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Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: 5 cents ($.05) per word for nonfiction and prose fiction. Poetry pays $50 flat per poem. Theme: Work inspired by Ligotti WE WANT: Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re interested. As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewellyn, S. P. Miskowski, Junji Ito, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D. Klein, Kelly Link, Helen Marshall, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Allyson Bird, Laird Barron, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Nicole Cushing, Victor LaValle, Mark Samuels, and many more have produced work that we would love to see subjected to intelligent critical analysis and discussion. Literary Horror Fiction from 750 to 6,000 words. We are looking for original work inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes (regarding which, see the list on our main page). Poetry at a length of no more than 50 lines, dealing with subjects and themes that fall within our area of interest. Artwork that similarly addresses our subject matter. DIVERSITY STATEMENT: Vastarien believes in promoting a range of excellent writing and artwork from authors of diverse backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations. We encourage submissions from authors and artists traditionally underrepresented in horror and pieces that reflect these varying perspectives. The following authors and their work are of especial interest to Vastarien: Charles Baudelaire Thomas Bernhard Aloysius Bertrand Jorge Luis Borges William S. Burroughs Angela Carter Louis Ferdinand Celine E. M. Cioran Charlotte Perkins Gilman Douglas Harding Shirley Jackson U. G. Krishnamurti H. P. Lovecraft Vladimir Nabokov Emile Nelligan Michael Persinger Edgar Allan Poe Maurice Rollinat Arthur Schopenhauer Bruno Schulz Paul Valery Peter Wessel Zapffe LENGTH: See the specific guidelines above for length requirements for different types of submissions. Additionally, in no case will a submission over 7,500 words be considered...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $15 and 3 contributors copies Theme: Feminist speculative chapbooks — that can mean poetry, prose, fantasy, sci-fi, fairy tales, folklore, fabulism, horror, slipstream, solarpunk, or anything else speculative CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Sword & Kettle Press is seeking manuscript submissions for Cup & Dagger, our mini-chapbook series. Each chap will be 12 total pages, including covers, printed on three sheets of cardstock and bound together by hand. We’re looking for feminist speculative chapbooks — that can mean poetry, prose, fantasy, sci-fi, fairy tales, folklore, fabulism, horror, slipstream, solarpunk, or anything else speculative! We would love to see OwnVoices speculative writing. Please note that you do not need to be female or femme to submit a piece; writers of any gender identity and expression are welcome. Submission are open from June 1-30, 2020. SUBMISSION & PUBLICATION PROCESS To submit your chapbook manuscript, please fill out this submission form. We’re looking for up to 2000 words for prose, and up to 8 poems for poetry. You’re welcome to include your own cover, artwork, photos, or collages if you like, or just send us your writing and we’ll lend a hand with the design. Please submit only one chapbook. If your manuscript is accepted, we’ll notify you via email and send you a contract. After the contract has been digitally signed, we’ll send payment confirmation and get to work on your chap! We offer an honorarium of $15 for each accepted chapbook, and will send 3 contributor copies. Copies of the chapbooks will be sold in our online shop and at local craft fairs and markets. EDITORS The Cup & Dagger series will be edited by Kay Allen, Naseem Jamnia, and Jessie Ulmer. Kay wants to see pieces with hopeful visions of what life could be like, whether that's...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: USD $0.05 (five cents) per word Theme: Original flash fiction stories in the gothic fiction genre Note: My apologies for the short window, this one didn't hit my radar sooner. Love Letters to Poe seeks original flash fiction stories in the gothic fiction genre. We’re open to submissions now through the end of June 2020. Fiction Guidelines What we’re looking for:  - Original, previously unpublished gothic flash fiction - Stories that evoke wonder and terror, romance and horror - Complete story arcs with character growth - Avoid explicit sexual content - Avoid excessive gore Word Count: Up to 1,500 words, with a preference for shorter works. As this is a firm limit, sadly, longer submissions will be rejected unread. Please do not inquire about longer submissions. Payment: USD $0.05 (five cents) per word of original fiction. Payment via PayPal. Our payment is at the professional Horror Writers Association qualifying market level. Rights: We claim first worldwide rights, non-exclusive reprint rights, non-exclusive audio rights, and non-exclusive anthology rights for our annual anthology. Language: English Preferred format: Standard manuscript format Cover letter: Brief is best! Please note the length of your story, the title, a short reference to relevant publishing history, and a link to your website, if you have one. If your submission is set in the world of a work of gothic fiction in the public domain, please also note this. Fiction Submissions Process After reading the above guidelines and making sure your story meets them, you can submit your story by going to Moksha. Unfortunately, submissions sent by email or any other means than Moksha as well as submissions sent outside open submissions periods will be deleted unread. SUBMIT Submissions FAQs Do you take multiple submissions? While your first submission during an open submissions period is free, if you’re interested in submitting additional stories during an open...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Prize: $350 Theme: a personal history of how you dealt with being isolated from your community, we would prefer stories of a more distracting nature Note: Apologies for the short window, thought we published this one already! Send us your stories, be they poetry or prose, to be published in a forthcoming compilation In 1348, the Black Plague hit Florence, Italy, and it would kill tens of thousands of the city's residents by the time the pandemic was over in 1351. Among those who lived in Florence at the time was Giovanni Boccacio, who would become famous for writing The Decameron. A collection of 100 short stories, The Decameron's main narrative tells the tale of seven young women and three young men who escape the plague by travelling to a countryside villa. There, they each tell one story each night for ten nights. The title "Decameron" combines the Greek words for "ten" and "day." The stories themselves were not about the plague. The 10 characters wanted to escape its horrors mentally as well as figuratively. They told stories of love, of lust, greed, of the fickleness of fortune, of the power of the human will. These stories would inspire the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Moliere, to name a few. We're now living through a similar moment in time, as we each do our part in fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. At Muskeg Press, we look back and admire the attitude of Boccacio, who, in the midst of a terrible pestilence, wrote a great work of art that survives to the present day. With that in mind, we are putting out a CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for any author out there who would like to spend this time in self-isolation to write a story for a forthcoming publication of Muskeg Press....

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $5 for 500 to 1000 words, $10 for 1000 to 3000 words, $25 for 3000 to 5000 words Tell-Tale Press now has submissions open to SHORT STORIES ONLY for at least one year, from July 1, 2019 through July 1, 2020. We plan to read through submissions as they are received and choose stories to publish on the Tell-Tale Press website online as they are selected. The stories may also be selected for digital and/or print anthologies in the future. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 500 to 5000 words ONLY. Shorter or longer pieces will not be considered, even if it's just a few words. Word count does not include title, author's name and contact information, and any section numbers or section breaks. Original work only. No reprints, unless you are an author who has previously published with Tell-Tale Press. No simultaneous submissions. Only four submissions total per author during this time period. If you send more than four submissions, all of your stories will automatically be rejected. PLEASE FOLLOW STANDARD MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING. This includes one-inch margins, double spacing, either Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font in 12 point, and consecutive page numbers. ANY STORY THAT IS POORLY FORMATTED WILL NOT BE READ. Click here for guidelines on how to create a standard manuscript. YOU MUST USE THE SUBMISSION FORM ON THE WEBSITE, including the upload link as to where to upload your story. Any stories submitted not using this format will not be considered. Your file must be in the format of .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf. STORY REQUIREMENTS The story must fall in the genre of fantasy, horror, mystery/crime, and/or science fiction. There is no specific theme at this time. Some examples of what will be considered are crossover work, such as sci-fi horror or horror western, and subgenres such as historical fiction, steampunk,...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $100 Theme: Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. The first edition of The-Binge Watching Cure encompassed a huge variety of genres. The second edition centered on horrific themes that kept us up at night. For the third volume, we are abandoning earthly conventions entirely in favor of the weird, wild worlds of science fiction. So what is science fiction? SF features stories based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social, environmental, and evolutionary changes. That is just a textbook definition. Science fiction has a huge range of subgenres, and I’d love to see them all. Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. For the SF volume, we are offering a one-time payment of $100 for each story. We will be licensing the non-exclusive print and electronic book rights, including foreign-language rights (but not audio, film rights, or magazine rights). Your name and bio will be included along with your story. Submissions will open January 20th and close July 1st. Use “Last name – SF – word length category” as the subject line of your email. Questions? Visit our FAQ page. Our FAQ page has more detail about the kind of stories we’re looking for as well as details on formatting and publication details. Ready to submit? Hop over to our submissions page. Via: The Binge-Watching Cure.

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission : Not of this World To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here . ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE. NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright. The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline. NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission. BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Tiny Red Suitcase To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here . ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE. NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright. The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline.  NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission.  BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside the U.S. For those living outside the U.S., submit manuscript as an email attachment (readable by MSWord ― either as a DOC file or an RTF file), and include the following information on the...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: 750-1500 words - $10, 350-749 words - $5, Reprints at $5 and $3 for the previous word counts. Theme: POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. Note: Reprints Welcome People of Color Destroy Lovecraft  ​Lovecraft wrote some hella scary monsters, on that most horror scholars agree, but he was terribly racist. I would like to see for this issue, POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. My preference for this issue is to have the majority of stories written by writers of color, if not all. Queer writers of color are especially encouraged to submit. Flash/shorts (750-1500 words. No more, no less) for $10 per piece original, previously unpublished. Microfics (350-749 words) will pay at a $5 per story rate for original, previously unpublished stories. NO POETRY OR DRABBLES FOR THIS ONE. Reprints will be accepted on this one. BUT will pay at a $5 rate for flash/shorts (750-1500 words) and $3 for microfics (350-749 words). You must identify your story as a reprint on the cover page of the manuscript and provide the market and date (mo/yr) where it was last published. Please follow instructions on the Guidelines page and include your name, PayPal email, and word count (total, not approximate) on the first page of your story document. Deadline July 1st, 2020.  Via: The Were-Traveler.

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 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 but...