Events

Taking Submissions: Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $20 Theme: True ghost stories, unexplained occurrences, and weird encounters with the paranormal or supernatural. Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters Timber Ghost is proud to present, Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters. We are seeking true ghost stories, unexplained occurrences, and weird encounters with the paranormal or supernatural. If you have such a tale, please send it to us, and if it is creepy enough, it just might end up in this anthology (bonus if you have pictures that go along with the story). We anticipate a late 2021 or early 2022 release of the book. Authors accepted will receive a $20 payment. If the author has photos that go along with the story, they will be paid an extra $5. Deadline: November 15th, 2021. Guidelines: Stories must be 5k words or less Stories must be true events (no fiction) Authors must own the rights to the story as well as the rights to any photographs submitted Reprints are fine (just let us know in the submission that it is a reprint and that you own the rights) Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you let us know as soon as it gets picked up elsewhere No multiple submissions ​ Submission Format: Please submit your manuscript using the form below in either .docx, .doc, or .rtf following Shunn format ​Please direct any questions to Cody Langille at [email protected] Via: Timber Ghost Press.

Taking Submissions: The Other Stories #74: Cults II

The Other Stories

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Cults If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily 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 74.) Cults II; deadline 15th November 2021 !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily 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. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • 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...

Contest: Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest 2021

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Prizes: (1st prize, $75) which can come from any category and then a $50 “prompt prize” for each of these three categories. Theme: Stories to help keep Christmas weird! (prompts below) The unbearable heat of August reminds me that it’s time to announce the FOURTH ANNUAL WEIRD CHRISTMAS FLASH FICTION CONTEST! I want your stories to help keep Christmas weird! We’re in our fourth year of the contest. Last year’s results are here. The thing keeps growing every year, and each year we ramp up the weird and the creepy and the funny by at least three exponential elves. I expect the bottled up anxiety and rage of a covid year should make this contest’s stories even more upsetting. Perfect for Christmas cheer! New for this year!!! I’m making three “Prompt Categories.” This is just to shake things up, so I’m giving you three ways to enter this year. This is probably overly complicated, but what the hell. You’ve got three ways to submit a story and four ways to win a prize: “Stocking Stuffer” – In this category, just write whatever the hell you want. Anything goes as long as it fits the rules and general guidelines down below. “There was a man dwelt by a churchyard” – The king of Christmas ghost stories, M.R. James, wrote a story with that as a title because in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, someone starts a ghost story with that line but never gets further. I’m sure you guys can do better than M.R. James, a master storyteller who set the standards for all ghost stories to come. It’s a low bar. You can do it! Just write a story with that as the first line, and fame and fortune will be yours. (And, yes, those 8 words count for your total.) Thanks to Benito Cereno (@benito_cereno on Twitter)...

Taking Submissions: LampLight Special Submission Call (Early)

Submission Window: September 15th - November 15th, 2021 Payment: 6¢ (USD) per word Theme: dark, quiet horror Note: You must be able to say “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” Note: SFWA considers 8 cents per word as pro, HWA is 6 cents per word Special Call: New Writers “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” For the reading period of 15 September – 15 November 2021, we are having a special call—writers who have not yet had a professional sale. In your cover letter, please add the following statement: “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” See this blog post for more information and a FAQ We have published writers of all backgrounds from all over the world in LampLight, but not everywhere, nor all shapes and sizes of writers. Help us to shine a light on greater diverse writing and keep LampLight a showcase of the best dark fiction out there by submitting and encouraging others to as well. We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling. For inspiration, we suggest “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and LampLight, Vol1 Issue 1 which is free. We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies, cannibals, high fantasy. Edition and Rights The quarterly is published as print and ebook, and at the end of the year all the quarterlies are bound together in an annual collection. We are asking for non-exclusive, worldwide, serial rights to your work for both electronic and print. We want to publish it, we don’t want to own it. Payment 6¢ (USD) per word 5100 words MAX (firm) Note: we will not be accepting reprints for...

Taking Submissions: Hex on the Beach

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $25 US Theme: 80's slasher heavy in nostalgia. Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines may be rejected. Submissions will be accepted until November 15th, 2021. Please submit to [email protected], ensuring ’Hex on the Beach’ is in the subject line. What we are looking for: Horrifying short stories, interviews and editorials matching the theme as it relates to all mediums of the horror genre including books, comics, music, movies, art and television 1,000 to 10,000 words in length. We also encourage writers to include good representation of POC, LGBTQ+, and women. If you run a small press, podcast, blog, YouTube channel or any other platform that is focused on amplifying underrepresented voices in the horror community, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! We will have several placeholders to advertise at no cost. Space will be limited so take a moment to let us know what you do to lift other's up in the community. Please include submitter’s name, pen name (if different), word count, and author email address. Submissions must be written in 12 pt. Times New Roman and double spaced. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. If your story is a reprint, please include its original publication details in your submission email. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but you must have the right to license your story in a publication. Notify us by email at [email protected] if you need to withdraw your submission. The deadline for submissions is November 15th, 2021.

Contest: 50-Word Stories November 2021 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: November 1st-15th, 2021 Payment: 1 winner each month will win $10 Canadian Theme: A story at exactly 50-words If you’d like to have a 50-word story that you wrote featured on FiftyWordStories.com, first make sure that you understand exactly what a 50-word story is, and then read the submission requirements below closely. Submissions System Each month, submissions will be open between days 1 and 15 of that month. Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will be deleted, but can be resubmitted the following month. You may only submit one story per month. From the stories received in those 15 days, the best stories will be selected to be published that same month. Only enough stories will be selected to publish two stories per weekday. There is no payment associated with stories. However, each month a “Story of the Month” is selected, and receives a prize of $10 Canadian. Stories that were not selected will not be published, will not roll over into the following month, and cannot be resubmitted in following months. Authors will be notified whether their story has been selected or not once all stories from the month’s submissions have been reviewed. How to Submit Please email your submission to [email protected]. Paste the story into the body of the email. Please include a title, your name, and a brief third-person bio. Feel free to include a link to your website! If you are submitting a story related to a specific date or holiday, please include that information in the Subject line of your submission. You can also send your story in using the form at the bottom of this page. Tips and Guides Looking for help with writing microfiction? Check out Bob Thurber’s Anatomy of a Microfiction page. Terms and Conditions Please keep the content of your submissions appropriate for...

Taking Submissions: Uncanny Magazine Fall 2021 Window

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $.10 per word Theme: passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background. Please follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter to get all submission updates.  Editors-in-Chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas Uncanny Magazine is seeking passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background.  We want  intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel. Uncanny Magazine is a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Qualifying Professional Market. Fiction Guidelines Uncanny is looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction stories between 750-6000 words. Payment is $.10 per word (including audio rights). We will reject any story that doesn’t follow our guidelines and procedures. You may not resubmit a rejected story. If you aren’t sure if your story counts as unpublished, please query us. Submission procedures: 1- NEW! Please submit your story via Uncanny‘s Moksha submission system. 2- All stories should be in Modern Manuscript Format and attached in .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX formats. Please feel free to include your pronouns (optional) along with your name and email address in the upper left corner of your manuscript. Note, you do not need to add your mailing address or legal name to your manuscript. We will only ask for that information if your story is chosen for publication. 3- Your cover letter should contain the length of your story, your significant publishing history and awards, and information that might be relevant to that specific submission. 4- Please do not send multiple submissions at once. 5- We try to respond to all submissions in 30 days. Please feel free to query uncannymagazine gmail com if we’ve had your submission for over 45 days. Poetry Guidelines Poetry Editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu Uncanny is looking for original,...

Taking Submissions: Rogue Tales

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: Royalties Publication – February 2022 Word Count – 5,000-20,000 Theme – Fairytales will never be the same in this reverse harem anthology. All versions of bedtime stories, folklore, etc are welcome. If unsure, message DSP’s Facebook page. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Taking Submissions: Everlast (Rated R)

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: Royalties Theme: Time travel and romance Everlast (Rated R) Deadline – November 30th, 2021 Publication – March 2022 Word Count – 5,000-20,000 Theme – Romance can be difficult on its own, even before adding the complications of time travel to the equation. These couples find themselves from separate timelines in history, but cross paths due to unforeseen circumstances. Deadline – December 31st, 2021 Publication – April 2022 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – Cyberpunk. These characters are trying to survive in a dystopia of advanced technologies. Living alongside Artificial Intelligence has its perks, but also many deadly downfalls.     Publisher INFORMATION Company name: Dragon Soul Press Anthology Submission Email: [email protected] Website: http://dragonsoulpress.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dragonsoulpress/ Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/26543/dragon-soul-press The Grinder: https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market/Index?id=9529   CHECKLIST Introduction of author This is not where the biography goes. Author Contact Information / Pen name MUST be included with real name. If real name is same as pen name, state so in email. Author Biography in Third Person in 100-200 words Mandatory minimum of 100. Submission Word Count Also applies to poetry. Word count. Not line count. Submission Formatted in Times New Roman 12 PT Font. One-inch margins. No indentations. No double-spacing. No extra spacing between paragraphs. No chapters. Only DOC and DOCX accepted.Format video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjuYtJWIBI Format image example at bottom of page. Summary/Query Letter Summarized outline of all major events within the story. All emails should be addressed as “Dear Editor” Email subject and file name must be as follows – “Story Title by Author Name for (Name of) Anthology” All of the author’s social media links, including website if applicable Author must have an active social media account.   Important information Maximum of two submissions per anthology per author. Authors can submit to all anthologies simultaneously. Reprints from third party sources accepted IF author currently holds full rights. We will...

Taking Submissions: Dark Recesses Winter 2021 Issue

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: horror/dark fiction QUARTERLY PRINT MAGAZINE Breakdown of content: 8 fiction pieces (approximate word lengths) – 1x 5000, 1x 3000, 1x 2500, 2x 1500, 3x 500 3-5 non-fiction pieces – 1 article, 1-2 briefs, 1 interview and/or review – Fiction We are looking for horror/dark fiction pieces between 500-5000 words firm. Common sense when submitting please. We do not accept stories that involve the sexual abuse/exploitation of minors direct or implied. We are not looking for pure shock value. All components of your story should have merit. Gore for gore’s sake is not what we are looking for. Our pay rates: 5 cents per word All payments are made in US funds via PayPal.   We accept submissions during the following reading periods , with an expected response time of up to 12 weeks. This way we are able to accommodate all the submissions we receive. If you have not heard back from us after 16 weeks, please feel free to send us an update query. WINTER ISSUE: September 01 – November 30 (current reading period) SPRING ISSUE: December 01 – February 28/29 SUMMER ISSUE: March 01 – May 31 FALL ISSUE: June 01 – August 31 All submissions must be sent via e-mail to: [email protected] as an attached word document with the word “Fiction Submission – STORY TITLE” in the subject line. Please also include if you wish your story considered for both the quarterly print and the website publication. Note compensation rates are different for website so be certain. MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING: 12 point standard font standard margins left side of header: name, contact info right side of header: word count top of first page: title, author Variances from traditional manuscript format: single spaced NO INDENTS use bold, italics and underline as they are to appear...