Events

Deadline: April 30, 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word; 2.5 cents per word for reprints Guidelines for Spellbound & Spindles The guidelines below are for a special issue of Spellbound—a children’s fantasy e-zine for 8-12 year olds—and Spindles—a companion adult anthology. Both anthologies will feature fairy tales retold to feature POC, LGBT and disabled characters, as well as non-Western European and non-North American settings.  We are looking for poetry and fiction, as well as artwork for both books.  Detailed guidelines are below. Please note: Spindles is NOT an erotica anthology.  Also, the emphasis on diversity and fairy tale retellings outlined in the paragraph above applies to all the content we’ll be publishing: fiction, poetry and artwork. What do we mean by fairy tales?  A general definition of the term “fairy tale” is hard to come by, and often one has to fall back on the old, “You know it when you see it.”  However, we’re relying on the Aarne-Thompson classification list for the bulk of our source material.  This is not a definitive list, and there may be fairy tales that aren’t there.  However, it is a good starting point.  When in doubt, feel free to ask.  Note, however, fairy tales for the purpose of these anthologies does not include: mythology, fables, riddles or nursery rhymes. We are now open to submissions.  The reading period runs from October 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014. All submissions sent during the reading period will get a response. Fiction Fiction Editor: Raechel Henderson Spellbound word limit = 2,500 Spindles word limit = 5,000 Payment = 5 cents per word; 2.5 cents per word for reprints Rights bought: First World English-language Rights Multiple submissions welcome No simultaneous submissions Stories should follow the standard fairy tale structure, but can be placed in any time period. We’ll only be publishing one version of each story...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: The elevator doors open, the lights are flickering, the gurney is wheeled into a dank, dimly-lit hallway well below ground. Does the Doctor have the patient's best interests at heart, or is something more nefarious going on? How does the staff figure out what treatments are most effective and which are not? In our other two Mental Ward collections, we asked you to tell us what happened above ground in the institute itself; what memories of the past were trapped in the abandoned hallways; now we're asking you to tell us what goes on behind closed doors. The secret experiments that are feared and whispered about among the patients. Tell us what greed, the corruption of power, and the desire to be remembered will drive a Doctor to do the unthinkable to the unfortunate patients left in their care. Tell your tale from whatever perspective you'd like, just make sure the story you tell is a depraved one. Submission Deadline: April 30, 2014 Word Count minimum: 4,000 words - nothing less will be reviewed; no reprints considered. Please submit your manuscript as a *.doc or *.docx file (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact us prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you.) Font and formatting: Please submit in Times New Roman, 12 point font; single line spacing with a 0 point definition above and below each line. Please format the document to 1st line indentation of .5" (1.27cm), do not space or tab to indent the line. The page margin should be set to .5" (1.27cm) on all sides. Graphic gore must be kept to a minimum unless it is integral to the story; absolutely no incestuous or sexual abuse storylines will be considered. Only stories previously unpublished may be submitted....

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: £10.00 for the first 5,000 words, then 0.2p per word on publication, plus a copy of the book Following the critical success of The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic, the submission window for Urban Mythic 2 is now open. We are seeking contemporary tales with all the magic and wonder of myth and legend, blending modern life with the traditions of folklore from around the world. Whether lurking in dark alleys or brash shopping malls, ensconced in upscale riverside penthouse lofts or humble suburban semis, we want to see the fantastic woven into the everyday. We want fiction that entertains but also pushes beyond the usual urban fantasy boundaries – action, folk tales re-imagined, mythic creatures adapting to the urban environment – be it noir, humour, dark, literary or light, there must be a recognisable mythic thread. Fully realised characters are a must and solid plots extremely desirable. What we don’t want: secondary worlds, steampunk, SF, zombies, human sacrifice, magic help-lines, paranormal romance love-triangles, erotica, religion, gore, and absolutely no poetry. Read this interview with the editors, JAN EDWARDS and JENNY BARBER, to gain an insight into their preferences. Electronic submissions only to Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber at [email protected]. Send manuscript as an email attachment in standard manuscript format (in RTF/doc/docx). Both the email subject line and the manuscript file name must include:submissions – title – author’s name – word count (e.g., Submissions – My Great Story – Jane Doe – 5000 words). Full contact details must be included on the manuscript’s front/first page as well as in the email. Submission window closes 30 April 2014. No acceptances/rejections will be made until after this date. We are seeking original fiction between 3,000 and 8,000 words. Payment is £10.00 for the first 5,000 words, then 0.2p per word on publication, plus a copy of the...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: Royalty Sharing The names of certain scientific pioneers and geniuses are known to us all. Enrico Fermi, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Guglielmo Marconi and so many others dedicated their lives to improving the lot of their fellows through the power of their minds and their belief in their dreams. But what if these icons of science had chosen, instead, to turn their awesome intellect to evil pursuits and heinous ends? How might our world have been changed from what it is now to what they might have engineered it to be? Alternate Worlds: Evil Genius is an anthology intended for the contributing writers to take one of these stellar intellects and imagine them in a sinister role instead. Was Bell's telephone originally a covert listening device? Was Morse's telegraph used to contact secret alien strongholds? Were Einstein and Oppenheimer actually under contract to the Mafia? Will you take up the challenge and tell us? General Submission Guidelines We will not publish stories containing sexual content involving minors in any way; other than that, the only boundaries are your imagination! Sexual content unnecessary to the storyline is discouraged unless you are submitting an erotic story for consideration. Gore for the sake of gore or simply included for shock value in a piece is discouraged as well, and will most likely not garner our attention unless it is necessary to support the storyline. Other Guidelines: We work on a percentage sharing scale with our authors; details will be discussed after submissions are approved. Anthologies are a 'royalties sharing' market, we do not pay in advance for stories. Submissions should be sent as attachments to your email, not copied into the body of the message. Attachments should be in *.doc or *.docx format. Font details: Times New Roman,...

Deadline: April 30th 2014 Payment: $20 and 2 free books Spider Road Press invites submissions of unpublished short stories of no more than 8,000 words with strong female characters to "Eve’s Requiem: Five Tales of Women, Crime and Horror." This anthology will be published by Spider Road Press in late 2014. Men and women are welcome to submit. We are looking for literary, intense stories in which women actively face dangerous situations. We seek tales in which the plot strengthens the characterization. Any use of violence should be integral to the story (no gore). Writers will only be invited to submit one story each. Submissions will be accepted March 1- April 30. Contributors will be paid $20 and 2 free books. 5% of the proceeds from this anthology will be donated to charity. Simultaneous submissions are fine. (We regret that we cannot consider reprints, Science Fiction, YA fiction or prose poems. Please do not submit stories involving vampires or werewolves.) Please be aware that it could take us up to three months to respond to your submission. We look forward to reading your fiction! Beginning on 3/1/14, writers can submit via Submittable Here. . Via: Spider Road Press.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Do you like a challenge? Can you write short and snappy horror? Why not enter our summer flash fiction contest? Take a look at the photograph below… Now, write a story in no more than 250 words, drawing inspiration from the photo. Remember, we are looking for horror, the strange, the weird and worrisome, the macabre and mysterious. When done, paste your story directly into the CONTACT form in the top menu. Please add SUMMER CONTEST to the ‘Subject’ line. Closing date is 30th April 2014. We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Our decision is final, any moaners will be mangled. To see our previous winners, click HERE Good luck! Via: Massacre Publishing.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: $15 per story accepted If you are interested in submitting a story to Timeless Tales for publication, please follow these rules:   Process:  Email your submissions to [email protected]. Attach your story in .doc format. Include your full name, your story’s word count, email address, and any tidbits about your previous writing experience you’d like to include (especially mention if you have a blog because we’d love to check it out!).  We love getting submissions from new writers, so even if you’ve never been published before, don’t be shy!   Length: Up to 2000 words, with under 1500 preferred. ​ Genres:  We only accept fiction (no poetry or non-fiction) that are retellings of the theme that is currently open. It can be a modernization, sci-fi, a mash-up, etc. ​ If you want to know what makes an A+ fairy tale retelling I wrote a blog post about it: http://www.diamondsandtoads.com/2011/09/spinning-old-into-new-steps-of.html   Content: While Timeless Tales is not targeted specifically at children, it is a fairly conservative magazine, especially when it comes to sexual content, so I intend to keep the stories in the PG-13 range or below. However, I have a deep appreciation for the darker side of many original fairy tales, so don’t assume I only want “happy” stories.   Pay Rate: At the moment, we’re just starting out and budget is tight, so we will pay a flat rate of $15 per story accepted, but we hope to increase this amount in the future. You'll also get a free year of our premium subscription. 1.    We do NOT accept multiple submissions.   2.    We DO accept reprints as long as the author has the rights to the story. But please include in your cover letter the details of where and when the story was previously published.   3.    We DO accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us by email immediately if your story has been accepted elsewhere.   If you have a...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: We pay 1.5 cents per word plus a $100 Editors’ Choice award to each of three stories that most effectively and ambitiously incorporate the theme. Authors will also receive an e-book version of the anthology and wholesale pricing for printed copies (typically 50% of cover price). Theme:  “PARCH” Word Count: We will consider fiction up to 10,000 words. There is no minimum word count. Topics: We are interested in publishing a wide variety of entertaining and literate speculative fiction stories, so the more space a story would take, the more it will need to impress us. We publish science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction. Compensation: We pay 1.5 cents per word plus a $100 Editors’ Choice award to each of three stories that most effectively and ambitiously incorporate the theme. Authors will also receive an e-book version of the anthology and wholesale pricing for printed copies (typically 50% of cover price). Rights: We purchase North American Serial Rights, and Electronic Rights for downloadable version(s). All subsidiary rights released upon publication. Submissions: Our focus is on original stories. Please do not send previously published stories, even if they’ve only been published on your blog. Please, no simultaneous submissions (wait for a response from us before submitting elsewhere). We do not publish poetry. Sorry. No hand-written manuscripts. We gotta draw the line somewhere. We love creative interpretations of our themes. Don’t ask us what it means – tell us what it means with a story that convinces us you’re right. We will run mature content if we like the story and if the mature content is integral to the story. So make sure there’s an actual story in that mature content. No fanfic, even if it’s of a fictional universe that has passed into public domain. No thinly-disguised transcripts of role playing sessions,...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: 1 cent per word This is a collection of stories told by people visiting or living in the Miskatonic Valley. We will be accepting submissions from March 15th through April 30th. We have two very hard requirements for this: First, it must be set in the Miskatonic Valley, made popular by H.P. Lovecraft. Second, it must be told from a first-person point of view. Horror and fantasy are preferred, but we will consider other genres. Gratuitous sex and violence that doesn’t add to the story is discouraged. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions. We will not be accepting reprints. If your story is accepted, we ask that you provide a fictional identity for the narrator, with bio. Authors will still be credited under their own name. Your story will just be listed as: A tale by Steve Whatley, as provided by Joe M. Author. Stories must be between 500-8,000 words in length. Payment will be 1-cent per word. Via: Mad Scientist Journal

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: roughly $10 per story and $5 per poem If you have a story or poem that fits the theme, or you’d like to write one, please go ahead! You can email them to me at [email protected], with the subject heading “Latchkey Tales submission – “. Please submit as doc or docx files, 12 point font, a clean font like Times, Arial, Calibri. I’ll accept stories between 1000 and 6000 words. At the moment I am not sure how much I’ll be paying, but my working amounts are roughly $10 per story and $5 per poem. That will vary depending on how many subscriptions we get. If you’re an artist and you’re interested in working on our cover, please get in touch with me at solarwyrm@gmail. Working amount for payment for cover images is currently $50, but that is also variable depending on subscription. Each edition will contain five original stories, three poems, and a cover image Via: Solar Wyrm.