Events

Deadline: June 6th, 2021 Payment: 2 contributors copies Theme: Current/former prisoners may submit work on any topic. Prison volunteers, family, friends, and staff should submit only work on memories, perspectives, or insights related to mass incarceration. Note: This call is for current/former prisoners, current/former prison volunteers, family and friends of prisoners, and current/former prison staff Call For Submissions Submission Guidelines (Link to website) We are currently accepting submissions of short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, one-act plays, cartoons/comics, graphic stories, and art for Issue 6. Submission Deadline: June 06, 2021 Who Can Submit  We welcome submissions from current/former prisoners, current/former prison volunteers, family and friends of prisoners, and current/former prison staff. Current/former prisoners may submit work on any topic. Prison volunteers, family, friends, and staff should submit only work on memories, perspectives, or insights related to mass incarceration. How to Submit  To accommodate prisoners who do not have computer and/or internet access, we accept both electronic and mail-in submissions. Additionally, we accept both typed and handwritten work. There is no submission fee. Please see the guidelines below for each category. Please use the attached coversheet and include your entire submission in a single email or envelope. Manuscripts and art will be returned only with a self-addressed and stamped envelope or mailing tube. We prefer to receive digital images (jpg, png, pdf) of the original art rather than the art itself, but we will accept either. *In order to be considered for publication, cover letter/consent form must be completed in its entirety (Included in Submittable Electronic Form). If you do not have access to a copy of the cover sheet, please include a handwritten/typed letter with title, genre, consent to proofreading and/or structure edits, and incarceration status.  Payment/Gift for Accepted Work  Two contributor copies, prison policy permitting. *Arizona State Prison policy prohibits gifting or paying...

Submission Window: June 1st-7th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. Note: This is an early listing to give you some time to plan ahead for next month or to remember to finish revising your story for the upcoming month! Note: We are trusting that the submission windows listed in the ongoing call are valid for this publisher. If they are not, please let us know and we'll look into revising accordingly. 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...

Deadline: June 9th, 2021 Payment: $40 and a contributor's copy Theme: Horror deep under horror Do you want your story to appear in the next volume of the Better Off Dead Series? IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE: Volume 6 Submission Guidelines ​ Please read carefully. Submissions that don't meet the guidelines will be automatically rejected. ​ All submissions will be reviewed after the submission deadline and chosen stories will be published in IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE- TALES OF THE DARK DEEP - The Better Off Dead Series Volume 6, which will be released December 6th, 2021. Submissions must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words (Word counts are firm) Title, submitter's name, pen name (if different), story word count and author email address must be centered at the top of your submission Submissions must be written using American English spelling and terminology Submissions must be written in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1" margins, double spaced with a special first line indention of 0.3" Submissions must not contain headers, footers or page numbers All scene breaks must be three asterisks, centered, with no spaces in between (***) Submissions must be in .Docx or .Doc format Submissions should be clean and edited to the best of author's ability Submissions must fit the theme of the Dark Deep and should be centered around bodies of water and anything connected to them, such as sea creatures, mysterious disappearances, pirates, the Bermuda Triangle, etc, and must be written in the horror genre. Submissions cannot contain graphic sexual or rape scenes Submissions must not have been published elsewhere before in any medium The number of stories published will depend on word count of the chosen stories, but will be no less than ten stories and no more than twenty Authors may submit as many...

Deadline: June 9th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word, 4 cents a word for reprints Theme: 100-word stories of science fiction General Submissions will be OPEN May 10, 2021 – June 9, 2021 Martian magazine publishes drabbles, stories of exactly 100 words (excluding title). Stories submitted of greater than or less than 100 words will be rejected. We use Google Docs to determine word count. We publish science fiction. Every subgenre of science fiction is acceptable but the science fiction element must be present. Submitted works must be stories. They must have a beginning, middle, and at least hint at the end. They may be 100 words, but we are not interested in thoughts or feelings without action or characters that don’t do anything. We will have set reading periods each year. Submissions will only be read in those reading periods. Stories sent outside of the reading periods will not be read unless they were specifically solicited by the editor. We pay .08 per word for original fiction, paid on publication of the selected work. Reprints are accepted and paid at .04 per word, half that of original fiction. We accept simultaneous submissions. Just please let us know if your work was selected elsewhere if we have not yet gotten back to you. We accept multiple submissions-up to three at a time, sent as separate emails. We will respond within two weeks with either a rejection or hold request. The rights we ask for are first-time world electronic rights for original fiction and non-exclusive reprint rights for reprints. We do not have an exclusivity period, you are free to sell your work as a reprint upon publication in Martian. We publish a yearly anthology gathering the work from the previous year. This anthology will be published in digital ebook and print. We also ask for the...

Deadline: June 14th, 2021 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Doppelgängers If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 72.) Doppelgängers II; deadline 14th June !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story to us, you are...

Deadline: June 14th, 2021 Payment: Contributor's copy Theme: something got out Note: My apologies for the short window, only saw the open call on it this morning No Bad Books Press is pleased to announce its first anthology call for submissions. We expect publication in September 2021. The name of the Anthology is "Released" and the theme is, "something got out." SUBMISSION DETAILS Submission Deadline: June 14, 2021 Word Count: 1,500-4,000 Guidelines: Please keep it into a speculative-fiction world or theme. Please don’t include anything that involves rape, violence for the sake of violence, erotica, abuse of animals or children. Explicit language is fine in moderation as are mild-sexual scenes. Author compensation: You will receive a physical copy of the anthology, an e-book copy, authors will retain the rights to their stories after 6 months, and receive our undying support and appreciation. Submit submission in the email body (no attachments) to [email protected] Via: No Bad Books Press.

Deadline: June 15th, 2021 Prizes: 1st place: $700, 2nd place: $200, 3rd place: $100 Theme: Engaging and original stories in the Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror realm The Contest $1000 short story contest instructions: Deadline June 15th Deadline: June 15th Word Limit: 5000 words (if you're a few words over, that's fine). All genres accepted. Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror smiled upon. 1st place: $700 and publication in the journal. 2nd place: $200 and publication in the journal. 3rd place: $100 and publication in the journal. HOW TO SUBMIT: Email your stories to: submissions (at) muddypawpress (dot) com The subject of your email should read: CONTEST: title of story  e.g. CONTEST: The Dirty Dog . Include your name and contact information on page 1. No reprints. Original, unpublished work only. Guidelines We're not going to waste your time with obscure and lengthy guidelines, and we hope you won't waste ours by neglecting to read these brief tips. If it's not already clear, we're primarily seeking engaging and original stories in the Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror realm. That said, we're looking for fiction that has literary merit above all else. Share a story with us that's demanding to see the light of day. Give us a conflict that's cannot be ignored; give us a character that commands attention; give us a novel situation or a compelling predicament or a totally unique angle on a familiar trope. Send us a good piece of fiction and we'll figure out everything else later. Edit your manuscript. Gaping plot holes, typos, mistakes, and cliched writing is certain to be rejected. No idea is clever enough to overpower bad or unpolished writing. We cannot stress this enough: edit your manuscript. Hyper analyze your first page. Then, hyper analyze your first chapter. There's an overwhelmingly high chance that our editors will recognize within...

Deadline: June 19th, 2021 Payment: $10 for short fiction, $5 for poetry Theme: Dark fiction, horror, sci-fi/horror, speculative horror, creature feature, suspense, thriller, weird horror, cosmic horror, and crime. Note: Apologies for the short notice, just stumbled across this on Twitter. Originally for a magazine, this call was turned into an anthology release Active: June 5-19 Expected Release: Fall or early Winter Will be accepting up to 10-13 pieces, mostly short fiction but some poetry, as well. Compensation: $10 for short fiction, $5 for poetry – USD sent via Paypal, Venmo, or Cash apps prior to publication / Accepted authors will be able to purchase physical copies of the anthology at print cost and shipping (usually a few dollars cheaper this way) We’re looking for variations of dark fiction, horror, sci-fi/horror, speculative horror, creature feature, suspense, thriller, weird horror, cosmic horror, and crime. We do not want: romance/erotica fiction or poetry … fanfiction … excessive amounts of sex … excessive blood/gore without substance to the story … descriptive sequences of rape … racist or homophobic content that serves no purpose to the story (and even if it does, we may determine it’s too much for this publication to be accepted) … religious pieces (nothing preachy or promoting an agenda) Word Count (Short Fiction): 1500-7000 (some flexibility) Word Count (Poetry): Under 1000 (firm) Be aware #1: Content warnings will be placed in the back of the magazine that will note such things as “rape” or “child abuse.” If you refuse to allow us to include a content warning in the back pages of our magazine, your story will not be accepted. Please read this article if content warnings are foreign to you. Be aware #2: We are supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community. We want stories from all, regardless of race, cultural background, sexual orientation, or identification. Be aware #3: We most likely...

Deadline: June 20th, 2021 Payment: Contributor's Copy Theme: Shine a spotlight on the background characters of a hero's story Note: Reprints welcome Since its beginnings in the early 1980s, the Life, the Universe, & Everything Symposium has been a staple of the Utah and Intermountain West author and artist community. Many authors, artists, and editors have found inspiration for their careers at the feet of scores of symposium guests. Influential professors and others have mentored those planning and running the symposium, but many of these mentors have passed on. The symposium helps students of all ages by providing greatly discounted student memberships. Hemelein Publications—in conjunction with LTUE Press—created a series of memorial benefit/charity anthologies to help the symposium continue to help these aspiring creators learn about their crafts at a reasonable cost. Author, artist, and editor proceeds from the anthology go to LTUE to help students attend for a very low cost. The fifth of these anthologies, A Hero of a Different Stripe, is a science fiction, fantasy, or light horror (along the lines of the original Twilight Zone) unusual hero adventure anthology, created in honor of Tom Grover. Tom was always helping out with LTUE, volunteering for anything and everything. He always seemed to be there when help was needed, and he was tireless in his efforts to make LTUE a success. He passed away in 1988 following a mountain climbing accident. Theme Ever wonder what the background people get up to when the hero’s not around? Write a story about it! We’re looking for stories featuring the people usually relegated to the role of mobile furniture in a story: the janitor on the starship, the granny knitting quietly on a park bench, the little kid with his dog, street merchants and performers, innkeepers just trying to take care of their customers, librarians, geeky teens who wouldn’t ever be...

Submission Window: June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST) Payment: Novels are an advance on royalties, Novellas are the same or pure royalties Theme: Novels and novellas for adults across the breadth of the horror genre—from the cosmic and Lovecraftian to the beloved undead tropes of zombies, ghosts, and slashers and the more uncanny and internal terrors of isolation, lost love, and aging. The following guidelines outline how to submit novels and novellas to Nightfire. Please be sure to read them carefully so that your submission does not get disqualified. Note: Tor/Forge Books’ submission information is here, and Tor.com’s submission information is here. To learn more about the Tor/Forge, Tor.com, and Nightfire editorial teams, check here. Nightfire will be open to novel and novella submissions from June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST). To submit your work, visit us on Moksha. When submitting, please upload your full manuscript. Our submission portal will also ask for a cover letter, where you should include a pitch and a short author bio. Once you have registered on Moksha, you can use that portal to check the status of your submission. If you have trouble with our submission portal, please email [email protected]. What We’re Looking For: The Nightfire team is looking for novels and novellas for adults across the breadth of the horror genre—from the cosmic and Lovecraftian to the beloved undead tropes of zombies, ghosts, and slashers and the more uncanny and internal terrors of isolation, lost love, and aging. We are actively looking for submissions from writers from underrepresented populations. This includes, but is not limited to, writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and physical or mental ability. We believe that good stories reflect the incredible diversity and potential of the human species, and want...