Events

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Prize: $50 and a book of the winner's choosing Our annual Halloween contest is open to submissions from now until October 1, 2018, 11:59 pm EST. The contest is free to enter. The first place winner will receive $50 and a book in the genre of their choosing. Send us your Halloween-themed poetry, fiction, short plays and creative non-fiction as an attachment to [email protected], and put “Halloween contest” in your subject line. Each writer may submit up to five entries to the contest, totaling 5,000 words or under. Use that however you want, for example send a 4,900 word short story and a 100 word flash piece, or send 5 poems, or 3 poems and 2 stories, the possibilities are endless. Via: The Furious Gazelle.

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Payment: $5 It might be HOT, HOT, HOT outside but here at Circlet Press we’re already thinking autumn thoughts and you know what that means! It’s time to submit your spooky/sexy/scary October microfictions and flash fiction.  As in years past, these microfictions will be posted on our website during the month of October leading up to Halloween. Payment is $5 and you retain all rights. Details: Stories can be any length up to 1500 words.  No reprints. No excerpts from novels. Multiple submissions are okay. All stories must be erotic and fit within the theme. All gender pairings are welcome and we strongly encourage marginalized writers to submit work to us.  All stories must also be sex positive. DO NOT: Send stories where underage characters engage in sexual acts. Send fan fiction with or without the serial numbers filed off. Send stories where the consent is ambiguous or takes place after the act. Consent MUST be apparent BEFORE the sexual act. Send demon summoning stories. Send stories set at Halloween parties that focus on sexy costumes. Send me stories longer than 1500 words. Send me stories with no erotic content. Send me stories where lovers kill each other. Send stories where witches are evil monsters. Send stories set inside haunted attractions. DO: Think outside the box. The theme here is pretty broad. We want stories that are erotic that also fit into horror/autumn/Halloween. Send us stories that celebrate the season in some way. Scare us while turning us on. Give us period pieces or pieces set in the far future. Make us think of leaves crunching underfoot, the smell of wood smoke carried on chill air, and harvest festivals in preparation for the dead of winter. Do this in a way that celebrates physical pleasure. A...

Deadline: October 1 2018 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2000 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2000 words Current theme: Devilish Over the years, there have been many different depictions of the Devil. From Lucifer, the fallen angel with his immense wings and tufted tails to the bright red, horned beasts of modern pop culture.For their third collection, Thuggish Itch wants your stories about the Devil, demons and Hell. There is a short turn around on this one as we already have several stories for inclusion in the collection. Thuggish Itch is our horror, sci-fi and speculative fiction collection. Please make sure that your story falls within one of these genres. Please ensure that you read through the general guidelines below and format your submission accordingly. If you have any specific questions please contact us using the form on the home page or via the listed social media accounts. To help make sure that your submission gets to the correct place, please include the following in the subject line of your email: 'Thuggish Itch - Devilish - *Story Title*'. Word count: 1000 - 4000 words (we're willing to consider longer or shorter submissions if the story is good) Deadline: October 1 2018 Payment:  AU$5.00 for stories under 2000 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2000 words General guidelines: Please no extremeerotica or stories that feature excessive violence or vulgarity (unless otherwise specified). All stories should be formatted appropriately. Please see here for more details. Ensure that your name, address, and email contact and word count are at the top of your manuscript. Double check your spelling and grammar before sending your work through. Please submit all stories in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats. International submissions are accepted. No simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions are encouraged. Where possible, we will provide feedback on request. No reprints. Please send all submissions to [email protected] Via:...

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Payment: $15 BANJAXED BOOKS is proud to announce short story submissions for our second anthology, Deductions, Delinquents, and Detectives, a collection of mystery/detective stories set in whatever genre the authors choose. Whether it’s a murder mystery set in a world of High Fantasy, a science fiction who-done-it, or the tale of a hard-boiled detective in the near or distant future, Deductions, Delinquents, and Detectives will gather together the best mystery stories from any and all genres. Steampunk, monsters, robots, myths and legends, and–yes–even post-apocalypse…we’re looking for short stories that combine genres in interesting new ways. (We’ll even take a look at realistic mystery stories set in modern times…or during the heyday of detective stories. No monsters or flying cars? No problem! Mystery is a genre all its own.)   SUBMISSION SCHEDULE Submissions open April 1, 2018 and close October 1, 2018. Publication is planned for April 2019. An official date will be announced later in the year. This will launch initially as a paperback. We will get word to you concerning acceptance or rejection as soon as we can, but please remember that we typically get many, many submissions a week, so it could be as long as a month, maybe a bit longer as we get closer to the end of submissions. But not to worry: If you submit and get concerned after a reasonable amount of time has passed, inquire through email. We would never hold that against any author. And we’ll work as fast as humanly possible to get word out to you. If you are interested in sending a story, email it (and a brief cover letter in the body of the email) to: [email protected] Subject line: Submission, Detectives, “Title of Story,” Word Count (Example: Submission, Detectives, “A Corpse in the Rain,”...

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Payment: $15 April 1 through October 1, 2018 BANJAXED BOOKS is proud to announce short story submissions for our second anthology, Deductions, Delinquents, and Detectives, a collection of mystery/detective stories set in whatever genre the authors choose. Whether it’s a murder mystery set in a world of High Fantasy, a science fiction who-done-it, or the tale of a hard-boiled detective in the near or distant future, Deductions, Delinquents, and Detectives will gather together the best mystery stories from any and all genres. Steampunk, monsters, robots, myths and legends, and–yes–even post-apocalypse…we’re looking for short stories that combine genres in interesting new ways. (We’ll even take a look at realistic mystery stories set in modern times…or during the heyday of detective stories. No monsters or flying cars? No problem! Mystery is a genre all its own.)   SUBMISSION SCHEDULE Submissions open April 1, 2018 and close October 1, 2018. Publication is planned for April 2019. An official date will be announced later in the year. This will launch initially as a paperback. We will get word to you concerning acceptance or rejection as soon as we can, but please remember that we typically get many, many submissions a week, so it could be as long as a month, maybe a bit longer as we get closer to the end of submissions. But not to worry: If you submit and get concerned after a reasonable amount of time has passed, inquire through email. We would never hold that against any author. And we’ll work as fast as humanly possible to get word out to you. If you are interested in sending a story, email it (and a brief cover letter in the body of the email) to: [email protected] Subject line: Submission, Detectives, “Title of Story,” Word Count (Example: Submission,...

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Payment: Contributor's copy Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its first volume of its HOWLERS series, Sinister Sheets. Deadline: October 1, 2018 Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable Sex and horror are often considered separate. Notable exceptions include the the “sex means death” rule of slasher films; Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game; and the danger of sex throughout Gillian Flynn’s dark novels. We want to see a collection of erotic horror at its finest. For this editor, erotic horror is best defined as literature that arouses the reader...and then makes them complicit in the horror that ensues because of that arousal. 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 a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it. We will not accept simultaneous submissions. Payment: Authors will receive a free copy of the print book. Send submissions in .doc or .docx format to [email protected]. Title your email with the story title in all caps. If you are sending more than one submission, send multiple emails instead of putting them all in one. We will inform all authors regarding decisions within a week or two after the deadline.

Deadline: October 1st, 2018 Payment: $50.00 and contributor copy. Yes, Clash Books is at it again, and this time they’re letting me take the wheel. If you needed more proof that these folks are crazy, look no further. In any case, hot on the heels of Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath, we’re celebrating The Notorious B.I.G. and his music. You know I’m looking for that good barrio noir, horror, bizarro, whatever goodness. Details below. Gimme the Loot: Stories Inspired by The Notorious B.I.G. Listening to Biggie is listening to the streets. There is something gritty and powerful in his bars, something real and dripping the kind of authenticity that makes songs and stories stand out and claim a corner of your brain. Listening to Biggie is hearing how things are done in the streets, and anybody with at least a day of street experience knows that the man understood what he was talking about. From Brooklyn to San Juan, I’ve heard his impact in music, and none told is as clear as he did. Violent, real, and raw; those are the qualities of Biggie’s music that we’d like to capture in story form. That’s right, we’re talking crime, horror, and bizarro, but with a Biggie flavor. The cover is done, and it’s fantastic because it was done by the supernatural entity known as Matthew Revert.   Now, if you listen to Ten Crack Commandments, you know there are some rules to everything, and this anthology is no different. Listen up and keep these things in mind: We love Tupac, Nas, and Rakim. We dig Big Pun, Snoop, and have already published an anthology celebrating the world of Wu-Tang Clan. This time? This time it’s all about Christopher George Latore Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie,...

Deadline: October 8th, 2018 Novels Castrum Press is open to unsolicited NOVEL submissions! Starting August 7th, 2018, our team will be reading and evaluating original novellas submitted by authors here: http://www.castrumpress.com/submissions/form/ You can find full guidelines here (we highly recommend you read them before submitting). We will be open for eight weeks beginning on August 7 around 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00) and ending on October 8 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00). This open period is intended for authors who have completed works ready or close to ready for submission. We will reopen a second time in October 2018 for authors who are actively working on (or beginning) something that would fit our list. In other words, don’t panic if you’re not ready to submit in August! We would rather see a polished novel in October than a rushed one in August. Until the end of this open period, Castrum Press will be considering novels of between 75,000 and 110,000 words in both the science fiction and fantasy genres. If it’s speculative and fits the bill, we want to take a look at it. Novellas Castrum Press is open to unsolicited novella submissions! Starting August 7th, 2018, our team will be reading and evaluating original novellas submitted by authors here: http://www.castrumpress.com/submissions/form/ You can find full guidelines here (we highly recommend you read them before submitting). We will be open for eight weeks beginning on August 7 around 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00) and ending on October 8 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00). This open period is intended for authors who have completed works ready or close to ready for submission. We will reopen for a second time in October 2018 for authors who are actively working on (or beginning) something that would fit our list. In other words, don’t panic if you’re not ready to submit in August! We would rather see a polished novella in October than a rushed one in August. Until the end of...

Deadline: October 10th, 2018 Payment: $2 for 6 word story, $2 for 50 word story, $3 for under 1000 words, $5 for poetry, $15 for 1,000-20,000 words. One editor's choice winner will receive $50 Note: No Romance or Horror Our magazine is currently accepting short fiction and poetry for its Fall 2018 issue Writers…and readers: Publish in  a brand new literary magazine. The Hickory Stump is for you. Showcase your work. Experience the work of others. We are a quarterly periodical, without endowment or sponsors, for people who truly love creative fiction. The Hickory Stump is free online. We pay everything from our own personal pockets – writers, promotion, developers, hosting and more. We aim to establish close relationships with our writers, to the advancement of all concerned. Please submit by October 10th for inclusion in the fall issue. We take submissions in the following categories (all work must be unpublished unless otherwise specified): Short fiction Stories may be sad, funny, thought-provoking, or any other tone. Any genre is accepted, excluding romance and horror.  We need character-driven, thought-provoking stories. Insights into foreign lands and subcultures, alternative voices are welcome. Your story should either be unpublished, or else you should tell us all the details of the previous publication or publications. Truly excellent stories may be republished here. Please check your story for correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. When characters speak, they of course may use bad grammar if that is the sort of people they are (naturally first person narrator may also speak in whatever voice suits their personality). Stories will fall into the following categories: Short story 1000-20,000 words Payment takes the form of a mini-contest. This is NOT the same as the Hickory Stump Short Story Contest, which has different criteria and a much higher prize. $50 dollars for the winner, plus...

Deadline: October 11th, 2018 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2000 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2000 words Colp is our 'anything goes' anthology collection. Expect to see a little bit of this and a little bit of that within each issue, so feel free to submit stories from any genre. Current theme: Suplex "Well let me tell you something, brother!" Colp is looking to bodyslam your story into their next collection as they grapple with all things wrestling. We're looking for your wrestling-inspired tales - whether they be based in the professional wrestling world of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, the college circuit or feature legendary luchadors. Increase your chances at selection by avoiding libellous comments about any current or past performers. Colp is for everyone and therefore we are willing to read stories that fall into any genre. So, no matter whether your story is a horror, romance, sci-fi or historical fiction piece, please send it on through. Be original. We also encourage new and unpublished writers to take the leap and get in touch. Please ensure that you read through the general guidelines below and format your submission accordingly. If you have any specific questions please contact us using the form on the home page or via the listed social media accounts. To help make sure that your submission gets to the correct place, please include the following in the subject line of your email: 'Colp -  Suplex - *Story Title*'. Word count: 1000 - 4000 words (we're willing to consider longer or shorter submissions if the story is good) Deadline: October 11 2018 Payment:  AU$5.00 for stories under 2000 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2000 words Via: Gypsum Sound Tales.