Events

Deadline: November 7th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. 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 several hundred submissions during our submissions...

Deadline: November 8th, 2020 Payment: £60 plus royalties Theme: Poetry anthology with the theme of who we were Tell Me Who We Were Before Life Made Us We’re currently seeking submissions for a poetry anthology entitled Tell Me Who We Were Before Life Made Us edited by Maz Hedgehog. This anthology will be published in June 2021. This is an anthology about imagined histories. We want to read your takes on fairy tales, folklore and urban legends. Send us your creation myths, founding myths, Greek/Haitian/Indian/Mancunian myths. We want to see your counterfactuals, your apocryphals, your ‘What If’s? We want to know, who do you think we are/were/could be? Requirements:  Submit up to 3 poems, of any length The file name must be the title of the first poem in your submission and the number of poems in your submission (e.g. The_Wasteland_3) submit in PDF/doc/plain text format. Use a standard, easy to read font (such as calibri, times new roman or arial) unless your poem requires otherwise In your email include your name and a short bio (no more than 75 words) If your poetry is commissioned, you will be paid a fee of £60 plus royalties. Please email Maz at [email protected] with your submissions by 8 November 2020. Via: 3 of Cups.

Deadline: November 13th, 2020 Payment: Canada: 5.00CAD OR one contributor copy (print or pdf), USA, UK: one contributor copy Theme: Short genre fiction Submissions for Issue #2 are now open. Please read this page thoroughly. There are changes to terms since the first issue. Near the bottom of this page is a link to more helpful information which should be read before submitting your work. PLEASE ONLY SEND SUBMISSIONS DURING OPEN SUBMISSION WINDOWS. Any submissions sent at other times will be deleted, unread. Submission Guidelines: OPEN Oct 03 – Nov 13, 2020 Fiction: Original, unpublished Short Stories: 600 – 3000 words. Please send one or two stories for consideration. Send in the plain text field, not as an attached file. If your work is accepted, the acceptance may be for one or both pieces (one flash fiction, and one longer story for instance). Poetry: We will feature a limited number of poets per issue. Original, unpublished poetry. Submit one to four poems, each separately in the plain text field of our submissions manager – NO files or attachments. Poems do not necessarily need to be horror or speculative in nature, but they should fit in with the material we publish – horror, dark literary, speculative fiction. If sending two stories, or when submitting poetry, please send them in separate submissions, preferably at the same time, one directly after the other. Mention the title of the other piece(s) in each submission. This makes it clear whether one or more pieces are accepted or declined. If your submission is declined DO NOT submit again unless we invite you to do so. Submit your own, original writing only. While a publication history is not a prerequisite, we expect proper grammar, word usage, syntax, genuine style and voice, and properly researched and accurate references. What we don’t...

Deadline: November 14th, 2020 Payment: $500 and 25 contributors copies Theme: literary fiction One Story Submission Guidelines: Submission Periods: January 15th - May 31st | September 8th - November 14th What kinds of stories is One Story looking for? One Story is seeking literary fiction. Because of our format, we can only accept stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They can be any style and on any subject as long as they are good. We are looking for stories that leave readers feeling satisfied and are strong enough to stand alone. Does One Story pay? Yes. One Story pays $500 and 25 contributors copies for First Serial North American rights. All rights will revert to the author following publication. Does One Story accept previously published material? No. One Story is looking for previously unpublished material. However, if a story has been published in print outside of North America, it will be considered. Stories previously published online—on blogs, personal websites, online literary magazines, or forums—will not be accepted. Does One Story accept simultaneous submissions? Yes, but please notify us immediately if your submission is accepted for publication elsewhere. What file types can I submit? We accept PDF, RTF, and TXT files that are less than 500KB. Please include the story title and all writer contact info on the first page of the submitted file. Will you send me comments on my story? No. One Story receives close to 100 submissions each week. Please understand that we do not have time to comment on individual stories. Can I change the story I submitted with an updated draft? No. Do you consider translations? Yes. Please include the name of the original author and language, as well as the name of the translator on the first page of your submission. How do I submit to One Story? We have an automated system for you to send us your work. It will securely send...

Deadline: November 15th, 2020 Payment: $.03 per word, capped at $150 usd, and 2 free contributor copies. Theme: Truly terrifying stories that deal with futuristic themes, set in the near future or far. Corpus Press is now accepting submissions to Volume 3 of the successful In Darkness, Delight anthology series (publication target 2021) to be edited by Evans Light and Andrew Lennon. Submissions should be story-driven and appeal to a wide adult audience. We seek truly terrifying stories that deal with futuristic themes, set in the near future or far. Tales can be Earth-based or extraterrestrial, perhaps featuring technological or social upheavals that have frightful implications for individuals or society at large; as examples, the ongoing erosion of privacy and enduring nature of online activity, artificial human enhancement via DNA manipulation or implants, impact of emerging technologies on developing children, and so on. (Think bigger than stories about an interesting app, even though that might be where thoughts go first. The few slots allocated for app stories will be filled very quickly.) Post-apocalyptic stories will not be accepted. Rather, we desire fiction that occurs during periods preceding any total collapse, be they stable or unstable times. The horrors that await us in utopian futures may be far more chilling and fascinating than those endemic to dystopias, and therein lies our primary interest. We're more interested in "fiction" than "science"; this is a horror anthology first and foremost, not a science fiction anthology. To that end, your math doesn't have to work out to five decimal points for every forward-thinking concept you present. Merely plausible is good enough. If you're looking for popular culture references to give you a general feel, here are a few: Annihilation, Alien, Pandorum, Under the Skin, Cube, Slither, The Thing, They Live, Mimic, Black Mirror, Outer Limits, The...

Deadline: November 15th, 2020 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: monsters during their middle school years. A Collection of Monsterous Tales Chipper Press is looking for short stories about what life is like for monsters during their middle school years. Do humans know about the monsters? Do they attend school with them? What type of monsters are there? Do they have special classes per species? Do werewolf children get certain days off that trolls don’t? Our readers want a cross between Vampire Academy, Harry Potter, and the School of Night. Our readers want to know what classes are like-when are they held, what subjects do they study, what is the social scene, the sports played, the cliques like? Entertain our readers with complete stories that show more of the action than simply telling and keep the tales PG for the 9-13 year-old-readers, please. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 5,500 and the maximum word count is 19,000. 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: November 15, 2020, with a targeted release date of late January 2021. 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...

Deadline: November 15th, 2020 Payment: $0.01 per word (up to $75.00) + contributor copy Theme: Tales that illuminate, investigate or turn the fairy godmother trope on its head New Tales of Fairy Godmothers Anthologist: Kate Wolford Open for Submissions: September 15 - November 15, 2020 Expected Publication: 2021 Story Length: 4,000 to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word (up to $75.00) + contributor copy Wands, wishes, and wonders. That’s the fairy godmother toolkit, and it’s been catching the imaginations of fairy tale lovers for centuries. But it’s time for some new fairy godmother tales, and that’s where you come in. Use your magic to come up with tales that illuminate, investigate or turn the fairy godmother trope on its head. Origin stories are welcome, but so are stories about fairy godfathers, fairy godparents, mundane godparents who find themselves in magical situations, the beneficiaries (or victims) of fairy godmothering—you get the idea. You can use existing fairy tales for inspiration or create a brand new story. What if Cinderella hates everything the fairy godmother does for her? Or, think about retelling “The Goose Girl” from the horse Falada’s point of view. Can the Giant’s wife in “Jack and the Beanstalk” be seen as a fairy godmother? I’m not just looking for old tales with a bit of retread. There’s a lot of that out there. Subvert the tales. Or just create a completely new tale of wonder and transformation. Stories set outside of dominant, Western culture are very welcome, as are new fairy godmother tales about and by people who aren’t usually represented in “classic” fairy tales. Please understand that we have a strong preference for "own voices" when it comes to tales about non-white people, queer or disabled people, and other marginalized groups. Absolutely none of the following: Sci-fi, dystopian, descriptions of people’s bodies through the...

Deadline: November 15th 2020 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 words Theme: Birds Have Teeth Some people are scared of birds; ornithophobia the professionals call it. We've always enjoyed spotting the local birdlife, that is until a late night discussion that involved the hypothetical question "what if birds had teeth?" The conversation went back and forth, but one thing that we all could agree on was that the addition of razor-sharp fangs would make them truly monstrous. Something worthy of being afraid of... For this collection, we would like you to send us stories that feature birds with teeth. Any birds you like as long as they possess a large set of extra sharp teeth. Thuggish Itch is our horror, sci-fi and speculative fiction collection. Please make sure that your story falls within one of these genres. 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 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: Thuggish Itch - BHT - Story Title. Word count: 1000 - 5000 words Deadline: November 15 2020 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 words Via: Gypsum Sound Tales.

Deadline: November 15th, 2020 Payment: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max, 1¢ per word for reprints Theme: Not locked to a genre and love “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits” Note: Reprints accepted We are a literary magazine of dark fiction, both short stories and flash fiction. We want your best. But then, doesn’t everyone? No specific sub-genres or themes, just good stories. For inspiration, we suggest “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and LampLight, Vol1 Issue 1 which is free. We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling. We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies, cannibals, high fantasy. Writers We have published writers of all backgrounds from all over the world in LampLight, but not everywhere, nor all shapes and sizes of writers. Help us to shine a light on greater diverse writing and keep LampLight a showcase of the best dark fiction out there by submitting and encouraging others to as well. Edition and Rights The quarterly is published as print and ebook, and at the end of the year all the quarterlies are bound together in an annual collection. We are asking for non-exclusive, worldwide, serial rights to your work for both electronic and print. We want to publish it, we don’t want to own it. We will take reprints, provided you have the rights we are asking for. We will not consider reprints that are currently available for free online. If you have already been in LampLight, we ask you wait until the next volume to submit again. Payment We accept originals and reprints up to 7,000 words (firm). Payment in USD. Unpublished Fiction: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max Reprints: 1¢ per word...

Deadline: November 15th, 2020 Payment: $5 USD Theme: "Most" Speculative fiction, read below for specifics. Note: Open only for women-identified authors. Simply follow the schedule below to be notified when we close and open for submissions. Criteria Luna Station Quarterly publishes speculative fiction written by women-identified authors. We think women write awesome characters and really cool stories and we want to show it to the world. We will consider stories submitted by any woman writer, regardless of experience or writing resume. If you consider yourself on the woman end of the gender spectrum in any significant capacity, you’re welcome here! Stuff we want: Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera New Fairy Tales (not retellings) Some creepiness Stories that explore the nooks and crannies of an original world Big events from the everyman perspective Unique settings and storytelling forms Well written stories with strong characters Stuff we don’t want: Anything biased toward any religion, race or moral preference Extreme gore or sexual content, in particular no explicit rape or sexual assault. (everything in moderation) Bizarro fiction Poetry Fan Fiction (original stories only, please) Bad grammar/punctuation (please proofread and watch your sentence structure!) Plagiarism A further note about sex and violence in submissions. Science fiction has a long-standing tradition of pushing boundaries and asking difficult questions. It is meant to challenge us and ask us to look at ourselves and how we treat each other and the world around us. That said, LSQ is centered on uplift and so any story that contains explicit sexual situations or violence especially toward women will be considered more carefully than other stories and the content must be justified within the story’s arch. Format and Details Stories should be 500 to 7000 words in length. We may publish longer or shorter works, but the greater your story is...