Events

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: Royalties or $20 Theme: Murder mysteries, detectives noir, cozy, and humorous Submission Period: September 1, 2023 to November 31, 2023 Theme: Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors – we’re searching for the murder mysteries, detectives noir, cozy, and humorous. This is our Mystery anthology and if you think it comes close to the genre, give us a shot. There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. However, we’ll be seriously impressed if you can work within Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but they won’t be the bulk of the accepted submissions. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story may rise to the top. Stories that contain infanticide, rape, or gratuitous gore will not be accepted. Submission Period: September 1, 2023 to November 31, 2023 Submissions: No AI, 1 per author; no reprints, no simultaneous submissions; Submission Cost: Free Word Limit: 2,000 to 8,000 words Submission Guidelines: Anonymous submission with no author name in document; 12 pt Times or Arial; .Doc or .Docx; double-space; first line indent; no tabs used. Genres: Mystery with accepted sub-genres of Fantasy, Sci-Fi as well Anticipated Pay: Option: Royalty share of D2D sales, or $20.00 If D2D royalty share selected, then each story will receive a share, as will the publisher, from the sales on the D2D platform. This does not include Kickstarter funds unless detailed in the Stretch goals, wholesale to authors, or retail outlets. Timeline Projections: Submissions close: November 2023 Review: December 2023 Acceptance / Rejection: January 2024 Edits: February 2024 Production: March 2024 Published: April 2024 Upon acceptance, the author is expected to work with the editor on at least one round of...

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: $25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints. Theme: Stories that include ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. Note: NO Zombies, ghouls, vampires, or werewolves. Note: Reprints Welcome Submissions are accepted Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 30. Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread. We no longer accept simultaneous or multiple submissions. ​ No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, voracious monsters, and dark spirits... But they have not forgotten or left us... What We Want The subject matter of parABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. PLEASE NOTE: CREATURES LIKE VAMPIRES, GHOULS, WEREWOLVES, AND ZOMBIES ARE NOT PARANORMAL. Shapeshifters, for the purpose of this magazine, refer to the spiritual shift, not the physical. Think Native American shaman. Paranormal activity centers around the human, not the creature. We do not want stories that involve excessive blood, gore, digestive tracts, and so forth. We...

Submission Window: November 15th - 30th, 2023 Payment: $0.05 per word for fiction, $50 per poem Theme: Blight Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year. We publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October. We also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme. Read our submission guidelines and submit your work through our Moksha portal. Payment Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.05 per word, minimum of $50.00 dollars for short stories and a flat fee of $50 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year. Equity Initiative As Apparition Lit works to create a more equitable publishing community, we recognize that our open submission period is concurrent with some other really great literary magazines where marginalized writers also like to submit. Voices should be heard and we want to help increase that opportunity. Our submission window will remain open for an additional week each quarter for writers who identify as BIPOC and self-identify in their cover letter.  We will also accept simultaneous submissions from writers who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+. Please just note how you identify in your cover letter, that it is a simultaneous submission, and see further details in the menu below on how to submit for each category. Past Contributors Once you are published by Apparition Lit, you join our tiny but mighty family. We love our alumni and will always do what we can to support their publishing career. We want to continually discover and champion new voices and different point-of-views....

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: Royalties - 50% of net profits Theme: Escapism Fiction We accept submissions between October 1st and November 30th each year. See the information below to prepare for our upcoming submission season. We're looking for Escapism Fiction Our goal is to provide readers with the ability to escape the mundane through wildly creative fiction. We're looking for books that act as gateways to other worlds, times, or versions of reality. We prefer strong story telling, engaging openings, and compelling character development as well as imaginative settings, vivid world building, and interesting themes. If your manuscript transports a reader somewhere else, tells an engaging story and then brings them back feeling like they have experienced something unique, then we want to publish your book!​ Our Wish List Fantasy Science-Fiction Romance LGBTQ themes and diverse stories Adventure Paranormal/Occult Comedy Historical Portal Fiction Speculative Fiction A blend of any two or more of the above Cross-genre, mixed genre, or things that don't fit genre norms Note: We don't like to limit ourselves, so if you have something you think would fit with our current list of published works, please send it. Please make sure your manuscript is the right fit for us We Consider... Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children's (please specify your target market in your query letter) Novels (125,000 words maximum) Novellas (25,000 words minimum) Graphic novels, children's books, or illustrated mixed media (art included) Things we are NOT looking for... Non-fiction Memoirs or autobiographies Literary fiction Self-help or inspirational fiction Hard Sci-Fi or Military Sci-Fi Horror / Thriller / Suspense / True crime / Mystery (elements of these are okay) Christian or other religious fiction Contemporary fiction / Contemporary romance Poetry or short stories (on their own or in collections) Translated works previously...

Submission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and...

Submission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2023 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: 30% of royalties split between authors for the first year of sales. After the first year, these royalties go to charity Theme: All dragon stories with a male main character. All genres accepted. Note: I will say that I'm not a huge fan of this royalty structure. However, I've been asked multiple times recently on fantasy anthologies that were open to shorts so wanted to put a spotlight on this one for that reason. DRAGONS & HEROES (Rated R) Deadline – October 31st, 2023 November 30th, 2023 Publication – January 2024 Word Count – 3,000-20,000 Theme – All dragon stories with a male main character. All genres accepted. CHECKLIST Introduction of author A brief history of your writing experience. Author Contact Information / Pen name MUST be included with real name. If real name is same as pen name, state so in email. Author Biography in Third Person in 100-150 words Mandatory minimum of 100. Submission Word Count Word count. Not line count. Submission Formatted in Times New Roman 12 PT Font. One-inch margins. No indentations. No double-spacing. No extra spacing between paragraphs. No chapters. Scene breaks signalled with three ### (see example image below). Only DOC and DOCX accepted. Format video: https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=ftjuYtJWIBI Format image example at bottom of page. Summary/Query Letter Summarized outline of all major events within the story. All emails should be addressed as “Dear Editor” Email Subject Line must be as follows – “Story Title by Author Name for (Name of) Anthology” File/Document Name must be as follows – “Story Title by Author Name for (Name of) Anthology” All of the author’s social media links, including website if applicable Author must have one social media account. Note: Author Name @ Social Media is not a clickable link. Important information Maximum...

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: $0.02 per word Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between Note: Reprints Welcome Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length. Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short. We here at FPSF are partial to flash fiction and want to see the flash market grow. So as much as it pains us, please take your 10,000 word tour de force elsewhere. We’re not looking for the next Brandon Sanderson. (Unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson, in which case we’d be delighted!) What we’re looking for: -Fantasy (all kinds—epic, adventure, contemporary, urban, grimdark, fairy tale, magical realism, myths and legends, etc.) -Science Fiction (all kinds—hard, space opera, military, near future, science fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian, etc.) -Slipstream (make it as weird as you want, so long as it works) -Seasonal (we love stories with holiday and/or seasonal themes, but please submit AT LEAST 3 months in advance of the relevant occasion) -Anything that makes us laugh, cry, think, or smile. What we aren’t looking for: -Horror—it can be spooky or menacing, but we’re not a horror market, so the fright factor should not be the primary appeal. DARK fantasy and sci-fi, however, are welcome. -Literary fiction—this is a genre market, so there needs to be an SF&F element, however slight. -Gratuitous sex or violence—we’re big fans of Love Death + Robots, but don’t be that guy. -Fanfic—original concepts only, please. We know there was a lot going on in Hobbiton while Frodo was away, but that’s not our property and it’s not yours either. -Stories previously published in a different language. Submission Specs In terms of how your story should look, we recommend you read William Shunn’s Proper Manuscript Format. This is the...

Deadline: November 30th, 2023 Payment: Contributor's copy and $50 CDN for fiction or $20 CDN flat fee for poetry Theme: Stories and poems about darkness, night, and the multitude of things that thrive (or hide) in those elements. Edited by Leslie Van Zwol and Megan Fennell Night is practically another world. Owls and bats steal the sky from songbirds, nocturnal creatures thrive under the moonlight, and night-blooming plants flourish away from most human eyes. As the saying goes: people aren’t truly afraid of the dark – they fear what could be in the darkness with them. And the list of legends and stories about the things that go bump in the night is extensive indeed. Carpe Noctem will be an anthology of stories and poems about darkness, night, and the multitude of things that thrive (or hide) in those elements. We are seeking stories beyond those simply set during the night or in a dark place, and that delve into tales of the nocturnal and – as the title would imply – really seize the night as a critical element of their stories, perhaps even as a character itself. We are seeking submissions with a focus on characters, narrative, originality, and ‘own voices’. Although we invite a range of story genres, we will not include pure gore, erotica, or fanfiction. Any submissions found to be using AI-assisted writing, in whole or in part, will be rejected immediately. We are looking for works from everyone, and warmly welcome submissions from authors of traditionally underrepresented and marginalized communities, including (but certainly not limited to) BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. Rights and compensation: For Fiction: $50 CDN flat fee and a paperback contributor copy of the anthology For Poetry: $20 CDN flat fee and a paperback contributor copy of the anthology We are seeking...

Deadline: December 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalties Theme: Fantasy Love a great fantasy story? Well so do we. Then you may want to submit to Magic and Mischief. We’re looking for new, previously unpublished stories of Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, and Sword & Sorcery that take us on an adventure and leave us wanting more from the authors. How can you go wrong when heroes have to deal with magic gone awry? Genre: Epic/High Fantasy/ Sword and Sorcery Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: R.J. Ladon Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: 12/1/2023 Email submissions to: threeravenspublishing @ gmail dot com with “Magic and Mischief” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore adult content) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submissions in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward...