Events

Deadline: November 30th, 2017 Payment: $15 (more depending on Kickstarter) and a contributor's copy Once again, we are inviting submissions from the world at large! WELCOME TO PACIFIC CITY is a sort-of shared world project: we name the place, you bring it to life through the mediums of science fiction, fantasy or horror. Stories should be set in our fictionalised Pacific City, and a key element should be heroism and/or villainy, be it “super” or otherwise. You can check here for an inspirational guide to the city, or download the short Pacific City Manifesto for other useful information. However, although this is primarily a speculative fiction project, we are also open to stories that help make Pacific City feel like a real place. Not every inspiring (or insidious) story demands the out of the ordinary for impact — but if a masked avenger wanders by while you’re bringing us down to earth, well, that won’t do your chances any harm… Although we can only offer a nominal fee up front, all contributors will also receive a physical copy of the collection. In addition, we plan to run a Kickstarter campaign prior to publication in an attempt to raise funds for increased author fees. The editor has previously organised two successful fiction-related campaigns, including one for our 2015 anthology — this is no guarantee of future success, but it bodes well! SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Maximum Word Count: 7,500. This is a very firm limit. Pieces between 2,500 and 5,000 words preferred. Flash fiction will be considered, but the longer a story the more it needs to impress. Submission Deadline: November 30th, 2017. Minimum Compensation: USD$15 on acceptance of contract, plus one contributor’s copy of the print-on-demand paperback on publication. All submissions must be the original work of the author — we will not accept any story incorporating copyrighted characters or material, fan fiction, etc. We require First Print and...

Deadline: December 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalty Split We’re putting together an anthology of delicious cozy mystery stories! The long of it: Imagine yourself in your favorite chair. There’s a cat in your lap, a fire in the fireplace, and on the little table at your elbow, your favorite hot drink. The book in your hand is a cozy. A cozy is a mystery, which, of course, means a tale of crime and intrigue. Often that crime is murder. But although the circumstances surrounding the crime can be ugly, that ugliness—as well as any attendant sex, violence, or cruelty–takes place offstage. Instead, the crime is treated as a puzzle, and the sleuth, a charming amateur, is the hero. Many cozies take place in small, pleasant towns. Many have female sleuths. Quite a few are organized around themes, such as crafts, hobbies, food, or pets. If your mystery has a recipe or a crime-solving ferret, it’s a cozy, and we’d like to see it. The short of it: 2K-10K words Deadline: December 1, 2017 Payment: share of royalties A few rules: § Plot must center on a crime and its solution § Amateur sleuth § No graphic sex, violence, cruelty, or strong language (including slurs and epithets) § Previously unpublished authors welcome § Writers from underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to submit And, there must be a cupcake somewhere in the story. What this means is up to you. Does the main character own a cupcake shop? Is the cupcake a murder weapon? Is the victim’s nickname “cupcake”? Does the villain leave a trail of cupcake crumbs wherever they go? Use your imagination, and send us your best. editorjessfaraday at hotmail.com Light Space Elm Books is looking for short story submissions for our next Science Fiction & Fantasy collection. We are interested in short stories (no more than 15,000 words) featuring...

Deadline: December 7th, 2017 Payment: Under 1k words: $10, 1k-6k words: $25. Both also come with a contributor's copy SUBMITTING Stories should be in standard manuscript format, i.e. double spaced, in a reasonable 12-point font. The editor has a fondness for Georgia. The story title, word count, and contact information should appear on the first page, and your last name, story title, and page number should appear in the header information of all other pages. We will be reviewing submissions on a rolling basis until the anthology is filled. Acceptances will be notified within 60 days. Feel free to query after that. WORD COUNT We’re looking for stories under 6,000 words. 3-4,000 words is probably the sweet spot. REPRINTS We will not be accepting previously published work for this anthology. THE CONCEPT Metropolitan tales of city-focused fantasy with queer perspectives. Squalid flats, glittering spires, and alchemical trolleys. Manipulative heirs, handsome swordswomen and noble automatons. Write us something built with borrowed Bordertown DNA, purloined echoes of House Tremontaine society and stolen grit from the dark of London Below. Be inspired by Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station, or “The City Born Great” by N.K. Jemisin. WHAT WE WANT TO SEE We are looking for stories that explore the edges of urban fantasy through queer stories. While the city these stories are set in should be vast and unnamed, highly specific neighborhoods and landmarks are encouraged and sought after. We welcome a broad interpretation of the genre that is inclusive of postmodern folk tales, future/ancient noir, and stories that happen both behind closed doors and in plain sight. Throughout, we’re looking for rich, varied and nuanced understandings of gender, family and ethnicity. Please remember not to self-reject! WHAT WE DON’T WANT TO SEE Please no werewolf/vampire/dragon/elf stories unless...

Deadline: December 10th 2017 Payment: one half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Maximum of $10 for reprints. Note: Reprints allowed Word Count:    500-10,500 Theme:    This anthology will focus on tales about the sidekicks who help the heroes and princesses find their happily ever afters, and what happens to them after their quests are done. Does the lowly squire who helped the brave knight on his quest to save the princess ever get a shot at greatness? Or at the very least, a little recognition? Does the lady-in-waiting who was always there for the fair princess finally get her own happily ever after? Response Time:  Please allow six weeks. After that, if you don't hear from us then feel free to give us a little nudge. We respond to every submission.   Payment: Payment will be one half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Payments will be made by PayPal in USD. Payments will go out no later than four months after the publication date. Editing: Yes, your story will be edited if we decide to accept it. After we go through and edit your story, it will then be sent back to you for final approval. In some cases, we may ask for revisions to be made.  Reprints, Multiple & Simultaneous Submissions: Yes. Payment for reprints is a maximum of $10. SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL FOR EACH SUBMISSION. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS SENT IN ONE EMAIL MAY BE DISCARDED WITHOUT BEING READ. Guidelines for Submissions:   All submissions are to be sent to [email protected]. In the subject line please type SIDEKICK ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION: . In the body of your email, please include your name and word count. If the story is under 2,000 words, please paste the text in the body of the email, otherwise please attach it.  We...

Deadline: December 15th, 2017 Payment: $0.02 cent a word paid on publication + shared royalties. B Cubed Press is accepting short story submissions for “After the Orange,” an original science fiction and fantasy anthology about the post-Trump world. The Premise: The Trump Presidency has come and gone.  Has this invoked the Trump Dynasty or has it spawned a return to core values, a hedonistic paradise or what?  Truly, what does the future, the post Trump future hold? What We Want: We are looking for near- or farther-future stories, society as it is AFTER 2032 – at least two presidential election cycles after Donald Trump’s last eligibility. Show us America or the world in a new era, or look at world politics changed by the actions of US policies and people. Or go beyond. Stories may present an optimistic or pessimistic, utopian or apocalyptic visions of the future, with some clear connection to current events and the world as it is in 2017. Political shenanigans would be interesting, as well as romance, spooks, robots and evil overlords, satire or parodies. But remember, the world has moved on. The editors generally favor character- and/or plot-driven stories. How to Submit: Send submissions IN STANDARD MANUSCRIPT FORMAT* to: [email protected] in .doc., .docx, . or rtf . Deadline – 12/15/2017 Publication Date. – Spring/Summer 2018 Word Counts – 500-5000 words Pay US $0.02 cent a word paid on publication + shared royalties. Via: B Cubed Press.

Deadline: December 15th, 2017 Payment: $60 USD for fiction and $30 USD for poetry Our reading periods are as follows: February 1–March 15 for our Spring (April) issue; May 1–June 15 for our Summer (July) issue; August 1–September 15 for our Autumn (October) issue; and November 1–December 15 for our Winter (January) issue. Feel free to record your submissions at Duotrope and/or the Submissions Grinder. We are also listed on Ralan. Fiction and Poetry Guidelines Arsenika is looking for previously unpublished original fiction and poetry up to 1,000 words long. Payment is $60 USD for fiction and $30 USD for poetry for first world electronic rights and non-exclusive audio rights. We hope to raise the poetry rate to $60 as well in the future—please support us on Patreon if you’d like to help us reach our goal. Submit no more than two flash fiction pieces and five poems at a time, and please make sure you fill out the form again for each piece you send, unless the pieces are meant to be read together (e.g. a triptych of poems). All work should be in Standard Manuscript Format (fiction format/poetry format). Format poetry exactly as you would like to see it online—use italics for italics, underlines for underlines, boldface for boldface, etc. Send only TXT, RTF, DOC, and DOCX files. Please do not send simultaneous submissions (pieces that are submitted to Arsenikaand another market at the same time). Multiple submissions are accepted, but please have no more than two flash fiction pieces and five poems in the submissions queue at a time. We try to respond to all submissions within 14 days. If you haven’t heard from us in 30 days, please send us a query at [email protected]. Remember: Don’t self-reject. Submissions are currently CLOSED. We will reopen for submissions on November 1. Submit to Arsenika Check Submissions Status Reprints Arsenika does not accept unsolicited reprints. Payment...

Deadline: December 20th, 2017 Payment: $6 (AUD) plus an ebook Come one, come all! "Shades of Santa" xmas-themed fiction magazine is open for submissions! Things in the Well are looking for flash fiction for another fun fiction magazine project similar to Trickster's Treats. This time it's Xmas-themed and the deadline is December 20th, so you'll need to put your pointy green thinking caps on if you want to enter! I've selected six categories and hoping for six stories in each category, so when you submit please choose the right category... for your story. The word count is 666 words - please aim for exactly that number, but don't go above it. Attached word documents are fine, with single-line spaces, no tabs, and doubles quotes for "speech." If selected, payment will be $6 (AUD) plus an ebook. Profits will go to some suitable charity - tbd. This will be ebook only unless there is a real demand for printed copies, which wouldn't be until after xmas. So, please submit your completed stories to:- [email protected] preferably with the subject: "Shades of Santa - category 1, 2, 3 etc. - your story name" Anything else please feel free to email me on [email protected] Here are the categories: 1. Sleigh bells 2. All is calm... 3. The naughty list 4. Is that really an elf? 5. Carols, choirs, and vocal chords 6. Snow people http://thingsinthewell.webs.com/submissions

Deadline: December 30th, 2017! Payment: 3 cents/word (CAD) and a contributor's copy Note: Canadian writers have preferred status but they aren't only taking Canadian authors. Edited by Kate Story and Derek Newman-Stille To be published by Renaissance Press   Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818, sparking the genres of horror and science fiction. On this, the 200th anniversary of its publication, the narrative is more relevant than ever. We live in an age where we need to ask critical questions about the limits of science. How do scientific pursuits relate to the body? Attention to issues of disability lead us to consider how identity relates to the body, and how the body can shift and change over time. Shelley’s bodily assemblage – a collective of parts given life – still shapes our ideas about ourselves, and about what we create to be our monsters. This anthology will gather together tales inspired by Shelley’s strange alchemy, lightning strikes of inspiration from Frankenstein. We are looking for a broad range of stories, from direct interactions with Shelley’s texts to explorations of the stitched, assembled body and narrative experiments in monstrous creations. We Shall Be Monsters is a fiction collection that will feature explorations of disability through Frankenstein, queer and trans identity, ideas of race and colonialism. Shelley’s story provides a space for exploring a multitude of identities through the figure of the sympathetic outsider. Frankenstein’s “monster” is a figure of Otherness, and one that can tell stories of exclusion and social oppression. Stories do not need to be JUST about Frankenstein or his monster. We hope to get stories that play with ideas around Frankenstein and inspired by the theme. Of course, we want some stories that deal with Mary Shelley’s text. For this anniversary anthology, we are looking for short stories of...

Deadline: December 31st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent a word VOLUME 3: STORIES PUBLISHED IN 2017 Is your story too heavy and hardcore for other “best of” anthologies? Then you’ve come to the right place because Comet Press is now accepting stories for YEAR’S BEST HARDCORE HORROR VOL. 3, a yearly collection intended to give recognition to the extreme, harder side of horror, stories that break boundaries and trash taboos. Editors: Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax. Requirements: The story was (or will be) published in a 2017 anthology, single author collection, magazine, or online magazine. Self-published anthologies and collections are acceptable as well. Deadline: December 31, 2017. Length: Short stories/novelettes. Payment: 1 cent a word. What to Send Authors: In the body of an email: Author name Story title Name of anthology or magazine or online magazine it was published in: If the book is available on Amazon and your story credit appears somewhere on the page, send us the link. If not, send a link to the best source with that information (publisher’s page, etc). If the story was in a magazine, send us a web link to the issue TOC where your story appears, or if that’s not available send us a scan of the table of contents (print magazines, etc.). A bio A short synopsis. Attach the entire manuscript in rtf, doc, or pdf format. Note: please make sure this is the final version of your story, exactly as it appears in the published version. Important Note: Make sure your contract allows you to publish the story in a “best of” anthology. If you’re not sure, check with your publisher. If necessary, ask them for a waiver. Publishers In an email include the following: Author name and story title(s) for consideration Name of publication and publisher, date published...

Deadline: December 31st, 2017 Payment: 5 cents a word, 2 cents a word if a reprint. Note: Reprints Allowed edited by Steve Berman Avarice and a fealty to Mammon are elements of this forthcoming anthology slated for January of 2018. Lethe is seeking weird and eerie stories of people consumed by wealth. Each tale must be suffused with the trappings of the well-to-do. Decadence should be paramount. However, we do not want these tales to be moralistic; we're celebrating those who can buy the finest things in life...they just happen to be the leads in a horror story. The better stories will incorporate status and wealth as both character traits and elements of the plot. For an excellent example, we recommend "Dirty American" by Lara Elena Donnelly or "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" by Poppy Z. Brite. Our preference is for stories that are contemporary but we are willing to read and purchase a few historical tales. No vampire or zombie tales. Stories should be from 4,000 to 14,000 in length. Original fiction is more important to us, but we will make an offer on exceptional reprints. Payment for reprints is 2 cents per word. Payment for original fiction is 5 cents a word. All payment is upon publication in Summer of 2018. We'll be doing a lovely, off-set, hardback edition of this book, perhaps a trade paperback, digital and audiobook versions. Deadline is January of 2018. Please submit to Steve Berman at lethepress @aol.com with the Subject line of Midas Clutch Submission. Include an embedded copy letter with biographical details, if the story is original, and some sense of prior publications (if any). Basic Submission Guidelines If you would like to submit a manuscript to Lethe Press here are our guidelines: We seek manuscripts that are a minimum...