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Deadline: December 1st, 2019 Payment: $20 “Turning words into art is unnatural. It begins with a contrary attitude. It says, I am unhappy with the way things are and desire to make things different. Rather than represent the world, I will make something wildly and savagely new. I will defy logic. I will invest in new perceptions. I will combine and recombine and fabricate and juggle until something that I have never experienced is experienced. The process is alchemical. The process is violent. It goes to the heart of creativity. It disrupts and shatters. It is splendid with provocation. It is an aggression against banality. It is sharp and loud like a janitor scraping frost from a window. The hectic bounce of steam on a street after a truck roars by. The anarchy of waters, the comedy of the face, dangerous feelings vented from a cage of skin.” ~ John Olson Poetry — We believe poetry is contrary by nature, always defying, always tonguing the tang of novelty. We look especially for plurality of meaning, for dual reverberation of beauty and concern. Contrary’s poetry in particular often mimics the effects of fiction or commentary. We find ourselves enamored of prose poems because they are naturally contrary toward form – they tug on the forces of exposition or narrative – but prose poems remain the minority of all the poetic forms we publish. Please consider that Contrary receives vast amounts of poetry and that we can publish only a small percentage of that work. Please submit no more than three poems per issue. Our poetry editor is Shaindel Beers. Fiction — We ask our fiction writers to imagine their readers navigating a story with one finger poised over a mouse button. Can your story stay that finger to the end? We have published long stories on the belief...

Deadline: December 2nd, 2019 Payment: We offer $75 for Short Stories accepted for publication in our literary journal (eBook, print, and/or audiobook) We offer $50 for Short Stories accepted for online publication on midnightandindigo.com. Note: This market is for black female writers Word count: min 1,500 words We are looking for previously unpublished, character-driven, speculative short stories written by Black women writers - for a special issue to be published in 2020. Speculative fiction is a broad genre encompassing fiction with certain elements that do not exist in the real world, often in the context of supernatural, futuristic or other imaginative themes. This includes, but is not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, superhero fiction, horror, utopian and dystopian fiction, fairytale fantasy, and supernatural fiction. We offer $75 for Short Stories accepted for publication in our literary journal (eBook, print, and/or audiobook) We offer $50 for Short Stories accepted for online publication on midnightandindigo.com. midnight & indigo is a new literary platform dedicated to publishing short fiction and narrative essays by Black women writers. Our digital platform, midnightandindigo.com features a diverse array of voices that connect readers to content featuring strong female lead characters or a Black female POV; across the spectrum of experience - a new story is featured every week. We also publish 2-3 multi-author literary journals each year (print/ebook and/or audiobook).  Whether you’ve already been published or are just starting out, we want to hear from you!  As a Black woman-owned start-up, we're so excited that you chose us as a potential medium for your voice. Calls for Journal Submissions for Short Stories and Personal Essays are held 4x per year, with deadlines on January 5th, April 5th, August 2nd, and December 6th. Book Reviews focused on works by Black women authors are accepted year-round. To increase your chances of being published, please take some time to review our current content; to...

Deadline: December 2nd, 2019 Payment: $20-$75 according to the category and length of their submission Note: Apologies for the late posting, just came across this one. Submissions are OPEN from October 14 – December 2 for Issue 7: Horror (see below). With this call, Speculative City announces the Year of Genre. Speculative fiction is often defined as genre fiction, a useful phrase for those looking to separate “literary fiction” from its more exploratory counterpart. In a reclamation of the term, in the new year, Speculative City will feature four specific genres showcasing the incredible range that speculative fiction can offer. The first genre of focus will be horror. We are looking for fiction, poetry, and essays within the horror genre. And, as per usual, we seek provocative works that are centered within a cityscape. Writers published will be paid $20-$75 according to the category and length of their submission. We do not accept submissions exceeding 5500 words. 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. 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. All submissions should be sent through Green Submissions. Green Submissions requires users to create an account. Please see link to sign up and submit at https://greensubmissions.com/1024/speculative-city/index.php. Before submitting work, please also be familiar with our contract. THEME horror noun|hor·ror| \ ‘hôr-ər \ Definition of HORROR noun a fiction genre that incites overwhelming and intense emotional reactions such as dread, repulsion, terror, and shock through the use...

Deadline: December 12th, 2019 Payment: 75% of royalties after amazon fees are taken out will be divided evenly across the board to all authors. Christmas is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than to submit your scary stories of holiday horror to us, Scary Snippets. After just releasing a highly successful Halloween collection, we are ready to go straight into some nutcracking action with wicked snowmen, vile reindeer and even some good old fashioned Krampus! Here’s what we are looking for. email to: [email protected] (Feel free to include author profile) Word count: Minimum: 100 Max 600 We are looking for: stories of sinister nature relating to Christmas, Hanukkah or other Yuletide holidays. (Also accepting a few Thanksgiving Horror as well) stories need to be exclusive and will remain held by publisher for 6 months after publishing. Send as many submissions as you wish, we want to allow for at least 4 to 5 max per author depending on length. (Our goal is to have over 100 total stories in the collection) Deadline: December 12 Releasing: December 20 Acceptance and contracts will be happening quickly and our editing team will be moving fast. Payment: 75% of royalties after amazon fees are taken out will be divided evenly across the board to all authors. Stories will be on Kindle Unlimited for 6 months and then authors will be able to retain their rights and use the story elsewhere. Questions or concerns, please message us Be sure to also join the Scary Snippets Facebook page for more information and for receiving feedback and support from our author community! Spread holiday fear! https://www.facebook.com/groups/372178610142234/?ref=share

Deadline: December 6th, 2019 Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words. $10 for anything over 5000 words Note: Reprints Allowed For our second anthology we want stories that explore the horror of solitude. This does not mean your story has to have solitary characters, it definitely can, but any story that dives into the theme of isolation and solitude will work for this collection. It could be the terror of no one believing the monster chasing you is real, or being completely alone in something while surrounded by millions of people, or it could be being forgotten and alone in a desolate place. Cosmic horror, creature horror, slasher horror, it can all work in this collection as long as you submit a creative story focusing on solitude.  Word Count: 3,000 - 7,500 Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words                  $10 for anything over 5000 words Deadline: 12/6/19 Multiple submissions welcome.  Reprints are fine, however you must own the rights to the story before submitting.  Please send all submissions as an attachment and make sure the subject line of your email is: DBND - Solitude - Story Title  Send submissions to: [email protected] Via: DBND Publishing.

Deadline: December 9th, 2019 Prizes: £2000 for the winner and £150 and two complimentary for selected contributors Nobrow is well-known for our visual publishing and our dedication to designing and producing beautiful books. This is something we are extremely proud of. At the heart of all we do is storytelling. We believe this is the foundation on which our publishing is built – we love all forms of storytelling, be it visual, lyrical or literary. It is all aimed at transporting a reader to another place and time and keeping them there; transfixed. That is why we are delighted to announce we are running the Nobrow Short Story Competition for writers! Up to twelve winning entries will be published in our short story anthology, and this beautifully illustrated book will celebrate the best short fiction and non-fiction writing. Our theme is ‘The Censor’. You can interpret this in any way you wish – it could represent censoring of the past, present and future; the self; the state; or the effects of censorship on everyday life. As a provocation we hope our theme can provide a rich vein of storytelling inspiration for anyone wishing to take part in the competition. We are looking for inclusive, surprising, ingenious and diverse responses that capture our minds and hold us until every word is devoured. It is completely free to enter, and we welcome submissions that you may already have written as long as they have not been previously published and can be related to the theme of The Censor. Prizes An overall winner will receive £2000. All selected contributors will receive £150 and two complimentary copies of the book, and will be invited to attend events including a launch and readings. Deadline 9th December 2019, midnight BST time. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES A submission is defined as a short story...

This market was reported as closed as of November 11th, 2019 Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties In this special issue of our magazine, we're asking the big questions about tomorrow coupled with the clarity of hindsight applied to potential futures. What does the future look like? How will today's technologies and events affect the way humans live tomorrow, a decade from now, or in two centuries? Is reality a giant plot to fool humans? Is free will truly possible, or are aliens or machines controlling our lives? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? Will we ever meet life from other worlds, or escape the bounds of our solar system, our bodies, or our minds? Stories should speak to the human element (even if the human element is translated/demonstrated through a non-human character) rather than focusing exclusively on exciting whizz-bangs. Dark tones aren't necessary, but undercurrents of conspiracy are welcome. The approximate genres we're looking for are Science Fiction/Future Tech, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, or any other genre that is appropriate, including Solarpunk, as long as it's based in our reality and magic of any sort is given a plausible explanation. We're not looking to confine writers to a certain sphere; rather, we're hoping writers will use this opportunity to practice limitless thinking and surprise us with their stories. Stories should be between 1500 and 7500 words in length. Deadline for submission: 31 March 2020. Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. See our submission guidelines for details on submitting prior to sending us your story. Do not query on submission status before 30 April 2020. Once accepted, writers will have two weeks to negotiate any suggested edits and return finalized manuscripts to us. There's wiggle room on this, depending on our time frame, so ask if you need help. We're limiting submissions to...

Deadline: December 15th, 2019 Payment: Royalties This is a horror anthology for children. Recommended ages are between 7-12, please keep that in mind when submitting! Information: Name: Mother Ghost’s Grim - Creepy Stories For Children Word Count: ~ Under 1500 words Pay: 20% royalty for project managers split, 20% publisher, 60% split between authors PER STORY What we are looking for: Scary stories you heard as a child, or would have enjoyed. No graphic scenes, no rated R content; children will be reading it. If you have kids or young family members, what would you like them to read? Format: 12 pt. Times New Roman, double spaced, proper indentation, word document. Left hand corner: author name, title, email, and word count. *submission will be rejected if not in this format* Kickstarter: N/A. Project managers will be funding this project. We will be choosing approximately ~60 EXCLUSIVE stories. Meaning they cannot be posted ANYWHERE else. We would like to enroll this book into the KDP program with Amazon so we can all gain more $$$. We plan on keeping it in the program for 4 months. After that time, you are free to do with your story what you wish. Email for submission: [email protected] DEADLINE: December 15, 2019. Publication date: Easter 2020 NBH will be publishing the anthology! We look forward to your submissions! 😈 Via: Mother Ghost Grim's Facebook Group.

Deadline: December 15th, 2019 Payment: Equal splits of 45% royalty among all authors Tangled Tree Publishing is inviting submissions for our first anthology: A Dark Spring. We are seeking gripping novellas from new and established authors keen to grow their exposure and reader base. Set for publication spring 2020. Genre: thriller / suspense / mystery – contemporary. (Adult) Themes: Tangled. The only limit is your imagination, but it must contain “tangled” and the “season spring” as concepts somewhere within the novella. Word Count: 15,000 words Remuneration: Equal splits of 45% royalty among all authors – paid quarterly via PayPal. Requirements: Tangled Tree Publishing does not accept material that has been published previously, either online or in print. By submitting to Tangled Tree Publishing, you are assuring you hold the rights to the work and grant Tangled Tree Publishing the right to publish the submitted work. Tangled Tree Publishing will require exclusive rights to the stories for one publication year. ·       New and established authors welcome to submit. ·       Submitted manuscripts need to be of high quality and self-edited. ·       Tangled Tree Publishing will fund and provide all levels of editing for all contracted novellas, as well as original cover art. You agree to work with us on any reasonable amendments arising from the editing process. (There are no out-of-pocket costs for contracted authors.) Regular self-promotion of the anthology required. ·       Participation in a closed Facebook group to assist the production and launch of the anthology is necessary. ·       Please note that Tangled Tree Publishing reserves the right to exclude any stories or authors at any time. Timing: Final Submission Date – 15 December 2019 Contracts Offered – 6 Jan 2020 Contracts Signed & Filed – 10 Jan 2020 Target Cover Reveal – 28 Jan 2020 Target Publication Date – 28 March 2020 Marketing: All authors will promote the anthology to their...

Deadline: December 15th, 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy Dare. Risk. Dream. Share. Ruminate. Clockhouse accepts works of poetry, fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and dramatic works for stage or screen. We encourage submissions from both established and emerging writers. (Current students of Goddard College are ineligible to submit to Clockhouse, but we look forward to reading your work after you graduate.) Submit to CLOCKHOUSE All submissions must: Be original, unpublished work written by the author. Follow the industry-standard formatting guidelines appropriate for the genre as well as the applicable guidelines below: Fiction: Short stories and self-contained novel excerpts in a literary style. Genre fiction will be considered only if it sustains literary merit (Up to 5,000 words) Poetry: All poetry in traditional and experimental styles including prose poetry (Up to 250 lines of poetry, total. Only one poem per submission. Poets may submit up to three times per reading period.) Memoir and Creative Nonfiction: All memoir and creative nonfiction in traditional and experimental literary styles. No academic or scientific essays (Up to 5,000 words) Dramatic Work for Stage or Screen: Short dramatic works in traditional and experimental styles, either a standalone piece or an excerpt from a one-act or full length play or screenplay (Up to 15 pages) Include a short bio of approximately 100 words or less. Include a brief artist statement: a few sentences about your work as an artist (i.e., not a “pitch” for this submission, but rather a statement about what you’re interested in writing about now, what drives your writing, or how your writing is reflecting or influencing the world at large, etc.). Be submitted only through our online submission manager (see link at bottom of page). No email submissions will be accepted. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be discarded unread. The submission period for the Volume Eight 2020 will begin on...