Events

Deadline: March 1st, 2017 Payment: Unlisted but "will always meet or exceed SFWA minimum compensation guidelines" Retro Future Open Submissions Retro Future is a bi-monthly pulp magazine that searches for diverse, surprising, and progressive science fiction in art, prose, essay, and comics. Issue #3: "Games" - March 1, 2017 Issue #3: Video games, gaming, and competition. Submissions Guidelines We welcome submissions of art and writing that approaches retrofuturism through a progressive lens. Essays and flash fiction of approximately 250-500 words is especially welcome; longer works may be serialized. Comic submissions should be 1-8 pages of finished work. Anything longer may get serialized across multiple issues. Please note that inside art should be in grayscale (please refer to art and comic templates for details.) Galileo Books acquires first serial rights; upon publication, these rights revert back to you, the author. We ask that you acknowledge Retro Future (Galileo Books) as the venue of original publication when the work appears in your book or is otherwise collected. If a work becomes unavailable while under our review, please contact us via email. Submitted work for specific issues may be considered for other issues if themes fit. Art and comic templates are located here. Please make sure that art finals are high resolution (at least 300 DPI), in the RGB or Grayscale color space, and native Photoshop or TIFF files. No JPG or GIF. (Dropbox will ask you to join, you can ignore that and click the 'continue to download' link) Written material should be attached to the email in TXT, RTF or Word formats. Retro Future is a progressive publication. Subjects such as sexual violence, un-examined racism, and other potentially offensive material are often used as fodder for exposition in genre stories–this is not appropriate for inclusion in Retro Future. We are looking for forward-looking and...

Deadline: March 1st, 2017 Payment: $25 or $100 depending on Kickstarter. Attention Authors! We are soliciting short stories by new and established authors in the military-fiction genre, between 3,500 and 7,000 words in length. At least ten entries will be selected for publication* in a short-story anthology, to be funded with a Kickstarter project. At least three entries will be selected from among those received before the Kickstarter goes live. Payment to the selected authors will depend on the success of the Kickstarter. If it funds, authors will receive a minimum of $100 each (max $1,000). If it fails, authors will receive $25 each, paid out of my pocket. (Sign up here if you want to know when the Kickstarter goes live.) Submission Rules How to submit: Email your manuscript (acceptable document formats: Word, PDF, Pages, TXT, RTF) to the following address: milfic at orenlitwin dot com. Begin the subject line with “”, and make sure to list contact information in the email itself. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2017. Genre: Military fiction, broadly defined. So resistance fighters against Nazis in Warsaw or a tyrannical government in Ohio would qualify, as would English longbowmen or samurai. “Near-future” speculative fiction is acceptable if set within the next decade. Supernatural or fantasy elements do not qualify for this anthology—if you are interested in those or other genres, please suggest them for our next project! Prompt: “The odds are against us.” (In particular, Mary-Sue or Rambo type characters who crush the opposition without effort are strongly discouraged. The protagonist(s) must face the likelihood of failure.) Note: actual combat is not necessary. Day-in-the-life stories, or the travails of the humble logistics officer, or other stories not involving violence, are perfectly acceptable as long as they make good reading. DETAILS Entries must be your own work, must be previously unpublished,...

Deadline: March 4th, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word Note: Reprints Only QUICKFIC 5+: SHORTER-SHORT FICTION REPRINTS (To be posted on DigitalFictionPub.com - Horror/Fantasy/Science) We are AGAIN looking for shorter speculative fiction, in the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres, for posting at DigitalFictionPub.com as web content, and to be published in eBook and print as a single collection. This listing will be open to Saturday, March 4, 2017. (Subject to extensions.) We are looking for reprint flash/short fiction that has appeared in professional or semi-professional books, magazines, collections, or anthologies, and that are available to be immediately re-licensed by Digital Fiction Publishing Corp. and published through and on our website (for free) at DigitalFictionPub.com and, eventually, on Amazon (print and eBook) as a collection of flash fiction in an anthology/collection. We are not looking for and will not license original or self-published stories in any format/venue; the pro/semi-pro requirement is important. However, a semi to pro podcast appearance will be considered. Important Note: Stories will be posted on our website, for free access, so all of our content rules apply and we'll be turning up the filters for this as access will be available to all web wanderers, young and old. I don't imagine we'll take hard R or X rated stories of any kind, and if you're depending on heavy gore for your horror it might be a tough sell. As always with Digital, sexual assault of any kind and torture are out of the question. Read our other guidelines, turn up the "won't publish" to 11, and decide if it's worth your time and ours to submit. Also - because these will be published for free online, the chances of retaining much control over the content and its distribution is effectively nil. While Digital absolutely respects the copyright of the author, we're not going to chase down those persons/pages/sites that don't...

Deadline: March 7th, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word Note: Reprints welcome Turn to Ash is once again open to submissions. This submissions window will be open from now until March 7th, 2017. Vol. 3 be a general horror fiction issue with no theme. Vol. 3 will be released in Spring 2017. Original fiction is preferred, but reprints will be considered, particularly if they are out of print and hard to find. No minimum word count. A flexible 7.5K word max.  Pay is 1 cent a word, with no payment less than $35 USD. We are seeking 6 months print and digital exclusive rights, with non-exclusive rights after that. Please no simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. If you have a story rejected within the submission window, you may submit another if you’d like. I’ve already bought two stories for this issue, and I’m only looking to get 6-8 more. Submissions should be sent to turntoashsubmissions AT gmail.com – pardon the weird formatting there, I’m trying to keep the robots at bay. If you’re unfamiliar, just replace the “AT” with an “@” and you’re good to go. Please put “VOL3” and the title of your story in the subject. I’m not too picky, but I prefer something close to the Shunn Manuscript Format, and I’d prefer to get .doc or .rtf files. They are the easiest for me to load up and read on the go. All submissions can be addressed to “Ben”, “Benjamin”, “Editor”, or “hey, you”. You will get an e-mail confirmation that your story was received with 48 hours or so of your submission. Feel free to query on the third day if you haven’t gotten that confirmation e-mail. I will try to accept or reject within three weeks of submission, but depending on the volume of submissions, that may become impossible. At the latest,...

Deadline: March 10th, 2017 Payment: $10 usd Note: This isn't open until March 1st, 2017 but with such a limited submission range, we're posting this early. Pulp Modern is a fiction journal that publishes crime, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and westerns. Absolutely NO SUBJECT is taboo. Pulp Modern believes in true and absolute freedom of speech. Stories should be between 2000 and 3500 words. That word count isSTRICTLY ENFORCED. At this time, there will be no serializations unless requested by the editor. The next reading period is: March 1, 2017 to March 10, 2017 Pulp Modern will compensate writers a flat rate of ten dollars per story (I understand this isn't a professional rate and I apologize. Right now, this money comes from my pocket and my pocket just isn't that deep). Pulp Modern claims the following publication rights: First English-language Rights, English-language Periodical Rights, World Periodical Rights, and Electronic Distribution Rights. All rights will revert back to the writer six months after initial publication.  Should Pulp Modern choose to create an anthology of previously published work, new rights will be negotiated. Pulp Modern will NOT CONSIDER simultaneous submissions. Pulp Modern will not publish reprints unless they are requested by the editor. Pulp Modern will not accept poetry at this time. To submit stories: Send your story in standard manuscript format as an attached document (.doc or .rtf) to therealpulpmodern (at) gmail (dot) com Please write “fiction submission” and the title of the story in the subject line. Include a cover letter in the body of the email as well as a brief biography. Pulp Modern is published twice a year. Thank You, A.C. Editor "Diversity" Statement: Pulp Modern believes the color of your skin, the gender you identify with, the religion you practice, and all other identity markers the powers-that-be use...

Deadline: March 15, 2017 Payment: $50 The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is looking for, as you might guess, "compressed creative arts." We accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, visual arts, and even kitchen sinks, if they are compressed in some way. Work is published weekly, without labels, and the labels here only exist to help us determine its best readers. Our response time is generally 1-3 days. Also, our acceptance rate is currently about 3% of submissions. We pay writers $50 per accepted piece and signed contract. We are now open for compressed poetry, compressed prose fiction (including prose poetry), and compressed creative nonfiction.  Submissions will close again on March 15, 2017. and open again June 15 - September 15 2017. The reader for your submission is, during this round of winter submissions, the managing editor. Please be sure to submit in the correct category; we've been receiving several fiction submissions in the creative nonfiction category. For all submitters, we aren't as concerned with labels—hint fiction, prose poetry, micro fiction, flash fiction, and so on—as we are with what compression means to you. In other words, what form "compression" takes in each artist's work will be up to each individual. However, we don't publish erotica or work with strong, graphic sexual content. In short, we want to fall in love with your work. That might happen in the way we've fallen in love with work we've previously published, or it might happen in a way we have yet to experience. Maybe reading that other work will help in knowing whether you should send your work to us, but in truth, such a thing might not be discoverable. Here are things that matter:   Please do not include any contact information, including your name, in the manuscript. Do not include a cover letter...

Deadline: March 15th, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word Our reading periods are as follows: February 1–March 15 for our Spring (April) issue; May 1–June 15 for our Summer (July) issue; August 1–September 15 for our Autumn (October) issue; and November 1–December 15 for our Winter (January) issue. For our first issue, Arsenika will have a special reading period of December 15–March 15. Feel free to record your submissions at Duotrope and/or the Submissions Grinder. Fiction and Poetry Guidelines Arsenika is looking for previously unpublished original fiction and poetry up to 1,000 words long. Payment is 1¢ USD per word (including audio rights) with a $5 minimum. Please email your submissions to [email protected]. Submit no more than two flash fiction pieces and five poems at a time. Send each piece as a separate email unless the pieces are meant to be read together (e.g. a triptych of poems). Make sure to put Submission: Titlein the subject line. All work should be in Standard Manuscript Format (fiction format | poetry format). Format poetry exactly as you would like to see it online—use italics for italics, underlines for underlines, boldface for boldface, etc. Send only RTF, DOC, and DOCX files. Please include a cover letter that contains the title of the piece, its length, a short third-person biography (at most 100 words), and any information relevant to the submission. For example, if your poem is about disability, and you yourself are disabled, you may mention that in your cover letter. Please do not summarize your story in your cover letter. Please do not send simultaneous submissions (pieces that are submitted to Arsenika and another market at the same time). Multiple submissions are accepted, but please have no more than two flash fiction pieces and five poems in the submissions queue at a time. We try to respond to all submissions within 14...

Deadline: March 17th, 2017 Payment: Royalties All Submissions should meet this criteria: Works: short stories, flash fiction Genre: Horror, Dark fiction Current Theme: Zombie Jesus – Zombies with a religious twist Deadline: March 17th – could close early if filled quickly Format: Attach the .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX  Word Count 4000 words approx. Multiple Submissions okay.  Submit a brief bio, we don’t care if you have no work history, give us a brief bio of yourself. Payment and Royalties Deadman’s Tome pays authors whose work is published in the magazine (whether digital or print) royalties calculated at 10% of net sales and a free digital copy. Deadman’s Tome offers authors whose work is published on the site exposure AND opportunities to earn cash through various contests such as Story of the Week. Payments are sent via PayPal. Send submission to [email protected] Via: Deadman's Tome.

Deadline: March 27, 2017 Payment: Up to 10 cents per word Cicada YA/teen lit magazine seeks fiction, poetry, comics, and essays on the theme of Hauntings. A haunting is a remnant of something that never really left and refuses to be completely forgotten. A house might be haunted by the spirit of a previous owner, or a person might be constantly shadowed by past events. Maybe someone is always on your mind, or maybe you are constantly dwelling on what could have been. Show us what's rattling chains in your dark corners. General Information CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. We publish poetry, realistic and genre fic, essay, and comics by adults and teens. (We are also inordinately fond of Viking jokes.) Our readers are smart and curious; submissions are invited but not required to engage young adult themes. CICADA does not distribute theme lists for upcoming issues. Especially welcome: works by people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQAI+ folks, genderqueer folks, and other marginalized peoples. Not welcome: cultural appropriation. Fav writers, YA and otherwise: Sarah McCarry, Nnedi Okorafor, Sherman Alexie, David Levithan, Daniel Jose Older, Debbie Urbanski, Nalo Hopkinson, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ntozake Shange, Anne Carson, Jacqueline Woodson, ZZ Packer, Angela Nissel, Sofia Samatar, Richard Siken, Malory Ortberg, Saeed Jones, Octavia Butler, Andrea Gibson, @cicadamagazine / cicadamagazine.tumblr.com Guidelines Before submitting, be sure to familiarize yourself with our magazines. (Sample copies are available for viewing at the Cricket Media Store, or you can order a current issue by calling 800-821-0115.) Issues are also available at many local libraries. Fiction Realism, SF/fantasy, historical fiction: Yes, yes, and yes Length: flash fic to novellas; up to 9,000 words   Nonfiction Narrative nonfic (especially teen-written); essays on lit/culture/arts; hybrid forms Length: up to 5,000 words   Poetry Length: no length...

Deadline: March 31st, 2017 Payment: $75USD In 2017, Orford Parish Books will be releasing WOULD BUT TIME AWAIT: AN ANTHOLOGY OF NEW ENGLAND FOLK HORROR (edited by s.j. bagley, editor of THINKING HORROR: A JOURNAL OF HORROR PHILOSOPHY.) Please read and the guidelines before submitting a query and direct all queries to [email protected] with the subject header ‘FOLK HORROR QUERY.’ (All stories sent without a prior query will be deleted, unread.) WHAT WE DEFINE AS FOLK HORROR AND WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR. For the purposes of this project, we are defining folk horror as horror literature in which the present (which can be a year/decade of the author’s choosing) collides with the history, folklore, traditions, and psychogeography of a region and where that collision has a significant impact on the present (as defined in the work.) We are looking for work that uses the physical, historical, and social landscapes of New England as a focal point (rather than a story that could be set anywhere else but just happens to be set in New England.) There is a long and rich history of horrific and strange folklore in New England but that doesn’t mean a writer needs to restrict themselves to it and writers are perfectly welcome to invent their own folklore, traditions, and fictional New England locations. We should also stress that, while Folk Horror has largely been a rural construct, we by no means consider a rural location to be necessary to any working definition of the term. A few examples of what we consider Folk Horror in literature: Stephen King- ‘Pet Sematary.’ Stephen King- ‘Bag of Bones.’ Peter Straub- ‘Ghost Story.’ Peter Straub- ‘Floating Dragon.’ Toni Morrison- ‘Beloved.’ H.P. Lovecraft- ‘The Picture In The House.’ M.R. James- ‘View From a Hill.’ John Farris- ‘All Heads Turn When...