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Deadline: November 30th, 2024 Payment: $20 or royalties Theme: Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors: Dying for an Answer Submission Period: September 1, 2024 to November 31, 2024 Theme: Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors: Dying for an Answer We’re searching for the murder mysteries, detectives noir, cozy, or humorous. This is our mystery anthology and if you think it comes close to the genre, give us a shot. There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. However, we’ll be impressed if you can work within Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but they won’t be the bulk of the accepted submissions. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story may rise to the top. Stories that contain infanticide, rape, or gratuitous gore will not be accepted. Submission Period: September 1, 2024 to November 31, 2024 Submissions: No AI, 1 per author; no reprints, no simultaneous submissions; Submission Cost: Free Word Limit: 2,000 to 8,000 words Submission Guidelines: Anonymous submission with no author name in document; 12 pt Times or Arial; .Doc or .Docx; double-space; first line indent; no tabs used. Genres: Mystery with accepted sub-genres of Fantasy, Sci-Fi as well Anticipated Pay: Option: Royalty share of D2D sales, or $20.00 If D2D royalty share selected, then each story will receive a share, as will the publisher, from the sales on the D2D platform. This does not include Kickstarter funds unless detailed in the Stretch goals, wholesale to authors, or retail outlets. Timeline Projections: Submissions close: November 2024 Review: December 2024 Acceptance / Rejection: January 2025 Edits: February 2025 Production: March 2025 Published: April 2025 Upon acceptance, the author is expected to work with the editor on...

Submission Window: October 1st - November 30th, 2024 Payment: Fiction: $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. Theme: Paranormal - this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. 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...

Submission Window: October 1st - November 30th, 2024 Payment: 8 cents CAD/word Theme: The horrors that occur when reproductive choices are threatened or taken away Note: People of marginalized genders to explore these horrors through fiction Few things are more horrifying than having your bodily autonomy stripped away. Unfortunately, for people of marginalized genders, this is a common experience. Our autonomy and choices, especially those around reproduction, are challenged every day. In many places, making our own choices has become illegal – or was never legal in the first place. Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror aims to create a space for people of marginalized genders to explore these horrors through fiction. We hope this exploration will provide catharsis for both the writers and the readers. What We Want We are looking for stories of up to 6000 words about the horrors that occur when reproductive choices are threatened or taken away, written by people of marginalized genders. This submissions call is open from October 1st to November 30th. Payment for accepted submissions will be 8 cents CAD/word. Some examples of reproductive horror stories we’d love to see are: A botched back-alley abortion A horrific birth at the end of a forced pregnancy A story about someone being trapped in an abusive relationship or environment through pregnancy A person being forced to incubate an inhuman creature A person who has been denied the right to choose hunting the people who took that right away Note that these are just examples. You can use them as prompts or submit stories that already match one of these frameworks, but there’s no need to limit yourself to stories based on these ideas. Any story where the horror is created by a lack of reproductive choice, or a threat to someone’s reproductive choices, is welcome....

Submission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story 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 full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...

Submission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $0.02 per word Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between that are exactly 100 words Note: Reprints Welcome Story Guidelines Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length (For Drabbles: Exactly 100-words!). Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short. We here at FPSF are partial to flash fiction and want to see the flash market grow. So as much as it pains us, please take your 10,000 word tour de force elsewhere. We’re not looking for the next Brandon Sanderson. (Unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson, in which case we’d be delighted!)   What we’re looking for: -Fantasy (all kinds—epic, adventure, contemporary, urban, grimdark, fairy tale, magical realism, myths and legends, etc.) -Science Fiction (all kinds—hard, space opera, military, near future, science fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian, etc.) -Slipstream (make it as weird as you want, so long as it works) -Seasonal (we love stories with holiday and/or seasonal themes, but please submit AT LEAST 3 months in advance of the relevant occasion) -Anything that makes us laugh, cry, think, or smile. What we aren’t looking for: -Horror—it can be spooky or menacing, but we’re not a horror market, so the fright factor should not be the primary appeal. DARK fantasy and sci-fi, however, are welcome. -Literary fiction—this is a genre market, so there needs to be an SF&F element, however slight. -Gratuitous sex or violence—we’re big fans of Love Death + Robots, but don’t be that guy. -Fanfic—original concepts only, please. We know there was a lot going on in Hobbiton while Frodo was away, but that’s not our property and it’s not yours either. -Stories previously published in a different language. Submission Specs In terms...

Submission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Stories of pirates, sea monsters, deserted islands, the Bermuda Triangle, and anything else taking place on or in the world’s oceans. Undertaker Books is putting out the call for horror tales from the high seas! We’re looking for stories of pirates, sea monsters, deserted islands, the Bermuda Triangle, and anything else taking place on or in the world’s oceans. From the ice floes of the Arctic to the nuclear wasteland of Bikini Atoll, the seven seas are your canvas for amazing horror! This collection of stories is part of our Stories to Take To Your Grave series, and we’ve made some changes to how we’re doing it. Individual stories will be released once a month, then be compiled into an anthology at the end of the year! Theme: Horror Stories of all subgenres that take place on the High Seas. Word Count: 2,000-4,000 Editor: D.L. Winchester Simultaneous submissions are accepted. One submission per writer. No reprints. No translations. Payment: $25 and a paperback copy of the anthology. Submission: By email to [email protected]. Please submit as a .doc or .docx file, and make the subject of your email HIGH SEAS – (Story Title) – (Author Last Name). Modern Shunn format is encouraged, but not required. Call Open: November 1-30, 2024 Publication: One story published each month in 2025, then compiled into an anthology published in January 2026. Via: Undertaker Books.

Deadline: November 30th, 2024 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Stories in the dystopian sci-fi genre with a Black Mirror or Twilight Zone vibe. Authors are encouraged to explore themes of the near-to-far future of states, whether set here on Earth, in space, or in other dimensions. Future States of Stars is set to be a captivating sci-fi/dystopian fiction anthology tailored for the Upper YA (18+), New Adult, and Adult audiences. Following the success of our previous and soon-to-be-published anthology, Monsters In Masquerade, which featured the works of three New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, along with a blend of established voices and fresh talent, we are thrilled to continue with the second installment of The Darkset Chronicles. With our dedicated in-house team of creatives, including some of the best editors and content awareness readers in the business, as well as talented graphic designers and readers, we are crafting a collection that will bring you thrilling new stories from the most beloved subgenres of science fiction. We are excited to once again offer YOU, our incredible community members, the chance to have your work featured alongside acclaimed bestselling authors in this eagerly anticipated anthology! Requirements and Theme Suggestions Submissions for Future States should be complete at 8.5k words or less and fall within the New Adult to Adult age range. We are specifically seeking stories in the dystopian sci-fi genre with a Black Mirror or Twilight Zone vibe. Authors are encouraged to explore themes of the near-to-far future of states, whether set here on Earth, in space, or in other dimensions. Consider exploring dystopian themes such as authoritarian regimes, environmental collapse, surveillance societies, loss of individual freedoms, or the impact of advanced technology on humanity. Writers must be the age of majority in their country to submit, and we welcome submissions from authors globally. How To Submit If...

Deadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $50 and royalties Theme: Fantasy stories that are, first and foremost, drag Note: For authors with a real connection to the drag community (see below for details) Fantasy Is a Drag! is a drag anthology. We’re looking for original, previously unpublished, fantasy 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: December 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, Warner, the Tolkien estate, or J.K. Rowling.  If it’s set in someone else’s intellectual property, I can’t use it.  The day I have the money...

Deadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Ride along with illegal street teams and see the criminal underbelly of the Autoduelling world Genre: Car Wars GameLit Fiction Theme: Ride along with illegal street teams and see the criminal underbelly of the Autoduelling world. Concept: We’re looking for stories about illegal racers, races, and the dirty dealings that happen outside of the arenas. We want plenty of high-intensity action and carnage possible, backed by compelling character-driven stories. Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 (standard word count) Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: William Joseph Roberts Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: December 1, 2024 Email Submissions to: [email protected] with “Nightside” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore porn) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submissions in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward in ways that the...

Deadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: Inantimate objects that are living nanimate Things: Volume Two.  With the success of Volume One, we decided to do it again! We are looking for horror short stories between 1500 and 6,000 words in length (can go over a little bit, we aren’t too particular. Just not shorter than 1500 words) about inanimate things that are living. It could be a doll, the dead flesh of zombies, or your Ford F-150. The story needs to involve this subject in some way…and be scary too. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $10 along with a copy of the anthology once it’s completed. Rights: First Print and Electronic Publication rights, the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print, audiobook, and digital book, and a one-year (12 month) period of exclusivity from the date of publication. All other rights remain entirely with the author. OTHER STUFF: No poetry or reprints. No novel extracts. Authors are welcome to submit more than one story for the anthology (no more than two per author though) but please submit them in separate emails. Submission Deadline: December 1, 2024. Expected Publication Date: April 15, 2025. Email submissions to [email protected] with a story either: 1) attached in Microsoft Word; or 2) with the entire story pasted inside the body of the email. Either one is fine. We try to reply and let you know if we are not using your submission within 4 weeks…but if you do not hear from within four weeks from submission (check your Spam folder) then we did not accept it. Please put EXACTLY the following in the subject line: ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR INANIMATE THINGS.  Via: Burial Books.