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Deadline: January 15th, 2016 Payment: $5 payment advance and will share equally fifty percent of the royalties received Tree-Lion Press is currently seeking submissions for an anthology of Speculative Fiction stories inspired by Long-Distance Running. BEFORE READING FURTHER, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.  We are seeking short fiction in the Speculative Fiction genre (by which we mean to be the umbrella term for the wide and varied range of Science Fiction and Fantasy subgenres).  The stories are to be inspired by (by which we mean drawn from, informed by, derived from) the act or concept of Long-Distance Running.  A very specific theme, yes, but one with infinite potential.  Go crazy with it. Word count and Deadline:  Between 500 and 10,000 words.  These are guidelines, not laws; if you have a great story that runs a few words short or long, go ahead and submit it. Genre:  We are looking for Speculative Fiction; We tend toward (soft) Science Fiction and Fantasy, but will also accept well-written Horror or Supernatural or Whatever, as long as it is Speculative Fiction and meets the other requirements stated here.  (Need more info on what qualifies as Speculative Fiction?  Check out the Goodreads entry that discusses the term.) Theme:  Long-Distance Running.  The hours of solitude.  The endorphin rush.  Other people looking at you as if you were crazy.  The pain.  The endurance.  The more pain.  The competition.  The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Authors:  The theme is Speculative Fiction inspired by Long-Distance Running.  You don't have to be a runner to write for this collection, but it would probably help. GENERAL SUBMISSION NOTES:  Please read the entire page before clicking through to the submission guidelines for a specific publication. Tree-Lion Press is now accepting submissions for ALL of the following Keeping Pace with Eternity ... Speculative Fiction inspired by Long-Distance Running (Deadline...

Deadline: January 15th, 2016 Payment: $20 We are currently accepting submissions. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don'taccept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and tell us as soon as it's accepted elsewhere. We do not publish reprints, including anything that has appeared on a website. We pay $20 for each story we publish. We buy first-printing world exclusive rights for four months. Payment will be made shortly after publication using PayPal. We encourage our authors to establish a PayPal account if they don't already have one. We prefer to read submissions in traditional manuscript format. This means indented paragraphs instead of left justification, and Courier or Times New Roman font in 12 pt, double-spaced. Also, please include the title, your name, address, and word length on the first page of your story. To submit your story to Electric...

By Penny Dreadful Newspaper (Penny Dreadful Paper 1838) , via Wikimedia Commons Deadline: January 24th 2016. Prizes: First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize I'm going old school again with January's contest image with a classic cover from Penny Dreadful magazine. I'm looking forward to seeing what stories you all come up with for this image! As always the stories can be of any genre. They just have to be inspired by this month's image and no more than 500 words. Entry to the contest remains free and there are prizes for the three winners. I will also feature any of the stories that don't win but I believe are worth showcasing on this blog. First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize The money for the prizes come out of my own pocket, although I do make a little from advertising on this blog. So if you see something of interest then feel free to click on the links and purchase away! If you haven't tried my books yet then check them out at the top of the page, as well as buying a good read you'll be helping this contest. Please make sure to check your story for typos before submitting. I don't mind a few errors, but my enjoyment of a story is diminished if I have to wade through too many. I'll post the winning entries by Febuary 1st 2016. As with everything in life there are a few rules: Only one entry per person....

Deadline: January 25th, 2016 Payment: .03 per word We are currently open for submissions (hooray!) for Issue 2, to be published in April 2016. Submission Guidelines Farstrider is a fantasy magazine specializing in stories with a sense of humor along the lines of Terry Pratchett, Gail Carriger, or aGarrett, P.I. story.  Any and all sub-genre of fantasy will be considered, excepting those that by definition conflict with our desire for a light and fun tone (the obvious example being dark fantasy). Even though we are new, I assure you that we take this seriously, that we are here to stay, and that we will at least pretend to know what we are doing.  This means having a few house rules: We are looking for original stories only, meaning those that you have not published elsewhere before, including on your own personal site. We ask that stories be submitted to us in standard manuscript format.  If you are a fledgling writer and you aren't sure what that is, I recommend reading through William Shunn's excellent guide here. Please refrain from sending multiple submissions.  We will only publish one story from any given writer in each issue of the magazine, so make sure to select only your single best work rather than the entire buffet table. Please also avoid simultaneous submissions.  For the uninitiated, this means not to send the same story around to a bunch of different markets.  We know you just want the best chance to be published, but we promise to respect your time and give you a decision on your story as quickly as possible.  That way, if it doesn't work out with us you'll be able to move on to the next market without too much time lost.  We will strive to respond to every submission within 14 days.  This time frame...

Deadline: January 28th 2016 Payment: $10 Humor, horror, or utter psycho extremes please! InfectiveINk.com is interested in great fiction. Unless specified, we are open to all genres and styles, except erotica. We offer $10 per Short Story, payable via PayPal. We do not currently pay for Short Story submissions under 1500 words, or for any Flash Fiction submissions, bragging rights however, are priceless. Remember, InfectiveINk.com is a prompt-driven publication. Be sure that the story you're submitting corresponds to one of our prompts before sending your work. Submissions should be sent to [email protected] In the subject line please include the word 'submission', your last name, and the prompt you're submitting for, e.g. Submission, Fitzgerald, Monsters. The body of the email includes: Your name Your pen name, if you use one Your contact details (including the email address we would send your Paypal payment to if your story is 1500+ words) The word count An interesting bio that doesn't simply list your publications Your submission You are welcome to paste the submission in the body of the email, we also accept .doc, .docx, .txt, and .rtf attachments. Please replace any curly quotes with straight quotes, curly apostrophes with straight ones. Double and triple check for grammar and spelling errors, watch your possessives, take care with there/their/they're. Write to the prompt and HAVE FUN! These aren't the stories to devote months of intense effort toward. Let your creative juices flow freely (yeah, that sounded gross), and play fast and hard! Edit with a vengeance and submit. Please read over our Author Agreement before submitting. InfectiveINk.com is listed at Duotrope, don't forget to track your submissions! Questions? Need some help/guidance? Email us at [email protected] Via: InfectiveINK.

Deadline: January 31, 2016 Payment: $10 Reprints Allowed Anthologists: Laura Harvey and Sarena Ulibarri With Specter Spectacular III, we hope to expand on the previous volumes of “ghostly” tales and “deathly” tales by delving into the realm of “uncanny” tales. Many of these will be similar to what you’ve seen in previous volumes: ghosts, poltergeists, psychopomps, psychic mediums. But the idea of the uncanny opens up additional possibilities: creepy doppelgängers, too-close-to-human robots, changeling intruders, cryptid animals, jarring juxtapositions. Leave your clichés at the door and show us fresh and fascinating new tales. The essence of the uncanny is an unsettled feeling, a sense that something isn’t quite right, often coupled with an inability to articulate exactly why. Our tastes lean more toward the psychological than toward gore, especially for this volume. We’re looking for a wide range of interpretations and a balance of styles and tones (serious, humorous, modern, historical, futuristic, mythological, gothic, etc.). We aim for the same high quality of stories that appeared in Specter Spectacular I and II. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 + paperback copy of the anthology. We will consider new and reprinted works in English. For previously unpublished works: Seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for life of the anthology. For reprints: Seeking non-exclusive right to publish in print and electronic formats for life of anthology. Preference for stories which have not been anthologized previously. Open submission period: October 1, 2015 – January 31, 2016. Length: Under 10,000 words. Submission method: Paste the story into the body of the e-mail message. Include the approximate word count. Subject line: SSIII– . Send submission to: submissionsworldweaverpresscom. Simultaneous submissions = okay. Sending us many submissions at once = no. Previous anthologies in...

Deadline: January 31st, 2016 Payment: Authors will share equally fifty percent of royalties received Seeking science fiction set in a future five to fifteen years from now. The same world in which we live, but with (for example) self-driving cars, big rigs, and garbage trucks, robots working in the car washes and in the farm fields, 3D printing, milk bottles delivered by drone, connectivity everywhere, fledgling AI, and the Internet of Everything. Please note: We are not seeking apocalyptic or post-apocalypse stories and in general, prefer more upbeat than downer tales. 2500 – 6000 words. When submitting, please include “Near-Future” in the subject line. Accepting submissions from November 1st through January 31st, 2016. Planned release date April 15th, 2016. Will accept previously published stories provided author has rights and most recent publication is prior to April 15, 2015. The anthology will contain between twelve and twenty stories, depending on the overall length. Authors will share equally fifty percent of royalties received. We accept MS Word .doc and .docx files. Submissions must be in standard manuscript format. Links to formatting guides are available here. Stories may be sent to: [email protected]” Via: Dark House Books.

Deadline: January 31, 2016 Payment: $50 for stories up to 1,500 words, rising to a maximum of $150 for stories up to 5,000 words (longer stories are paid a slightly higher fee, but in order to exceed the word length limit of 5,000 words, the editor must judge a story to be of surpassing excellence.) Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela, is now OPEN for submissions. Compostela (Tesseracts Twenty) is an anthology of hard and soft science fiction stories that best represent a futuristic view of the sciences and how humanity might be affected (for better or worse) by a reliance in all things technological. For more than 1,000 years, Santiago de Compostela (Compostela means “field of stars”) has attracted pilgrims to walk to the cathedral that holds St. James the apostle's relics. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time. Submissions will close January 31, 2016. About the Series: for more information ABOUT THE TESSERACTS SERIES ABOUT THE EDITORS: Spider Robinson Since he began writing professionally in 1972, Spider Robinson has won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, three Hugo Awards, a Nebula Award, and countless other international and regional awards. Most of his 36 books are still in print, in 10 languages. His short work has appeared in magazines around the planet, from Omni and Analog to Xhurnal Izobretatel i Rationalizator (Moscow), and in numerous anthologies. The Usenet newsgroup alt.callahans and its many internet offshoots, inspired by his Callahan’s Place series, for many years constituted one of the largest non-adult content networks in cyberspace. In 2006 he became the only writer ever to collaborate on...

Deadline: January 31st, 2016 Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. Note: Sorry on the late posting on this one, just came across it. For our Science Fiction issue we are looking for serious science fiction. If you want to write about aliens for instance, we are more likely to accept a story about the kind you’d find attacking earth rather than the ones with glowing fingers who want to go home. Dark science fiction will have an easier time being accepted, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be horror to be dark, there is a difference between grim and gruesome. Also, don’t misinterpret serious to say we aren’t interested in humor, but the jokes and quips need to be ‘part’ of the story and not the ‘point’ of the story. We are flexible about sub-genre, but it should be science fiction primarily. Some examples of the type of science fiction we like are found in the works of Orson Scott Card, L. Ron Hubbard, Frank Herbert, among many others. Overall we like quality fiction that tells a good story and takes us to amazing and mystical worlds. If in doubt, go ahead and send it to us. At worst we’ll reject your story and at best we’ll accept it. We are currently accepting short stories for our yearly anthology and illustrations for an anthology contest. If you wish for us to review one of your published ebooks for promotion on this sight, please refer to the bottom of this page.   Short Stories: To be included in our annual anthology Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. Word count: 2,500 – 7,000 (5,000 is preferred) Submission Window: November 1st – January 31st (Anything submitted outside of this window will be deleted without being read)...

Deadline: February 1, 2016 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars). We also send you a copy of the issue in which your piece appears. You'll receive your money and issue at the same time. We love the fact that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually two to three weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. (Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines.) One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual...