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Submission Window: July 3rd - July 31st 2021 Payment: flash: 600-1000 $6.00 CAD, short story 1001-2499 words $10.00 CAD, short story 2500-3500 words 12.00 CAD poetry: 6.00 CAD per poem Theme: Halloween & Holiday Horrors issue Canadian eZine of Horror, Dark Fiction, and Poetry SUBMISSION GUIDELINES and TERMSfor Issue 5 Guidelines and terms change from issue to issue, so please read. To re-visit guidelines/terms as they were for issue 4 see here. NOTE: Beginning with this issue, Frost Zone Zine is an electronic publication: eZine, eBook, NO print copies. (There will be other print opportunities in the future, for different projects.) THEME for this issue: Halloween and Holiday Horrors Stories set on or near Halloween, Christmas, Yule, or other winter Holidays. Seasonal settings of autumn and early winter are also acceptable, as long as the season plays a significant role, otherwise please do not send general horror or poetry, all submissions must fit the theme to be considered.October through December holiday stories from the southern hemisphere (and with spring/summer settings) are also fine — but such stories must include Halloween, Christmas, or other holidays, otherwise they are general horror. SUBMISSIONS OPEN JULY 03 – JULY 17 What we want: Supernatural. Quiet Horror. Gothic. Paranormal. Eerie. Strange. Magic. Preferably 20th or 21st century, real-world settings. Clear and concise is the way to go. From our interview with Matthew G. Rees in issue 4:“It’s important in a story not to go overboard with reams of description: a short story needs to get on with the business of telling its story. But meaningful, sensorial things need to be brought (economically) into play.” Fiction.Original, unpublished, never-broadcast short stories 1200-3500 words. Submit 1 or 2 stories for consideration. Please EDIT your work prior to submitting it.Also non-paying* opportunities: Poetry, Fiction under 1200 words (includes flash fiction 400 – 1000 words, drabble (exactly 100 words), and microfiction 101-400 words. Submit...

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $.005 per word. Theme: Stories of workplace horror In “Executive Dread” we seek stories of workplace horror. We've all had the terrible boss. Also, the great boss, but the corporate creeps atop him or her that drop all the bullshit. The crazy coworker. The obsessed client. The workplace farter who coughs all over everything. The theft of your food from the office refrigerator. There are a million more things. We seek stories that take place at the office. Before many of us started working from home due to COVID-19. That’s a whole other anthology. Please no stories focusing solely on sexual harassment or discrimination. Those are troubling real-life work horror stories, but not ones we want to feature in this anthology. "Executive Dread" Guidelines Here are a couple of tips to put your story in better position to be accepted. 1. Fit the theme. Office. Horror. Scare us and make us wanna retire immediately. 2. Be within our word count guidelines (for “Executive Dread”, 2000 to 5000) or query us for shorter/longer. 3. No matter how good your story is, if it hasn't been edited, there is a big chance we won't accept it. In the past, we've accepted stories that needed a lot of editing work, but it took so much effort to make them presentable. We aren't doing that anymore. If within a page or two of reading the story we find a bunch of editing issues, it's going to be rejected. 4. Be unique. No matter what the theme of the anthology is, you should always be unique. If it's a stalker anthology for example, and your ex or some guy you work with is your stalker, it's trite. If your grandma is stalking your fiancée, well, that's unique. 5. At Jolly Horror Press, we prefer subtle horror. We generally don't like gruesome...

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: Something or someone beautiful that will enslave or destroy you Theme: The discovery of and entrapment within hidden, magical realms. Beautiful, magical lands that draw you in and rip you apart. Gorgeous men and women that enchant then enslave or poison you. Deadline: July 31, 2021 or until full Word count : 2,500 – 5,000 words Author eligibility : All authors are eligible Reprints : Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Maximum of two submissions per author Simultaneous Submissions : Not allowed Author Compensation: $10 per accepted story How to submit : Please follow classic Shunn formatting guidelines. Send your story as a Word format attachment to [email protected]. The file name must include your pen name and story title. Your email subject should be “ – – ” The body of the email must contain the name of the anthology, the word count, the author’s real name, and the author’s pen name. We will notify you of our decision no later than 4 weeks after the submission deadline date. Thank you! Via: Mad House Book

Deadline: July 31st, 2021 Payment: £10 Theme: K is for Kidnap Being kidnapped must be a pretty terrifying ordeal – we’re looking for stories that convey that feeling of terror but we’re also looking for diversity. Think about who is being taken and by whom, are the kidnappers even human? We are currently calling for submissions for a series of horror anthologies – The A-Z of Horror. The series will be based on a variety of themes and will consist of twenty-six books in total. We are looking for short horror stories, between 4000 and 8000 words, on each of the themes listed below. You may submit to more than one book, but we will only include a maximum of one story from each author, in each book. Being accepted into one book does not guarantee acceptance into one of the others. The story must be your own work, to which you hold the rights. The story must not be available elsewhere and, if accepted, we will hold the rights to it for three months from the date of publication. After that time, you may use the story however you wish. Any sub-genre of horror is suitable, even extreme, so long as the story fits the theme of that book and does not include anything which may unnecessarily cause offence (glorification of child abuse, rape, etc.). Payment for the story will be £10, to be paid by PayPal, as well as a contributor’s e-book of the finished book. Please send submissions in a Word document (ideally Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced) to [email protected] with the title of the book you are submitting to in the subject line. Please ensure you have included your name on the Word document. If you have any queries, feel free to get in touch using...

Deadline: August 1st, 2021 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "What should we do with the body?" We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually three to four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories...

Deadline: August 1st, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: Crime Fiction. Guilty publishes crime fiction. The term covers a wide range of potential topics and styles, so we are interested in seeing your take on the theme. However, there are some things we will not consider: Cozies. Police procedurals. Anything with a speculative element. Anything that glories in violence for the sake of violence, particularly against women, children, minorities or animals. Violence can be an element of many types of crime stories, but it must be an integral part of the story. Detective stories will be a hard sell, not because we don't like them, but because they are not typically crime stories, per se, but have more in common with the police procedural rather than other types of crime story.  For fiction: Stories from 1,000 to 6,000 words will be considered. This is firm. Stories below or above that range will be rejected. A flat ten dollar ($10) payment will be made for all stories, regardless of length, via PayPal after signature of contract. Stories must be original and previously unpublished in any format, including your personal blog, social media, etc.  Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions will not be considered. Guilty acquires First World Rights, with a period of exclusivity of one year after publication. For non-fiction: Guilty will consider non-fiction articles of up to 1,500 words. Pitch first for articles. A flat five dollar ($5) payment will be made for all articles, regardless of length, via PayPal after signature of contract. Articles must be original and previously unpublished in any format, including your personal blog, social media, etc.  Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions will not be considered. Guilty acquires First World Rights, with a period of exclusivity of one year after publication. For art and photography: Guilty will consider artwork and photography for both cover art and interior use, depending on current needs. A flat fifteen dollar ($15) payment will be made for selected...

Deadline: August 1st, 2021 Payment Details: 2 contributor's copies Theme: Demonic Vacations - Humorous horror, thriller. The Pitch: Our collection continues with dark humor, bizarre, and creepy vibes. We often need a vacation. Heck, sometimes you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. We invite authors to submit 2,500-5,000 words of vacations from the cabin getaway, to Auntie’s house down south, to even that free cruise you won tickets from…. huh, I don’t remember entering anything? Make us laugh, make us do double takes, and make us regret spending our time on a “dream” vacation from hell. Deadline AUGUST 1st, 2021 at Midnight EST (Extended) Publications OCTOBER 1st 2021 Rights & Payments 2 complimentary copy Access to buy author copies at a discounted rate We retain first publication rights for the first 90 days of publication. After that feel free to sell and republish your entry as you wish. All entries will solely belong to you. This only covers publishing for this particular volume. This will be sold wide – Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and beyond. Retail price to be determined at a later time. Formatting Requirements: 12 pt font Calibri or Times New Roman Double-spaced throughout (without extra spaces between paragraphs) Indented for new paragraphs 1-inch margin all around Include a title page with: First and last name Title of work Series name Blurb/Pitch Header with last name, title, and page number in top right-hand corner. 2,500 – 5,000 words To submit, go to the source link below: Via: 4 Horsemen Publications.

Deadline: August 1st, 2021 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Speculative Fiction reprints Note: Reprints Only from January 1st 2019 and December 31st 2020 Deadline for Submissions: August 1st 2021 PLEASE NOTE! The Best Indie Speculative Fiction project is for previously-published stories only. DO NOT submit unpublished work to this project.   This initiative from Bards and Sages Publishing seeks to highlight the best stories being produced both by independent authors and our fellow small press publishers. This project only considers previous-published stories that are either self-published or published with a small press.  If a story is accepted for this project, we will only be requesting non-exclusive print rights for the story. This annual periodical is only released in print format. Stories must be speculative in nature (fantasy, horror, science fiction, etc) and the speculative element must be the primary focus of the story. Children's stories, romances, and erotica are not eligible.  Submitted stories must have been FIRST PUBLISHED between January 1 2019 and December 31st 2020 to be eligible. You must include the information regarding the previous publication when sending your submission. Submitted stories should be between 1,000-20,000 words. Please follow all other submission guidelines as noted on this page. Our general submission guidelines apply. Payment: $25 plus one copy of the issue. Send Submissions to: [email protected] General Guidelines for All Projects All submissions must be electronic only. We do not accept hard copies of submissions. Stories must be complete, stand-alone stories. We will consider stories that are part of an existing setting (for example, a "prequel" story that ties into an author's novel) but the story must be self-contained and have a clear conclusion. No "cliffhanger" stories. The subject line of the submission should indicate the name of the publication you are submitting for and the title of the story....

Submission Window: June 22nd, 2021 – August 1st, 2021 Payment: $50 + royalties spilt and a contributor's copy Theme: original, unpublished horror stories dealing with urban legends, either an authentic one or your own creation. We’re excited to be opening up to submissions for our as-of-yet untitled horror-focused Urban Legends Anthology, edited by Phil Breach, Sarah Walker, and Gordon B. White. (Sarah and Gordon previously collaborated on last year’s folk horror anthology “A Walk in A Darker Wood.”) We have a number of wonderful authors already participating, and we’re looking to fill in several more slots with an open call from June 22nd, 2021 – August 1st, 2021. We are looking for original, unpublished stories – no reprints at this time. We’re aiming to publish both physical and electronic copies in late Fall 2021. Stories will be accompanied by illustrations. Depending on the number of outstanding stories we received, we may decide split this into two volumes. What we want: Your best original, unpublished horror stories dealing with urban legends, either an authentic one or your own creation. Give us the supernatural or the all-too-natural; maniacs or monsters; scary stories from the sleepover or something that happened to your best friend’s uncle’s cousin’s sister. We want stories that have an undeniable sense of setting – bring the urban to life as well as the legend. We also want you to capture the haunting quality of these “true” stories – gives us the shiver that comes from the possibility that the story could not only be true, but that it could happen in your town. The more specific and local your urban legend inspiration, the better!We are also open to excellent poetry based on this theme of urban folklore. We will take only the best of the best. What we DON’T want: We...

Deadline: August 1st, 2021 Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for new stories and 6 cents/4 pence per word for reprints. Theme: Asian Ghost Short Stories Note: Looking for writers of Asian heritage Note: Reprints Welcome We're delighted to announce a new call for submissions which is now open! The theme is Asian Ghost Short Stories – a chance for writers of Asian heritage around the world to explore their culture of ghostly folklore and offer fresh stories. Please read through the details for submissions carefully before submitting your stories and make sure to include the project name in the subject of your email. Gothic Fantasy Short Stories Asian Ghost Short Stories Following our hugely successful Black Sci-Fi Short Stories we're now looking for tales from writers of East, South or Southeast Asian heritage  to join our powerful collection of Asian Ghost Short Stories, which will contain new and classic tales reaching across borders, from India to China, Japan to Thailand, Korea to the Philippines, and down through the centuries. The new stories will complement classics by the likes of Yei Theodora Ozaki and Rabindranath Tagore, and could give us fresh takes on such ghouls as Japan's Kappa, Vietnam's Daughter of Hui Bi Hua, Indonesia's Kuntilanak and Thailand's Preta. Submissions will be accepted between Friday 9th July and Sunday 1st August – please submit to [email protected], ensuring ’Asian Ghost Short Stories’ is in the subject line. Word length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000 words, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range. Please submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your name and email address in the footer or header of each page. Submit stories by email to [email protected] Fees, Copyright and Other Terms Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us...