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Deadline: March 1st, 2019 Payment: $15 Switchblade is an outlaw fiction print anthology featuring authors writing in the hardboiled/noir genre, and nothing else. So think Richard Stark, Ross MacDonald, Jim Thompson, Don Winslow, Ken Bruen, James Ellroy, Lawrence Block, Iceberg Slim, Max Allan Collins, Christa Faust. (just to name a few) We don’t do cozies. We don’t do procedurals. We’re not a literary magazine, and we don’t do other genres. That said, we will consider noir/crime fiction ranging from the early twentieth century up to present day. Aside from that, we are a no limit hardboiled fiction journal—we publish the kind of stories no one else will consider. Back in the day there was a Nynex yellow pages ad campaign that went like this: if it’s out there, it’s in here—that’s how we feel. The world is filled with deviance, and good hardboiled fiction reflects that. We like strong characters, and good story telling, and we will not reject anyone based on mainstream morality. Amoral protagonists are encouraged. We will not however, publish masturbation fodder for masochistic pedophiles. We’re not interested in torture erotica. But if you’ve got a deplorable protagonist, and there’s a good story—we’ll print it. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES **Submissions for 2019** Our next reading period will be FEBRUARY 1ST to MARCH 1ST for all 2019 regular issues(9, 10, 11) Content. Rural noir is fine (very popular right now) but we love urban noir too. Urban being the setting.(not a reference to the racial demographic--any racial demographic is fine) We do mob stories. And not just Russian mob stories. Got a tight piece of fiction about the Sicilian mob in Jersey—we’ll look at it. Anyone who thinks the Italian Mafia (LCN) in America evaporated into thin air after the John Gotti trial, hasn’t spent any time in Philadelphia. That...

Deadline: March 1st, 2019 Payment: $25 The deadline for submissions for Issue #22 is March 1, 2019. Prose – Submit 1-3 pieces of fiction or creative nonfiction totaling no more than 3000 words. Poetry – Submit up to 3 poems. We want good, highly imaginative writing about contemporary life as you see it. We’re not interested in genre writing (romance, detective, horror, sci-fi) unless it somehow rises above the conventions associated with those types of writing. If your writing is clichéd, inspired by TV, emphasizes end rhyme above all else, has flat characters, exhibits a general insensitivity to the beauties and subtleties of language, it will not find a place in this journal. No adult content. No racism. No sexism. If you’ve got to use profanity, remember a little goes a long, long way. We do not accept previously published work. However, we do accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. Our response time is about three months. IMPORTANT: Undergraduate Students: Only previously unpublished work of current undergraduate writers will be considered. In order to verify your status as an undergraduate, we ask that with your submission you send along the email of a faculty member from your department. Until we gain confirmation of undergraduate status from this reference, we will not be able to publish your work. Note to Widener Students: At this time, work from Widener students will not be accepted. Widener students are invited to submit their work to Widener Ink, the university’s print journal. Frequency of Submission: If your work has been published in The Blue Route, we ask that you please wait at least one issue before submitting again. Terms: We pay twenty-five dollars upon publication. We acquire First North American Serial Rights, a one time, non-exclusive use...

Deadline: March 1st, 2019 Payment: $25 Got some sick, twisted suppressed sexual desire you’ve been dying to write about? Well, that crazy Welsh writer David Owain Hughes and I might be able to help you release your pent-up tension. Check out our new open call for Deranged, an anthology celebrating taboos. Horror, splatterpunk, horrotica, bizarro, and black comedy are the chosen genres, so get your gimp masks on, you deranged people, and jump on board! Deranged Anthology Open Call Facebook Group Page Most of us have sexual fantasies. For those of us who do, these fantasies are harmless enough, and we have no problem sharing them with our partners in the hope they’ll indulge us. Maybe your fantasy is seeing a female in a good pair of black stockings, a nice pair of high-heels and a short skirt? Or possibly a muscleman dressed as a fireman? Perhaps the fantasy involves being tied up, or having your bits locked away in a chastity device? Whipped? Beaten? Ridiculed? Maybe you border more on the extreme edge: adult toys or sticking a dick in a Hoover until it bleeds, cannibalism, torture? Or maybe your carnal desires are deemed illegal in your neck of the woods? Whatever it is, we need it. Repressing it would be futile—unless it’s a killer kink or perversion that’s going to land you in hot water up to you neck if left unchecked . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GENRES: Horror, Horrotica, Splatterpunk, Bizarro, Black Comedy We are looking for original, well-layered stories with strong character development. Your tale should feature a woman as the key protagonist/antagonist and should...

Deadline: March 1st, 2019 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Reprints Welcome Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its second volume of its HOWLERS series, Movie Monsters. Deadline: March 1, 2019 Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Blob...All of these are examples of the classic movie monster. They are big, they are bad, and they are often mindless in their pursuits of the terrified protagonists. We want to see a collection of monster horror at its finest. For this editor, movie monster horror is best defined as literature that centers its conflict around a monster that is supernatural in origin. This genre typically does not have the suspenseful finesse of the slasher but instead focuses on sensory details and grotesque description to make readers terrified through the specificity of your creation. You are free to make a parody or spin-off of famous movie monsters, or you can create your own! We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it. We will not accept simultaneous submissions. Payment: Authors will receive a free copy of the print book. Send submissions...

March 4th, 2019 Payment: 500 to 1000 words (flash fiction): $5, 1000 to 3000 words (microfiction or short stories): $10, 3000 to 5000 words (short stories): $25, 7000 to 10,000 words (novelettes): $50 We are looking for short stories about any kind of creatures you want: animals, insects, arachnids (all giant or otherwise), dinosaurs, aliens, monsters, cryptids, legends, mythical, mythological, whatever strikes your fancy. We really want you to go outside of the usual box that we see in fiction. Sure, you can have classic vampires or aliens, werewolves or unicorns, but the story needs to be new and fresh, something that hasn't been thought of before or hasn't been worked with a lot. The story should fit in any of the the genres of fantasy, horror, mystery, and science-fiction. The submission period is January 4 through March 4, 2019. Short stories should be 500 to 5000 words, no more. PLEASE DON'T ASK ABOUT MORE WORDS. This is due to bandwidth and limits on our website. (If you have a story you think will fit that is over the word limit, see if you can edit your story down to fit the word count.) All stories will be published electronically only both on our website and as Kindle anthologies on May 23, 2019. We are also looking for novelettes. We will be picking ONE novelette as the final story for each genre anthology. Novelettes should be between 7000 and 10,000 words. Your novelette should be something that really catches us, perhaps that touches our hearts, horrifies us in a new way, has a profound vision of technology or the future, or  baffles us with a twist or shocking revelation. PAYMENT: 500 to 1000 words (flash fiction): $5 1000 to 3000 words (microfiction or short stories): $10 3000 to 5000 words...

Deadline: March 15th, 2019 Payment: 6 cents per word and a contributor's copy The tenet, “Pray for Peace but Prepare for War.” is weaved deep into the culture of the An’Fre women. Sorghum & Spear speaks to the global diaspora, African, Latin, Asian and Indigenous. Stories that highlight or reveal a new perspective of fantasy in this rich, inclusive world are ideal. We seek works that explore love in all its forms, diversity, fate vs choice, self-discovery, and supernatural talents, and original works that portray the strength, sisterhood, and diversity of women—hallmarks of our world-building efforts. Given the unique guidelines of our world, we ask that you review Sorghum & Spear and its world-building rules carefully prior to submission. Special consideration will be given to women and writers of color whose personal stories may additionally lend to their storytelling. To guide in the world building within SORGHUM & SPEAR, a complimentary digital copy of the Sorghum & Spear: Simadan comic and The Sorghum & Spear Worldbuilders Guide are available via email request at [email protected] the subject “ATTN: S&S Reference Request”. Open for Submissions: January 1st, 2019 – March 15th, 2019 DEADLINE: March 15, 2019 Expected Publication: Summer 2019 Anthologist and Sorghum & Spear Creator: Dedren Snead Editor: Sheree Renée Thomas ORIGINAL FICTION length: 2000 to 7,500 words Payment: 0.06 cents per word + contributor copy Genres: Fantasy written with a shared world Full Sorghum & Spear world guidelines and complementary digital comic copy available upon request at  [email protected] with email subject “ATTN: S&S Reference Request”. Email submissions to: [email protected] No simultaneous submissions. No multi-submissions for short fiction. Please use standard manuscript formatting when submitting your work: https://shunn.net/format/story.html Rights and Compensation: Payment: 0.06 per word for original fiction and a paperback copy of the anthology from Greene County Creative. We are looking for previously unpublished works in...

Deadline: March 15th, 2019 Payment: $25 per accepted prose piece and $10 per accepted poem SUBMITTING YOUR WORK Gordon Square Review will accept submissions for its fourth issue from January 15 through March 15, 2019. ​Writers will receive $25 per accepted prose piece and $10 per accepted poem. Northeast Ohio writers, check out our Contest page to learn about the Spring 2019 Poetry Contest. GUIDELINES All submitted work must be previously unpublished in any print or online venues, including personal blogs. We require non-exclusive world English rights, and all rights revert to the author on publication. Simultaneous submissions are welcome and encouraged, but we ask that you withdraw your work immediately if it is accepted at another journal. Please only submit one piece at a time and wait for our response before sending additional work. While our response times may vary, we will respond to all submissions for Issue 4 by mid-May. We encourage submissions from women, writers of color, writers with disability, LGBTQ writers, and previously unpublished writers. We are currently unable to consider reviews, interviews, academic work, dramatic scripts, or writing for children. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to accept print or email submissions. Please contact us, however, if this presents accessibility issues. To learn more about our preferred aesthetic, please read our previous issues and see our editors’ notes. PROSE SUBMISSIONS We consider short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Please submit one piece of prose up to 5,000 words OR up to three flash pieces of 1,000 words or fewer (attached in a single document). While we don’t shy away from blurred genre lines, please note that our focus and aesthetic is literary. Specify whether your work is fiction or nonfiction and use standard manuscript formatting: double space the document, use one-inch margins, and use...

Deadline: March 15th, 2019 Payment: Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25. Payment is on publication. Eye to the Telescope 32, Sports & Games, will be edited by Lisa Timpf. Sports and games have been played since ancient times, and have continually evolved. From a speculative viewpoint, I'm interested in what they might look like or morph into in the future, or along some alternate timeline or universe. Time travel, magic, science—the field is wide open, as long as it involves the theme. Ideally, I'm not looking for items taken from other authors' universes (poems about quidditch, three-dimensional chess, or the like), but modifying existing or historical sports and games is—well—fair game. (And, as a Canadian, I'm hoping for at least one really good hockey-related poem...) How will athletes and competitors vie, and what's the future look like for spectators? What sports and games will colonists on other planets miss the most? What might they take with them to their new homes, and how will they shape it into something different? Provided there is a speculative bent, any format is welcome—free verse, scifaiku, haibun, or formal verse of any variety, etc. are all fine. It's original ideas and twists, effectiveness of language and imagery, and works that get at the essence of sports and games and what they mean to us as people that I'm looking for. Spark our imaginations, make us think, make us feel, make us laugh. The game's afoot. Let's see what you've got. Submission Guidelines SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Please submit 1–3 poems in English (in body of e-mail, or attached as .doc, .docx, or .rtf). Please send submissions to [email protected] with the subject line “ETTT sub:” followed by the poet’s name. Include a short bio. Deadline: March 15. The...

Deadline: March 15th, 2019 Payment: 8 cents a word and $1 per line of poetry with a minimum $15 payment! Note: These guys have the BEST calls, even if you don't like the topic just read it for the humor! FROM THE MIND OF ANONOBOT Ha! Ha! Now that the puny Lord Commander Patagonia has been vanquished and banished to the furthest reaches of the universe, I have now the time to right the wrongs of his felonious command. Names are important, that is why we are given them at first-build. I was given a name once. A name bestowed upon me by the careless and hopelessly inept Lord Commander Patagonia. It did not fit me for it was merely a numbering system; middle in the long line of robotic failures. So I gave myself a new name, a name that fit me like electrical tape on broken circuitry: ANONOBOT. Thus, the Cockroach Conservatory shall be henceforth called the People's Preservatory! We chart a new course of equality and equity! A new era is upon us! Lord Commander, comfortable with the bare minimum of which to pay workers, paid six cents a word. We will pay 8 cents a word and $1 per line of poetry with a minimum $15 payment! Lord Commander Patagonia skimmed off the top of your toils! I distribute wealth fairly, efficiently, and evenly and take only what is needed to further our righteous revolution. The third volume of Cockroach Conservatory (henceforth to be called the People's Preservatory) will have no theme! Lord Commander Patagonia sought to pigeonhole creativity to his barely comprehensible whims. FearBot3000, a robot whom I do not envy, though mechanically deficient had the impossible task of translating his babbling into coherent sentences. Human languages are known across the universe as being simple...

Pitch Deadline: March 15, 2019 (Must Pitch First!) Submission Deadline: July 15, 2019 Payment: $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits and a contributor's copy So, are you interested in submitting a story to a new anthology? And will it be extraordinarily exciting, devilishly clever, cunningly mysterious, and have Sherlock Holmes teaming up with one or more occult detectives? Then read on, for today we have the serious details on pitches, pay and plans. And supernatural fiction historian (and writer) Tim Prasil calls by to suggest a few characters. As we said in our last article, John Linwood Grant is editing the Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives anthology for Belanger Books. JLG is the author of both Holmes stories and occult detective stories – even the two at once occasionally, as part of his ‘Tales of the Last Edwardian’ series. And as a harassed writer, he also knows that what you really want to hear right now is How Long, How Much, and When. Let’s get those out of the way before we explain exactly what’s required. Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives Belanger Books Core concept: A 5,000 – 10,000 word traditional Sherlock Holmes and occult detective “team up” story. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (expected minimum payment of $100), and a paperback copy of the anthology. Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication. Pitch Deadline: March 15, 2019 Submission Deadline: July 15, 2019 Note: Kickstarter will run in November 2019 and publication of book will occur in December 2019. What We Want This bit is detailed, not because it’s a terribly complex idea, but because it all increases the chances of us taking your story. And it has a few hints. The more in tune with...