Events

Deadline: April 30th 2014 Payment: $20 and 2 free books Spider Road Press invites submissions of unpublished short stories of no more than 8,000 words with strong female characters to "Eve’s Requiem: Five Tales of Women, Crime and Horror." This anthology will be published by Spider Road Press in late 2014. Men and women are welcome to submit. We are looking for literary, intense stories in which women actively face dangerous situations. We seek tales in which the plot strengthens the characterization. Any use of violence should be integral to the story (no gore). Writers will only be invited to submit one story each. Submissions will be accepted March 1- April 30. Contributors will be paid $20 and 2 free books. 5% of the proceeds from this anthology will be donated to charity. Simultaneous submissions are fine. (We regret that we cannot consider reprints, Science Fiction, YA fiction or prose poems. Please do not submit stories involving vampires or werewolves.) Please be aware that it could take us up to three months to respond to your submission. We look forward to reading your fiction! Beginning on 3/1/14, writers can submit via Submittable Here. . Via: Spider Road Press.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Do you like a challenge? Can you write short and snappy horror? Why not enter our summer flash fiction contest? Take a look at the photograph below… Now, write a story in no more than 250 words, drawing inspiration from the photo. Remember, we are looking for horror, the strange, the weird and worrisome, the macabre and mysterious. When done, paste your story directly into the CONTACT form in the top menu. Please add SUMMER CONTEST to the ‘Subject’ line. Closing date is 30th April 2014. We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Our decision is final, any moaners will be mangled. To see our previous winners, click HERE Good luck! Via: Massacre Publishing.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: $15 per story accepted If you are interested in submitting a story to Timeless Tales for publication, please follow these rules:   Process:  Email your submissions to [email protected]. Attach your story in .doc format. Include your full name, your story’s word count, email address, and any tidbits about your previous writing experience you’d like to include (especially mention if you have a blog because we’d love to check it out!).  We love getting submissions from new writers, so even if you’ve never been published before, don’t be shy!   Length: Up to 2000 words, with under 1500 preferred. ​ Genres:  We only accept fiction (no poetry or non-fiction) that are retellings of the theme that is currently open. It can be a modernization, sci-fi, a mash-up, etc. ​ If you want to know what makes an A+ fairy tale retelling I wrote a blog post about it: http://www.diamondsandtoads.com/2011/09/spinning-old-into-new-steps-of.html   Content: While Timeless Tales is not targeted specifically at children, it is a fairly conservative magazine, especially when it comes to sexual content, so I intend to keep the stories in the PG-13 range or below. However, I have a deep appreciation for the darker side of many original fairy tales, so don’t assume I only want “happy” stories.   Pay Rate: At the moment, we’re just starting out and budget is tight, so we will pay a flat rate of $15 per story accepted, but we hope to increase this amount in the future. You'll also get a free year of our premium subscription. 1.    We do NOT accept multiple submissions.   2.    We DO accept reprints as long as the author has the rights to the story. But please include in your cover letter the details of where and when the story was previously published.   3.    We DO accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us by email immediately if your story has been accepted elsewhere.   If you have a...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: We pay 1.5 cents per word plus a $100 Editors’ Choice award to each of three stories that most effectively and ambitiously incorporate the theme. Authors will also receive an e-book version of the anthology and wholesale pricing for printed copies (typically 50% of cover price). Theme:  “PARCH” Word Count: We will consider fiction up to 10,000 words. There is no minimum word count. Topics: We are interested in publishing a wide variety of entertaining and literate speculative fiction stories, so the more space a story would take, the more it will need to impress us. We publish science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction. Compensation: We pay 1.5 cents per word plus a $100 Editors’ Choice award to each of three stories that most effectively and ambitiously incorporate the theme. Authors will also receive an e-book version of the anthology and wholesale pricing for printed copies (typically 50% of cover price). Rights: We purchase North American Serial Rights, and Electronic Rights for downloadable version(s). All subsidiary rights released upon publication. Submissions: Our focus is on original stories. Please do not send previously published stories, even if they’ve only been published on your blog. Please, no simultaneous submissions (wait for a response from us before submitting elsewhere). We do not publish poetry. Sorry. No hand-written manuscripts. We gotta draw the line somewhere. We love creative interpretations of our themes. Don’t ask us what it means – tell us what it means with a story that convinces us you’re right. We will run mature content if we like the story and if the mature content is integral to the story. So make sure there’s an actual story in that mature content. No fanfic, even if it’s of a fictional universe that has passed into public domain. No thinly-disguised transcripts of role playing sessions,...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: 1 cent per word This is a collection of stories told by people visiting or living in the Miskatonic Valley. We will be accepting submissions from March 15th through April 30th. We have two very hard requirements for this: First, it must be set in the Miskatonic Valley, made popular by H.P. Lovecraft. Second, it must be told from a first-person point of view. Horror and fantasy are preferred, but we will consider other genres. Gratuitous sex and violence that doesn’t add to the story is discouraged. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions. We will not be accepting reprints. If your story is accepted, we ask that you provide a fictional identity for the narrator, with bio. Authors will still be credited under their own name. Your story will just be listed as: A tale by Steve Whatley, as provided by Joe M. Author. Stories must be between 500-8,000 words in length. Payment will be 1-cent per word. Via: Mad Scientist Journal

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: roughly $10 per story and $5 per poem If you have a story or poem that fits the theme, or you’d like to write one, please go ahead! You can email them to me at [email protected], with the subject heading “Latchkey Tales submission – “. Please submit as doc or docx files, 12 point font, a clean font like Times, Arial, Calibri. I’ll accept stories between 1000 and 6000 words. At the moment I am not sure how much I’ll be paying, but my working amounts are roughly $10 per story and $5 per poem. That will vary depending on how many subscriptions we get. If you’re an artist and you’re interested in working on our cover, please get in touch with me at solarwyrm@gmail. Working amount for payment for cover images is currently $50, but that is also variable depending on subscription. Each edition will contain five original stories, three poems, and a cover image Via: Solar Wyrm.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: At the judge’s discretion, an electronic chapbook of qualifying poems will be considered for publication under the aegis of HWA. Each poem chosen for publication will be paid $5. To celebrate National Poetry Month, the Horror Writers Association will be holding their inaugural HWA Horror Poetry Showcase in April 2014. Open to all poets, the Showcase will be accepting submissions throughout the month of April with four poems chosen by HWA member judges to be honored on the HWA website. Submission Guidelines: Submissions will be accepted via Submittable from April 1-30, 2014 and all rights will remain with the poets. Those interested in submitting should visit www.horror.org on or after 1 April to access the submissions link.   We are looking for more than “blood, guts, worms,” etc. Just being “Icky” isn’t enough. Poetry to fifty lines. Free verse preferred; no forced rhyme or cliches. Unpublished poems only (though previously published poets are, of course, welcome). For example, these are some contemporary poets of darkness that we admire: Ann K. Schwader, Wendy Rathbone, Mary Turzillo, Bruce Boston, Gary Clark, Robert Borski. Submissions will be accepted via Submittable from April 1-30, 2014 and all rights will remain with the poets. In addition, at the judge’s discretion, an electronic chapbook of qualifying poems will be considered for publication under the aegis of HWA. Each poem chosen for publication will be paid $5. Submit here between April 1 and April 30, 2014. For the 2014 Showcase the judges will be Marge Simon, Peter Adam Salomon, and Jonathan Maberry. About the Judges: Marge Simon is a past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and editor of Star*Line. She won the Best Long Poem Rhysling (1995), the Bram Stoker Award for Superior achievement in poetry (2008, 2012), the Strange Horizons...

Deadline: May 1, 2014 Payment: Royalty payments quarterly from sales Editors/Authors Alexander S. Brown and Louise Myers are accepting short story submissions for the anthology, “Southern Haunts 3: Magic in the Moonlight”. Publisher will be Seventh Star Press. Author will receive royalty payments quarterly from sales. With Southern Haunts: Spirits that Walk Among Us we focused mostly on entities that once existed in human form. Southern Haunts: Devils in the Darkness focused on demons and devils. Now we are ready to focus on witches, witchcraft, voodoo, hoodoo, Southern Santeria, and more. Anything that is inspired by the occult and the South or Southwest is what we are calling for. If you are unfamiliar with our style, please read the first two volumes in the Southern Haunts series. Southern Haunts: Devils in the Darkness will be available in March of 2014. Guidelines are as follows: 1. We're looking for short fiction between 4,000 and 9,000 words. 2. Maintain a pg-13 rating. Please refrain from gratuitous sex, extreme violence, or highly explicit language. 3. Stories must be based in the South or Southwest. 4. Material may only contain occult related subjects regarding magic, curses, witches, voodoo, and hoodoo. 5. All stories must have a historical description of the location. 6. Setting must be loosely inspired by an actual location or witch, warlock, voodoo queen or voodoo king. 7. Any real characters must be fictionalized. 8. Please have your story as near perfect as possible, in an editorial sense, before submitting. Areas to Consider for Story Setting: 1. Kentucky 2. Arizona 3. New Mexico 4. Texas 5. Oklahoma 6. Arkansas 7. Louisiana 8. Mississippi 9. Tennessee 10. Alabama 11. Georgia 12. Florida 13. North and South Carolina Alexander S. Brown and Louise Myers will close the submission call by May 1, 2014. Please...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: Payment for accepted works is $0.02 USD per word (i.e. $10 for 500 words, $40 for 2000 words) and contributor's copy Aercastle Narratives: Speculative Fiction Magazine is currently reading submissions for Issue 1. Accepted submissions will be featured in Aercastle Narratives’ debut issue, scheduled for publication in March 2014. We are open to writers and voices of any genre (adventure, fantasy, horror, humor, mystery, occult, psychic, paranormal, supernatural, romance, science fiction, thriller and western stories, and very interested in reading writers who are unafraid of combining any of these genres). We are open to debuting and seasoned writers alike. We’re looking for quality tales that take us away, make us think and make us feel. To be considered, speculative elements must contribute to your story. We’re looking for those tales which have the potential to keep our readers engaged, on a plane, commuter train, library, or in the comfort of their living rooms. Issue 2, June 2014 deadline: May 1, 2014 MANUSCRIPT FORMAT Submitted manuscripts must be at least 500 words and no longer than 2,000 words in length. Use a professional, easy to read font, 12pt in size. SUBMISSION Please e-mail manuscripts as an attachment, in either *.doc, *.docx, or OpenOffice *.odt files. In the subject of the e-mail, begin your subject line with “Submission” and the title(s) of your submission. We are seeking First Electronic Rights, First Print Rights, or Reprint Rights where applicable. Please include a brief author bio in your e-mail submission, with publication history and/or website with us. We’d love to tell our readers about you. E-mail submissions to:  [email protected] PAYMENT Payment for accepted works is $0.02 USD per word (i.e. $10 for 500 words, $40 for 2000 words) Payment in the form of PayPal transfer or money order (contributor’s preference) upon publication. Contributor’s copy. We appreciate your  interest, as we bring together...

Deadline: May 1st, 2014 Payment: Digital Copy, JOURNALS OF HORROR: FOUND FICTION is Pleasant Storm Entertainment’s first horror anthology. The found footage subgenre is possibly the biggest in the horror film market, and we hope to translate that style of storytelling to the page. The stories presented here are horrific journals discovered in a variety of hidden places. The most interesting part of this anthology is the numerous places where the stories can be found: journals, diaries, legal pads, cocktail napkins, fortune cookies, instruction manuals, food ingredients, post-it notes, grocery lists, chalkboards, translation books, crossword puzzles, etc. JOURNALS OF HORROR can be found anywhere! These tales are straight forward accounts, warnings or secret messages hidden in text. This collection will be compiled by Terry M. West. Submission Guidelines: 100-5000 words. Stories should be first person accounts. When submitting, in your cover letter state where your story is found (example: story found on a post-it note or series of post-it notes). Please no adult content. Extreme gore is okay. Horror is a must. The more unique your story and presentation, the better chance it will have at being accepted. Reprints are okay as long as they fit the theme. No simultaneous submissions, please. We have no set formatting, as we realize format may depend on the type of story you present. E-mail submissions to: [email protected] Submissions open Feb 1st and close on May 1st, 2014. This is a non-paying gig. Contributors will receive one electronic copy of the book, upon publication. Rights: First Worldwide Anthology Rights, for publication in the English language anywhere in the world and electronic publication rights. All rights return to the author upon publication of the anthology. We plan on getting this anthology out there. It will be submitted for early reviews and heavily promoted. If you...