Events

Deadline: June 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror Note: Reprints Welcome M Presents is looking for submissions for their next Enter Madness anthology, Rising Dark, to be released later this year. Stories should be horrific, deal with the mysterious, and avoid the use of anything that could be considered socially unacceptable (violence toward children, unnecessary gore, sex for the sake of sex, erotica). I am only a single person so I will try my best to respond to all submissions. Stories must be fewer than 5,000 words, payment is a percent of royalties based upon the total number of words published. Open: March 1, 2023. Deadline: June 1, 2023. To submit: fill out the form at the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfl_yivMcFrhyXs1sJal_Alu6yV-SIP-Qj__rGJf1X1EjksYw/viewform?usp=pp_url On Royalties: You'll get payments to Paypal via DriveThruFiction/Onebookshelf (printer), accounts to both are FREE, if the email you provided differs, enter than email below. Payments will be made approximately 30 days after purchase unless requested otherwise. Note: Paypal takes a $1 processing fee for all transactions made directly from Onebookshelf, the more transfers then the more fees (example: if Paypal makes the payment to me then I am charged a fee, and an additional fee is paid if I personally transfer the royalty money to you; so you'll make more with an active account from DriveThruFiction). Via: The Enter Madness Contact Form.

Submission Window: May 1st - June 1st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Souls-like" fantasy for this issue: things that remind you of Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Blasphemous and so on. Old Moon Quarterly is opening to general submissions on May 1, 2023, and the call will last until June 1, 2023. 1000-6000 word limit, 8c a word. We published dark fantasy and weird sword-and-sorcery. We are looking for what we might call "Souls-like" fantasy for this issue: things that remind you of Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Blasphemous and so on. We want dying earths and strange vistas. We want knights fighting against the rotting corpses of their god. We want witches struggling with the decay of memory and the mutability of identity. We want baroque prose, and spare prose, and everything in between, so long as it is melancholy, and tragic, and bloody. What  We  Want Old Moon publishes character-focused, weird sword-and-sorcery: stories of a dark and transgressive nature, set in a secondary or historical-paranormal (“our” reality, but with a twist, if you will) world, with a focus on rounded characters undergoing some sort of conflict, resolved (though not always successfully!) by the might of their main or mind. ​ We love stories that combine that sense of action and adventure with well-rounded characters who make us question our own realities and perceptions. We love to see the gothic, the baroque, the eldritch, and we love to see it hit with an axe. Weird fiction and sword-and-sorcery can both be slippery terms. That is part of the fun! But, for our purposes we know it may help prospective writers if we list a series of authors and their stories we feel encompass (at least in part) what we love about the borderland of sword/sorcery and weird fiction: Laird Barron ("Oblivion...

Submission Window: May 19th - June 1st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: "An effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling" in the SF, fantasy, space opera, hopepunk genres Theme: Rhapsody of the Spheres – SF, fantasy, space opera, hopepunk The dictionary defines a rhapsody as “an effusively enthusiastic or  ecstatic expression of feeling.” In ancient Greece, a rhapsody was also part of an epic poem of a suitable length for reciting. Edie Brickell waxed rhapsodic about a smile on a dog, and Queen and Liszt gave us their musical Bohemian and Hungarian rhapsodies, respectively. Please give us a speculative fiction story or poem about what would make us happy right now. Reading Period (open): May 19 – June 1, 2023 Writer Deadline: June 1, 2023 Publication Date: August 2023 Submissions Guidelines As of: March 3, 2023 We do themed anthologies. We are not currently accepting unsolicited reprints. We have also discussed the types of stories we prefer in an interview (note that the pay rate has increased) at D.L. Snell’s Market Scoops. We are temporarily closed for submissions. Stories should be submitted in either Microsoft Word (using double spacing), RTF,  or plain text. They should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Be sure they are the final version (any Review comments removed). Flash humor pieces (Grins and Gurgles) should be short, around 600-1,000 words. Please don’t send simultaneous or multiple submissions. If a story has been rejected, you can then send another (limit 2 per reading period). Please verify that your story is original, unpublished, and not written using AI. Submit by email to [email protected] either as an attachment (Word, RTF) or in the body of the mail (text). In the Subject: line of the email, please put flatsubmit:Title_of_Your_Work to avoid being deemed a canned meat product based on ham. If the work is for the humor...

Deadline: June 1st, 2023 Prizes: 2 novel winners and 2-3 novella winners: The prize for a novel is $1000 and a novella $250. Theme: Original fiction that "doesn't fit anywhere else" What’s special about the word “ofic” is that it’s short for “original fiction,” but only in contrast to fanfiction. The fanfic/ofic divide dichotomizes fiction into two categories: work that openly acknowledges the canon from which a work was transformed, and everything else. OFIC Magazine is a quarterly publication with a simple goal: to promote the original work of fanauthors whose aesthetics and interests may not align with the genres of traditional publishing, but whose work still aspires to literary aims—work that may be dark or grotesque, unabashedly joyful, or just too filthy for the general population. We publish work that can’t fit anywhere else. The OFIC Press Prize will be awarded to up to 2 novels and up to 3-4 novellas, which will be published in 2024. The prize for a novel is $1000 and a novella $250. Novels will be published as standalone books and novellas will be compiled into an anthology. We're looking for manuscripts that don't really fit in a traditional publishing category, maybe because they're too romance-y for general or literary fiction, and not romance-y enough for romance. Or maybe there's just a truly tasteless amount of smut. What we value most is an earnest portrayal of character, interesting relationship dynamics, and well-crafted prose that prioritizes clarity and voice. We can guarantee the winners their prize money, thorough editorial feedback, professional cover design, and digital publication. We plan to run a Kickstarter to fund a physical print and distribution. Should our Kickstarter succeed, you'll also receive 10 copies of your book/anthology. We'll do a print of 100 copies to sell in our online store in...

Submission Window: May 1st, 2023 to June 2nd, 2023 Payment: $50 Theme: Love We’ll be accepting new submissions for 2023, with the theme of LOVE in December of 2022. ​The following is relevant to all submissions for 2023 for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Writing opportunities for 2023 include: New Fairy Tales: Fairy tales that are almost or entirely new or are just new takes on old tales are all welcome. Mashups of existing fairy tales are welcome as well. Submissions must follow the theme below to be considered. Poetry: Poetry inspired by fairy tales and that follows the theme is also welcome. HERE IS HOW YOU SUBMIT AND FORMAT AND WHEN Only the kind of submissions outlined below will be accepted at The Fairy Tale Magazine in 2023. Writers will have a chance to submit fairy-tale inspired stories/poems twice in 2023. Because of limited space, once your work has been chosen for publication, chances of getting published a second time in the same year are very slim. Here are the submission periods for both stories and poems: Dec. 1, 2022 at 12 a.m., EST, through Jan. 2, 2023, at 11:59 p.m., EST. This will be the window for works that will be published in the March and June issues of The Fairy Tale Magazine. The second and last submission period for 2023 will be from May 1, 2023 at 12 a.m., EST to June 2, at 11:59 p.m., EST. This will be the window for works that will be published in the September and December issues of The Fairy Tale Magazine. There will only be four issues. ​ No submissions will be considered or acknowledged if received outside of the windows stated above. You submit through email only. Please use this address only: [email protected]. That is for submissions only. Your last name, the publication month you are...

Deadline: June 2nd, 2023 Payment: $10 Theme: Father's Day We are now open to poetry and fiction submissions for our Fiendish Father’s Day Issue, slated for publication June 2023. We are open to all of our regular horror themes as well as stories that have a Father’s Day element. We are also open to Fiendish Father’s Day Challenge Submissions. Deadline for the upcoming issue and the challenge is June 2, 2023 for both fiction and poetry submissions. To track and see if we received your story, visit: Where’s My Story? Please note: If you do not want your story title added to the tracking page, let us know when you submit your work. (Author name is not listed, only story title).   Tales from the Moonlit Path publishes dark, eerie, speculative stories. Horror is not a necessary element, although fiction should contain some aspect of the weak, frail, changeable human condition. Gore and explicit sex for the sake of visceral shock will not find a home here, though we are not opposed to it in general, if it belongs in the story. We are interested in character-driven stories more so than plot-driven, and we prefer dark fiction that makes us think, makes us feel, wraps us in its well-spun dream. Hard sci-fi and fantasy are a hard sell for us, but not impossible. Revenge and ironic stories are also a hard sell. Although we would love to publish fiction longer than 2,000 words, it is our experience that reading stories longer than that on a monitor can be tiresome and hard on the eyes. So please, fiction must be no longer than 2,000 words. Please include a short cover letter with your story, your name, email address, paypal information for payment, word count (please make sure an accurate word count is included...

Deadline: June 6th, 2023 Payment: 2.5 cents per word Theme: Dreamscapes and nightmares, your soaring fantasies, your futuristic miasmas. Note: Authors of South Asian origin and other BIPOC authors Fiction Submissions are open for fiction from May 06th 2023 to June 06th 2023. Please submit using the form at the end of this page. Non-fiction Submissions for pitches are open on a rolling basis. You can submit you pitch via email; please send us your pitch at [email protected], but please go through this page for information on format and what we’re looking for first! Word Limits Fiction Minimum 1,000 words, maximum 5,000 words. Non-fiction Pitches Minimum 250 words to maximum 500 words. Commissioned pieces are usually around 2,000 words depending on the topic. Payments Fiction We pay 2.5 cents per word for stories up-to 5,000 words. Non-fiction We pay a flat rate of $100 for commissioned pieces. What We’re Looking For Fiction Give us your dreamscapes and nightmares, your soaring fantasies, your futuristic miasmas. Give us also your unstructured ramblings, where a story exists at the edges, dripping with lush, brilliant prose. We are not sticklers for the usual 3-act, 5-act structures, because great storytelling is so much more than that. So send us your lores written in reverse, written in verses, written in the form of email exchanges across multiverses, or haphazard POVs. Which is not to say we won’t accept a story with a usual structure. A good hero’s journey is a good hero’s journey. But if you’re doing that, take chances, and twist it! Non-fiction While we are welcome to any pitches you may have that pertain to South Asian spec fic in any manner, we are particularly interested in publishing the following type of work: Critical essays of South Asian speculative fiction, such as through a feminist, queer,...

Submission Window: June 1st-7th, 2023 Payment: $25 Theme: The struggle for freedom JULY SUBMISSIONS (opens June 1 - 7, 2023) — Freedom, in any sense, is rarely obtained without a struggle. From illness to interpersonal drama to all-out war, the object a person chooses freedom from sets the level of conflict encountered. And freedom itself, though touted in this country in a jingoistic sense, is much broader in ways we seek it than the American definition allows. We can seek freedom from any number of things—relationships, work environments, addiction, incarceration, even simply expectations. Help us celebrate this July in true RHP fashion, by sending us stories of characters engaged in personal bids for a freedom they desire. What happens when they get it? And can they ever truly be free? Stone’s Throw is the monthly online companion to Rock and a Hard Place Magazine, delivering shorter, sharper content on a regular basis in an electronic medium, before collecting all 12 stories for an annual print anthology. Each month, writers will be given a submission prompt, and the best of the best, by our estimation, will be posted here the following month. INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING? Stone’s Throw will open for submissions the first week of every month, from 12AM on the first through 11:59PM on the seventh. We’re looking for all the same dark fiction, crime and noir as our usual submissions, but with a target length between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and aligned with the monthly submissions prompt (see below). We’ll read through the best, choose the one story that shines brightest, and publish it online the following month, paying $25 per accepted story. After a year, we’ll collect all twelve stories into a Stone’s Throw Anthology, to be published alongside our other print issues. PLEASE NOTE — If you...

Deadline: June 13th, 2023 Prizes: Grand Prize: $3,000, with the second- and third-place winners receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will each receive $300. Theme: Writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world. Grist is excited to announce our third-annual climate fiction short story contest, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world. We dare you to dream anew.  * * * Submissions for our 2023/2024 contest are now open. We’re looking for stories of 3,000 to 5,000 words that envision the next 180 years of climate progress — roughly seven generations – imagining intersectional worlds of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope. Submit your story now A great Imagine story showcases creative climate solutions, particularly through narratives that center the communities most impacted by the climate crisis, and that envision what a truly green, equitable, and decolonized society could look like. We celebrate fiction rooted in hope, justice, and cultural authenticity, and aim to amplify voices that have been, and continue to be, affected by systems of oppression. There is no cost to enter. Submissions close June 13, 2023, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time. The winning writer will be awarded $3,000, with the second- and third-place winners receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will each receive $300. All winners and finalists will have their story published in an immersive collection on Grist’s website. Stories will be judged by a panel of literary experts, including acclaimed authors Paolo Bacigalupi, Nalo Hopkinson, and Sam J. Miller....

Submission Window: June 1st - 14th, 2023 Payment: 8 cents/word for originals, $100/short story or $20/flash piece for reprints Theme: Guiding Sparks Between the Words: How Stories Illuminate the World Around Us Every year in September, Cast of Wonders celebrates Banned Books Week, an annual international event celebrating the freedom to read and raising awareness of the immense social value of free and open access to information. Joining the editorial team for this year’s call is Cast of Wonders Associate Editor, Simon Pan. Thank you, Simon, for the wonderful theme this year! Guiding Sparks Between the Words: How Stories Illuminate the World Around Us In times of conflict, division and change, it is more important than ever to build bridges of understanding.  We most commonly encounter the stories of others through news articles or in classrooms, kept at a scholarly or journalistic distance and often biased to favour privileged perspectives. Our own truths may also remain unvoiced and unknown, misunderstood even by those around us. When it comes to illuminating these truths, stories have a key part to play: they help us to learn and appreciate things from perspectives we might never otherwise consider, and allow us to reshape our own experiences within the transformative lens of fiction. When we share our stories, we guide sparks of kinship and understanding, using narrative and emotion to help others experience a small window into another’s reality. For Banned Books Week 2023, we want to see stories of discovery, of learning, of misconceptions unraveled, and how stories can serve as a guiding light to help us understand a new perspective, or to teach us valuable lessons when all other methods fail us. What that something is…well, that is up to you! At Cast of Wonders, we welcome stories that portray the full spectrum of human...