Events

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Anything robot or AI-related where things go horribly wrong, or even horribly right. Robots, AI, and all things technology. Think of our annual anthology call as a mix between the Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, and Back to the Future. We are looking to highlight 20+ brand new writers with tales of technology gone right, wrong, and everything in between. The Robots Were Right is a Kickstarter anthology from the award-nominated editing team at Weird Little Worlds Press. Our other anthologies have been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award® for Excellence in An Anthology as well as individual stories being chosen for BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR and BEST SHORT FICTION. For this anthology, we are breaking from the formula of most anthologies and not including any personally invited authors. Why? So that we can feature an award-quality anthology of new and upcoming authors of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We want you! The Pitch: Technology has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. From being constantly monitored by our smart devices to AI art taking the jobs of creatives, technology is having a real impact on the lives and livelihoods of people all over the world. In this anthology, we want to hear the strangest, scariest, most stupefying, and most satisfying stories you can imagine. Make us cringe, laugh, cry, hide…but most of all, make us think and make us care! What We Want: We are looking for unique, engaging stories that are ripped from the headlines and could be the next episode of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone. Whatever technology you choose to highlight(not necessarily from this century), it must reflect the pervasive, invasive, abusive, and/or revolutionary power of human-made tools and make us care about the humans they impact. While we understand that...

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Payment: Flash & Fiction: 8 cents per word, Poetry: $50, other written options, 8 cents per word Theme: All styles and genres when it comes to fairy tales Submissions are currently OPEN for Issue #2. This window will close at midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 31 May 2024. Upcoming submission windows Submission window for Issue #3: 1 to 14 August (closes midnight AEST on 14 August) Submission window for Issue #4: 1 to 14 November (closes midnight AEST on 14 November) What we are looking for We are especially interested in work from or about diverse perspectives and traditionally under-represented groups, settings, and cultures, written from a non-exoticising and well-researched position. Please read the FULL guidelines below for the type of submission you are sending us, and our preferences in terms of format and cover letters. Currently, we only accept original, unpublished work. We have a swift turnaround time on submissions (about two weeks), and so ask that you do not submit your work to other markets while it is under consideration for The Orange & Bee. AI Policy We do not accept or publish work that has written with, or with the assistance of, writing software such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. Please include in your cover letter a statement indicating that you have not used AI to create your work—this will set our minds at ease. Please note that our contract for publication requires you to legally affirm that you (and not a robot/AI) wrote your work. If we discover that you have submitted work to us that breaches our AI guidelines, we will block your email address, and will not accept future submissions from you. Fiction & Flash Fiction The Orange and Bee celebrates all styles and genres when it comes to fairy tales. We are seeking stories that...

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Prizes: Winner: 3 cents per word, second place: 2 cents per word, 3rd place: 1 cent per word. Theme: This year marks the 50th anniversary of Stephen King’s tale of teenage retribution, Carrie. To commemorate this momentous milestone, this month’s theme is “Coming of Rage. As one of the winners of last month’s contest, Philip Harris has agreed to host this month. Here’s the theme: “This year marks the 50th anniversary of Stephen King’s tale of teenage retribution, Carrie. To commemorate this momentous milestone, this month’s theme is “Coming of Rage.” Show us what happens when the thin veneer of humanity shatters. We want to see your tales of anger, of vengeance, of ordinary people driven to extremes and the carnage they leave behind. Stories of teenage angst written in blood, of murderous retirement home feuds, of parents who just can’t face listening to that song again!” Before we get to the submission guidelines, please know that only the top 15 to 20 stories will be posted on our Patreon page for our patrons to vote on. The winner will receive $0.03 per word, publication, and an Author Spotlight on our newsletter and Patreon page. The second-place winner will receive $0.02 a word, and the third place winner $0.01 per word. The winner will also have the option of hosting the following month’s contest for an additional $50. Second and third-place authors will also be invited to be published in our newly-announced Hotel Macabre anthology series, which will include flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and a few other surprizes. Out Halloween, 2024.   Submission guidelines: -Max 1,500 words -Submit your entry in the body of an email to [email protected] (no attachments) -The email subject line should be the story’s title and your author name / pseudonym -The deadline...

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Payment: 4 cents per word, 1/2 cent per word for reprints, $25 for poetry, $40 for non-fiction, $150 for cover art Theme: speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction Note: Apologies for the late posting, we've only just stumbled across this market! Note: Reprints Welcome Trollbreath Magazine is a journal of speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, publishing electronic issues on a quarterly schedule. Our interests are as varied as the endless amount of genres, from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between. We have a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms, but what motivates us most are great stories by wonderful authors eager to share their visions of the past, the future, the in between, and everything that lies outside the margins. Coloring beyond the lines encouraged. Examples of stories we particularly love (but there are too many to include): Bears Discover Fire, by Terry Bisson (England Underway as well) October Tale, by Neil Gaiman (or Snow, Glass, Apples) Last of the Winnebagos, by Connie Willis (Even the Queen; all her work!) Rabbit Test, by Samantha Mills Bride, Knife, Flaming Horse, by M.L. Krishnan Stories, poems and articles will be available at the beginning of the quarter for those with paid subscriptions to the magazine, either on the website or sent via email depending on membership level. Over the course of the quarter, a new story will be opened every Friday to the those without subscriptions, until all stories have been publicly released. Submission periods are as follows: May 1st, 2024 – May 31st, 2024 (Fall & Winter 2024 issues) September 1st, 2024 – September 30th, 2024 (Spring 2025 issue) December 1st, 2024 – December 31st, 2024 (Summer 2025 issue) March 1st, 2025 – March 31st, 2025 (Fall 2025 issue) June 1st, 2025...

Deadline: May 31st, 2024 Prizes: $35 for first place, $25 for second, $15 for third Theme: An everyday detail being key to your 25-50 word story Premise: For this mini-contest, tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which a specific detail of something that would normally be trivial and uninteresting is in fact extremely important or interesting. Deadline: Friday, May 31, 2024, 11:59 PM Eastern US time. Length: Between 25 and 50 words. Hyphenated Words: Words that are normally hyphenated, but generally considered one word, are considered one word for this contest. Examples: "Twenty-three", "Jack-o-lantern", and "Mother-in-law" are each one word. However, stringing a bunch of words together with hyphens for artistic effect will result in each connected word being counted separately. Example: "It was a get-out-of-my-way day." That hyphenated phrase counts as five words. Prizes: $35 for first place, $25 for second, $15 for third, all in US dollars. Honorable mentions get published but make no money. If international currency exchange fees are necessary to pay an author, that fee comes out of the mini-contest prize money. Other Rules: One entry per author. There is no fee for entering this contest. Via: On The Premises' Submittable.

Deadline: June 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror Novellas We publish horror and fantasy stories, novels, novellas, and other content. Burial Books is primarily a horror & fantasy publisher, but we also publish Young Adult, crime fiction, and science fiction books too. Burial Books LLC Birthday CakeIf it’s good, we’ll try to publish it. Our blog also features stories and articles from authors across the spectrum. So, take a look at our articles when you get a chance too. If you have something spooky you want us to look at, then contact us anytime. If you want us to publish your story, then you’ll need to go to our submissions page to find out how to submit what we are looking for. We are always looking for some great writing. Horror Novellas: You guessed it. We want horror novellas between 25,000 and 50,000 words in length. The stories must be scary and can be on any horror subject. No specific type of story requested. If it’s a horror story, send it over. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment or a percentage of the profits from the book. OTHER STUFF: No poetry or reprints. No erotica. Submission Deadline: Extended to June 1, 2024. Email submissions to [email protected] with the story attached in Microsoft Word Format. We try to reply and let you know if we are not using your submission within 4 weeks. However, if you do not hear from us within 4 weeks of sending the email (check your Spam folder) then we did not accept it. Please put EXACTLY the following in the subject line: ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR HORROR NOVELLA. Via: Burial Books.

Deadline: June 1st, 2024 Payment: £20 and a contributor's copy Theme: Original short horror stories, from 2K words to 7K words max, with a pirate theme. Shivering Timbers! An anthology of pirate themed horror fiction. Title: Shivering Timbers! Story Length: 2K words – 7K words Pay: £20 regardless of story length plus a paperback and digital (pdf. & Epub.) copy. Deadline: 1st June 2024 Expected Release Date: 3rd July 2024 What we want: For our anthology, ‘Shivering Timbers!, we are looking for original short horror stories, from 2K words to 7K words max, with a pirate theme. Stories must be fictional and set in ‘The Golden Age of Piracy’ (1650s – 1730s) or before. Works slightly under 2K words or slightly over 7K words may still be considered. Reprints may be considered as long as the story rights have reverted to the author. We ask for five months exclusive print and digital rights, ongoing non-exclusive rights thereafter. You will retain copyright ownership of your work. What we don’t want: We don’t accept simultaneous submissions. We don’t want to read anything detailing animal cruelty, harm to children, gratuitous sex or any sort of prejudice. We don’t accept flash fiction or poetry. We don’t accept stories created by AI or AI enhanced work. Please be aware that submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will not be considered. Format: The anthology will be released in paperback print and eBook formats and sold on Amazon and via Amazon’s expanded distribution program. How to submit: Send your manuscript as an attachment to [email protected] or [email protected] Please follow the Shunn Manuscript Format leaving out headers and page numbers. On the first page, please include: Your pen name, The story title, Approx. word count, Your email address, A short bio to include in the anthology and the ‘Authors’ page of...

Deadline: June 1st, 2024 Payment: $5 Theme: General horror No set theme or subjects for this anthology - just good, well-told horror and tales of terror! You can be classical, traditional, contemporary, or anywhere in between - just scare the pants off our compiling editors! PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 2.5K - 8K word count * Write 'HORROR' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) DEADLINE: JUNE 1, 2024 NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 100K words in total. Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Deadline: June 1st, 2024 Payment: £5 Theme: All styles or horror, likes the types of tales you'd see in Tales from the Crypt, Twilight Zone, and similar There is no theme. As long as your story is in the horror genre, I'm interested. Check out Fear's Accomplice Volume 1 or Fear's Accomplice: Halloween to get an idea of style. Think of Tales from the Crypt, Twighlight Zone, and similar. I want variation. Don't be afraid of violence or strong language, though. You're free to write any style of horror you choose. Zombies, werewolves, vampires, etc, are more than welcome, but they are something of a hard sell. Make it unique or interesting. Word count: 2,000 - 5,000 words. Longer stories are OK but 2,000 really is the minimum. Original stories only please. Reprints will not be accepted. Do not submit stories written or assisted by AI. As a supporter of independent art, I have zero tolerance for stories created by artificial intelligence. Stories will be exclusive to the publication for a period of six months after release. Payment: Contributors will receive £5 per accepted story, regardless of length. The book will feature one story per author. Payment will be made by PayPal only. Contributors must nominate a suitable email address as part of the contract. I aim to read and respond to submissions within one month of the end of the submission period. It may take longer if I get a large number of submissions. Feel free to query any time from July 2024. This call is open until 1 June 2024. Email submissions and questions to [email protected] Via: Tim McLean Writing Projects .

Deadline: June 1st, 2024 Prizes: FIRST PLACE: $75. SECOND PLACE: $50. THIRD PLACE: $25, FOURTH PLACE: $10 Theme: Dark speculative prose Note: Reprints allowed FIRST PLACE: $75 SECOND PLACE: $50 THIRD PLACE: $25 FOURTH PLACE: $10 Each winning story will be featured on Weird Wide Web with its own direct URL link. What We Are Looking For: Fiction between 1K - 4K words in the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres.   This is a great place for REPRINTS. Unpublished stories are fine, but REPRINTS ARE WELCOME. Just send your best!   Submission Guidelines:   *DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT files only *Black 12 pt Times New Roman font *Stories with glaring misspellings and grammatical errors won't stand a chance against tightly written pieces. Double check for obvious errors before sending! *Include story title AND author name in the file name *Attach your file with the subject line "WRITING CONTEST - STORY TITLE" and send it to: [email protected]     We will accept submissions from April 15th - June 1st. Winners will be announced (hopefully) in July, but if we receive a HUGE amount of stories, by August.     Good luck! Thanks for reading! Via: Weird Wide Web.