Events

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: At the judge’s discretion, an electronic chapbook of qualifying poems will be considered for publication under the aegis of HWA. Each poem chosen for publication will be paid $5. To celebrate National Poetry Month, the Horror Writers Association will be holding their inaugural HWA Horror Poetry Showcase in April 2014. Open to all poets, the Showcase will be accepting submissions throughout the month of April with four poems chosen by HWA member judges to be honored on the HWA website. Submission Guidelines: Submissions will be accepted via Submittable from April 1-30, 2014 and all rights will remain with the poets. Those interested in submitting should visit www.horror.org on or after 1 April to access the submissions link.   We are looking for more than “blood, guts, worms,” etc. Just being “Icky” isn’t enough. Poetry to fifty lines. Free verse preferred; no forced rhyme or cliches. Unpublished poems only (though previously published poets are, of course, welcome). For example, these are some contemporary poets of darkness that we admire: Ann K. Schwader, Wendy Rathbone, Mary Turzillo, Bruce Boston, Gary Clark, Robert Borski. Submissions will be accepted via Submittable from April 1-30, 2014 and all rights will remain with the poets. In addition, at the judge’s discretion, an electronic chapbook of qualifying poems will be considered for publication under the aegis of HWA. Each poem chosen for publication will be paid $5. Submit here between April 1 and April 30, 2014. For the 2014 Showcase the judges will be Marge Simon, Peter Adam Salomon, and Jonathan Maberry. About the Judges: Marge Simon is a past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and editor of Star*Line. She won the Best Long Poem Rhysling (1995), the Bram Stoker Award for Superior achievement in poetry (2008, 2012), the Strange Horizons...

Deadline: May 1, 2014 Payment: Royalty payments quarterly from sales Editors/Authors Alexander S. Brown and Louise Myers are accepting short story submissions for the anthology, “Southern Haunts 3: Magic in the Moonlight”. Publisher will be Seventh Star Press. Author will receive royalty payments quarterly from sales. With Southern Haunts: Spirits that Walk Among Us we focused mostly on entities that once existed in human form. Southern Haunts: Devils in the Darkness focused on demons and devils. Now we are ready to focus on witches, witchcraft, voodoo, hoodoo, Southern Santeria, and more. Anything that is inspired by the occult and the South or Southwest is what we are calling for. If you are unfamiliar with our style, please read the first two volumes in the Southern Haunts series. Southern Haunts: Devils in the Darkness will be available in March of 2014. Guidelines are as follows: 1. We're looking for short fiction between 4,000 and 9,000 words. 2. Maintain a pg-13 rating. Please refrain from gratuitous sex, extreme violence, or highly explicit language. 3. Stories must be based in the South or Southwest. 4. Material may only contain occult related subjects regarding magic, curses, witches, voodoo, and hoodoo. 5. All stories must have a historical description of the location. 6. Setting must be loosely inspired by an actual location or witch, warlock, voodoo queen or voodoo king. 7. Any real characters must be fictionalized. 8. Please have your story as near perfect as possible, in an editorial sense, before submitting. Areas to Consider for Story Setting: 1. Kentucky 2. Arizona 3. New Mexico 4. Texas 5. Oklahoma 6. Arkansas 7. Louisiana 8. Mississippi 9. Tennessee 10. Alabama 11. Georgia 12. Florida 13. North and South Carolina Alexander S. Brown and Louise Myers will close the submission call by May 1, 2014. Please...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: Payment for accepted works is $0.02 USD per word (i.e. $10 for 500 words, $40 for 2000 words) and contributor's copy Aercastle Narratives: Speculative Fiction Magazine is currently reading submissions for Issue 1. Accepted submissions will be featured in Aercastle Narratives’ debut issue, scheduled for publication in March 2014. We are open to writers and voices of any genre (adventure, fantasy, horror, humor, mystery, occult, psychic, paranormal, supernatural, romance, science fiction, thriller and western stories, and very interested in reading writers who are unafraid of combining any of these genres). We are open to debuting and seasoned writers alike. We’re looking for quality tales that take us away, make us think and make us feel. To be considered, speculative elements must contribute to your story. We’re looking for those tales which have the potential to keep our readers engaged, on a plane, commuter train, library, or in the comfort of their living rooms. Issue 2, June 2014 deadline: May 1, 2014 MANUSCRIPT FORMAT Submitted manuscripts must be at least 500 words and no longer than 2,000 words in length. Use a professional, easy to read font, 12pt in size. SUBMISSION Please e-mail manuscripts as an attachment, in either *.doc, *.docx, or OpenOffice *.odt files. In the subject of the e-mail, begin your subject line with “Submission” and the title(s) of your submission. We are seeking First Electronic Rights, First Print Rights, or Reprint Rights where applicable. Please include a brief author bio in your e-mail submission, with publication history and/or website with us. We’d love to tell our readers about you. E-mail submissions to:  [email protected] PAYMENT Payment for accepted works is $0.02 USD per word (i.e. $10 for 500 words, $40 for 2000 words) Payment in the form of PayPal transfer or money order (contributor’s preference) upon publication. Contributor’s copy. We appreciate your  interest, as we bring together...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: Digital Copy, JOURNALS OF HORROR: FOUND FICTION is Pleasant Storm Entertainment’s first horror anthology. The found footage subgenre is possibly the biggest in the horror film market, and we hope to translate that style of storytelling to the page. The stories presented here are horrific journals discovered in a variety of hidden places. The most interesting part of this anthology is the numerous places where the stories can be found: journals, diaries, legal pads, cocktail napkins, fortune cookies, instruction manuals, food ingredients, post-it notes, grocery lists, chalkboards, translation books, crossword puzzles, etc. JOURNALS OF HORROR can be found anywhere! These tales are straight forward accounts, warnings or secret messages hidden in text. This collection will be compiled by Terry M. West. Submission Guidelines: 100-5000 words. Stories should be first person accounts. When submitting, in your cover letter state where your story is found (example: story found on a post-it note or series of post-it notes). Please no adult content. Extreme gore is okay. Horror is a must. The more unique your story and presentation, the better chance it will have at being accepted. Reprints are okay as long as they fit the theme. No simultaneous submissions, please. We have no set formatting, as we realize format may depend on the type of story you present. E-mail submissions to: [email protected] Submissions open Feb 1st and close on May 1st, 2014. This is a non-paying gig. Contributors will receive one electronic copy of the book, upon publication. Rights: First Worldwide Anthology Rights, for publication in the English language anywhere in the world and electronic publication rights. All rights return to the author upon publication of the anthology. We plan on getting this anthology out there. It will be submitted for early reviews and heavily promoted. If you...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: free trade paperback copy of the book, plus a $5 advance on royalties. An anthology of humorous paranormal/supernatural stories. All stories must contain paranormal or supernatural elements (ghosts, witchcraft, vampires, etc.) and be funny. Think Addams Family, Zombieland, or Love at First Bite. These stories should not contain gratuitous violence, gratuitous sex, or excessive foul language. For a better idea of what we're looking for, our first Strangely Funny collection is available here. We're seeking stories that are 2000 - 6000 words in length. We will also accept black and white artwork if submitted in electronic format. Query about reprints. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions. Open submission period: February 10 - May 1st, 2014. All contributors will receive a free trade paperback copy of the book, plus a $5 advance on royalties. Contributors will also be able to purchase more print copies at a 50% discount on the cover price. We're seeking first world rights in English to publish in print and electronic format for 12 months, beginning on the date of publication. Please see our Guidelines and Payment page for further information on the rights we ask for and the compensation we offer. Publisher's note: Mystery and Horror is a market that welcomes LBGTQ, multiethnic,multinational, nontraditional, and unusual fiction. We are concerned with well-written stories involving well-developed characters. Via: Mystery And Horror LLC

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: Poetry: $50 per poem, Prose: $50 per page Issue #68 (Summer/Fall) — "PULP FICTION" With a nod of the hat to the popular pulp writing of the early 20th century, this issue will feature fiction that epitomizes the pulp genre—larger-than-life (often hardboiled) characters in sensational scenarios (detective, mystery, adventure, spicy). We’re looking for material that either satirizes or parodies the genre or spins a gripping tale in the style of the day. Mark envelope “Pulp Fiction” Deadline for submissions: May 1st, 2014 (postmarked) When submitting writing or imagery, please identify on the envelope the theme issue for which you're submitting. Feel free to interpret these themes in unique and unusual ways. Theme issues will still feature "regular" work, so please continue sending us your submissions, theme-related or not. All other regular submission guidelines still apply, as below. The following are some general guidelines (as always, we'd suggest READING an issue of the magazine to see what we're all about). Submissions should be: 1. typed, double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11 paper (no disks or e-mail submissions please) 2. Fiction: a maximum of 3,000 words. 3. Poetry: we no longer accept unsolicited poetry submissions (unless specifically related to one of our theme issues). 4. Creative Non-Fiction: a maximum of 4,000 words. 5. Commentary (social or otherwise): a maximum of 4000 words. 6. Photography & Illustration: we only accept solicited art and photography. Please forward us a link to your work; 7. Those submissions not accompanied by a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) will not be considered or returned. Submissions from outside Canada must include a sufficient number of International Reply Coupons to cover the return postage. 8. Please do not send submissions via email. Payment rates for published submissions: Poetry: $50 per poem Prose: $50 per page...

Deadline: May 1st 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word..Light speed, hyperdrive, warp drive--however you describe it, we're still talking about the holy grail of space exploration--the ability to travel light years in a matter of moments, opening the entire galaxy like a star-punctuated garden of discovery. Send us your fastest traveling tales and your deepest space adventures as we boldly go where...yeah, yeah, yeah. You know the rest. CALL BEGINS MARCH 1, 2014 CALL ENDS MAY 1, 2014   Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.) Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable. Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word. We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author. Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk getting lost in our queue and not read before the deadline. Penumbra uses Musa Publishing’s house style guide, which relies upon the Chicago Manual of Style. All accepted stories will be edited to reflect Musa house style. If you have never been published before, please tell us. Penumbra likes publishing new authors as much as we like publishing...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: $100 (if Kickstarter is met) We are excited to announce that submissions for our first anthology, A Mythos Grimmly, are open! This anthology will be made up of mash-up stories, combining Fairy Tales (Bros. Grimm and more!) and Lovecraftian Mythos tales. Little Red Riding Cthulhu? Maybe, we’ll have to wait and see what the authors come up with! Cultural tales are welcome from all over the world. We are accepting submissions now through May 1st, 2014. Stories should be between 3,000 and 7,000 words long. Contributors will be announced by May 8th, 2014. Publication of the anthology is expected to be before or by December, 2014. This anthology is being funded by a Kickstarter campaign, which will run in May, 2014. Monetary payment for accepted works will be sent out within 30 days of a successful Kickstarter. Accepted authors will receive $100 and a copy of the Kickstarter trade paperback of the book (within 90 days of publication), which is available through the Kickstarter campaign only. A short biography and author portrait will be requested upon acceptance of the story. Please take time to edit and proofread your work. While some editing will take place before heading to the press, submissions that have an abundance of grammatical errors, misspellings, or formatting will be excluded from the review process. Submissions that are accepted must be open for minor editorial corrections. We are looking for original works for this anthology, no reprints. Please submit your works to [email protected] by May 1st, 2014. Wanderer’s Haven requests first worldwide publishing rights for one year after publication of the anthology. Submission Guidelines Title Mash-up Concept (What stories are you drawing inspiration from?) Author Name Word Count Email Address 12pt Garamond or equivalent. Single space. Do not use TAB key, new...

Deadline: May 12th 2014 Payment: 1 cent/word up to $25   What we are looking for? Well written stories that play out the human experience against unimaginable and terrifying odds. Dark fiction that defined more by the story than the splatter. We are open to supernatural, psychological and physical fear. What we aren’t looking for? Do not try to shock us with excessive gore, rape and brutality. We are not looking for any sexually explicit stories, be it with a human or a creature of fantasy. We are not looking for tame, but there has to be an actual story in the stories. The Guidelines: Word Count: Between 2000-5000 words. Submissions: No multiple submissions, original stories preferred, but we will consider reprints for stories having been out of print for 18 months or longer. Review Period: Please allow us 8 weeks to respond to your story before revoking or sending your story elsewhere. Our editors will make every effort to respond expediently. Editing: Submit well edited work. Formatting: Indented, double space, single paragraph returns, no special fonts or styling other than bold or italics. We recommend you follow this guide by William Shunn. File Formats: Submit stories as .doc, .docx or .rtf files. Payment: 1 cent a word or $25 maximum upon publication. Serials are considered multiple submissions and will be paid accordingly. Via: One Eye Press - Blight Digest.

Deadline: May 15th 2014 Payment: author share divided equally among the authors. We pay twice a year. At Sky Warrior Books, we’re not above…well, anything. Hence, we love zombies. And we especially love Zombies the Second Time Around. And we already know you love Zombies – please refer to our popular Zombiefied – An Anthology of All Things Zombie for proof. So, send us your best work on zombies, original or reprint (must have the rights), of stories 500 to 7000 words in length. Can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Sure, we’ll take standard horror and dark fantasy, but you can be creative. Zombies in space, zombiefied critters, zombie love stories (uh, no erotica), fantasy zombies, steampunk zombies, zombie humor, zombies on toast…well, you get the idea. Payment Payment is author share divided equally among the authors. We pay twice a year. Deadline Our deadline is May 15th, 2014. We’re planning on the e-book coming out in October 2014, just in time for Halloween, and Christmas/Yule/Solstice/Kwanza/Hanukah/Winter Holidays/Did we miss anything? Please note we are not opening to receive submissions until December 15th – so please don’t submit prior to that date. How to Submit or The Nitty-Gritty We accept RTF files via e-mail only to the publisher at [email protected]. Put the words: ZOMBIEFIED II SUBMISSION in the subject line with the title of your piece. Send us a virus and we will never accept anything from you again. Double spaced manuscript in Times New Roman or some other pretty font (not Courier!). Use italics, not underlines. Have your contact information on the manuscript including your email address. Let us know if this is a reprint and from where. Again, be sure you have the rights to reprint – we won’t chase down permissions. Fiction, nonfiction, humor, science fiction, fantasy, horror,...