Events

Taking Submissions: Colp: Solitude

Deadline: August 20th, 2019 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 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: Solitude Sometimes, being alone is perfect. Other times, it can be truly horrible. Horrifying even. It all just depends on the situation... Whether it be the solo traveller alone on on a desert island, or the shift worker sitting by themselves in a late night diner, for this collection we would like you to send through your stories of solitude. Think isolation, loneliness and seclusion. Originality is the key here. Try to address the theme in a way that others may not. Not thinking outside the box may lead to your story not standing out from the crowd. Minimise the number of characters that you use in your tale. 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, adventure, 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 We also encourage new and unpublished writers to take the leap and get in touch.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 - Solitude - Story Title. Word count: 1000 - 4500 words Deadline: August 20 2019 Payment:  AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 words General guidelines:...

Taking Submissions: Signal Horizon

Deadline: August 21st, 2019 Payment: .03 cents a word for work up to 3000 words Signal Horizon is a horror and science fiction media conglomerate. We’re looking for horror: or science fiction with a dark or weird edge. We are not interested in parsing through what exactly that means we are very open to whatever.  If your story uses older horror tropes or concepts our expectation is that you will offer a unique perspective on them.  We want something different. There is a audio aspect to what we publish so authors should pay close attention to what your story sounds like. Black comedy is fun.  We are down for that.  However it's difficult to be funny.  Be aware.  If you offer smart and nuanced takes chances are you will appeal to us much more.  Bring us your literary horror works, and we will read them.  We also want to read the wide range and diverse members of the horror world.  Women, people of color, and LGBTQ authors are particularly welcome.  The Submission window for the rest of 2019 will open June 4 and will stay open until August 21, 2019.  See below for questions regarding communication Come Get Paid We pay up .03 cents a word for work up to 3000 words.  We will read submissions up to 5000 words but payment will be capped at 90.00.  Please no reprints. Original fiction sales to Signal Horizon count towards Affiliate or Active membership in HWA. Signal Horizon buys nonexclusive audio and text rights, and nonexclusive electronic rights to distribute the audio and text file under a Creative Commons license.  Sample contracts are available. NO Reprints, and Only One Submission Per Author.  We will not read your second entry. Format and Cover Letter Prepare your manuscript in something approximating Standard Manuscript Format formatted in .rtf, .doc, .docx, and .odt....

Taking Submissions: Classics ReMixed II

Deadline: August 30th, 2019 Payment: $25 Left Hand Publishers is announcing their call for submissions for their next anthology: “Classics ReMixed II.” It’s going to be a collection of short stories based on classics. This is a second volume of our popular Classics ReMixed anthology. Take a classic story, character, or theme of your choice (of any type) and reimagine it. The writer must make it easy for the reader to identify the character or storyline from the classic, but then take the reader in a different direction by reimagining the story – perhaps with humor where there wasn’t before, or maybe tragedy, or even mystery. PLEASE identify the classic you have reimagined either on the submission form or on the first page of your manuscript. Word count is 4,000 to 10,000 words. Submissions begin: Friday, July 26th, 2019, 12:00 a.m. EST Submissions close: Friday, August 30th, 2019, 5:00 p.m. EST. Notice of acceptance or declination will be emailed approximately: Friday, September 27th, 2019 COPYRIGHTS The trick is to make the story or characters recognizable WITHOUT violating copyright law. For example, if you were reimagining the story of Superman, you need to find a creative way to do that without using any proper names such as “Clark,” or “Lois,” or “Superman.” HINT: Stories over 75 years old are rarely active in copyrights. If you submit a really good story but it dances all over copyright issues, we may send it back with a note regarding same. Left Hand Publishers reserves the right to decline any short story that could infringe on copyright law and have legal ramifications. TWIST OR MORAL All short stories submitted MUST have a twist or a moral somewhere in the story, preferably at the end. Good twists (and morals) will catch the reader off guard and surprise them with more than a touch of irony or...

Taking Submissions: Haunted Playthings: 13 Tales of Terror Based on True Stories…or are they?

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy We are currently accepting submissions for Haunted Playthings: 13 Tales of Terror Based on True Stories…or are they? It will follow the same format as our first anthology, Shadow People and Cursed Objects: 13 Tales of Terror Based on True Stories…or are they? In case you’re not familiar with our first anthology, it included a mixture of short stories about shadow people and cursed objects. Some were based on real events or objects. Others were inventions of the author’s imagination. The fun was for the reader to decide which was based on fact, and which was made up. All was revealed in the Truth or Fiction section. We’re going to do it again this time. What We Want As the title suggests, Haunted Playthings will contain thirteen short stories about just that…haunted playthings. Including (but not limited to): Ouija boards Haunted dolls Haunted video games or electronic toys Possessed rocking horses Haunted tricycles Spooky swing sets or playgrounds Whatever other kind of haunted plaything you want to write about! Yoyos, hula hoops, Slinkys, stuffed animals, fidget spinners, puzzles, action figures, dress up clothes, Slip and Slides, coloring books…there are loads of possibilities really. Your story can be based on a true account of a haunted plaything (think Robert the Doll, Annabelle the Haunted Doll, or even Lake Shawnee Amusement Park). Or your story can be a total invention of your imagination. Your choice. Get creative and have fun! Length Story: 1,000 to 5,000 words Truth or Fiction explanation: up to 500 words Other Story Requirements No previously published stories. However, feel free to submit as many original stories as you want. Simultaneous submissions are okay, but if it gets accepted elsewhere please tell us so that we can take it out of consideration for our...

Taking Submissions: Little Girl Lost: Thirteen Tales of Youth Disrupted

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: trying for 0.02/word (see below) and a contributor's copy Anthologists: Ronald Linson & Deidre J Owen Publication format: print (POD), digital Word count for submissions: 2,000-7,500 (with exception; see below) Compensation: authors will receive a free contributor copy (print and digital) as well as a modest monetary compensation; details below. LITTLE GIRL LOST: THIRTEEN TALES OF YOUTH DISRUPTED will be an anthology of original stories centering around the idea of the lives of young girls being disrupted in some way. It could be through vanishing mysteriously, experiencing a life-altering event, or… ? We are seeking well-written, imaginative tales that explore this idea to its fullest. Use your own interpretation as to the meaning of ‘lost.’ Surprise us! Submissions period opens APRIL 8th, 2019 and will close AUGUST 31st, 2019 or when the anthology is filled. Submissions received outside of this period will be deleted unread. We are seeking original, previously unpublished stories of the highest quality between 2,000 and 7,500 words. We are willing to look at stories up to (but not exceeding) 10,000 words, but they are less likely to be accepted. There are a few slots open for reprints, however (see “Reprints” below). Genre: Your story can be in any genre so long as it fits the theme of the anthology, with the firm exception of erotica. Subjects we WILL NOT accept include (but are not limited to): Erotica Pedophilia Depictions of rape Graphic descriptions of sexual activity involving persons under the age of eighteen (18) Gratuitous or excessive violence or gore Racism, bigotry, or slander towards anyone Fan Fiction (If you are unsure whether your story crosses any lines, please feel free to submit it anyway. Decisions will be made on a case by case basis.) Submitting: Please send your submission to [email protected] as an attachment. The subject line...

Taking Submissions: The Forge Literary Magazine

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: $50 Our Process The Forge Literary Magazine publishes one prose piece per week selected by a rotating cast of editors. Each submission is read blind by two editors. If a story is chosen to move forward, it is read by one of two rotating Editors of the Month who each make final decisions on the stories they receive. Since we are a diverse, international group of writers, our tastes and styles are wide-ranging. Read more about us here. Fiction and Nonfiction We prefer stories below 3,000 words but will consider work of rare quality up to 5,000 words. We love flash and micro prose. Please send one previously unpublished piece per category and wait to hear from us before submitting another. Reprints are by solicitation only. Literary excellence is our only criteria. We are open to all genres and  voices, and stories with any background, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual  and personal identity from all over the world.  We accept and encourage simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw promptly via Submittable if your piece is accepted elsewhere. We read our submissions anonymously. Our submission manager will ensure that your contact info is connected to your work. Please do not put your name anywhere in the file.Please do not inquire about the status of your submission until three months has passed. If you are a former contributor, please wait at least six months before  you submit again; we only publish one piece per contributor per year. Payment and Rights We pay, upon publication, $50 flat regardless of length. We request exclusive  worldwide English language rights to publish in the Forge Literary  Magazine, an online journal, for a period of three months, after which  all rights revert to the author. Authors outside the U.S. must be able  to receive payment via Paypal. Via: The Forge's Submittable

Taking Submissions: Stupefying Stories

Deadline: August 31, 2019. Payment: 1.5 cents (USD) per word. Who We Are Edited by award-winning science fiction writer Bruce Bethke, STUPEFYING STORIES is a bold attempt to grow a new general-interest science fiction and fantasy magazine from the ground up. Right now we are a small-press, semi-pro, payment-on-publication market publishing on a somewhat erratic schedule, but our goal is to grow to become a regular monthly magazine that pays professional rates on acceptance— And here’s the radical part. We want to do this not by chasing after foundation grants, asking people to contribute to our Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundMe campaigns, or begging passers-by to put spare change in our Patreon tip jar, but by selling lots of books and magazines. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn’t it? What We Publish Genres: Science fiction, fantasy, and horror, in roughly that order of preference. Venues: STUPEFYING STORIES magazine and the Saturday SHOWCASE feature on our website. Length: Generally, from flash fiction up to 10,000 words. We will consider longer novelettes and novellas, but space for longer works is limited, so please query first before sending anything longer than 10,000 words. Original Novels: We do publish original novels through our parent company, Rampant Loon Media, but do not read unsolicited novel manuscripts. Please query first. See further information below. Reprints: We do not publish reprints. There is one exception to this rule: see further information below. TIP: The best way to see what we like to publish, of course, is to buy and read a few issues of our magazine. The next-best way is to click on this link—SHOWCASE—and read a good sampling of the stories you’ll find there. What we’ve published in the past is not necessarily a foolproof guide to what we’d like to publish in the future, but it’s a good place to start. What We Buy and What We Pay Rights: Worldwide English-language first...

Taking Submissions: The Secret Lunar Wars

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: Royalties and a contributors copy The myth of the US-USSR space race was that it was done for scientific prestige. Behind that is the deeper myth that it was done for nuclear superiority and counterbalance. The truth is that it was done to save humanity. Immortal Works (editor Bruce F. Webster) hereby calls for submission for an anthology of SPACE-THEMED ALTERNATE HISTORY to be called THE SECRET LUNAR WARS: 1956-1979. Deadline: August 31, 2019 Payment: Royalties and a contributor copy The President of the United States looked across the Oval Office desk at the Director of NASA, a holdover from the prior administration. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long to have this meeting, but I’m still getting a handle on this job. That said, let me cut to the chase: we sent men to the Moon roughly a half a century ago, but have done nothing since. Why?” The Director bit his lip, grimaced a bit, then said, “To talk about that, we’ll need to bring the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence into the discussion.” The President, startled, asked, “Why, for heaven’s sake?” Another grimace. “Because there are – complications – with us, with anyone putting humans on the Moon again. Big complications. Deadly complications. Complications you probably wouldn’t believe. Trust me, we’re not incompetent at NASA. We could have multiple bases on the Moon by now if we wanted to. But we’ve been deliberately dragging our feet on any human mission outside of low Earth orbit since the 1970s. For very good reasons.” The Secret Lunar Wars is an anthology of alternate history short stories that explains what was really going on during the period of time from the first suborbital rocket launches in 1956 to the fall of Skylab from orbit in 1979. Here’s the framework:...

Taking Submissions: The Scary Stuff Anthology

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Oddity Prodigy Productions is seeking submissions for a new anthology, “Scary Stuff”. This will be the first anthology published by OPP to accept submissions. There is a planned Kickstarter to cover publishing costs. Publishing date and distribution is as yet undecided.  The deadline for Submissions is August 31st, 2019 What we are looking for: In the ’40s and ’50s EC comics published such classic titles such as ‘Tales from the Crypt’ and Vault of Horror’. These were tales of horror that featured classic stories filled with ghosts, and goblins, twist endings and the classic idea of reaping what you sow. The style of story continued into the ’60s and ’70s with Creepy and Eerie magazines. Published outside the comics code the latter had the same campy style filled with over-the-top monsters and gore. We are looking for stories that channel these classic horror tropes and styles. We’re looking for old haunted houses, swamp monsters, mad scientists, shocking discoveries in the weird neighbor's basement. Pick up an old issue of Creepy, watch Tales from the Darkside, or take a look at some EC comics for inspiration. What we’re not looking for: We are not looking for stories featuring over the top depictions of rape, child molestation, or torture. This should be fun and campy. Sexual content is ok, but nothing too graphic or excessive. Think Fright Night or Evil Dead, not Hostel or Se7en. SUBMISSION PROCESS We are looking for stories between 2000 and 5000 words. Exceptions can be made but anything longer or shorter will need to WOW us. Original stories only, we are not looking for reprints at this time. Submissions should be in standard manuscript format. Be sure to include your name, address, email address, and phone number....

Taking Submissions: Stuff of Nightmares!

Deadline: August 31st, 2019 Payment: $5 BMR Promotions are open to submissions for our new horror anthology - Stuff of Nightmares! Deadline: August 31st 2019 Genre: Horror Word Count: Up to 5k Release Date: Fall 2019 (Approx Oct 1st) Brief: The Stuff of Nightmares will feature 13 short stories focusing on Nightmares. We want stories that will keep you awake at night. All stories must center around nightmares - dreams that become reality, nightmare worlds, creatures that prey on us when we sleep. We will be accepting ten stories for the anthology, as we will be featuring a story each in the anthology. If your submission is accepted, you will be paid $5 via Paypal. No royalties will be paid out on this anthology. A contract will be sent upon acceptance and we will retain all rights until Nov 30th 2019, at which point, all rights will revert to the author. Authors will be contacted within two weeks of the closing date, if they are accepted. The book will go up for pre-order in late September for one week. Submissions can be sent to [email protected]. All stories must be edited before being submitted. Stories cannot be previously published.