Events

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...

Deadline: March 31, 2019 Payment: $25 In 2012 we published our first book, Shotgun Honey Presents: Both Barrels, an anthology featuring 29 tales of crime from authors like Frank Bill, Chris F. Holm, and Kieron Shea. We continued with two additional volumes in 2013 and 2015, Reloaded and Locked and Loaded. All three were general crime, noir and mystery compilations. All three are still in circulation and are a good indicator of the kinds of stories we like. In late 2019, we’re going to do it again and are actively looking for submissions for Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4, yet to be titled. Deadline for submissions is Sunday March 31, 2019. Please consider and follow our guidelines No Simultaneous Submission1 No Multiple Submissions2 Word count must be between 1000 and 5000 words. Genre is Crime, Noir, or Hard-boiled3 No content that could be deemed as condoning or promoting: sexual abuse child abuse animal abuse No romance, fetish, or adult content fiction Shotgun Honey Presents pays a token payment of $25 upon publication. All fiction published by Shotgun Honey is the copyright of the author. If you do submit a story to multiple markets please let us know in advance, and if your story has been picked up elsewhere let us know as soon as possible. We attempt to read and review submissions within 2-4 weeks of receipt. Submit only one story at a time. You may submit a new story as soon as your current submission is either accepted or rejected. We are not looking for any mob or crime syndicate related stories. We love stories about regular Joes put into hard situations, whether as criminals by necessity or victims of crimes. Click the link below to submit: Shotgun Honey.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: 4 cents per word Send us your best female predator. We're looking for a new take. Villain and hero. Mother and femme fatale. Sinner and saint. Any time, any place, any genre. Petticoats not required. No adult content, erotica, poetry, excessive violence. Requirements: (Stories that don't fit these won't be read.) No reprints accepted. Accepting short stories between 4000-7000 words and flash fiction under 1000 words. Attach story as a Word .doc, .docx or .rtf Filrename must start with Author-last-name Subject line: PiP: story title Include a brief bio and contact information in your email. Send submissions to [email protected] Deadline March 31st 2019 Author payment is planned at 4 cents per word with successful completion of our soon-to-be-announced Kickstarter Via: Prospective Press.

Deadline: March 31, 2019 Payment: $10 Theme: Dark fantasy and horror by disabled artists featuring disabled protagonists. Looking for 1,500 to 5,500 words in length short horror and dark fantasy by disabled authors. Paying $10 flat and an eBook copy, plus offering unlimited at-cost print books to authors in the anthology.  Previously unpublished original work preferred, but reprints will be considered if the work is no longer in print or the work is older than ten years in age. Please let us know if it is a re-print. No simultaneous submissions. We will want exclusive e-publication rights for one year (first publication rights if it’s unpublished). Please submit it as a .doc or .rtf or .txt document, double spaced, 12 pt, Times New Roman or similar, to [email protected] Deadline: March 31, 2019 Cover art by Lillian Rose Asterios Via: Sumiko Saulson.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: Royalties The Writers’ Co-op invites submissions of short stories (and poems) for the second edition of our yearly anthology, The Rabbit Hole. Volume one was released in November last year, volume two is scheduled for September 2019. This year, we are looking for weird stories dealing with the following themes: entertainment, weather or science. (If you want to combine all three, we’re very open to stories about a group of scientists on their way to the theatre when they’re caught in a freak snowstorm.) However, there will also be a section Weird At Large for stories that don’t fit the specific themes suggested. There is a maximum word count of 5000. This is more a guideline than a strict limit – quality is the main criterion, not length. So a great story will be accepted, whether it’s 6000 words or 200 (flash fiction is welcome). But we’re looking for short stories, not novellas or extracts from novels – the story should be complete in itself. Though the anthology will be comprised mostly of stories, there will also be room for some poems or pieces of an experimental nature. The deadline is 31st March 2019. Submissions should be sent in an attached file to curtis.bausse(at)outlook.com with the subject ‘Co-op submission’. They may have been previously published on personal websites (or elsewhere) but authors must have full rights to them when submitting. Authors will retain said rights after the story or poem is published in the Writers’ Co-op anthology. Writers whose stories are selected will have the choice between keeping their share of the royalties or donating them to the Against Malaria Foundation. What is meant by ‘weird’? Like many categories, it’s fuzzy, because it stands in distinction to ‘normal’, and there’s no common acceptance of what is normal. Not all writers will approach it the same way,...

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy Swinging Dick's Saloon, the kind of dive that has way better beers on tap than a hole in the wall like it should have. Like this one It's the kind of place that doesn't have to say it's a dive bar because everyone knows just by looking at the place. Also, any bar that advertises itself as a dive bar is not a dive bar. This is not Swinging Dicks Saloon   It's the kind of place where the owner (Dick though he tells people to call him, Richard) is often the drunkest guy in the place, though sometimes he drinks in the bar down the street because the barmaids are hotter. This is not Dick but he is a regular It's the kind of place where the barmaids wear skimpy outfits even when they shouldn't. They do wear more than her but not much more It's the kind of place where the bartender never remembers what your drink of choice is but he believes he does. Not my drink of choice but still pretty good They have live bands on the weekends and occasionally they're even good. Like the Graveyard Rats or Yvette It's the kind of place where great stories are told. All kinds of stories - Crime, sci-fi, horror, often with a distinct grindhouse feel and a dark sense of humor. Shotgun-toting Jesus wants  you to submit (a story) You can't tell such a story at Dick's over a few cold ones, because Swinging Dick's Saloon doesn't actually exist. However, you can send them us and if we like them we'll publish them in an awesome bit of pulp fiction called A Night at Swinging Dick's Saloon. That's right, send us your best story about Dicks (the saloon, not actual dicks). Send...

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: 2 cents per word We are currently OPEN to submissions for I Didn’t Break the Lamp from March 1-31, 2019. (We will reopen to standard submissions in June 2019.) Special Call for Submissions We will be creating an anthology titled I Didn’t Break the Lamp: Historical Accounts of Imaginary Acquaintances. It will be a collection of fictional stories about imaginary friends, imaginary enemies, and imaginary entities that fall somewhere in between. For this anthology, our pay will be 2 cents per word. We are particularly looking for stories from authors who are underrepresented in fiction: people of color, LGBTQ, non-Western religions and cultures. Each story is written from the perspective of someone who has been or been near the imaginary acquaintance in question. Like our regular magazine, this narrator will also have a bio. Be certain that your story meets these requirements: First person 500-8,000 words in length Focuses on an imaginary acquaintance Not a reprint Here are some ideas that we pitched when we made our Kickstarter, but this is meant to be inspirational and not definitive. A monster under the bed or in the closet who helps or hinders the person they watch over. An imaginary friend who always gets their person into or out of trouble … but to what end? A creature that no one believes is real, until they prove their impact. DO NOT send us poetry or screenplays. Submissions should be in Standard Manuscript Format (Here’s an explanation of what that means) and sent via Submittable. As with our regular submissions, we are asking for exclusive first worldwide electronic and print rights for one year. Via: Mad Scientist's Journal.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: $25 Note: Our apologies for the short submission window, just saw this one! As has been announced on the SFFWorld Forums, we are now open for submissions for the 2019 SFFWorld Anthology. The theme is “Dying Earth” (as voted for by members) and submissions are open from now until 31st March 2019. To summarise: Theme: DYING EARTH Genre: sf/f/h, any and all subgenres, plus inventive mash-ups from outside that include them Length: 1000-7500 word hard limit, 2000-5000 words preferred File type: DOCX files for preference Formatting: no need for any special hi-jinks (use italics if you want, don’t underline instead). Any non-standard cleverness regarding the appearance of the text should be essential to the story – no font switching, as that won’t carry over into the ebook easily. Legalese: No fan-fic or other use of existing characters – all work must be the author’s own. Payment: $25/story – flat rate and comp (digital) copies of the anthology. Via: SFF World.

Deadline: March 31st, 2019 Payment: Royalties Note: My apologies on the short window, just came across this one. Organic Ink: Volume One (Poetry) (Not Rated) Deadline – March 31st, 2019 Publication – June 30th, 2019 Word Count – Word count limit has been revoked. Theme – There is no theme for this anthology. Poetry about love, hate, greed, depression, etc. Haikus, epics, etc. After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. View our blog post on the topic of how to submit to a publisher.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press</a..

Deadline: March 31st ,2019 Payment: Fiction: $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Poetry: $25 Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September December (we are closed to submissions in December, 2018) If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed.   * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25.   Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each...