Events

Deadline: March 28th, 2019 Payment: $10 Submissions now OPEN for the April Issue Theme: ANIMALS Enchanted Conversation is looking for stories and sequential art (aka comics) that use animals as main characters or that operate as a catalyst to the story in a fairy tale, folktale, or mythic setting. Work can either be re-tellings of established stories or use original characters as long as they are set within the fairy tale, folklore, or mythic templates. Animals in folklore, fairy tales, and myths have helped humans, tricked them for their own purposes or provided inspiration for a hero/heroine to achieve their goals. Think of Puss in Boots, The Nightingale, The Bremen Town Musicians, The Firebird, and beyond. Be bold, traditional, lyrical, or experimental in your storytelling and enchant us with your original stories set in a variety of locations around the world and time periods from ancient to modern. Think beyond palaces, princes, and princesses in their usual context. Take readers on a journey to long ago Japan, an enchanted forest in Russia, or magical root bridges in India - where the stage is set for animal-characters to tell their unique tales.   WE'RE LOOKING FOR   STORIES between 700-2000 words with our sweet spot being around 1,200 words. Payment flat rate: $10.00 U.S. dollars only The upper limit 2,000 word count is FIRM. Stories over 2,000 words will not be considered. SEQUENTIAL ART/COMICS: 1 to 5 pages in length. Payment flat rate $10.00 U.S. dollars only. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE THROUGH PAYPAL ONLY At the time of contract, authors will have the option of donating the token payment back to the magazine to help keep us running. Absolutely none of the following: Sci-fi, dystopian, erotica, high fantasy, excessive world building, time-travel, futuristic or space travel. We are NOT ACCEPTING POETRY...

Deadline: March 29th, 2019 Payment: Royalties Castrum Press is excited to announce that submissions are open for the Alien Days Anthology The second of the Days Anthologies series, The Alien Days Anthology,  is a short story collection looking for stories that highlight the interaction, good or bad, between humanity and aliens. Your story could be set in the past, in the present or in the future. We are accepting stories in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror genres, all we ask is you take our readers on a journey through the imagination they will never forget. Your story must be between 3,000 and 10,000 words. Submission closes on Friday 29th March 2019. Your story must comply with our Submission Guidelines. Castrum Press uses an online Helpdesk system to manage manuscript submissions. When you submit your manuscript, you will be emailed a unique reference number. After your successful submission, please check your spam and junk mail folders for your acknowledgement email and mark Castrum Press as a safe sender so you do not miss progress updates. Start my Submission The Small Print Successful submissions will receive a percentage of net profits following publication with the caveat that the stories will not be reproduced without the publisher’s consent for twelve months following publication of the relevant anthology. All submissions must be original material, owned by the author, and must not have been published via any form of media before submission either free or paid. All submissions must comply with our submission guidelines. Via: Castrum Press.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: Royalties Note: Reprints Allowed. Call for Submissions – Mid-Century Murder Mid-Century Murder – cozy to cozy-noir crime stories set in the late forties through the very early sixties. We want stories that evoke the era, though its fashions, homes, furniture and furnishings, vehicles, restaurants, stores and products, music, movies, radio and television, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. For authors on Facebook, we suggest two groups that could be useful in grokking the era. The first is Mid-Century Advertising. You can learn a great deal about an era by studying the advertisements. On that group you will find an unending supply of such ads. Another Facebook group to check out is America in the 1950s. It leans a bit heavy toward sentimentality and nostalgia but you will find good information mixed in. Submission Period: October 15th, 2018 – March 31st, 2019 [email protected] Please put “Submission Mid-Century” and the name of your story in the subject line. Length: 2500 to 6000 words. Stories outside that range will be considered, but their length will work against inclusion. We admit to a preference for slightly longer work, with four to five thousand words in the sweet spot. We expect the anthology to have approximately seventy-five thousand words. Payment: Royalty Fifty percent of the gross royalties per calendar quarter will be distributed equally among the contributors. Contributor copies will not be offered. A limited number of review copies will be available. Previously Published: Reprints are fine, provided: You have the right to authorize us to publish your story The story has not been published more recently than 2017. We ask for the exclusive right to publish your story for one calendar year following contract signing, excluding publications of those previously published. Title subject to change. Via: Dark House Books.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: 50% royalties on all novels, novellas, and collections! Advances will be offered in some cases. Death’s Head Press is dedicated to publishing dark fiction in all its forms. Genres that fall into this category include Horror and all its sub-genres (gothic, splatterpunk, bizarro, etc.), Dark Erotica (think erotica with a supernatural or spooky twist), Dark Science Fiction (such as Alien or Event Horizon), and Dark Fantasy (like the works of Tanith Lee and Clive Barker). Crime and Adventure works may be considered, as long as they have a dark or twisted slant. We are looking for new and seasoned authors! If you’ve never been published before but you’ve got a damn good tale to tell, then we want to hear from you. If you have published numerous short stories and novels, and are just looking for a different outlet for your work, then we definitely want to hear from you. Death’s Head Press does not care about–nor will they make any decisions based upon–your race, gender, sexual orientation, or political stance. We care about the stories you write, period! In fact, if you feel the need to mention your race, gender, sexual orientation, political stance, or any other information not pertinent to your story or writing experience, then we’re going to assume you felt your writing alone was not strong enough to be accepted. With that said, here is what we’re looking for in novels, novellas, and collections: Death’s Head Press is seeking original novellas and novels 20,000 to 120,000 words in length that fit into the categories of dark fiction described above. We want striking, well-crafted manuscripts with original themes. Our readers expect unconventional stories that surprise, entertain, and frighten them in new ways. We are not afraid of topics that are offensive, violent, or horrific. Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions...

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Death’s Head Press will be accepting submissions for Breaking Bizarro, an anthology of weirdness, starting December 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019 Have you watched Eraserhead? Have you read The Breast by Philip Roth? These things are WEIRD! Bizarro is a genre that thrives on absurdity and satire and often grotesqueness. It’s surreal and imaginative. Breaking Bizarro will scream weirdness to its readers. We predict an instant cult classic here! What we’re looking for: Death’s Head Press is seeking short stories between 3,000 to 8,000 words. The short stories MUST BE BIZARRO FICTION. If you’re unsure what that means, look it up. Or read pretty much anything by Carlton Mellick III or Danger Slater. We will only accept one submission per author for this anthology. So, send us your best! Simultaneous submissions are fine, but let us know if another publisher picks up your story before us. We are not scared away by graphic content. Although, this anthology does not necessarily require such content. Whatever it is, make it weird! How to submit: Email your submission to [email protected] with the Subject line reading BREAKING BIZARRO ANTHOLOGY. Consider the body of your email the cover letter. Give us a brief description of your work (3-6 sentences), list any previous published works, and tell us any relevant information about yourself. Attach your entire manuscript to the email in .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats. Use 12 pt font in Times New Roman. Your author name, email address, book title, and word count should appear on the first page of your manuscript. All subsequent pages should have your name, title, and page number in the header. Get your work as clean of grammatical errors as possible. We don’t expect a perfect manuscript, but if it is riddled with one mistake after...

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: $0.01/word for previously published pieces, and $0.02/word for first run. All pieces under 500 words or 5 minutes are compensated at a $5 flat rate. Note: Reprints welcome. Note: LGBTQ+ authors only. A LGBTQ+ HORROR FICTION PODCAST Episode 21 - Ritual Sacred rites exact a menacing toll in this episode exploring belief and power. Submissions due April 21st, 2019. Submissions of fiction, poetry, music, art, and more are always accepted on a rolling basis. Late submissions can be sent up to a week after the formal deadline if you inform us ahead of time to expect a late piece. Upcoming episode themes, can be found below the calendar. Note: We try to respond to all readers and artists within 48 hours. We consider all piece lengths, but generally have difficulty accepting pieces over 20 pages long. No ableist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, sexist or otherwise oppressive work will be accepted. Lastly, we only accept work by self-identified LGBTQ+ artists! Thank you! To submit content: Fill out the following form HERE to submit content to us. Please specify if you are submitting for a specific episode and whether you would like editorial feedback! Submissions are compensated at $0.01/word for previously published pieces, and $0.02/word for first run. Music is compensated at $1/minute for previous released tracks, and $2/minute for music released through us. All pieces under 500 words or 5 minutes are compensated at a $5 flat rate. To read/act for us: If you would like to be a volunteer reader or voice actor, please fill out this form HERE. We will follow up via email to collect further information for our directory. Via: Monsters Out Of The Closet.

The Contest: Write a story of 5,000 words or less about the myth below. Deadline: March 31 2019 by midnight Entry Fee: FREE! Prize: $300 * Let’s talk about Medusa. There are multiple versions of this myth, and layers upon layers of potential meanings. I’ll start with the version that most of us are familiar with. In this version, Medusa was a beautiful mortal woman. So beautiful, that she was desired by Poseidon. Medusa didn’t reciprocate his desire, but Poseidon was a Greek God, and brother of Zeus, by damnit. He decided to have his way. Medusa fled. She went to Athena’s temple for protection, but it didn’t help. Poseidon caught up with her and raped her—right there in Athena’s temple. Now, Athena is a “virgin goddess” (a term popularized by Jean Shinoda Bolen), who does not have lovers. If we’re talking archetypes, Athena is actually a friend of the patriarchy. This archetype tends to ally herself with powerful men, and even serve them at times. Think of the high-performing executive assistant, offering advice to her boss to help him close huge deals that grow the company. She tends to be conservative in temperament. Her main attribute is strategy—strategy on the battlefield, strategy in the courtroom, strategy when it comes to being craftsy (she is a goddess of weavers and artists), strategy when it comes to wisdom. Athena is a thinker, not a lover. She was known to support Zeus staunchly, and her archetype is a man’s woman. When Athena saw this act of fornication in her temple, she was seriously offended. How dare this upstart, self-important mortal woman have sex in her inviolate virgin’s temple? She punished Medusa by turning her into a hideous gorgon, half-snake and half-woman, with serpents for hair and a gaze that could turn men to stone. Try attracting...

Deadline: March 31st 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy if from Australia You’ll find current and upcoming Micro Fiction anthology calls, here. Please be sure to read and adhere to all Submission Guidelines carefully before submitting, or your story may be deleted, unread! PLEASE NOTE: If an anthology fills prior to its Deadline, then the anthology will close to Submissions early and continue on through the Publication process. Similarly, if an anthology is slower to fill, its Deadline may be extended. Series: Tiny Tales – Volume I Name: Curses & Cauldrons Theme: Witches Word Count: 100 words (Exactly! Title not included.) Deadline: 31/03/2019 or until Full Publication: eBook/Paperback TBA Compensation: Australia – Contributor’s Copy (paperback) International – Contributor’s Copy (digital) Reprints: Yes, as long as the rights have reverted to you. Multiple Submissions: Yes, up to a maximum of 10 per author will be accepted. About: This is the first of hopefully several volumes of micro fiction, each with it’s own unique theme! Submissions for this call must be Speculative and be about witches in some way. Think about the witches themselves, their coven, their familiars, their magic, the seasonal celebrations, summoning, tarot, crystals, candle magic, curses, sacrifice, blood debts… if it’s dark and it features a witch, we want to read it! Via: Blood Song Books.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: $0.01/word (1 cent a word) USD. For poetry, we offer a flat rate of $5 USD per accepted piece Kaleidotrope is currently open to submissions until April 1, 2019. Kaleidotrope tends very heavily towards the speculative — towards science fiction, fantasy, and horror — but we like an eclectic mix and are therefore interested to read compelling work that blurs these lines, falls outside of neat genre categories. Man does not live on space ships, elves, and ghostly ax murderers alone, after all. We’d suggest looking through the archives to familiarize yourself with the zine, and/or checking out other work by our past contributors, to get a sense of what we’re looking for and what we like. In the end, what we want is interesting, sometimes unconventional work, well-written stories and poems that surprise and amuse us, shock and disturb us, that tell us things we didn’t know or reveal old truths in brand new ways. We want strange visions of distant shores, of imaginary countries and ordinary people, and work that doesn’t lose sight of entertainment and the joy of good writing. We are also interested in publishing diverse writers. Kaleidotrope welcome writers of color and other groups, as well as work that represents the diversity of characters we want to see more of. Fiction We have no maximum word limit, although anything over 10,000 words is definitely going to be a tougher sell. We do like well-crafted flash fiction, too, although preferably not under 250 words. Poetry We will consider all forms. Humor is encouraged, if tricky. Rhyming is not actively discouraged — done well, it can be terrific — but be careful about overly simple, sing-song-like structures. Individual haiku, or other very short poems, may be a tougher sell. Nonfiction We do...

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: Royalty Split Note: Reprints Accepted John Wayne Gacy. Pennywise. Juggalos. The Great Clown Panic of 2016. That birthday party you went to when you were four. Society is full of people being scared of clowns. But what are clowns scared of? I’m looking for tales about that, tales where the clown in the room isn’t the real threat. From the high horror of an evil from before time to the tawdry prejudice of those who ‘know what sort of man likes playing with children’, give me stories about clowns with a reason to be scared. Genre: Horror/Dark/Thriller/&c. Probably not literary; I want to see something creepy, weird, or unsettling, rather than a clown overcoming his fear of rejection. Word Count: 1,000 – 10,000 words. I don’t want to miss your story just because it’s a bit longer than the traditional short story. Submission Window: 1 February — 31 March 2019. Reprints? Yes. If you have something that fits, I’ll give it equal consideration. Just let me know where it’s previously appeared. Simultaneous Submissions? Yes. Please tell me if your story is accepted by someone else first. Multiple Submissions? Yes. Within reason. Please send each one in a separate email. Payment: All successful contributors will receive a share of royalties paid via PayPal. Submissions: Email the story as an attachment to [email protected] with the subject FEARS OF A CLOWN – Your Name – Story Name. Stories should be a ODT/DOC/DOCX file. They don’t have to be in standard manuscript format but if I struggle to read them then they probably won’t be selected, so use a sensible typeface and layout (someone has already asked if I want them in Comic Sans; so, you’ve missed your chance to do that “joke”). Cover letters are optional; feel free...