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Deadline: May 10th, 2020 Payment: 50% of the sales will be split between each author of each particular book after printing costs Theme: Horror To submit your short story to the Bi-Monthly Breaking Rules Publishing Horror Anthology, starting in January 2020 - released by the end of the month - please send an email to [email protected] by the 10th of the book release month. ​ In your email - please include your contact information, including location in the body of your email, as well as a "Word Doc" attachment of your work. We will confirm your submission within 24 hours, as well as get back to you within one week on the possibility for publishing options. All submissions must - Be sent in a "Word Doc" - 8.5 x 11 format - a clean, edited story with the authors name and title at the top of the page - please, no special margins - your story should be indented properly - single spaced - in a 12 font - no double spaces between paragraphs - and no headers or footers. Page limit is 30 max  - 15 min - all submissions but be sent in by the 10th of the book release month. Publishing starts January 2020. Work that is sent incorrectly will be sent back. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Breaking Rules Publishing but also don't want to add additional work for our formatting team. ​Editing: By submitting you agree to allow Breaking Rules Publishing to provide a light edit, spell check, formatting, appropriate grammar, to all stories published. Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. With your consent, BRP may publish of your work in future journals and publicity pieces, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, Breaking Rules Publishing. Please note that other publications may not accept...

Deadline: May 14th 2020 Payment: 0.08/word for original fiction, $0.03/word for reprint fiction. Theme: Science Fiction and Fantasy Note: Reprints Welcome Cossmass Infinities is OPEN for submissions. Submissions are open until May 14th 2020. Cossmass Infinities is a Science Fiction and Fantasy short story magazine edited by Paul Campbell. Please read and follow the instructions below before submitting to Cossmass Infinities. Submissions must be made using this form. Incomplete forms will be automatically rejected. We are looking for original science fiction and fantasy short stories. We are also interested in previously published stories. We are looking for short stories between 2000–10,000 words. We pay $0.08/word for original fiction. We pay $0.03/word for reprint fiction. The rights we wish to obtain are listed in the sample contracts for original fiction and reprint fiction. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Multiple submissions are not accepted and will be rejected automatically. However, once you have received a rejection, you may immediately submit another story. Your manuscript should be a plain document, containing ONLY the story title, author by-line, and the complete text of the story. Do not use underlining in your manuscript for emphasis. Italics and bold are sufficient. File formats must be either Word (.docx) or OpenDocument Text (.odt) file formats. Files in other formats will be rejected. Payment is through Paypal. Submit only complete stories. An email confirming receipt of your submission will be sent within 20 minutes of us receiving it. Note that your submission is sent via a email from the form processor service (formspree.io) which may occasionally take longer than 20 minutes. If you haven’t received a notification after a day then either resubmit your story or contact us. Please allow 3 months for a decision, then feel free to reply to your notification email to enquire as to the status of your story. Cossmass Infinities will be published...

Deadline: May 15th, 2020 Payment: $5 USD Theme: "Most" Speculative fiction, read below for specifics. Note: Open only for women-identified authors. Simply follow the schedule below to be notified when we close and open for submissions. Criteria Luna Station Quarterly publishes speculative fiction written by women-identified authors. We think women write awesome characters and really cool stories and we want to show it to the world. We will consider stories submitted by any woman writer, regardless of experience or writing resume. If you consider yourself on the woman end of the gender spectrum in any significant capacity, you’re welcome here! Stuff we want: Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera New Fairy Tales (not retellings) Some creepiness Stories that explore the nooks and crannies of an original world Big events from the everyman perspective Unique settings and storytelling forms Well written stories with strong characters Stuff we don’t want: Anything biased toward any religion, race or moral preference Extreme gore or sexual content, in particular no explicit rape or sexual assault. (everything in moderation) Bizarro fiction Poetry Fan Fiction (original stories only, please) Bad grammar/punctuation (please proofread and watch your sentence structure!) Plagiarism A further note about sex and violence in submissions. Science fiction has a long-standing tradition of pushing boundaries and asking difficult questions. It is meant to challenge us and ask us to look at ourselves and how we treat each other and the world around us. That said, LSQ is centered on uplift and so any story that contains explicit sexual situations or violence especially toward women will be considered more carefully than other stories and the content must be justified within the story’s arch. Format and Details Stories should be 500 to 7000 words in length. We may publish longer or shorter works, but the greater your story is...

Deadline: May 15th, 2020 Payment: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max, 1¢ per word for reprints Theme: Not locked to a genre and love “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits” Note: Reprints accepted We are a literary magazine of dark fiction, both short stories and flash fiction. We want your best. But then, doesn’t everyone? No specific sub-genres or themes, just good stories. For inspiration, we suggest “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and LampLight, Vol1 Issue 1 which is free. We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling. We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies, cannibals, high fantasy. Writers We have published writers of all backgrounds from all over the world in LampLight, but not everywhere, nor all shapes and sizes of writers. Help us to shine a light on greater diverse writing and keep LampLight a showcase of the best dark fiction out there by submitting and encouraging others to as well. Edition and Rights The quarterly is published as print and ebook, and at the end of the year all the quarterlies are bound together in an annual collection. We are asking for non-exclusive, worldwide, serial rights to your work for both electronic and print. We want to publish it, we don’t want to own it. We will take reprints, provided you have the rights we are asking for. We will not consider reprints that are currently available for free online. If you have already been in LampLight, we ask you wait until the next volume to submit again. Payment We accept originals and reprints up to 7,000 words (firm). Payment in USD. Unpublished Fiction: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max Reprints: 1¢ per word...

Deadline: May 16th, 2020 Payment: $30 Theme: The theme of ultimate sacrifice as key to heroism. A Heroic Anthology of Sacrifice Not every hero survives. All heroes pay a cost, some the ultimate sacrifice. We're examining that theme of ultimate sacrifice as key to heroism. Not only the willingness to sacrifice all, but the act of sacrifice for the greater 'cause,' whatever that may be. These are tales of loss. Death can be a cost of heroism--but it might not be the greater loss come story's end. Heroes die. And they lose things greater than life: Family. Freedom. Innocence. Faith. Ideals. Drastic change must happen to your hero by story's end. But this is not just a book of dead heroes. Death does not have to mean defeat. Loss does not always equal failure. We want stories across the spectrum, stories of apotheosis and of nihilism and of what lies between. Heroes die and legends are born. Or nothing changes and it is all moot. A battle is won, while a war lost . . . or a battle lost to win a war. This is character-driven storytelling, and we want to read it in all the 'Sword-and-' genres: Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sandal, Sword & Soul, Sword & Six-gun. 11 week submission period. We will be accepting 13-15 stories, and stories should be 2k-9k words in length. Nothing shorter will be read, and our sweet spot is in the 5k-7k range. Publication is intended for Christmas 2020. Payment of $30 flat per story shall be rendered after publication, and authors will receive electronic copies and permanent discount on print purchases from RBE. Cover photography from Peter Gnas. As inspired by and foreword to be written by David Pitchford. Click the cover to enter the RB Submittable platform....

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $100 Theme: Must take place in Omnipark (details linked below.) House Blackwood is putting together a brand-new anthology of original fiction, set in the world of OmniPark. This anthology will feature stories from Brian Evenson, Gemma Files, Orrin Grey, Jesse Bullington, and other leading lights of the weird fiction community. The deadline is June 30, 2020. You’ll find much more background information on the OmniPark Wiki, which documents all the park’s original Realms and attractions, as well as many of the personalities who shaped its development. We are paying $100 for short stories of 2,000 to 5,000 words, set in and around OmniPark. Send submissions as Word (.doc) files, formatted according to Shunn manuscript format, to: tales from omnipark @gmail.com (remove spaces) Only manuscripts submitted as Word docs, following Shunn format, will be considered. Via: House Blackwood.

Deadline: May 19th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Family Horror In these trying times the only thing we can rely on is family. Right? But what happens when the ones we love the most turn on us? In this open call, the amazing publishers at Nocturnal Sirens want horror writers to explore the themes of family. What secrets do they hide? What evil can they commit? Submission guidelines: Stories cannot be over 1000 words minimum is 300 words, send only 3 submissions at a time, wait for our editorial team to get back in touch with you. Evil aunt's, stepsons, vigilante families, any family member is allowed but we want to get alot of mother, father and child stories since this comes out between mother and father's day Disclaimer:. Unfortunately, sexual abuse is an all too common issue among families. While this is heartbreaking and one of the best motives for murdering a family member, we would like to steer away from sexual, incestuous situations. Pay is after taxes going to be 70% of royalties given to authors (divided evenly to all contributors) Send all stories to [email protected] Do NOT send any erotic or abusive stories. We don’t want pedophilia or incest in this collection. And join our fb page for full details and questions there: https://www.facebook.com/groups/372178610142234/

Deadline: May 20th 2020 Payment: $20 and a contributors copy Theme: A global pandemic of "Red Lungs" is going on. This book tells stories about how the rich have gathered together to weather the storm. Only, one of them is infected As a new virus rages on land the richest man in the world has invited over five hundred rich and privileged friends, acquaintances, influences and hangers-on to weather the sickness on his private luxury yacht. But one of them has brought a guest along. You guessed it! The Red Lungs virus. It starts like a cold, becomes a raging fever, then floods the lungs with blood. What we want: Snappy short stories with a minimum of 2000 words using our provided writing prompts. Punch everyone’s virus anxieties, fears; anger at inequality in the nuts with your contribution to this anthology! Use wit, gore, action or inaction, (of course, we always love us some good epistolary fiction) you can even throw some sharks in the mix if you want to. What we DON’T want: Torture, adult content, racism, hate mongering, preachiness, bigotry of any kind, sexism, turgid writing. What can help you: Read Masque of the Red Death by Poe And this helpful Pixar information on io9.Gizmodo. Deadline: May 20 2020 Publication: June 20th 2020 at the latest Payment: $20.00 on acceptance, one paperback copy, one digital copy, one audiobook copy. Submission guidelines: Use our provided prompts Final submission must be edited Rights For this collection. Exclusive, one year; first worldwide electronic, audio and print rights for one year and nonexclusive rights afterward. For reprints, we will ask for nonexclusive reprinting rights. Formatting The first page should have: Your name and pen name if you use your pen name. Contact information: Email, phone Title of story: Title of your manuscript 8.5″ × 11″ layout Times New Roman font....

Deadline: May 20th, 2020 Payment: $25 or $40 depending on the length and 3 contributors copies. Theme: Stories that take place in the world of Adrian's Undead Diary The world of Adrian Ring welcomes you again. Dead Lucky is the third anthology of short stories set in the zombie-ridden Adrian Ring universe and this is the call for submission. I am looking for stories that feature strong main characters that are put into situations where luck rears its head. Call it the Jinx Fairy, call it good fortune, but all stories should feature moments where the storyline hinges on moments of good or bad luck. Maybe your hero runs to the pickup parked outside the farmhouse with a horde on their heels, and when they drop the visor, the keys descend into the lap. Maybe those keys are for the mower. Perhaps your character gets bitten, and when they get into their safe house, they realize they have one bullet left, so they can take care of themselves, and protect their friends and family. Maybe your story features a pilot who has just enough fuel to put their plane down before they have to ditch in a zombie-infested city. It’s your story. Tell it to me so I can help tell it to the world. Dead Lucky will be divided into three sections that are AUD-universe timeline-based. The first section of stories will cover incidents on “That Day.” The second will cover the period of story between that day, and the conclusion of Book Eight. The final portion of the book will cover events after book eight. I will be writing at least three stories, one set in each of the anthology’s time periods. Dead Lucky will be released in eBook format on the Kindle, in print, and in audio...

Deadline: May 23rd, 2020 Prizes: $40 each Theme: A Limerick set in 2020 Special Note for Mini-Contest #45: We're doing just one mini-contest between regular short story contests this time, but it's a doozy. Instead of the usual $25/$15/$10 for first/second/third, we're awarding ten prizes of $40 each. That's a total of $400 in prize money. Why? Because even though $40 isn't much money, it might make more of a difference in someone's life than it will to our relatively small annual OTP budget.  Premise: Life isn't much fun right now, anywhere in the world. The pandemic has touched everybody to some degree. Wrap up how you feel about life today--the good, the bad, the ugly, the inspiring, the awful, the funny, the not funny--and because this is a contest challenge, send it to us in the form of a limerick. The limerick doesn't have to be funny, but it does have to evoke thoughts and feelings in us like everything else we ask of you. For those of you who want to take political themes, please remember our audience is literally world-wide, though it definitely leans Western. Still, jokes requiring a deep understanding of the Hong Kong anti-China protests or some of the subtler points of Brexit might not translate for all of our thousands of readers, so aim for a broad audience. If you're wondering what the exact definition of a limerick is, this source should be a big help: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/limerick-examples.html Deadline: Saturday, May 23, 2020, 11:59 PM Eastern US time. Publication: Winners will be published on or around Sunday, June 7, 2020, when the next contest launches. Length: It's a limerick, so limit it to five lines of text. The first, second, and fifth line should have 7 to 10 syllables, and the third and fourth lines should have 5 to 7. No...