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Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: $35 Theme: Shared Universe set on the Starship Blunder, most genres welcome, you DO need to read the guidelines for details and characters Galactic Misadventure Continues! Freshly promoted Commander Sarah Hawkins has been assigned to the brand-new Starship Wonder. The rest of her crew, however, have taken to calling their recently acquired vessel Starship Blunder. No new parts were fabricated specifically for the Wonder—it was assembled using extra pieces, cast-off parts, and old components removed from other, nicer crafts. The Conglomeracy hopes the spiffy name of the untested starship will inspire the crew to achieve something, anything. It doesn’t work. Just like its predecessor, the Starship Wonder struggles even to take off, let alone complete a mission. Can the crew find it in themselves to at least successfully deliver an unimportant package, or will the namesake “Blunder” stick with them forever? Although the original vessel Starship Blunder blew up in fantastical fashion at the end of the first anthology, the characters you know and love are back at it again! As soon as the Starship Wonder goes on her inaugural mission, it becomes clear to her crew that there’s nothing wonderful about the new starship. They immediately start referring to their new ship as Starship Blunder as they wonder, did the Conglomeracy commission a new starship because the fleet needed another vessel, or because they just wanted somewhere to stuff the misfit crew away from the more elite spacecraft? Whatever the reason, Commander Sarah Hawkins, Mechanic Xylo, Daycare Teacher Luna Knight, and Chef Bluebottle make the best of a less-than-stellar situation as they embark on another year of missions and misfortune. Submission Guidelines WHAT WE WANT: Theme: This is a shared universe anthology. Stories should be set in the Starship Blunder universe. Embrace humor, delve into deeper themes, or spin a romantic tale under the stars. Include some diverse characters...

Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: $25 USD and a contributors copy Theme: Adult queer body horror that somehow strongly incorporates the use of emoji   Emojis carry a lot of weight in contemporary societies drenched by social media interactions. This theme is very open, but must feature emojis as the primary driving force of the narrative. Give me sentient emojis, cursed emojis, a secret combination of emojis that unlocks a demon, a serial killer whose signature is the love heart reaction, disaffected youths whose use of the shrug emoji comes back to haunt them, a coder with an emoji axe to grind… The potential here is limitless. What I want: Adult queer horror body horror. I will also accept horrormance, splatterpunk, and extreme. As long as your story revolves around emojis (any emoji, I don’t care), has the body horror element, and is queer, I am in. I want believable, authentic characters, and crazy fucking scenarios. Please edit to the best of your ability before submission. I edit everything anyway, but help out and make things are easy for me as you can. What I will not accept: No rape, bestiality or pedophilia. No gender or sexuality-based phobia unless you’re doing revenge horror or something where it’s actually needed. Vampires and werewolves are done to death now, so if you are doing that, make it really unique. Important information, please read: Word Count: 4000–7500 (anything outside this range won’t be read and won’t be considered). Submissions open: May 1, 2025 Submission deadline: August 1, 2025 (don’t worry about timezones, please. If your calendar says August 1, it’s August 1). Expected publication: December 2025 Payment: $25 USD + paperback + ebook Submission email: [email protected] In your submission email, just title it as: Fearmoji Sub + + A note about queerness— Slashic publishes...

Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: Her truck took the sharp turns of the mountain road with ease. Fall: Her truck took the sharp turns of the mountain road with ease. Due date: August 1, 2025 We love 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 four 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. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. 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...

Submission Window: July 1st - August 1st, 2025 Payment: $25 Theme: Quiet Horror and Intimate-Scale Dystopian Fiction Accepting: Short Stories up to 3000 Words Flash and Micro Fiction up to 1200 Words Fiction-in-Verse up to 1200 Words Author Compensation: $25.00 (USD) per piece Rights: We request first worldwide and digital rights for four months following publication. Thereafter all rights revert to the author. All copyright remains with the author. Genre: Quiet Horror and Intimate-Scale Dystopian Fiction (see our updated FAQ page for more on how we define Quiet Horror and Intimate Dystopia). Call Status: CLOSED Publication: Digital Format (PDF) Submission Period: July 01, 2025 – August 01, 2025 Decisions By: September 15, 2025 Release Date: October 30, 2025 Submission Process: During our open submission period, a form will be available at the bottom of this page through which you can submit your work. Continue below to read submission rules and guidelines. Submission Guidelines For all open calls, submit your work through our submission form below with the subject line formatted as such: (ex. 2024 – “Vampires Of Mars” – Emily Young – Adult). Please submit your work as file in .doc/.docx format. Authors may submit up to two pieces per issue. We request that each piece be submitted via its own individual form submission. Annual issues of The Quiet Ones do not have a specific theme, but keep in mind that your submission should be within the realms of quiet horror and/or intimate dystopia. (View FAQs for how we define those genres.) Ensure your document contains your story title, your name (or pen name), and an approximate word count. In the event that your story is selected for publication, we will need your legal name for the contract. Please include a header on each page of your document with your...

Deadline: August 15th, 2025 Payment: $300 Theme: Dark Fantasy prose that explores our darkest fears Beginning May 11th, SmokeLong will be searching for prose that is troubling, that explores our darkest fears. We're not quite sure we're ready for this to be honest, but that's part of the appeal. We are looking for literary prose. We do not want to weather gratuitous violence or cruelty, but we do--or at least we think we do--want to feel fright, unease, a racing heart. If you are a writer of stories that do this, this call is for you. Think Shirley Jackson. Our usual guidelines apply. -- Submissions must be 1000 words or fewer, excluding the title. -- You must be 18 years of age or older. -- Submissions should be in English or in any other language accompanied by an English translation, but we do consider French and German narratives through their respective forms. Please indicate that your submission is for the Dark Fantasy and Psychological thriller submissions call. -- Your submission should be double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman, and dark. Please no light fonts. -- You must remove ALL identifying information from your story document. Your name should appear ONLY in the cover letter. Our submissions editors read anonymously. They have no access to cover letters or messages. -- Simultaneous submissions considered, but please keep in mind that we tend to respond quickly. -- Multiple submissions are considered through our Multiple Submissions form for a small fee. Simply indicate that your submissions are for the Dark Fantasy and Psychological Thriller Call. -- If you need to make changes to your submissions, you'll need to withdraw it and resubmit it. We cannot consider edits submitted through the messages on Submittable. -- Deadline: August 15, 2025   Payment:  This special call for...

Submission Window: May 1st - August 29th, 2025 Payment: $15.00 plus equal share of 50% of the anthology’s royalties. Theme: Action/adventure mixed with any drama, can't use a physical key, the why of the search should be the most important part This will be mostly action/adventure, but can be placed in any time period, on other planets or any type of setting. All genres accepted and may contain humor, drama, romance, etc. Diverse characters welcome, human or otherwise. The catch – no traditional keys accepted. If the characters don’t find the key, that’s okay. Example – on a certain TV show, characters were searching for forgiveness and the key to enter was tears of regret. Another film had a key as part of a puzzle box which opened several artifacts. Please think outside the box when writing these stories. The Why of the search is the most important point. ALL writers are encouraged to submit. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro with years of credits, a beginner just starting out, or a teenager – please feel free to send the editor a story. In your cover email, please tell the editor a bit about yourself and a quick one-line synopsis of the story. Include genre. If experimental, please explain the type or how so the editor doesn’t edit out the form or reject it out of hand. In the Subject line please put Submission: Search Any Key - Title of story and author name. ​ Word Count: 1000 - 7000 words. Query for anything outside of those lengths before submitting. ​ Attach as a .rtf, .doc or .docx file. Anything else will be returned for reformatting. Send to: [email protected] Submissions Open:  May 1, 2025 (DO NOT SUBMIT PRIOR TO THIS DATE) Submissions Close:  Aug 29, 2025 Release Date: Early 2026 Payment:...

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $15 Theme: Road trip terror Are you brave enough to take a ride on the Hellbound Highway? HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips, which will be curated and edited by the double-trouble partnership of veteran horror writers Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward. We want road trips, sure, but also airplane journeys, ship crossings, railroad passages, heck even cattle drives–as long as it’s a trip and it’s B-A-D. What if a family like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Vacation were zombies? What if a weary business traveler waits for the red-eye in an airport that is literally a portal to hell? What if the night manager of the local Greyhound bus station was a vampire who feeds off of the poor and desperate? What if a crook on the lam checks into a cheap motel and discovers that the usual cockroaches are mutants with deadly powers? What if someone stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, and slowly realized that they were the special on next day’s menu? These are the types of scenarios we are looking for, so let your creepiest imaginings run wild. Scary horror, psychological horror, or comedy horror are all welcome–it just has to be GOOD. 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! * 3K - 6K word count * Write 'HIGHWAY' 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...

Art by Anwen O'Driscoll Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $0.08 CAD per word Theme: Fantasy short stories OTHER: the 2025 fantasy short story anthology (Book 2 of the Other Anthology series) We are seeking short stories by international writers. The story can be visually evocative or character/narrative focused as long as it leaves the reader thinking about the story long after closing the book. We don’t want a lesson, we want an experience that makes us come alive. To get a better idea of what we’re looking for, read Other: the 2024 speculative fiction anthology. GENRE: Speculative Fiction. Give us stories of wonder. Humour is fine as long as it’s not about the mic drop. No erotica, gore, or excessive violence. 🚫 Send us your best work, fully edited. Only one story per author will be accepted. No retellings; we want original stories created by humans. No reprints. 🚫 SUBMISSION: 🚫No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If you’ve been rejected, read our free checklist before submitting again. 🚫No reprints. 🚫No flash fiction. Stories should be 2500 – 3500 words. 🚫We do not accept submissions written whole or in part by AI. Submission Format: Use the Google Form with your story attached as a doc, docx or rtf. Format your manuscript using William Shunn’s Modern Manuscript Format (https://www.shunn.net/format/story/) and use Times New Roman to save our eyes. PAYMENT: One-time payment of $0.08 CAD per word to be paid on publication date. STATUS: Open 2025 February 1 to August 31 Writers will be notified after submissions close and after final decisions have been made. SUBMIT: Google Form Via: Bannister Press.

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $15 Theme: Road Trip Terror Are you brave enough to take a ride on the Hellbound Highway? HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips, which will be curated and edited by the double-trouble partnership of veteran horror writers Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward. We want road trips, sure, but also airplane journeys, ship crossings, railroad passages, heck even cattle drives–as long as it’s a trip and it’s B-A-D. What if a family like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Vacation were zombies? What if a weary business traveler waits for the red-eye in an airport that is literally a portal to hell? What if the night manager of the local Greyhound bus station was a vampire who feeds off of the poor and desperate? What if a crook on the lam checks into a cheap motel and discovers that the usual cockroaches are mutants with deadly powers? What if someone stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, and slowly realized that they were the special on next day’s menu? These are the types of scenarios we are looking for, so let your creepiest imaginings run wild. Scary horror, psychological horror, or comedy horror are all welcome–it just has to be GOOD. 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! * 3K - 6K word count * Write 'HIGHWAY' 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...

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: Royalties Theme: A 1980s band that end up in a fantasy kingdom (a few specific details to include below.) Announcing the latest open call by Ps and Qs Publishing! Elven Rock of Ages   What I'm Looking For:    Rift is tired of ruling his Elven Kingdom. He's been maintaining peace for a thousand years. His son is ready to take over and his daughter is leading his armies. He has nothing to do except sit in his court and pretend to be entertained. Enter a 1980s band that managed to stumble into his kingdom. Finally, something new. Deciding that playing rock music is how he wants to spend his time, he and three of his most trusted guards head out into the world. They take on the names,    Rift - singer Belanger - bass  Draye - guitar  Todd - drummer (Someone has to have a normal human name.)  1988 - Band Name Don't worry about writing the origin story. I have that one in hand. Together they travel around, entertaining the crowds and fighting all the possible supernatural creatures in their way. This could be anything from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror. No overly graphic scenes or swearing, please.  Absolutely no song lyrics, although song titles are acceptable. No AI may be used. Story length will be between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Dates: Open immediately with the final entry being accepted Aug 31st, 2025. The contracts will be sent out Sept 30th, 2025. The anthology will be published Oct 31th. If there are enough awesome stories for more anthologies, you will be informed as to which one you will be included in and when it will be published.  Payment: Payment will be done through Pubshare and will be royalty based.  Rights: I will require the...