Events

Deadline: June 15th, 2025 Payment: $125 and a contributor's copy Theme: Insert Sherlock Holmes into the realm of Lovecraftian Horror Edited by Derrick Belanger & Brian Belanger Description: Imagine Holmes investigating the disappearance of a college student in the mysterious town of Innsmouth, matching wits with a man who can reanimate the dead, or using his deductive skills to help fight creatures from beyond the realm of time and space. These are just some of the stories which could be included in the new anthology The Necronomicon of Sherlock Holmes. The anthology will feature traditional Sherlock Holmes stories blended with one or more of Lovecraft’s tales. Belanger Books is calling for submissions from writers, new or established, which are between 5,000 – 10,000 words (it is okay to be over some). Guidelines: The stories must feel like traditional Holmes and Lovecraft stories. The stories should have the traditional Holmes and Watson working with the traditional characters, creatures, and/or gods of H.P. Lovecraft. Remember, there was a logic to the writing of Lovecraft, a rationale behind the otherworldly beings even if humans couldn’t conceive it, that should blend well with the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $125 and a paperback copy of the anthology. Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication. Authors are welcome to submit more than one story for the anthology. Send submissions in a word document that is double spaced, in Times New Roman, and in 14 point font to [email protected] with the subject line ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR THE NECRONOMICON OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Submission Deadline: June 15, 2025. Publication Date: Winter 2025/2026 Via: Belanger Books.

Deadline: June 15th, 2025 Payment: US 4¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $4, maximum $25 Theme: Speculative poems about Birds Eye to the Telescope 57, Birds, will be edited by Maria Schrater. Send your speculative bird poems! The endless diversity of birds is one of the great marvels of our world. Migration patterns, flight mechanics, song, life cycle, and more—it's a diverse pool to draw from, with deeper potential with the addition of speculative layers. Guest Editor Maria Schrater has been fascinated by birds since she was a child, learning to imitate their calls and identify local species just by a flash of color. She has rescued baby birds, carefully viewed delicate nests, and watched majestic waterfowl take flight. Apparition readers may remember that Schrater adores out-of-the-box forms. You could even send a poem shaped as a bird. If you pick a traditional form, please name the form in the cover letter so it can be evaluated with that in mind. A generous interpretation will be applied to the definition of bird, but this call is not intended to include dinosaurs unless modern birds are also discussed. We are excited to see your poems! Submission Guidelines SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Use the form at https://bit.ly/SFPAettt57 to submit. Please submit 1–3 unpublished poems in English (ideally, attached as .docx or .txt) and include a short bio. Translations from other languages are acceptable with the permission of the original poet (unless public domain). Inquiries only to [email protected] with “ETTT” in the subject line. Deadline: June 15. The issue will appear on July 15, 2025. Payment and rights Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 4¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $4, maximum $25. Payment is on publication. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association normally uses PayPal to pay poets, but can also send checks....

Submission Window: May 15th - June 15th, 2025 Payment: $8.00 ($0.08 per word) Theme: Scifi and/or Fantasy 100-word stories (can include horror but must have a SF or F element) that focus on the theme of 'Train" - any meaning of the word Train is valid. We’ll be opening again for submissions May 15 to June 15 for the theme TRAIN. We will allow one themed and one un-themed submission per writer. All submissions must be submitted via our Google form, which will be available here when we are open. What do we want? Speculative fiction (science fiction or fantasy) Note: We accept horror, but it must have a speculative element, whether science fiction or fantasy. Drabbles (100-word stories EXACTLY) Note: We calculate word count using Microsoft Word. If using Google Docs, please manually count your words. It has a truly baffling definition of a word (e.g., “1,000” = 2 words). Actual, complete stories Even though they’re only 100-words, drabbles still need all the essential elements of a story: character, setting, conflict, theme, and plot. What do we NOT want? Child abuse (of any type) Erotica Rape Revenge stories Hateful content Poems All the details Simultaneous submissions: Yes! Go crazy. Submit everywhere! But if it is accepted elsewhere, please let us know. Response time: Responses will be within 60 days. Please query after this time. Multiple submissions: You may submit two stories per submissions period. Note: Only one story will be accepted per author per period. Reprints: Nope. Stories many not be previously published in any format (including on your blog, Patreon, etc.). Formatting: Please format italics with surrounding _underscores_. You do not need to add indents or manual line breaks. AI use: No. All work must be original and yours. Using AI or plagiarizing will get you banned forever. No redemption arc will be possible. Contract terms: We require first worldwide English electronic...

Deadline: June 22nd, 2025 Payment: 15 cents per word for fiction and $75 per page for poetry and artwork. Theme: In a world devastated by catastrophes, we need stories that confront these horrors. Note: Prioritizing work by people with lived experience of war and conflict. It’s time to announce the call for submissions to It Was Paradise*, a special issue of Reckoning edited by Sonia Sulaiman and with cover art by Moníca Robles Corzo. In a world devastated by catastrophes, we need stories that confront these horrors. This is all out war on the planet, on life itself. War and conflict are the themes for this volume of Reckoning. Probe into the heart of extinction, genocide, and climate crisis. Expose the exploitation of the earth. Show us how the world could be on the other side. Send us your stories of environmental justice, of violence, imperialism, fascism, and resistance, of destruction, survival, and of triumph. It Was Paradise is open for submissions now through the summer solstice, June 22, 2025, with tentative release scheduled for October. Payment rate will be 15 cents (US) per word for prose, $75 per page for poetry and art. As always, we’re seeking submissions from Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, trans, disabled, neurodivergent, imprisoned, impoverished, and otherwise marginalized human beings from everywhere, but in particular for this issue, we will be prioritizing work by people with lived experience of war and conflict. We’ll continue to accept submissions to our communication-themed regular issue, Reckoning X, throughout. Also, during this submission window only, we’re relaxing our usual rule about multiple submissions to allow folks to submit to both calls simultaneously.   We’re always open to submissions. There are never any fees to submit. We pay SFWA-qualifying “professional” rates upon acceptance; click below to see how much for different...

Submission Window: Marginalized writers from June 1, 2025 to June 15, 2025 and for BIPOC writers from June 1, 2025 to June 22, 2025. Payment: $0.01 USD per word Theme: Speculative fiction from marginalized voices that include a door opening (literally or metaphorically) in some manner. GENRE: Speculative Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror TITLE: Enter Here: An Anthology of Portals For untold years, the door has been closed. But today, the key turns. The lock clicks. The door opens, and you go through it. What awaits you on the other side? ENTER HERE is an anthology of thirteen short stories of speculative fiction from marginalized voices. Breaking into publishing can feel like knocking on a closed door or being turned away from a locked gate. With this anthology, we want to open the doors. Stories in this collection may fall into any genre of speculative fiction and will span the range from cozy to grimdark, but every piece must include a door opening in some manner. Physical or metaphorical, traditional or unusual—make the doors your own. Send us your lushly written, genre-blending stories that look at portals in unexpected or unusual ways. Submission rules: Submissions will be open for all marginalized writers from June 1, 2025 to June 15, 2025 and for BIPOC writers from June 1, 2025 to June 22, 2025. Submissions received after 11:59pm EST on June 15 for general submissions/June 22, 2025 for BIPOC submissions will be deleted unread. We are asking you to self-identify and will not be verifying identities, so please respect these submission windows.   Authors must self-identify as marginalized in some way. Intersectionality and #ownvoices are encouraged. However, you are not required to disclose your marginalizations. The purpose of this item is to ensure that we are capturing stories from marginalized writers, not to make an exhaustive list...

Submission Window: May 1st - June 30th, 2025 Payment: .05/word plus contributor’s copies Theme: Mina Harker Issue 7: Mina Harker(To Be Published November, 2025) Mina is teacher, a wife, and the heart and the hero of the novel. Her spirit and intelligence keep her resilient even when darkness closes in. But who is Mina beneath the surface? Did her experiences leave her haunted? How did her connection to Dracula affect her view of the world or her family? Whether it’s before, during, or after the events of the novel, let’s explore her strength, her struggles, and her secrets. Submissions open May 1, 2025-June 30, 2025. Submissions received earlier will be read and considered but will not be responded to until the window opens. We like stories that feel like they could be canon, but we also enjoy fun alternate takes and pastiche. Prequels, sequels, updates, divergent timelines - unleash your creative powers of darkness and show us something exciting. As with every publication the best way to get a feel for what we like is to read what we’ve put out in the past. Stories should be 1500-5000 words. Poetry will be considered, but is not necessarily sought (We are hoping to have an all poetry issue sometime in the future). Compensation will be .05/word plus contributor’s copies. Reprints will be considered. Reprints should be at least 10 years old. Compensation is $55. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify us immediately if accepted elsewhere. Some stories may be chosen for the website, but not the publication. Please adhere to the Shunn format - https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ Please only send .doc, .docx, or .pdf Filename and email subject should be - “lastname_title_jonathan or “lastname_title_mina” Include short 3rd person bio Email story submissions to: [email protected] Cover Art Submissions What we want Eye catching design....

Deadline: June 30th, 2025 Payment: $5 Theme: Plagues, pandemics, original takes on zombies, outbreaks, and everything related! The HellBound Books team felt enough time has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic to warrant an appropriately themed anthology. We are looking for horrific tales of diseases ravaging mankind, viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores infecting and threatening to eradicate all of humanity - and, yes, we would love to see your terrifying, unique takes on the zombie trope! PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 2.5K - 8K word count * Write 'PANDEMIC' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) DEADLINE: JUNE 30, 2025 (please note: all submissions are assessed only AFTER the deadline date and, due to the overwhelming response HBB receives for all anthologies, we are only able to contact the the authors of sucessful submissions). NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Anthology Capped at 120K words in total. Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Deadline: June 30th, 2025 Payment: $5 Theme: Extreme horror, brutal, splatterpunk, etc We are looking for your most brutal, bloodied,horrific stories - no holds barred; we challenge you to disturb our most seasoned, desensitized curators with your tales of extreme horror and mind-bending terror... PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 4K-8K word count * Write 'EXTREME' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) Deadline: 30 June 2025 (please note: all submissions are assessed only AFTER the deadline date and, due to the overwhelming response HBB receives for all anthologies, we are only able to contact the the authors of sucessful submissions). NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 120K words in total. Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Deadline: June 30th, 2025 Payment: $5 Theme: Terrifying Tales to be told around a campfire! Send us your creepiest, most spine-chilling tales of terror best told around the campfire or a late-night sleepover! We're looking for mysterious strangers calling from inside the house, weird, inhuman beings lurking in the woods, inexplicable behaviours from once-trusted friends and relatives that may be madness, a brain-altering disease, demonic posession, or something much, much worse... PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 4K-8K word count * Write 'CAMPFIRE' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) Deadline: 30 June 2025 (please note: all submissions are assessed only AFTER the deadline date and, due to the overwhelming response HBB receives for all anthologies, we are only able to contact the the authors of sucessful submissions). NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 120K words in total. Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Deadline: June 30th, 2025 Payment: $35 and a contributors copy Theme: Short horror fiction inspired by early morning kids TV Send us your best short horror fiction inspired by early morning kids TV for our next anthology, Saturday Mourning Television. Tune us in to something scary based on any decade you like: the educational/bizarre 1960’s & 70’s, the advert-packed 80’s, the radical 90’s, the wayward & wacky 2000’s or anything beyond. Even web-based entertainment is fair game. And don’t limit yourself to tales involving kids, what about parents, or performers & hosts, workers behind the scenes, even animated creations. Let your imagination go wild, and remember not to sit too close to the screen! What we’re looking for: All submissions must be in the horror genre. Bizarro, splatterpunk and extreme horror are welcome. Preference will be given to submissions from LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC authors. If you don’t like this, don’t submit. All submissions must be original. We will not accept reprints, or stories/poetry published elsewhere, including on blogs, social media etc. We realise this is a TV-related call but no fanfic or direct use of real-life persons please! No AI/machine generated anything– any AI/machine generated submissions (including covering emails) will be deleted without reply, and the submitter will be blacklisted from any future submission calls, grant programmes & other services offered by Sliced Up Press. Please try to avoid simultaneous submissions. Submit your work in modern or classic manuscript format (as outlined on www.shunn.net/format. Poems may be submitted in whatever form best suits the piece. Please send your submission as an MS Word .doc or .docx attachment. Anything sent in a different file type will be rejected without reply. You do not need to include your postal/mailing address or full birth name anywhere in your submission. These will only be requested if your...