Events

Deadline: January 8th, 2023 Payment: $15 per poem, $0.01 per word ($40 minimum) for short stories, and $50 per art piece via PayPal. Theme: Gothic prose, poetry, and art. Diet Milk Magazine is a biannual literary magazine devoted to Gothic prose, poetry, and art. Neatly genred or genre-bending, classically styled or modern, we want your prettiest, most pungent dread. Give us withering romance, creatures that lurk and lure, families to be feared and houses that haunt; give us isolation and creeping, oppressive unwellness. Quietly thrill, terrify, and leave us wanting more. For all our important links, including website, twitter, and support, check out our campsite.bio page! This hub will direct you to anywhere you want to go, as well as put you in contact with our official email. All submissions are processed through Duosuma, available to anyone with a free Duotrope account. Our manager can be accessed through the button above after logging into or creating your account. A note on Duosuma for trans people: this platform requires that you supply a ‘legal name’ when submitting. There is no way for us to disable this, but as a trans-led magazine, we understand that this may be uncomfortable. We suggest using a ‘dummy name’ (ex: Dummy Name) for that field when first submitting, and only worry about telling us a ‘legal name‘ in the event of an acceptance. That is the only time, for payment reasons, that we will need it. We don’t accept multiple submissions or reprints from other magazines, but are willing to consider pieces posted to author websites/blogs. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask to be informed of acceptance elsewhere immediately so that we may remove you from the queue— and offer congratulations! In addition to your work, you will be asked to submit a brief cover letter. While...

Deadline: January 10th, 2023 Payment: $3 Theme: A Love Worth Losing (if love is a losing game). Bring on the darkness, the great loves, and the tragic endings! Thank you for your interest in submitting work to our gay fantasy arts & literary journal! ​ No entry fee is required, and all rights in the story remain the property of the author or artist. All types of science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, and dark fantasy are welcome. ​ We accept submissions on a rolling basis for our quarterly issues. For our winter publication, please submit your works by January 10th, 2023. The theme for our winter issue will be: a love worth losing (if love is a losing game). ​ Before submitting to us please keep in mind that we are devoted to LGBTQ+ fantasy. Your work should strongly reflect that. We are interested in work that elevates dreams and fairy tales in the gay community and its supporters. We're looking for original works of magic and fantasy. Even in darkness, hope can exist. We want to be transported to new worlds or fascinating new versions of our own! When considering submitting to us please ensure the work meets the above criteria. ​ All entries must be in English and original works. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person’s universe, without written permission, will not be accepted. Submissions may not have been previously published in professional media or anywhere accessible online without a friend request or password. This includes personal blogs. ​ Fiction: We welcome fiction, 5,000 words or less. If you have a longer piece and your interested in publishing the work in separate issues, you can send those along as well. Submit as a Word document only. No PDFs. For flash fiction and shorter...

  Deadline: January 10th, 2023 Payment: £50.00 and contributors copies Theme: Science fiction stories published in 2022 from British, Irish, British-based or ex-pat authors Note: Reprints only Best of British Science Fiction 2022 is now open for submissions. We are seeking science fiction stories (not fantasy or any other flavour of genre in this instance) that were first published during 2022. Authors must be British, Irish, British-based or ex-pats. This is a reprint anthology, so we are not interested in seeing previously unpublished work on this occasion. There are no limits on word length, though stories over 10,000 words may prove to be a harder sell. Successful authors will receive payment of 1p a word up to £50.00 for the reprint rights. They will also receive a contributor's copy of both the hardback and paperback edition of the completed book. Submissions should adhere to standard manuscript format, and should be sent as an attachment (doc, docx, or rtf). Please do not send PDFs or links to published work without an attached document in one of the formats mentioned. Please send only the final version of your work as published. Where conventional speech punctuation applies, please use double quotes. Submissions close at midnight, UK time, on January 10th, 2023. We receive a large number of stories so can afford to be selective. Please, therefore, send your very best work to series editor Donna Scott, who will once again be at the helm. Submissions to: [email protected] Via: Newcon press.

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Give us your best Renfield story. Everybody’s favorite flyman is such a rich character, yet we know so little about him. Who do you think he is? Each issue will be themed. Submissions will be open for two issues at a time. Issue 2: Renfield: (To be published May/2023) Give us your best Renfield story. Everybody’s favorite flyman is such a rich character, yet we know so little about him. Who do you think he is? Submissions open until January 15, 2023 We like stories that feel like they could be canon, but we also enjoy fun alternate takes, so unleash your creative powers of darkness. We look forward to seeing what you come up with. Stories should be 1500-5000 words. Poetry will be considered, but is not necessarily sought (We are hoping to have an all poetry issue sometime in the future). Compensation will be .05/word plus contributor’s copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify us immediately if accepted elsewhere. Some stories may be chosen for the website, but not the publication. Please adhere to the Shunn format - https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ Please only send .doc, .docx, or .pdf Filename and email subject should be - “lastname_title_drac” or “lastname_title_renfield” Include short 3rd person bio Email submissions to: [email protected] Cover Art Submissions What we want Eye catching design. Think pulp paperbacks, Basil Gogos’ Famous Monsters covers, EC Horror Comics, Vintage Movie Posters. Originality. Homage is fun, plagiarism is not. Please make sure you own all aspects of your work. Knowledge and Love of all things Dracula. Hide some Easter eggs in there. Make it so that we keep coming back to find more to enjoy. Keep it clean. Sensual is fine. Erotica, not so much. Parameters Format is...

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Imaginary Friends If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 150k+ monthly listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we’ll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 90.) Imaginary Friends; deadline 15th January 2023 SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If this form isn’t working, please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. Title your email with the following syntax: “SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT”  (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) Submission Guidelines • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story to us, you are confirming that you are the original creator of the story • We will consider entrants whose work has been entered and published elsewhere, however please ensure you state where and when your story has been used elsewhere on the document • You will be allowed to place one call-to-action for your own work at the end of the episode. Be sure to include this at the end of your document, underneath the log line • Payment per accepted story is 15GBP • 2x entries per theme permitted   When will I hear if my story has been accepted or not? We carefully review every single submission that comes through our door....

Deadline: January 15, 2023 Payment: $20 per story or artwork 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...

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Prizes: $4500 in gift cards up for grabs, the grand prize lands $1500 worth. Theme: Steampunk story that takes place at least partially in the 1800s and have at least one piece of quantum technology The year I started studying calculus, I took the helm of my high school’s literary magazine. Throughout the next two years, the editorial board flooded campus with poetry—and poetry contests. We papered the halls with flyers, built displays in the library, celebrated National Poetry Month, and jerked students awake at morning assembly (hitherto known as the quiet kid you’d consult if you didn’t understand the homework, I turned out to have a sense of humor and a stage presence suited to quoting from that venerated poet Dr. Seuss.1 Who’d’ve thought?). A record number of contest entries resulted. That limb of my life atrophied in college. My college—a stereotypical liberal-arts affair complete with red bricks—boasted a literary magazine. But it also boasted English and comparative-literature majors. They didn’t need me, I reasoned. The sun ought to set on my days of engineering creative-writing contests. I’m delighted to be eating my words, in announcing the Quantum-Steampunk Short-Story Contest. The Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub is running the contest this academic year. I’ve argued that quantum thermodynamics—my field of research—resembles the literary and artistic genre of steampunk. Steampunk stories combine Victorian settings and sensibilities with futuristic technologies, such as dirigibles and automata. Quantum technologies are cutting-edge and futuristic, whereas thermodynamics—the study of energy—developed during the 1800s. Inspired by the first steam engines, thermodynamics needs retooling for quantum settings. That retooling is quantum thermodynamics—or, if you’re feeling whimsical (as every physicist should), quantum steampunk. The contest opens this October and closes on January 15, 2023. Everyone aged 13 or over may enter a story, written in English, of up to 3,000 words....

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Payment: $0.08 a word for original stories Theme: Queer stories featuring gothic horror, perversion and depravity. The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread will be an anthology of gothic depravity, horror and perversion. It will likely straddle genre lines, stalking the line between fantasy and science fiction. We will be open to queer horrors both psychological and supernatural, gory and cerebral. But more than anything, we're asking contributors to scandalize us. General submission notes: Unless the editors are otherwise specified, you can address cover letters to “Dear editors” or “Dear dave.” Please avoid “Dear Mr. Ring.” If you joke about how straight white men are underrepresented in speculative fiction, it will not win you any points. Please query [email protected] if you aren’t sure if your submission went through. We’re happy to check. Thanks for thinking of Neon Hemlock for your work! Please don’t self-reject. Neon Hemlock Press is open to submissions of short stories for The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread. The anthology, edited by dave ring, will include queer stories featuring gothic horror, perversion and depravity. The compensation level for original stories accepted to this anthology is $0.08/word. Submit stories on Submittable until January 15th, 2023. Please contact us if there are any accessibility concerns for any reason and we’ll work with you. We are looking for: Wordcount: Under 6,000 words. 1-4,000 words is probably the sweet spot. Concept: Horror stories exploring gothic elements, depravity and perversion. What we want to see: We are looking for dark stories that subvert the gothic and explore the filthier edges of horror. We would like to be scandalized. We’re using the most inclusive definition of queer. Queer, trans, ace, undefinable. Throughout, we’re looking for rich, varied and nuanced understandings of gender, family and ethnicity. What...

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Payment: Royalties on stories above 4k Theme: While ferrying souls across the river to their judgement, Charon, the ferryman, has seen some sh*t. Tell us the wildest stories of his passengers, the adventures in the land of the dead, but make sure Charon plays his part--and make sure he gets paid. Title: The Ferryman Opens: 15 Oct 2022 Closes: 15 Jan 2023 11:59 pm EST Theme: While ferrying souls across the river to their judgement, Charon, the ferryman, has seen some sh*t. Tell us the wildest stories of his passengers, the adventures in the land of the dead, but make sure Charon plays his part--and make sure he gets paid. Word Limit: 500-6k words, excluding title Author Eligibility: Open to All Reprints: Not allowed Simultaneous Submissions: Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Max of 2 (two) acceptance per author Author Compensation: One (1) digital copy and word count based royalty split for 4k+. Send your story and up to a 100-word author bio with 2 (two) links as a Word doc attachment to: [email protected] Please include the Anthology Title, Story Title, and Author name in your email subject line, with your document file name as: Author Name - Story Title. Manuscript Formatting We follow industry standard formatting for professional submissions. Please adhere to the following guidelines: 12 pt standard font (Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond, etc.) Double-spaced, with no extra spacing between paragraphs NO TABS or spaces at the beginning of a paragraph. Use paragraph formatting to indent the first line of each paragraph at .50 1" margins, letter size (8.5"x11"), portrait All manuscripts must be in .doc/.docx format We will not follow links Scene breaks: # Spelling: American English A separate cover sheet is unnecessary. Hyphenated words will be counted as one word. Paragraph/scene breaks, title, and author name are not included in word counts. Word count requirements, deadlines, and...

Deadline: January 15th, 2023 Payment: 2 cents per word Theme: Un-themed, general horror flash fiction. Preference to dread-inducing stories. **SUBMISSIONS OPEN JANUARY, APRIL, JULY, AND OCTOBER (1-15th of each month)** 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 type or stories copy/pasted...