Events

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: $25 and a contributor's copy BOB as in Battery Operated Boyfriend… This one is for the adults – what happens when one of your sex toys gets a mind of its own, literally? We’re thinking about demon possessed blow up dolls, haunted vibrators, perhaps a golem sex-slave who is tired of her existence and convinces one of her lovers to use the word of power to destroy her as a safe word. Given the topic, yes, we expect at least some on page sex, but the focus of this anthology is not erotica (as lovely as said erotica might be). We’re looking for the thoughtful, funny, or horrific implications of your solo playmate possessing some level of sentience. What we don’t want to see: Gratuitous anything – violence or profanity, doesn’t matter. If it is not integral to the story and it’s not advancing the plot or character development, we don’t want to see blood or gore just for shock value’s sake (this goes for language too). We are not opposed to violence or profanity – as long as it belongs in the story and it’s not just there to shock and titillate. Some things would be a very hard sell for us, like rape or torture of any sort, and torture of children or animals will get an immediate rejection. Think of how far we’re willing to go based on the well known movie rating system – we’re trying to keep it at the upper end of what would be tolerated for an R. Word Count: We’re looking for stories that fall in the 3,000 to 10,000 word range. We will consider looking at stories outside this range, but they need to be just too good for us to pass up. You have a...

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: $30 and a contributor's copy Nightscript is published annually, during grand October, in both trade and electronic editions. Each anthology will feature twenty contemporary fictions ranging in length from 2,000 to 7,000 words. Note: I am currently OPEN to submissions. My reading period for Nightscript (Vol. 2) begins January 1st and ends February 28th. N. is a venue for ‘strange tales’, a term used to describe fictions supernatural, uncanny, weird, and so forth. In other words, I am looking for subtle and darksome literary horror. If you feel that your work has been inspired in no small part by authors such as Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, Dennis Etchison, Flannery O’Connor, Terry Lamsley, Lisa Tuttle, Thomas Owen, Mary Shelley, Arthur Machen, then N. is probably the venue for you. Authors are asked to submit their original tales via the email provided below and should allow 1 to 8 week(s) for a response. (If a submission is held for longer than two weeks this typically means that it is being considered.) Submit .doc files to: [email protected] (Please send only one story per reading period.) Payment is $30 and includes one contributor’s copy. N. is a labor of love, and as such I shall endeavor to produce an aesthetically pleasing product for which all contributors can feel proud. That said, I look forward to reading your work! Thank you kindly for your interest. C.M. Muller, editor & publisher To keep abreast of all things N., please consider following its Facebook page. Via: Chthonic Matter.

Deadline: February 28th, 2016 Payment: Royalty Split Note: Sorry about the low submissions time on this one, just came across it today. UnCommon Origins:  Creation Stories, Feral Children, Spontaneous Evolution, anything you can think of which relates to the beginning of something new and unique. Stories may be of the grand scale of Gods or the more personal scope of the individual.  Stories need not be based in reality, in fact, fantasy and magical realism elements are encouraged. The collection as a whole will be geared toward an adult audience, although your story does not need to be. Stories displaying hatred or intolerance of any kind will not be accepted. Submission Details: Submissions must be in American English and written to the highest quality you are capable.  Passive voice is discouraged.  A pass with an editor before submission is encouraged. Maximum Word Count is 10,000 however I’m not going to turn away something awesome that’s a little over. This is a paid market anthology, with a royalty cut for each author. Details available upon request. The author retains all rights to their story. All submissions will be edited and sent to the author for final approval before publication. The submission period runs from Jan 1st until Feb 28th. Open internationally, but submission must be in American English. There is no fee to submit. Please, no reprints or simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions accepted. Limit of two submissions per person. Any genre is fine. However, we are not looking for nonfiction at this time. Adult language and sexual situations are permitted. Submissions must be sent in WORD doc or docx, 12pt Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing, full justified with0.3″ indents on the first line of each new paragraph (Do NOT use TAB), no extra spacing between paragraphs and no headers/footers/page numbers, one space after end of sentence...

Deadline: February 29, 2016 Payment: $20 Length:          2,000 to 4,000 words (exceptional stories can have fewer, or more, words than our suggested guidelines)   WHAT WE WANT: We’re looking for crisp, out-of-the-box, modern, and unique urban legends that’ll be told around campfires for the next century. Give us your ghosts, faeries, cryptids, killers, and creepy kids, but tread carefully around the trap of retelling an urban legend that’s already been told. Tales from the Lake: Volume 3 is not horror-specific whatsoever, but steer clear of romance and cutesy stories. Give us a new generation of beautifully crafted urban legends that’s diverse and meaningful; something we’ve never seen before, set in places we’ve only ever dreamt of going.   WHAT WE DON’T WANT: It’s simple, really: Don’t give us vampires and werewolves unless you’re Anne Rice, and don’t give us zombies unless you’re Jonathan Maberry. We’re not easily offended, but the unnecessary use of graphic violence and explicit sexual encounters should be avoided unless it’s crucial to the plot. That said, the slightest hint of animal cruelty gets you an automatic rejection letter, and no exceptions will be made in this regard. Profanity is okay, just don’t overdo it. Other than that; show us what you’re made of.   SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Stories should be formatted as doc or docx files. Further guidelines are as follows: Times New Roman, 12pt, single spaced, justified. 1" margins, 1/2" indent. No spaces between paragraphs, and use *** for scene breaks Contact information must be on the first page of document No headers, footers or page numbers Include a short (2-4 sentences) bio, written in third person at the end of your document. In the subject line of your email, please put: Tales from the Lake: Vol 3 Submission – “Title of Story” – Your Name....

Deadline: February 29, 2016 Payment: $25 plus a contributor’s copy BLOOD, SWEAT & FEARS: Horror Inspired by the 1970s The 1970s often seem like the dreaded hangover from the 1960s, representing a time of particular unease in American life. It was a time of painful, disconcerting transition, a time when old economic sureties imploded in light of rampant uncertainties, while rock music, polyester and paranoia ruled the day. It’s no accident that some of the most classic (and/or infamous) horror movies of the genre arose in the 1970s—Duel (1971), The Last House on the Left (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Black Christmas (1974), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Jaws (1975), The Omen (1976), Halloween (1978), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Magic (1978) and even Alien (1979)—all of these (and many more) tapped into the fear and unease that thrived in the 1970s. Nosetouch Press is bringing you Blood, Sweat & Fears: Horror Inspired by the 1970s to capture the essence of the horror of living in the weird 1970s. We welcome any horror, provided that it faithfully represents the oh-so-creepy, grit-under-the-fingernails vibe of the 1970s, and really captures the time period between 1970 through 1979 — we’re not looking for splattercore and excessive gore, so much as rampant paranoia and dread hanging like smog over everything. Put on your bellbottoms, your clogs and your satin shirts and write the best original 1970s-inspired horror story you can imagine, and send them our way. Beyond the grimy 1970s horror vibe, thematically, the stories can be wide open, but all submissions should radiate that discordant ‘70s vibe that gave us Son of Sam and other infamous serial killers, Three Mile Island, Jonestown, Watergate and CREEP, and many other things. No reprints, please. Submission Schedule Submissions Accepted: December 1, 2015 through February 29, 2016 Length:...

Deadline: February 29th, 2016 Payment: 2 cents per word. and digital copy Announcing open submissions for Triangulation: Beneath The Surface, Parsec Ink’s speculative fiction annual for 2016. We’re looking for outstanding speculative fiction from new and established writers. Impress us with your best interpretation of our theme. Be creative, be unique, show us what hides, lurks, or thrives…beneath the surface. Theme:  Beneath the Surface Submissions Open: December 1st 2015 Submissions Close: February 29th, 2016 Word Count: We will consider fiction up to 6,000 words. There is no minimum word count. Genre: We are a speculative fiction market.  We accept science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories.  Please do not send stories without any speculative element. Compensation: We pay 2 cents per word.  Authors will also receive an e-book and print version of the anthology and wholesale pricing for additional printed copies (typically 50% of cover price). Rights: We purchase North American Serial Rights, and Electronic Rights for downloadable version(s). All subsidiary rights released upon publication. Submissions: We do not accept reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions.  If we reject a story before the end of the reading period, feel free to send another. We love creative interpretations of our themes, but we do require that stories fit the current theme. We will run mature content if we like the story and if the mature content is integral to the story. We will not accept fanfic, even if it’s of a fictional universe that has passed into public domain. How To Submit: Electronic submissions make our lives easier. Please upload your story via Submittable. If this is your first time submitting to a publication that utilizes Submittable, you will need to create an account with them. It’s free. SUBMIT YOUR STORY HERE!   Manuscript Format: Please use industry standard manuscript format. We’re not testing you to see if you can follow...

Deadline: February 29th 2016 Payment: $5 advance and an equal share of fifty percent of the royalties received from sale of the anthology. BEFORE READING FURTHER, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.  We are seeking short fiction in the Speculative Fiction genre (by which we mean to be the umbrella term for the wide and varied range of Science Fiction and Fantasy subgenres).  The stories are to be inspired by (by which we mean drawn from, informed by, derived from) the author's personal experiences of being Jewish.  What does this mean to us?  More to the point, what does this mean to YOU?  We feel that the Jewish tent is a big tent, and want this collection to reflect that belief.  These stories can be explicitly about the Jewish Experience (past, present or future), but they can also be stories that take place on a spaceship, a distant planet, under the ocean, in the afterlife or in another dimension.  As long as it is Speculative Fiction, and something about the story was inspired or influenced by your Jewish Experience, it is a story we'd like to consider for our collection. Another note:  If your story has Nazis in it, please don't bother submitting.  No exceptions. The Jewish Experience is ripe for stories that express one, or both, of two of the primary themes to be found in Speculative Fiction.  The idea of The Other; Someone or something that is apart or different from the supposed mainstream.  And the idea of the Not Other; The exploration of what it means to realize our potential as humans, asmenschen.  But don't feel limited to these; one of the great things about Spec-Fic is that the possibilities are literally endless. Word count and Deadline:  Between 500 and 10,000 words.  These are guidelines, not laws; if you have a great story that runs a few...

Deadline: Feb 29th, 2016 Payment: $5 + contributor copy Reprints Allowed Note: From our limited experience with them, this publisher seems to truly care about writer concerns in a way we fully support! The First United Church of Cthulhu is looking for modern, urban fiction set within the world of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. If we get a high number of quality submissions early on then submission acceptance will be cut off before the deadline.     Deadline: Feb 29, 2016   Length: 2,000 – 10,000 words   Payment: $5 + contributor copy English only. Non-exclusive anthology rights. Reprints and multiple submissions are allowed. Author retains copyright. Payment is via Paypal. Guidelines Modern, urban setting in the world of the Cthulhu Mythos. Setting does not have to be a gritty Times Square locale, just no isolated mansions in the middle of nowhere or cabin in the woods type of cliches. Do not overuse the monsters in the sewers and subways cliche. It can be part of the story but should not be the main focus/location. This is not a Godzilla anthology. Cthulhu is not going to wake up and destroy Tokyo while getting hit with nukes. English only. Non-exclusive anthology rights. Reprints and multiple submissions are allowed.  Author retains copyright. Payment is via Paypal. Pictures can be printed with the story (they will be black and white). Images should be .jpg or .png and 300 dpi is recommended but not necessary. Make sure you have clearance to use the image(s) and send with any necessary copyright information that would need to be listed. Email your story as an attached .doc file to bitter_venus yahoo.com with Urban Temples of Cthulhu as the subject. Via: First United Church Of Cthuluhu.

Deadline: February 29th, 2016 Payment: $0.04 a word to a maximum payment of $300.00 Note: They aren't looking for horror but some of the SF themes here cross over so I felt you'd want the option! Science Fiction is our conversation with the future. But what if that conversation went on forever? Bundoran Press Publishing House will open for submissions from December 21st, 2015 to February 29th, 2016 for a new anthology of science fiction stories to be edited by Michael Rimar and Hayden Trenholm. Publication is planned for October 2016. Lazarus Risen will seek SF (no fantasy or horror, please) short stories that explore the economic, political, social and psychological consequences of life extension, human cloning, the hard upload and other forms of the biological singularity. Dreams of immortality and eternal youth are almost as old as human culture itself. But what would the world look like if everyone could live and be young forever? What would it look like if only some of us had that privilege? These are only some of the questions your story might try to answer. Surprise us, shock us, illuminate us but most of all tell us a great story. Payment for first world English rights (print and digital) will be $0.04 a word to a maximum payment of $300.00 (all figures Canadian dollars). Our preferred length is 3500 to 6500 words. We will accept stories of any length to 10,000 words (longer than 10,000 WILL NOT BE READ) but the maximum payment will remain $300.00. Stories will be accepted from around the world but we are not interested in reprints. Payment on publication. Please submit in .rtf, .doc or .docx format. In the title line of e-mail put: SUBMISSION LR:"Title of your story." Include a brief cover letter in the body of...

Deadline: February 29, 2016 Payment: $0.02 per word + contributor copy. Note: Reprints Only I’ll be publishing an anthology of reprint stories in the summer of 2016 titled FUNNY FANTASY. It will follow on the heels of FUNNY SCIENCE FICTION, my 2015 reprint anthology. For this book I’m seeking stories that are: Funny. Fantasy. 500 – 7500 words in length Were originally printed in the last ten years (2005-present) Were printed in curated venues paying at least $0.01 per word – for this book please don’t send material from token and non-paying venues, self-published, posted on your blog, published in magazine/anthology you yourself edited, previously unpublished, etc. Please do not send stories you previously submitted to any volume ofUnidentified Funny Objects or Coffee anthologies. Payment: $0.02 per word + contributor copy. Rights sought: Non-exclusive print and electronic rights (aka I’d like to include your story in paper and e-book editions of FUNNY FANTASY and keep it in print for as long as I’d like. All other rights remain with the author.) How to submit: E-mail submissions as an RTF, DOC, or DOCX attachment to: ufoeditors @ gmail dot com Format the subject line as follows: FF: <Story Title> by <Author> (Approx. Length) Example: FF: Dreidel of Dread by Alex Shvartsman (800 words) In the body of the email please specify where and when the story was originally published. If this info isn’t included I will assume the story breaks one of the guidelines above and send a form rejection. Response times: I will try to reply within a week or two with either a rejection or a bump notice. Final decisions will be made in the Spring. Since these are reprints and I require no exclusivity, feel free to submit them elsewhere at the same time. Please send one story...