Events

Deadline: September 30th, 2024 Prizes: $100 for the winner, $25 for the three runner-ups Theme: Horror Drabbles It’s coming…and there’s nowhere to hide. Not that you’d want to, with a $100 prize on the line. Story Street Writers is proud to announce our first annual Hundred Word Horror fiction contest. The winner will be announced on October 31, naturally, and will pick up a $100 prize and publication in the Story Street Review online. The three runners-up will also be published, each receiving a $25 prize. The contest is open for entries from September 15 through September 30, 2024 (EST). So, you should still have plenty of time for NaNoWriMo prep while we read through all your wonderful story entries. You can add your entry on the Submissions Page. (See the complete list of contest details below.) Make sure to sign up for our Newsletter to keep tabs on contest updates and notifications of future contests! If you have any questions, please feel free to email [email protected] Submission Dates: September 15 – 30, 2024 (EST time zone) Winner Announced: Midnight, October 31, 2024 (EST) 1st Prize: $100 and publication Runners up (3): $25 and publication Word Count: 100 words maximum (no exceptions) (Title does not count) Limit 1 submission per person Contest open to first 1000 submissions only Must be 18 or over No purchase necessary We do not sell your information Only previously unpublished work will be considered Stories must be original NO A.I. generated stories, nor any story where A.I. was used in its making. Will result in automatic ban and you will forever bear the shame. Stories remain property of the writer In the case of winner or runners up, the only rights you grant are first publication for the results of the contest Family members of Story Street writers are not eligible Simultaneous submissions ok, but please...

Deadline: September 30th, 2024 Payment: $20 and a contributors copy Theme: Horror and weird fiction, as well as sci-fi and dark fantasy. Ideally hybrid works Broken Antler is a literary magazine and publisher of work that is dark, speculative, experimental, unsettling, and absurd. BAM Quarterly, Broken Antler’s online journal, publishes creative work four times a year (during the months of October, January, April, and July). Submissions for Issue Three open February 29 and close March 31. The Marrow, Broken Antler’s blog and home of our LGBTQIA+ creator series, is currently accepting pitches for interviews, reviews, and essays, as well as creative submissions of micro fiction, poetry, and art. And Broken Antler Magazine is our annual print publication, featuring creative and critical work from emerging and established writers, artists, creators, and individuals working within the horror space. What We Publish Broken Antler publishes horror and weird fiction, as well as sci-fi and dark fantasy. The editors are partial to a wide range of subgenres—body, cosmic, folk, gore, etc. (and our EIC likes any writing that screws with her sleep schedule). If your work fits into the horror genre, or is some version of fucked-up, send it our way. For poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid submissions, we’re looking for work that is haunting and monstrous, strange and bizarre. Extra points if your work is experimental or doing something unusual with form. Do NOT send us work featuring gratuitous sexual assault, violence against women and/or marginalized groups, or hate speech. Broken Antler is 100% run by women, several members of our editorial staff identify as LGBTQIA+, and we are committed to uplifting these and other previously silenced voices. NOTE: Submitted work should be previously unpublished, and we do NOT accept AI-generated content. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know if your...

Deadline: October 1st, 2024 Payment: $50 and royalties Theme: Original, previously unpublished, science fiction stories that are, first and foremost, drag Science Fiction Is a Drag! is a drag anthology. We’re looking for original, previously unpublished, science fiction stories that are, first and foremost, drag.  This is an anthology where those of us in the drag community can gather and tell the stories that we’d never be able to publish anywhere else.  Stories up to 10,000 words will be considered. Publication date is sometime in 2025. Submission Deadline: October 1, 2024 What we don’t want: • Stories by straight people who think drag performers are cute, funny, scary, etc. and have no real connection to the drag community or drag rhetoric. (We, of course, are cute, funny, scary, etc., but there’s an ineffable deeper element that those of us who are drag get and others don’t.) • Stories by LGBT+ people who think drag performers are cute, funny, scary, etc. and have no real connection to the drag community or drag rhetoric. (Or, if you think of people who do drag as “them” and not “us,” I’d prefer if you let “us” have a room of our own.) • Stories by members of the drag community that were written for the straights and have nothing drag about them at all.  You may certainly send us your drag stories that were written for the straights or your stories that are written for us in the drag community.  But they must be drag stories not just by someone who does drag. • Look, I don’t have the money to take on Disney, Paramount, Warner, the Frank Herbert estate. If it’s set in someone else’s intellectual property, I can’t use it.  The day I have the money to get the proper permissions to do Star Wars Episode 69:...

Deadline: October 1st, 2024 Payment: $750 and 5 contributors copies Theme: Novellas to be released as a collection about lesbian-themed folk magic stories A collection of lesbian-themed folk magic and witchcraft tentatively titled Witchcraft in Your Lips. For this book we're seeking 3-4 novellas. Submissions should be between 20-30 thousand words in length. We are not interested in erotica or young adult stories for this book. Same-sex relationships should be presented as positive, as usage of folk magic. By this, we mean no self-loathing lesbians or witches (they can face external prejudices, of course). Submissions should be sent to [email protected] with the subject line WIYL Submission. Because we are a small press, our response time is quite slow; please do not query us about your submission until October, when we  will close for submission. Payment for each story will be 750 dollars and five copies of the print edition. Via: Lethe Press.

Deadline: October 1st, 2024 Payment: Contributor's Copy Theme: The author must do a tarot reading and the results of that must affect the writing, in any genre, in some way The Light from Albemuth is a print and electronic anthology that utilizes a tool of divination in a unique way: before sitting down to write a submission, be it story, poem or essay, the author is to do a tarot reading, with the intention that it affects the writing in some way, and then write. Any genre is acceptable, but nothing NC-17, please. Tarot and/or divination do not need to factor into the work itself when it comes to content. Accompanying the piece should be a short ‘about the author’ blurb, and an explanation of the reading that was done before the author wrote the piece – and how they interpret it. This will be included in the anthology as well, so that as a whole, the book will be two things. First, a collection of short stories, poetry and essays. Second, a peek into how and whether Tarot can guide creativity. Length: Prose of 1,000 – 7,000 words Poetry not more than 25 lines Compensation: One contributor’s copy. Copyright will be retained by author of work, and once a year from publication has passed, they can have it reprinted anywhere they desire. Publisher only gets first print and first digital publication rights in English, and can only include it in this specific anthology. Send submissions in .docx format to: [email protected] Submissions are open now (July 7, 2024) and will close October 1, 2024, with an expected live date of December 31, 2024. Via: The Light from Albemuth Substack.

Submission Window: October 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 The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. 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 – 8¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 per line, and for reprints we pay 50¢ a line  We’re looking for poems up to 40 lines. We’ll consider longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 8¢ per word. We sponsor 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 aboutThe 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, from a minimum of 1000 words on up.   All else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored, and we have yet to find a story over about 9-10,000 words we...

Deadline: October 4th, 2024 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: Circus-themed horror So you thought you might like to go to the show... ​ The Dionysian Public Library is now OPEN for submissions for our second annual horror anthology, Spectacular, Spectacular!: An Anthology of Circensian Horror, a collection of circus-themed tales of terror.  Contortionists and clowns, ringmasters and roaring beasts, fortune tellers and flying trapezes... Let your imagination run wild and your nightmares take to the stage. The theme may be interpreted however you wish, and if you're not quite sure if it fits, give it a try anyway; we love to be surprised. There is no limit on content or hard word limit, but somewhere around 8,000 words is a good ballpark for the maximum—that said, if you have something a bit longer, feel free to shoot it our way and we'll be happy to take a look. We are also open to poetry, black and white visual art, and nonfiction writing on the theme. ​​ This anthology will be edited by  v.f. thompson. At this point, we are only able to offer contributor's copies as compensation, but hope to be able to change that with ancillary fundraising as the project progresses. Submissions are open now through October 4th, for release on October 31st, 2024. General Submission Guidelines Prose, poetry, and other written work should be submitted as either a .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. Prose should be formatted in something approaching Shunn Manuscript Format, though deviations from this format will not disqualify you. After all, who are we to tell you what to do with your work. We have no guidelines or restrictions on content, and in fact hope to see your most challenging work, should you trust us with it. Other than that, we're pretty loosey-goosey with what we're hoping to see. ​ Please...

Deadline: October 5th, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Cowboys... In Space! Space Cowboys 6 This anthology series hit a nerve with the reading public. Something about the rugged individualism of the cowboy strikes a chord in us all. A certain romanticism exists in the feeling that cowboys inhabit a simpler world; one that’s clearer, brighter and makes more sense than our day to day existence. Cowboys have a certain reckless reputation and that doesn’t fade away when you move them into space and onto alien worlds. Men and women who face hardships and rope a living out of an unforgiving landscape without waiting for orders from a distant authority. They do what needs to be done and take care of their animals, their people, and themselves. Opens: 8/4/24 Closes: 10/5/24 Contracts: 10/26/24 Publication: 11/22/24 5,000 to 8,000 words. Length and genre are negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept, and is entertaining. Any submission must be in Times New Roman (preferred, but you can use Georgian or other readable font), 12PT, double spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email on it. Name the file as -—. Send it in a .docx format as an attachment—no links. Refer to the submission guideline graphic below for how to format your story—It has all the information you need! Feel free to download it for reference. Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication, after one year the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all...

Deadline: October 7th, 2024 Payment: 6 cents per word Theme: Speculative fiction stories where Love Goes Awry Love is in the air…or is it? Sometimes Cupid’s arrow finds the wrong target, or the right target at the wrong time. Those stupid Cupids can sure make a mess of things! Freefall into a world where love, magic, and wonder can devolve into chaos and confusion. Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry is your chance to take aim at your favorite romance tropes and have a fantastical time. Look past Cupid’s bow, and show us the beautiful chaos of love. Confound your Cupids with unexpected results, hilarious mistakes, and terrifying consequences. This is the sixth anthology put together by the Publishing masters degree students at Western Colorado University, taught by bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson and award-winning editor Allyson Longueira, funded by Draft2Digital. Previous anthologies include Monsters, Movies, and Mayhem; Unmasked; Gilded Glass; Merciless Mermaids: Tails from the Deep; and the just-released Feisty Felines and Other Fantastical Familiars. See the examples at https://wordfirepress.com/collections/western-colorado-university-grad-program-in-creative-writing-anthologies Submission Guidelines for Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry   CONFOUNDING CUPIDS When Love Goes Awry Submissions Open August 31–October 7   Love is in the air…or is it? Sometimes Cupid’s arrow finds the wrong target, or the right target at the wrong time. Those stupid Cupids can sure make a mess of things! Freefall into a world where love, magic, and wonder can devolve into chaos and confusion. Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry is your chance to take aim at your favorite romance tropes and have a fantastical time. Romance can blossom in an ancient castle, at a local café, or on an interstellar generation ship. What happens when a love story suffers from hexes, alien technology, or missed connections? How do you file a complaint with Cupid? Who do you call when you're ghosted by a ghost? What if your spouse turns...

Deadline: October 13th, 2024 Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word Theme: Dark stories featuring monstrous manifestations of trauma and guilt, paranoia and persecution, anxiety, addiction, and crippling terror In the tradition of Poe’s ‘A Tell-tale Heart’ and Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, This Way Lies Madness (publishing September 2025) will bring together a twisted tangle of dark stories featuring monstrous manifestations of trauma and guilt, paranoia and persecution, anxiety, addiction, and crippling terror. In these pages, readers should expect to find madness in all its forms, without the tired stigmatising tropes. Instead, these tales of deep-rooted terror will draw on metaphor, symbolism, imagery, structural innovation, and close introspection to challenge stigma and promote understanding around mental illness, reflecting broader cultural, generational, and societal impacts with authenticity and insight. Think of horrific scenarios as metaphors for mental illness: trauma is the creature that drags its prey into its deep, dark lair; the hopelessness of depression is the person lost in a labyrinthine underworld, suicidal ideation is a person living in the belly of a great beast, addiction is the two-sided mirror, or the persecuted werewolf is the representation of a person’s struggle against the duality of bi-polar disorder. Writers are asked to be bold and inventive, to challenge convention, while being sensitive to the stigmatising constructs of mental illness in current society. Up to 10 stories will be selected from this submissions route, and we welcome fresh interpretations and perspectives from diverse voices. Each selected story will be accompanied by a c. 300-word introduction by the author on their reflections / personal experience that inspired the story. Once selected, authors will be contacted to supply this additional text. This Way Lies Madness will be curated by Lee Murray and Dave Jeffery, award-winning author-editors with lived experience of mental illness and advocacy.   Lee Murray is from Aotearoa-New Zealand and is a Shirley...