Events

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: $100 Theme: Real World Based Zombie Horror WORKING TITLE: Zombies in the New Normal STORY QUANTITY  - 12 TO 15 WORD COUNT - 3000 TO 12,000 PAY - $100/Story GENRE - Real World Based Zombie Horror SUBMISSION DEADLINE - 1/August/2024 RELEASE DATE 1/October/2024 FORMAT - Word document. Un-indented. Single space with double spaces between paragraphs. Stories from editor's prompts have the best chance of acceptance. SUBMIT TO - [email protected] The stories in this anthology will be by individual writers, but each story will share a common thread of parameters as background. ANTHOLOGY PARAMETERS * No Zombie is just a Zombie. They were all once human and deep inside they still have aspects of their general and personal humanity. They know they have become Zombies, but that doesn't mean they all have to like it. They can't help what they have become. * All Zombies must eat human brains. There is something within human brain tissue that Zombies ingest in order to stay in their undead state. If they don't consume enough of this tissue, they will die-die. There is no coming back from this state of dead. * Zombies can't speak in the way humans do but they can communicate with other of their kind telepathically. This is a learned skill and the better one becomes, the more Zombies they can reach out to and communicate with at once. Most Zombies can only communicate with those they know, and for many there must be a direct line-of-site between them. When a Zombie tries to speak using their mouth, the only sounds they can make are monster-like gibberish, full of snarls and growls. * Just like Humans, any Zombie with a physical or mental handicap will have limitations based on that handicap. A Zombie with a damaged...

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Car Wars GameLit Fiction Genre: Car Wars GameLit Fiction Theme: Have you ever looked at someone, and just know that they have one hell of a tale to tell? First-hand accounts from the road, told by the bounty hunters, highwaymen, and Federal Marshals out there in the mix. Concept: We’re looking for stories from those trying to make a difference out there in the wastes. No matter if they are upholding the law, or tending to their small flock of survivors, these are the stories that inspire others to get off their tail and get something done. We want plenty of high-intensity action and carnage possible, backed by compelling character-driven stories. Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 (standard word count) Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: William Joseph Roberts Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: August 1, 2024 Email Submissions to: [email protected] with “Broken Highways” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore porn) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press...

Submission Window: July 1st - August 1st, 2024 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD max Theme: Demagogues The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. This season's theme is Demagogues. Demagogue is defined as a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using a rational argument. Some synonyms for a demagogue are fanatic, fomenter, hothead, incendiary, inciter, instigator, politician, rabble-rouser, radical, rebel, revolutionary, troublemaker. It's an election year in the US. Things are promising to get weird and/or violent. The rest of the world looks like their having the same fight coming to their doors. No more than two fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($37.50 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($15 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 USD upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of...

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Tarot (Vol 102) THE TAROT, 1st August 2024 Pull a card; tell a story. 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. *** WHEN WILL I HEAR IF MY STORY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED OR NOT? We carefully review every single submission that comes through our door. If you’ve submitted a story to us, please be patient. We WILL let you know if your submission has or hasn’t been successful. Having said that, if you haven’t heard anything up to twelve weeks after the deadline has passed, feel free to ping us an email to check in on it. Submission Guidelines • 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 are confirming that you are the original creator of the story • We will consider entrants whose work has been entered and published elsewhere, however please ensure you state where and when your story has been used elsewhere on the document • You will be allowed to place one call-to-action for your own work at the end of the episode. Be sure to include this at the end of your document, underneath the log...

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Space Coasties Genre: Speculative Fiction Theme: A collection of stories dealing with Space Coasties! Concept: We’re looking for a story that shows a modern Coast Guard in a speculative fiction setting. These can be set in any speculative fiction setting that you want, so long as the story covers a Coastie in action. Generally speaking, we want action stories, but we want your creativity to be the only limiting factor! Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 (standard word count) Edited by: JR Handley & Bayonet Books Opening Essay by: TBD Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: August 1, 2024 Email Submissions to: [email protected] with “Space Coasties!” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality.   What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore porn) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submissions in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward in ways that the reader may not expect when properly used,...

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: $5 Theme: Splatter-friendly extreme horror stories We want solid, entertaining writing that evokes feelings. Carnage House is a splatter friendly web ’zine—so nothing against cozy, but cozy, we’re not. We’re looking for gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. For a better understanding of what we’ll take, think of the Hot Blood book series or Love in Vein. Or, as a more practical proposition, read our back issues at carnagehouse.com. We invite LGBTQIA and BIPOC themes, and we encourage authors from diverse backgrounds to submit to us. Hard NOs: NO sex with children, NO sexualization of children, and NO child rape. If you’re writing a story about a child predator who gets what’s coming to him—great. But we don’t want to read about that predator violating his victims. We won’t publish anything supporting a racist, transphobic, or homophobic agenda, so don’t try it. No stories written by AI; all work must be 100 percent original. Our description includes the words “splatter” and “friendly” for a reason. We love splatter, and we’re super friendly. Carnage House is about supporting writers and entertaining readers, and we’re dedicated to both in equal measure. We look forward to reading your work in all its splattertastic glory. Submissions: We want solid entertaining writing. That has to be clearly stated because we are open to gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. Sounds great? Like anything too good to be true, there is a catch. We have some hard “Nos.” Before you go off about the freedom of expression, remember, this is a web ‘zine, not a government. We donate our time to it and if we’re not getting joy from reading your story we’re not going to publish it. This website runs...

Deadline: August 9th, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Noir cat stories Moggie Noir Volume 2 Cats. Noir. Spectacular Tail. Do it again. Opens: 6/9/24 Closes: 8/9/24 Contracts: 8/24/24 Publication: 9/20/24 5,000 to 8,000 words. Length and genre are negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept, and is entertaining.   Any submission must be in Times New Roman, 12PT, double spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email on it. Please name the file as -— Send in a .docx format.  Please attach the file to your email, no links. Please see the submission guideline graphic on the Raconteur Press Facebook page. Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication, after one year the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all the authors. We’re all in this together. This is why our anthologies are limited to ten stories. IMPORTANT: PLEASE do NOT submit stories until the date the call opens. We don’t want to hang on to your piece for longer than necessary. You might find another market for it, or it decides to grow into a novel, or…..so go ahead and write it, but tuck it away, and revisit it before submitting. Raconteur Press uses Pubshare (pubshare.com) to distribute payments and handle tax forms for anthology authors, so authors who contribute must have a free pubshare account. IMPORTANT: when you set up your Pubshare account you MUST choose the method by which you want to receive your royalties. There are currently two choices: PayPal...

Deadline: August 10th, 2024 Prizes: First: $25 bookshop.org giftcard, Second: $10 bookshop.org gift card Theme: Fantasy stories up to 500 words The Semi-Sages of the Pages is hosting a short fiction contest. We’re looking for fantasy stories, in whatever way that means to you. If it means fairies and elves where true love conquers all, then we want to see it. If it means a dark castle where a wizard preys a town of centaurs, then we’re looking forward to reading it. If it means a college-student makes a wish over a wishing well and falls into a land talking trees…well you get it. The rules: 1) Please keep it to no more than 500 words. Less is fine too, but submitting a longer story, no matter how great it is, will disqualify you. 2) We will be reading this on our YouTube channel, so please keep to a PG-13 level. Cursing and sex is fine, but PG-13 cursing and sex please. 3) We will not tolerate any stories with torture-porn, explicit sex, rape, hurting of children or animals etc. 4) Any age is welcome to apply. 5) Contest opens on July 20th and ends Aug 10th. We’ll send emails to all participants with the date of the announcement of the winners on YouTube. 6) The author keeps the rights to their story. We will read the winners (and maybe 3rd or 4th place) aloud on our YouTube channel. Your story will not be published anywhere, without your permission and a contract to do so. The prizes: First Place: $25 gift card for Bookshop.org Second Place: $10 gift card for Bookshop.org Use this form to submit your story.

Deadline: August 10th, 2024 Prizes: First: $25 bookshop.org giftcard, Second: $10 bookshop.org gift card Theme: Superhero stories up to 500 words In honor of Comic-Con we’re hosting a second contest looking for your superhero stories. Like above, we’re looking for stories of superheroes, in whatever way that means to you. The rules: 1) Please keep it to no more than 500 words. Less is fine too, but submitting a longer story, no matter how great it is, will disqualify you. 2) We will be reading this on our YouTube channel, so please keep to a PG-13 level. Cursing and sex is fine, but PG-13 cursing and sex please. 3) We will not tolerate any stories with torture-porn, explicit sex, rape, hurting of children or animals etc. 4) Any age is welcome to apply. 5) Contest opens on July 20th and ends Aug 10th. We’ll send emails to all participants with the date of the announcement of the winners on YouTube. 6) The author keeps the rights to their story. We will read the winners (and maybe 3rd or 4th place) aloud on our YouTube channel. Your story will not be published anywhere, without your permission and a contract to do so. The prizes: First Place: $25 gift card for Bookshop.org Second Place: $10 gift card for Bookshop.org Use this form to submit your story. Via: No Bad Books Press, LLC.

Open Window: August 1st to the 14th Payment: $50 per poem, $80 per story for flash, 8 cents per word for short fiction Theme: Works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales Upcoming submission windows Submission window for Issue #3: 1 to 14 August (closes midnight AEST on 14 August) We do not accept multiple submissions (one piece per submission window, please!), or simultaneous submissions. Submitting your work All submissions must be emailed to [email protected] Word/line limits Poetry: up to 50 lines (but we’re a little bit flexible!) Flash: up to 1000 words Short fiction/non-fiction: up to 4000 words Payment Poetry: flat rate $US50.00 per poem Flash: flat rate $US80.00 per story (max 1000 words) Short fiction/non-fiction: $US0.08 per word (max 4000 words) We typically pay via PayPal, but we will do our best to accommodate your preferred payment method. Please note, however, that we cannot pay by cheque. What we’re looking for I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the bottles explode (Angela Carter, ‘Notes from the front line’). We are seeking original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales. We are interested in works that stretch, expand, test, subvert, and challenge the fairy-tale tradition. We are interested in works that are entertaining, but also in works that matter: that is, in works that are both pleasurable to read and thought-provoking. We are interested in works in which the relationship between the your writing and the fairy-tale tradition is complex and thoughtful. Works that—ideally, though this is a Big Ask—open up our hearts and minds, offering us a new way to think or feel about the fairy-tale tradition as well as broader themes and issues. We are...