Events

Taking Submissions: Cowboy Up

WolfSinger Publications

  Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: $20 Theme: Rodeo-themed, any genre We are looking for stories up to 7500 words in length that feature the sport of Rodeo. They can be in any genre as long as the sport of Rodeo is a key part of the story. Stories must revolve around the sport, the riders or the animal athletes involved in Rodeo and while being realistic to the sport must also portray it in a favorable light. We do hope to receive stories that cover all of the events in Rodeo: Bareback Riding, Saddle Bronc Riding, Bull Riding, Tie-Down Roping, Steer Wresting, Team Roping, Steer Roping, Barrel Racing and Ladies Breakaway Roping. Stories can also feature Bull Fighters, Barrel Men, Pick Up Men, the medical teams (human and veterinarian) – or anyone involved in the sport. Seventy-Five percent of all proceeds from this anthology will be donated to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund - an organization that provides help to injured riders and their families. Break the story-writing rules if you want. If you use a tried-and-true plotline, twist it in an original and interesting way. Original stories are preferred. Query for reprints. ALL writers are encouraged to submit. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro with years of credits, a beginner just starting out, or a teenager - please feel free to send the editor a story. In your cover email, please tell the editor a bit about yourself and a quick one-line synopsis of the story. Include genre. If experimental, please explain the type or how so the editor doesn’t edit out the form or reject it out of hand. Thank you. In the Subject line please put Submission: Dragon Hoard: Title of your story: Your name. Attach as a .rft file, please send to: [email protected] Submissions Open:  Mar...

Taking Submissions: Flashpoint Science Fiction 2024 Open Window #2

Flash Point Science Fiction

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: $0.02 per word Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between Story Guidelines Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length. Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short. We here at FPSF are partial to flash fiction and want to see the flash market grow. So as much as it pains us, please take your 10,000 word tour de force elsewhere. We’re not looking for the next Brandon Sanderson. (Unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson, in which case we’d be delighted!)   What we’re looking for: -Fantasy (all kinds—epic, adventure, contemporary, urban, grimdark, fairy tale, magical realism, myths and legends, etc.) -Science Fiction (all kinds—hard, space opera, military, near future, science fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian, etc.) -Slipstream (make it as weird as you want, so long as it works) -Seasonal (we love stories with holiday and/or seasonal themes, but please submit AT LEAST 3 months in advance of the relevant occasion) -Anything that makes us laugh, cry, think, or smile. What we aren’t looking for: -Horror—it can be spooky or menacing, but we’re not a horror market, so the fright factor should not be the primary appeal. DARK fantasy and sci-fi, however, are welcome. -Literary fiction—this is a genre market, so there needs to be an SF&F element, however slight. -Gratuitous sex or violence—we’re big fans of Love Death + Robots, but don’t be that guy. -Fanfic—original concepts only, please. We know there was a lot going on in Hobbiton while Frodo was away, but that’s not our property and it’s not yours either. -Stories previously published in a different language. Submission Specs In terms of how your story should look, we recommend you read William Shunn’s Proper Manuscript Format. This is the...

Taking Submissions: GabaGhoul – A Mafia Horror Anthology

October Nights Press

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Horror-themed Mafia stories October Nights Press will be seeking submissions for “GabaGhoul: A Mafia Horror Anthology”. This anthology will merge the thrills and chills of horror with the dark underworld and dealings of the mafia. A hitman haunted by past contracts? A boss who dabbles in the dark arts? A ghastly horror lurking in the shadows that chills the most hardened capo to the bone? There are so many themes to explore and organized crime groups from around the world. We are accepting stories from all horror sub-genres. Slow burn, splatter, erotica, extreme, etc are all welcomed so long as they marry horror with the mafia. Guidelines: - Stories should have a minimum word count of 3,000. Payment caps at 5,000 words. - Stories must be horror and mafia themed, including mafia famalies and crime organizations from all over the world. - No reprints - Simultaneous submissions are fine but please let me know - Absolutely no AI-written or AI-assisted stories. Seriously, you’ll be whacked. Payment - One physical author copy (Domestic shipping only)* - Ebook copy - 3¢ per word payment up to 5,000 words; payment made upon acceptance of final edited story * For international authors, physical book options will be discussed between editor and author. Deadline Submissions will be accepted until July 31, 2024 How to Submit Please send your completed story as a word document to [email protected] with the subject line: “GabaGhoul Submission: .” For any inquiries or further information, please contact me at [email protected]. Estimated publication date will be 4th Quarter 2024. Write me a story I can’t refuse. Buona fortuna! Mark C. Scioneaux Editor/Godfather Via: October Nights Press.

Taking Submissions: New Myths Second 2024 Window

New Myths

Submission Window: June 1st -July 31st, 2024 Payment: 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $50 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Book reviews for $50. Art for $80. Theme: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading past issues is the best way to know if your submission is a good fit for NewMyths.com. We like to balance each quarterly issue between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works. Our readers are not fixated on a single style or tone or genre, but prefer a quality sample of the field. Think tapas or dim sum. Maximum length is 10,000 words. Please keep submissions PG or cleaner. Submission Period New Myths considers submissions between January 1-February 28 and June 1-July 31.  Artwork, requests for book reviews, and other correspondence can be submitted at any time.  Book Reviews NewMyths publishes original book reviews. No reprints, please. Reviews should be between 500-1,000 words. We prefer reviews of novels published within the past year but also consider reviews of older works, and reviews of poetry collections, anthologies, and nonfiction works related to fantasy and science fiction. Pay is $50. Send inquiries to Candy at [email protected].   NewMyths publishes several book reviews per year, and we’d like to publish more. Unfortunately, with several thousand submissions per year, our hardworking editors don’t have a lot of time to review novels. If you are an author, agent or publisher, and have a novel or other work related to fantasy and science fiction that you would like to have reviewed, send an inquiry to Scott at [email protected]. If you don’t receive an answer, please assume that we simply don’t have the staff to review it. A solution might be to find someone who can write a review and...

Taking Submissions: The Quarterly Journal – W3IRD

Quarter Press

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: $5 Theme: Something a little... W3IRD A Literary Journal with Some Art, Comics, and Analysis Thrown in for Good Measure As Quarter Press continues to grow, we’re adding another coin to our pocketful of change. We want to offer a space for shorter works to mingle with art and other bits of nonsense, so we bring you The Quarter(ly): It just makes cents. Issues are themed; however, we consider all interpretations. 2024’s Themes and Deadlines: W3IRD (July 31) ~ W3IRD - July 31 - At this point, the “Weird” themes have become some of my favorite issues, so let’s keep it weird with a third installment! What’ve you got to show us? Stories and / or Poems For Stories: We’re open to micro works all the way up to 10,000 words. Just keep two things in mind: We want to be engaged and the submission must be completed (no pitches, please!) For Poems: We’d love to see up to five poems from you, but you can always just send one, too. Art As long as it has some tie to the current issue’s theme, we’re open to see any art created in any medium at any time. Just know that it will need to “work in print” and—might—be presented in black and white. We WILL NOT Accept any AI-Generated art. For ART ONLY, you may choose to submit via email by sending jpgs, PDFs, or PNGs to chrisatquarterpress(at)gmail(dot)com Graphic Stories Show us your comic strips or complete short works; we’d love to see them all! Please try to keep submissions to 20 pages or less. Feel free to also send a collection of comic strips / one shot comics, as well. (Please note that our publication size / dimensions might change between issues. Our “Norm”...

Taking Submissions: manywor(l)ds June/July 2024 Window

Manywor(l)ds

Submission Window: June 1st - July 31st, 2024 Payment: $10 Theme: Stories of any genre by writers who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex. We welcome submissions by those who identify with and as any of the following descriptors: trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex. This is a space for the words, works, and worlds of and by those whose bodyminds defy social expectations and invite new ways of thinking and knowing. We do not need to know the specifics of your identity/diagnosis/experience unless you want us to. We invite closeted and questioning people to share their work, as well as those whose experiences fall outside the confines of the language we used above. We welcome submissions from creators of all ages. We particularly encourage unpublished/emerging/young creators to submit. If you know an incarcerated/institutionalized creator who would like to submit, email us for information as to where to mail the submission, or clearly indicate in your message that you are submitting on their behalf. We publish on a quarterly schedule, with issues coming out on: February 15 May 15 August 15 November 15 We are open for all submissions EXCEPT during publication months. That is to say, we are open for submissions January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and December. Things to note This is a leftist magazine. We hate capitalism, “america,” cops, prisons, borders, neoliberalism, and all the rest. We don’t tolerate white supremacy, zionism, cisheterosexism, ableism, transmisogyny, xenophobia, fatphobia, intersexism, and anti-sex worker sentiment here. We reserve the right to reject and/or remove content from creators whose work does not align with our values. We do not tolerate AI-generated or -assisted submissions. Anyone found to be using AI will have their content immediately rejected/removed...

Taking Submissions: Too Bad, You Died

Infested Publishing

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: $25 and a contributor copy Theme: Horror/Scifi that deals with the strange and unusual and must involve your death. Send us your best (previously unreleased) 2,000 to 4,000 word speculative fiction with a leaning towards horror/sci-fi or a combination of both. We want something strange and unusual. There's just one catch... Your death has to feature somewhere within the story. If your soul is accepted, you will receive $25 and a contributor copy. We are looking for 8 stories in total for this anthology. Submissions are open until midnight 31st July 2024. Please send all work in 12pt, TImes New Roman font, double spaced with 1 inch margins. Any scene breaks must be 3 asterisks centered on the page (***). The email to send your submission to is: [email protected] Please send in either .docx or .doc format. In the body of the email, please provide the title of the work, submitters name, total word count, and author email. ANY AI WORK WILL BE DISREGARDED. No simultaneous submissions please. Via: Infested Publishing.

Taking Submissions: The Trouble With Time (Summer Window)

West Mesa Press

Submissoin Window: June 1st - July 31st, 2024 Payment: $10 Theme: Speculative fiction that deals with time travel THREE COUSINS PUBLISHING, an imprint of WEST MESA PRESS, will be accepting submissions for its next anthology, THE TROUBLE WITH TIME, from June 1, 2024 until midnight July 31, 2024. Stories submitted before or after the submission period will not be considered. This is a Themed Anthology and we’re looking for stories that fit the anthology theme. Submissions must have something to do with time travel. Horror, humor, fantasy, science fiction, or even some entertaining, but bizarre mashup of genres that we haven’t considered are welcome. Your characters may be young or old and the time frame may be from the dawn of mankind to the far future. Here’s the short list of guidelines. Pay attention, please. These are important. 1, Stories should be submitted in standard format. Here’s a link: https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/how-to-submit-short-stories-formatting-basics Double spaced, no tabs, use the indent function in ‘paragraph,’ no extra spaces between paragraphs, and Times New Roman 12 point font.  Signal scene breaks by ***. 4 If you want italics, use them. Stories must be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. No slack. Rewrite and edit to fit before submitting. Longer or shorter submissions will be deleted unread.  No reprints, but simultaneous submissions are fine, as they always should be, but let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere. Put your contact information on the first page and your 150 word bio and bibliography in your cover letter. Submissions must be in the form of an attachment, doc, docx, or rtf. No pdfs. Email the submission to [email protected]. Put “Submission, your story title, and your name in the subject line, otherwise the gremlins might send your story into time purgatory where it will languish unread and unloved until...

Taking Submissions: Mysterion July 2024 Window

Mysterion Online

Submission Window: July 1st - 31st, 2024 Payment: 8 cents/word and 4 cents/word for reprints Theme: Speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology Note: Reprints Welcome We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!). Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits a story written on their own, that would not violate our no multiple submissions policy. Submitting two...

Taking Submissions: parABnormal Magazine 2024 – Second Call

Hiraeth Publishing

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: Fiction: $25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints, $6.00 for each poem, $20.00 for original articles, $6.00 for reprints. $7.00 for reviews and interviews. Theme: Paranormal - this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. Submissions are accepted Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 30. Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread. We no longer accept simultaneous or multiple submissions. ​ No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, voracious monsters, and dark spirits... But they have not forgotten or left us... What We Want: The subject matter of parABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. PLEASE NOTE: CREATURES LIKE VAMPIRES, GHOULS, WEREWOLVES, AND ZOMBIES ARE NOT PARANORMAL. Shapeshifters, for the purpose of this magazine, refer to the spiritual shift, not the physical. Think Native American shaman. Paranormal activity centers around the human, not the creature. We do not want stories that involve excessive...