Events

Deadline: April 30th, 2024 Payment: $25 and a contributor's copy Theme: Hillbillies and Horror 2024 is upon us, and with it comes From the Ashes From the Ashes first official open call from the newly minted press. We’re trying things a bit different with this in that this is only an announcement for the upcoming open call. The reason for this is to give authors who are interested in submitting a story extra time to hone in on the tale they want to tell, without the added pressure of rushing to get it completed. So, without further ado… HOOTENANNY HORRORSHOW We’re going to the mountains with this one, folks. The theme - HIllbillies, Rednecks, Mountain Folk, and all the lore and traditions surrounding these majestic creatures. Think outside the box with these tropes and archetypes. Or, if you go with the old cliches, put a fresh spin on them and make them your own, new tales. OPEN CALL SUBMISSIONS The actual submission period for stories will be the entire month of April, and only in April. Any submissions received before or after April 1st - April 30th will not be considered for publication. GUIDELINES A standard docx word file. 12 pt font (garamond is nice!) Word Count 3-7k No Indentions at all preferred. ***no reprints*** Authors of accepted stories will receive a flat pay out of $25 & a paperback contributor copy of the anthology—with the ability to purchase additional copies at printing cost. Send your submission to [email protected] Via: From The Ashes Facebook Group.

Deadline: May 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Stories related to Robin Hood or Sherwood Forest with at least one grumpy character that are amusing and speculative fiction Hear ye!  Hear ye!!  It’s time for another Grumpy Anthology and this time we’re heading to those forests of yore to revamp tales of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. That’s right, we’re off to the land of leather jerkins and longbows for another chance for a Grumpy twist on a classic mythos.   Why Robin Hood you ask? We’re so glad you asked. Authors are readers, and for many of us, this group of stories are a cherished childhood memory.  Robin Hood wandered in and out of English Literature leaving a trail of tales (looking at you Ivanhoe), despite being the original rebel bad boy. He literally robs from people who are in power. How did these tales even survive?  These stories survived because the common people loved them.  As early as the 1300’s May Day celebrations featured Robin Hood stage plays.  They were entertainment for the masses, and the masses loved seeing the tricksy Robin pulling the wool over the eyes of influential figures.  Some of the first cheap short stories were Robin Hood broadsheets. He’s had more incarnations than Dr. Who.  A lot more. Like all good mythologies, Robin Hood has grown and changed with his audience. We took a deep dive when we began discussing this idea, and to our delight and joy – there’s no set cannon.  There is no written version of this story that can be pointed to as the definitive beginning of Robin Hood.  Like our Grumpy Gods, his traditions were mostly oral and he was only later canonized. What does that mean for us as Grumpy authors? It means it’s open season on storytelling.  It...

Deadline: May 1st, 2024 Payment: Prose: 1¢ per word, Poetry: $10, Artwork: $25 (Cover art is $50.) Theme: Heredity NonBinary Review is open for submissions on the theme of "heredity." Maybe you have your mother's nose, or your father's eyes, or your grandmother's hair, or your uncle's earlobes. There are so many things that run in families - not just physical characteristics, but so many of our habits, tastes, and ways of thinking. The "nature vs. nurture" debate has been raging forever, although science is finding that a surprising amount of what we think of as learned behavior might actually be biological. But what else might we inherit from our families? Magic powers? A tail? ESP? We're looking for speculative takes on heredity - the unexpected, the impossible, the very furthest out there. We're NOT looking for stories about inheritance - things given to us by families or friends. We're not looking for werewolves or vampires (or any other well-known fictional monsters). We're looking for something new - something we've never seen before. Prose: All submissions must have a clear relationship to our theme, and be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or they will be rejected. NonBinary Review  pays 1¢ per word for prose with a limit of 3000 words. Poetry: All submissions must have a clear relationship to our theme and be submitted in 12pt Times New Roman, or they will be rejected. Submitters may include up to THREE poems per submission, but each must be a separate file. NonBinary Review pays a $10 flat fee for poetry. Artwork: All submissions must have a clear relationship to our theme and be submitted as a jpg., .png., .tiff., or .psd file of 300dpi or greater (accepted pieces must be PRINT QUALITY). Submitters may include up to five pieces per submission, but each must be a...

Deadline: May 1st, 2024 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Theme: Horror stories about inanimate things that are living Inanimate Things: Volume Two. With the success of Volume One, we decided to do it again! We are looking for horror short stories between 1500 and 6,000 words in length (can go over a little bit, we aren’t too particular. Just not shorter than 1500 words) about inanimate things that are living. It could be a doll, the dead flesh of zombies, or your Ford F-150. The story needs to involve this subject in some way…and be scary too. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $10 along with a paperback copy of the anthology once it is completed. Rights: First Print and Electronic Publication rights, the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print, audiobook, and digital book, and a one-year (12 month) period of exclusivity from the date of publication. All other rights remain entirely with the author. OTHER STUFF: No poetry or reprints. No novel extracts. Authors are welcome to submit more than one story for the anthology (no more than two per author though) but please submit them in separate emails. Submission Deadline: May 1, 2024. Expected Publication Date: January 15, 2025. Email submissions to [email protected] with a story either: 1) attached in Microsoft Word; or 2) with the entire story pasted inside the body of the email. Either one is fine. We try to reply and let you know if we are not using your submission within 4 weeks…but if you do not hear from within four weeks from submission (check your Spam folder) then we did not accept it. Please put EXACTLY the following in the subject line: ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR INANIMATE THINGS.  Via: Burial Books.

Deadline: May 1st, 2024 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today." We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense....

Deadline: March 1st – May 1st, 2024 Payment: $50 Theme: Writing that attempts to salvage something pure from the collision of warmth and cold, that says what it can about the world it finds itself in. A Note on Our Aesthetic We believe there is beauty in scars on smooth skin, in the small fissures where things begin to break apart. Sundogs are not the sun itself but phantom stars appearing on the horizon, illusions produced by the play of the sun’s heat with crystals of ice. They shed their light all the same. Many are tinged with color. We look for this same quality in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. We want writing that attempts to salvage something pure from the collision of warmth and cold, that says what it can about the world it finds itself in. We seek a diversity of voices speaking from visceral, lived experience. We like truth we can stare at until our eyes water, words so carefully chosen we want to reread them as soon as we have finished. Schedule We publish two issues a year, September 1 and March 1. We accept general submissions for poetry, nonfiction, and fiction between two reading periods, and the first 300 submissions to each are free. We also run a collaborative writing contest in August. We also accept visual art all year. General Submissions: March 1 – May 1 General Submissions: October 1 – December 1 Collaboration Contest: July 15 –  August 31 Payment We are thrilled to finally be able to say that, starting with issue 17, we will be able to offer our contributors a small payment of $50 upon publication. Practical Matters We are grateful to be a part of a literary community that is taking action against systemic racism. We will also be donating submission fees...

Submission Window: April 1st -May 1st, 2024 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.015 USD per word/$37.50 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.015 USD per word/$15 USD max Theme: Fire! Last Girls Club Summer Issue Theme is Fire Season. The world is on fire, environmentally and politically. On the US West coast we have rains of ash in the fall from all the forest fires. The Canadian border was plagued with smoke pollution from raging fires. It's a thing now. Your characters can be fleeing a fire, starting one, or surviving one. Take it where you want. Acceptances will be notified on May 15. No more than two fiction or flash fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($37.50 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($15 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 USD upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] Authors must be 18+. Submissions from underage authors will not be considered. All submissions must be submitted as .doc or .docx 12 pt Times New Roman. Please do not copy/paste onto an email. Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.015 USD per word/$37.50 USD max upon acceptance and a PDF of the magazine issue Poems-less than 200 words $10 upon acceptance and a PDF of the magazine issue Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.015 USD...

Deadline: May 1, 2024 Payment: $5 Theme: Splatter/Gore-friendly horror The Carnage House editors invite submissions for Issue 3, due out in summer 2024. We want solid, entertaining writing that evokes feelings. Carnage House is a splatter friendly web ’zine—so nothing against cozy, but cozy, we’re not. We’re looking for gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. For a better understanding of what we’ll take, think of the Hot Blood book series or Love in Vein. Or, as a more practical proposition, read Issues 1 and 2 at carnagehouse.com. We invite LGBTQIA and BIPOC themes, and we encourage authors from diverse backgrounds to submit to us. Hard NOs: Nothing with children in an adult manner. If you’re writing a story about a child predator who gets what’s coming to him—great. But we don’t want to read about that predator violating his victims. We won’t publish anything supporting a racist, transphobic, or homophobic agenda, so don’t try it. Our description includes the words “splatter” and “friendly” for a reason. We love splatter, and we’re super friendly. Carnage House is about supporting writers and entertaining readers, and we’re dedicated to both in equal measure. Please review the guidelines (below and at our website) for more important details, including submission format and word count. We look forward to reading your work in all its splattertastic glory. We want solid entertaining writing. That has to be clearly stated because we are open to gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. Sounds great? Like anything too good to be true, there is a catch. We have some hard “Nos.” Before you go off about the freedom of expression, remember, this is a web ‘zine, not a government. We donate our time to it and if we’re not getting joy...

Deadline: May 1st, 2024 Payment: $25 Theme: Horror stories with a focus on the oft-unclear distinction between a scary-enough reality and our less-or-more-frightening imagination, both in personal and social realms Whisper House Press is pleased to announce its first call for submissions. We’re looking for carefully constructed Horror stories with a focus on the oft-unclear distinction between a scary-enough reality and our less-or-more-frightening imagination, both in personal and social realms. Our working title is Costs of Living.   These are some possible interpretations of this potentially broad theme: The Neighbors/HOA/City Council Really Are Trying to Kill Us A Bad Element… is Already Here in the Neighborhood Why do I feel like everyone is watching me in my new town’s grocery store? “How can I be sure I am not dreaming?” without the “Oh, it was all a dream” cliché Philosophical quandaries run amok in one’s mind Attic dweller keeps neighborhood watch via security cameras on smart home system starts seeing what they/he/she cannot explain Payment Until we find our footing, we will offer token payments for short fiction. Authors will be paid $25 per accepted work.   Who We Are & What We Love Whisper House Press is an independent press based in Salt Lake City, Utah. We believe in inclusion and equity and in using the privileges we’ve been gifted to boost the voices of those with fewer opportunities. We celebrate submissions from frequently marginalized groups. We love horror that reminds us of Event Horizon (McDonald then adapted by Eisner, 1997), Knocking (Broström & Theorin, 2021), Master (Diallo, 2022), The Handyman Method (Cutter & Sullivan, 2023), Get Out (Peele, 2017), and of The Last House on Needless Street (Ward, 2021) or Dear Hannah (Stage, 2024). We’ve got a small web presence on the editor’s website. You can find it...

Submission Window: May 1st-2nd, 2024 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces...