Events

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: $.03 per word and a contributors copy Theme: Short stories based around the theme of “mad science.” For Greater Than His Nature, I’m looking for short stories based around the theme of “mad science.” Cackling Victorian scientists, giant atomic monsters, and Cronenbergian body horror are all fair game. I’m even open to the right piece of nonfiction for this one. I’m especially interested to include stories from disabled and chronically ill writers. You don’t need to self-identify if you don’t want to or give me any information you don’t feel comfortable with; just know that, if you’ve got some medical trauma you need to work through with monsters and mayhem, I’m here for you. The Specifics pulp, bizarro, and transgressive writing are all a-okay; anything that could be a right-wing talking point is emphatically not to be clear, I’m saying that misogyny, sexism, racism, ableism, and/or homophobic and transphobic bullshit will not be tolerated pro-capitalism, pro-cop stances are also going to be a (very) hard sell no AI-generated anything up to 10,000 words, but between 2K – 6K is the sweet spot simultaneous submissions are cool, but please only send me one story per anthology at a time; if you’re rejected, feel free to try again submissions for both Greater Than His Nature and Open All Night will be open until June 30, 2023; I’ll try to respond to all stories within a month of receipt payment for accepted stories is $.03 per word and a paperback of the anthology you’re in the pay-rate will go up if we hit the stretch goals for our Kickstarter by submitting, you’re acknowledging acceptance of the above Kickstarter contingencies send your story as an attachment to electricalsweater gmail com, with the subject line Submission, questions and queries go to carnivalatomic gmail com Via: Atomic Carnival Books.

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Horror and fantasy that deals with the theme of "Open All Night" For Open All Night, I want horror and fantasy (and all and any assorted sub- and cross-genres) based around the theme of “open all night.” While not strictly necessary, I’ll definitely be looking for retail and service industry-based stories. Give me graveyard shifts, overnight inventories gone bad, and haunted diners, shit so sordid and spooky that even the most seasoned of waitresses can’t handle what’s happening. No nonfiction here, but if you want to deviate from the above genres, a little or a lot, that’s cool with me. I’m never going to turn down Clerks set in the commissary of a spaceship. Just make sure it sticks to the theme. The Specifics pulp, bizarro, and transgressive writing are all a-okay; anything that could be a right-wing talking point is emphatically not to be clear, I’m saying that misogyny, sexism, racism, ableism, and/or homophobic and transphobic bullshit will not be tolerated pro-capitalism, pro-cop stances are also going to be a (very) hard sell no AI-generated anything up to 10,000 words, but between 2K – 6K is the sweet spot simultaneous submissions are cool, but please only send me one story per anthology at a time; if you’re rejected, feel free to try again submissions for both Greater Than His Nature and Open All Night will be open until June 30, 2023; I’ll try to respond to all stories within a month of receipt payment for accepted stories is $.03 per word and a paperback of the anthology you’re in the pay-rate will go up if we hit the stretch goals for our Kickstarter by submitting, you’re acknowledging acceptance of the above Kickstarter contingencies send your story as an attachment to electricalsweater gmail com, with the subject line Submission, questions...

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: £10 Theme: witches, or a witch All submissions must include witches, or a witch, as the main theme of the piece. Each author may submit up to three pieces for consideration. We accept short stories of up to 5,000 words and poetry of any length. Please email your submission as a Word document to [email protected] Submissions will close at midnight GMT on the 30th of June 2023. The list of successful authors will be published on our website no later than 31st of July 2023, so please do keep an eye out. Successful writers will receive a one off payment of £10. Writers will retain all copyrights for their submission/s.   Via: West Avenue Publishing.

Submission Window: May 15th to June 30th, 2023 Payment: 5 cents per word plus contributor’s copies Theme: Lucy Westenra/Bloofer Lady Issue 3: Lucy Westenra/Bloofer Lady: (To be published November/2023) What’s your take on Miss Lucy? Innocent and pure? Promiscuous Tease? How about her time as the Bloofer Lady? You can romance us or scare us, just be sure to intrigue us. Submissions open May 15, 2023-June 30, 2023. Submissions received earlier will be read and considered but will not be responded to until the window opens. We like stories that feel like they could be canon, but we also enjoy fun alternate takes and pastiche. Prequels, sequels, updates, divergent timelines - unleash your creative powers of darkness and show us something exciting . Stories should be 1500-5000 words. Poetry will be considered, but is not necessarily sought (We are hoping to have an all poetry issue sometime in the future). Compensation will be .05/word plus contributor’s copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify us immediately if accepted elsewhere. Some stories may be chosen for the website, but not the publication. Please adhere to the Shunn format - https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ Please only send .doc, .docx, or .pdf Filename and email subject should be - “lastname_title_renfield” or “lastname_title_lucy” Include short 3rd person bio Email story submissions to: [email protected] Cover Art Submissions What we want Eye catching design. Think pulp paperbacks, Basil Gogos’ Famous Monsters covers, EC Horror Comics, Vintage Movie Posters. Originality. Homage is fun, plagiarism is not. Please make sure you own all aspects of your work. Knowledge and Love of all things Dracula. Hide some Easter eggs in there. Make it so that we keep coming back to find more to enjoy. Keep it clean. Sensual is fine. Erotica, not so much. Check out our previously published Covers. Parameters Format is...

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: $20 Theme: Fantasy short stories that explore names Theme: What’s in a name? Is it a simple collection of symbols and sounds, or something more? A name is one of the first things we are given in this world, and is the first thing we give to others. But names hold power. They can define and divide, unite and reimagine. A name can truly change your fate. This collection of Fantasy short stories will explore names and the power they hold over us. Featuring stories from the Worldsmyths community, these tales will show you new worlds and open your mind to the power of names. What We Are Looking For: Stories that make the heart sing and the coldest soul melt, stories with exciting characters that make us feel for them. See our previous anthology wherever books are sold to get an idea of what we like. NOTE – Please send your most polished work, stories that have a clear beginning, middle, and end, where something changes by the end of the piece. Submission Period: Now to June 30th at 11:59pm EST Length: 2000-4000 words (+/- 250 wordS) Genre: Speculative fiction Pay: $20USD/story Rights: Exclusive right for a year, reprint right after Delivery Method: These stories will be serialized and released on several sites before being bundled on Amazon Reprints Accepted: Yes Simultaneous Submissions: No Who Can Submit: Anyone Where to Submit: See #publisher-info on Discord for the Google Form Via: Wordsmyths.

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: 3 cents per word Theme: A look at the south of the United States through the lens of speculative fiction B Cubed press is proud to announce our latest Open Call:  Alternative Truths. Southern Edition: Bless their Hearts (working title). Edited by K.G.  Anderson and Bob Brown and the next in B Cubed Press’s best-selling Alternative Truths series. This book will examine the South, a place where politicians and their followers compete to peg the outrage meter. Why—and how—are they turning the United States into a cauldron of bigotry and hate? They are banning books. They are controlling free speech (“Don’t Say Gay”). They have placed bounties on abortion seekers. They have declared war on Mickey Mouse. They promote state takeovers of local prosecutors’ offices, election boards, college governing boards, and school curricula. They think no one is too young or too unbalanced to have a gun and are In full retreat on gun-safety laws. They would make your gender identity a crime. It goes on and on. This book will look at the mindset behind these and other efforts to bring back the Old South, a mythical place and time when everyone knew their place. We want you give us stories that speak to the consequences of such a mindset and where it may be taking us as individuals and  as a culture. What, if left unfettered, would they make of America, the world, and the future. And more important, how will we fight to stop them.  What we are looking for: We are accepting stories, essays, and poems. When you write, go deep. You won’t sell us a story just by mocking the Right or by being Left. We want thoughtful looks at the issues. Hate doesn’t work for us. We like character-driven stories. We like...

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Payment: $15 Theme: Speculative fiction, primarily horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Note: Reprints welcome Formatting Guidelines This is proving to be a recurring problem, so we're putting it up front. Please, for all our sakes, read this next part carefully. All submissions should be sent by e-mail (no letters or telephone calls please) to [email protected]. Below are some formatting rules to help us process your submission more quickly. EMAIL AND COVER LETTERS Email is accepted in both text and HTML formats. When submitting, please put this in the subject line: Submission: (Title) - (First and Last name) Include the following in the body of the email and in the attached submission: Your name Name to use on the story (byline), if different Your preferred email address Your mailing address The story's title The story's word count You may also include a cover letter in the body of the email. We get a lot of strange stuff in cover letters, so if you're unsure of what goes in them (and especially what doesn't) please refer to these cover letter tips: How to write a cover letter | What not to put in a cover letter by Jed Hartman SUBMISSION FORMATTING We ONLY accept submissions as attachments! All stories submitted as an attachment must follow standard manuscript formatting. We will no longer read any story not properly formatted. (And we much prefer Courier New to Times New Roman) For explanations and tips on what SMF is and how to do it with word processing programs, please see this article. Please send your submission as an attachment in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Rich Test Format (.rtf) only. Other formats, such as Works, WordPerfect, Open Office, etc., have proven difficult to open. Please note that we no longer accept "inline" submssions; that is, submissions with the stories pasted...

Submission Window: June 1st - 30th, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and...

Submission Window: June 1st-30th, 2023 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Changing the world, one story at a time Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your...

Submission Window: June 1st - 30th, 2023 Payment: 1 cent CAD per word Theme: Horror inspired by the Tarot: Pentacles Welcome to our four-book series, dedicated to horror inspired by the Tarot.  Does the story have to be about Tarot Cards... NO. Think cups, knives, wands, and pentacles. We are looking for the theme to be the element, not necessarily the card itself, although we would love to read that as well.  Chalice - Pentacles - Blades - Wands ​ **Patron Members get an extended submission window** ​ March 1- 31: Chalice  (Patron dates Feb 21 - April 7) June 1- 30: Pentacles (Patron dates May 23 - July 7) Sept 1- 30: Blades/Swords  (Patron dates August 24 - October 7) Dec 1- 31: Wands (Patron dates November 23 - January 7) ​ ​ Each book will have an overriding theme of a Tarot suit and be between 50k - 60k words in length. They will be stand-alone books but will make up a four-book series. ​ ​​Word count: 1500 - 7000 firm. Payment: Flat rate payment ¢1 per word CAD after approved edits. Reprints? No ​Multiple Submission? No 💀 Only one submission per author per theme/quarter.  ​Formatting: Please use 12 pt Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, set auto-indent new paragraphs. Add the story title to the top of the manuscript. Do not include your name or email in the manuscript. These stories will be read "blind" by our reading team. Title your manuscript "Title of Story - Theme" for example "Borderline Nuisance - Tarot Wands"Please make sure the title of the story and the title on the manuscript match. ​ How to submit?Submit via the Form - Which will open on the start of each quarter. (A button will appear) IF you have issues with the form, please email your...