Events

Deadline: October 20th, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word ($10 for every 1,000 words prorated, $50 for every 5,000 words prorated, and so on) Theme: Short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Scare Street is accepting submissions for short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Unpublished short stories must be 3,000-7,000 words and will be included in our Night Terrors anthologies consisting of ~65,000 words each. These stories will be published in e-book, print, and audio formats in English within 6 months after the submissions close date. Based on reader reception, we may also publish them in e-book, print, and audio formats in German and Spanish. WHO ARE WE? Scare Street is a horror publishing company dedicated to helping fellow horror lovers experience sleepless nights. We’ve been around since September 2015 and have published 200+ e-book and paperback titles along with 150+ audiobooks (and counting!). WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? Get visibility from thousands of horror readers. We will promote your work on our email list (12,000+ subscribers), Facebook Page (30,000+ followers), Facebook Group (12,000+ members), Pinterest (nearly 200k+ monthly views) and the rest of our social media channels. Afterwards, thousands of readers on Amazon and other retailers will organically find your stories. Our first few volumes clenched the top 3 new release spots in horror anthologies category and continue to be found on the first page of various horror categories. Work with an experienced publisher. We’ve been publishing high-quality manuscripts, non-stop for 5+ years. We’ve ironed out the kinks and know what it takes to bring stories to the masses, operationally. And we know a few things about getting your stories read, too! Distribution in e-book, print, and audio formats, in various languages. You’ll also receive a...

Deadline: October 21st, 2021 Payment: $80 Theme: A story that somehow includes the concept of one hundred Note: Reprints Welcome In January 2022, we’ll be celebrating our 100th issue of Flash Fiction Online! As part of our celebration, we’re looking for stories on the theme of “ONE HUNDRED.” Give us stories of centenarians on adventures! Tell us tales of a hundred-year storm! Raise the temperature to 100 degrees (Fahrenheit? Celsius?)! Write us a story that takes place in 100 seconds! The possibilities are endless — they just have to somehow involve the number 100 in a way that’s integral to the story. This submission window will be open during the same time frames as our regular monthly window (1st-21st) until October 21. Submissions will be evaluated each month and receive either a rejection or a hold notice. Final decisions on these second-round stories will be made in early November. Multiple submissions are allowed for this call so long as each story fits the theme, and you may submit to this call while also submitting an ORIGINAL and a REPRINT submission. SUBMIT YOUR STORIES HERE! Via: Flash Fiction Online.

Submission Window: October 7th – 21st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Stories of food, dining, and cookery Diabolical Plots is pleased to announce our first themed issue ⁠— stories of food, dining, and cookery, which we couldn’t resist titling “Diabolical Pots”! (Actual pots optional.) We’ll be accepting submissions for this special issue from October 7th – 21st, 2021. In addition to being centered around food, stories must have a speculative element. Pay rate, format, and submission restrictions (no reprints, no resubmits, etc.) will follow our general submission guidelines. So, how can food be integrated into your story? Any way you want! Maybe a crew of space pirates is about to score big on some outer-planet delicacies. Or a tense family dinner gets tenser when the youngest child insists they hear scratching sounds in the wall. Or two witches both reach for the last bundle of herbs and their eyes meet and… For this themed issue, our assistant editor, Kel Coleman, will be taking the wheel and making final selections. Of course, your story should still be a good fit for Diabolical Plots—check out our general guidelines for an idea of what that means—but what might win you extra points with Kel? Well, Kel would love to see: Lush descriptions of food Immersive worldbuilding—food is never just food. Food is love, food is culture, food is survival Science fiction that’s high on emotional resonance, low on unexamined imperialism Any kind of prose—it can be ornate, experimental in structure or tone, or punchy and simple, as long as it is intentional and serves the story David Steffen is the editor, who you may also know from reading The Long List Anthology series or from the Submission Grinder, which you can use to find markets for your writing and track your submissions.  Diabolical Plots is a SFWA-qualifying market, so if you...

Deadline: October 30th, 2021 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 words Theme: Horror, By the Seaside Many times, we’ve been lucky enough to live near the seaside. There is something about falling asleep to the churn of waves that just can’t be beaten. But with the ocean comes issues… scares… especially down here in Australia, where anything may be lurking beneath the surface. For this collection, we request your stories about life by the seaside. Tales of sand and surf and all the things that may come with it. Be inventive, and take us away on a horrific holiday. Thuggish Itch is our horror, sci-fi and speculative fiction collection. Please make sure that your story falls within one of these genres. Be original. We also encourage new and unpublished writers to take the leap and get in touch. Please ensure that you read through the general guidelines and format your submission accordingly. If you have any specific questions please contact us using the form on the home page or via the listed social media accounts. To help make sure that your submission gets to the correct place, please include the following in the subject line of your email: Thuggish Itch - Seaside - Story Title. Word count: 1000 - 5000 words Deadline: October 30 2021 Payment: AU$5.00 for stories under 2500 words / AU$10.00 for anything above 2500 words Via: Gypsum Sound Tales.

Deadline: October 31st, 2021 Payment: Poetry - $10 USD, Flash - $15 USD, Short Fiction - $35 USD, Novelette - $75 USD Theme: Well-crafted stories and poems of cosmic horror in the same vein as Lucy A. Snyder, Laird Barron, Algernon Blackwood, Robert W. Chambers, Mary SanGiovanni, Victor LaValle, Betty Rocksteady, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. Note: All entries (either the author or the story) needs to have a Utah connection Timber Ghost Press is proud to present Dead Stars and Stone Arches: A Collection of Utah Horror. With the help of the Utah Horror Writers*, Timber Ghost Press is excited to be publishing the eighth collection of Utah horror. We are seeking well-crafted stories and poems of cosmic horror in the same vein as Lucy A. Snyder, Laird Barron, Algernon Blackwood, Robert W. Chambers, Mary SanGiovanni, Victor LaValle, Betty Rocksteady, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. For this anthology, all entries must have a Utah connection, either on the part of the author or the story itself (it is called Utah horror for a reason). The stories will be evaluated in a blind read by three judges and must receive at least two ”yes” votes to be accepted. Therefore, when submitting, please ensure that there is no identifying information in the story itself. We anticipate an April 2022 release. Accepted authors will receive payment according to the pay scale below, plus a contributor's copy of the anthology. (format?) Deadline: October 31st, 2021 The Following Categories are Open for Submission: Poetry Flash Fiction: 1000 words or less Short Fiction: 1001-5000 words Novelette: 5001-12,000 words (only one novelette will be accepted) Payment: Poetry - $10 USD Flash - $15 USD Short Fiction - $35 USD Novelette - $75 USD What We Do Not Want: Timber Ghost Press may outright reject stories that contain the following: ​​Pedophilia\Rape\Child...

Submission Window: September 1st - October 31st, 2021 Payment: $50 Theme: Survival Horror Negative Space 2: A Return to Survival Horror Compiled and Edited by Aric Sundquist Short Story Submission Call: September 1 - October 1, 2021 (opening soon...) Fiction Submission: Survival Horror. Word Count: 2,000 - 7,500 words. Payment: $50.00 + digital copy. Rights: We are seeking first time rights for 1 year after publication. After that time all rights revert back to the author. The publication will appear in both print and digital formats. Reprints: None. Previously unpublished only. Multiple Submissions: None. Simultaneous Submissions: None. Please wait until you hear back from us before submitting your piece to another market. File Format: Include your story as an attachment in MS Word (DOC or DOCX), LibreOffice, or Rich Text Format. Manuscript Format: Use the Modern Shunn Format. Include a short bio in the body of your email. Your subject line should read NS2 Submission: ("Title") by (Author's Name). For Example, NS2 Submission: "The Black Phone" by Joe Hill. Attach the story as a separate document. Response Time: 2 - 3 weeks after submissions close. Submission Period: All submissions must be received between September 1, 2021 and October 1, 2021 EST. Any story sent before or after will be deleted unread. Send Submissions to: darkpenpress (at) gmail (dot) com Influential Games/Series: Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Dead Space, State of Decay, Rule of Rose, Siren, Parasite Eve, Amnesia, Haunting Ground, Obscure, Tomb Raider (2013 reboot), A Plague Tale, Eternal Darkness, Outlast, The Evil Within, Dino Crisis, The Last of Us, Alone in the Dark, Remothered, Darkwood, Alan Wake. Influential Novels & Novellas: The Mist by Stephen King, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Off Season by Jack Ketchum, Bird Box by Josh Malerman, The Shadow Over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft, The Terror by Dan Simmons, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Influential Movies: The Descent, The Thing, Alien(s), Cube, Predator, Night of the Living...

Deadline: October 31st, 2021 Payment: $50 Theme: War BLACK HARE PRESS is—and has always been—an inclusive publisher. LGBTQ+ characters always acceptable. This call will be open for submissions until midnight 31st OCTOBER 2021 (last place on Earth).  Submissions received outside of this timeframe will not be read. Reading will start once the submission period has closed. Please allow 12 weeks after the call has closed before querying. THEME : War/conflict. Must be dark, any genre. Word count : 5,000+, excluding title. Please ensure your first chapter hooks the reader. Author eligibility : Open to all. Reprints : Not allowed. Simultaneous Submissions : Not allowed. Multiple Submissions : No. Publication : In a single anthology in print and digital formats. Author compensation : $50 USD, plus one digital copy. How to submit : See our website for submission guidelines and formatting. Send your story as a Word format attachment to [email protected]. All submissions are read double-blind, so please DO NOT put your name, email, street address, etc in your manuscript or in the document name. Your document name must be WAR-Story Title.doc/x. Please include the following in your email; Your real name, your pseudonym, a bio of up to 100 words, up to 4 links, a 40 word short blurb, and a synopsis of up to 500 words. Don’t worry too much about these wordcounts, they’re just for guidance. Please ensure you list your social media accounts in your email. Please ensure you sub the final, well-edited manuscript. Show, don’t tell. Use British spellings, double quotation marks, etc. If you need assistance with those, please use a writing tool like Grammarly or ProWritingAid (set to British spelling). Microsoft Word does not know British spellings, please don’t rely on it. Your email subject should be “WAR – – ” Via: Black Hare Press.

Deadline: October 31st, 2021 Payment: £25 Theme: Stories inspired by Nicolas Cage Submission guidelines “I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.” Nicolas Cage, has lived a life blended with myth, madness and mystery. His performances imbued with other worldly energy and that requires tribute, want in?  Ex-Parrot Press wants your Nicolas Cage inspired short fiction stories. Guidelines are as follows:  Each successful Submission will receive £25 to be paid via Paypal and a copy of the anthology.  2000-3000 words per story.  Please make sure to edit and format your stories properly before submission.( I’ll post a link in the comments with some tips on what you can do for this.)  Simultaneous submissions, yes. Reprints, no. Although we will only publish one story from each writer.  Email submissions to: [email protected] Submissions close October 31st 2021. Contributions should be double-spaced and written in English. Use black, 12-point, Times New Roman as the font. Use the U.S standard page size of 8.5 x 11 inches and set your margins to 1 inch on all sides. Use a single space after periods.  

Deadline: October 31st, 2021 Payment: $25 Theme: Cosmic horror The Hunger of Old Stars is a cosmic horror anthology that is looking for YOUR Eldritch tales of terror! S.I.P. will be looking for Cosmic Horror Stories for their upcoming anthology ‘The Hunger of Old Stars’. In this anthology, we want tales of eldritch horrors that will drive our readers to lunacy! We are paying $25 per story and we are looking for stories that are around 3,000 - 10,000 words long. Also, NO REPRINTS... Also, no, it does not need to be strictly Lovecraftian to be considered for this anthology! So, we here at S.I.P. hope you will consider sending us your cosmic horror stories! We cannot wait to see what you all bring to the table!

Deadline: October 31, 2021 Payment: $200 Theme: The color of my vote Submission Guidelines Stories can be in any crime sub-genre. If a crime is central to the plot, it's suitable for this anthology. Your story must match the anthology theme: the color of my vote: Maybe your vote is pink where only blue votes matter. Maybe your vote is pro-democracy in a power structure bent on maintaining minority rule. Maybe your vote isn't green (delivered with a $2 million dollar dark money donation...) You are free to interpret the theme as literally or metaphorically as you wish. Story length must be between 2,500 to10,000 words. Any time period or location is acceptable for this anthology.  In Volume I, many authors experimented with form and voice. Please feel free to experiment! Narrative non-fiction will also be considered. DEADLINE: October 31, 2021. Volume III is meant to be bigger, louder, and more diverse than Volumes I and II, because the attacks against basic democratic processes are bigger and louder and laser focused on minority rule.  Pay is $200 per story, payable on acceptance, plus three author copies. We wish it could be more. Is your story ready? Email lowdowndirtyvote AT gmail DOT com and attach your Word or Markdown document before Nov 1, 2021! You'll receive an acknowledgement within seven days of submission. Via: Low Down Dirty Vote.