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Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: half cent a word with a $5.00 minimum We are seeking new and original work inspired by the famed Bosch triptych, “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Pieces can be accounts of scenes occurring within the painting; further adventures of the denizens of the painting; bizarre odes to the painting itself; some conglomerate of the above; or something entirely different. Push limits of plot, structure, and form. Those familiar with our catalogue know we prefer the surreal, absurd, gut-wrenching. Pieces dependent on comedy will be less likely to find a home here. Please, for our sanity, do not send any pieces about the bird king eating and excreting humans out. We will consider fiction, poetry, plays, and pretty much any other formats you can think of. (Creative non-fiction is encouraged but pitch your concept beforehand.) Word count has a soft cap of 7K: if your submission is longer (or is expected to be), pitch us the concept beforehand. Payment is half cent a word with a $5.00 minimum. No simultaneous submissions, but multiple submissions are allowed. If multiple pieces are accepted, payment will be based on total word count of all pieces. Deadline is January 31st, 2018. We will try to be prompt with responses, but pieces that are potential acceptances may need to wait until after the deadline for final confirmation. We are seeking six month exclusivity from date of publication. Submissions can be sent to carrionblue555 gmail.com as .doc or .docx files. Include "GARDEN" and author name in the email title. Please format your file as you wish it to see print (italicize for italics, underline for underline, etc.) May your efforts bear strange fruits. Via: Carrion Blue 555.

Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: $25 plus one contributor’s copy. Reprints would be $10 and a contributor's copy. Note: Reprints allowed, but unlikely to be selected. Sometimes the tools that mundane detectives use to solve the crimes of the world just aren’t enough – sometimes you have to call on a little magic. We’re looking for urban fantasy stories that involve a crime scene and require the investigator to use magic or engage the aid of a magical being to solve the crime. Did the house’s hob see what really happened in the domestic violence incident? Does a detective come into possession of a genie’s lamp that will grant him one wish, and he uses it to solve the case that got away? Does your gumshoe use a tracking spell to find the perpetrator using a few strands of hair she found at the scene? The people in your world can use magic openly or on the sly, it’s all up to you. But your story must be urban fantasy, and involve a crime scene and magic in some way. What we don’t want to see: On page sexual assault, child abuse, or animal abuse – this is an immediate rejection. Your investigator may be trying to solve one of those crimes, but we will not accept a story with one of those crimes happening on the page. Gratuitous anything – violence, sex, profanity, doesn’t matter. If it is not integral to the story and it’s not advancing the plot or character development, we don’t want to see blood, gore, or sex just for shock value’s sake (this goes for language too). We are not opposed to violence, sex, or profanity – as long as it belongs in the story and it’s not just there to shock and titillate. Think...

Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: $10 EconoClash Review (Quality Cheap Thrills) is a biannual print journal of Genre Fiction. We accept only the best contemporary pulp submissions. Which includes quality Crime, Noir, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Weird, Humor and Other Words for Uplifting Gormandizers.  EconoClash Review believes in free speech and wants to provide our readers with a much needed escape into other worlds. We like stories about Weirdos, Criminals and Pregnant Prom Queens going to great lengths to destroy or keep the status quo. HOWEVER, we don't want erotica, or adult content, or torture-erotica between characters of any age, race, species both real or fictional. Nothing gratuitous. Avoid the tropes best you can. Just because we want GENRE doesn't mean we want STALE. Above all else--EconoClash Review wants fiction full of energy that feels real.  We encourage our writers to submit short fiction between 1,500 and 4,500 words. That word limit is FIRM and STRICTLY ENFORCED. SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN for Issue # TWO from Dec 1 to Jan 31. EconoClash Review claims the following publishing rights: First English Language Rights, English Language Periodical Rights, World Periodical Rights, Subsidiary Rights and Electronic Distribution Rights. All Rights revert back to the writer six months after initial publication. Should EconoClash Review choose to create an anthology of previously published work, new rights will be negotiated. Bear in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been published in print, eBook, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint, which severely limits the number of markets that will accept it, and drastically reduces the pay rate it can receive. It is up to you, the author, to decide if giving up your First Publishing Right for our token payment, is really what you want to do. EconoClash Review will accept simultaneous submissions, as long as the author alerts us as soon...

Deadline: January 1st-31st, 2018 Payment: Advance and Royalties Apex Book Company will be holding open novel and novella submissions from January 1st to January 31st, 2018. Anything sent outside of this time period will be deleted unread. We will consider novellas in length of 30,000 to 40,000 words and novels in length up to 120,000 words, and are particularly looking for novels that fit within the dark sci-fi category. Dark fantasy and horror submissions are also welcome. A literary agent is not required for submission. We may take up to three months or more to review your manuscript. Simultaneous submissions are okay. We will only accept one submission per author. We only accept email submissions to [email protected]. When submitting, the subject line should read: NOVEL SUBMISSION: <Title> by <Author Name>. In your submission packet, attach your entire manuscript and a synopsis no more than one page in length. The body of your email should be a cover letter. In the upper right hand corner of the first page of your manuscript there should be your name, address, phone number, and manuscript word count. Apex publishes 6-10 books a year. We offer an advance and standard royalty terms. Apex requests First English language trade paperback and eBook rights, as well as audio rights and certain subsidiary rights. Please direct questions to Jason Sizemore ([email protected]). Any submission queries should go to Lesley Conner ([email protected]). Via: Apex Books.

Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: $20 and a contributor's copy Nightscript is published annually, during grand October, in both trade and electronic editions, and will feature contemporary fictions ranging in length from 2,000 to 7,000 words. Note: I am currently OPEN to submissions for Volume IV. (The reading period for 2018 ends on January 31st.) N. is a venue for ‘strange tales’, a term used to describe fictions supernatural, uncanny, weird, and so forth. In other words, I am looking for subtle and darksome literary horror. If you feel that your work has been inspired in no small part by authors such as Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, Dennis Etchison, Flannery O’Connor, Terry Lamsley, Lisa Tuttle, Thomas Owen, Mary Shelley, Arthur Machen, then N. is probably the venue for you. Authors are asked to submit their original tales via the email provided below and should allow 1 to 8 week(s) for a response. (If a submission is held for longer than two weeks this typically means that it is being considered.) Submit .doc files to: [email protected] (Please send only one story per reading period. No simultaneous submissions, please.) Payment is $20 and includes one contributor’s copy. N. is a labor of love, and as such I shall endeavor to produce an aesthetically pleasing product for which all contributors can feel proud. That said, I look forward to reading your work! Thank you kindly for your interest. C.M. Muller, editor & publisher To keep abreast of all things N., please consider following its Facebook page. Finally, if you would like to familiarize yourself with the type of fiction I am looking for, please consider purchasing a copy of the anthology. The Kindle version can be obtained on all Amazon platforms for $2.99. Thanks! Via: C.M. Muller.

Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: 0.5p a word (£20 for 4,000 words, £30 for 6,000 words), a contributor's copy, and royalties 2018 sees the re-launch of the Alchemy Press Book Of… anthologies with a brand new title: HORRORS, edited by Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards. We are looking for horror stories … but tales that can be described as “weird”, “strange”, “amazing” and “peculiar”: stories that would have found a home in Weird Tales, Unknown Worlds, Fantastic and Fantasy Tales among other illustrious publications. Your story can be set in almost any era, any place but glimpse at and pervert the usual perceptions of reality – and unreality. We do not want stories that deal with common horror tropes without stretching boundaries. Avoid zombies unless they are tackled in an unexpected and strange fashion. No urban romance – you know, heroine falling for a vampire and so forth. Nor do we want to see religious tracts, adult content, and we really, really do not want gross-out horror tales. Please send your stories in a standard manuscript format (3,000-6,000 words ) to [email protected] to arrive by 31 January 2018 (contact us if an extension is required). Payment: 0.5p a word (£20 for 4,000 words, £30 for 6,000 words), plus a copy of the book and royalties. The anthology will be in print for a maximum of five years and then the book will become OOP. If you are interested put on your story-thinking hat now. Any questions please get back to us at the above email address or use this contact form. NOTES: We accept stories from anywhere in the world (the galaxy, even) if written in English We only accept email submissions We are looking for new stories although reprints may be considered Please present your manuscript as a Word document (or RTF or similar) using standard formatting (double spacing,...

Deadline: February 1st, 2018 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Leo massaged the back of his neck, thankful the meeting was finally over. We love the fact that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually two to three weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. (Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first 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 first lines.) One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written with the first line...

Deadline: February 1st, 2018 Payment: 1/2 cent per word and one contributor's copy. We're looking for excellent general audience furry stories on the theme "RESISTANCE."  If you have an excellent story, but you're not sure it fits the theme, give it a try.  We can be generous in how we interpret "resistance," but all stories must be furry.  That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story -- it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence.  We'll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks -- as long as it's excellent.  Though, the editor does have a preference for stories where the animal nature of the characters matters -- if the reader can't even remember the species of the characters by the end of the story, then that's not a good sign. We are interested in underrepresented voices. If you have personal experience relevant to your story, feel free to mention it in your cover letter. For instance, if your story is about a space unicorn and you are a space unicorn (or a research biologist who studies space unicorns), let us know.  We are not interested in stories that involve rape in any way. Please send submissions as an attached .doc, .docx, or .rtf file in Standard Manuscript Format to ROARanthology(at)gmail.com with a subject line that reads:  SUBMISSION:  "Story Title" - word count.  (For an example of Standard Manuscript Format, see this essay by William Shunn.  For help with writing a cover letter, check out this excellent advice from Strange Horizons.) Length -- Between 2,000 and 18,000 words.  Query if longer or shorter.  We tend to prefer stories between 4,000 and 12,000 words. Multiple submissions -- Keep it reasonable; two or three stories at a time is probably okay; ten isn't. Reprints --...

Deadline: February 1, 2018 Payment: $25 for a digital run, with an option for print rights which would add another $25 Seeking erotic short stories with magical beasts and shapeshifter tropes. Although the title of the anthology is somewhat comedic–and levity is definitely welcome!–we’re not looking for parody or satire. Open to all mythical and magical creatures with sentience–centaurs, werewolves/human-animal shifters, intelligent dragons, merfolk, etc. Definitely open to unicorns, griffins, banshees, minotaurs, etc. so long as the spark of sentience is present. ( ) As for what kinds of stories we’re looking for? We’re tired of the “same old” werewolf stories, but not tired of how magical beasts can represent sexuality and erotic need in fiction, especially marginalized sexuality and repressed needs. We’re tired of the “alpha meets fated mate” trope, but  not tired of encounters with the magical being life-changing. We’re tired of the “(white) colonial explorer goes into wildest place and tames native beast” trope, too, but not tired of diverse characters and settings, especially when told by #ownvoices. We’re always interested in characters and stories that include various marginalized sexual identities and practices including polyamory, kink, genderqueer and gender variant, BDSM, bisexuality/pansexuality, trans identities, as well as “regular ol'” gay or lesbian characters. (General note: We’re also all for asexual representation though we realize that may seem out of place to some for an erotica anthology. Please no stories where someone’s asexuality is “cured” — please yes to stories that include affirmations that asexuality is valid.) Finally, although the anthology title is explicitly a riff on the universe of a certain famous boy wizard, stories do not have to be in any way related to or parodies of said universe. In fact it’s probably better not to tickle that sleeping dragon, unless you’re really really clever about...

Deadline: February 1st, 2018 Payment: 1 cent/word, to a maximum of $50, The infernal fires have begun to burn, and the Enochian writing is on the wall. Yes, we’re at the starting line for the forthcoming anthology, Hell’s Empire, to be published by UltharPress and edited by John Linwood Grant. So here are all the details you need… If you want the general submission details, skip down to the Technical Details for Hell’s Empire part at the bottom of this post. If you want to submit, you’ll need to read the rest. HELL’S EMPIRE from Ulthar Press ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES These guidelines are detailed, so please read them carefully. Within the framework, there is room for a wealth of stories, from tales of very personal challenge and loss or triumph, through subtle occult ventures, to large scale slaughter. Technical details and requirements are give on the last page. If there is a role model for the anthology, then it is basically H G Well’s ‘War of the Worlds’. A more occult version of that. We can set a few basics first: Hell’s Empire is set firmly in the real Britain and /or Ireland of the 1890s. We are not looking for Lovecraftian Mythos, steampunk or alternate dimensions. Sorry. The British Empire is not prepared for the Incursion, and in its early stages the Incursion might not even be recognised for what it is. Military and civilian technology levels are exactly what they were in the 1890s. If you prefer to pitch an outline idea before investing a lot of writing time, you are welcome to do so. Send your outline to the email address at the bottom, subject line: Hell’s Empire/Pitch. BACKGROUND DETAILS a) The Incursion The simplest part. At some unspecified point in the 1890s, the forces of Hell invade Britain. And there you have it. The Incursion includes: subtle attempts to undermine or demoralise the British; lone demonic appearances in unexpected places; strikes...