Events

Submission Window: February 23rd to May 23rd, 2025 Payment: $20 Theme: Answering the question - why are angels so compelling as anti-heroes and/or villains? Monstrous Angels is an anthology that will explore one of the most enduring questions of religious horror–why are angels so compelling as anti-heroes and/or villains? We’ve seen it time and time again: Angelfall, Constantine, Legion, Angelology, the list goes on. We love our dark angels. ​We want stories of the morally gray. Of angels and humans trying their best and failing. We want to explore all corners of this topic so feel free to be broad. Angel-like beings from other cultures are welcomed and encouraged. Our definition of angel is loose. We want winged divine creatures trying to navigate moral quandaries, being consumed by righteous anger, and experiencing the consequences of being too close to humans.  Give us your nasty angels. Your conflicted angels. We want dark, complicated stories. Looking for:  Microfiction up to 250 words Flash pieces up to 1,000 words Short stories up to 8,000 words Reprints? If you have the rights back, yes. Please include original/copyright supporting information. Simsub? Absolutely, just let us know ASAP if you get accepted somewhere else.  Honorarium: $20 Maximum: Only 15 submissions will be accepted. ​ Submission window opens February 25th, 2025 and closes May 25th, 2025.  Early or late submissions will be deleted and left unread.  Submissions should be in the Shunn format but no need to put your address or phone number, just your state/country is fine.  Include a short Bio  One submission per author, please. ​ Please send submissions in .docx or .pdf format ​ All proceeds will be donated to the Avian Haven Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Freedom Maine Submit Here I have a question! Via: Conquest Publishing.

Deadline: May 29th, 2025 Payment: $20 CAD Theme: Diverse horror, showcasing short stories, poetry, and essays written by queer, neurodiverse, BIPOC, female, and disabled writers. Thank you for your interest in submitting your work to (s)crawl magazine. We are a Canadian-based magazine that publishes the best in diverse horror, showcasing short stories, poetry, and essays written by queer, neurodiverse, BIPOC, female, and disabled writers. We accept submissions globally, however we currently only publish works in English. We welcome both seasoned and emerging writers to submit. Please review our submission guidelines carefully before submitting your work. general guidelines » genres      › (s)crawl magazine publishes thought-provoking horror writing that lingers long after it is read. we seek stories and poems that are psychologically and/or emotionally complex and do not rely on extreme or gratuitous violence. (read more on this in our “what we’re looking for” and “what we don’t accept” sections)      › we seek work that explores social, cultural, and personal horror—think of narratives that unsettle on a deeply emotional or intellectual level.      › some examples of our favorite subgenres are psychological horror, supernatural horror, gothic horror, folk horror, existential horror, surreal horror, and body horror.       › non-fiction submissions must be related to horror literature, writing, or genre theory. » word count      › short stories: approx. 1,000-5,000 words      › poetry: up to three (3) poems per submission      › essays or articles: approx. 1,000-3,000 words » exclusivity      › we accept simultaneous submissions, but kindly inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.       › we do not accept previously published work (including self-published or blog posts). » fees and payment      › there is no fee to submit your work to (s)crawl    ...

Deadline: May 30th, 2025 Payment: $50 AUD and a contributors copy Theme: Edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost Halloween. So much more than costumes and candy, it’s the time when the veil between our world and the other side is at its thinnest. The hour when dark forces come into the light in search of innocent souls. A time of blood and evil. Australian Shadows Award-winning and multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author and artist Greg Chapman, and acclaimed author Cameron Trost, are seeking new original Halloween tales for this anthology, planned for release in October 2025. We want memorable, character-driven stories set on, or near, the last night of October. Give us ghosts, serial killers, rituals and monsters, heroes and villains, but most of all give us the true dark side of Halloween - and make it terrifying. Payment is $50 AUD for stories up to 5,000 words. Contributors will also receive a complimentary print and digital copy. The anthology will feature original cover art and internal illustrations by co-editor Greg Chapman. The submissions window opens March 1st and closes midnight May 30th. Send all submissions to [email protected] Story submissions should follow the Shunn format. Via: Black Beacon Books.

Deadline: May 30th, 2025 Payment: $10 Theme: Dark speculative fiction that explores various aspects of otherness and its effect on those so othered Dim Shores will be publishing an anthology in late 2025 or early 2026 — Suffering the Other. America’s blossoming fascist state is vigorously persecuting basically anyone who is not a healthy well-off cisgendered heterosexual white male: LGBTQ+ folks, immigrants, the disabled, the poor, women in general. Particular attention is being paid to immigrants/non-citizens of any stripe, and the transgender community. As such, this book will be a benefit for RAICES and Transgender Legal Center, two of the many organizations helping those who are being victimized by this roaring tsunami of oppression and vitriol. Suffering the Other will be edited by Justin Steele and myself (Sam Cowan), just like both volumes of Looming Low. Unlike Looming Low, we are taking submissions for this book. Following are some guidelines. WINDOW: March 30 through May 30, 2025. THEME: People tend to fear what they don’t understand. Throughout history these fears have festered and metastasized, again and again, into prejudicial hatred and violence against out-groups. Too many people have become very adept at dehumanizing those who are not like themselves. The stories in this book will explore various aspects of otherness and its effect on those so othered via dark speculative fiction. COMPENSATION: Please bear in mind this is a benefit book, and compensation is limited to a token payment of $10 plus a copy of the book. All other proceeds will be split between RAICES and Transgender Law Center. FICTION LENGTH: 2,500 – 10,000 words. ORIGINAL STORIES, REPRINTS: Original stories preferred but reprints are acceptable. If you are submitting a reprint, please include information about where the story was originally run. SUBMISSIONS: Please, only one story per submission, in Word format (.doc or .docx) or .rtf. Please use page numbers and...

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Payment: Written work: .02c/word, Artwork: $75 Theme: Grim, gothic, morbidly funny, and terrifying works Calling all poetry authors AND artists! We're stepping outside of the box here and trying something new. We're calling on poets and artists this time to help us craft an illustrated poetry anthology. Give us your limericks, sonnets, haiku, ballads, and free-verse! Have visual poetry? EVEN BETTER. We want grim, gothic, morbidly funny, terrifying works. Your poetry submission: should be 150 lines (not words) max horror centric any form of poetry is allowed multiple submissions allowed Your art submission: color or black/white (a color edition is tentatively planned) various sizes/dimensions considered submit as jpg, tiff, png, or pdf multiple submissions allowed NO GENERATIVE AI ART OF ANY KIND. Est. publication date: July 2025 Compensation (written work): .02c/word Compensation (artwork): $75 Poetry+art submissions from the same submitter are allowed. If the pieces are related, please upload them in the same submission. Because of the rarity of horror poets, submissions will remain open until we feel we've received a good pool to select from. Submit Graveside Press is a new imprint focused on horror, managed by members of the publishing teams that brings you Paper Angel Press, Water Dragon Publishing, Unruly Voices, and Cupid’s Arrow Publishing. We plan to bring you sleep-shattering tales of horror beginning October 2024. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES When submitting, we would greatly appreciate if you can follow the formatting guidelines below: file type: *.doc or *.docx Spelling: US and UK/AU-spelling and colloquialisms accepted Punctuation: US (modern, e.g. single space after periods) Font: Any legible serif, e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond Include author information at the top of page 1 (see sample below) Use formatted indents and not tabs to begin each paragraph Use hard returns to start new paragraphs Use page breaks to begin chapters on a new page If you would like an example of what a...

Deadline: May 31st, 2025 Payment: $20 (CAD) or a physical copy of the magazine Theme: Slice of Life After the release of our first publication "The Stygian Collection", there was demand to continue producing anthologies. To continue growing our community and keep the anthology spirit alive, The Stygian Society presents: The Stygian Zine! January's Theme: Slice of Life Tell us about your day-to-day darkness... Released: Every January and July!​ ​ Accepting: Poems Short stories Personal musings Visual art Comics ​ For selected works, you will receive a $20 (CAD) honorarium (OR physical copy of the zine), pdf copy of the zine, and the option to purchase print copies at cost + shipping.  ​ Works received between June 1 and November 30 will be considered for the January issue Works received between December 1 and May 31 will be considered for the July issue Specifications:  We will accept Word or PDF format for written works. Written works must not exceed 2500 words (poetry included). Name, contact information and work title must be included in your submitted document. Works must be in 12 helvetica or arial, double spaced. For artwork please send pdf or png, 300dpi minimum (Colour or black and white accepted). Comics must not exceed 5 pages. ​ *All submissions are kept on file for future consideration, so please be sure to withdraw if you receive publication elsewhere. **If your piece has been previously published, please inform us on submission, and specify where it was published. Email responses will be sent upon receipt, and acceptance only.  Please note that minor edits may be made to your work after acceptance as our editor will review for spelling and grammar. Submit Your Work mail to: [email protected] "The Stygian Zine: Contribution" Via: Stygian Society.

Deadline: May 31st, 2025 Payment: 2 cents per word for poetry, $75 for artwork Theme: Grim, gothic, morbidly funny, terrifying works of poetry and artwork Calling all poetry authors AND artists! We're stepping outside of the box here and trying something new. We're calling on poets and artists this time to help us craft an illustrated poetry anthology. Give us your limericks, sonnets, haiku, ballads, and free-verse! Have visual poetry? EVEN BETTER. We want grim, gothic, morbidly funny, terrifying works. Your poetry submission: should be 150 lines (not words) max horror centric any form of poetry is allowed multiple submissions allowed Your art submission: color or black/white (a color edition is tentatively planned) various sizes/dimensions considered submit as jpg, tiff, png, or pdf multiple submissions allowed NO GENERATIVE AI ART OF ANY KIND. Est. publication date: July 2025 Compensation (written work): .02c/word Compensation (artwork): $75 Poetry+art submissions from the same submitter are allowed. If the pieces are related, please upload them in the same submission. Because of the rarity of horror poets, submissions will remain open until we feel we've received a good pool to select from. Categories: Fiction/Poetry/Art File types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff Number of Pieces: Up to 2 pieces per submission. Single File: Not required; may include a separate file/link for each piece. Anonymous submissions are not required. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Reprints are allowed. (We will consider reprints, however preference will be shown for new original works.) Multiple entries are allowed. AI-assisted works are not allowed. Via: Graveside Press's Duotrope.

Deadline: May 31st, 2025 Payment: $0.01 per word Theme: Dark stories with the theme of patterns PATTERNS Submission window now open. Deadline: May 31st 2025 We’re looking for dark stories (2-4k words) on the theme of patterns. Please interpret this theme however you like. Write us a quiet mood piece or an action-packed powerful, character-driven story. Make it humorous or as dark as the night. Send us your best speculative, horror, dark fantasy or dark sci-fi stories, as long as it's full of the feels. We are not, however, the market for violent, bloody, racist, homophobic, or masochistic fiction. And no poetry please, just short fiction. Some ideas: the pattern could be in the narrative technique (fragmentation, mirror writing, foreshadowing, meta-fictional repetition), the thematic composition (think cycles of death and birth, family curses, sin and retribution) for example. Or how about incorporating chants, supernatural rituals, or echoes in your prose? A story with temporal patterns in it might float our boat (although be careful, we don’t want our inbox flooded with time loops and cyclical stories, unless done exceptionally well or with a novel twist). Seasonal patterns, recurring times, patterns in nature, patterns in objects which feature in your tale, geographical patterns, repetitive architecture, patterns in weather, behavioural ticks, recurring nightmares, obsessions…any tenuous link will do, just make it your best work and give it a good edit prior to sending it our way. You get the idea. Surprise us. If you want an idea of what we publish (and my, oh my, what an eclectic range it is), why not check out some of our other publications? Links can be found by clicking here: Books.   Normally, we only allow one submission per author, but we're going to try something new this time. If you send us a story and...

Deadline: May 31st, 2025 Payment: $0.08 /word Theme: Fantasy, science-fiction, and horror short stories that embrace punk and queer rage. edited by C.L. McCartney, Trip Galey & Robert Berg We’re seeking fantasy, science-fiction, and horror short stories that embrace punk and queer rage. There’s a glass ceiling in SFF representation, and we want you to throw a brick through it. Bring us the coven that burned Salem and your roaring bear-serkers. We want gangs of acid-wash werewolves, furious bipyromancers, flesh-eating femmes, and vengeant celestial bois—a cast of the downtrodden who make ruins of their oppressors. Wrath lies at the heart of queer liberation—it can be a spur to action and the only righteous response to a world that would prefer we didn’t exist. So crash mainframes, collapse empires, and break normativity. Pride month is over. It’s time for— Wrath Month Guidelines Submissions: All stories should be submitted via our Google Submission Form as a .doc or .docx file (link below). We are seeking original fiction for this project, not reprints. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please withdraw immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere. No multiple submissions, but if you have a story rejected before the deadline you may submit again. (But note: the editors make no promises about how quickly submissions will be reviewed.) Word Count: Stories should be no more than 6,000 words long, but 4,000-5,000 is a good target. Flash fiction will happily be considered, but as the exception rather than the rule. Format: We don’t wish to create barriers to entry, so if you have a story in standard manuscript format you’re absolutely fine. However, the editors are fans of Modern Manuscript Format, Garamond, and italics as italics. Rates: Authors will be paid $0.08 /word for worldwide English language rights (including audio). Cover letters: None! Nada!...

Deadline: May 31st, 2025 Payment: Royalties Theme: Haunted workplace stories What I'm Looking For: Haunted workplace stories, modern day or historical, it's completely up to you. Just write a great character-driven story that hooks the reader fast and reels them in hard. There do NOT need to be ghosts. You don't need to have a truly haunted workplace. You can have spooky vibes, vampires, werewolves, the whole nine. Story length will be between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Dates: Open immediately with the final entry being accepted May 31st, 2025. The contracts will be sent out June 30th, 2025. The anthology will be published July 25th. If there are enough awesome stories for more anthologies, you will be informed as to which one you will be included in and when it will be published.  Payment: Payment will be done through Pubshare and will be royalty based.  Rights: I will require the English text exclusivity for one year. You will be paid past the first year, but you can then publish it on your own at that point.  Please send all stories to [email protected] Small details: Please use .docx or .doc to save your file.  Save the file as StoryName-Yourname.docs 12 Times New Roman, double spaced. If you are unsure as to how to format a short story, please refer to https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ .  Thank you and happy writing!!  Via: Ps and Qs Publishing.