Events

Deadline: September 2nd, 2019 Payment: $30 DEATH'S STING is RBE's first anthology on immortality. Quite simply, we want Sword & Sorcery tales about immortals in the vein of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane, Barry Sadler's Casca, Steven Erikson's Rhulad Sengar and Kallor, and Dennis O'Neil's Rā's al Ghūl. Dark tales of those who return from death, victorious over death's sting -- or horrifyingly despite! Do not be writing horror though; think dark and low and gothic fantasies as you devise your S&S tales. Obviously - no matter how many times our protagonists die throughout your stories - they'll die to live another day . . . and perhaps see another RBE anthology on immortality. RBE is seeking stories for this anthology that most closely deliver the dark sides of S&S more than its potential for humor or lightheartedness. We will be accepting 13-15 stories, and stories should be 2k-9k words in length. Nothing shorter will be read, and our sweet spot is in the 5k-7k range. Don't hold back - wow us with good ol' heroic storytelling! Submissions will remain open until we find the stories we want or through the end of Labor Day Weekend 2019. Response time on your first 500 words should be less than a week, while response time after we receive your full story should be less than two months. There are always exceptions, but we will strive to keep all informed. Publication is intended for Christmas 2019. We will publish within months of closing, so depending upon acceptances, DEATH'S STING could appear any time before or after the target. Again, we will keep all informed. Payment of $30 flat per story shall be rendered after publication. Authors will receive electronic copies and permanent discount on print purchases. Via: Rogue Blades Entertainment Submittable.

Deadline: September 2nd, 2019 Payment: $25 RBE's first Western isn't simply going to be filled with dusty tales of cowpokes and gunslingers no matter how romantic. Oh no - you know better than that! REACH FOR THE SKY is all about cowboys and aliens! Recall that movie under the same name? Well, something like that is what we're after. We want good ol' fun tales of the Wild West filled with shoot-outs and war paint and gold rushes and stagecoach robberies and alien technology. Tales wherein sometimes the denizens of the West win and sometimes the invaders from darkest space triumph. When you think of visitors from the sky, naturally be thinking of predators, humanoid ducks, green lanterns, extra-terrestrials, and elephant hearts. This anthology is RBE's first foray into the scientific fantasies, and by rooting it in one of the oldest forms of storytelling the lone heroic figure, we aim to knock this title out of the galaxy! The requirements are simple: stories must be set in the American West (from the end of the Civil War to just before 1900), include some form of alien life, and employ the words "Reach for the sky" in some fashion. We will be accepting 13-15 stories, and stories should be 2k-9k words in length. Nothing shorter will be read, and our sweet spot is in the 5k-7k range. Don't hold back now - wow us with good ol' heroic storytelling! Submissions will remain open until we find the stories we want or through the end of Labor Day Weekend 2019. Response time on your first 500 words should be less than a week, while response time after we receive your full story should be less than two months. There are always exceptions, but we will strive to keep all informed. Publication is...

Deadline: September 2nd, 2019 Payment: $30 Slaughter is the Best Medicine: An Heroic Anthology of Mayhem & Mirth in Melee This one is exactly what it sounds like - pulpy battle royale with a smile! This anthology goes back to RBE's roots and seeks true Heroic Fantasy tales in the ways of Low Fantasy and Sword and -- well, any of the 'Sword and' genres (any questions on genre meanings, see RBE's handy reference list). There's only two requirements: edged blades are a must and three or more deaths must transpire in one fell swoop . . . or battle or ambush or melee . . . you get the idea, right? The more dead, the merrier, as they say. *OK, make that 3 requirements: don't omit the "& Mirth" bit of the subtitle. I am NOT looking for slapstick and silliness, but there must be a bit of humor, a touch of the tongue-in-cheek, at least the hint of a smile-jerker at some point in your tale. We will be accepting 15-20 stories, and stories should be 2k-9k  words in length. Nothing shorter will be read, and our sweet spot is in the 5k-7k range. Don't hold back - wow us with good ol' heroic storytelling! Submissions will remain open until we find the stories we want or through the end of Labor Day Weekend 2019. Response time on your first 500 words should be less than a week, while response time after we receive your full story should be less than two months. There are always exceptions, but we will strive to keep all informed. Publication is intended for Christmas 2019. We will publish within months of closing, so depending upon acceptances, SLAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE could appear any time before or after the target. Again, we will keep all...

Deadline: September 6th, 2019 Payment: Poetry: $50 per poem , Prose: $.10 per word (to a maximum of $500.) subTerrain publishes original fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, and commentary three times a year. Submissions must be previously unpublished material. (Note maximum number of submissions per issue in General Guidelines below.) subTerrain welcomes submissions from both emerging and established authors. We are happy to consider work from all corners of the identity spectrum, including works by underrepresented writers, including but not limited to writers who are indigenous, of colour, immigrants, women, LGBTQI+, low-income, no-income, and writers with disabilities. Submitters are welcome to state demographics such as race, age, gender, etc. in their cover letter if they so choose. WINTER 1984 Revisited (#84) — For our 84th issue we plan to pay homage to the dystopian world that was depicted in George Orwell’s novel 1984. A revisit and analysis of Orwell's world as depicted in his seminal dystopian novel, along with other complementary dystopian works and reviews, will form the over-arching theme for our Winter 2019 issue. In a time of growing uncertainty about the future, readers have been turning to dystopian classics. As reported in the NY Times, January 2017, “The Handmaid’s Tale is among several classic dystopian novels that seem to be resonating with readers at a moment of heightened anxiety about the state of American democracy. Sales have also risen drastically for George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, which shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list. Other novels that today’s readers may not have picked up since high school but have landed on the top reading lists recently are Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel, Brave New World, a futuristic dystopian story set in England in 2540; and Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, a satire about a bellicose presidential candidate who runs on a populist platform in the...

Deadline: September 6th, 2019 Payment: $20-$75 according to the category and length Submissions are open from July 08 - September 06 Speculative City publishes provocative works that are centered within a cityscape. Although all are welcome to submit, special consideration is given to creators and characters often underrepresented in speculative fiction, such as people of color, queer people, working-class people, and people with disabilities (this list is not exhaustive and acts as an example of the types of voices we wish to hear and show). We are looking for fiction, poetry, and essays within the theme of the magazine’s upcoming issue (industry, see below). Writers published will be paid $20-$75 according to the category and length of their submission. We would be hard-pressed to include submissions with a length exceeding 5500 words. Editors' note: We are most interested in seeing how industry impacts communities and individuals. - All submissions should be the original, unpublished work of the submitter. - We will accept simultaneous submissions, but please inform us if the submission has been accepted by another publication. - We do not accept multiple submissions for fiction or essays. - Please submit word (.doc, .docx) or rich text format (.rtf) files and format your submission according to our format guide (http://www.speculativecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/SubmissionFormatGuide.rtf). - Please send all inquiries to info @ speculativecity.com. - We try to respond to all submissions, but as a team of two, we may not always be able to. Before submitting work, please also be familiar with our contract (http://www.speculativecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/SpeculativeCityContract.pdf). Theme: industry noun| ‘in də strē Definition of INDUSTRY noun - the systematic profiteering of a people or community to yield product - the management of capital, individuals, and/or a commercial enterprise that produces goods or services Via: Speculative City.

Deadline: September 8th, 2019 Payment: $50 for website acceptance, $75 for the literary journal. midnight & indigo, a new literary magazine celebrating Black female writers, has issued a call for submissions to review short stories and narrative essays. We publish content on our digital platform and in our literary journals (paperback/ebook/audiobook). Writers are invited to share their original, fictional or personal stories. Stories can funny, entertaining, serious or sincere. Stories must be character-driven and leave readers with something to think about, sparking a personal connection to their own lives. All genres are welcome!   Word count: min 1,500 words We are looking for previously unpublished, character driven fictional short stories. All genres are welcome. Stories can funny, entertaining, serious or sincere. Stories must uplift or leave readers with something to think about. Subject matter and plots can run the gamut, but we want emotion, grit, soul and writing that forges an immediate connection with the reader. We offer $75 for Short Stories accepted for publication in our literary journal (eBook, print, possible audiobook) We offer $50 for Short Stories accepted for online publication on midnightandindigo.com. RIGHTS To be considered, you are being asked to agree to our contract as part of the submission process: The author retains the sole, individual copyright on her contribution. You grant midnight & indigo First Rights to publish the above story (online and by subscription, including any method/medium available at the time of publication. You also grant midnight & indigo non-exclusive anthology rights to make the above story available in e-book, print, audiobook and any additional format available at the time of publication. You affirm that you are the sole author of the Work, which is original and not previously published. To the best of your knowledge, it does not infringe any third party’s copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights, does not contain...

Deadline: September 13th, 2019 Payment: $0.05 U.S. per word Note: Looking for Latinx and AfroLatinx writers People scream when they're afraid. They scream when they are in the heat of battle. They scream in the wake of victory. This is a place to scream our pain, fears, worry, frustrations, nightmares and dreams. - Co-editor V. Castro. Latinx Screams is looking for stories by Latinx and AfroLatinx writers with protagonists facing overwhelming fears and rising to fight horrifying foes. Some will thrive, some with survive, and some will die. Give us your vanquished, and your victors. The project will be co-edited by V. Castro and Brian Lindenmuth. Horror is the parent genre; speculative fiction horror, sci-fi horror, or pure horror, including real-world horror, will all be considered. Whether your horror story takes place on a spaceship, in an alternate dimension, or in the real world, it qualifies. Payment: $0.05 U.S. per word for previously unpublished stories Story length: Stories up to 3,500 are preferred, but stories up to 5,000 words in length will be considered. Submission deadline: September 13, 2019 Multiple submissions are accepted. Each writer may submit up to 3 stories for consideration. This applies to all stories by the same person, whether they use a pseudonym for some of them or not. While we would prefer a short exclusive window of consideration, simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please indicate your submission is a simultaneous submission in the email. Reprints may be considered; payment rate to be determined. Please indicate it is a reprint in your email. Submissions: Please include your story as an attached word doc and email to [email protected] (We do not review PDF documents or RTF documents. Please send .doc or .docx only.) Your email should have the name of the project and story in the subject line. For...

Deadline: September 13th, 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy Your story should be between 500 and 3,000 words and edited to the best of your ability. Stories must have a supernatural theme (ghosts, spirits, demons, hauntings, anything that goes bump in the night.) Submissions are open now until 11:59 p.m. September 13, 2019 EST. (We are looking for an October publication date.) We will accept only one submission per author. Simultaneous submissions will not be accepted. Previously published submissions will not be accepted. Submissions should not be available for viewing online during the submission/publication process or for 6 months after publication. Submissions should only have mild, non-graphic violence, no explicitly sexual/erotic scenes, and “bad” language should not be used excessively but may be used in limited capacity. To avoid rights issues, no living public figures should be used as characters, no fan-fiction involving proprietary characters, and no song lyrics. However, passing references to these are fine. All submitting authors will be notified of our decision within 2 weeks of closing date. If your submission is chosen, you will receive a full publishing contract outlining the details of our agreement. Upon signing, Stormy Island Publishing retains exclusive rights until six months after publication. As payment, each author will receive a paperback copy of the anthology after publication. For details on how to submit, visit our SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Via: Stormy Island Publishing.

Deadline: September 15th, 2019 Payment: 40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Note: They're willing to send sample contracts in advance so you can look them over before deciding. Call for Novellas Interstellar Flight Press will be open for submissions of speculative novellas from May 15-September 15. We are looking for: ​ Fiction Novellas 17,500–40,000 words. Speculative genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural, Weird, Mystery/Thrillers or any combination of the above. Hybrids or difficult to categorize novellas are welcome. Young Adult novellas are okay as long as they are speculative in some way. We will consider both standalone novellas and series (Please submit the first book in a series only). Guidelines: Please send complete manuscripts (your entire novella) in .doc or .docx formats, formatted in Standard Manuscript Format. Please include a synopsis on the first page of your manuscript, max 500 words. We require a cover letter with bio. Be sure to include links to your website and social media so we can get to know you. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are fine, just let us know if you need to withdraw. Novellas should be previously unpublished. Agented submissions are welcome. If you’re an agent, please send us an email or submit via the submission form. ​ We are keen to publish new authors as well as to hear from more established authors. As always, we love hearing from authors from underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities. All of our books receive a full marketing plan and are printed in hardcover and paperback formats, as well as distribution as eBook and audiobook. We consider publishing a collaboration and pay 40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Depending on the project, we may also offer an advance. We ask for exclusive world English rights, audio rights, and some subsidiary rights. We...

September 15th, 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy A Collection of tales of how he got his man. Zimbell House is holding open submissions for short stories about the old west and how the U.S. Marshall played a part in establishing the law of the land. Let your imagination roam and put our readers in the middle of the action. We want complete stories from the POV of the U.S. Marshall. We want to see his struggles to capture the outlaw. How does he do it? Who helps him? Why did he become a lawman? Is there a case that haunts him? Make him a complete character, flaws and all. Please keep foul language to a minimum-it loses its punch if over-used. Dialogue needs to be believable, and please keep dialects/slang to a bare minimum if you must use them. No head-hopping or POV changes. Pick one point of view and stick with it. Please show more of the action than just telling the reader what happens. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,000 and the maximum word count is 20,000. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: September 15, 2019, with a targeted release date of mid-November 2019. Submit your best work. Poorly formatted and unedited work will be turned down. Please use Americanized English spellings. We will be doing light editing as necessary to fit the standards we strive to maintain. Submission Guidelines: Any work under 4,000 words will be automatically disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print or online anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit up to three (3) unique works—please submit them separately. Work...