Events

Taking Submissions: Hidden Histories

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: 6 cents per wrod Hidden Histories - A secret history (or shadow history) is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars. Your tale can be based in the real world, past, present, or future, as long as it has a speculative fiction element. We're not exactly looking for alternate history, but there can be a fork in the road timewise. Reading period: January 1-31, 2019 Writer deadline: January 31, 2019 Publication date: April 15, 2019 Third Flatiron Publishing is based in Boulder, Colorado, and Ayr, Scotland. We are looking for submissions to our (approximately) quarterly themed anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We want tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios. Light horror is acceptable, provided it fits the theme. Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Inquire if longer. Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today. For each anthology, we will also accept  a few very short humor pieces on the order of the "Shouts and Murmurs" feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred. See the "Submissions" tab for preferred formats, etc. Continuing with Third...

Taking Submissions: Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: 6 cents per word Submissions to this anthology must follow our No-Harm Guidelines. Please read these guidelines prior to writing or submitting a story. One purpose of these guidelines is to ensure the collection is friendly to a diverse set of potential readers. No-Harm Guidelines (pdf) 81.34 KB Download Submission Guidelines Originally Posted 15 September 2018 Last Updated 01 December 2018 Thank you for your interest in the Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove anthology. Bottom line: Send your unpublished story of 1-4000 words to [email protected] by the end of January 2019, with the subject “Stormcove Submission.” Format: Please submit your story as a Word document. Include your: name, writing as, country, and primary pronoun (e.g. she/he/they/e). Include the story’s: title, number of words, and primary genre (e.g. romance, fantasy, contemporary, mystery). Include for the subtitle, the: year (e.g. 2018, c1100), location (e.g. Room 102, Room 845, Ballroom, Lobby), and start time of the five minutes (e.g. 9:32 PM, 2315, sunrise). If the day or time of year is relevant (e.g. New Year’s Day or November), please include that information. For this collection, we are not interested in reprints or works submitted simultaneously for other publication. Please only submit unpublished content. Theme goals: Feature unique, original, diverse, artistic content from authors across fiction genres. Provide an anthology theme that is workable within many genres. Provide guidelines that will generate original content but are flexible enough, that if a story is not included, can still be used elsewhere with small tweaks. Allow authors, editors, and readers all to have a little fun with the collection. Payment and legal: The anthology will be published by Atthis Arts, LLC. All accepted submissions will require a signed contract with Atthis Arts, LLC — we believe in pay, respect, and autonomy for authors, so we’ve done our...

Taking Submissions: Unnerving Magazine

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: $0.03/word original $0.01/word reprint Unnerving Magazine accepts short story submissions of horror, dark science fiction (light), dark fantasy, crime, thriller, and suspense. Generally leaning toward horror over other genres. Sex, gore and violence are welcome in moderation (nothing gratuitous). The same goes for bizarro works, nothing too far gone (whatever that means). Please no hard science fiction, sword and sorcery fantasy, erotica, romance, humor that isn’t sinister or literary works that venture so far into experimental that they become nonsense, no cop dramas unless hard boiled gumshoe vs. supernatural, no fan fiction, no war stories, no stories where rape is the lead character's motivator, and no blatant rip-offs. No Lovecraft characters, locations, or wording. Moving forward, I am less interested in quiet horror, though still will print it, as there are significantly more paying markets for dark literary and dark weird than thrilling and commercial horror. Payment is 3¢/word for original fiction and 1¢/word reprint fiction. I ask for three months exclusivity from publication date and non-exclusive print-on-demand rights for five years. Submit only one story at a time. Submit in .docx, .doc or .odt only. Double-spaced. No tabs. No extra spaces after periods. Please use common sense when formatting. Everything hard on the eyes will be rejected automatically. Allow for up to 6 months before querying. Simultaneous submissions are welcome (which means submitting to other publications, not sending me every story you've ever written). Open to authors from any country. Payment by PayPal only within 30 days of publication. If accepted, wait six issues to submit again. Only stories from 800-4,000 (FIRM! DO! NOT! ASK! TO! SUBMIT! OTHER! LENGTHS!) words will be considered with preference leaning toward stories around 2,500 words. Via: Unnerving Magazine.

Taking Submissions: Red Sun Magazine

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: 3 cents per word Red Sun Magazine publishes science-fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative, and military science fiction. All writers and authors of these genres are welcome to submit their work.   We’ll consider R-rated material but no erotica or anything graphically or sexually explicit.   Word count for fiction is 500 words or more. Pay is capped at 3,000 words. Payment: $.03 a word.   In addition to fiction, Red Sun publishes interviews, articles, and reviews that are relevant to the genres the magazine publishes, to include role-playing games, comic books, board games, movies, television, etc. Word count: 1,000-2,500 words. Payment: $25.   No poetry.   No multiple submissions. No reprints. Simultaneous submissions are okay. If your submission is accepted elsewhere, let us know.   IMPORTANT: We use an anonymous judging system to choose the work we publish.   Do not include your name anywhere in the manuscript. In addition to excluding your name from your manuscript, your submission must be double-spaced, written in Courier or Times New Roman, and submitted as an .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX file.   Red Sun will reject outright any work that has the author’s name in the manuscript, is not double-spaced and written in Courier or Times New Roman, and/or is not submitted as an .RTF, .DOC or DOCX file.   Email your submission as an attachment to [email protected].   For Fiction: In the subject line, type “Fiction Submission,” the name of your story, the genre, and your name. Ex: Fiction Submission – The Forever War – Military Science Fiction – Joe Haldeman.   For Non-fiction: In the subject line, type “Non-fiction Submission,” the name of your article, the type of article, and your name. Ex: Non-fiction Submission – Is Fantasy Hocus Without Pocus? – Literary Criticism – Karen M....

Taking Submissions: Nightscript Volume 5

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: $20 and one contributor 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 OPEN to submissions for Vol. 5. (For the month of January only.) 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 one contributor 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 up-to-date with all things N., please consider following its Facebook page. Via: Cthonic Matter

Taking Submissions: Mysterion

Deadline: January 31st, 2018 Payment: 6 cents per word for original work and 3 cents per word for reprints. Note: Reprints allowed Open to fiction submissions each year during the months of January and July. Open to art submissions year-round. We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 8000 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 6 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 3 cents/word for reprints. Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them submit a story written on...

Taking Submissions: Alchemy Press Book of Horrors Vol. 2

Deadline: January 31st, 2019 Payment: 1.0p a word (£40 for 4,000 words) and a contributor's copy 2019 sees the second volume of the Alchemy Press Book of Horrors to be edited by Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards. The first volume includes 25 original stories by amazing authors including Ramsey Campbell, Storm Constantine, Stan Nicholls, John Grant, Samantha Lee, Stephen Laws and many more. We are looking for horror stories … but not just horror. We want 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. We also like subtlety, ambiguity… It would be nice to see a few more supernatural/ghost stories this time (but avoid Jamesian pastiches). Your story can be set in almost any era, any place, but should also give a 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. Read previous Alchemy Press anthologies to give you a sense of what it is that we are looking for. We also suggest you take a look at volume one of Horrors (it will be published on 1 November 2018 in print and eBook formats). Send your stories in a standard manuscript format (3,000-6,000 words ) to [email protected] to arrive between 1st January and 31st January 2019. Payment: 1.0p a word (£40 for 4,000 words) plus a copy of the book. This is a...

Taking Submissions: NecronomiCon 2019 Memento Book

Deadline: February 1st, 2019 Payment: $75 Writers please share. Looking for fiction and non-fiction. Open call for fiction/non-fiction: The NecronomiCon 2019 Memento Book is accepting submissions for weird/HPL influenced stories of cosmic horror, essays, and non-fiction focusing on the theme of Lost in Time: Newly Discovered Cosmic Horror. This year’s theme will explore authors/essays/tales that have been re-discovered. For fiction we want lost gods, unearthed histories, new myths, and freshly exhumed horrors for our modern eyes. The theme has to do with things or people forgotten but now found. Be creative and have fun with it. For essays and non-fiction we want pieces that focus on authors or fiction/film that have been mostly lost to time and overlooked over the years. Submissions Open September 1st, 2018 through February 1st, 2019. Preferred length 2000-5000 with a flat rate of $75 paid per story. No reprints. Standard manuscript format, no reprints, doc/docx format. Email submissions with a brief synopsis/cover letter and author bio. To: [email protected] Please make clear in the subject line whether the piece is fiction/non-fiction. Editors: Justin Steele and Victoria Dalpe Via: Justin Steele's Facebook.

Taking Submissions: FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology

Deadline: February 1st, 2019 Payment: Unclear but has potential and looks to be an interesting market FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology will be published monthly on this site for a single year starting in January 2019 and ending December 2019, and will feature stellar YA stories from established and emerging authors. Each issue will feature three stories, one of which will be from a new voice specially selected by a beloved author. NEXT DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2019.   WHAT WE’RE SEEKING: We are seeking original YA short stories. Please see our FAQ for what we mean by YA or young adult; stories that are not YA will not be passed along to our team of readers for consideration. Stories should be between 2,000 and 7,000 words. We accept submissions from both previously published authors and New Voices (see guidelines below). We especially encourage submissions from underrepresented voices, including people of color and Indigenous writers; LGBTQIA+ and gender diverse writers; writers with disabilities; and religious, ethnic, and cultural minorities. NEW VOICES: Every issue of FORESHADOW will feature a short story from a “new voice”—a writer who is very early in their career, and this story will be selected and introduced by a beloved, established author. New voices guidelines: Writers being considered as a new voice in our serial anthology cannot have a previously published: A young-adult, middle-grade, or adult book-length work of fiction. A full-length poetry collection. More than a few short stories, whether in print or online—we will look closely at the markets where they’ve been published to decide (e.g., someone with three stories in the New Yorker would not count as a “new voice”). Writers also, at the time of submission, cannot have a YA, middle-grade, or adult book of fiction under contract that will be published before January 2020. Writers who have written picture books...

Taking Submissions: The First Line – Spring 2019

Deadline: February 1st, 2019 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry and a Contributor's Copy To celebrate twenty years of publication, we're going to revisit the past. There are no new first lines for 2019. Each issue will be comprised of original works based on past first lines. Were you inspired by the fall 2008 first line (Roy owned the only drive-thru funeral business in Maine.) but didn't see the sentence until 2015? Or maybe you started writing a story for the spring 2005 issue (Life would be so much easier if I were a cartoon character.) but you never got around to submitting it. Or maybe you sent us a story that just missed the cut and you reworked it and want to try us again. Well, now is your chance to make up for missed opportunities. The following is the schedule/list of first lines for the 2019 issues (click the season to see the entire list of first lines for each issue): Spring 2019 All submissions must begin with one first line from Volume 1, Issue 1 to Volume 5, Issue 4. Due date: February 1, 2019 All submissions must begin with one first line from Volume 1, Issue 1 to Volume 5, Issue 4: Vol. 1, Iss. 1: Just like his fifth grade teacher, Mr. Young, had always told him, Brian put on his thinking cap. Vol. 1, Iss. 2: The rules are clearly spelled out in the brochure. Vol. 1, Iss. 3: "Well, there's ten minutes of my life I'll never get back." Vol. 1, Iss. 4: As the curtain rose, the scenario began to play itself out. Vol. 2, Iss. 1: The picture told the entire story. Vol. 2, Iss. 2: The person on the train kept saying, "I believe," over and...