Events

Deadline: July 22nd, 2023 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Rituals 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 95) Rituals: deadline 22nd July 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. If you’ve...

Deadline: July 27th, 2023 Payment: Flash: 6 cents per word. Short Comics: $125 a page. Theme: Think monsters, pulp, and classic horror films We’re launching a print magazine! Monstrous will contain comics, prose fiction, and articles. FLASH FICTION WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: Horror Flash Fiction for the first issue, to be published later this year. There’s no theme, but we do like monsters, pulp, and classic horror films. Focus should be on fast-paced entertaining stories. We’ll take a limited amount of fantasy, but make it dark and action packed. No science fiction or detective fiction. Payment: 6 cents a word Length: 1000 to 2000 words Submission Period: June 29, 2023 - July 27, 2023 Email full stories to jamesmonstrousbooks.com and use this format for the subject heading: Monstrous Flash - Title - Author Name. (If this isn’t correct, we may delete without reading. With the number of submissions we get, things get confusing without the proper heading.) Include a short bio in your email. Use Classic Shunn formatting. SHORT COMICS WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: Finished black-and-white horror comics from 1 to 8 pages. We are NOT looking for scripts. We’ll take a look at pitches, but you should have a creative team already in place Submission Period: Open now until further notice. Payment: $125 a page. Size: Digest magazine, 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Email submissions to jamesmonstrousbooks.com and use this format for the subject heading: Monstrous Comics - Title - Author Name. Include a short bio in your email. Check out our Kickstarter to familiarize yourself with what we’re looking for. Via: Monstrous Magazine.

Deadline: July 29th, 2023 Payment: Short Stories: 1 cent per word, Poetry, $10 flat fee, Artwork: $25 flat fee or $50 if chosen for cover art Theme: World Tour NonBinary Review is open for submissions on the theme of "world tour." From the first migration of our ancestors out of Africa to the globe trotting of the jet set, our planet and our culture have been shaped by people traveling vast distances. Some traveled for survival, some for wealth, some for power, and some traveled to satisfy their curiosity. We're looking for stories about epic journeys over vast distances with many destinations. We're looking for travels that have changed the way people have viewed their world. We're looking for travels that have broadened the outlook, not just of the traveler, but of civilization. We're not looking for personal travelogues, unless you're Columbus, Magellan, etc., in which case, we have some questions. We're also not looking for stories of family's moves to the new world. We also don't want interplanetary travel-type science fiction. Zoetic Press publishes the best in new lit - experimental, interstitial, luminous. We welcome submissions from EVERYONE. The only requirement is that they be in English, or translated into English (we love a translation). If your writing is outstanding, no matter who you are, we have a place for it. NonBinary Review, our award-winning themed lit journal is published quarterly. Each issue revolves around a specific theme, but we're asking contributors to go beyond the old familiar media tropes. We're looking for work we can read with our whole body - work that gives us goosebumps, makes us see the world differently, has the tang of authenticity, makes us sit up and listen, and smells like....something. This analogy got out of hand. What we're saying is that we're...

Submission Window: July 1st - 30th, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word and $500 for custom cover art and $100 for cover art drawn from an artist’s existing portfolio. Theme: Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Note: You must identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. khōréō is a quarterly publication of stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. We’re especially interested in writing and art that explore some aspect of migration, whether explicitly (themes of immigration, colonialism, etc.), metaphorically, or with a sly nod and a wink. Most importantly, we’re a new magazine and we’re still finding our identity: therefore, please don’t self-reject because you’re not sure if your work is a good fit. We won’t know until we see it, so please give us a chance to look! See submission requirements & how to submit at the following pages: Fiction Non-fiction Art Voice actors Who can submit? khōréō is dedicated to diversity and amplifying the voices of immigrant and diaspora authors and artists. We welcome, but do not require, a brief description of the author’s/artist’s identity in their cover letter. We invite you to submit if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum...

Submission Window: July 23rd-30th, 2023 Payment: $20 per story Theme: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Mythaxis is published four times a year, and is open to submissions within the following periods: January 23rd-30th April 23th-30th (this window cancelled in 2023) July 23rd-30th October 23rd-30th Submissions received outside of these dates will unfortunately be lost and therefore not responded to. When open, we seek and offer the following: Length: 1,000-7,500 words. This is a firm limit. Generally speaking, the further a story goes beyond 5,000 words the more it will need to impress, but the door is not shut in advance. Compensation: $20 on acceptance and return of contract. Please be aware that payment is via PayPal only. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours of submission, please get in touch. We aim to accept or reject within 14 days of acknowledgment, but rl (real life) and rl (reading load) can get in the way. If you do not hear from us after 30 days, feel free to query. We require First Print and Digital rights with a six month period of exclusivity from the date of publication. We also ask permission to potentially include accepted pieces in future anthologies, in event of which an additional full payment and digital copy will be offered in compensation. All other rights remain entirely with the author. Simultaneous submissions are not only accepted, they are encouraged. Please tell us if you are, and we merely ask that you notify us of acceptance at another market as soon as possible. In the event that we accept first we would expect a positive confirmation, so we recommend sim-subbing to markets of equivalent status - we won’t want to wait for someone else you’d like better to turn you down… Please wait until receiving a rejection notice before...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $20 plus 1 cent per word Theme: Smoke & Mirrors Autonomous Press is now accepting submissions of short fiction, short literary memoir, and poetry for the eighth volume of Spoon Knife, our annual genre-bending lit anthology. We are accepting submissions until July 31st, 2023. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by the end of 2023. Spoon Knife 8 will be published in Spring 2024. The theme for Spoon Knife 8 is Smoke & Mirrors. All submissions should touch in some way or another on this theme, but it can be interpreted as broadly and strangely as you like, and as literally or figuratively as you like (i.e., actual smoke and actual mirrors need not appear). Please note that above all else, Spoon Knife is an anthology of stories, which we select primarily based on the quality of the storytelling. Many would-be contributors, in past years, have been unclear on the nature of Spoon Knife and have wasted their time sending us pieces that read more like blog posts or political activism. We highly recommend reading a recent volume of Spoon Knife in order to make sure you understand what this series is and what it isn’t. All submissions must be sent as Word documents (.doc or .docx files). Prose submissions (fiction and memoir) must meet the following criteria: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced. First line of each paragraph indented. No extra whitespace between paragraphs. Consistent use of Oxford commas. Thoroughly proofread and spell-checked. If you’re submitting poetry, you may send up to 3 poems (please put them all in a single document). Poems should also be in 12-point Times New Roman font, but do not need to be double-spaced. Maximum length for submissions is 10k words. Exception: you can assume this limit to be as flexible as you need it to be if you’re...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $75 and Royalties - 50% author share to be divided equally among the authors Theme: Superheroes who have their powers for 5 seconds - details below Live Real Press is stepping into the anthology publishing business. Our first offering is a collection of stories set in the 5 Second Rule universe. Submissions are open. This is being published in partnership with writer and game creator Laura from Lucky Newt Games. Here is the game’s description: “You are participating in a new study by L&G Inc. Though the compensation isn’t very good, they could be the key to your dream of having superpowers. After weeks of pokes and prods, and far more mental and physical tests than should be legal, you are one of the few whose power awakens! The catch? You’re stuck in this facility with a few powered individuals until you learn how to work together as a team of superheroes. Oh yeah, and everyone’s power- including yours- is limited by 5 seconds in some way. So why go through all this? Because someone mentioned there would be a portal at the end of this training that could take your group anywhere, anytime. And did you catch the part about being a superhero?“ If you’re interested in learning more about the lore of the game, click here. Laura has also made the game pay-what-you-want for the duration of the submission period. There is a discord channel dedicated to answering questions about this. Click here. Guidelines Details: An unpublished short story set in the 5 Second Rule Universe. Looking for 15 contributors. If we get enough, we will produce a second volume. Wordcount: 2500 to 7500 words. Genre: Superhero, specifically in the 5 Second Rule universe. Rating: For those in the US, we’re looking for a TV14 rating, something that can air on broadcast TV...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Stories of the Sley Siblings (details on them below) in the genres of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, noir mysteries with dark elements, and thrillers. We are looking for well-written short stories in the genres of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, noir mysteries with dark elements, and thrillers, each around 6000 words. We would like 18-21 previously unpublished stories to fill this year's anthology. We'll stay open at least through July 31st, and possibly after that date if we haven't filled all slots. In the subject line, write "SUBMISSION -- story genre + Story title -- word count". In the body of your email, tell us a little about yourself and a little about the story.  If you've been published elsewhere, tell us about that also. We will pay $25 via PayPal upon contract signing + 1 eBook copy & 1 print copy. We also offer a discount on any future print copies. ​ TALES OF THE SLEY SIBLINGS   Publication Date: Halloween 2023 The Sley siblings, pictured above, are the backbone of our publishing house, and their stories are just as dark and mysterious as any we tell. Your job, in this first-ever anthology, is to help us tell these stories. RG (pictured far left) is the eldest, and can often be found in his laboratory. His interests lean towards cosmic horror, arcane magics, and spells. Before he was confined to a wheelchair, he would scour the world looking to become a powerful magician and sorcerer. Charles (center) has always loved books. As the middle child, he often spent hours in the library, reading the classics, and has spent his life in pursuit of examining the truth behind classic legends. The youngest, Genevieve, is as at home in her garden as she is in...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word up to 3,000 words, $500 for novelettes, $50 for short poems, $100 for longer poems Theme: Qualia: instances of subjective, conscious experience; the internal and subjective component of sense perceptions arising from stimulation of the senses by phenomena; the way it feels to have mental states. Nous: intellections; awareness; perception; understanding; reason; thought; intuition; the faculty of the human mind; having the ability to understand what is true or real; practical intelligence. The first volume of Qualia Nous (2014), edited by Michael Bailey, won the Benjamin Franklin Award for science fiction and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. It was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year finalist in horror, science fiction, and a bronze winner for anthologies, as well as a silver medal finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards, a finalist for the Indie Book Awards, and a winner of the International Book Award. It was also the first Written Backwards anthology (of eventually many) to contain work by Stephen King. Usman T. Malik’s “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family” was a finalist for the Nebula Award and tied to win the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction with Rena Mason’s “Ruminations.” And Marge Simon’s poem “Shutdown” (the only poem in the anthology) won the Rhysling Award from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. So, a second volume of Qualia Nous was inevitable, albeit 10 years later, and will again not only feature legends of the craft but showcase today’s emerging talent. What does the title mean? It’s up to interpretation. Qualia: instances of subjective, conscious experience; the internal and subjective component of sense perceptions arising from stimulation of the senses by phenomena; the way it...

Deadline: July 31st 2023 Payment: Royalties Theme: Pick a famous incident, an unknown one, or make up your own and let us know what really happened! Note: Not looking for 'extreme' horror What Really Happened (Tentative Title) Swamp gas? Weather balloons? Ball lightning? That couldn’t really have been an atmospheric reflection of Venus, could it? Heck no! And we want you to tell us what it REALLY was! Pick a famous incident, an unknown one, or make up your own and let us know what really happened! I mean, we’re not saying it was aliens, but… Submission Guidelines: Submissions will be open May 1st to July 31st 2023. Send submissions to [email protected] Please attach your story as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. No PDFs or cloudsharing will be accepted. Anthology expected to be published in or around November, 2023. Word count maximum (firm) of 7,000 words. Anything under 2,000 words will be considered flash fiction. Flash fiction is welcome and will be paid at 1/2 rate. Payment is royalty sharing through Draft2Digital’s Royalty Sharing Program. **If you are not willing to obtain a Draft2Digital account in order to receive royalty shares as payment, then DON’T SUBMIT TO US.** For this anthology, please no extreme horror or graphic sex. Though we want dark stories and even horror, we are not interested in the extremes of the genre. Please keep content and language limited to the equivalent of a “PG-13” rated movie. Please remember, Knight Writing Press will not accept a story that glorifies, supports, encourages, or gratuitously includes hate, hate crimes, rape, sex, sex crimes, or any other forms of inhumanity. There are no genre restrictions on this anthology, as long as the story fits the theme, which means if it is not sci-fi, it’s going to be a hard sell!...