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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 + All submissions must be original, unpublished, and between 3,000 and 10,000 words.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.

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: 3¢ per word for fiction and 25 cents per line for poetry Theme: Habitats. Sustainable habitats, in tune with their surroundings. Triangulation will open for submissions on December 1, 2020. We are Parsec Ink’s speculative fiction anthology, since 2003. We’re looking for outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror–from new and established writers. We are continuing to tackle environmental issues as we did with Triangulation: Dark Skies (about light pollution) and Triangulation: Extinction (about the loss of biodiversity). Tell us a story we won’t forget. Theme: Triangulation: Habitats. Sustainable habitats, in tune with their surroundings. Show us places we want to live that never existed or that we don’t know ever existed. Past, present, and future domiciles for humans, aliens, and fantasy creatures. Ideally, the story plot will hinge on the habitat design. Let us hear about a new way to live, thriving, not merely surviving. What does it mean to live sustainably in outer space, underground, in the sea, floating in the atmosphere? What does sustainability look like in a fantasy setting? Is the mana running out? Eye of newt getting scarce? Gnomes in the septic system? Consider an Earthship, a faerie mound, a hobbit house, a generation starship where everything is recycled, a living starship where humans live in symbiosis with their environment, a forest city, a treehouse on Yggdrasil. What will Biosphere 3 look like? A research station on Mars? The first or thirty-first lunar colony? Flying houses. Tiny houses. Ultrasmart houses. Longhouses. Cave dwellings, cliff dwellings, teepees, igloos, tents, yurts, polystyrene dome homes, sandbag homes, straw bale homes. Moated castles with crenelated battlements, slitted archery windows, double walls, drawbridges, spiral staircases curved to put a right-handed attacker at a disadvantage. Spires, minarets, secret passages, dungeons, wells, narrow twisty streets in a surrounding...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: .01 cents per word Theme: The twisted side of love Heartbreak. Obsession. Grief. Jealousy. Love can turn tainted, even cruel. Picture the ghost who won’t stop haunting the man who jilted her. The husband who will go to gruesome lengths to keep his wife alive. The stalker who’d rather kill her victims than face their rejection. Dark Hearts will be an anthology of stories exploring the twisted side of love. We’re looking for stories that jump off the page. Stories that chill, shock or disturb us. Stories that move us or make us laugh… grimly. Length: Anything between 1,000 – 6,000 words. Payment: 0.01 USD per word via PayPal. Publication: E-book and print. Deadline: 28th February 2021 We accept simultaneous submissions but no reprints please. Multiple submissions not accepted. Email your submission as a Word document to [email protected] with “Dark Hearts ” in the subject line. Include an author bio of approx. 50 words plus 1-2 links. Please see our Submission Guidelines for more information on formatting. Via: Ghost Orchid Press.

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: $175 Theme: Fantasy and macabre tales set between 1930 all the way to the 1980s in San Cicaro, California The San Cicaro Series Returns This winter season, Thunderbird Studios is opening its doors to another round of stories for their “Decades of San Cicaro” project. This new anthology will continue the tradition of unusual fantasy and macabre tales in the “Jewel of California.” As before, we’re looking for tales of urban fantasy, magical realism, the weird, the dark and the hopeful. But unlike the prior anthologies, we’re unlocking the past. You’ll have to add a bit of historical fiction to the mix, with stories taking place between 1930 all the way to the 1980s. Get ready for the most challenging submission window yet. Details: Stories should take place in the city of San Cicaro between the years of 1930 to 1980. Submitted short stories should have a minimum of around 5,000 words up to a soft limit of 8,000 words. We can go as high as 10,000 but will be looking to whittle that down. Formatting should follow William-Shunn guidelines. Aside from editing and proofreading your work, the editors will also make very minor changes to fit your tale into San Cicaro itself. We may recommend street names, slightly modify passages to mention landmarks, or other such continuity tweaks. Researching and mentioning landmarks and places from prior anthologies goes a long way to impressing us. It takes work off our plates and helps connect the experiences.  Authors will be compensated with a one-time payment of $175, with retroactive bonuses. If we do a fourth San Cicaro anthology and increase the payrate, you will be given a bonus to match it. We’ve done this for the authors of Welcome to San Cicaro and The San Cicaro Experience.  The open call will be between December 7th, 2020...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word for original fiction. 10k words = $100. 0.5 cents per word for reprints., 50 cents per line for poetry. Theme: Original horror and dark fantasy stories, poems, and images (paintings, drawings, etc). Most types of horror and dark fantasy are welcome but we do prefer the work have a science fiction or otherwise cosmic philosophical leaning. Note: Reprints Allowed Note: Opens January 1st, 2021 Cosmic Horror Monthly is a horror and dark fantasy magazine edited by Charles Tyra. Submission Period *SUBMISSIONS WILL OPEN SOON* – Submission period is yearly from January 1st – February 28th SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Instructions: All fiction must be submitted via email to [email protected]. When submitting, you may paste the entire story in the body of the email or attach a Microsoft Word file. For artwork, please put a link to the gallery/pieces in the body of the email along with any relevant background information. Attachments are acceptable only when submitting individual artwork for consideration. Acceptable file formats are JPG, PNG. Guidelines Please only submit ORIGINAL work. Cosmic-Horror is seeking original horror and dark fantasy stories, poems, and images (paintings, drawings, etc). Most types of horror and dark fantasy are welcome but we do prefer the work have a science fiction or otherwise cosmic philosophical leaning. If you aren’t sure if your work qualifies, submit it and we can decide. No subject is off-limits and we do encourage writers to try and push the status quo. A writer may submit as many stories as they like, but please only submit a single story once. Every email will be checked! Word Count: We are open to stories of 1000-7500 words. Stories of 5000 words or less are preferred. Payment 1 cent per word for original fiction. 10k words = $100 0.5...