Events

Taking Submissions: Penumbra: Family Traditions

Deadline: September 30th 2013 Payment: 5 cents per word December 2013: Family Traditions "Ah Christmas…warm and rosy time. The hot wine steams, the Yule log roars, and we're the fat that's in the fire." Geoffrey, The Lion in Winter—Act I Obviously, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine probably aren't the best example for family traditions—particularly when the biggest tradition they shared was warring with each other, but we couldn't resist giving our Christmas issue a bit of spice. While we realize that we'll be getting a plethora of stories about murdering in-laws over the holiday turkey—BUT we are still holding out hope that we won't get Norman Rockwell in space. Family traditions can happen anywhere—or anywhen—so take the turkey and run with it. CALL BEGINS ON JULY 1, 2013 CALL ENDS ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 Penumbra is looking for original, unpublished stories of 3500 words or less. We prefer that writers use Standard Manuscript Format for submissions. (You can read this article by Chuck Rothman on the SFWA site on preparing a manuscript for submission if you are unfamiliar with SMF.) Please send your stories as file attachments in .rtf or .doc formats only. Please include a cover letter in the body of your email, with the manuscript title, you pen name if applicable, the exact word count of the story not including title and byline, and a publication history if applicable. Penumbra is a professional rates paying publisher, paying 5 cents per word. We will evaluate poetry submissions for each issue. We will also consider previously published stories with rights reverted to the author. Penumbra has multiple issue calls open at the same time, therefore it is imperative that you include the issue theme in the subject line of your email. Submissions that do not include this information risk...

Taking Submissions: Mars

Deadline September 30th 2013 Payment: 2¢ USD/word We like things Martian: the Red Planet, H.G. Wells, Bradbury, Robinson, Burroughs, Roman God of War, Yellowknife Bay, Marvin ... Reading Period: August 1 - September 30, 2013 Writer Deadline: September 30, 2013 Publication Date: December 1, 2013 If you’re interested in having your work read and getting paid a little something for it, then submit your story today. Third Flatiron Publishing are a specialist digital publisher and can help you distribute your work to a truly global audience. Third Flatiron Publishing is an e-publishing venture based in Boulder, Colorado. We are looking for submissions to our quarterly themed online anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We’re looking for tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios. Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today. See the "Submissions" tab for preferred formats, etc. For each anthology, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the "Shouts and Murmurs" feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

Taking Submissions: Fossil Lake

Deadline: Contributor's Copy copy, and 25% of proceeds to be distributed among contributors Payment: September 30th, 2013 An anthology of the aberrant Edited by Christine Morgan To be published in 2014 by Daverana Enterprises What we’re looking for: Short fiction, poetry, or non-fiction written darkly! Send us the indescribable, the transgressive, the controversial, the surreal, the darkety-dark, the gothic-as-hell! Traditional horror, horror targets, and stuff that could have come right out of a horror writer’s nightmare, or a metal album! Send us your “nods” to the genre’s greats! Send us arachnid domiciles, apocalyptic weather systems, obfuscated oculars, ghostly periodicals, intentions of scandal-sheets, archives of nameless dreads! Are you a woman? LGBT? A fan-fiction hack? Conservative? Christian? Fine by us; we welcome authors of all kinds because, here, it’s the story that counts! We’re far less concerned with subject matter (even erotica, or extreme stuff like self-cannibalism!) than we are with good writing, a sense of humor, the ability to handle criticism and work with an editor, and just generally being personable and having fun. Basically, if you’re reading this, you probably already have an idea of what we’re looking for, and why. Bonus points for stories set in, mentioning, loosely tied to, or in some way involving a ‘Fossil Lake,’ however you choose to interpret it. Deadline: September 30, 2013 Word Limit: up to 5000 Compensation: comp copy, and 25% of proceeds to be distributed among contributors Standard manuscript format preferred; Times New Roman or Courier 12-point Send submissions attached as a .doc or .rtf to: [email protected]

Taking Submissions: The Sirens Call eZine – Issue #11: Revenge

Deadline: September 30th, 2013 Payment: Exposure Only Revenge! Have you ever wanted to get back at someone for something? Here's your chance. Immortalize them and their wrong doings with words... Remember that 7th grade teacher who failed you because she was having a bad-hair semester? Or how about that low-life grub who stole the promotion you worked so hard for because he was willing to brown-nose and you weren't?? Or worst of all, that reviewer who read your story and gave it a one star review because your MC was named Martha, and that's their mother-in-law's name??? Yeah, we understand how it went down. All those wrongs perpetrated against you were no fault of your own... And they deserve to be righted! Or written! Do it with class, style, and an air of arrogance that would make a peacock blush. Have at 'em folks! Accepting Submissions: September 1 - 30, 2013 Submission guidelines:Accepting Submissions - September 1 - 30, 2013Sirens Call Publications is currently accepting submissions for our bi-monthly e-zine, focusing on edgy & dark fiction including Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Suspense genres. We welcome short stories (1000 - 2500 words), flash fiction (300 - 500 words), and dark poetry. Artwork, photography and literary reviews are also accepted. Interviews with both up and coming or established authors will also be featured. Take advantage of this superb opportunity to gain exposure for your work and email [email protected] with your submissions, or contacting [email protected] with any queries. Ad space is available for books, web sites and organizations supporting the literary or artistic community. A full page ad is $25. Please contact [email protected] for information. We ask for one time publication rights only; stories that are previously published elsewhere are accepted provided that you hold the rights to them. Via: Sirens Call Publications.

Taking Submissions: The Little Magazine of Magnificent Monsters

Deadline: September 30th, 2013 Payment: Exposure Only The Little Magazine of Magnificent Monsters. Micro (100-500 words), Flash (500-1K) and Short Stories (1k up to 2500 words). Fantasy/Steampunk. Dragons, dinos (in unusual settings and circumstances), sea serpents, basilisks, etc. All with the added awesomeness of being man-made…clockwork monsters made of metal or other substances. For instance, a living dragon made of jade. UPDATE: Deadline: September 30th, 2013. Please do NOT format your stories in blog-format style. Format it as you would for a regular print submission. Formatting blog-style (no paragraph indents, spaces between paragraphs) causes me horrible headaches when I try to load the stories onto a post. Spaces between paragraphs adds more than one extra space on the post, due to the HTML horror known as a div tag. I truly hope the son of a bitch who came up with that rots in hell. WordPress automatically inserts a crapload of div tags whenever it encounters space, adding even more space. (I know, WTF? Right?) I am a college student and I don’t have time to take out extra space, which would really make your stories look horrible if left in. But please DO indent paragraphs. If you don’t, I won’t know where new paragraphs begin and will have to reject your story just because of that. Please include with your submission a 50-100 word author bio. You can include a brief publication history and any web/social media links you’d like readers to know. For the subject line, follow the directions listed for each issue on the Call for Submissionspage. The basic format is: NAME OF ISSUE-TITLE OF YOUR STORY. In all caps. Easier to sort out the junk mail that way. If you have a question for the editor (me), put QUESTION in all caps in the subject line. If...

Taking Submissions: The Worlds of CY Canis Majoris

Deadline: October 1st 2013 Payment: This anthology pays $100/story and 2-Copies of the Anthology CY Canis Majoris is the largest known star in the Universe. If this massive body were in the exact location as our own Sun, its outer edge would stretch to the area where Jupiter orbits. A star with this mass would have an inhabitable zone as large as our entire solar system, if not much larger. With this premise, imagine the worlds which could orbit such a body. Then imagine the beings who could inhabit those same bodies. The Worlds of CY Canis Majoris is not a science fiction anthology, but an anthology covering all speculative fiction and its sub genres. If there are beings on other worlds, they surely have all the issues we experience on Earth... More information about CY Canis Majoris can readily be found on the web. Word Count: 5000 to 10,000 All submissions should be thoroughly edited, before submitting. We are not English majors (Ok, one of us used to be, lol... but you get the point.) and will not spend a lot of time rewriting a submission which obviously hasn't been read for typo and grammatical errors. All manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word and should be double spaced with an extra space between each paragraph. This extra space should be done in Word, through your paragraph settings, not by you actually hitting enter twice. There should be no indention at the start of each paragraph. All emails should have "CY Canis Majoris" in the subject box. The submission period will remain open until October 2013. (This anthology pays $100/story and 2-Copies of the Anthology)

Taking Submissions: STRANGE LUCKY CHRISTMAS

Deadline: Oct. 1st 2013 Payment: $10 Our payment for stories is $10. Our general rules are: (1) We hew to a PG standard and (2) nothing that makes our editors sick. (3)Please put in your "subject" line the title of the antho for which you intend your story. Please read our Style Book before you send us a story. The link to it is next to this Writers' Guidelines link at the top of the opening screen. NOTE FOR 2013 ANTHOLOGIES: Since so many people are at least a bit superstitious about the number "13," and we're going to be stuck with it for a whole year, let's have some fun with it. By adding the word "Lucky" to our 2013 titles, our writers can add an element of "luck" into their stories. Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows? Associate Editor, David Perlmutter Send stories to him at lucky [email protected] THEME: It's Christmas and it's lucky -- or unlucky? -- and sf/f/h. Maximum word length, 4000 words. Deadline Oct. 1, 2013 (or when book is filled, meaning 20 stories accepted.) Reading period Oct 1 - 31 Formatting period Nov 1 - Nov. 15 Publication date Nov 15, 2013 Before submitting make sure to read the Guidelines!

Taking Submissions: The Undead of Winter

Deadline: August 1 - October 1, 2013 Payment: free trade paperback copy of the book, plus a $5 advance on royalties. Contributors will also be able to purchase more print copies at a 50% discount on the cover price Mummies, Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts... if it's dead and still getting around, we're interested in it. Stories should be set in the winter months. Holiday stories are welcome... Hanukkah, Christmas, Solstice, Kwanzaa, etc... but they should be winter holidays. We're seeking stories that are 3000 - 8000 words in length (firm). Query about reprints. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions. Open submission period: August 1 - October 1, 2013. All contributors will receive a free trade paperback copy of the book, plus a $5 advance on royalties. Contributors will also be able to purchase more print copies at a 50% discount on the cover price. We're seeking first world rights in English to publish in print and electronic format for 12 months, beginning on the date of publication. Please see our Guidelines and Payment page for further information on the rights we ask for and the compensation we offer. Publisher's note: Mystery and Horror is a market that welcomes LBGTQ, multiethnic,multinational, nontraditional, and unusual fiction. We are concerned with well-written stories involving well-developed characters.

Taking Submissions: Mother of Gothic Angels

Deadline: October 1st Payment: Exposure Only Quick Snippets: Genre -- Horror Word Count -- 2k to 4k Payment -- None Story Status -- Unpublished Submission Period -- July 1st through October 1st (not before) Illustrations -- Please Reading Period -- October 1st through December 1st Response Time -- 30 days after end of submission period Publication Target -- First Quarter 2014 (or earlier) STORYLINE For Mother of Gothic Angels, Razor Thin Studios is looking for tales of horror with a Gothic mood. Angels is of course the primary goal, but beyond that it is up to the writer. The only things we ask is that the tales are dark brooding and show the darkness that resides within the Gothic hearts of the angels being portrayed. Finally, make your angels unique, genuine – no need to bring up Constantine or Gabriel rich tales as they are, what they are … used. FORMATTING We prefer standard manuscript formatting (good example: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html). FIRST PRINTING RIGHTS Bear in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been published in print, eBook, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint, which severely limits the number of markets that will accept it, and drastically reduces the pay rate it can receive. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work in print and/or eBook formats and/or on the web, giving up your First Publishing Right for no and/or a token payment, is really what you want to do. Format MS Word (.rtf .doc .docx) WORD COUNT Our target is ten to fifteen short stories composed of two- to four-thousand words each. We may accept slightly longer or shorter stories if they appeal to...

Taking Submissions: Bizarro Bizarro

Deadline: October 1st 2013 Payment: Electronic copy of the book and $10 OR One paperback contributor's copy Yup… it's a bizarro anthology… but what the heck is bizarro? To us, it's intellectual and poetic freedom. It's about exploring the limits of literature and creativity. It can be argued that many classics are bizarro: George Orwell's Animal Farm has talking animals that take over a farm, and Kafka's Metamorphosis features a suffering protagonist who has spontaneously become a cockroach. For more on this visit the bottom of our Submissions page. If you're still unsure what bizarro is, we suggest checking out this article about the topic. Please don't use Wikipedia for your definition. In addition, you can peruse the library of books already published by Bizarro Pulp Press. Here's the article by Mike Klein at Flavorwire. The artwork for this anthology was provided by Alan M. Clark. How to submit: Format/Content: Please send submissions to [email protected] Your query must include a brief synopsis of the story (200 words maximum). We are doing this to help narrow down the non-relevant submissions. Word count must be between 3500 and 7000 words. Please query for longer works, but use professional discretion in this matter. Georgia font, 12 pt, double space .Doc or .rtf files only Labeling: The first page of your document must have ONLY the title of the story. Your biographical information, including name and word count, are included AT THE BOTTOM of the document. (we explain this strange request further down in this post) Please refrain from using an Email Address that may give our editors a clue toward who you might be. We prefer receiving submissions blindly if we can help it. Deadline: August 1st-October 1st Acceptances/rejections will not be mailed out until after the anthology has closed. Payment: You will...