Events

Taking Submissions: Death in the Deep

Deadline: April 28th, 2022 Payment: $10 Theme: Colourful, weird aquatic horror that takes place on shore Rampage on the Reefs (coming June 2022): the third anthology will bring us to the surface. We’re looking for colourful, weird aquatic horror; monsters in the shallows, coral formations hiding eerie beasts… psychedelic, high-thrills horror that proves it’s not always safe closer to the shore. Submissions close April 28th. From 1st November 2021, we’re taking submissions for the first three anthologies in the Dead Seas collection. All three anthologies will have slightly different themes, but for all three we’re looking for aquatic or nautical horror stories - supernatural, realistic or altogether otherworldly - between 1,000-6,000 words (upper limit flexible). 100% of the profits from these anthologies will be going to The Shark Trust, supporting the protection and conservation of sharks and sea life. For more information, please visit https://www.sharktrust.org/ Our submissions process is 50% invite and 50% open, meaning there are 5-6 slots available through open submission for each anthology. But don’t fear! If you submit to one anthology and we like your story, but feel it could be a better fit for another (whether that’s another of these three, or one later in the year), then we’ll email you and see if you’d consider that slot instead. All accepted authors will receive a $10 fee upon the publication date of the volume featuring their work. We know this isn’t a lot, but we’d like to say thank you for helping us support the cause. Submissions Guidelines Please ensure you follow these guidelines for all submissions. Any stories not following these guidelines may, unfortunately, be rejected. Refer to individual submissions calls for an outline of the theme we’re looking for, but bear in mind that we will be releasing a lot of aquatic horror...

Taking Submissions: Rampage on the Reefs

Deadline: April 28th, 2022 Payment: $10 Theme: Oceanic horror brought 'to the surface' Rampage on the Reefs (coming June 2022): the third anthology will bring us to the surface. We’re looking for colourful, weird aquatic horror; monsters in the shallows, coral formations hiding eerie beasts… psychedelic, high-thrills horror that proves it’s not always safe closer to the shore. Submissions close April 28th. From 1st November 2021, we’re taking submissions for the first three anthologies in the Dead Seas collection. All three anthologies will have slightly different themes, but for all three we’re looking for aquatic or nautical horror stories - supernatural, realistic or altogether otherworldly - between 1,000-6,000 words (upper limit flexible). 100% of the profits from these anthologies will be going to The Shark Trust, supporting the protection and conservation of sharks and sea life. For more information, please visit https://www.sharktrust.org/ Our submissions process is 50% invite and 50% open, meaning there are 5-6 slots available through open submission for each anthology. But don’t fear! If you submit to one anthology and we like your story, but feel it could be a better fit for another (whether that’s another of these three, or one later in the year), then we’ll email you and see if you’d consider that slot instead. All accepted authors will receive a $10 fee upon the publication date of the volume featuring their work. We know this isn’t a lot, but we’d like to say thank you for helping us support the cause. Submissions Guidelines Please ensure you follow these guidelines for all submissions. Any stories not following these guidelines may, unfortunately, be rejected. Refer to individual submissions calls for an outline of the theme we’re looking for, but bear in mind that we will be releasing a lot of aquatic horror anthologies - so...

Taking Submissions: Science Write Now #7 (AU Only)

Deadline: April 29th, 2022 Payment: $0.30/word up to $390 for new writing, $70 for a single poem or $180 for three poems, $40 for reprint stories or essays, and $20 for reprint poems. Theme: Science, Humour and the Absurd Note: Australian writers or by writers living in Australia Only *At This Time* Note: Reprints Welcome We welcome submissions anytime! Please submit your new or previously published poems, short stories, book reviews, or literary or personal essays related to science, technology, engineering, or maths. Current call for submissions: Our seventh issue is based on the theme ‘Science, Humour and the Absurd’. This edition of Science Write Now will explore how humour and the absurd shape cultural ideas of science and, in turn, how the world of science influences comic performance in popular culture, art and literature. Mark Twain wrote, “Humour is tragedy plus time”. So can comedy help us make sense of the scientific and political entanglements of climate change? If laughter is the best medicine, can it also help us manage chronic illness? Existential crisis? How does science explore the absurdities of our age? And how does the science of humour actually work? We welcome new and previously-published craft or creative essays, fiction, memoir, and poetry related to these themes, with a view to publishing in June 2022. Submit here. We pay $0.30/word up to $390 for new writing, $70 for a single poem or $180 for three poems, $40 for reprint stories or essays, and $20 for reprint poems. Please note—due to current funding arrangements, we can only pay for pieces by Australian writers or by writers living in Australia. We’re hoping to expand internationally soon! Submit now Via: Science Write Now.

Canceled Taking Submissions: Midnight in the Stagecoach

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: $ 0.06/word Theme: Horror set in the 1800s Old West Evil awaits you on the dusty trail… With the success of our first three MIDNIGHT anthologies (Midnight In The Graveyard, Midnight In The Pentagram, and Midnight From Beyond The Stars), it’s time to roll out the 4th in our ever growing series - MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH! Silver Shamrock Publishing is announcing the Open Call for the MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH anthology. We’re looking for original splatterpunk western short stories set in the late 1800s Old West. Any horror trope is fair game. You can do a straight up killer cowboy tale, vampires, werewolves, aliens, a Cthulhu sighting, zombies, cryptids, ghosts, ANYTHING! Just as long as it’s horror and you’re not bashful with red stuff. But, we caution, gore doesn’t replace story. If the story isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve painted the pages crimson, it won’t make the cut. So put on your 10-gallon thinking cap and give us a story we can’t refuse! Specific submission guidelines: The deadline for receiving submissions is April 30th, 2022. (anything received after this date will not be considered). Submit by email to: [email protected] Length: 2,500 - 6,000 words. Format: preferred format is Doc or Docx, double-spaced with author email at the top of the first page. - Please use the anthology title, MIDNIGHT IN THE STAGECOACH, in the subject heading of your email. - A writer’s CV with a summary of previous publications, awards, recognition, influences, hometown and social media links. - The word count. - Acknowledgement of receipt of your manuscript will be emailed within 3 business days. - Successful authors will receive a contract upon acceptance. Once we have a signed contract by the author and Silver Shamrock Publishing, payment will be made...

Taking Submissions: Camp Slasher Lake

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: $.01 per word Theme: Unstoppable killers of the slasher variety. Call for submissions! Fedowar Press is opening submissions for a Horror/Slasher Anthology. This is a tribute to the glorious slasher movies of the 1980s. We want the unstoppable killers, the claustrophobic sense of no escape, and of course, the blood. This anthology is expected to release in late 2022. Submissions will be accepted until April 30, 2022. Details Suggested Length: Between 7.5k and 15k words Genre: Horror, but other speculative genres may be added. For example Horror/SciFi, Horror/Fantasy, Region: Can take place anywhere in the world Period: Any period, present, past, future Qualifying submissions must have never been published. Pay and Exclusivity Participating authors will be paid $.01 per word. This equates to $100 for a 10k word story, or $10 per 1k words. Participating authors will grant Fedowar Press exclusive rights to the work for 1 year after publication. How to submit? Use our Submission form with the subject “Slasher” in the Submission Type field. Tell us a little bit about yourself in your query letter. For example: Have we met? Remind us. Do you have any writing credits? What is your social media info? Do you like dogs? Include your genres, word count Attach your story to the form. Make sure it is in standard manuscript format. Stories will be reviewed after the close of the submission window. Please allow up to six weeks after the submission window closes for a response. After that, If you haven’t received a response, feel free to check-in for an update. Via: Fedowar Press.

Taking Submissions: Steel True, Blade Straight

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: Contributor's copy Theme: New material inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work (Sherlock Holmes AND not.) Steel True, Blade Straight The Belanger Books Anthology of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Inspired Stories, Poems, and Scholarship 2022 Annual Description: This anthology will have stories, poems, and scholarship inspired by and about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. While the anthology will contain new Sherlock Holmes stories, the intent would be for at least 25% of the material to be stories and poems inspired by the life and non-Sherlockian writing of Sir Arthur. Another 25% of material would be scholarship on Holmes and Doyle. All proceeds from the Anthology will be donated to The Beacon Society, a 501c(3) nonprofit scion society of The Baker Street Irregulars (BSI), that serves as a link to other scion societies, providing teachers, librarians, children museums, and children theaters with local resources to bring the magic of Sherlock Holmes to life. Guidelines: Stories - 3,000 - 10,000 word submissions that connect to the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These can be Sherlock Holmes stories, or stories connected to Sir Arthur’s additional writings (far too many to list here). Poems - format and length are open. The poetry submission would have to somehow connect to the life or work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Scholarship - 1,000 - 3,000 word submissions. Essays must connect to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or his writing (Sherlock Holmes or other work). Multiple submissions in the same or more than one category are welcome. Payment: All authors will receive a paperback copy of the anthology. Rights: All authors shall retain the rights to their submitted work outside of the anthology and may reprint their submission one year after the anthology’s publication date. Submission: Email...

Taking Submissions: Gothic Ghost Story

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: £5 Theme: Wintry tales of ghosts and hauntings Note: Female writers and those who identify as women One of the guilty pleasures of Christmas, is that moment when you pull a favourite book from the shelf and reread it for the umpteenth time. Those wintry tales of ghosts and hauntings have become part of a much-loved tradition in this country. Black Angel Press want to add to this genre by providing a collection of new tales from female writers; this includes those who identify as women and both new and experienced writers alike. We are looking for quiet gothic darkness and whilst stories can be set in the traditional Victorian environment, we are also very much open to any who take the gothic tropes and place them in the present – or even the future. The anthology will consist of 20 stories and be a mixture of invitation and submission. Payment terms: £5 per story and an electronic copy of the book. Submission Requirements: stories should be 3-5k but we will allow a little flexibility if the story demands it. Manuscripts should be in Shunn format and either .doc or .docx – do NOT send in the body of the email. The first page should include contact details. Your covering email need only be brief, addressed to myself and Alyson (Faye) and should also include a short bio. If you are at the start of your publishing journey and are worried about lack of credits, don’t be. Use the bio to share the books and authors you love and a little about you. Send to: [email protected] Submissions open: 1 Dec 2021 and close end April 2022. Any questions? Drop us a line! Via: Black Angel Press.

Taking Submissions: Specimen 6 Magazine

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: $.01 per word Theme: Any theme of horror and slashes, MUST be set in the Specimen 6 universe. Call for submissions! Perfect Ratio Productions is opening submissions for a Specimen 6-themed magazine. Unstoppable monsters, glory kills, few win by escaping, most die.  Give us your gore, your bloodshed, the madness and mayhem that is found within the Specimen 6 universe!  Give us the Necronomiconic, the unfathomable, the bloodthirsty, give us the stories where even the flesh and bone quenches not the hunger of the immortals, where even the dreams and souls of their victims must be destroyed. This anthology is expected to release in late 2022. Submissions will be accepted until April 30, 2022. Details Accepted lengths: 500 words to 5000.  No minimum when the work involved is poetry. All works MUST be original! All submitted works must have never been published before, indie or trad. Genre: Horror, but other speculative genres may be added. For example Horror/SciFi, Horror/Fantasy, Region: Can take place anywhere in the world Period: Any period, present, past, future MUST: be set entirely in the universe of Specimen 6. Pay and Exclusivity Participating authors will be paid $.01 per word. This equates to $50 for a 5k word story, or $10 per 1k words. Participating authors will grant Perfect Ratio Productions exclusive rights to the work for 1 year after publication. Some exceptions may be granted. How to submit? Email us [email protected] Use “S6 Magazine Submission” Tell us a little bit about yourself in your query letter. For example: o Your author biography (500 words or less) o Title of the submitted work o Word count o Genre (if specific or niche) o First page (or ten pages should the work be of 10k or greater word count) of your submitted work at the bottom. Should Perfect Ratio Productions wish to use your submitted work,...

Taking Submissions: Rewired: An Anthology of Neurodiverse Horror

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: 0.03 USD per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Horror stories inspired by neurodiverse experiences DO NOT ADJUST YOUR BRAIN WE ARE CONTROLLING THE TRANSMISSION For our next major anthology, slated for release in September 2022, we’re looking for horror stories inspired by neurodiverse experiences. Stories about perception, communication, the feeling of being ‘differently wired’. Challenge us. Scare us. Show us the world the way you see it. We’d love to see work that encompasses the whole spectrum of neurodiverse experience. SF and fantasy elements are welcome as long as your story is primarily horror. This call will close on 30th April 2022. Length: 1,000 – 6,000 words. (This is a hard upper limit.) Payment: 0.03 USD per word. All payments will be made via PayPal and contributors will receive one paperback contributor’s copy. Publication: E-book and print. Deadline: 30th April 2022. Rights: We request first worldwide and electronic rights for 6 months after the date of publication, after which rights revert to the author. All copyright remains with the author. We accept simultaneous submissions but no reprints please. Multiple submissions not accepted. All submissions will be responded to after the deadline. Email your submission as a Word document to [email protected] with “Rewired ” in the subject line. Please see our Submission Guidelines for more information on formatting. Via: Ghost Orchid Press.

Taking Submissions: The Future’s So Bright …

Deadline: April 30th, 2022 Payment: $0.02 per word + two (2) contributor copies Theme: Positive visions of the future If you could catch a glimpse of the future, what would you hope to see? An environmentally-friendly paradise? High-tech advancements? Newly-evolved species of wildlife? For this collection, we want positive visions of the future. Show us terraces covered in gardens and solar panels, sprawling colonies under glass on Mars, and the explorers of tomorrow. Tell us what you think cities will look like in the year 2300, what it would be like to take a cruise on a spaceship, or what new organisms might evolve in the Amazon rain forest. Science fiction, fantasy, humor, and weird fiction are all welcome. Submission Details Open for Submissions: February 1, 2022 through April 30, 2022 Expected Publication: September 2022 Story Length: 2,000 – 8,000 words Payment: $0.02 per word + two (2) contributor copies Submission Requirements Please submit your complete story in standard manuscript form in digital format (DOCX, RTF, or ODT) to submissions (at) waterdragonpublishing.com. Please include “The Future’s So Bright Anthology” in the Subject line of your submission. Include the following in your cover letter/email: Title of your story Your real name Your physical mail address Your preferred email address Genre Approximate word count Submission Guidelines Your story can be from whatever genre best fits its theme. However, we are not looking for erotica or stories that contain excessive gore or violence. You may submit more than one story. However, we will only publish one of your stories in this edition, so choose wisely. Please wait until you have been notified about the acceptance status of your story before submitting another one. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please inform us immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. We are not accepting previously published stories for this...