Events

Deadline: June 30, 2015 Payment: 3 cents per word "Ain't Superstitious" - Theme involving superstition, e.g., luck, prophecy, magic, rational and irrational thinking, Spinoza, dark times, black cats, Orpheus, the Flying Dutchman, Sleepy Hollow, Tam O'Shanter, astrology, witchcraft, etc. Reading Period: May 1 - June 30, 2015 Writer Deadline: June 30, 2015 Publication Date: September 1, 2015 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 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 want 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. Inquire if longer. 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. Our publishing schedule for...

Deadline: June 30, 2015 Payment: $10 and 1 contributor's copy The picturesque village of Sleepy Hollow is nestled up against the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York. Made famous by Washington Irving in his iconic Halloween tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” it has been featured in film and television numerous times–most recently in the FOX TV show, Sleepy Hollow. It’s most famous fictional resident is, of course, The Headless Horseman. This galloping demon has beheaded many a poor unfortunate and has been embraced by the community.  He is the official mascot of Sleepy Hollow High School, and his likeness dominates the village on street signs, storefronts, firetrucks, and more. But he is not alone. There are countless horrific tales of darkness stemming from this seemingly-innocent locale, and it’s about time these other stories were given their due. Legends of Sleepy Hollow is a new anthology aimed at all of the other creepy, gruesome, terrifying tales centered on this infamous village. Give us your gothic chiller, your modern horror, your Lovecraftian insanity. Trot out the terror from the mythology of the native people who lived here long before Europeans arrived. Take us into the past or into the future. Explore an existing local legend or create one of your own. The sky’s the limit. All we require is for your story to focus in some way on the supernatural and that it take place in or around the Village of Sleepy Hollow. IMPORTANT INFO: No gratuitous sex, violence, or profanity. No adult content or erotica. Not interested. No fan fiction (stay away from the TV show or Tim Burton’s film). Story must be your work and it must be original (no reprints). SUBMISSION NITTY-GRITTY: We want stories of between 2,000 – 8,000 words. Once you have your masterpiece, email it as...

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: $75 Lazy Fascist Review #4: Lovecraftiana Below you will find the details for the forthcoming (November 2015) issue of the Lazy Fascist Review. This issue’s theme is Lovecraftiana. Please read all the submission guidelines carefully before submitting! Basic details: I will be looking for stories set in any time period, 2-7k in length. Payment will be $75 per story. IF YOU ALREADY SUBMITTED: Do not worry; do not resubmit. Your submissions will be considered even if they’re not within the above parameters. No poetry. No reprints. No multiple submissions, no simultaneous submissions.* Title your submissions LOVECRAFTIAN ISSUE: , and send them tolazyfascistreview at gmail dot com. The reading window is from the moment this appears on the Internet until July 1st, 2015. Anything arriving after that date will be deleted unread. Final selection will be announced by mid-September, though rejections may arrive earlier. During the reading period, all submissions must be sent as a Word document in Standard Manuscript Format, double spaced, blah blah blah. IF YOU ALREADY SUBMITTED: Do not worry; do not resubmit. Your submissions will be considered even if they’re not correctly formatted. Now for the good stuff. What am I looking for? This is the Lovecraftiana issue of Lazy Fascist Review. That means stories submitted should seek to explore some combination of Bizarro with the themes typically found in Mythos fiction. This could mean just about anything, so do not be daunted or put off by this. That said, for those of you unfamiliar with Bizarro, consider familiarizing yourself with the genre before submitting. This is not to say anyone should worry whether their submission “is” or “isn’t” Bizarro enough, or Bizarro at all… this is just a prompt to get interested writers to think in a slightly different mode than usual. There...

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: $10 per story Note: I have confirmation that horror themed dragon stories are being allowed though the focus is dragons not horror Looking for 15 stories, 5,000 - 7,500 words Dragons must be the main theme Not looking for romance or erotica Seeking fantasy based story (can have minor love story) Payment: $10 per story Paypal (or Check for US residents only) Contract: First Electronic, First Print, and Anthology rights. Formatting: Font Size: 12 Font Style: Times New Roman Double Spaced No spaces before or after paragraphs Automatic indention of first sentence per paragraph (no tabs) .doc or .docx only Submission Dates: 3/15/15 - 7/1/15 Submit to [email protected] Set Subject to "Into the Mist Submission" Please include author bio and Facebook/Twitter link

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: split royalties + 1 contributor copy Edited by A.C. Thompson “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Sherlock Holmes is probably one of the most recognizable characters in Western literature. Conan Doyle’s inimitable detective has been the subject of literally, thousands of books, movies, television shows, plays and even songs. Recently, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle has released the copyright on Holmes and this has made the market ripe for re-imaginings. Our goal with An Improbable Truth is to create an anthology of unique stories that create something new while paying homage to the original books. An Improbable Truth is looking for stories that set Holmes on a paranormal adventure. The settings may be any place and time from the original Victorian England all the way to modern day, future and any fantasy world in between (weird west, cyberpunk, steampunk, noir, Lovecraftian, dystopia). The only catch is that the stories must have a distinctly dark and paranormal edge. Push the envelope and let the mystery run wild. Ghosts, serial killers, vampires, zombies, monsters of all types are welcome. Keep in mind: if this book were on the shelf at your local bookshop, it would be in the HORROR section (sci-fi is great as long as it’s Aliens-type sci-fi and not Star Trek-type sci-fi). Word of warning: Sherlock is a beloved character with a very distinct voice and manner. We want to be sure that we keep and/ or expand on those attributes that have made him a literary icon. Tread lightly when messing with characterization and your story better make a damn good case for any wild variations (i.e.—Sherlock as a mealy-mouthed veterinarian, romantic entanglements). However, we are very interested in diverse characters and...

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: 7 cents per word Defying Doomsday will be an anthology of apocalypse-survival fiction with a focus on disabled characters. We already have some fantastic stories lined up, but we want more! If you have an apocalypse story featuring a character with disability, we would love to read it.Submission Guidelines: (One of) the protagonist(s) must be a character with disability, such as physical impairments, chronic illnesses, mental illnesses and/or neurodiverse characters etc. We will consider stories with characters experiencing all kinds of disability and hope that submitting authors will be creative with the possibilities. We feel strongly that disability or chronic illness (etc) should have an impact on the character’s life and during the post-apocalyptic event. For example, a character with a deadly peanut allergy in a world where peanuts have been wiped out by a plague isn’t going to quite cut it. However, we are not looking for issue stories or stories where disability is the sole focus of the narrative. Some sort of cataclysmic event must have occurred or be in the process of occurring. We are open to a variety of events, including apocalypses, alien invasions, devastating war, natural disasters etc. Be creative! We are most interested in stories set in the near future, however, we will also consider stories set in the far future or an alternate timeline version of the recent past.We are not interested in fantasy (that means no magic). Stories can be young adult or adult stories. Graphic themes and content are okay, but we’re not looking for erotica or gratuitous violence. Stories should be between 3000 and 7000 words in length and submitted in standard manuscript format. Email submissions to: [email protected] We want a varied anthology with stories that are fun, sad, adventurous or horrific etc. We are...

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: Contributor's Copy Break out the bottle and grab your notebooks, Double Life Press is proud to announce two charity anthologies co-edited by Craig T. McNeely and Robert Dean benefitting Music for Hope, the first of which, we’re announcing today: As of this posting, we’re accepting submissions for Bad Luck: Stories Inspired By Social Distortion. Think of the torment, the toil, addiction, redemption and the hard lives of Mike Ness and co. In Bad Luck, we’re looking to exorcise personal demons, and tell the tales from the underground. For over 30 years, Social Distortion has played a role in our lives, through their music, we’ve risen and fallen - now it’s time to put it all on the page. In true DLP fashion, stories can be of any genre. The word limit is from 2-5,000 words. The deadline is July 1. Take a song title and create a world around it, it’s up to you to discover the meaning. Check out the amazing cover art courtesy of Ralph Stollenwerk, so dust off the vinyl, it’s time to set the page on fire and cut loose the ball and chain. Via: Double Life Press's Facebook.

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: $25.00 and electronic copy An Emby Bestiary This will be Emby Kids first anthology as well as Emby’s first cover contest! Did you have a favorite story about monsters when you were a kid? One of mine was a hillbilly yarn about a monster that stalked the woods on a mountain near our home. This monster didn’t even have a name, but the description of it was so intense (glowing red eyes, yellow fangs and leathery wings) that I never forgot it and I’ve remembered it every time I go near any mountain. An Emby Bestiary is looking for stories like that: yarns about monsters that will make a big impression on young imaginations. They can be good monsters that help upon a tale of discovery or evil monsters that lurk in a cautionary tale. The two requirements are that the creatures be original and that the tale be suitable for children (think middle-grade fiction up to pg-13) Take us back to the campfires of our youth as you spin a tale that you can tell your own kids. Then, when I announce the stories that are chosen to be in the book, I’ll also announce the monster from one story to be on the cover of the book! That monster will be professionally rendered by a graphic artist and brought to life for all to see! Edited by: Miles Boothe Submission Period: 2/1/15 through 7/1/15 Reading Period: 7/2/15 through 9/2/15 Acceptances will be announced 9/2/15 Tentative Publication Date: Holidays 2015 Payment: $25.00 and electronic copy of the book upon publication. Word Limits: 2000 to 8000 words. Please query if longer. Format: Submissions should be .doc (.docx is fine) or .rtf formats. The entire text will be reformatted, so no need to worry about margins,...

Deadline: July 1, 2015 Payment: 5 cents/word Short Stories Each quarter, we'll share new prompts here on the blog and in that quarter's issue of IMAGINATE for the different genres we seek. Writers should use the prompt to create their entry for the next quarter. Check out the upcoming themes on our Submissions page. For the September 2015 edition, use the photo below as your inspiration to write a short story. Chosen entries will be published in that issue and winning authors will receive a byline and bio. IMAGINATE purchases first serial rights and pays $0.05 (5 cents) per word upon acceptance. We do not accept reprints. Short Story entries should be 2500 words or less. All entries should be submitted as an attachment to an e-mail. The e-mail should include a brief bio (100 words or less) and up to two links for your website/blog/social media. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2015. Submit your entry to: [email protected]. Flash Fiction Each quarter, we'll share new prompts here on the blog and in that quarter's issue for the different genres we seek. Writers should use the prompt to create their entry for the next quarter. You'll find a list of upcoming themes on our Submissions page. For our September 2015 edition, use the photo below as your inspiration to write a flash fiction story. Chosen entries will be published in that issue and winning authors will receive a byline and bio. IMAGINATE purchases first serial rights and pays $0.05 (5 cents) per word upon acceptance. We do not accept reprints. Flash Fiction entries should be 100 words or less. All entries should be submitted as an attachment to an e-mail. The e-mail should include a brief bio (100 words or less) and up to two links for your website/blog/social media. Deadline...

Deadline: July 1st, 2015 Payment: 1 cent per word and 1 contributor's copy Announcing a new Lovecraftian anthology, open to submissions. “When a traveler in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction of Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean's Corners he comes upon a lonely and curious country." - HP Lovecraft, “The Dunwich Horror” Most forays into Lovecraft country start with taking the wrong fork, opening the wrong book, befriending the wrong person. Before you know it, everything is…strange, somehow. The vegetation is too lush, the angles are wrong, animals don’t behave as expected. We invite you to come with us and deliberately take that wrong fork. Find out what happens behind the shuttered windows. Listen to the piping of the whippoorwills. Most travelers don’t have time for worry or regrets. You’ll probably be fine, if, perhaps, not quite the same as before. We are looking for previously unpublished stories that relate to Lovecraft’s worlds or the Cthulhu mythos. That’s quite a broad subject! We are more interested in clever ideas and high quality prose than devotion to worn out tropes. We like well written stories. Want to do an Innsmouth riff? Sure. An unhappy outcome for a Miskatonic U graduate student? We're there. A PI in San Francisco in the 40s gets a troublesome case? OK. Have you invented a new tome or mythos entity, and want to retell The Haunter in the Dark? Did Lovecraft really know the AWFUL truth and disguised it as prose? Well, this isn’t the place for you. Previously submitted stories are OK, just not previously published. Submissions by new authors and those of diverse backgrounds are encouraged. We do not publish adult content or diatribes of any kind. Specifics: Stories may be a maximum 6,000 words. Payment is $.01 (one cent)...