Events

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: $20 per story Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. Please don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and tell us as soon as it's accepted elsewhere. We do not publish reprints, including anything...

Deadline: July 15, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Contemporary cozy mysteries Note: Reprints accepted Cozy Villages of Death an anthology of cozy mysteries Anticipated release: October, 2020 There’s something about quaint country villages, picture-perfect mountain towns, and tranquil island resorts that draws us to them. And when we can’t visit in-person, reading about the quiet, peaceful life is the next best thing to taking a mini-vacation. But there are secrets hiding behind those shuttered windows. Deception awaits around the next curve in the road. Rumors spread over garden hedges, across fishing ponds, and around knitting circles. And when Death strolls through the tranquil countryside or checks into the quaint village inn for the weekend, it’s the intrepid – and often accidental – investigators who must find and decipher clues, unravel mysteries, and bring the killer to justice. Cozy Villages of Death invites you to share your contemporary cozy mystery with us. Take us to the towns where your own characters follow in the footsteps of Miss Marple and Father Brown. Let your own Jessica Fletcher-inspired amateur sleuth discover “whodunit” before the police. Let our readers work with small town officers, in the vein of “Midsomer Murders” and “Death in Paradise.” Introduce us to your own independent investigators, in the spirit of the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” or Miss Phryne Fisher. What We’re Looking For: Contemporary cozy mysteries (no ghosts or other paranormal elements), set between 1900 – present. Small town locations, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. We’re happy to read about cozy English villages, but we want to know what’s happening in other countries, too. Tell us the stories of small town police departments with limited resources, investigators who prefer the country life to the hustle of the city, and AMATEUR SLEUTHS – the everyday people who stumble across one too many clues to ignore and can’t help but...

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: Between $0.04 and $0.08/word, depending on variables below Theme: SF and Fantasy genres, but no horror please. More details below Note: Reprints welcome DreamForge is Opening for Submissions DreamForge is opening for submissions on July 1, 2020.  We’ll be open until Wednesday, July 15th at 12 Midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Submissions will be through our online Submissions Portal, which will not be available before midnight on June 30th. What are we looking for? If your story fits within the general guidelines below, please send it our way. That said, here are some things we’d like to see. More flash fiction between 500 and 1500 words. I’d like to feature more authors, especially talented beginners. Our theme will be the “Hope of the Big Idea.” Which means we’d like to see stories that call upon powerful new visions of how life could be shaped for the better either through technological or social change, or both. Stories can be serious, lighthearted, or funny. They can include themes of rebuilding or starting fresh. We’ll be reading for Issue # 7, which has a target date of November 15th, toward the end of a long and trying year. Who even knows what we’ll have to face between now and then, so let’s look to a hopeful future! Our General Guidelines Positive stories demonstrating the triumph of the human spirit and the power of hope and humane values in overcoming the most daunting challenges. We are interested in all SF and Fantasy genres, but no horror please. No to Pollyannish and Utopian simplicity. Yes to communities and teams working together to overcome dire challenges. Yes to marginalized and under-represented characters as protagonists. Yes to science and magic that solve problems, alleviate suffering, and boldly explore new possibilities. No to corrupt, dystopian governments or...

Deadline: July 19th, 2020 Payment: Advances and royalties Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, and horror. From old-school to modern, pulpy to literary, classic to cross-over, if it’s genre, and it’s good, then we’d love to read it! Note: This call officially opens on July 6th but we wanted to get this up asap in case you needed some last-minute polishing on your story! Open the Pod Bay Doors! Open Submissions 2020 It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again! No, not Christmas, the Angry Robot Open Submissions Period! If you’re an SFF/horror writer without agent representation, this is YOUR chance to submit your novel-length manuscripts to Angry Robot Books! In recent years our Open Submissions have led to publication of acclaimed and award-nominated novels including Shrouded Loyalties, The Light Years, and The Imaginary Corpse, and as always we’re excited to see what gems are sent in by budding authors this time around. As an imprint devoted to publishing the very best in genre fiction from the very widest range of voices, we particularly encourage those from minority and underrepresented backgrounds to send us their work. The 2020 Open Subs period will run for two weeks, from 12:00am BST (British Summer Time) Mon Jul 6th to 11:59pm BST Sun Jul 19th – there’s no preference of any kind given to early submissions, so please do take the time to polish your submission documents before sending them in! What we’re looking for: novel-length works (60k words minimum) only science fiction, fantasy, and horror. From old-school to modern, pulpy to literary, classic to cross-over, if it’s genre, and it’s good, then we’d love to read it! You can check out our complete publication list here to see how wide our tastes run one submission per author, so take this as an opportunity to send us your best work! finished manuscripts...

Deadline: July 21st, 2020 Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words. $10 for anything over 5000 words. Theme: Halloween-themes horror! Note: Reprints Welcome It's time for Halloween Horror again! Same as last year, we're looking for spooky, scary, gross, funny, dark, and demented tales all about our favorite holiday, Halloween. The call here is pretty wide open. Whatever you can think up, we want to read. The only rule is that it must relate to Halloween in some way.  Submission Deadline: July 21st, 2020 Word Count: 2,000 - 8,500. A little over or under is fine. Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words.                     $10 for anything over 5000 words. Important Bits Include a bio or greeting with your email. We don't need a lot, but at least let us know who you are. Please send all submissions as a .docx or .rtf attachment with the subject line of your email as: DBND - HalloweenHorrorII - Story Title  Stories sent after the submission deadline will be rejected unread. Multiple submissions welcome. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please keep us updated on the status if your story is picked up elsewhere. Reprints will be considered. Don't sit on your submission! If we reach the word count for the anthology, we will close submissions early. Send submissions to: [email protected] Via: DBND Publishing.

Deadline: September 30th, 2020 Payment: $50 CDN and a contributor's copy for fiction, $20 for poetry Theme: magical beings associated with water Water is the most yielding of all elements, changing to fit its container, whether that be a thimble or a lake bed. At the same time, anyone who has ever watched the unrelenting progression of a tsunami understands its raw power. It is the tranquil azure of a tropical sea, the tumultuous waves and whitecaps of an ocean embroiled, or the insidious progression of overflowing from a riverbed and encroaching on people’s homes. As many faces as water may wear, the creatures within and associated with it have even more. For this, the fourth and final anthology in this series, I’m looking for stories about shapeshifting selkies, deceptively beautiful sirens, all the monsters of the deep and any other magical water creature you can imagine—water dragons, naiads, kappa, kelpies… If it’s a magical being associated with water, I want to read about it. I welcome submissions from writers of all backgrounds (including, but not limited to, race, color, religion, gender/gender expression, age, disability, and national origin), and am always looking for submissions with diverse characters. Rights and compensation: $50 CDN flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology for stories. $20 CDN flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology for poems. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology. Open submission period: August 1, 2020 — September 30, 2020 Length: Under 7,500 words Publisher: Tyche Books No simultaneous or multiple submissions. No reprints. Canadian spelling please. Submit here:  https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/170590/water-selkies-sirens-and-sea-monsters  (link won't...

Deadline: July 25th, 2020. Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties. Payment made upon publication. Due Date: July 25, 2020. Word Count: 1,000 to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties. Payment made upon publication. The idea of seeing the future or having warnings of what is to come is an idea that spans nearly every culture. Whether the omens are good or bad, there is the potential to affect us all. To be considered, your story must deal with the idea of omens in some fashion. Please email your submission in standard manuscript format and a short bio to [email protected]. Please put “Omens Submission” in the subject line. Expected publication date is January/February 2021.   Via: Ael Press.

Deadline: July 25th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling Note: Reprints accepted Scare Street is accepting submissions for short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Short stories must be 3,000-7,000 words and will be included in a collection totaling 50,000 to 65,000 words.  These stories will be published in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats. WHO ARE WE? Scare Street is a horror publishing company dedicated in helping fellow horror lovers experience sleepless nights. We’ve been around since September 2015 and have published 180+ e-book and paperback titles along with 110+ audiobooks (and counting!). WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? Get visibility from thousands of horror readers. We will promote your work on our email list (23,000+ active subscribers), Facebook Page (17,000+ followers), Facebook Group (7,000+ members), Pinterest (600k+ monthly views) and the rest of our social media channels. Work with an experienced publisher. We’ve been publishing high quality manuscripts, non-stop for 4 years. We’ve worked out the kinks and know what it takes to bring stories to the masses, operationally. And marketing, too (see the point on visibility). Distribution in e-book, print and audiobook formats. You’ll also receive a complimentary digital e-book and audiobook formats when they’re published. Note: These cannot be distributed without written permission. Non-exclusive rights. Keep your rights and sell your work again! We’re looking to purchase non-exclusive license so you’re free to continually distribute your story and/or sell your stories to other publishers. We accept reprints. Dust off your old horror stories. We’ll happily bring them back from the dead. Jump to the top of our queue. Stories willing to be offered for a 6 month to a 1-year e-book exclusivity period will jump to the top of our submissions pile....

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Publication – November 2020 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – A new twist on fairytales with a fresh element: dragons. Each fairytale has been reimagined with these beasts based on the author’s preference. Wise dragons, evil dragons, elemental dragons, oh my! These classic characters will never see this coming. Note: Any kind of dragon is welcome. Fairytales can be from any country and dark or cheerful. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Deadline – July 31st, 2020 Publication – October 2020 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.