Events

Deadline: September 10th, 2020 Payment: $20 Theme: Your interpretation of the harvest What do you pull from your body? What do you pull from the ground? What do you grow? Do you reap what you sow? For Longleaf’s fall issue, we’re looking for your interpretation of the harvest. Harvest as a cornucopia that brings people together—across a dining room table or across screens in times of crisis. Harvest as a terror—zombies in search of brains and bones, body snatchers in a graveyard. Harvest as a life — after loss, grief, sorrow, betrayal, illness, agony; an invitation to the underworld with Hades.We want your comfort and your terror, your sacrifices and your offerings. When you hear tapping at your window late at night, is this the prelude to a reaping? Give us taste and texture; the excitement of the planting; the growing; the bloodlust; the hunger. Give us fallow fields and baskets overflowing. Give us walls teeming with unwanted life and tongues red with poison berries. We want to explore harvest as fantasy, as memory, as danger or desire. We want to read about the ways we lay claim to things—through collection, through curation. We want the hunter and the hunted, the invited and unwelcome. At a time when fear looms large and small comforts mean more than usual, we want to know what you’re gathering into your arms and what you wish you could cast off. In preparation for this themed call, our staff will be running a series of 20-minute bursts of creativity through Zoom. To sign up for our first one, on August 8, 2020, please click here. We will be open for submissions September 1-10. Please read our general guidelines and submit below. Submission Period Submissions will open from September 1 to 10. You can generally expect a response time of 2-3 months. We consider each...

Deadline: September 13th, 2020 Payment: $15 ($10 for Flash fiction) & one contributor copy Theme: Gritty, well written short stories. All stories must involve an Indiana crime or Hoosiers involved in a crime. Hoosier Noir is seeking gritty, well written short stories. All stories must involve an Indiana crime or Hoosiers involved in a crime. All stories should be 2,000 to 5,000 words. We’re also accepting flash fiction with a max of 1,000 words. Please, put your name and the title of your story in the subject line. Include a cover letter in the body of the email as well as a brief (100 word) third-person biography. No reprints. Please, proofread your work. No simultaneous submissions. Allow up to 3 to 4 weeks after the end of the posted reading period before querying about the status of your submission. Send your story in standard manuscript format, double spaced as an attached Microsoft Word document (.doc or .rtf) to hoosiernoir (at) gmail (dot) com. Rights: Hoosier Noir claims the following publication rights: First English-language Rights, English-language Periodical Rights, World Periodical Rights, and Electronic Distribution Rights. All rights revert back to the author six months after initial publication. Payment: Each selected author will receive a payment of $15 ($10 for Flash fiction) & one contributor copy. Submissions will close September 13th 2020 at midnight. Submissions for our 4:20 Noir (Special Issue) Open September 15th 2020. This will not be limited to Indiana Crime Fiction. We are looking for your best marijuana related crime fiction. All regular submissions guidelines and payment details remain the same. Via: First City Books.

Deadline: September 14th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Political horror stories Note: Deadline extended Open submissions being accepted for “After the Kool-Aid is Gone.” 8/1/20 - 8/31/20 D&T Publishing proudly presents After the Kool-Aid is Gone . A horror anthology with a political twist. In the world we live in today, what is more horrific than true life? Seems everyone has a view and a stance. So, what will happen after the kool-aid is gone, when decisions have been made and eyes have been opened? Send us the most political horror story you can imagine. Specific information: - Stories should be 3,000 - 5,000 word count. - No excessive or gratuitous violence or sex just for shock value. - Single spaced, new times Roman is preferred. Clean, edited copy. No weird fonts or formats. Please submit in .doc or .docx format to [email protected] - A confirmation email will be sent to you within 24 hours of receipt of your submission. Please make sure that your name is on your submission. - Acceptance emails will be sent out no later than 9/6/20 for an October release. - For your email, please use ATKIG as the subject. - If you receive an acceptance email, a link will be provided to you for a Facebook group and all other information will be provided to you at that time. You can also find submission details on our Facebook page @d&tpublishing. - This will pay $10 per accepted story. - Only one submission per person. We look forward to your submissions. Via: D&T Publishing's Facebook.

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: Unicorn stories for middle-grade readers Chipper Press is looking for short stories about Unicorns. Tell our middle-grade readers about how the unicorn came into being, and if they still exist. If they are now extinct, what happened? Is their horn magical? If so, what magic does it do? Where did they come from? How do you tame one? Do they talk? What is/was their life like? Who else inhabits their world? Wizards and Mages? Or do they communicate with Elves? Entertain our readers with complete stories that show more of the action than simply telling. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,500 and the maximum word count is 17,000. Dialogue needs to be believable, and please keep dialects/slang to a bare minimum if you must use them. No head-hopping or POV changes. Pick one point of view and stick with it. (Your submission will be declined if there is head-hopping.) Please show more of the action than just telling the reader what happens. Characters need to be fully developed and the stories need to be complete-not just a scene. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: September 15, 2020, with a targeted release date of late November 2020. Submit your best work. Poorly formatted and unedited work will be turned down. Please use Americanized English spellings. We will be doing light editing as necessary to fit the standards we strive to maintain. Submission Guidelines: Any work under 4,500 words will be automatically disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print or online anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit...

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: $130, and 2 contributors copies Theme: Well mannered criminals! (to be published by Mango Publishing Group, USA) What I’m looking for: Good manners and polite behavior don’t usually spring to mind when we think of criminals. Yet some of the most beloved criminals in books and film have been the ones that broke the mold: the smooth-talking charmers, the underdogs, the rebels with a cause. Their polite manners, their adherence to a cause, their code of ethics that often makes sense only to themselves—this is what sets them apart from the rest. These are the types of criminals I’m interested in. Con artists, embezzlers, fraudsters, mobsters, burglars, garden-variety robbers and thieves, plus anything else that might fit the bill. For this third volume in my series, I’m aiming to provide a lighter and more entertaining read with less of an emphasis on violent crime and murder. Well-known, lesser-known, and obscure subjects are welcome. Add something new to the story, a different viewpoint or angle. First-person accounts are always welcome from writers with a connection to the cases. Stories can take place anywhere in the world and during any time frame. Material must be meticulously fact-checked before submission, including dates, names, locations, etc. This is a non-fiction book, so please make sure that everything is 100% correct. No reprints accepted. To get an idea of the quality and variety of material I accept, please refer to the previous books in this series, The Best New True Crime Stories: Serial Killers and The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns. Word count: 4,000-7,000 words One-time payment per story: USD $130, and 2 print copies of the book. Contributor fees paid approximately 1 month after publication. (Preferred payment method: PayPal.) For: Non-exclusive rights with one-year’s exclusivity from date of publication. Deadline for submissions: Sept 15, 2020...

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror We will be OPEN to submissions from JULY 15-SEPTEMBER 15 2020 ONLY.  Note: Manuscripts received outside the official  submission window will be deleted unread. Guidelines for all submissions: We want horror in all its forms—from literary to weird, Gothic to psychological, and (almost) everything in between. We’re looking for amazing stories from amazing authors, regardless of race, gender, religion—if you’ve got something good, we want it. (Please do not submit romance, erotica, or religious fiction.) Need a firm idea of what we’re looking for? Check out the JournalStone website. The title of your email subject line and file name should read: “--”. For example: King – Carrie – Novel. This should also be the title of your manuscript document. In the body of your email, please give us the word count, genre, and a brief synopsis (300-500 words) of the plot. Submissions without this information will be automatically deleted. Do not include your synopsis as an attachment. Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Attach the full manuscript as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file (no PDFs). Do not paste your manuscript in the body of the email. For proper formatting of your manuscript, please follow the Shunn way. Minimum word count for novels and fiction collections: 50,000. Minimum word count for novellas: 20,000. We consider the quality of the editing in our review process. Please fully proofread and edit manuscripts prior to submission. Do not submit sample chapters or a work in progress. We accept only completed works. Allow six to eight months for a response to your submission. We may respond more quickly, but we cannot guarantee timing. Please do not send follow up e-mails. We will notify you when we place your work in the queue, and will contact you when we have completed our review. Submissions are free. We do not charge any...

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: 1 cent per word Theme: Modern folktales with a LGBTQ experience Correct manuscript format. 12 pt Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font, double-spaced, First page has name, address and email address in the upper left corner and word count in the upper right corner. Reference the Shunn format at https://www.shunn.net/format/story/. NOT USING THE CORRECT FORMAT WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REJECTION. 1000 to 5000 words ONLY. Shorter or longer pieces will result in immediate rejection. Document types: doc, docx, pdf, or rtf documents only. Include an author bio in your cover letter, including any social media links. All stories must contain some LGBTQ element. We prefer LGBTQ authors, however all stories that fit the submission criteria will be considered. Include the title and a 100-word description of the underlying folktale you are using for your story. A link to the story in addition to the requirements is acceptable, though not necessary. Correct grammar, syntax and punctuation. English language stories only. Stories translated into English by a professional translator are also allowed. Electronic submissions only, via the form on this website. No multiple submissions and no simultaneous submissions. WE WILL NOT ACCEPT extreme horror, fan fiction, erotica, graphic sex, manga-type stories, standard romance except in the context of the original folktale, overtly political pieces, or morals that are degrading to any person or persons of any type. Submissions will be read within three months from the date submitted. You will receive an acceptance or rejection email within that time. QUERIES ABOUT YOUR STORY WILL NOT BE ANSWERED. Due to volume of submissions, we won’t be able to explain to you why a story won’t work for our anthology other than basic issues such as wrong manuscript format or grammar problems. Payment will be 1 cent/word. Payment will be rendered before publication. Use the form on this website to submit your stories. Submissions open on...

Deadline: September 15th, 2020 Payment: $3 Theme: Cold weather horror short stories Shiver Anthology will be a collection of cold weather horror short stories. Give me your creature features, vampires, female villains, ghosts, killer yetis and whatever else you can conjure! As long as the story takes place in the cold, Iet your imagination run wild. For inspiration, think of The Thing, Let Me In, The Shining, 30 Days of Night, Blood Glacier, Infested. This anthology is open to all writers. Stories must be between 1,000 - 4,000 words. Please stick to these guidelines. Only one submission per author. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please no re-prints. If your story is accepted elsewhere, please withdrawal it from consideration. Open for submissions August 15, 2020 - September 15, 2020 Decisions will be announced by October 15, 2020 Anthology will be published by early 2021 Please include an author bio up to 100 words and no more than two links that will accompany your story if published. I will not accept stories depicting rape, pedophilia, or views that promote bigotry, racism, sexism, or homophobia. FORMAT Please send a doc/docx attachment. Any stories sent within the body of the email or as any other format will not be considered. Please send submission to [email protected] Include your name and title in the subject heading. Please include your word count somewhere in the body of the email or on the submission. PAYMENT A one time payment of $3.00 for a short story after contract signing and final edits, and a free e-book copy of the anthology provided by the publisher. RIGHTS I ask for Exclusive First Worldwide Publication and Electronic Rights for three months, and non-exclusive rights thereafter. Via: Nico Bell.

Deadline: September 16th, 2020 Payment: $0.06/word or $15/page Theme: A new way to use the themes of dragons without actually using a dragon In fantasy, dragons are more common than trees—even crossing lines into other genres—and yet, they fall short of obligatory. As dragons grow in popularity, they’re falling in the dangerous zone between staple and soulless stereotype. Therefore, Mythulu’s October 2020 issue will be entirely dedicated to challenging use of dragons in literature. Please confront the following question: "What do dragons contribute to a story? Is there a way to accomplish the same thing without using dragons at all?" Short Stories WITHOUT DRAGONS. Use other storytelling and worldbuilding mechanics to fulfill the story needs usually filled by dragons. All genres welcome. Cartoons Any size from single panel up to two-pages of spread. Our magazine is produced in standard letter size (8.5 x 11" with 1" margin). Cartoons and graphic shorts pay at twice the normal per-page rate. Non-Fiction Articles Insightful discussion of the theme, extraordinary storycraft, or business topics for artistic entreprenuers. Art For this issue, we are especially interested in monsters that have one dragon-like quality and are otherwise unique. If your drawing was inspired by Mythulu Cards, let us know. Advertisements $80 for a full page. Subject to approval. We only publish ads that we believe are in the best interest of our audience, and we limit ads to 4 slots/issue. Letters to the Editor CURRENT EVENTS TOPIC: Because of Covid, all conventions are currently online-only. Normally, in-person encounters build deep, personal relationships between authors and fans. What ideas do you have for making online-conventions an opportunity instead of a barrier? RATES: For the October 2020 issue, Mythulu eMagazine will pay an average of $0.06/word or $15/page. Non-fiction pays $0.08/word. Creative works earn $0.04/word, with short stories...

Deadline: September 20th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents/6 pence for each word for new stories and 6 cents/4 pence for reprints Theme: Ghastly castles, haunted mansions, shadowy forests and long, dark corridors Note: Reprints allowed Gothic Fantasy Short Stories Terrifying Ghosts Anthology Ghastly castles, haunted mansions, shadowy forests and long, dark corridors... This new addition to the Gothic Fantasy series will be packed with tales of terror, bringing together the new and the familiar, the unusual and the unexpected. Terrifying Ghosts Short Stories will deliver a satisfying read for anyone fascinated by glimpses of the beyond: master storytellers featured include A.C. Benson, E.F. Benson, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Marjorie Bowen, Francis Marion Crawford, Charles Dickens, Sheridan Le Fanu, William Hope Hodgson, Henry James, M.R. James, Bram Stoker and Edith Wharton. Formal Call for Submissions (2020) We are looking for new and recent short stories. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. We don’t mind if your story has been previously published online or in print (though we do need to know publication and date). Simultaneous submissions are fine, but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology. Word length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range. Please submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your name and email address in the footer or header of each page. Submit stories by email to [email protected] Fees, Copyright and Other Terms We pay Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates of 8 cents/6 pence for each word for new stories and 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. We would prefer to pay via PAYPAL because bank charges to the US and Canada in particular can be crippling for all concerned. Payment for the...