Events

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $100 for stories and $25 for poems Theme: Heroic Fantasy Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is currently OPEN for submissions for the month of March, 2020. Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September  December  If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed. * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages.   No simultaneous submissions, please. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25. Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each new issue. Please review art from the past two issues to see the style we prefer. Image...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment (In Canadian): Poems (4-100 lines): $50 plus one contributor’s copy, Short-short stories (under 1000 words): $50, plus one contributor’s copym Fiction (6000 words max.), 1000-2999 words: $125 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 3000-4999 words: $175 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 5000-6000 words: $200 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription Theme: Speculative fiction of all kinds, but read below 2020 Story, Poetry and Art Submissions to On Spec open until end of March 2020 Please read all the author instructions carefully first. What are we looking for? And what are we NOT looking for? We like to pride ourselves in searching out the most interesting and innovative works of fiction and poetry in the genre. So what do we want? Speculative writing of all kinds, but nothing derivative. Try to avoid what you think are trends, because by the time we’d publish them, they won’t be. Remember, you are a trendsetter, not a trend follower. We’ll gladly look at works up to 6,000 words, but keep in mind that most of these will eventually need a hard edit to reduce a thousand words of exposition. If you do that, yourself. it makes us more likely to pick up your story. We’d prefer a standard manuscript format, in a readable font. If you are new to this, do some research. The work must be previously unpublished in English in North America. We buy First NA Serial Rights to your work. We are not fond of graphic sex and violence. And we are not fond of horror that is simply “messy”. When we say “character-driven”, we mean it. A story that exists because a character is pushed along by outside influences and has absolutely no agency, will...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. Note: Reprints welcome and preferred. Toasted Cake Podcast is doing a short Run of Hope! > We will be open from March 15-March 31. > I will be buying a few stories immediately, so I can start podcasting immediately, and then some more stories from the hold pile in April. Not sure how many yet. > At this time, I am ONLY looking for stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. (But as always, do not self-reject.) > <3 #####     What to Submit: > Toasted Cake is a speculative fiction flash fiction podcast. At this time, please only send stories between 650-1200 words. (Sweet spot is 700-1000.) > A few descriptors I like are weird, quirky, twisted, funny, fun, literary, puzzling, bizarre, tongue-twistable, singable, patter-friendly, elocutionary, experimental, witty, and wistful. > I mostly run reprints. Original stories fine too (given that I like rather odd things, and sometimes these are hard to place, feel free to try me.) You may send stories that have been previously podcast if it has been at least 2 years since they aired. Please let me know all publication details. > I am incredibly interested in stories told from all the myriad diverse perspectives of our world. Please send them to me. How to Submit: > Send your submissions to tinaconnolly at gmail. > Subject line should be "Toasted Cake Submission: " > You may send up to three flash during the submission period (all in one email is fine), as text in the email or as attachments. >...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: .05 per word Since 2010, Mocha Memoirs Press’s mission is to amplify marginalized voices in the areas of speculative fiction (science fiction, horror, and fantasy). SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire will follow the steps of our previous published bestseller anthologies An Improbable Truth: The Paranormal Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters (A Bram Stoker nominee). What we are looking for: Vampires have been around in the horror genre for centuries. We are looking to tell a different vampire story. Ones where they may sparkle, but it is a dark one. This call is seeking unpublished short stories that tell stories of the vampire noire, the black vampire. We want stories of vampire hunters, of anti-vampiric heroes/heroines, and more. If you can take the story out of westernized culture, we’d love to see those, too! We want stories that speak of inclusivity. So, if your vampire is disabled or suffers from an alignment, send those stories too. LGBTQ+ stories are also encouraged. To point, we want stories from the African diaspora. If you do not follow the guidelines, your submission will be deleted unread. Seriously, read the guidelines. Follow them. Upon results of a successful crowdfunding campaign, we will pay HWA pro-rate of .05 per word for publication for First World Rights. Still interested? Here are the guidelines. • Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 5,000 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology, meaning the protagonist must from the African Diaspora. Remember, this entire anthology is dedicated to stories of the black vampire. They can be in space, superheroes, but they must be from the African Diaspora. • Manuscripts should be in Shunn manuscript...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: 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 but not on...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Body Horror, Creature Features, Gothic, Haunted Houses, Psychological Horror, Slasher Horror, Weird Fiction, Bizarro, and Folk Horror. Note: UK authors only Here at The Abominable Book Club we have been wracking our big, beefy brains to come up with a way to support the UK horror scene and its authors more directly. So, starting in 2020, we will be offering an opportunity for authors to become a part of our team and introduce their work to an already ravenous horror audience. The Accursed Library is dusting off its ancient, cobweb-covered printing press! We are now taking submissions for original novels/ novellas (25,000 words or more) / or short story collections by UK -based authors, to be produced under our own publication house 'The Accursed Library'. First printings of these books will be hand-numbered, contain exclusive content and artwork, and will be only available through our box on a specific release month. After that, they will be gone forever! Further printings and e-book versions will be available through the usual channels such as Amazon, and via our own shop. We will be looking for horror in all its forms, including: - Body Horror (The Thing, The Fly) - Creature Features (Jaws, Snakes on a Plane) - Gothic (Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera) - Haunted Houses (Haunting of Hill House, The Amityville Horror) - Psychological Horror (Jacobs Ladder, Se7en) - Slasher Horror (Friday 13th, Halloween) - Weird Fiction (i.e HP Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce) - Bizarro (i.e Jeff O Brien, Carlton Mellick III) - Folk Horror (The Wicker Man, Midsommar) If your work is horror but doesn't fit in any of the above categories, send it anyway! We want to build a roster of diverse and incredible writing talent, full of familiar and new names, in an attempt to champion the frankly staggering array of talent the UK has to offer. Here's how...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Unadulterated horror. Slasher, psychological, monsters, clowns, stalkers, cults, demons, witches, whatever the hell you can think of! Let’s get cut their skin and leave scars. Come one, come all horror authors. It’s time for another anthology. Life is too short and I’d like to leave our readers dead awake. Send in your best work and let’s make something that will leave the readers sleeping with their lights on. What I’m looking for: Unadulterated horror. Slasher, psychological, monsters, clowns, stalkers, cults, demons, witches, whatever the hell you can think of! Let’s get cut their skin and leave scars. Send me your best! What I’m not looking for: Gore for shock value, rape, any violence toward children or anything that really is just shock and nothing else. Give me horror that seeps in, not skin deep. Requirements: Short horror that is between 2,000 and 6,000 words, exceptions for longer pieces based on quality. A hard cap at 10,000 words. Please put the title, your name, word count and email address on the title page. Single spaced, 12 point, new times Roman is preferred. Clean and edited. Please do your best. Authors who are accepted will receive $25 per story accepted and one paperback author copy. Multiple submissions are welcome. Simultaneous submissions are welcome as well, but please let me know if it’s accepted elsewhere. Only original, unpublished work will be accepted. Submissions will be closed April 1st. Get your ideas percolating and get to writing! Send submissions in .doc or .docx format to [email protected]. Via: Nicholas Catron</a..

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: 2.5 cents per word Theme: A science fiction tale set asking "What will gender look like in the future?" or similar questions which are found below. What will gender look like in the future? What will change about transition? What new challenges will face trans folk a hundred years down the line? Five hundred? A thousand? Future//Tense: Gender is an anthology of transfuturistic science-fiction. The stories within will explore the way gender, transition, and trans issues may change over time, from the near future to far, on Earth or other planets, in humans or those from the stars. How will society change? How will we? About the anthology Future//Tense: Gender is an anthology of short fiction edited by Madison Scott-Clary. It will comprise several pieces from diverse authors. The anthology will be released in both physical and e-book formats, as well as, depending on interest, audiobook format. Here is what HYBRID will be looking for: Submission content We are looking for short story submissions that explore the shape of gender and identity in the decades and centuries to come. There is no restriction on gender of characters or perceived orientation. We are particularly keen on featuring #OwnVoices authors. HYBRID Ink will not, under any circumstances, publish content that portrays any of the following without justification or in a positive light: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 Rape, torture, dubious consent, or forced seduction Gratuitous violence, gore, or death For more information, please see here, and remember that we're all governed by our code of conduct. Submission genre So long as the story takes place in the future and meets the other content requirements, anything goes. Shifters? Sure! Post-apocalyptic? Go ahead! Furries or aliens? Of course! Submission rating G–R — we...

Deadline: March 1st, 2020 Payment: 2.5 cents per word Theme: Stories with a focus on ACE characters Much of our art, be it written, visual, or otherwise, is based around sexual attraction and the desire for sexuality. Even in stories where the major plot is focused elsewhere, sexuality will often show up in a subplot. Sexuality is hardly universal, however: though allosexuality may define the media landscape we live in, it does not define all of us! This anthology is a place for ace characters to shine. Perhaps your character is striving for recognition against expectations placed on them by society. Perhaps they are simply trying to live a quiet life and meeting unexpected resistance. Either way, Acethetic exists for their stories to be heard. About the anthology Acethetic is an anthology of short fiction edited by Madison Scott-Clary. It will comprise several pieces from diverse authors. The anthology will be released in both physical and e-book formats, as well as, depending on interest, audiobook format. Here is what HYBRID will be looking for: Submission content We are looking for short story submissions that explore the lives of our asexual friends and family. The stories should focus on characters anywhere on the specturm of asexuality. Aromantic characters also welcome, of course! We are particularly keen on featuring #OwnVoices authors. HYBRID Ink will not, under any circumstances, publish content that portrays any of the following without justification or in a positive light: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of discrimination Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 Rape, torture, dubious consent, or forced seduction Gratuitous violence, gore, or death For more information, please see here, and remember that we're all governed by our code of conduct. Submission genre While there is no restriction on genre of submitted stories, we will aim for a cohesive anthology after...

Deadline: April 4, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Take a hard left turn from normal. Bring us your unsettling stories. If a common activity leads to violations of the laws of man or nature, your story may be perfect for this collection. Ideal genres: horror, crime Disturbia Take a hard left turn from normal. Bring us your unsettling stories. If a common activity leads to violations of the laws of man or nature, your story may be perfect for this collection. Ideal genres: horror, crime Editor: Sandra Ruttan Submission Information Note: We will not process or respond to submissions sent to the wrong email address. Only submissions sent to [email protected] will be processed. Note: Each story should be submitted in its own email. Do not send a submission as a response to a rejection or email query. Do not send multiple stories in the same email. Pro Tip: Read Rigor Morbid: Lest Ye Become to get a sense of what the editor is looking for in stories. The tone is appropriate for Disturbia and Rigor Morbid 2. We welcome submissions from diverse authors. We encourage individuals to opt to include a bio (100 words, written in third person) and author photo that can be used with the publication when submitting.  *Diverse can refer to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or those that are specially abled Payment $0.08 U.S. per word We will not publish stories that are donated — all writers must be prepared to receive payment through one of our approved payment methods. All payments to U.S. writers will be made by check. All payments to international writers will be made by Paypal to a verified Paypal address that is in the writer’s name. Guidelines Stories should be 3000 words or less Stories should be attached as a .doc or .docx file Text in stories should be...