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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...

Deadline: February 28, 2021 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Stories about witches that take place in the Southern United States Good Southern Witches Curious Blue Press is a new independent publisher of fantasy and horror fiction and occult nonfiction. Curious Blue Press’s first open submission call is for its Good Southern Witches short story anthology. Your story should be a complete and satisfying tale of magic. Light, dark, humorous, serious, all okay, just nothing too experimental, sexy, or violent. The story should take place in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, or West Virginia, OR at least prominently feature a character or characters from one of these settings. Avoid the explained supernatural: If Velma pulls off the villain’s rubber mask, there should be a real witch beneath it. If your witch isn't good, make sure your witch is good at it. You and your characters may be of any race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender expression. To avoid cultural appropriation, you are encouraged to write from your own culture. 2K to 5K words. A little over, a little under is fine. Stories due February 28, 2021. New stories only, no reprints. Payment is $25/story (upon acceptance) plus a physical copy of the anthology. The author will, of course, retain the copyright, but Curious Blue Press will require exclusivity of six months after publication date. Author will be required to sign an agreement granting Curious Blue Press the right to include story in the Good Southern Witches anthology and guaranteeing the story has not been published previously. A word for anyone who hasn’t experienced the editing process: If your story is selected—unless you’re the reincarnation of Shirley Jackson—you will receive suggested edits via Word’s “Track Changes” function. You may reject the edits, but, if the edit...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Mashing up two fairy tales and a genre of the author's choice December 4, 2020: We are announcing an open call submission for Upon a Twice Time. This book is the follow-up anthology to Upon a Once Time (2020), and will follow the same theme of seeking 1000-3000 word stories mashing up two fairy tales and a genre of the author's choice. Stories previously submitted to Upon a Once Time and declined will not be accepted a second time. We have revised some of our policies to taken into consideration comments from previous authors who submitted. Dates are as follows: December 4, 2020 - January 1, 2021 - Announcement of the open call January 1 - February 28, 2021 - The submission period March 1 - 31, 2021 - Review period Download the complete OC submission PDF here. General Submission Information We like to seek out new authors and book ideas ourselves rather than be contacted directly because we are a small, self-funded press, and only publish 4 books a year. We usually offer open call submissions on anthologies we decide to do, or we contact authors directly if we have particular needs. Ideal story lengths are between 1000-3000 words. We pay upon $0.08/word for the stories we publish. All of our books are limited editions of between 100 and 125 copies and we prefer to print physical books over creating ebooks. If, however, you are familiar with the sort of books we publish and you have a smashingly provocative collection of stories, a unique novella or a spectacular novel you think we might be intersted in (mostly Science Fiction, Space Opera, Dying Earth, Fantasy, Mythology, Hard SF, New Weird, Air/Steam/Atom punk), please contact us with your idea, writing samples and a brief bio, and we will be...

Magician stand on rock with river and sci-fi city at night. Digital painting Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: $0.01 per word + contributor copy Theme: ​Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls: Cyberpunk Fairy Tales Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls: Cyberpunk Fairy Tales Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Open for Submissions: February 1 - 28, 2021 Expected Publication: 2022 Story Length: up to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word + contributor copy Simultaneous submissions = okay. Multiple submissions = no. For this, the third installment of Punked Up Fairy Tales, we are excited to mash the world of cyberpunk together with fairy tales and see what sort of magic results. Embracing the high-tech/low-life aspect of cyberpunk will give these stories both the sleek coolness of futuristic technology and the grittiness of traditional fairy tales. Give me a story of Rapunzel trapped in a tower of circuits rather than stones, of trolls who live under bridges as well as those who do their work behind a keyboard — or whatever passes for a keyboard in the future. What if Snow White was a computer and the apple a virus? What if Hansel and Gretel were hackers following digital breadcrumbs? Or Cinderella was a program who must stop running by midnight or else? Don't rely exclusively on imaginative technology to make your story stand out in a crowd — make sure you nail all the other important parts of a story as well. Plot. Character. Setting. You know the list. Original fairy tales are welcome, as are retellings. If you choose to retell a familiar favourite, make sure your story offers something new and interesting. I’d rather see stories that reflect the long history of fairy tales as social commentary than those which simply tell the same story with a different setting. I am excited to read stories set all...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: $25 dollars and a 33 ⅓ % royalty, split between the writers, and a contributors copy Theme: A story based on the theme of any Ramones song “WELL, I THINK WE'RE THE GREATEST ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD.." - JOEY RAMONE Formed in 1974, the Ramones were one of the quintessential punk bands. Fast, loud, and in your face, they captured the anger and ennui of a generation.  Teenagers for decades have identified with the themes in their quick, sparse lyrics and driving music. Ramones wrote anthems for the disaffected. We want fiction that reflects that. What we're looking for: Pick a song title (seriously, the Ramones have 13 studio albums of original material to pick from). Use the song as an outline or use it as the theme of the story. Make sure there is some kind of connection to the original song. Lots of people want to write "Somebody Put Something in My Drink". What can you do with "I Just Want to Have Something to Do" or "Rockaway Beach?" Keep it punk and keep it stripped down: 2k to 4k words only. Preference is for clean narratives. This is punk storytelling. Don't over intellectualize it. We're not looking for stories that specifically feature the Ramones and they don't have to be set in the '70s or '80s either. Submissions will open on January 1, 2021 and close on February 28, 2021. Send all submissions to [email protected] as either .doc, .docx, or .rtf. Don't worry about formatting, but make it easy to read. No weird fonts. What you get if we pick up your story: $25 dollars and a 33 ⅓ % royalty, split between the writers. A contributor's copy Why? 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the last Ramones concert, and we...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: $0.01/word (1 cent a word) USD for fiction and $5 per poem Theme: Speculative fiction and poetry—science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but also compelling work that blurs the lines between these and falls outside of neat genre categories. Kaleidotrope publishes predominantly speculative fiction and poetry—science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but also compelling work that blurs the lines between these and falls outside of neat genre categories. Man does not live on space ships, elves, and ghostly ax murderers alone, after all. We’d suggest looking through the archives to familiarize yourself with the zine, and/or checking out other work by our past contributors, to get a sense of what we’re looking for and what we like. We are also interested in publishing diverse writers. Kaleidotrope welcome writers of color and other groups, as well as work that represents the diversity of characters we want to see more of. Fiction We have no minimum or maximum word count but strongly prefer stories over 250 words and under 10,000. Poetry We consider all forms. However, individual haiku, or other very short poems, may be a tougher sell. Artwork We are looking for primarily full-color illustrations to serve as cover art. We currently do not commission new cover artwork or pieces to appear with individual stories and poems. The best way to submit artwork is to email a link to your online portfolio or gallery, though you may also send individual pieces for consideration. Reprints Kaleidotrope does not consider fiction or poetry reprints. This includes work that has appeared on your personal website or in public online forums. We do, however, consider artwork that has appeared in online galleries or elsewhere, provided you own the copyright to the piece and any characters depicted therein. (Sorry, no fan-art.) Rights For fiction and poetry, we buy...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word (USD), plus a pro-rata share of 50% of royalties. Theme: Completed speculative stories about positive queer possibility The basics Editors: Isabela Oliveira (she/her) and Jed Sabin (they/them) Deadline: Saturday, February 27th, at 9pm Pacific Length: We've set the upper limit at 15,000 words to allow for flexibility, but most acceptances are likely to be under 7,000 words. There is no minimum. Rate: We pay 8 cents per word (USD), plus a pro-rata share of 50% of royalties. Simultaneous submissions: No, please do not submit an original (non-reprint) story anywhere else while we are considering it. Multiple submissions: Yes, you may submit up to 3 stories to us at once. There is no limit on total number of submissions as long as there are not more than 3 under consideration at one time. Reprints: We will consider previously published stories, including those that have been self-published online. Reprints are paid at the same rate as originals. Audio rights must be available. Identity statements: We do not require or expect authors to disclose their identities to us, and if authors do choose to share their identities, we will not disclose that information to others without permission. We encourage submissions from authors who have never submitted their fiction to a paid market before, and we've tried to develop these guidelines to be clear to those who aren't familiar with industry norms. Please don't hesitate to submit for fear of doing it wrong, and feel free to contact us here with questions or accessibility requests. Content guidelines We are looking for completed speculative stories about positive queer possibility, written in English, which do not use intellectual property currently under copyright by someone other than the author. Stories may feature near-future social and political change, far-future imaginings of new societies, alternate universes with completely different systems of gender and...

Deadline: February 28th, 2021 Payment: $0.03 per word and inclusion in an anthology Theme: Clowns, Carnivals, and Sideshows! Note: Apologies for the quick deadline, I missed this being posted Your March theme is... Clowns, Carnivals and Sideshows! Authors, you have up to 1,000 words to write a Dark Fiction / Horror story based on this theme. The submission deadline is end of February at midnight. Please send your submission in the body of an email to [email protected], with the title of your story as the subject email. Payment includes $0.03 per word, publication in an upcoming Shallow Waters anthology, and an author spotlight on our Patreon page and newsletter. We'll post the best stories here on Patreon for our $5 and higher patrons to read, after which they'll vote for the winner. Authors are not allowed to vote for their own stories. Have fun! Via: Crystal Lake Publishing's Patreon.