Events

Deadline: April 10th, 2024 Payment: Royalties of 50% of profits Theme: Ideally, Horror Western, but will also read those in the Historical Horror subgenres Undertaker Books is seeking a novella for publication in August of 2024. Our editors are looking for a work between 15,000 and 30,000 words, preferably in the Horror Western or Historical Horror subgenres, but they will consider all submissions. The editor is not opposed to blood, gore, or erotic elements, but draws the line at animal abuse and depictions of sexual assault against children. Payment will be 50% of distribution payouts through our distribution channels. Submit a cover letter that includes your name, pen name, word count, and a brief bio along with a one page synopsis and the first twenty pages of your manuscript (in Modern Shunn format) to [email protected]. Please title your email “Novella-.” This call will close on April 10, 2024. Undertaker Books is a royalty-paying, full-service publisher. This means we do not charge fees to the author at any time. We pay a royalty rate of 50% of distribution payouts. This can mean you will earn different rates for books sold through different outlets. Our contracts are for digital and print worldwide English rights. At this stage, we do not provide advance payments unless specified for anthology calls. SUBMISSIONS ARE TO BE SENT TO: [email protected] Modern Shunn Format is preferred. Please review this website if you are unsure how to proceed. Submit the first 20 pages of your manuscript as a single .doc(x) file attachment. If submitting for general consideration, please include a one page synopsis of the plot (including the ending) with working title, category or subgenre, and word count. In the body of your email, please include a cover letter containing: a short author bio,your legal name, pen name (if applicable), social media...

Deadline: April 15th, 2024 Payment: Fiction: 2¢ per word for original, 1¢ per word for reprints. Poetry: $20 per original poem and $10 for reprints. Theme: Stories and poetry containing elements of science fiction, anarchism, transhumanism, or dystopia. Note: Reprints Welcome Submission Guidelines Radon welcomes short stories and poetry containing elements of science fiction, anarchism, transhumanism, or dystopia. ​We publish quality work every January, May, and September. Submissions accepted year-round. Simultaneous subs are welcome. Reprints taken if writer has rights. AI submissions are not allowed. ​ Please click below to submit your work through our no-fee Submittable: SubmittableWe kindly request a third person bio that is 100-words or shorter in your cover letter.Author rights: For original work, Radon asks for first English digital rights and non-exclusive, indefinite archival rights. ​ Authors published in Radon cannot be accepted into the issue immediately following, but may submit after this period. ​ Our reading periods are: ​ January issue: Aug. 16 - Dec. 15 ​​ May issue: Dec. 16 - April 15 ​​ September issue: April 16 - Aug. 15 Prose We accept flash fiction and short story submissions up to 3,000 words. Radon pays a semi-professional rate of 2¢ per word for original work and 1¢ for reprints. ​ For quicker processing, please use a submission style similar to the modern manuscript format. We ask that you utilize single-spacing. Please note that we do not publish fantasy stories and are looking for work that includes leftist social commentary. Poetry Please submit up to five poems in a single Word document. There is no line limit. Radon pays a semi-professional rate of $20 per original poem and $10 for reprints.We request single-spaced formatting using a standard 12pt font such as Times New Roman, Calibri, or Lato. The poetry editor prefers free verse poems with narrative elements. Page and spoken word poems...

Deadline: April 15th, 2024 Payment: Split Payment from Kickstarter (Minimum of $50) and a contributor's copy Theme: Queer Halloween from authors who are queer/part of the queer/LGBTQIA+ community, in some way, shape or form. It’s that time of year—we’re carving pumpkins, installing ghosts in the front yard, and putting out the next Bikes in Space call for submissions. This time around, it’s for volume 13, which needed an appropriate theme. Fortunately, guest editor Summer Jewel Keown came up with one for the ages: Queer Halloween! Here’s the info: Please submit your original queer Halloween short fiction (in written or comics form) about bicycling from a feminist perspective. We’re looking for stories that give us a shiver or make us leave the hallway light on at night. Raise our hair and make our spines tingle. We’ll also consider Halloween-themed stories that aren’t as frightful, but they should still be infused with all things spooky season. Stories should be written by authors who consider yourself queer (in whatever way you identify), and should feature Halloween and/or otherworldly elements, and queer characters/themes, as well as feminism. All four elements should be intrinsic to the narrative: Halloween (or stories sufficiently scary or thematic enough to be read around Halloween) Queer Feminism (it is sufficient to simply not include sexist themes or tropes) Bicycles The genre can be anything fantastical—ghost stories, horror, hard sci-fi, comedic fantasy, slipstream, or anything in that constellation—despite the series title, stories need not be be set in space. No fanfic, poetry, nonfiction, or erotica for this series, please. Stories should not include extreme body horror or graphic violence. For this volume of the anthology, we ask that all authors be queer/part of the queer/LGBTQIA+ community, in some way, shape or form. We aren’t the queer police (which sounds both fabulous and like...

Deadline: April 15th, 2024 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...

Submission Window: April 1-14th, 2024 Payment: $.08 per word for fiction ($100 minimum), $40 per poem. $75 for for nonfiction, $100 for reprint cover art, $200 for original unpublished cover art, $50 for reprint interior art, $100 for original unpublished interior art Theme: All forms of Solarpunk, however, this issue is open to BIPOC authors only Solarpunk Magazine publishes hopeful short stories and poetry that strive for a utopian ideal, that are set in futures where communities are optimistically struggling to solve or adapt to climate change, to create or maintain a world in which humanity, technology, and nature coexist in harmony rather than in conflict. We also publish solarpunk art as well as nonfiction that explores real world, contemporary topics and their intersection with the solarpunk movement for a better future. Submission Guidelines for Solarpunk Magazine *Our nonfiction department is always open for submissions. If the fiction portal is closed and you submit fiction through the open nonfiction portal, your submission will be rejected. All submissions are done via Moksha. Any submissions received via email will be deleted without response. Please don't email us to describe your story and ask if it's something we'd be interested in before submitting. We appreciate the consideration, but its easier if you just submit the story here through Moksha. Additional guidelines for each specific submission category are available below. For fiction and nonfiction, please format your submission document as follows: double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman font indented paragraphs no extra space after paragraphs A cover letter is not required. However, we appreciate a brief paragraph telling us a little bit about yourself like where you're from and why you love solarpunk. There is no need to include a third person bio. We will collect that and other needed info if your submission is accepted...

Submission Window: April 1st - 15th, 2024 Payment: $35 per page of the adapted script, up to 12 pages, paid via PayPal, and a print copy of the issue. Theme: Scripts for comics in the style of Tales from the Crypt, Haunt of Fear, Vault of Horror, etc. Vault of Shadows: Issue 1 A New Generation of Horror Comics Wish your story could be adapted as a comic book? Here’s your chance to make it happen. Open call submission window open April 1 - April 15, 2024. Extended submission window exclusively for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and other marginalized writers open April 16 - May 1, 2024. Do you love old-school horror comics? Think Tales from the Crypt, Haunt of Fear, Vault of Horror, etc. We want to work with you to adapt your short story (original stories and reprints welcome) into a comic with artwork by the incredible Christopher Castillo Díaz (It Was All a Dream, It Was All a Dream 2 interior illustrator). If your story is selected, you’ll have the opportunity to adapt your story into an 8-12 page comic script that will be inked, colored, and included in the first volume of Hungry Shadow Comics’ Vault of Shadows. Only 3 stories will be selected for the first issue, with a fourth selected from an invited author (TBD). What are we looking for? Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 3000 and 7500 words (not really a firm limit - the final product will be the comics script, not the short story), that can be adapted into a comic book script of 12 pages or less. We want to read the story, not an already created script. The challenge is to adapt the story after it’s selected. Really dig in to your experience with horror comics. Visual stories full...

Submission Window: March 15th-21st POC, March 22nd-April 15th, everyone Payment: 3 cents per word, with a minimum of $20 Theme: Speculative Fiction in the science fiction or fantasy variety We are open annually for submissions from March 15th through April 15th for our August issue, and from September 15th through October 15th for our February issue. The first week of submissions (March 15-21 and Sept 15-21) is reserved for writers of color. The remainder of the window will be for general submissions. If you’re a writer of color who submits during that first week and you hear back from us before the general window closes, you’re welcome to send a second submission during that time. We are not interested in machine-generated (AI/LLM) characters, plots, or text of any kind. Spellcheckers and grammar checkers that run off machine learning are absolutely fine by us (though we also don’t want you to let a machine strip out your natural writing voice in the name of someone else’s idealized grammar!) HOW TO SUBMIT SUBMIT YOUR STORIES HERE WHAT TO SUBMIT The short version: We pay $0.03 per word with a minimum of $20 in exchange for first world electronic rights in English. We ask for an exclusivity period of 3 months from date of publication. Maximum 5,000 words. Your story must contain speculative elements: that means science fiction or fantasy. We do not accept nonfiction. No simultaneous submissions. Only one submission per writer per open period. We aim to make our final decisions within a month and a half of the close of submissions (i.e. by May 31st for the spring period, and by November 30th for the fall period). You will often receive a response much sooner. If you haven’t heard from us by that time, please query at the above address. The long version: Broadly...

Deadline: April 18th, 2024 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Theme: Beach Horror We’re back baby and we’re looking for your best creepy stories. The talented team - Nora B. Peevy (Managing Editor and Submissions Reader) and Thomas Stewart (Art Director and Submissions Reader) will be working together to bring you the newly vamped version of Eidetic Quarterly. Our inaugural summer issue is coming out on July 4th, Independence Day, 2024.  We are accepting ten stories. Theme: Beach Horror Submissions are open: From March 18, 2024, through April 18, 2024. You may submit another story, if yours is rejected, but please, only one at a time. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, if you let us know. If your story is accepted elsewhere, please tell us immediately, so we can pull it from consideration. It is not fair to our other authors to miss out on an opportunity because your lack of communication. Word Count – 1,500-3,000 words, not including your story title or byline. Standard Formatting: Use Modern Shunn Format. If you are not familiar with Modern Shunn format for stories, you can check it out here: Modern Manuscript Format | William Shunn Send a cover letter with a short bio to: [email protected] Name your file: “Beach Horror-(Story Name)-(Author Last Name)” Payment: $10 and one free hard copy of the publication. What we do want: Your best tales about beach creature features, vacations gone wrong, and anything else you can scare up beach horror related. Be original.  What we don’t want: Hate towards any group of people, child molestation, violence against animals, children, or any group of people, beastiality, and extreme gore. This is not a splatterpunk magazine. Please don’t send us Jaws rewrites. We don’t want to deal with copyright issues. Lovecraft stories are wonderful, but we also don’t want...

Deadline: April 19th, 2024 Payment: $25 for stories 2000 - 5000 words (after edits), $35 for stories 5000 - 8000 words (after edits), $15 for poems, $10 for reprints Theme: Horror and dark fantasy collection of Dark Grimm Fairy Tales, retold in new and horrific ways. Note: Reprints Welcome Open for submission February 9th – April 19th Fairy Tales can be frightening, and while many have been watered down over the years, their grim roots are steeped in black magic, forced marriage, abduction, murder, curses and cannibalism. And we’re here for it. Grimm Retold is a horror and dark fantasy collection of Dark Grimm Fairy Tales, retold in new and horrific ways. We’re looking for stories 2000 – 8000 words and Poems 1 - 4 pages  email a brief cover letter, bio and attached full manuscript, .doc or .docx formatted to standard Shunn Manuscript style to [email protected] $25 for stories 2000 - 5000 words (after edits) $35 for stories 5000 - 8000 words (after edits) $15 for poems $10 for reprints Stories should be based on specific Grimm Fairy Tales and recognizable to their source material, even if they drastically diverge from them. We want voice-y weird and terrifying. We welcome blood, violence and gore, but be careful with gratuitous and exploitive sexual violence, and keep it away from children and animals. (To be clear, there are many fairy tales with children and animals in danger and killed, but watch how those are described) We would particularly love to receive retellings from the perspective of other cultures or marginalized points of view. Tentative Release Date: September 2024 Some ideas: The Robber Bridegroom Sleeping Beauty The Goose Girl The Juniper Tree Rumpelstiltskin Hansel and Gretel And for your reference here is a link to a List of All Grimm Fairy Tales...

Submission Window: March 20th to April 20th, 2024 Payment: $50 upon publication Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection in all genres with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit At Astrolabe, we’re looking for work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another. And then, once we find one other, the myths we make. We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky. We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit. Read about Astrolabe for details on our mission and what we’re doing with the Universe. The details Astrolabe is open for submissions year-round temporarily closed for submissions. We pay a $50 honorarium upon publication of one or more pieces from your submission. To help fund those payments, we alternate between free and paid submission periods throughout the year. Our free periods begin the day we publish new work—on the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice—and stay open for a month. We’re temporarily closing for all submissions beginning on December 21, 2023 to help us catch up with the queue and spend time with our families. We'll re-open to free submissions on March 20, 2024. Here are the free periods for 2024: March 20th to April 20th June 20st to July 20st September 22nd to October 22nd December 21st to Jan 21, 2025 Some additional details: We currently accept three types of work: fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. See below for genre-specific...