Events

Deadline: September 5th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: An amateur magazine that seeks to discover, inspire, and publish emerging authors who are enthusiastic about the tradition of “pulp sword and sorcery.” Submissions: OPEN Submission deadline for Whetstone Issue 2: Saturday, September 5th, 2020, 11:59p. Editorial decisions: Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 Publication of inaugural issue: Saturday, December 5th, 2020 Length: We prefer short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). These limits are firm. No more, no less. Style: We prefer “dialog light, action heavy” fiction that is unselfconsciously literary but nevertheless takes joy in an occasional old word that gives the breath of antiquity. Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in WHETSTONE, authors will (1) be paid an honorarium of $10 and (2) will be asked to provide, by contract, "First North American Serial Rights." In our opinion, this means that copyright is NOT transferred. All copyright stays with you, the writer; however, you will have sold/transferred a form of "exclusive use rights" called "First North American Serial Rights" (FNASR). This is the right to publish your unpublished work for the first time, and ONLY the first time, no more. The important thing to remember is that some professional publications may ask for FNASR upon acceptance of a specific work; you are not legally permitted to provide those for that specific work after publication in WHETSTONE, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in WHETSTONE, that works' associated FNASR have been sold/transferred. You CAN publish your previously published work elsewhere as a reprint but only as long as that publication does not require FNASR. This is a long way of saying that WHETSTONE is an amateur...

Deadline: September 7th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word or $40 per poem Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Submission Periods: Fantasy is open to submissions the first week of every month (1st-7th). Please do not query about submitting outside our open submission periods. Anonymous Submissions: Fantasy only accepts anonymous submissions. Do not include your name, address, phone number, or other similar identifiers on the manuscript. All original short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry submissions will be read anonymously on first read: moving out of slush depends on the merits of the story alone. Please make sure the title is on the manuscript. Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions: We do not accept simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. Please do not submit more than one set of poems at a time, more than one piece of flash fiction at a time, or more than one story at a time. You may, however, submit a single entry in each category at the same time: you can submit one batch of poems, one flash fiction piece, and one short story all at the same (or overlapping) time, and each category will be considered a separate submission. If we are already considering work in any given category, please wait until you have received an acceptance or rejection before submitting again in that same category. Instructions: All fiction must be submitted through our Moksha online submission system. Please do not email your submissions. If one of the Submission Type options is grayed out, that means we are currently closed to that Submission Type. Questions/Problems: Email [email protected] for all submission-related inquiries, or if you have any trouble using our online submission system. Please do not email your submissions to this address. All submissions must be submitted via our Moksha online submission system. Rejections/Response Times: Be aware that we expect to receive...

Deadline: September 9th, 2020 Payment: .10 per word Theme: Passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background. Uncanny Magazine is currently OPEN to regular short story submissions and CLOSED to poetry submissions. We will close again at the end of the day (that’s Midnight, Central) on Wednesday, September 9th. Please follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter to get all submission updates.  Editors-in-Chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas Uncanny Magazine is seeking passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background.  We want  intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel. Uncanny Magazine is a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Qualifying Professional Market. Fiction Guidelines Uncanny is looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction stories between 750-6000 words. Payment is $.10 per word (including audio rights). We will reject any story that doesn’t follow our guidelines and procedures. You may not resubmit a rejected story. If you aren’t sure if your story counts as unpublished, please query us. Submission procedures: 1- NEW! Please submit your story via Uncanny‘s Moksha submission system. 2- All stories should be in Modern Manuscript Format and attached in .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX formats. Please feel free to include your pronouns (optional) along with your name and email address in the upper left corner of your manuscript. Note, you do not need to add your mailing address or legal name to your manuscript. We will only ask for that information if your story is chosen for publication. 3- Your cover letter should contain the length of your story, your significant publishing history and awards, and information that might be relevant to that specific submission. 4- Please do not send multiple submissions at once. 5- We try to respond to...

Deadline: September 10, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Historical fantasy with characters who work in illegal or unsavory positions Editing Mee is looking for original stories from new and seasoned writers to submit to our first fantasy anthology. We are looking for works between 2,000 - 5,000 words about characters who work in illegal or unsavory positions. This will be historical fantasy. You may submit up to two original works as electronic submissions in DOC/DOCX, RTF, or Pages format. The story should be double-spaced and in 12pt Courier, Times New Roman, or Arial. We ask for first rights to publish. Submissions will be reviewed by blind judges. When you send your story, please don’t put your name anywhere on the document. However, you are fine to put your contact information in the body of the email, as the judges will not see this. They will only view the stories. Accepted submissions will receive $15. If your story is put in the anthology, we require the submission not to be published anywhere else for a period of 90 days after the anthology’s publication. Please note: Your submission will automatically be rejected if your story is racist, sexist, or harmful to another group. Due to Covid-19, I will be extending the deadline to September 10, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. Publication is planned for the summer of 2021. SUBMIT STORY Via: Editing Mee.

Deadline: September 10th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Work that constitutes the ever-moving edge of its kind, as a place between light and dark, consciousness and un, today and tomorrow; work exhibiting the strange, the bizarre, that which is not of the world we know, but more of a twilight realm or even altogether alien place. Note: Penumbric was previously an ongoing market and now has deadlines. We will post updated calls to the magazine at each open period. Submission window: The submission window for fiction and poetry will be closing 10 September 2020 and will reopen 10 December 2020. The submission window for art, animation, and music remains open. In general ... I would love to see submissions representing not only multiple cultures but subcultures, exploring issues of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and many things I haven't thought of. Does this mean you have to represent everybody and everything in 1000 words? Of course not. But be aware that we are creating a magazine that overall reaches and represents the true diversity of the world we live in. In terms of genre, I am looking for work that constitutes the ever-moving edge of its kind, as a place between light and dark, consciousness and un, today and tomorrow; work exhibiting the strange, the bizarre, that which is not of the world we know, but more of a twilight realm or even altogether alien place. Not necessarily science fiction, not necessarily fantasy, not necessarily horror, and not necessarily not these things. In short, ideally edgy. Maybe even idealistically edgy. I am NOT looking for adult content. Penumbric generally accepts submissions in the following categories: fiction, poetry, illustration, graphic narrative, animation, music, or combinations of these (e.g., a spoken-word version of a poem). If you have something that fits some other category that can be displayed to...

Deadline: September 10th, 2020 Payment: $20 Theme: Your interpretation of the harvest What do you pull from your body? What do you pull from the ground? What do you grow? Do you reap what you sow? For Longleaf’s fall issue, we’re looking for your interpretation of the harvest. Harvest as a cornucopia that brings people together—across a dining room table or across screens in times of crisis. Harvest as a terror—zombies in search of brains and bones, body snatchers in a graveyard. Harvest as a life — after loss, grief, sorrow, betrayal, illness, agony; an invitation to the underworld with Hades.We want your comfort and your terror, your sacrifices and your offerings. When you hear tapping at your window late at night, is this the prelude to a reaping? Give us taste and texture; the excitement of the planting; the growing; the bloodlust; the hunger. Give us fallow fields and baskets overflowing. Give us walls teeming with unwanted life and tongues red with poison berries. We want to explore harvest as fantasy, as memory, as danger or desire. We want to read about the ways we lay claim to things—through collection, through curation. We want the hunter and the hunted, the invited and unwelcome. At a time when fear looms large and small comforts mean more than usual, we want to know what you’re gathering into your arms and what you wish you could cast off. In preparation for this themed call, our staff will be running a series of 20-minute bursts of creativity through Zoom. To sign up for our first one, on August 8, 2020, please click here. We will be open for submissions September 1-10. Please read our general guidelines and submit below. Submission Period Submissions will open from September 1 to 10. You can generally expect a response time of 2-3 months. We consider each...

Deadline: September 13th, 2020 Payment: $15 ($10 for Flash fiction) & one contributor copy Theme: Gritty, well written short stories. All stories must involve an Indiana crime or Hoosiers involved in a crime. Hoosier Noir is seeking gritty, well written short stories. All stories must involve an Indiana crime or Hoosiers involved in a crime. All stories should be 2,000 to 5,000 words. We’re also accepting flash fiction with a max of 1,000 words. Please, put your name and the title of your story in the subject line. Include a cover letter in the body of the email as well as a brief (100 word) third-person biography. No reprints. Please, proofread your work. No simultaneous submissions. Allow up to 3 to 4 weeks after the end of the posted reading period before querying about the status of your submission. Send your story in standard manuscript format, double spaced as an attached Microsoft Word document (.doc or .rtf) to hoosiernoir (at) gmail (dot) com. Rights: Hoosier Noir claims the following publication rights: First English-language Rights, English-language Periodical Rights, World Periodical Rights, and Electronic Distribution Rights. All rights revert back to the author six months after initial publication. Payment: Each selected author will receive a payment of $15 ($10 for Flash fiction) & one contributor copy. Submissions will close September 13th 2020 at midnight. Submissions for our 4:20 Noir (Special Issue) Open September 15th 2020. This will not be limited to Indiana Crime Fiction. We are looking for your best marijuana related crime fiction. All regular submissions guidelines and payment details remain the same. Via: First City Books.

Deadline: September 14th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Political horror stories Note: Deadline extended Open submissions being accepted for “After the Kool-Aid is Gone.” 8/1/20 - 8/31/20 D&T Publishing proudly presents After the Kool-Aid is Gone . A horror anthology with a political twist. In the world we live in today, what is more horrific than true life? Seems everyone has a view and a stance. So, what will happen after the kool-aid is gone, when decisions have been made and eyes have been opened? Send us the most political horror story you can imagine. Specific information: - Stories should be 3,000 - 5,000 word count. - No excessive or gratuitous violence or sex just for shock value. - Single spaced, new times Roman is preferred. Clean, edited copy. No weird fonts or formats. Please submit in .doc or .docx format to [email protected] - A confirmation email will be sent to you within 24 hours of receipt of your submission. Please make sure that your name is on your submission. - Acceptance emails will be sent out no later than 9/6/20 for an October release. - For your email, please use ATKIG as the subject. - If you receive an acceptance email, a link will be provided to you for a Facebook group and all other information will be provided to you at that time. You can also find submission details on our Facebook page @d&tpublishing. - This will pay $10 per accepted story. - Only one submission per person. We look forward to your submissions. Via: D&T Publishing's Facebook.

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: Unicorn stories for middle-grade readers Chipper Press is looking for short stories about Unicorns. Tell our middle-grade readers about how the unicorn came into being, and if they still exist. If they are now extinct, what happened? Is their horn magical? If so, what magic does it do? Where did they come from? How do you tame one? Do they talk? What is/was their life like? Who else inhabits their world? Wizards and Mages? Or do they communicate with Elves? Entertain our readers with complete stories that show more of the action than simply telling. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,500 and the maximum word count is 17,000. 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. (Your submission will be declined if there is head-hopping.) Please show more of the action than just telling the reader what happens. Characters need to be fully developed and the stories need to be complete-not just a scene. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: September 15, 2020, with a targeted release date of late November 2020. 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 4,500 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...

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: $130, and 2 contributors copies Theme: Well mannered criminals! (to be published by Mango Publishing Group, USA) What I’m looking for: Good manners and polite behavior don’t usually spring to mind when we think of criminals. Yet some of the most beloved criminals in books and film have been the ones that broke the mold: the smooth-talking charmers, the underdogs, the rebels with a cause. Their polite manners, their adherence to a cause, their code of ethics that often makes sense only to themselves—this is what sets them apart from the rest. These are the types of criminals I’m interested in. Con artists, embezzlers, fraudsters, mobsters, burglars, garden-variety robbers and thieves, plus anything else that might fit the bill. For this third volume in my series, I’m aiming to provide a lighter and more entertaining read with less of an emphasis on violent crime and murder. Well-known, lesser-known, and obscure subjects are welcome. Add something new to the story, a different viewpoint or angle. First-person accounts are always welcome from writers with a connection to the cases. Stories can take place anywhere in the world and during any time frame. Material must be meticulously fact-checked before submission, including dates, names, locations, etc. This is a non-fiction book, so please make sure that everything is 100% correct. No reprints accepted. To get an idea of the quality and variety of material I accept, please refer to the previous books in this series, The Best New True Crime Stories: Serial Killers and The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns. Word count: 4,000-7,000 words One-time payment per story: USD $130, and 2 print copies of the book. Contributor fees paid approximately 1 month after publication. (Preferred payment method: PayPal.) For: Non-exclusive rights with one-year’s exclusivity from date of publication. Deadline for submissions: Sept 15, 2020...