Events

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: Contributors Copy and $40 for their 3,000 to 5,000 word story (Payment dependent on Kickstarter) Theme: Action-packed Western horror with enough chills to give the skeletons in your closet the shivers. Cryptids & Chaos  •  Monsters & Mayhem  • An Anthology of the Weird Wild West Edited by Lyndon Perry Writers’ Guidelines Title and Publisher: Monster Fight at the O.K. Corral published by Tule Fog Press Fundraising Platform and Target Date: Kickstarter Campaign and Publication: March, 2023 Theme of Antho: Action-packed Western horror with enough chills to give the skeletons in your closet the shivers. All kinds of monsters, aliens, cryptids, and creatures of the dark welcome. I’m going for darker themes (PG-16+) and a bit disturbing (but no torture, erotica, or excessive gore).  Storytelling: Your story should go somewhere. I’m looking for solid plotting, intriguing characters, and weird but accessible settings/scenarios. Avoid purple prose or esoterica. I want a complete story with a firm ending in about 4,000 words (range: 3k to 5k words). Exceptions possible. Acceptable Tropes: I’m looking for a variety of creative tales from the horror genre – but set in the Old West. Or Modern West. Surprise me. Trope examples include classic ghost or campfire stories, an ancient evil, the abandoned building, the stalking monster, ‘cult of doom’ or pacts with the devil, cowboys vs dinosaurs, outlaw vs sheriff, hero seeks vengeance, tech goes wrong (Westworld-ish), even pastiches of public domain characters. Sky’s the limit. Story Style: I like tried and true storytelling, with a focus on characters and plot. So…pulpy? But try not to simply retell a classic monster story. Attempt something different or slightly off – i.e., if the storytelling is accessible and entertaining. Not open to socially/politically agenda-driven stories. Please limit vulgarities (no blasphemy or f-bombs). Table...

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: $10 Theme: Body horror Submission Call Details Ooze is an anthology of body horror of all types. Each story should be around 2,000 words or less. Payment is $10 per story and an electronic copy of the book. There are four invited authors: Judith Sonnet Rowland Bercy Jr. Lor Gislason Cat Voleur Submissions are open to any author, published or unpublished. The requirements are as follows. - Around 2,000 words or less - Double-spaced, reasonable font, name and contact info on the first page, word count included - Please avoid stories of sexual assault. They will result in a pass. - Sexual horror in general is a hard sell but not totally excluded. - No reprints. - In general, I am looking for fun, unique horror that will make people cheer, gag, cry, or otherwise keep turning pages. - Everyone is welcome regardless of ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or anything else. Submit to: [email protected] Subject: Ooze Submission Questions may be sent to the above address, but please read requirements carefully first. Deadline: December 31 All submissions will receive a response by the end of January. Via: Ruth Anna Evans.

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: $1 Theme: Drabbles Valentine’s Day / Love / Couples. NB: Doesn’t have to be about Valentine’s Day specifically. $1 USD per acceptance. Up to 10 acceptances per pen name. First three to 10 get a $10 Amazon voucher. First to 10 also gets a paperback copy of the final product. One email, one drabble. We won’t look at submissions with more than one drabble, as we don’t have time to extrapolate them into the read process. Blind submissions for the actual manuscript, please. Reprints are OK, but we’ll have no space for “First Published” acknowledgements, so please check your obligations with previous publishers first (if your first publisher is BHP, then you automatically have permission, as long as it wasn’t published in the last 12 months). No simultaneous submissions, please. Include a bio of no more than 15 words, plus one link << this is really important. Don’t include links to retailers (ie Amazon) as the books get rejected when they have retailer links. If you want to include one, we suggest you set up something like linktr.ee (here’s ours: linktr.ee/blackharepress) or bio.site (here’s ours:  bio.site/blackharepress) Theme: Valentine’s Day / Love / Couples. NB: Doesn’t have to be about Valentine’s Day specifically. Genre: Must be dark, but any genre, including (not an exhaustive list): horror, science fiction, LGBTQ+, romance/ steamy/erotic horror, cosmic, speculative, fantasy. NB: No more “human hearts as gifts in chocolate boxes” tropes, please. Submit to: [email protected]. Will be available in: Paperback, hardcover (black & white and colour editions), and digital. Publication Date: circa February 2023 Via: Black Hare Press.

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: 0.08 USD / word and Royalties Theme: Mixing art with magic Art is everywhere. Our drive and ability to create for the sake of creativity defines us as a species and enriches our cultures, our societies, our lives. The best of these works of art, from novels to paintings to statues to music, are imbued with a special kind of magic. But when that magic is literal—when Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray ages instead of the actual man, and Mozart's Magic Flute plays its protective song—art takes on a whole new meaning. In ARTIFICE & CRAFT, we invite writers of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other speculative fiction to spin their own tales of works of art that have been enchanted, hexed, charmed, or cursed. Edited by Edmund R. Schubert & David B. Coe, ARTIFICE & CRAFT will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each. Anchor authors include: Alex Bledsoe, Julie E. Czerneda, Alethea Kontis, James Maxey, C.E. Murphy, Adam Stemple, and Catherynne M. Valente ARTIFICE & CRAFT: Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC will accept submissions to its anthology, ARTIFICE & CRAFT, from the moment the Kickstarter funds until December 31st, 2022. This is a one-time open call; there will be no follow-up open calls. Follow us on Twitter (@ZNBLLC) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/zombiesneedbrainsllc) to keep track of the Kickstarter and the open call. Stories must be submitted in electronic format through the submissions management system Moksha here: http://zombiesneedbrains.moksha.io. Word count: up to 7500 words. No exceptions. Pay rate: 0.08 USD / word (SFWA professional rate), plus royalties for anthologies (see below) Simultaneous submissions: No. Multiple submissions: Up to three per open call period; please submit each separately. You do not need to wait for one to be rejected before submitting another. “Bonus” submissions will...

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: 0.08 USD / word and royalties Theme: Fantasy and science fiction stories told from, or through, or with, the dragon's point of view Since Grendel and McCaffrey's Pern, readers have been enthralled with the magic and mystique of dragons. But it's rare that we get to see the world through the dragon's perspective. In DRAGONESQUE, you'll experience an anthology of fantasy and science fiction stories told from, or through, or with, the dragon's point of view. High fantasy, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, magical realism, and of course science fiction...DRAGONESQUE will feature a wealth of genres that even a dragon would be tempted to horde. Edited by S.C. Butler & Joshua Palmatier, DRAGONESQUE will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.  Anchor authors include: Barbara Ashford Gerald Brandt, David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson, Esther M. Friesner, Auston Habershaw, Gini Koch & Bebe Bayliss, and Jean Marie Ward DRAGONESQUE: Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC will accept submissions to its anthology, DRAGONESQUE, from the moment the Kickstarter funds until December 31st, 2022. This is a one-time open call; there will be no follow-up open calls. Follow us on Twitter (@ZNBLLC) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/zombiesneedbrainsllc) to keep track of the Kickstarter and the open call. Stories must be submitted in electronic format through the submissions management system Moksha here: http://zombiesneedbrains.moksha.io. Word count: up to 7500 words. No exceptions. Pay rate: 0.08 USD / word (SFWA professional rate), plus royalties for anthologies (see below) Simultaneous submissions: No. Multiple submissions: Up to three per open call period; please submit each separately. You do not need to wait for one to be rejected before submitting another. “Bonus” submissions will be deleted unread. Reprints: No. If a story has been previously rejected by the online magazine ZNB...

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: 0.08 USD / word plus royalties Theme: Unique science fiction and fantasy takes on games, game playing, and games in culture. Games played in fiction often symbolize more than winning and losing. Games represent risk and reward, wealth and class, strategy and blind fortune. In science fiction and fantasy, games can be matters of cosmic importance and of literal life and death—whether the idle pastimes of Star Trek’s 3D chess, the all-consuming TTRPG of the Gamearth trilogy, a frenetic quest as in Ready Player One, the lethal reality TV shows of The Hunger Games, or choosing a new interstellar emperor as in The Player of Games. In GAME ON!, we’re looking for unique science fiction and fantasy takes on games, game playing, and games in culture. A game or games—real or imagined—should be central to the story in some fashion. Please note anything considered a ‘sport’ (i.e.: baseball, soccer, rollerball, etc.) won’t be a fit for this anthology. Games used in stories must also not infringe on real-world trademarked names or third-party copyrights. Edited by Stephen Kotowych & Tony Pi, GAME ON! will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each. Anchor authors and their selected games include: Eric Choi (video gambling), Aliette de Bodard (mạt chược/Vietnamese mahjong), James Alan Gardner (homebrew kids game compilation/solitaire), Ed Greenwood (dragon social games), Cat Rambo (Euchre), Sean Williams (hide-and-seek), and Melissa Yuan-Innes (haunted house game) GAME ON!: Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC will accept submissions to its anthology, GAME ON!, from the moment the Kickstarter funds until December 31st, 2022. This is a one-time open call; there will be no follow-up open calls. Follow us on Twitter (@ZNBLLC) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/zombiesneedbrainsllc) to keep track of the Kickstarter and the open call. Stories must be submitted in electronic format through...

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: $5 and royalties Theme: Speculative Fiction stories featuring a Human/Alien first contact that starts optomistically, but then, well, things happen. Note: Reprints Welcome I hereby announce that submissions are open for Yay! They're Here! We are looking for Speculative Fiction stories featuring a Human/Alien first contact that starts optomistically, but then, well, things happen. Remeber that scene in Mars Attacks where the Humans enthusiatically welcome the Martians? Or in Monsters vs. Aliens, where the Human president goes up to greet the aliems? Or teh opening to Mork and Mindy? How do things go wrong with the encounter, and how can your characters make it right? Or can they? Length: the target range is between 2000-6000 words. Deadline: December 31, 2022. Target date for publication is June 2023. Pay: $5, with a share of royalties, and the chance to publicize your own website and other works in the biography and in our newsletter. Payments will be made by Paypal, unless other arrangements are made, and will be sent upon receipt of a signed contract. We welcome new authors, and will work with all authors to bring their stories into the vision of the book. The final draft will be sent to the author for final approval. Guidelines: 1) Submit your story as an *.rtf file attached to your cover letter. (Go to "Save As" and click on Rich Text Format or rtf.) 2) One-inch margins, double-spaced text. 3) NO TABS! Please use the paragraph formatting tool to indent the paragraphs, and either use CENTER to place your section dividers, or just leave them on the left side. 4) NO page numbers or other headers or footers on the pages! 5) Mark your italics with an underscore before and after the italics. Otherwise, your italics will not show up in the final...

Deadline: December 31st, 2022 Payment: 0.08 USD / word plus royalties Theme: Stories in the future where humanity has embraced the Earth and learned to co-exist with it Imagine a Solarpunk future where societies value cooperation over consumerism, where technology solves ecological challenges rather than creating them. SOLAR FLARE will envision a future where humanity has embraced the Earth and learned to co-exist with it, not simply on it, where sustainability is a way of life, not merely a catch phrase. Join us as these stellar authors share their visions of a hopeful tomorrow. Edited by Patricia Bray & Joshua Palmatier, SOLAR FLARE will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.  Anchor authors include: Chaz Brenchley, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin, Kristine Smith, and Lauren C. Teffeau SOLAR FLARE: Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC will accept submissions to its anthology, SOLAR FLARE, from the moment the Kickstarter funds until December 31st, 2022. This is a one-time open call; there will be no follow-up open calls. Follow us on Twitter (@ZNBLLC) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/zombiesneedbrainsllc) to keep track of the Kickstarter and the open call. Stories must be submitted in electronic format through the submissions management system Moksha here: http://zombiesneedbrains.moksha.io. Word count: up to 7500 words. No exceptions. Pay rate: 0.08 USD / word (SFWA professional rate), plus royalties for anthologies (see below) Simultaneous submissions: No. Multiple submissions: Up to three per open call period; please submit each separately. You do not need to wait for one to be rejected before submitting another. “Bonus” submissions will be deleted unread. Reprints: No. If a story has been previously rejected by the online magazine ZNB Presents, it is permitted to submit that story to a ZNB Anthology call, like...

Deadline: January 31st, 2023 Payment: 5-12 US cents per word Theme: Stories will be set in the fictional comic book universe of the Absolute Power tabletop role-playing game Note: Not a huge fan of how they determine the payment scale but as it is rare that we see superhero markets open I wanted to include this one. Dyskami Publishing Company is seeking short story submissions for our upcoming superhero fiction anthology Path of Absolute Power. Stories will be set in the fictional comic book universe of the Absolute Power tabletop role-playing game (the second edition of the Silver Age Sentinels RPG) and is a thematic follow-up sequel to the Path of the Just (2003) and Path of the Bold (2004) anthologies published by Guardians of Order. This anthology will contain traditional short story fiction and is not a LitRPG or GameLit work, however; the powerful, dramatic narratives should be decoupled from role-playing game mechanics. Stories should explore the actions of heroes, villains, and neutrals as they navigate the enticement of great power in a world of normal people. The complexities of using superpowers in a mundane world are perhaps best described in the opening sentences of Book One of the Absolute Power role-playing game: The Silver Age has come and gone. Superpowers now bring fear as often as comfort, and shades of grey cast the world in shadow, muting the shining colours of yesteryear. Villains have become stronger, and their influence is felt in every nation. The need for heroes is greater than ever. Can you balance superhuman gifts with humility, compassion, and hope? Do you have what it takes to resist the ever-present lure of Absolute Power? The game title “Absolute Power” is not intended to glorify raw might or some concept of necessary corruption. Absolute Power is a warning against the...

Submission Window: December 1st - 31st, 2022 Payment: Drabbles and Flash - £5, 1001 to 4000 words - £10, 4001 to 8000 words - £15 Theme: All forms of speculative fiction that move the reader Note: Only publishes creators from under represented and/or marginalized communities. WE ONLY PUBLISH CREATORS FROM UNDER REPRESENTED AND/OR MARGINALISED BACKGROUNDS AND/OR COMMUNITIES We don't ask for any proof, we take this on trust with the expectation that anyone not from a marginalised background or underrepresented community wouldn't take up the space of someone who is. We ask you to consider this before submitting. QUARTERLY ONLINE ANTHOLOGY: BRIEF We’re looking for stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something. Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. We want it all.  All genres, styles and themes will be considered and we especially love stories that are outside the box in their telling. Ambiguous endings? Non-linear storytelling? Antagonist’s point-of-view? A story told in just one scene? We love it all. SUBMISSIONS: OPEN Quarterly Online Anthology Submission Schedule: March 1st - 31st (Summer Issue) July 1st - 31st (Autumn Issue) September 1st - 30th (Winter Issue) December 1st - 31st (Spring Issue) ​ we do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events SUBMISSION GUIDELINES - ONLINE ONLY These are the guidelines for our Quarterly Online Anthology. For more information on print anthologies go to Print Anthologies How to submit: Please submit via the form at the bottom of this page. If you have any problems using the form please email us for assistance. Who should submit: Please ONLY SUBMIT IF: you are aged 18 or over you belong to an underrepresented or marginalised community. These include, but are not limited to: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled people....