Taking Submissions: Strange California
sunset view with palms in Santa monica, California. concept about traveling and usa Deadline: May 1st, 2016 Payment: $0.06 per word Take a journey up Highway 99. Stop off just north of Bakersfield where a young woman stands on the edge of Woollomes Avenue, looking apprehensive, debating if she should cross. She’s been dead for decades but the residents see her often enough that she’s become a stable fixture of the scenery, as normal as the billboards that line the Highway. Follow that Highway further and you’ll encounter another roadside obscurity. John Muir’s conservationist efforts have inspired people across the world. Commemorating him via celebration wasn’t enough for the small town of Lemon Cove. To honor the champion of the wilderness, some Californians have constructed a massive wooden sculpture of his head that sits just the road, staring to the horizon, to the vastness of Yosemite. Time for one more stop on your trek up 99? How about visiting the underground city below Old Sacramento buried when the town decided to simply raise the roads and start fresh. The storefronts still stand and some swear that the dead have migrated to roam the alleyways of a town that’s been forgotten by the tourists walking above. You have a choice, from here. On up 99, to the brutally-sharp rubble and claustrophobic caves of the Lava Beds National Monument, to the silent, deserted ghost towns and high-mountain deserts of Modoc, the extinct volcanoes and wildlands around Lassen. Head back around to 80, through the Donner Pass–be sure to go in winter, and take some friends with you. Or you can leave 99 and take 50. 50, the notorious mountain highway. Blocked in winter by snow, in spring by mudslides, in summer and autumn by wildfires. Stop off in Placerville, where an effigy...
Taking Submissions: Classic Horror Anthology
Deadline: May 21st, 2016 Payment: $55 in advance and royalties We’re excited to open this anthology for submissions, and we can’t wait to see what dark goodness you’ve cooked up. Submissions to this anthology must contain monsters being monsters, meaning no sparkly vampires or monsters with hearts of gold. Your monsters should be terrorizing and keep us up at night. Acceptable submissions for consideration include both short stories (2,500–5,000 words) and novellas (10,000–49,000 words). Raven International Publishing will receive submissions until May 21st. Please submit using the online form below. Additional details: No writer’s fee for submissions The author will receive $55 in advance, plus royals quarterly, for his or her accepted short story/novella Only submissions with first rights available can be accepted Publisher has first year exclusive rights for accepted submissions The story you submit must be your own work for which you hold the rights When you submit your work you will receive an email, asking to confirm that you submitted. When you confirm you will be taken to a thank you page, this is how you will know your work has been received How to submit your work: Fill in your name (on this page) Fill in your best email address In the subject put your story title Write a short cover letter with a paragraph about your story, and a paragraph about you Copy and paste the cover letter and your story into the box labeled Your Message Hit send Check your email for a response from us with the subject: Please Confirm your Submission to Raven International Publishing When you receive the email click the link to confirm Your story will not be submitted until you click confirm in the email Email [email protected] with any additional questions Via: Raven International Publishing.
Taking Submissions: Skeptics Must Die
Deadline: May 1st, 2015 Payment: $20 per story What we are looking for: It's an old trope, the skeptic who moves into the haunted house only to eventually start to believe in the supernatural about the time a ghost tears his life apart. This is the story we are looking for but just because it is a trope doesn't mean it can't be unique. It doesn't have to be a haunted house, there's a whole world of cryptids out there just waiting to attack unsuspecting documentary teams in the woods. We are looking for stories that are Dark Comedy, not a parody or spoof. You must scare us & make us laugh, not one or the other. Pay $20 per story Word Count 5000-7500 words Anticipated Release Date 07/2016Additional Stipulations: No reprints. No simultaneous submissions. We will hold all rights to reprints for one year from the date of publication.Must be able to return the signed contract (if accepted) within 15 days of receipt.) Payment for accepted submissions will be made within 15 days of receipt of signed contract. If you have an amazing story under 5k words that you believe will fit, we can consider it for publication. However, if the story is accepted pay will be lower than the $20 listed above. Failure to follow the following guidelines will result in immediate disqualification of the work. Word document Courier font size 12 Double spaced Include a cover letter in the body of the email with a description of the story, if it has been previously published, a short bio (under 50 words) and one website where readers can find more of your work. We may accept simultaneous submissions, each anthology is different, We may accept reprints, each anthology is different. Send submissions to [email protected] with the anthology name in the subject field. Payments are made via Paypal Via: Disquieted...
Taking Submissions: The First Line – Summer 2016
Deadline: May 1, 2016 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars) and contributor's copy Summer: By the fifteenth month of the drought, the lake no longer held her secrets. Due date: May 1, 2016 We love the fact that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually two to three weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. (Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines.) One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal...
Taking Submissions: Intimate the Nature of the Phantasms: Queering the Cthulhu Mythos
Deadline: May 1st, 2016 Payment: 3 cents per word and 2 copies of the book. Author and Editor Scott David Aniolowski is currently reading for his latest anthology, Intimate the Nature of the Phantasms: Queering the Cthulhu Mythos, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos tales told from an LGBT point of view, for Lethe Press. H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos has become a genre unto itself, with tales spanning every conceivable setting: gothic horror, splatterpunk, cyberpunk, steampunk, sci fi, dreamy, Gaslight horror, avant-garde, experimental, erotica, fantasy, sword and sorcery, historic, and anything else imaginable, and more! Similarly, submissions for this anthology are open to any and all settings and genres, but told with a LGBT sense of self. What does that mean? You tell me. It does not mean, necessarily, strictly sex. If your tale is an erotic tale fine, but don’t feel compelled to include sex just to satisfy the theme; there is so much more to the LGBT community! The one firm rule for submissions is that they must be Cthulhu Mythos stories. Please do not feel obliged to slavishly mimic Lovecraft or use just his creations. There are dozens of other wonderful authors and hundreds of stories from which to choose gods, monsters, blasphemous books and haunted settings: Ramsey Campbell’s work is wonderfully British and full of urban decay and sci fi themes; Clark Ashton Smith’s milieu is very dreamy and exotic; Robert E. Howard is known for his pulpy action and sword and sorcery tales, etc. And there are so many more great authors to inspire, or devise your own dark gods, unspeakable horrors, and sanity-sapping tomes. Seeking works up to 6,000 words. Tell me the story you need to tell but don’t bloat it out just for word count – if your story is only 2,500 words...
Taking Submissions: Death Dances In the Moonlight
Deadline: May 1, 2016 Payment: 0.013 cents per word and 5 contributor's copies An open invitation for all authors to submit short story works of horror for review and possible inclusion in a new horror anthology to be published by Raven's Head Press this summer. Seven stories will be chosen for inclusion. Please contact Michael Hudson at [email protected] Works must be 7500 words or less. Subject matter is to be supernatural/horror/noir in theme. The book will be aimed for adults but we will not accept any blatant adult content. If the work is in Italian, editor Michael Hudson will handle the English translation. Proposed title: Death Dances In the Moonlight Payment will be semi-professional at 0.013 cents per word. Writer will receive five copies of the trade paperback plus any additional copies as cost plus shipping as needed. Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2016 5:00PM EST. If approved final work due June 04/2016. Have fun! Via: Raven's Head Press.
Taking Submissions: Untitled Appalachian Horror Anthology
https://youtu.be/D1Lb9HZwJyY Deadline: May 4, 2016 Payment: $15 I had started the submission process last year, but I’m opening it again. “Tap into the fear that is trapped in those Appalachian hills, focusing more on the Pennsylvania/West Virginia area. You never know what you’ll find in the surrounding areas.” I’m looking for horror and its different subgenres here. I want the stories to contrast greatly. The word count would be between 5,000-15,000. My plan is to have lucky number 13 stories. This horror anthology is focused on Appalachia in the United States. Stories based outside of PA and WV will be considered as well. You do not have to write fiction based on local folklore, but if you do, please let me know. It will pay $15 and you’ll have the option of buying extra copies at cost and selling it on your own. We would only retain rights for 6 months before they would revert back to you and you can publish it elsewhere. It’s untitled as of yet. Publication is slated for October 2016. It’ll print through my PenPaperPad imprint with Book Genesis designing it for us. The due date for your short story is May 4, 2016. You can submit no more than 2. Please email submissions to [email protected] as a .doc attachment. Subject: HORROR SUBMISSIONS Send your submissions and let’s make something scary as hell together. Via: Tamara Woods.
Taking Submissions: 2017 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide
Deadline: May 15th, 2016 Payment: $0.06/word and two contributor's copies Note 1: Not strictly horror but obviously reading the guidelines some themes could work. Note 2: You will need to click through to the page to submit. We’re looking for stories that: Have a main character that a middle grade reader (ages 9-12) can identify with; Show a diverse set of real characters; Are well written, fun to read and encourage a love of reading science fiction; Tell of adventure, space, science. Give us rockets, robots and alien encounters, and we’re pretty happy. Steampunk, time travel, weird west and alternate history are all fine. Are between 3,000 and 6,000 words. We’re especially looking for stories: Of adventure! We love a good dystopia as much as the next robot, but remember – this is the young explorer’s adventure guide. Where the main character is of a population that has traditionally been under-represented in science fiction, e.g. girls, people of color, differently abled people; Where the main character has agency, exercises it, and isn’t just along for the ride. We’re not interested in: Stories where the female characters primarily exist to be rescued or as a prize for the males; Stories where the primary plot or subplot is romantic in nature; Stories with graphic violence or any form of sexual activity; Stories about the first girl to do X, surprising everyone; Stories that depict any ethnicity or gender as universally bad or stupid. Please note: although we’re aware kids have a wide and varied vocabulary, we’d prefer not to have swearing in the stories. If your story has swearing, please rephrase before submitting. Submission deadline, mechanics and planned schedule Anthology will be open for submissions from January 15– May 15, 2016, with a reading period of June and July 2016. While we prefer...
Taking Submissions: Visions V: Milky Way
Deadline: May 15, 2016 Payment: $25 Anthology Editor: Carrol Fix Word Count: 3,000 – 8,000 Deadline: May 15, 2016 Authors receive token payment of $25. Please read our Submission Guidelines before submitting. Submit using the Submission Form. Humankind has forded the immense stream of space between stars and reached our neighbors. The Milky Way Galaxy lies waiting to be explored. What will we discover on hospitable planets circling new stars? Will we find almost familiar moons, asteroids, planetary rings, and, possibly, never before seen astronomical formations? The sky is no longer the limit for soaring imaginations. Visions V stories take place somewhere…anywhere…in the Milky Way Galaxy. Anything to do with planets, stars, and aliens is fair game. No limitations, as long as the subject and action take place outside our Solar System and within the Milky Way. Originality is paramount. If you are using an old Star Trek-like concept, it better have a new twist or something that makes it stand out. We get lots of similar stories with a standard theme, so if yours is like one we already have, we will think twice before accepting yours. Impress us. Via: Lillycat Publishers.
Taking Submissions: Toxic
Deadline: May 15th, 2016 Payment: $25 USD "Toxic" The world can be a dangerous place, not just from the obvious, but also from the most seemingly innocent. From despots who silence entire nations with deadly gas, to the tiniest creatures which can kill with a single sting or bite, this anthology is centered around the theme of poisons, toxins, and anything, well...toxic. The goal for this publication will be to collect ten unique stories, each using a different real life substance (they must actually exist). Note: submissions will be open from now until 5/15/2016 GUIDELINES: Blood and violence are fine but no splatter fest, use your own judgment Sex is permissible but only if its integral to the story, please do not send adult content The idea is to make the story interesting, a good and engaging plot is necessary Submissions must be from 2000-5000 words and edited properly Do not contact me about the progress of your submission, my goal is to go through all work received and respond in turn All submissions must be attached via doc, docx, or rtf Again, please review your work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. before submitting All submissions should be sent to ([email protected]) for consideration Do not send multiple submissions The word "submission" should be included in the subject line Please do not submit reprints All toxic substances and effects used in the stories must actually exist. In other words, a serial killer should not be using an imaginary poison to kill their victims, nor should how their victim suffer be unrealistic, try and match the poison to its real world effects Please include your name, address, and title in the top right corner along with your name Copyright: All those who submit their work are granting Migla Press non-exclusive rights primarily for editing and archiving purposes. Those who are selected...