takes on old monsters! What unholy pact did the very first vampire make to become what they are now? How did Werewolves become slaves of the moon? Who was the first Ghost in the world and how did they react? The Mummy, The Hunchback, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Invisible Man, and even The Creature From The Black Lagoon... How did they come to be? How do they deal with their new nature? And who suffers because of it? This volume will be open to more folklore horror, Witches! Baba Yaga! And many, many more! I prefer less splatter and more scare. News will follow on these pages: The Anatomy Of Monsters Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheAnatomyOfMonster/?ref=bookmarks Twitter: @RDTEUN

Deadline: October 31st, 2017 Payment: $10usd Edited by Jeremiah Donaldson “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” -Victor Hugo There’s a funny thing that can soothe the soul after a rough day at work, can put you in the mood to take on any challenge, or can transport you back twenty years in time. It’s the most widely enjoyed mode of entertainment and the most used form of mood alteration. Music. Your story must involve music in some way. This could take the form of a specific genre or song, but also the creation of music, an instrument, or even the lack of music. What would you do if you didn’t have your favorite music to calm your mind or to motivate you? What horrible deeds are prevented on a daily basis because someone listened to their favorite song? How many people are alive because someone heard the right song at the right time? What is the power of music? Note: This is a HorrorAddicts.net anthology. Your story must be a Horror story and contain something emotionally, physically, or mentally horrifying. Manuscript Format: Font: either Courier or Times New Roman. Double spaced, font 12 point. Your manuscript must be in either DOC or RTF format. 1st page header to state: author name, mailing address, email address, and word count. Following pages header to state: author name, story name, and page number. In the body of the email: 100 words or less bio about you. One sentence explaining the story attached. Your elevator pitch. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ids Your website or blog Subject of the email state: CRESCENDO OF DARKNESS/Author Name/Story Title Send to: [email protected] No previously printed work and no simultaneous submissions. Deadline: October 31st, 2017, 11:59pm PST Length: 2,000-5,000 words...

Deadline: October 31st, 2017 Payment: 10 USD per story Stitched Smile Publications in collaboration with Paul Mcvay present: Drive-in of the Damned: Black and White Guidelines:  We are looking for 13 original stories (reprints will be considered on a case by case scenario) Word Count: 7500 word max Deadline: October 31st 2017 Anticipated Release: Summer of 2018 (Drive-in Season!) Compensation: 10 USD per story, multiple submissions allowed (one at a time), but only one story will be chosen per author. Submissions: We accept word documents only. Once you have submitted, please be patient. Acceptance letters will be sent within 90 days *after* the deadline. Send all submissions via form at www.stitchedsmilepublications.com (click “submissions) and be *sure* to include DRIVE-IN OF THE DAMNED for clarification! Or Email directly to: [email protected] Summary: The sky was dark driving up the road to the drive-in. Headlights from other cars cut across your vision as you pull up to the ticket booth. With the window down, the warmth of the air was reprieved by the passing of a single breeze. The operator was nothing more than a silhouette in front of the flickering bulb behind him. He reaches out a thin, bony hand with his palm up and you place your money in the center of it. When he curls his fingers inward, you notice that they are unnaturally cold in comparison to the temperature. Leaning forward, he gives you a wide grin and you can see the highways of deep lines through his wrinkled skin. ​ “Right this way,” he says, swinging his arm out. He directs you to the one of the many paths that leads down into the quarry where countless screens form a circle at the bottom of the quarry. You pass the big sign with giant letters that announce your arrival to … “The Drive-in...

Deadline: October 31st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction and nonfiction, and a flat fee of $10 for poetry NonBinary Review is a quarterly digital literary journal that joins poetry, fiction, essays, and art around each issue's theme. We invite authors to explore each theme in any way that speaks to them: re-write a familiar story from a new point of view, mash genres together, give us a personal essay about some aspect of our theme that has haunted you all your life. We also invite art that will accompany the literature and be featured on our cover. All submissions must have a clear and obvious relationship to some specific aspect of the source text (a character, episode, or setting). Submissions only related by a vague, general, thematic similarity are unlikely to be accepted. We are open to submissions which relate to Shirley Jackson's 1962 book We Have Always Lived In the Castle.  Submissions which do not tie into the plots or make use of characters/settings from the stories WILL NOT be considered--there needs to be a clear connection to the source material.  We want language that makes us reach for a dictionary or a tissue or both. Words in combinations and patterns that leave the faint of heart a little dizzy. FICTION, CREATIVE NON-FICTION, FLASH & HYBRID/EXPERIMENTAL NonBinary Review accepts fiction and creative non-fiction of up to 5,000 words in length, although shorter is probably better. Fiction should be double spaced, 12-point type, in Times New Roman or similar font in a Word document or text file. Authors may submit up to 5 pieces of flash fiction, no more than 1000 words each, in this category. Please upload each piece as a separate document on this submission. Flash (fiction or CNF) is the ONLY category where multiple pieces related to the same theme may be selected for publication....

Deadline: October 31st, 2017 Payment: $0.02 per word Attention, writers of horror fiction. We’re currently seeking short stories for an upcoming anthology titled Lost Films. In 2016 we released Lost Signals, which has done very well for us. Think of Lost Films as its sequel. We are looking for horror stories involving films, Hollywood, projectors & projectionists, home movies, webcams, television, documentaries, and other themes involving recorded visual disturbances. We want these stories to be weird and terrifying. Some good examples of what we’re after: Cigarette Burns by John Carpenter, Starry Eyes by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, Experimental Film by Gemma Files, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, “Ardor” by Laird Barron, Videodrome by David Cronenberg, Angel of the Abyss by Ed Kurtz, and everything else discussed in this LitReactor article.   Deadline: October 31, 2017 Payment: $0.02 per word Word count: 1,000-8,000 Reprints: No   Send all submissions to [email protected] with “LOST FILMS – by ” in the subject line. If you haven’t heard back from us by December 1st, feel free to query. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. And if you’re interested in the first installment, you can purchase Lost Signals here. Good luck. I look forward to reading your stories. Via: Dark Moon Digest.