Events

Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Payment: $100 Theme: Music inspired by Tori Amos Note: Open to authors that identify (now or in the past) as femme in the most inclusive of definitions. Opens: February 1, 2024, midnight est  Closes: March 31, 2024, midnight IDLW Compensation: $100 USD Theme: Adult horror, including genre-chimeras Submissions must be between 3,000 and 5,000 words OPEN to any and everyone that identifies (now or in the past) as femme in the most inclusive of definitions. Expected release: February 2025 Submit to [email protected]   What we are looking for: First exclusive (1 year) US rights for stories inspired by the music of Tori Amos.    Submissions must be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. General Guidelines: Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines will be rejected. Open to any and all writers, both new and established, unless otherwise noted. ALL horror subgenres and tropes are welcome, including comedy and splatter.  Genre-blending is highly encouraged. Queer retellings and gender swaps are our favorites.  Writers should have a diverse representation of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, gender identities, disability, fat positivity, and neurodivergency. What we are NOT looking for: Submissions cannot contain sexualization of minors (under 18, yes that includes “17 almost 18”). Sexual assaults are encouraged to happen off-page and only if it serves purpose to the plot (revenge, social commentary, etc.) Trigger warnings are encouraged and will be included in the back of the finished work. Here are some common triggers: ableism, abortion, blood/gore, body dysphoria, death of loved one, eating disorder, fatphobia/sizeism, gendered language, graphic medical situations, gun violence, homophobia, incest, intimate partner violence, labor/birth, lack of consent, loss of body autonomy, miscarriage, misogyny, needles, police/military violence, post-partum depression, pregnancy, racism, rape, religion, self-harm, sexual assault, stalking/harassment, stillbirth substance misuse, suicide, suicidal ideation, transphobia. Label email subject line: Last, First - Title - Word count Cover...

Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Payment: $125 - $200 Theme: Weird tales set in the Nordic Region that explore the human (and inhuman) experience through the lens of the weird and the horrific. Sentinel Creatives has opened up for submissions for our “NORDIC HORROR” anthology. Deadline for Submissions: 31 March 2024 Wordcount: 3,000 - 6,000 Remuneration: $125 - $200 Simultaneous Submissions: Yes WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR We’re looking for original weird tales set in the Nordic Region that explore the human (and inhuman) experience through the lens of the weird and the horrific. We’re looking for a diverse selection of stories that run the gamut of folklore and history in the region. Of course, this includes Viking Horror. We will, however, only be looking to include 1-2 stories in this vein. Give us your tales of isolation, of windswept tundras, and of what lurks beneath the frozen fjords. Take us through the streets of Reykjavík, Trondheim, and Henningsvær. Show us walls that live and breathe, telling tales of their own history. Guide us to trap streets into other worlds, and the lost gods who wander them; mountains that walk the earth and seas that pulse with sentience. Show us lost maps and found people. Give us your stories of loss and tragedy, of the surreal and the uncanny. If it's Nordic and weird, we want it! Some clarifications: Weird: The term “weird” should be understood to mean a certain sense of breathless and unexplainable dread, of outer, unknown forces present, a suggestion of the defeat or suspension of the laws of nature which have hitherto served to protect our minds and bodies (and souls) from the assault of chaos. By its very nature, weird fiction should invoke in the reader a sense of profound uneasiness and dread, it should hint at the inability of the human mind to comprehend the true nature of existence,...

Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Payment: 4 cents per word Theme: cold/winter horror short stories. Death’s Head Press is putting together an anthology of cold/winter horror short stories. Winter is a setting that lends itself to various horror tales, from survival tales to hauntings to slashers with buckets of blood in the snow. Humans long ago mastered survival in the cold, but what happens when one of the necessities (heat, shelter, food) is taken away? What if that lovely cabin in the woods comes with a helping of the supernatural or otherworldly? The stories can and should cover the wide spectrum of coldness. We aim to explore the what if of the cold. The specifics: Original stories not previously published. Word count per story: 2,500 – 10,000 words Deadline for submissions: March 31, 2024 Pay is $0.04 per word Accepted parties will be notified by April 30, 2024 Submit stories to [email protected] Subject line: Death’s Head Press Cold Anthology Submission (plus story title/author name) Word Document formatted with 1” margins, 12pt font, and 1.5-double spacing Via: Death’s Head Press.

Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Payment: £0.015 per word. Theme: Speculative fiction that deals with The Four Humours (Details on that below.) A brand new audible zine centering the bizarre, the horrifying, and the what-ifs. New Episodes bi-monthly with an exciting new theme every time. Imagine attending an open mic story-telling night in the cellar of that haunted house on the hill or the canteen of a starship that traverses time and dark dimensions. What stories would you hear? Would they inspire awe or disgust? Hope in the future or existential dread? Genres: Sci-fi, Slipstream, Weird Fiction, Near-Future, Retellings, Folk-Tales, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Surrealism, Cosmic Horror, Dark Fantasy, Speculative… Formats: Mainly Short Stories, Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short Plays/Extracts, (but open to) Personal Stories, Dreams/Nightmares, Songs, Soundscapes, Fictional or Real Mini-Docs, Interviews, and whatever else you can dream up… THEME 1.02: The Four Humours When our nature is out of balance; tempers, like fevers, run high. Step into the bewitching world of the Four Humours, where ancient alchemy meets the intricate tapestry of the human psyche. Dividing our episode into four sections: Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic. Does your tale weave characters with raw intensity and larger-than-life personalities?  Are they charismatic, ambitious, deep thinkers, or cool-headed under pressure?  Or,  instead, impulsive, domineering, pessimistic,  or lazy? ​ Think tales of disease, of body or mind, potions and magic, chaos and order, material change, and personal transformation. Treat us to characters whose flaws are their undoing, whose struggles mirror our own, and whose stories resonate with the raw intensity of big emotions and larger-than-life personalities. Current Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Send Your Submissions Here [email protected] Submission Guidelines: Ethos: ​ The Lost Poetry Club is an audible zine. We aim to create a kaleidoscope of voices and materials. Chosen work will be dramatised, but you are openly encouraged to contribute to our M.A.F.P. (mind-altering frequency protocol) with your own recordings and performances for a fully collaborative...

Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Payment: $25 Theme: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Boy George and Culture Club Note: Apologies about the short deadline, just found out about this one today. In the 1980s, the world had never seen anything quite like Boy George and Culture Club. English pop met fashion and androgyny to usher in the New Romantic era of music. With dozens of nominations and award wins, Culture Club secured a spot in music history and produced a music legacy still loved today. And, what better way to celebrate them than with outstanding crime fiction inspired by their music? SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 1. Your work must be based on a song that’s an original Boy George and/or Culture Club song and cannot be a cover performed by them. Feel free to reference the list HERE and HERE for inspiration. 2. Your work must relate strongly to the song it’s inspired by, whether that’s by the lyrics or the name. 3. You still must have a STORY and a good crime/mystery. 4. LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC characters and authors very, very strongly encouraged. Be authentic! Remember that this anthology is for Pride Month. 5. All works must be original to this publication and cannot have been published or self-published previously. 6. We’re perfectly ok with simultaneous submissions to other publishers, but please let us know if you’d like your story withdrawn from consideration. 7. Please make sure your song choice is not too obscure. From past musical mystery anthologies we’ve found that readers have a lot more interest if there are songs they immediately recognize. TECHNICAL GUIDELINES 1. We’re not looking for flash fiction, but we’re not against it if it works. Prefer more in the regular short story length (3000-5000 words). 2. All submissions need to be in DOC, DOCX or Pages format....

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Monsters have feelings too, even if it’s used to rage against the machine. Genre: Speculative Fiction Theme: Monsters have feelings too, even if it’s used to rage against the machine. Concept: Sometimes we’re all misunderstood… and this is doubly true when you are a monster living in a human’s world. We want you to tell the story of one creature’s struggle to survive in an uncaring world. Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 (standard word count) Opening by: TBD Edited by: JR Handley & Bayonet Books Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: April 1, 2024 Email Submissions to: [email protected] with “Beast Hunt” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore porn) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submissions in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward in ways that the reader may not expect when properly used, these elements should...

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 Payment: $.08 per word Theme: Clowns Kangas Kahn Publishing is seeking unpublished horror short stories for an upcoming anthology titled Fear of Clowns: A Horror Anthology to be published in September of 2024. We've brought back editor extraordinaire Kenneth W. Cain who did such a great job on our first hit anthology October Screams. As usual, we're less concerned with theme than we are with entertaining stories. We're not necessarily looking for a clown-murdering-people story--if that's your story, it better bring something new to the table. Ask yourself, does this story belong in a book called Fear of Clowns? If the answer is yes, send it! Length: 1,000-4,000 words. Note: We are the same people that put out the movies "Fear of Clowns" and "Fear of Clowns 2", but we're not looking for stories that have anything to do with that, so please don't send movie tie-ins. We will accept up to two submissions per author. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please let us know if it's sold elsewhere. If a story is accepted or rejected, notification will be within sixty days of submission(if 60 days have passed and you have not heard from us, check your spam folder--if nothing is there, feel free to reach out.) Please attach your story in .doc or .docx format and email it to [email protected] with the subject "Fear of Clowns Anthology Submission". In the body of the email, please give us a short bio with credits, if any. Not having credits doesn't mean anything to us; the story is what counts. Make sure your story is in proper format(Shunn)--you can find details here: https://www.shunn.net/format/ We're buying global first print and digital publication rights for one year exclusively from the date of print(Sept 2024). After that, all rights revert to the...

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Speculative Fiction about Tarot Tarot cards have long been looked upon as a window to the past and future of human existence. Fortune tellers of old have utilized the power within the cards to advise or warn away inquisitive souls from the potential folly of their choices. What happens when the power of the cards escapes into the realm of humanity with the desire to play out their core intentions on the unsuspecting? A mortal once controlled the power of the past, present, and future. In his innocent desire for companionship, he made a mistake: he got too close to his creation and lost control. The foolish mortal’s artistic magic escaped the confines of the cards and trapped their maker to pursue their magical intent. Walking carnations of the major arcana of the tarot are free to roam and manipulate the mortal world without the constraints of their maker, who has been recreated as The Fool. The Magician, the first excommunicated card, will do anything to free his friend from the confines of art. But can he convince the others to put aside their petty urges and use their magic to help, even if it puts their livelihood at risk? Or have the cards become too accustomed to life in the modern world to allow anything, or anyone, to send them back to a one-dimensional life? The tarot is the only magic left in the mortal world, and they’ve had their way with it for a long time… We’re looking for new, previously unpublished stories that take us on an adventure and leave us wanting more. Genre: Speculative Fiction Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: Charity Ayres Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: April 1, 2024 Email submissions to:...

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 Payment: £20 & 3 author copies Theme: Lycanthropy Currently accepting submissions for Creature Feature Classics #1 Lycanthropy ​ Creature Features #1 will launch an anthology series exploring everybody's favourite horror monsters. We're starting off with a classic; the full-moon afflicted lycanthropes.  We're looking for a variety of stories so feel free to go in any direction your brain might wander - tales set in the medieval ages, tales set in a dystopian nuclear fall-out, tales set in a robot-dominated 2050 where werewolves live underground in the sewers and hunt survivors of the robot revolution, literally any sub-genre and time goes. ​ Hard word limits of 3,000-8,000 ​ Follow the guidelines found under the 'submissions' page for formatting, content and how-to-submit guidelines. Include in the body of your email the amount of times the work has been rejected thus far. The subject line should read SUB/LYCAN - TITLE - SUBGENRE - WORDCOUNT - SURNAME ​ Compensation: £20 & 3 author copies ​ Submissions close April 1st 2024 ​ Via: Snake Bite Books.

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: The kiddos are ready for their night of mischief and mayhem as the evening of Trick 'r Treating gets started. Write a horror story that takes place on Halloween night and centers around a child/children visiting the neighborhood's houses. The horror element can be from either angle: either there is something spooky going on in the house or with the child/children. Location details below Deadline: April 1st, 2024 at 11:59pm CST Length: 2,000-6,000 words   Format: Must be submitted as a Google Doc file which must have [email protected] as an owner with editing turned on. You will provide the shareable link in the form upon submission. Use only one tab and do not use spaces to start a new paragraph. Do not write "The End" at the end of the story. In the header, please include the following: 1) your name, 2) the title of the story, and 3) the word count of the story. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will not be read. The title of your story cannot include "Doors of Darkness" in it or the house number.   Eligibility: If you were published in the first volume of Doors of Darkness, please note that this is not a continuation of what happened on Fern Street. There should be absolutely no connections to characters from that volume. Compensation: Selected authors will receive (1) contributor mass market paperback copy of the anthology as well as a one-time payment of $10. The $10 may be used in order to purchase additional author copies to be shipped at the same time as the complimentary contributor copy. The $10 will buy up to an additional 2 copies of the book. Please refer to the chart below:  Printed Copies Compensation 1 Copy $10 2 Copies $5 3 Copies $0 For additional author copies beyond the compensation value, you will...