Events

Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: $10 or a contributor's copy Theme: Vampire stories based on traditional folklore from around the world. Title: They Come by Night: Original Vampire Stories Based on Traditional Lore   Deadline: April 1st 2022 or until filled.   Payment: 10 USD via PayPal upon acceptance or contributor’s copy in printed form upon publication. (We know this is an insult to your talent and hard work, but it is all we can offer at this time.  We hope to offer more on future projects.)   Theme: Vampire stories based on traditional folklore from around the world.   3000-10000 words, double spaced, Times New Roman font, 12pt. Original stories, no reprints.  We ask for 6 months exclusive worldwide rights from date of publication after which all rights revert to author.   Email submissions to [email protected] with Submission: Title in subject line.  Send story as an attachment in .doc. .docx or .pages format.  In body of email, include a brief bio.   Shining Autumn Press is a new publishing house based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania conceived with the desire to promote quality fiction with supernatural themes.  This collection is indeed our first project and we are excited to receive submissions from talented writers.  Our projected date of publication for both ebook and print form is June 1st 2022.   At Shining Autumn Press we are avid lovers of vampire fiction but in recent years, decades really, we have been disappointed with the quality of vampire stories and novels and have decided to compile this anthology for readers who crave a more traditional portrayal of the children of the night.   We want vampires who are repelled by crosses, garlic, silver, wild roses and holy water and retreat to their graves at the first sign of dawn and the sound of...

Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: 4 cents per word Theme: sapphic horror - short fiction by a diverse group of authors Moonflowers and Nightshade is an anthology of sapphic horror short fiction by a diverse group of authors. Chilling horror stories ranging from psychological character studies to terrifying tales of body horror, from supernatural nightmares to Gothic ghost stories--and everything in between, but all with prominent sapphic themes and content.  There is currently so much room and need for more sapphic content in the horror literary genre. Moonflowers and Nightshade will include a diverse group of stories, including but not limited to stories involving genderqueer, non-binary, BIPOC, genderfluid, lesbian, trans, bisexual, and pansexual characters.   ​ Submission Specs:  ~ 2,000 - 5,000 words ~ MS Word or Google Docs file  ~ Times New Roman, pt. 12 font, double-spaced ~ Please include your name, your story title, word count, and a brief bio in your email cover letter.  ~ Stories must prominently include sapphic themes, characters, and/or content, and be in the horror genre. All subgenres of horror welcome.  ~ Submission deadline: April 1st, 2022 ~ Simultaneous submissions welcome. ​ Payment:  Payment will be $0.04/word upon publication, via Paypal. Contract will be for 6 months exclusive ebook and paperback English language rights, non-exclusive thereafter.  ​ Please send submissions to [email protected].  ​ Notifications will be sent by June 1st, 2022 at the latest.  ​ Tentative publication date is October, 2022.  ​ Please note: This submission call is running concurrently with a Kickstarter campaign for the anthology to offset publication costs. Donating and/or contributing to the Kickstarter will NOT influence or hold any bearing on submission status.    Support on Kickstarter Via: Samantha Kolesnik.

Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: $1,000 advance, with a royalty share at 60% to author Theme: Psychological, folk, quiet, supernatural, paranormal, body, found-footage, coming-of-age, spiritual, demonic, occult, cosmic, slasher horror. Hello, my name is Sadie Hartmann but I’m also known in certain circles as Mother Horror. My favorite thing is to find fresh, talented voices in the genre of horror. It’s difficult to get readers to notice you out there in the wild, so this is your opportunity to come into My Dark Library and share with me the strange, cold, dark well within you from which you draw your stories. I am editing and presenting a series of novellas through Cemetery Gates Media and will write an introduction for each selection, then we’ll promote your work to a hungry legion of horror fans. I am specifically interested in: Authors who have found themselves in a genre-trap and are looking for a way to showcase another storytelling voice for a different fanbase. In My Dark Library you will find psychological, folk, quiet, supernatural, paranormal, body, found-footage, coming-of-age, spiritual, demonic, occult, cosmic, slasher horror. I’m not currently interested in extreme, science-fiction, bizarro, erotic, apocalyptic, creature/cryptid, zombie, eco, comedy horror. I especially love cultural folklore and urban legends from BIPOC, Native American, and LGBTQ voices. This is an open call to anyone and everyone—not limited to new or unpublished voices. Even if I have read and admired your work one hundred times, I would still be over the moon to see a submission from you. From February 1st – April 1st we will accept submissions between 25,000-40,000 words. Please submit a complete, unpublished manuscript in DOC or RTF format and include a publishing bio and brief story synopsis in the email body. No reprints, please don’t ask. Simultaneous subs are fine. Send submissions to: [email protected] Cemetery Gates is paying a $1,000...

Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but...

Deadline: April 1st, 2022 Payment: $50 and 3 contributor's copies Theme: Write a story about a historical war of any culture and any era and change one aspect of it to see how the war might change and explore from there! LBP is pleased to announce that we will be accepting short story submissions through April 1st, 2022. We will choose 8-12 submissions to be published in our 2022 fall anthology, Great Wars! Prompt: The prompt: Write a story about a historical war of any culture and any era and change one aspect of it to see how the war might change and explore from there! Examples: How would the Revolutionary War change if soldiers on all sides had access to advanced weapons, such as those which are laser-powered? Accepted stories will be published in the ‘Great Wars’ anthology! E-book and print! Parameters: Every genre qualifies. Works must be previously unpublished. Must be at least 3k but no more than 9k. Submissions must be in Times New Roman 12pt. No headers or footers, please. Name and title on top/left of the first page. The submissions deadline is before midnight April 1st, 2022. We encourage gender fluidity, gender-bending, LGBTQIA+ retellings, and whatever else feels appropriate to YOU for the story you want to tell. All submissions must be submitted to [email protected]. Add ‘Great Wars Submission’ in the subject line. Authors will be notified by email (acceptance or decline) no later than April 15th, 2021. Payment: If accepted, contributors will receive $50.00 as a flat fee for their story and receive (3) author copies of the printed anthology after publication. Contributors will be paid via PayPal. International Contributors:  Due to high postage rates (and/or postal accessibility) to some regions in the world, author copies may not be feasible and we’ll adjust the flat fee to accommodate. Author Rights: Authors will...

Submission Window: April 1-2, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored.   We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of...

Submission Window: March 7th – April 14th, 2022 Payment: $25 Theme: Post-Apocalyptic Pride We will be announcing the theme and open submission dates for June’s issue soon. Short Stories up to 3,000 words Flash and Micro Fiction up to 1,000 words Poetry Author Compensation: $25.00 (USD) per piece Rights: We request first worldwide and digital rights for four months following publication. Thereafter all rights revert to the author. All copyright remains with the author. June ’22 Theme: Post-Apocalyptic Pride Call Status: CLOSED (Opening Soon…) Publication: Digital Formats Submission Period: March 7, 2022 – April 14, 2022 Decisions By: May 14, 2022 Release Date: June 30, 2022 What We’re Looking For: feel free to interpret the “Post-Apocalyptic” part of the theme as broadly as you like, from entirely ruined worlds to the confines of a single-family dwelling after, for example, a catastrophic fire. Your work should contain quiet horror elements (see our FAQ page for more on that). Carefully read the guidelines below for more. Guidelines For all open calls, submit your work by email to [email protected] with the subject line formatted as such: “ ” (ex.“June 2022 – The Sinkhole – David Fey – Adult”). Please submit your work as an email attachment in .doc/.docx format. Authors may submit up to two pieces per issue. We request that each piece be submitted via its own individual email. You are welcomed to interpret each issue’s theme however you like but keep in mind that your interpretation should be within the realms of quiet horror and/or intimate dystopia. Ensure your document contains your story title, your name (or pen name), and an approximate word count. In the event that your story is selected for publication, we will need your legal name for the contract. Please include a header on each page of your document with your surname, title and page...

Deadline: April 15th, 2022 Payment: 3 cents per word Theme: A convention that interacts with a Lovecraftian God, details below! Somewhere in the world, there is a hotel on an island in the middle of a large river.  This hotel was designed and built in the 1980s, and its labyrinthine corridors and structural design make no sense at all to the modern eye.  And all the while, the deep, dark, swirling waters of the river conceal its secrets. Unknown to all but its mad designer, this hotel was built as an altar to the Old God that rests under the dark, flowing current.  Whether that altar contains the Old God and ensures his slumber, is built to one day call him from his rest, or has some other nefarious purpose is unknown. But it’s a heck of a place for a bunch of fans to throw a con. What horrors or humors will happen at the convention?  What’s the gaming room like?  What happens at the panels, or in the dealer’s room?  Who shows up at the room parties?  Where the hotel is, and what sort of story happens within it, is entirely up to the author—but some sort of interaction between the Lovecraftian-style Old God in the river and the convention must be a focal part of the story. Upon acceptance of the contract from the open call, Impulsive Walrus Books will be paying a semi-pro rate of three cents per word. Impulsive Walrus is planning to run a campaign for the anthology on Kickstarter in early September of 2022. If the Kickstarter funds and does well, there will be a stretch goal tied to raising all accepted authors’ payment to the pro-rate of $.08/word. If the Kickstarter funds and does extremely well, there will also be a stretch goal tied...

Deadline: April 15th, 2022 Payment: $20 per story Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. submissions at electricspec (dot) comPlease don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may work with the author to edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story and the author has final approval. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and...

Submission Window: April 1st - 15th, 2022 Payment: 2c/word Theme: Un-themed, general horror flash fiction. Preference to dread-inducing stories. **STARTING IN 2022, SUBMISSIONS OPEN JANUARY, APRIL, JULY, AND OCTOBER (1-15th of each month)** Submissions CLOSED. Un-themed, general horror flash fiction. Preference to dread-inducing stories. Length: 500 – 1,000 words. Firm. Author Compensation: 2c/word, paid via PayPal. (Rounded to nearest whole dollar) Publication: Dread Stone Press website (Dose of Dread). Reading Periods: January, April, July, and October; 1st to 15th. Any stories submitted outside of each reading period will not be read. Rights: First World Electronic Rights. Non-exclusive rights thereafter. No reprint restrictions after publication. Original stories ONLY. No reprints. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but NO multiple submissions. You may submit again the next reading period if rejected. If your story is accepted, please sit out one reading period before submitting again. Please, for everyone’s sake, no rough drafts. Successful pieces will require little to no proofreading edits. Email your submission as a Word document attachment to [email protected] with “DOSE – – ” in the subject line. Rejections for Dose of Dread submissions will be sent by the end of the month submitted. If you have not received a reply by then, feel free to follow-up. All rejections will be form rejections. It’s not personal, promise. Which also means please don’t respond to rejections. It’s unnecessary. Please see the General Submission Guidelines below for additional formatting information. General Submission Guidelines Address your email to “Editor” or “Alex”. Please provide a brief cover letter in the body of the email (title, word count, relevant info, etc). Do not stress over or overthink this. Please include an author bio of 100 words or less, written in third person, plus any links (e.g. to a website / Twitter) if you wish to include them. Please submit your work as an email attachment in .doc/.docx format. Any other attachment...