Events

Deadline: February 14th, 2021 Payment: £50.00 plus a contributor's copy Theme: SF from residents living in the UK or British ex-pats Best of British Science Fiction 2020 is now open to submissions. Series editor Donna Scott is seeking the very best short stories written by British authors that were first published during 2020. For our purposes, 'British' means authors who are resident in the UK or British ex-pats who currently live elsewhere. Please bear in mind that this is a reprint market and we are not interested in original stories in this instance; nor do we wish to see self-published stories. Also, we are looking specifically for Science Fiction with this one; fantasy and other flavours of genre will not be considered. There is no specific limit on a story's length, though anything over 10,000 words will be a tough sell. This is a paying market, with successful authors receiving payment of 1p a word up to a maximum of £50.00 plus a contributor's copy of each edition of the book. Submissions will close on February 14th 2021. Submissions should be sent to: [email protected] Send us your very best. We look forward to seeing your work, and Good Luck! Via: Newcon Press.

Deadline: February 15th, 2021 Payment: $130, and 2 print copies Theme: Non-fiction, true crime accounts featuring lawbreaking couples who have joined forces to commit crime I’m seeking original true crime stories for the fourth volume in my true crime franchise. What I’m looking for: Non-fiction, true crime accounts featuring lawbreaking couples who have joined forces to commit crime. These couples can be married, domestic partners, or lovers. Stories can take place anywhere in the world and be from any time period. I’m interested in material covering a wide range of criminal activity. First-person accounts are especially welcome from writers with a connection to their cases. Add something new to the story, a different viewpoint or angle. What makes these people tick? Material must be meticulously fact-checked before submission, including dates, names, locations, etc. This is a non-fiction book, so it’s imperative that everything is 100% correct. To get an idea of the quality and variety of material I accept, please refer to the previous books in The Best New True Crime Stories series. Criminal subjects already covered in these volumes cannot be considered. New material only; no reprints or fiction. Important: Writers should contact me in the first instance with a brief pitch for their story idea. I select material on an on-going basis; those who submit work in advance of the deadline usually have better chance of acceptance. 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 one month following publication. (Preferred payment method: PayPal.) For: Non-exclusive rights, with one-year’s exclusivity from date of publication. Deadline for submissions: February 15, 2021 Email: TheBestNewTrueCrimeStories @ gmail.com (not case-sensitive) Submission requirements: Format: double-spaced Arial 12-point Word document (sent as attachment). Do not indent paragraphs; instead enter one space between them. No irregular spacing between words or sentences. Absolutely no footnotes or endnotes....

Deadline: February 15th, 2021 Payment: $5 USD Theme: "Most" Speculative fiction, read below for specifics. Note: Open only for women-identified authors. Note: Reprints considered if at least 3 years old 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...

Deadline: February 20th, 2021 Payment: £40 Theme: Stories featuring queerness in a broad sense. This includes perspectives from LGBTQIA+ characters, but also queering of gender and sexuality in a more abstract sense. Current call for submissions: queer Gothic short stories (open until February 20th, 2021) What we’re looking for Nyx Publishing is seeking queer Gothic short stories for a sequel to our Unspeakable anthology. We are seeking short stories between 100 and 8,000 words. (We won’t delete your submission if your story is 8,010 words, but do please try to keep to the target length.) We welcome submissions featuring queerness in a broad sense. This includes perspectives from LGBTQIA+ characters, but also queering of gender and sexuality in a more abstract sense. Our anthologies are explicitly trans-inclusive. We do not require our authors to out themselves or disclose their gender or sexuality to us or anyone else. Pen names or anonymous credits are fine (although we do need your information to sign the contract – which we will not share with anyone). We love tried-and-true Gothic tropes such as crumbling castles, sketchy families, superstition, confusion over what is real or not, occultism, blurring between life and death. We also love fresh interpretations of the Gothic. Send us your gloomy retellings, genre-mash-ups, or experimental writing. Vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beasties are welcome. We highly recommend looking through Unspeakable to see what kind of stories we publish. If you are interested in submitting a story, please do get in touch, and we will send you a PDF of Unspeakable free of cost (no further evidence is needed). Erotic content is fine, but we don’t seek erotica for this call. The fine print Nyx Publishing is pursuing world-wide publishing rights of your short story in English for a limited time, for print, digital, and audiobook. We offer a flat rate of £40 for a...

Deadline: February 25th, 2021 Payment: $0.08 per word and 3 contributors copies Theme: 1986 OVERVIEW The Dread Machine seeks submissions for our first annual anthology. Our theme this year is 1986. Submissions close on February 25th. THEME Do you remember a time before the internet? Before we each carried a lifeline in our pockets? Before security cameras documented everything? Back when parents didn’t worry about their kids until after the street lights popped on? Do you remember how it felt to step into the neon-lit arcade on a Friday night, your pockets heavy with quarters? For our very first anthology, we’re seeking dread-inspiring stories that take place in 1986—either the 1986 of our reality or an alternate version. Bring us back to a simpler, scarier time. Let’s make something radical together. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES + All submissions must inspire dread. Genre definitions tend to be subjective, so we encourage you to become familiar with the stories we’ve published here to get an idea of what sort of content we’re seeking. + All submissions must be original, unpublished, and between 3,000 and 10,000 words. + Authors are permitted to submit multiple stories, but none may be simultaneously submitted anywhere else. PAYMENT Authors whose stories are accepted for publication will receive payment ($0.08 per word), a free copy of the premium hardcover, and two free copies of the paperback. SUBMISSION FORM Via: The Dread Machine.

Deadline: February 25th, 2021 Prizes: Grand prize: Anthology inclusion and ¢.5 per word CAD (half a cent), with a max of $15 plus a one-time royalty bonus payment, Runner up: One time $7.00 (CAD) payment Theme: Wendigos Note: Do not submit to this market until February 1st, 2021. This is being listed early due to the short submission window. Submissions Open: 1st - 25th of the Month Responses will be completed by the 15th of the next month. Example: January theme opens January 1 and closes end of day Jan 25. You will have a response back by February 15th. HORROR Theme: HORROR - Although the monthly theme will change, the running theme for this year’s monthly contest will be MONSTERS! ​ January: Faeries February: Wendigos  - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo March: Djinn/Jinn/Genies  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn ​​ Word count: 1500 - 3000 with some wiggle room above the limit. Not under. ​ Top Two Stories: Will be accepted into the "Best Of" Anthology released early 2022 Payment: Flat rate payment ¢.5 per word CAD (half a cent), with a max of $15 plus a one-time royalty bonus payment based on six months of sales. Runner Up: Will have their story and bio featured on our website and blog. Payment: One time $7.00 (CAD) payment ​ Who can submit? Open to the public ​ Reprints? No ​ Multiple Submission? No 💀 Only one submission per month per author ​ Formatting: Put your name, email, and title on the top of the manuscript. Please use 12 pt Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, set auto-indent new paragraphs. Title your manuscript "Title of Story - Theme and month" Example "The Ring of Death - Faeries January" ​ How to submit? Submit via the FORM - Which will open on January 1, 2021 IF you have issues with the form, please email your manuscript to [email protected] Title your email the same as the manuscript Via: Eerie River Publishing.

Deadline: January 25th 2021 to February 27th 2021 Payment: .07 AUD per word Theme: Dark stories that span SFF and the horror genre with elements from eac The horror and grimdark genres are like the two cousins who sneak away from parties to set fire to things. These genres often go hand in hand, such as in books like The Aching God by Mike Shel or The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. These books have fantasy and horror elements that mash together to create grim stories that cant be classified in either genre.  With that in mind, GdM is doing a horror / grimdark SFF crossover for our July 2021 issue. Already we have a commitment from horror master Paul Tremblay for an interview and will be adding in some great names in the next couple of months.  I am looking forward to bringing this mashup to readers.  WHAT WE ARE BUYING FOR ISSUE #27 For this submittal, we are looking for dark stories that span SFF and the horror genre with elements from each. Thus, this issue will be entirely horror grimdark content-focused. Anything not meeting expectations here will get an auto-rejection–please don’t send stories outside our ballpark. Our definition of “grimdark” is simply a grim story told in a dark world by a morally grey protagonist. Anti-heroes, antagonists turned protagonists, doing wrong for the right reasons or right for the wrong reasons, showing that evil is a matter of perspective—this is what I’ll be after to sell to our readers. As an SFF publication, we also prefer either medieval fantasy settings or near-to-far future SF settings. Urban fantasy is generally a hard sell. For the horror aspects of the stories, any horror genre will be looked at save for splatterpunk horror.  I encourage submissions from authors from the underrepresented parts...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: Royalties Theme: All poetry welcome in this edition, no set theme. Note: Reprints welcome Deadline – February 28th, 2021 Publication – June 2021 Word Count – 2,000 word count minimum (not line count) Theme – All poetry pieces are welcome. There is no theme.   * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Important information Maximum of two submissions per anthology per author. Authors can submit to all anthologies simultaneously. Reprints from third party sources accepted IF author currently holds full rights. We will not...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Fairy Tales - choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new. Upon a Once Time Theme: Fairy Tales - choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new. Stories may be of any genre as long as they incorporate two fairy tales. We are open to Grimdark, New Weird, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dying Earth and genre bending/breaking. All stories are requested to be between 1000 and 3000 words in length. How to submit: Email your story to Air and Nothingness Press. Submissions open July 1, 2020 and close February 28, 2021. Remember, when submitting to the 'Upon a Once Time' open call be sure to tell us what two fairy tales you are working with and what genre you have chosen. Fairy tales can be from any of our world's diverse cultures, in fact we encourage that. A mash of a western and an asian or african faiy tale exploring the multicultural symbols unique to each story and then integrated into the genre choice but subverting it ... a tall order we know for our word count but authors are amazing and surprising in their talents. Explore, create, take a chance and show us your fireworks. Download a PDF of the full submission information. We are seeking stories for an anthology to be published in the Spring/Summer of 2021 by the Air and Nothingness Press. Theme: Fairy Tales - choose two of your favorite fairy tales, and a genre of your choice, and mash them up to make something new. Stories may be of any genre as long as they incorporate two fairy...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: Royalties and contributor's copy Theme: Dreamland Edited by Sophie Essex For publication mid-2021 Submissions close: 28th February 2021 Dreamland embodies the disconnect between reality and the subconscious, between the desire for meaning and the need for escape, between the too-blue sky and the abyss. Dreamland is chaotic gorgeousity. Seeking: Stories up to 8k words from female identifying writers. Stories that embrace the other: the weird, the transgressive, the uncanny & the strange, the oddness in this world and elsewhere, the surreal. Stories that displace, unsettle, and unnerve. Stories that are subtly subversive in their power. Whilst the other might be considered supernatural, this anthology will not be exclusively so. The other can come in many forms. Think Leonora Carrington, Meret Oppenheim, Anna Kavan, Clarice Lispector, Camilla Grudova, Shirley Jackson, Unica Zurn, Björk, Cocteau Twins, Claire Denis, Dorothea Tanning, Helen Marshall, Catherynne M. Valente, Claude Cahun Any genre. No theme. We are not seeking stories set in ‘dreamland’. No simultaneous submissions. No reprints. You will receive a contributor copy and a percentage of net royalties. Submissions should be sent with a covering email to [email protected] Via: Black Shuck Books.