Events

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $5 Theme: Stories that are the perfect length for between sitting down and having a 'royal flush' THE TOILET ZONE: THE ROYAL FLUSH SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED TO 31 DECEMBER 2021 HellBound's third outing to the smallest room... And no, don't panic, we're still not looking for lavatory-themed tales of terror - although should your short story involve the smallest room in the house, we'd be more than delighted to read it! The theme for this anthology is short horror stories that will make an ideal sit-down read, just long enough for those extended stays at the convenience, and terrifying enough that they really are best read whilst over water.... We have based story length upon the average time spent upon the convenience (10-15 mins) and the average reading speed (200-250 words per minute), so that the stories within this exceptionally unique anthology will be the perfect 'per visit' length! NOTE: we will also accept a handful of shorter stories - 'flush fiction' - if the fit is right! To submit, email your polished story to: [email protected] PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 2.5K-4K word count (although we are incredibly flexible for awesome stories!) * Write 'TOILET ZONE 3' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. Deadline: 31 DECEMBER 2021 NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment -$5 for first rights Capped at 120K words in total

Submission Window: December 1st-31st Payment: £10 Theme: Fresh starts and new beginnings Each month, a new theme will be announced, and we will be accepting flash fiction submissions based around the specific theme for the entirety of that month. From these submissions, four winners will be chosen to be published each Friday of the subsequent month, and at the end of the year, these forty-eight flash fiction pieces will appear in a similarly titled anthology. We will be looking for original and unpublished fictional stories that run the gamut of the horror genre and all its assorted sub-genres—we’re open to it all, so long as it has a strong horror twist flowing through its veins. Since The Theatre Phantasmagoria series is aiming to offer varied slices of horror, you can really go wild as far as characters, settings, and storylines go. As always, if your story is blatantly racist or homophobic it will be instantly rejected. We also encourage submissions from female, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors, as we’re striving to offer a range of experiences and perspectives in this series. The anthology will be edited, and the stories selected, by J. D. Keown. He can be found on both Instagram and Twitter @JDKAuthor, and we can be found on Instagram @nightterrornovels. All updates and announcements regarding this project will be posted on each of those accounts, so give us a follow if you want to get the latest news. The first window to submit will run from the 1st December, 2021 (1/12/2021) to the 31st December, 2021 (31/12/2021), with the selected stories debuting on our website throughout January. DECEMBER’S THEME: Fresh starts and new beginnings. How you interpret this theme is largely up to you. As these first stories will be going live in January, we are looking for flash fiction centred around New Year’s resolutions, starting over, resolving to change, or similar horror stories along these lines. Each...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Horror VALRAVN is our yearly annual of “wyrd fiction” short stories (3,000 to 10,000 words). We also publish anthologies as the mood strikes us. These guidelines are similar to our novel/novella guidelines above, but there are key differences, so we’d recommend you read carefully. VALRAVN is still horror themed, but each annual contains a multitude of genres and elements in it. Our anthologies tend to be themed, and when we announce them, we announce the theme we’d like short stories submitted in. WHAT WE WANT We love fiction from diverse, under-represented perspective and cultures, well-researched and written by fresh and exciting voices. Speculative short fiction in the following genres (for VALRAVN. As we said above, for anthologies, we’ll tell you the theme.) Fantasy Horror Espionage/Thriller Science Fiction Up to 10,000 words, minimum of 3,000 words Only one submission per quarter, no simultaneous submissions, no submissions of previously rejected material without prior approval. Please wait until the next quarter (January 1, April 1,  July 1, October 1) before submitting anything again. Please only send RTF, DOC or DOX files, and must adhere best practices in manuscript formats: https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ For VALRAVN and our anthologies, we require previous unpublished works. If you have a short story collection, you can see our novel/novella guidelines above. WHAT WE OFFER With our short fiction annuals and anthologies, we offer a one-time purchase fee of $0.10 USD per word (ten cents USD per word), with additional bonus payouts based on crowdfunding and sales (these are not “royalties” exactly, as they’re based on sales thresholds rather than a per sale bonus.) We request a year’s publication rights, after which, the story is yours to do what you want with, though we will retain the rights to continue publishing the...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $50 and a contributor's copy Theme: A compilation of first-person accounts including letters, prosaic poems, diary entries, postcard letters, short personal essays, and other genre-bending experimental pieces I am seeking writers for an experimental anthology titled “letters i’ll never send”. This anthology will be a compilation of first-person accounts including letters, prosaic poems, diary entries, postcard letters, short personal essays, and other genre-bending experimental pieces. "letters i'll never send" is meant to serve as a sentimental linkage between the writer and the reader. It should lure the reader in emotionally, so that they can resonate in some meaningful way. Simultaneously, all pieces inside the book should connect with the others in vulnerable, open, or spiritual ways - or all of those ways. Essentially, just write as if you're writing to whoever, and run with whatever comes up - whether it's an angry letter, a love letter, a breakup letter, a friendship letter, a self-reflection letter, a letter to yourself, a postcard letter to a friend/significant other, etc. The possibilities are endless, and as long as you capture the vulnerability and heartwarming (or heart-wrenching) pull that I'd love to evoke in the book, then this anthology will be an impassioned masterpiece! If you have a piece that you think is fit for this project, I’d love to hear from you. Please make sure to only send your own, unpublished work. I will not accept previously published work for this project. Please make sure that longer pieces are no more than 1,000 words. If your piece is chosen, I will need non-exclusive rights to what you submit and I will pay you $50 on acceptance. All rights revert back to the author upon publication. I will also send you a copy of the print version of the book when it...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Merry Magic and the color red Note: Membership (free) is required to submit to the magazine. There is also a monthly $20,000 contest however a monthly paid membership is required to submit to it. Theme Info: Write a story involving magic, merriment, and the color red. Is magic real? Perhaps, if you know where to look. You can find it in the twinkling eyes of a smiling stranger, in the gleeful laugh of playful children, and in any dish cooked with love. When families and communities get together and celebrate the holidays, well, you can taste the magic in the air. Ah, but you may be interested in more… practical applications. How does Santa make it to each house in a single night? How do elves penetrate locked doors to leave presents in shoes? Which wards do you draw on the mantle, and what is the proper wording to summon Krampus? Blizzards have awesome power. Glades of silent, snow-covered pines hold many secrets. Enchantments lay on warm-glowing villages in the night. Magic is everywhere. You just have to look. This contest invites you to explore the wonder of magic with an eye to the festive, whatever that means to you. Mystery, fantasy, romance, crime. All genres are welcome. Submissions close December 31st at 11:59 pm EST. More details below. Submission Info Anyone can submit work to the magazine. It’s free. We don’t believe publications should charge authors to be published. However, we have a specific submission process you must adhere to in order to have your work considered. Our submissions window opens on the first and closes at midnight on the final day of each month, just like our contest. The theme of each issue of the magazine is the same...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $25 and a contributor's copy Theme: Empowering fat characters within the horror community Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology Edited by Sonora Taylor and Nico Bell SUBMISSIONS: September 15 - December 31, 2021 Publication Date: Summer 2022 Send submissions to [email protected] Description: It’s time to reclaim the “f” word. Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology is dedicated to empowering fat characters within the horror community. Give us your rage over weigh-ins, your detest over detox cleanses, your rebellion against diet culture. Give us bad-ass characters who own their size and never apologize for taking up space. This is a horror anthology, so be sure to have your character in some kind of horror story--but, we are open to what that story is! We welcome haunted houses, ghost stories, creature features, splatterpunk, serial killers, witches, monsters, you name it. Just make sure your story features at least one fat protagonist. Fat people are often degraded in literature, especially in horror. It’s disheartening to see someone’s natural body be portrayed as disgusting and inherently bad. Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology aims to give that trope the heartiest “f*ck you” that our big selves can muster. So go on, send us what you’ve got! Submission guidelines: Authors at any stage in their career are welcome to submit. We want to encourage submissions from authors who are women, BIPOC, queer, trans, disabled, and/or neurodivergent; but all are welcome to submit! Stories must have at least one fat protagonist, ideally the main character. While they can be anti-heroes, their fatness must not be part of what makes them evil. We want this to be a diverse and inclusive anthology. We welcome and encourage stories with characters who are queer, non-cis, non-white, disabled, and/or neurodivergent. Story length: 4000-6000 words Payment: $25 flat rate,...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $25 and a contributor's copy Theme: Short stories from people of color, that embody the dark magic, creepy wonder and beautiful horror of the fairy world! Tales of the Dark Fae Open Submission Window: October 15, 2021 through December 31, 2021 Theme: Colors in Darkness is seeking short stories from people of color, that embody the dark magic, creepy wonder and beautiful horror of the fairy world! Lend us your tales of urban goblins, beautiful but deadly sprites or unruly but cute magical creatures. I’m talking evil mushrooms that have appetites for bad children, a were-toad stepmother whose disguise can be seen by everyone except her husband or a faun prince who uses his charms to ruin lives, we want to see your most diverse and dark tales from the fairy/fae world! Submission Guidelines: For the third Colors in Darkness anthology, we are seeking, thirteen well-written, diverse tales of horror, paranormal and dark fantasy. This anthology will be published in May 2022, as a part of CID’s celebration of Black Fae Day however, stories from all cultures will be considered! No stories that contain rape, or the abuse of minors will be read. Violence and sex are acceptable but should be important to the plot. ▪ Submit your work to ( [email protected] ) with ‘CID Dark Fae: Story Title_Your Last Name’ in the subject line. Attach your story as a DOC or DOCX file. Submissions sent in the body of the email will not be read. ▪ Stories should be in New Times Roman font with 1.5 spacing and First Line Indentation for new paragraphs. ▪ Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email stating your name, pen name (if using one), story title with word count, a brief summary, address, website...

Deadline: January 1st, 2022 Payment: USD $130, and 2 print copies of the book. Theme: Nonfiction, true crime accounts of the “famous and infamous.” Writers Call for Submissions: True Crime/Nonfiction THE BEST NEW TRUE CRIME STORIES: CRIMES OF THE FAMOUS & INFAMOUS I’m seeking original true crime stories for the seventh volume in my true crime franchise. What I’m looking for: Nonfiction, true crime accounts of the “famous and infamous.” Criminal subjects can be from the performing and literary arts (including actors, musicians and composers, radio and TV personalities, authors, journalists, artists, etc.), politicians, sports figures, members of royalty, business entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and so forth. Criminal subjects must already be in the public eye when committing their crimes, not made famous after the fact. Stories can take place anywhere in the world and can cover a wide range of criminal activity/historical time frames. First-person accounts are especially welcome from writers with a connection to their cases. Add something new to the story, a different viewpoint or angle, particularly if your chosen case has received extensive coverage. Material must be meticulously fact-checked and free of errors before submission, including names, dates, locations, etc. Do not send your material until you have crosschecked your facts with several sources (don’t just rely on one source). This is a nonfiction book; everything must be 100% correct. To get an idea of the quality and variety of material I accept, please refer to the previous books in The Best New True Crime Stories series. Criminal subjects already covered in these volumes cannot be considered. Original material only; no reprints or fiction. Important: Writers must contact me in the first instance with a pitch for their story idea—a brief paragraph is sufficient. (Note that acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance/publication of material.) Word count: 4,000-7,000 words One-time payment per story: USD $130,...

Deadline: January 1st, 2022 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Victorian England II If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 77.) Victorian England II; deadline 1st January 2022 !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story...

Deadline: January 1st, 2022 Payment: Royalties Theme: Starships and their crews, heroic captains, villainous alien armadas etc. TRUE STORY: A few years ago at the back of every single Star Trek novel, there was a physical address for any aspiring writer to send off their own Star Trek manuscripts for publication consideration! As the years have gone on, the laws have tightened up and characters and names have been strictly copyrighted. So what does this have to do with our space opera call, you wonder? Well simple – we’re going to put out an anthology for all of you who always wanted to write an episode inspired by Star Trek, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers or The Orville but missed those days of golden opportunity. If you enjoy the thinking man’s drama of the iterations of Trek or the pulpy exploration elements of say Flash Gordon or even the more comedic chops of something like The Orville, this is your time to shine. We look forward to reading your tales inspired by the space opera greats (including Battlestar Galactica, Firefly etc.), just make sure your story is set in space and that the universe, setting, characters and names are original and completely your own creations. Title: Space Treks Theme: science fiction, space opera, pulp, drama Word count: 2,000 to 12,000 words Submission opens: OPEN Submission closes: January 2022 (or when full) What we would like to see: Starships and their crews, heroic captains, villainous alien armadas etc. Things of the hard pass variety: Horror, rape / excessive gore Compensation: Royalty Split Eligibility: Open to all Multiple submissions: Yes Reprints: Yes Simultaneous submissions: No   At Starry Eyed Press we strive to share the best possible version of your stories with the world. Therefore, all accepted material will receive professional in depth editing and formatting. If you are uncomfortable with this, please do not submit to us....