Events

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $100 Theme: Fiction or poetry that mix art and Taco Bell Taco Bell Quarterly is a literary magazine that explores the intersection of Art and Taco Bell. Our only guideline is that it must contain a Taco Bell reference. We publish art that explores, provokes, and tests the conventions of creative writing as it relates to Taco Bell. Whether or not you believe any of this is up to you, the creative writer. We are looking for short stories, non-fiction, prose, essays, poetry, art, comics, flash, films, undefinable auras, experiments, and completely ordinary shit that will peak in the seventh issue of a literary magazine in a corner of the internet. You are, were, and always will be a Literary Writer. We are looking for innovative ways to lower the bar. We are looking for ways to degrade ourselves with flair. We are looking for universes that could be extremely traumatizing if the writers weren’t cowards. We are looking for ways to address the nightmares more directly. We are drawn to writing that is urgent. We are drawn to screams and fever dreams. We want to publish: the stuff that no one else gets, the stuff that speaks to the moment, the stuff that speaks to nothing at all, the stuff that is grilled and nacho stuft. Have fun. Make stuff.  Screw your Koch Perception Boxes. Send us your panorama shoeboxes. Run for the border so that we can dismantle the borders altogether. We want to hear from everyone, especially queer writers, trans writers, writers of color, neurodiverse writers, disabled writers, non-literary writers, genre writers, not-even-writers and total outsiders. Simultaneously subbed? Previously pubbed? We have no rules. Shoehorn a bean burrito in it and send it. Taco Bell Quarterly loves you. We pay $100. Is...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints. $6.00 for each poem. $20.00 for original articles, $6.00 for reprints. $7.00 for reviews and interviews. $5.00 for interior art Theme: The paranormal Submissions are accepted Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 30. Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread. We no longer accept simultaneous or multiple submissions. ​ No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, voracious monsters, and dark spirits... But they have not forgotten or left us... What We Want The subject matter of parABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. PLEASE NOTE: CREATURES LIKE VAMPIRES, GHOULS, WEREWOLVES, AND ZOMBIES ARE NOT PARANORMAL. Shapeshifters, for the purpose of this magazine, refer to the spiritual shift, not the physical. Think Native American shaman. Paranormal activity centers around the human, not the creature. We do not want stories that involve excessive blood, gore, digestive tracts, and so forth. We also dislike stories with pornographic content. If you...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents/word and 4 cents/word for reprints Theme: Speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology Note: Reprints Welcome We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!). Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits a story written on their own, that would not violate our no multiple submissions policy. Submitting two stories co-written by...

Submission Window: July 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: After Tomorrow Title: The Cellar Door - Issue #4: After Tomorrow Theme: Looking for post-apocalyptic suspense and horror stories about how mankind has come to survive after our near annihilation. Humorous stories are welcome. No AI-generated stories. Type: Post-apocalyptic, thriller/suspense, survival horror, creature feature, supernatural/paranormal. Word Count: 2,000 - 10,000 words. Payment: $25.00 + digital & paperback copies. Featured Author: TBA Accepted Authors (so far): Danielle Davis, Nik Patrick. Cover Art: Mikio Murakami Rights: We are seeking first time rights for 1 year after publication. After that time all rights revert back to the author. The publication will appear in both print and digital formats. Reprints: None. Previously unpublished only. Multiple Submissions: None. Simultaneous Submissions: Yes, but state in your email that it is a simultaneous submission, and please email us immediately if the story is sold elsewhere. Also, be sure to follow the Manuscript Format guidelines below when submitting. File Format: Include your story as an attachment in MS Word, LibreOffice, or Rich Text Format. Manuscript Format: Use the Modern or Classic Shunn Format. Include a short bio in the body of your email. Your subject line should read, AT Submission: ("Title") by (Author's Name). For Example, AT Submission: "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury. Attach the story as a separate document. Response Time: 4 weeks after submissions close, if not sooner. Submission Period: July 1 - 31, 2023. Send Submissions to: darkpenpress (at) gmail (dot) com Influential Movies/TV: A Quiet Place, Monsters, 28 Days/Weeks Later, Fury Road, It Comes at Night, Stake Land, Pandorum, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Snowpiercer, Zombieland, The Road, Sweet Home (TV), The Rain (TV), The Last of Us (TV). Influential writings/series: Silo Trilogy by Hugh Howey, Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, The Girl With All the Gifts by Mike Carey, Bird Box by...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: 3 cents per word for fiction and poetry, $50 for book reviews, $80 for artwork Theme: Fantasy and Science Fiction stories Note: This outlet does accept clearly-labeled AI generated content which will be controversial to many Good news for 2023: NewMyths.com pay rates have doubled! Reading past issues is the best way to know if your submission is a good fit for NewMyths.com. We like to balance each quarterly issue between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works. Our readers are not fixated on a single style or tone or genre, but prefer a quality sample of the field. Think tapas or dim sum. Maximum length is 10,000 words. Submission Period New Myths considers submissions between January 1-February 28 and June 1-July 31. Artwork, requests for book reviews, and other correspondence can be submitted at any time. Artificial Intelligence Policy and contests Both human-only and AI-generated work now welcome If we could detect AI-generated content with 100% accuracy, we would not allow it. But since that is not the case.... NewMyths will accept AI-generated content if you label it as such. Please use the honor system. If you used an AI tool to create a draft of your work, no matter how many times you rewrote it, please label it as an AI-generated story. NewMyths will attach the "AI-generated" label to the published story. Other uses of AI, such as for generating ideas or spell checking, need not be flagged. Copyright and AI This is still being worked out by the courts. NewMyths reserves the right to remove any content from its archives if such content comes under a copyright dispute. AI Creators Contest—Fall 2023 NewMyths will run a human-only versus AI-generated...

Submission Window: July 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction Note: This window is for authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished....

Submission Window: July 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Changing the world, one story at a time Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one...

Submission Window: July 17th-31st, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have a speculative element, even horror). Our planned windows are: July 17-31, 2023: General submission window David Steffen is the editor, who you may also know from reading The Long List Anthology series or from the Submission Grinder, which you can use to find markets for your writing and track your submissions.  Diabolical Plots is a SFWA-qualifying market, so if you have a personal goal to join SFWA, making a sale here would help you toward that goal. If you have already read our guidelines and are ready to submit, you can SUBMIT HERE. FICTION Accessibility Note:  We recognize our submission form may not be accessible to all users. Please send us a message at our contact form or email editordiabolicalplotscom and we will make sure you can submit your story. Genres:  science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have a speculative element, even horror). Word count:  3500 words or less.  This is a firm limit.  If you submit a longer story, it will be rejected unread and that will count as a submission.  Do not query to ask permission to submit something longer–the answer will be no. Pay rate: 10 cents per word.  Paying by PayPal is preferred by us, but we can mail a US bank check if you live in the US, and if you live somewhere where neither of these things are options, we are exploring other options.  We don’t want unavailability of payment apps for you to be a deterrent to you submitting! Multiple submissions:  No.  In the past, Diabolical Plots accepted two submissions per author per window, but now we ask that you only send one submission per window.  Even if you receive a rejection before the window has ended, we ask that you wait until our next window to submit a...

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $25 CAD Theme: choose a mood (e.g. melancholy, frustrated, calm) and a film, TV show, or even a director/actor (as long as the connection to your chosen mood is clear) to write about in any format/genre What are your viewing habits, highs, and hang-ups? In other words, why do you look away and then look again? Why are you so obsessed with the exact shade of pink of Suki’s car in 2 Fast 2 Furious? Or the look on Marnie’s face after she’s fired the shotgun? We want to hear all about it, but you should know that we are terrible at keeping secrets. So… are you in the mood? Submissions are OPEN for In The Mood Magazine Issue 8: MOODS! We’re doing things a little differently this time, so please read the call carefully... Inspired by our Film Recommendation Generator, we’re asking our contributors to choose a mood (e.g. melancholy, frustrated, calm) and a film, TV show, or even a director/actor (as long as the connection to your chosen mood is clear) to write about in any format/genre they wish. The film/show can match the mood or be an antidote. We welcome creative non-fiction, poetry, fan fiction… surprise us! Explore our Film Recommendation Generator for inspiration 😉 - Submission deadline: July 31st, 2023 - Theme: Moods—please indicate the mood you’re pitching - Please note we like to focus on post-1970s media - Word count for final piece: maximum 700 words - Honorariums: $25 CAD upon publication While we prefer pitches, we also welcome completed pieces. If pitching, please include a writing sample—it doesn’t need to be a published piece! ‍ Submissions are always OPEN for our newsletter—pitch us your ideas for short features or film diaries about what you've been watching lately! SEND SUBMISSIONS/QUERIES TO: [email protected] Via: In The Mood Magazine.

Deadline: July 31st, 2023 Payment: $25 Theme: Unconventional Ghost Stories Flash Frog is currently only open for Flash Frogtober submissions until July 31st. This means we want your GHOST STORIES! Send us your traditional ghost stories, the ones that haunt and scare. Send us your unconventional ghost stories, the ones that make us rethink what a ghost story can be. We are open to your interpretation, so surprise us! Please put “FLASH FROGTOBER — your story title” in the subject line. Please do not send us general submissions during this time. They will be returned unread. We will reopen for general submissions on August 1st. All of the standard guidelines below still apply: WRITERS: Flash Frog publishes flash fiction only (no poetry or CNF please). 1,000 words maximum. Please email stories to [email protected]. Please attach the story as .doc, .docx, or .rtf. Please use this format as the subject: FLASH FROGTOBER — your story title Cover letters are okay, but please do not explain or set up your story. Let it speak for itself. Please do include a third-person bio (100 words max) in the body of the email. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please email to withdraw your piece as soon as it has been accepted elsewhere. We’d love to congratulate you! Multiple submissions are not okay. Please send only one story at a time and wait until you hear back before sending another. All submissions should be the author’s original work and not previously published elsewhere (this includes blogs, social media, etc.) Publication rights: We ask for the right to display the work for the duration of the journal. Copyright remains with the writer in all cases. If your work is subsequently reprinted elsewhere, please acknowledge Flash Frog as the site of first publication. Response time: Typically within a week, but occasionally longer. Please do not inquire about your submission until 2 months have passed. Payment: Flash Frog pays $25 per story upon publication. Payments are issued via...