Events

Deadline: December 2nd, 2020 Payment: 6 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored.   We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of —...

Submission Period: November 30, 2020 to December 4, 2020 Payment: 12.5 cents per word Theme: Fireside has two goals: to find and publish great stories regardless of genre, and to pay our writers and artists well. Fireside holds a submissions period for each upcoming issue of Fireside Quarterly. In 2020, Fireside will be open to submissions for short stories during the following period: November 30, 2020 to December 4, 2020 Submissions period for the Autumn 2021 Issue During open submissions periods, there will be a form on this page for uploading your submission. We have no further submissions dates to announce for the moment. Please subscribe to our newsletter if you’d like to be the first to find out about our future submissions dates. Guidelines We welcome previously unpublished work (‘published’ includes work posted on Patreon or on a blog) in English or Spanish from all writers anywhere in the world, and we are interested in seeing work from people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, members of religious minorities, and people outside the United States. We strongly encourage submissions from people of those backgrounds, and all others whom traditional publishing has historically excluded. If you have any questions about how to submit, please email us at: [email protected]. (Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread.) Accessibility We use an online form to gather submissions, but we understand that this may not be universally accessible to disabled people. If you have questions related to accessibility, please email us at [email protected] with the subject line: Accessibility Query. Accessibility Queries should only contain a request to submit by alternate means, and should not include a submission. Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread. Short Stories We accept short stories up to 3,000 words. Our budget allows us to pay for up to 7,000 words per...

December 5th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Stories that feature interesting characters finding ways into and out of dangerous situations at a rollicking pace. Submission deadline for CLIFFHANGER Issue 1: Saturday, December 5th, 2020, 11:59pm Editorial decisions: Saturday, April  3rd, 2021 Publication of issue: Saturday, June 5th, 2021 Length: We prefer short, fast paced fiction that tells complete and cohesive narratives. Word Count should fall between 5,000 and 7,000 words with the sweet spot being around 6,000. We do not accept Flash Fiction. Style: We prefer stories that feature interesting characters finding ways into and out of dangerous situations at a rollicking pace. Gratuitous sex and gore is frowned upon, though we recognize that horror and romance have their place in Adventure Fiction. Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in CLIFFHANGER, 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 CLIFFHANGER, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in CLIFFHANGER, 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....

Deadline: December 1st-7th Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. Instructions for submitting to Fantasy Magazine follow. Please read everything on this page and read the magazine before submitting. 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...

Deadline: December 10th, 2020 (Sorry!) Payment: $30 Theme: Weird, scary, and beautiful things that take place in the imaginary town of Bear Creek Welcome to the Bear Creek Gazette Bear Creek is a beautiful town that doesn't exist. The B.C.G is here to document the weird, scary and beautiful things that take place in the town. If you would like to write an article about your time in Bear Creek, please email us at ​ [email protected] ​ What we are looking for; Anything you would find in a regular news portal. So it can be a headline article about a serial killer on the loose, a Sudoku that tells you to kill yourself, a restaurant review that turns into rampant cannibalism or anything in between. While not a strictly horror themed site, I will always gravitate towards the unsettling and weird. Your creative process is entirely up to you, and you can go absolutely wild as far as I am concerned. Think Welcome to Night Vale, The Wicker Man, Twin Peaks and you are on the right track. While writing for a newspaper might seem constricting, this is an extremely strange town and almost anything goes. I aim to be as immersive as possible, so obviously I won’t be able to run 25 of the same type of article. If two people submit cool articles detailing the same sort of thing, only one will get chosen. If this happens I am going to strip naked, staple both pieces onto my body and run through the woods until one falls off. No word limit/image count. Send me anything. Format it however you want. I am not going to reject something because it’s in 48pt Comic Sans. Response time will be between 1 and 2 weeks. This 6 month thing is nonsense...

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 Payment: 2 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: The greatest and most complete travel anthology of (fictional) haunted buildings in the world. Title: Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (2021 edition) Edited by: Charlatan Bardot and Eric J. Guignard Publisher: Dark Moon Books (Los Angeles, CA) Submissions Accepted: November 15–December 15, 2020 Projected Release Date: Summer, 2021 Word Count: Short Stories between approximately 1,500–4,500 words (soft range). Payment: Two (2) cents per word and one contributor copy in each of all published formats. Reprints?: NO Multiple and/or Simultaneous Submissions: YES Response Time: January 15, 2021 (or earlier) Send submissions and queries to: [email protected] ### The greatest and most complete travel anthology of (fictional) haunted buildings in the world is opening soon! Hosted by Professor Charlatan Bardot, PhD, EdD, EJG, and curated by Eric J. Guignard, this book is seeking dark fiction short stories about haunted buildings (excluding houses) around the globe. Consider that, essentially, these are “Haunted House” types of stories, except they are to be set in ANY type of structure that is not a house; i.e. the theme of this book is for haunted buildings or structures that are subject of a fantastic, terrifying, magical, weird, or otherwise thrilling or speculative tale, but that the subject building is not a traditional stick-built/frame residential house. Additionally, these are to be “fictional buildings” (don’t use the Eastern State Penitentiary as the site of your story, but you could use a similar haunted prison modeled off, and named differently than, Eastern State Penitentiary). Use your wildest imagination for these tales of architecture and intrigue—any type of building (excluding traditional houses) is welcome. A haunted igloo? Yes! A possessed Yurt? Totally! Go wild with these tales, but not to the point of silliness. Although the book idea is playful, and I want the stories to be fun, they also should...

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 (Sorry for the short notice!) Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. Baffling Magazine currently publishes two flash story a month on our Patreon. Subsequently, each quarter of published work will be shared for free online on our website. We will publish additional work each month as our Patreon grows and will share those guidelines as we get closer to each milestone. ✷ The compensation level for original stories accepted to Baffling Magazine is $0.08/word. Stories will be published first on our Patreon, then made available in our quarterly issues, and finally in an annual print anthology. Submissions are currently open from December 1-15, 2020. To submit your work, please fill out this form. If you are unable to use the form for any reason, please email us at [email protected] for alternate submission instructions. We are looking for: Wordcount: Under 1,200 words. We would especially love to see more stories under 500 words. What we want to see: We are looking for speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. We want queer stories and we want trans stories and we want aro/ace stories. We want indefinable stories. We welcome weird, slipstream, and interstitial writing. What we don’t want to see: We’re not interested in unexamined bigotry or sexual violence; pieces that include such should be nuanced or looking at the post-event experience of the survivors. Guidelines: Please submit your story in .doc or .docx file, formatted in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format. Use italics for italics etc. One of the editors has a slight aversion to Courier and a fondness for Georgia. Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, and a brief bio. You may include...

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Furry Zombies The Howling Dead Deadline: December 15, 2020 Editor: Cedric G! Bacon Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable The horror...the funky horror! Zombies have been a part of our cultural zeitgeist for decades, from each Night and Dawn and into the Day of the Living Dead, on up to the ones who Walk, Thurston Howl Publications is proud to add to the with their first “furry zombie” anthology, THE HOWLING DEAD! Your zombies can be the shambling Romero variety, the more comedic, or the more horrific, let your hungry imagination be satiated! Please note we are a progressive press and do not publish any conservative works. At least one major character must be furry. We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it. We will not accept simultaneous submissions. Payment: Authors will receive 10 USD per story. We will inform all authors regarding decisions within a week or two after the deadline. Via: Weasel Press's Submittable.

Deadline: December 21st, 2020 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: In this story collection, the games are taking over and they’re out for blood. Open submissions being accepted for “It’s All Fun and Games Until Somebody Dies” 11/1/20 - 12/21/20 D&T Publishing proudly presents “It’s All Fun and Games Until Somebody Dies.” We all know the games. The ones we played as kids. The ones we all have fond memories of, crowded around a kitchen table with family, piled in the floor with friends around the TV, or standing in front of the flashing lights of an arcade game. The games that when we look back at our childhood, we have at least one memory of. But what if, those games turned sinister? What if they were real and out for revenge? In this story collection, the games are taking over and they’re out for blood. Specific information: - Accepting stories of 3,000-5,000 words about being killed in or by a game. - It can be a board or video game, game show or virtual reality. Do not use any actual games or a closely related premise to any current/past games. They must be new ideas and concepts. If they are too closely related, they will not be accepted. - Single spaced, 12 pt., Times New Roman preferred. Clean and edited copy, as much as possible. Submit in .doc or .docx format. Please, no weird fonts or spacing. Email it 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. If you are using a pen name, please include your real name, as well. - For your email, please use “Games” as the subject. - Acceptance emails will be sent...

Deadline: December 24th, 2020 Payment: 50% of net profits Theme: Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Romance, LGBT-themed, Adventure, Paranormal/Occult, Comedy, Historical, Portal Fiction, A blend of any two or more of the above genres, Cross-genre, mixed genre, or things that don't fit genre norms, Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children's (please specify your target market in your query letter) We are an independent Canadian press of escapism fiction for all ages  and we are passionate about success. We partner with our authors to make the books we produce the best they can be and aim to market them together for maximum exposure.  We're proud to be able to offer our books as both paperbacks and e-books. We offer higher royalties than the industry standard  (50% of net profits), author copies at wholesale rate, and worldwide distribution. We respond to all queries we receive within six to eight weeks with a personal response, including suggestions on how to improve your manuscript even if it is not the right fit for us, so there is no need to send a follow-up inquiry. We also promise never to charge our authors for any part of the publishing process, and there is no fee to submit.    Please note: We are a traditional style publishing house, NOT a vanity press, which means we DO NOT charge our authors ANYTHING to publish with us. We proudly support our authors in every way we can and we gladly pay them royalties on every sale.  We're looking for Escapism Fiction... Our goal is to provide readers with the ability to escape the mundane through wildly creative fiction. We're looking for books that act as gateways to other worlds, times, or versions of reality. We prefer strong story telling, engaging openings, and compelling character development as well as imaginative settings, vivid world building, and interesting themes. If your manuscript transports a reader...