Events

Deadline: October 1st, 2023 Payment: 8 Cents per word Theme: Science fiction that feature and empower large gay/bi/queer men John Bear was a mesh of wire and silicone, of nanobot lace and rare gems unearthed from mines in foreign lands. He stepped out of the cryo-chamber, his large body pulsating with a green bio- luminescence, his head throbbing with a constant data stream being jacked into his frontal lobe. The lone light, a faint, dim sliver of faded yellow from a computer monitor a room away seemed blinding, seemed to radiate the force of a violent sun. John stumbled towards what looked like a door, banged his round belly on the control panel before sliding down the wall in a convulsing lump. The door swished open and standing before him was an onyx robot with dancing dreads that looked like guitar wires. “Kiss me,” the robot said with metallic timbre. John raised his head and admired the robot’s physique — round, carbon faced, barrel-chested, and a slick, smooth belly larger than his own. “Kiss me, remember me, understand me — and then we can both be free.” After a pause, the door closed — sssswiissshh — leaving John Bear alone in the dark, leaking fluid, drifting into the blackness of sleep. We here at the Afterverse have always wondered what a queer empowered sci-fi anthology would look like. We also wondered what would happen if those stories took place in the bear and chub communities, if they featured characters that could be our friends, partners, boyfriends, and lovers and if they featured larger bodies, fat bodies, chubby, hairy bodies! We are often left wondering what queer genre fiction — from fantasy to romance to even slice of life, would look like if we found the lead characters desirable and/or reflective...

Submission Window: August 15th - October 1st, 2023 Payment: $25 Theme: NIRVANA-inspired horror Celbrate 35 years with a collection of NIRVANA-Inspired Horror! For decades, our lives have been touched by the music. We’ve cried, screamed, laughed to the punk riffs and unique vocals. NIRVANA shaped us during our formative years and it shows. For that, we honor the mark they’ve made.    Now we sing dark, twisted covers of our favorite songs.     From Book Slayer Press and Roxie Voorhees, co-editor of MINE and READER BEWARE, comes a collection of NIRVANA-inspired horror.     Forming the ultimate playlist, the stories within showcase NIRVANA’s discography with a fear inducing twist.    NEGATIVE CREEP: A NIRVANA-Inspired Horror Anthology    GUIDELINES:  Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines will be rejected.    Submissions will be accepted from August 15 through the end of September 30. Deadline is October 1st, 2023, at midnight IDLW time zone. Please submit to [email protected]. Open to any and all writers, both new and established.     What we are looking for:  20-30 stories inspired by NIRVANA songs, ranging their entire discography. All horror tropes are welcome. Genre-blending is highly encouraged. Queer retellings and gender swaps, historical horror, sci-fi horror, cults, and cannibalism are a few of our favorites. Writers should have a diverse representation of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, gender identities, disability, fat positivity, and neurodivergence. **Please note: Only one story per song will be accepted**    What we are NOT looking for:  Please, do not submit stories about Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Kurt’s suicide (mentioning is fine), anything that has to do with band members’ personal lives and not related to NIRVANA or its music.  Submissions cannot contain sexualization of minors (under 18, yes that includes “17 almost 18”).     Trigger warnings are encouraged and will be included in...

Submission Window: October 1st, 2023 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print...

Deadline: October 2nd, 2023 Payment: $200 and 50% royalties of ebook sales and 40% royalties of paperbacks. Theme: Speculative Fiction novellas for Australian or Kiwi authors Deadset Press are happy to announce that during September, we will be accepting submissions of speculative fiction novellas, with a goal to publish up to four over the next eighteen months. Submissions are open to authors from Australia and New Zealand, and we encourage everyone – especially LGBTIQ, neurodiverse, and BIPOC authors – to send through their stories. As a publisher, we want to provide opportunities to voices that have been ignored or underrepresented, and celebrate the diversity of the Australian and New Zealand speculative fiction community. If you identify as a LGBTI, BIPOC or disabled / ND author, please mention this in your email. We would prefer to publish stories which feature Indigenous characters or address LGBTI themes, for example, by authors whose stories they are to tell. The novellas must be speculative in nature, as per this definition: “Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre encompassing narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements. This includes, but not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, superhero fiction, science fantasy, horror, utopian and dystopian fiction, supernatural fiction as well as combinations thereof.” Payment: Each successful author will receive a payment of $200 upon publication, plus 50% royalties of ebook sales and 40% royalties of paperbacks. Word limit: Between 30,000 and 40,000 words. Stories must be written by Australian or Kiwi authors. Submissions will close at 11:59PM on Sunday the 2nd of October 2022. Please only submit if your novella is completed and you’ve polished it up to a standard that you’re satisfied with. Stories must be in .doc/docx format, double spaced and in 12 point font, in an easy-to-read font like Arial or Times New Roman. Please...

Submission Window: October 1st - 2nd, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal,...

Deadline: October 10th, 2023 Payment: $20 Theme: Dark Epistolaries November Issue: Dark Epistolaries SUBMISSIONS CLOSE: October 10th The Crow's Quill is an online literary magazine, brought to you by Damon Barret Roe and the rest of Quill & Crow Publishing House's editorial team, that boasts stories horrific, dark, and defiantly macabre. Submissions Requirements Submissions will be read in the order they are received. Please only submit one previously unpublished story per month. You will receive notification within one week of your chosen month's submission end date. Please be sure to send in your best work; all submissions are final. Do not send us unrequested re-writes after your initial submission. Please note, we will not consider any submissions written, developed, or assisted by A.I. writing tools; please do not submit A.I. written stories to us. We are looking for a total of 4-8 stories per month, so please get your submission in as soon as possible. We are offering $20 per short story. Please attach your 1500-2000 word story in .docx format (12 pt Times/double spaced) to an email with a brief query. Please specify which month/theme you are submitting for. *Please include a trigger warning in your submissions email for any instances of child/animal death/abuse. Poetry Submissions Requirements Note: Poetry submissions close on the 20th of each month, 10 days after the story submissions close. Submissions will be read in the order they are received. Please only submit one previously unpublished poem per month. You will receive notification within one week of your chosen month's submission end date. Please send to the correct email. We are looking for a total of two poems per month, so please get your submissions in as soon as possible. We are offering $10 per poem. Please attach your 50 word minimum (maximum of 20...

Deadline: October 14th, 2023 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Crime If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 150k+ monthly 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 98) Crime II: deadline 14th October 2023 SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If this form isn’t working, please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. Title your email with the following syntax: “SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT”  (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) Submission Guidelines • 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 to us, you are confirming that you are the original creator of the story • We will consider entrants whose work has been entered and published elsewhere, however please ensure you state where and when your story has been used elsewhere on the document • You will be allowed to place one call-to-action for your own work at the end of the episode. Be sure to include this at the end of your document, underneath the log line • Payment per accepted story is 15GBP • 2x entries per theme permitted   When will I hear if my story has been accepted or not? We carefully review every single submission that comes through our door. If...

Submission Window: For Black, Asian, Latin, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented authors: October 1st-14th For All authors: October 8th-14th Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories Cossmass Infinities is open for submissions on the following dates: For Black, Asian, Latin, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented authors: October 1st-14th For All authors: October 8th-14th i.e. Open during the first week of October for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented authors then opening to general submission for the second week. Submission windows may close early if there is a high number of submissions. This is to allow us to meet our response deadlines. Submission windows open and close at midnight UTC. Submissions made outside of these times will be automatically rejected. Cossmass Infinities is a Science Fiction and Fantasy short story website edited by Paul Campbell. We are looking for original science fiction and fantasy short stories. We are NOT looking for reprints at this time. We are actively interested in stories from Black, Asian, Latin, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented authors. We encourage new authors to submit. We are looking for short stories (1000-7,500 words). We pay $0.08/word for original fiction. We can only accept manuscripts in these formats: docx, html, htm, rtf, odt, txt, azw, mobi. The rights we wish to obtain are listed in the sample contract for original fiction. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Multiple submissions are not accepted. Held submissions do not count against you. Payment is through Paypal. Submit only complete stories. Please allow 3 months for a decision, then feel free to reply to your notification email to enquire as to the status of your story. An email confirming receipt of your submission will be sent within 20 minutes of us receiving it. Note that your submission is sent to us via an email from the form processor...

Submission Window: July 15th to October 15th 2023. Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Transfeminine cyberpunk by transfem authors, including trans women, transfems, nonbinary trans women, etc. We’re excited to announce Embodied Exegesis, an upcoming transfeminine cyberpunk anthology to be edited by Ann LeBlanc. The book will be published in late 2024. Some of the incredible writers to be included in this project include Hailey Piper, TT Madden, Catherine Kim, Riley Tao, Lillian Boyd, J Jennifer Espinoza, Izzy Wasserstein and Ryka Aoki. We will be open to submissions for the anthology from July 15th to October 15th, 2023. Here’s a preview of the submissions guidelines: Submissions are open to transfem authors, including trans women, transfems, nonbinary trans women, etc. We’re not the gender cops, and you don’t need to justify or explain your identity. If you think you’d fit in an anthology of transfem authors, you belong here. We’re especially interested in submissions from disabled writers, Black writers, Indigenous/Native writers, and other writers of color. What we’re looking for: Originals and reprints. Wordcount: Under 6,000 words. Pay: $0.08/word for originals, $0.01/word for reprints Concept: Cyberbunk and posthuman short stories by transfem authors. What we want to see: Augmented bodies. Uploaded minds. Cybernetics, real cities, and virtual worlds. Putting the trans in transhumanism. We’re looking for stories that push characters' bodies and minds to their limits. This anthology will use a very broad definition of "cyberpunk"—anything from ten minutes into the future all the way through the distant and unrecognizable eons. We’re open to stories that infuse magic into the setting. We want the full spectrum: stories of trans joy and gender euphoria, and darker stories of trans sorrow, struggle, and dysphoria. What we don’t want to see: We’re not interested in stories that retread ableist tropes equating body modification with...

Deadline: October 15th, 2023 Payment: $20 per story or artwork Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. submissions at electricspec (dot) comPlease don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may work with the author to edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story and the author has final approval. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up...