Events

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.01 per word and a contributors copy Theme: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales CLOCKWORK, CURSES, AND COAL: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Open for Submissions: February 1 - March 31, 2020 Expected Publication: early 2021 Story Length: up to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word + contributor copy Steampunk’s core is a re-imagined 1800s using steam-powered technology so it is all about gears, goggles and gaslamps. And corsets and courtship and exploration (often in the form of colonialism). I want the bustles, parasols, high tea and airships, of course, but I also welcome stories which confront the darker, problematic side of Victorian sensibilities and attitudes. Plus fairy tales. For example: What if a shoemaker was visited at night by tiny automatons? What if the little mermaid didn’t have to escape the ocean to be with her prince, but instead her social class? What if a woman’s upper class family was embarrassed by her scientific endeavors so they locked her in a tower… or tried to, anyway? Or a mechanized cat discovers a pair of fantastic boots? Or an explorer climbed a giant beanstalk and found a whole new, forgotten world? Original fairy tales are welcome, as are retellings. If you choose to retell a familiar favourite, make sure your story offers something new and interesting. I’d rather see stories that reflect the long history of fairy tales as social commentary than those which simply tell the same story with a different setting. Although steampunk tends to be focused in the American ‘wild west’ or Victorian England, this anthology needn’t be. I am open to stories set all over the world, and would love to see ‘Own Voices’ stories. As with the first book in the Punked Up Fairy Tales series, Grimm, Grit and...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: 25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints. Theme: The paranormal. Read "What We Want" below to find out exactly what they consider Note: Reprints welcome parABnormal is open to short stories, art, articles, and reviews. 2020 submissions open Feb 1 – Mar 31, Jun 1 – Jul 31, Oct 1 – Nov 31. Anything submitted outside those periods will be deleted unread. ​No matter how far we move forward as humans, we are still bound by the instincts and ancestral memories of our animalistic past. None of these are so strong as the fight or flight response. However, there are times when we seem to be perfectly safe, completely at ease and comfortable, when that urge to run from something sneaks up on us. What causes these sensations? Is there something lurking in the darkness? Why is that man giving you the creeps, he’s not even looking at you? And yet, there is something odd. Something instinctual, something you know without fully understanding. We may have moved on, we may have forgotten and left behind those old stories and legends of beasts, of voracious monsters, dark spirits, vampires, and shapeshifters… But they have not forgotten or left us . . . ​ What We Want The subject matter of parABnormal Magazine is, yes, the paranormal. For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores. ​Creatures like vampires, werewolves, and zombies are not paranormal. Shapeshifters, for the purpose of this magazine, refer to the spiritual shift, not the physical. Think Native American shaman. Paranormal activity centers around the human, not the creature. ​Please, no stories that involve excessive blood, gore, digestive tracts, and so forth. If you write a dark story, make sure it is spooky. Makes sure...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: “dialog light, action heavy” fiction Submissions: OPEN Submission deadline for inaugural issue: Tuesday, March 31st, 2020, 11:59p. Editorial decisions: Thursday, April 30th, 2020. Publication of inaugural issue: Friday, June 12th, 2020. Length: We prefer short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). These limits are firm. No more, no less. Style: We prefer “dialog light, action heavy” fiction that is unselfconsciously literary but nevertheless takes joy in an occasional old word that gives the breath of antiquity.   Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in WHETSTONE, authors will (1) be paid an honorarium of $10 and (2) will be asked to provide, by contract, "First North American Serial Rights." In our opinion, this means that copyright is NOT transferred. All copyright stays with you, the writer; however, you will have sold/transferred a form of "exclusive use rights" called "First North American Serial Rights" (FNASR). This is the right to publish your unpublished work for the first time, and ONLY the first time, no more. The important thing to remember is that some professional publications may ask for FNASR upon acceptance of a specific work; you are not legally permitted to provide those for that specific work after publication in WHETSTONE, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in WHETSTONE, that works' associated FNASR have been sold/transferred. You CAN publish your previously published work elsewhere as a reprint but only as long as that publication does not require FNASR. This is a long way of saying that WHETSTONE is an amateur publication, meant for showcasing emerging talent for the consideration of professional markets (which is why we kept the...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $100 for stories and $25 for poems Theme: Heroic Fantasy Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is currently OPEN for submissions for the month of March, 2020. Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September  December  If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed. * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages.   No simultaneous submissions, please. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25. Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each new issue. Please review art from the past two issues to see the style we prefer. Image...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment (In Canadian): Poems (4-100 lines): $50 plus one contributor’s copy, Short-short stories (under 1000 words): $50, plus one contributor’s copym Fiction (6000 words max.), 1000-2999 words: $125 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 3000-4999 words: $175 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription, 5000-6000 words: $200 plus 2 contributor’s copies plus a One year subscription Theme: Speculative fiction of all kinds, but read below 2020 Story, Poetry and Art Submissions to On Spec open until end of March 2020 Please read all the author instructions carefully first. What are we looking for? And what are we NOT looking for? We like to pride ourselves in searching out the most interesting and innovative works of fiction and poetry in the genre. So what do we want? Speculative writing of all kinds, but nothing derivative. Try to avoid what you think are trends, because by the time we’d publish them, they won’t be. Remember, you are a trendsetter, not a trend follower. We’ll gladly look at works up to 6,000 words, but keep in mind that most of these will eventually need a hard edit to reduce a thousand words of exposition. If you do that, yourself. it makes us more likely to pick up your story. We’d prefer a standard manuscript format, in a readable font. If you are new to this, do some research. The work must be previously unpublished in English in North America. We buy First NA Serial Rights to your work. We are not fond of graphic sex and violence. And we are not fond of horror that is simply “messy”. When we say “character-driven”, we mean it. A story that exists because a character is pushed along by outside influences and has absolutely no agency, will...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. Note: Reprints welcome and preferred. Toasted Cake Podcast is doing a short Run of Hope! > We will be open from March 15-March 31. > I will be buying a few stories immediately, so I can start podcasting immediately, and then some more stories from the hold pile in April. Not sure how many yet. > At this time, I am ONLY looking for stories that fall on the hopeful end of the spectrum. A few descriptors might be: optimistic, funny, fun, hopeful, lighthearted, joyful, loving, quirky, delightful. (But as always, do not self-reject.) > <3 #####     What to Submit: > Toasted Cake is a speculative fiction flash fiction podcast. At this time, please only send stories between 650-1200 words. (Sweet spot is 700-1000.) > A few descriptors I like are weird, quirky, twisted, funny, fun, literary, puzzling, bizarre, tongue-twistable, singable, patter-friendly, elocutionary, experimental, witty, and wistful. > I mostly run reprints. Original stories fine too (given that I like rather odd things, and sometimes these are hard to place, feel free to try me.) You may send stories that have been previously podcast if it has been at least 2 years since they aired. Please let me know all publication details. > I am incredibly interested in stories told from all the myriad diverse perspectives of our world. Please send them to me. How to Submit: > Send your submissions to tinaconnolly at gmail. > Subject line should be "Toasted Cake Submission: " > You may send up to three flash during the submission period (all in one email is fine), as text in the email or as attachments. >...

Deadline: March 31st, 2020 Payment: .05 per word Since 2010, Mocha Memoirs Press’s mission is to amplify marginalized voices in the areas of speculative fiction (science fiction, horror, and fantasy). SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire will follow the steps of our previous published bestseller anthologies An Improbable Truth: The Paranormal Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters (A Bram Stoker nominee). What we are looking for: Vampires have been around in the horror genre for centuries. We are looking to tell a different vampire story. Ones where they may sparkle, but it is a dark one. This call is seeking unpublished short stories that tell stories of the vampire noire, the black vampire. We want stories of vampire hunters, of anti-vampiric heroes/heroines, and more. If you can take the story out of westernized culture, we’d love to see those, too! We want stories that speak of inclusivity. So, if your vampire is disabled or suffers from an alignment, send those stories too. LGBTQ+ stories are also encouraged. To point, we want stories from the African diaspora. If you do not follow the guidelines, your submission will be deleted unread. Seriously, read the guidelines. Follow them. Upon results of a successful crowdfunding campaign, we will pay HWA pro-rate of .05 per word for publication for First World Rights. Still interested? Here are the guidelines. • Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 5,000 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology, meaning the protagonist must from the African Diaspora. Remember, this entire anthology is dedicated to stories of the black vampire. They can be in space, superheroes, but they must be from the African Diaspora. • Manuscripts should be in Shunn manuscript...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but not on...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Body Horror, Creature Features, Gothic, Haunted Houses, Psychological Horror, Slasher Horror, Weird Fiction, Bizarro, and Folk Horror. Note: UK authors only Here at The Abominable Book Club we have been wracking our big, beefy brains to come up with a way to support the UK horror scene and its authors more directly. So, starting in 2020, we will be offering an opportunity for authors to become a part of our team and introduce their work to an already ravenous horror audience. The Accursed Library is dusting off its ancient, cobweb-covered printing press! We are now taking submissions for original novels/ novellas (25,000 words or more) / or short story collections by UK -based authors, to be produced under our own publication house 'The Accursed Library'. First printings of these books will be hand-numbered, contain exclusive content and artwork, and will be only available through our box on a specific release month. After that, they will be gone forever! Further printings and e-book versions will be available through the usual channels such as Amazon, and via our own shop. We will be looking for horror in all its forms, including: - Body Horror (The Thing, The Fly) - Creature Features (Jaws, Snakes on a Plane) - Gothic (Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera) - Haunted Houses (Haunting of Hill House, The Amityville Horror) - Psychological Horror (Jacobs Ladder, Se7en) - Slasher Horror (Friday 13th, Halloween) - Weird Fiction (i.e HP Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce) - Bizarro (i.e Jeff O Brien, Carlton Mellick III) - Folk Horror (The Wicker Man, Midsommar) If your work is horror but doesn't fit in any of the above categories, send it anyway! We want to build a roster of diverse and incredible writing talent, full of familiar and new names, in an attempt to champion the frankly staggering array of talent the UK has to offer. Here's how...

Deadline: April 1st, 2020 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Unadulterated horror. Slasher, psychological, monsters, clowns, stalkers, cults, demons, witches, whatever the hell you can think of! Let’s get cut their skin and leave scars. Come one, come all horror authors. It’s time for another anthology. Life is too short and I’d like to leave our readers dead awake. Send in your best work and let’s make something that will leave the readers sleeping with their lights on. What I’m looking for: Unadulterated horror. Slasher, psychological, monsters, clowns, stalkers, cults, demons, witches, whatever the hell you can think of! Let’s get cut their skin and leave scars. Send me your best! What I’m not looking for: Gore for shock value, rape, any violence toward children or anything that really is just shock and nothing else. Give me horror that seeps in, not skin deep. Requirements: Short horror that is between 2,000 and 6,000 words, exceptions for longer pieces based on quality. A hard cap at 10,000 words. Please put the title, your name, word count and email address on the title page. Single spaced, 12 point, new times Roman is preferred. Clean and edited. Please do your best. Authors who are accepted will receive $25 per story accepted and one paperback author copy. Multiple submissions are welcome. Simultaneous submissions are welcome as well, but please let me know if it’s accepted elsewhere. Only original, unpublished work will be accepted. Submissions will be closed April 1st. Get your ideas percolating and get to writing! Send submissions in .doc or .docx format to [email protected]. Via: Nicholas Catron</a..