Events

Taking Submissions: Bloodless

Deadline: July 31st, 2022 Payment: $30 and a contributor's copy Theme: Short stories & poetry that terrify without a single mention of blood or gore Sliced Up Press is looking for short stories & poetry that terrify without a single mention of blood or gore, for its latest horror fiction anthology, BLOODLESS, edited by Ben Walker. Terrify us with your best story or poem where no blood is mentioned, nor any associated gore, grue & guts. That doesn’t mean characters can’t die in horrific ways (if they die at all) – we just want you to challenge yourself to write something where blood & guts are suggested, happen “off-screen”, or are otherwise worked around creatively. Make it psychological, paranormal, or even extreme, just don’t show any blood! Any time period or setting is welcome, on Earth or not. What we’re looking for: All submissions must be in the horror genre which means we want scary. Bizarro, splatterpunk and extreme horror are welcome, but we don’t want anything involving rape, etc. Preference will be given to submissions from women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors. If you don’t like this, don’t submit. Don’t mention blood at all, not in your title or the story/poem itself! No synonyms/slang terms for blood either! All submissions must be original. We will not accept reprints, or stories/poetry published elsewhere, including on blogs, social media etc. Submit your best work in modern or classic manuscript format (as outlined on http://www.shunn.net/format), as an MS Word .doc or .docx attachment. Anything sent in a different file type will be rejected without reply. Poems may be submitted in whatever form best suits the piece. Authors may submit 1 (one) story and 1 (one) poem maximum for consideration – if you want to send both, please send them in separate emails. Do not send more than one story or poem...

Taking Submissions: Reader Beware!

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: $0.01 per word for new stories and/or $25 for reprints. Theme: Fear Street appreciation. YA horror steeped in late 80s-90s nostalgia. Note: Reprints Welcome   WELCOME TO FEAR STREET You've heard the stories about Fear Street—the unexplained mysteries, missing people, the things that lurk in the dark—but wouldn't you rather experience them for yourself? You aren't scared, are you? Briana Morgan, author of  TRICKER-TREATER AND OTHER STORIES, and Roxie Voorhees, co-editor of CAMP HORROR, comes a collection of super-chilling tales of teen horror.  A little nostalgia and all Ode to Stine, this anthology promises to keep you up at night.   READER BEWARE! Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines may be rejected.   Submissions will be accepted until August 1st, 2022. Please submit to [email protected]    What we are looking for: YA horror stories steeped in 90s nostalgia. We also encourage writers to have diverse representation of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and strong female, Disabled, fat, and neurodivergent representation.   What we are NOT looking for: Please, do not submit stories that do not fit the theme (erotica). Submissions cannot contain rape scenes on page. Please ensure any scenes of a sexual nature are necessary and non-exploitative.   Submissions must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words. Email subject: Last, First - Title - Word count Cover letter: Include 100 word author bio and socials Content warnings are encouraged Please use standard manuscript format https://www.shunn.net/format/ is a great example. (Omit address) American English spelling and punctuation, please. Bilingual characters welcomed. Must be a .doc or .docx  Save as: Last, First - Title - Word count   We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us until the publication date. If your story is a reprint, please indicate in your cover letter and include its...

Taking Submissions: Brute: Raunch, Scares, and Rough Trade

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: 5 cents a word, 1 cent per word for reprints, 2 contributor copies Theme: dark and speculative short stories that address gay sexuality, desire, masculinity, and the aesthetics of "rough trade." Note: Reprints welcome Brute is an anthology featuring dark and speculative short stories that address gay sexuality, desire, masculinity, and the aesthetics of "rough trade." We do not want every story in the book to be so grim; if your inclination is to have your protagonist chasing a beast of a man who rapes and kills the character, please do not submit. That said, stories don't need to end happily. The attraction to rough trade often involves a desire to embrace danger and risk the self. Because we are seeking a certain tone, we ask that before you submit your story, you query first with your details on your concept (and if you have any previous publications). We will consider reprints. For an example of the kind of stories we are seeking, please look at Nick Mamatas's tale "Last Night at Manscape" or "Dick Pig" by Ian Muneshwar. Stories must have speculative elements: horror, dark fantasy, weirdness. Stories should be 2,500 to 9,000 words. Standard formatting please (Times New Roman 12, double space, etc). Payment for original fiction will be 5 cents a word for one-time print and digital rights. Payment for reprints is a bit more than 1 cent a word. Additionally, contributors will receive two copies of the finished book. Publication in hardcover will be sometime in 2023. The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2022 Via: Lethe Press Books.

Taking Submissions: Embers of Corsari

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: Royalties Theme: High fantasy set in a new world (bible available). “Embers of Corsari”. An anthology set in A new world that will be available for other authors to dabble in. Yes, there’s a world bible you’ll have to look over and abide by. Genre is high fantasy. Submission call: Enter a world of heroes, villains, monsters, and gods. Where magic is as common as the air you breathe. I’m looking for stories about the beginnings of heroes or villains. Or even their ends. The start of wars… or perhaps the end where little is left but devastation and the embers of hope. Fiery-tempered warriors or Red-headed temptresses. Or perhaps even Pyromaniacs. Everything begins with a burning ember: may it be hope or hate, love or revenge. Due date: August 1st, 2022 Wordcount: 7,000-10,000 words Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. Email submissions to: ladyafterdeath @ gmail dot com Corsari World Bible Via: Three Raven's Publishing.

Taking Submissions: The First Line – Fall 2022

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn't belong to her. Fall: Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn't belong to her. Due date: August 1, 2022 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 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...

Taking Submissions: Fear Forge Anthology – Winter Quarter 2022 Edition

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: $30 and a contributor's copy Theme: Horror/dark fantasy stories or images involving a forge, such as: items created by a forge—haunted armor, weapons, or cursed objects; demonic crafters or smiths using the forge; or the forge equipment itself. Theme For the first edition of the Fear Forge Anthology, I wanted to give a nod to the anthology's name and to the relationships that inspired it. Since the conception of Horrorsmith Editing, I have been focused on forging strong relationships within the author and horror communities. This anthology is a continuation of that, and I thought it only appropriate that it should reflect both in the name and the first edition's theme.     Please submit your unique, unpublished, horror or dark fantasy stories or images involving a forge, such as: items created by a forge—haunted armor, weapons, or cursed objects; demonic crafters or smiths who use the forge; or the forge equipment itself.    Details All stories and images should involve the forge in any variation of the methods used above. However, the forge must be a prominent feature within the story. Simply adding a forge in the background of an existing story will not make the cut.  All stories should be between 2000 and 6000 words in length. There may be some wiggle room over 6000 words if the story is exceptional. However, please do not depend on that. Any stories less than 2000 words will not be considered.  Images can be a figure, scene, or cover image.  All stories and images should be emailed to [email protected] beginning Friday, May 13, 2022.  Stories and images will be accepted until the anthology is full or until August 1, whichever comes first, so it will be to your benefit to submit as early as possible.  You may submit more...

Taking Submissions: Grimoire: The Goth Narcissus

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: $20 for authors, artwork payment is negotiated Theme: "Selfies" WE ARE GRIMOIRE, an online literary publication of the dark arts. We publish one themed issue annually that includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and work that moves beyond genre. B E F O R E   Y O U   S U B M I T The best way to know what we want is to look in our mirror (see below) and to read past issues of the magazine. You can find our archive here. We’re currently seeking: C A L L F O R S U B M I S S I O N S : T H E G O T H N A R C I S S U S Turning the camera on one’s self (the selfie, the reimagined self) as in Anna Tendler and Petra Collins; the way the camera can lie; technicolor interiors; melodrama; a goth Eve Babitz; the curation of self-presentation; visual pleasure and self fantasy ie Mulvey; digitization and pixelation of self; the mise en scene of a Room of One’s Own; absence and the opportunity for reinvention; Leila Taylor’s Darkly; narcissism and dysmorphia; vanity via vanitas; If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power; paper dolls assembled into narrative tableaux; queer bodies and narratives; thirst traps; subcultural drag and the externalized markers of what we love; Men, Women, and Chainsaws; transgression. We’re looking for things that have this vibe, or that play with form like this, but we’re also open to interviews as well as literary and film criticism. If you see yourself in the mirror, submit your work to the newest reincarnation of Grimoire by AUGUST 1, 2022: A D D I T I O N A L L Y As part of our Goth Narcissus issue, Grimoire...

Taking Submissions: Night Frights 2022 Window

  Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: 3 cents per word and a copy of the magazine Theme: YA Horror Dark Moon Digest, the quarterly magazine published by Perpetual Motion Machine, is now open for submissions to our special annual young adult edition titled Night Frights. We want to introduce young minds to the fabulous world of horror fiction. Click HERE to purchase the previous two issues, especially if you want to get a better sense of what kind of stories we’re looking to publish in issue two. Interested in submitting to Night Frights? Read on… What we want: the same awesome stories that we use for our quarterly magazine. We want stories with complex characters and new ideas. Scare us. But also, inspire young readers into a lifelong obsession with the genre. Cool it on the profanities, no overly graphic sexual situations, etc. Consider the following scenario: we are selling books at a local county fair. A family approaches with their kids (9 and 11 years old, maybe). One of the parents asks, “Is this okay for my kid?” We want to be able to confidently answer, “Yes,” without going through a long interrogation of what they’re allowed to read and watch at home. If this seems like a very specific scenario, that’s because it’s something we’ve lived through more times than we can count, as we sell books at many local fairs. Stories should not exceed 3,500 words. No reprints. No multiple submissions. Simultaneous submissions are fine. All submissions should be in a legible font (think TNR) with your contact information in the upper left-hand corner. We are not too strict on format, but some consistency to readability would be nice. Deadline is August 1st. Please do not query us asking the status of your story before September 1st. Payment will be 3 cents per word and a...

Taking Submissions: Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction

Deadline: August 1st, 2022 Payment: 6 cents/word Theme: Stories featuring hysteria that are Dark speculative, widely defined. Hysteria Irrational. Frenzied. Unreasonable. Unable to speak their own experiences. In the case of abortion specifically, we have been told for decades in the United States that Roe v. Wade was safe and that we were overreacting, illogical, needlessly aggressive—hysterical. Now look. We were none of those things. Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction, which is presented by CHM and will benefit the Chicago Abortion Fund, is seeking dark speculative fiction from anyone directly at risk as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, defined inclusively. Guidelines Genre: Dark speculative, widely defined. Don’t self-reject! Theme: Hysteria. Interpret the theme broadly. You don’t have to beat me over the head with the connection. I am willing to look at everything from retellings of “The Yellow Wallpaper” to sci-fi space opera rockstars. Feel free to take on one of the many faces of the monstrous patriarchy directly. Because if you can’t now, when the heck can you? Open To: Anyone directly at risk as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, defined inclusively Word Count: Maximum 5,000 words, no minimum. Reprints: No. Multiple Submissions: No. Simultaneous Submissions: Yes! But please alert us immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere and needs to be withdrawn. Pay:  6 cents/word (USD) As this is a charity anthology, authors who would like to contribute more and who are safe to do so may waive pay. This is completely optional, and we will never ask you to do this; you can only request it upon acceptance. Date Open: July 18 Date Closed: August 1 Format: Shunn-ish. I don’t need your home address or phone number, we haven’t even met. https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html...

Taking Submissions: Last Girls Club Fall Issue 2022 (Early)

Submission Window: July 1st - August 1st, 2022 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD max Theme: Dark Shadows: The Gay 90s; closeted, cast out, or converted. The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. This season's theme is Dark Shadows: The Gay 90s; closeted, cast out, or converted. This issue is dedicated to my dear friend Paul, who died of cirrhosis in '00s. We worked the graveyard shift together at a Texas gas station in the 90s. The stories he shared with me of growing up gay in the South, with a deeply religious emotionally scarred mother broke my heart. The 80s Satanic Panic led to a religious fervor that cast a long shadow over society and personal freedoms. If you lived it, you know exactly what I'm referring to: the friends on the streets in their early teens, the weird homophobic rants of priests and relatives, the amazing clubs and hangouts hidden in seedy alleys that were occasionally raided by truckloads of skinheads or rednecks, sometimes cops looking for "underage drinking", the disgusting older repressed trolls who paid for oral in the dark, while in the daylight stood in government buildings and expounded on family values and morality, the overall perception that AIDS was a punishment for sin not a disease/pandemic that should be addressed. That is the backdrop for our stories in the Fall issue. Paul loved Rosemary's Baby, the Wizard of Oz, and Dark Shadows. If you manage to insert a swanky older Euro trash cousin...