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UPDATE: CLOSED EARLY - APRIL 10TH 2020 Deadline: May 15th, 2020 NOTE: CLOSED EARLY Payment: $0.01/word + 1 print contributor copy Theme: Short stories about summer vacations gone wrong Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror Grindhouse Press seeks short stories about summer vacations gone wrong for its upcoming horror fiction anthology, Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror, edited by Samantha Kolesnik. Summer vacation is often romanticized as a time of joy, but sometimes even the best laid plans go awry. Send in your horrifying tales for consideration in Grindhouse Press’s first-ever horror anthology. Guidelines: ●All submissions must be in the horror genre. ●No simultaneous submissions. All submitters will be notified of acceptance or rejection by June 1, 2020 at the latest. ●Submissions must not have been previously published anywhere. This includes personal blogs and social media. ●Submissions must be in standard manuscript format and submitted as an attached MS Word document or Google doc. ●Only one submission per author allowed. ●We welcome fiction which is bold, risky and graphic if it’s in service of the story. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected] with the name of the author and the title of the story in the email subject line. Please include in the body of the email a brief author bio (2-4 sentences), and submission word count. Payment: $0.01/word + 1 print contributor copy Length: 2,000 – 6,000 words Deadline: May 15th, 2020 or until filled Via: Grind House Press.

Deadline: April 10th, 2020 Payment: 50% of the sales after printing costs will be split between each author of each particular book Theme: All Genres Accepted To submit your short story to the Breaking Rules Publishing Short Story Book Project, please send an email to [email protected]. ​ Please include your contact information, including location in the body of your email, as well as a "Word Doc" attachment of your work. We will confirm your submission within 24 hours, as well as get back to you within one week on the possibility for publishing options. All submissions must - Be sent in a "Word Doc" - 8.5 x 11 format - a clean, edited story with the authors name and title should be at the top of the page - please, no special margins - your story should be indented properly - single spaced - in a 12 font - no double spaces between paragraphs - and no headers or footers. Page limit are - 15 pages min and 30 max. Work that is sent incorrectly will be sent back. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Breaking Rules Publishing but also don't want to add additional work for our formatting team. Editing: By submitting you agree to allow Breaking Rules Publishing to provide a light edit, spell check, formatting, appropriate grammar, to all stories published. Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. With your consent, BRP may publish of your work in future journals and publicity pieces, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, Breaking Rules Publishing. Please note that other publications may not accept your work as "unpublished" work. If you do subsequently publish your work in another publication, proper attribution must be given to Breaking Rules Publishing and/or Breaking Rules Publishing website. As a condition of submission, you will be required to agree to the...

Deadline: April 10th, 2020 Prizes: The top three winners will receive cash prizes of $75, $50, and $25 respectively Theme: Innovation Every year, QSF holds a flash fiction contest to create an amazing new anthology of queer speculative fiction stories. We ask authors to do the nearly-impossible – to submit a sci fi, fantasy, paranormal or horror LGBTIQA story that has no more than 300 words. Our 2020 contest launches on March 1st, and closes it April 10th, but we do accept early entries. The theme for 2020 is “Innovation”: 1) A new idea, method, or device. 2) The introduction of something new. 3) The action or process of innovating. We live in an age of innovation – new websites, apps, and disruption abound. Often this innovation has a dark side, destroying old industries, eroding privacy and enabling climate change. But innovation can have a bright side – solving problems instead of creating them. Look at how medicine has helped extend life and cure ailments that were once deadly scourges. The same social media sites that are causing such chaos have also brought people together on groups like ours, creating new communities. And innovation might just hold the key to saving the planet. Tell us about either side – how innovation will destroy us, or how it might save us. Whether your innovation is scientific, paranormal, horrific or magical, we want to see it. We’ll be accepting works from across the queer spectrum, and would love to see more entries including lesbian, trans, bi, intersex and ace protagonists, as well as gay men. We also welcome diversity in ability (physical and mental) and in race. We had our most diverse set of entries yet in 2019 – let’s keep up the trend! We always get tons of gay sci fi...

Deadline: April 10th, 2020 Payment: 50% of the sales will be split between each author of each particular book after printing costs Theme: Horror To submit your short story to the Bi-Monthly Breaking Rules Publishing Horror Anthology, starting in January 2020 - released by the end of the month - please send an email to [email protected] by the 10th of the book release month. ​ In your email - please include your contact information, including location in the body of your email, as well as a "Word Doc" attachment of your work. We will confirm your submission within 24 hours, as well as get back to you within one week on the possibility for publishing options. All submissions must - Be sent in a "Word Doc" - 8.5 x 11 format - a clean, edited story with the authors name and title at the top of the page - please, no special margins - your story should be indented properly - single spaced - in a 12 font - no double spaces between paragraphs - and no headers or footers. Page limit is 30 max  - 15 min - all submissions but be sent in by the 10th of the book release month. Publishing starts January 2020. Work that is sent incorrectly will be sent back. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Breaking Rules Publishing but also don't want to add additional work for our formatting team. ​Editing: By submitting you agree to allow Breaking Rules Publishing to provide a light edit, spell check, formatting, appropriate grammar, to all stories published. Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. With your consent, BRP may publish of your work in future journals and publicity pieces, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, Breaking Rules Publishing. Please note that other publications may not accept...

Deadline: April 10th, 2020 Payment: Royalty Split Theme: Contemporary literary strange tales It’s Tartarus Press’s thirtieth year in 2020, and we are celebrating by publishing a volume of contemporary literary strange tales. If you would like to be considered for inclusion, then please send one story only to [email protected]. Your submission should  be entirely new, unpublished elsewhere, c.2,000 – 6,000 words, and on the literary strange/horror/supernatural spectrum. Payment will be by a share in profits. Deadline: 10th April 2020. We look forward to hearing from you! Via: Tartarus Press.

Deadline: April 15th, 2020 Payment: $20 per story Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. Please don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and tell us as soon as it's accepted elsewhere. We do not publish reprints, including anything...

Deadline: April 15th, 2020 Prizes: The author of the winning story will receive a $1000 prize, and nine finalists will receive $100 prizes. Theme: We are looking for short stories that help us imagine how humans can live within Earth’s planetary boundaries—at the individual level, yes, but more importantly at the level of organizations, communities, and societies, and at the level of a global human civilization. Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest 2020 Welcome to the Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest, presented by the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University. Inspired by the incredible international response to our climate fiction contests in 2016 and 2018, we are proud to announce our third contest in 2020—a momentous year for climate action, and an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how humans will live on this planet in the future. Work will be selected and judged by Claire Vaye Watkins, a Guggenheim Fellow, winner of The Story Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, and author of Gold Fame Citrus, a climate fiction novel that was named a best book of 2015 by The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and NPR. Claire will join an interdisciplinary group of judges with expertise in climate science, sustainability, creative writing, and environmental literature. All genres are welcome. The author of the winning story will receive a $1000 prize, and nine finalists will receive $100 prizes. The winning story and finalists will be published in an anthology by the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University. The Provocation The beating drum of the climate crisis is a constant reminder that our planet is a closed, limited system, and that we’re currently living far beyond its boundaries. We are looking for short stories that help us imagine how humans can live within Earth’s planetary boundaries—at the individual...

Deadline: April 15th, 2020 Payment: Contributor Copy Theme: Superstition ISSUE #13 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Stonecoast Review will be open for submissions from February 4th, 2020 to April 15th, 2020. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE SUBMITTING: The theme of Stonecoast Review Issue #13 is Superstition. This theme can be as loosely defined as necessary. Some phrases to give you a sense of what we’re looking for are: good luck, bad luck, cursed places, cursed objects, strokes of luck, lucky breaks, significance, cultural superstitions, personal superstitions, myths, urban legends, cryptids, charms, tough luck, beginner’s luck, secrets, wives’ tales, doppelgangers, tall tales, folk tales, last chances, and wishbones. Don’t feel restricted by this list, if you have a different way of interpreting the theme, we would love to see it. We accept Fiction, Pop Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Dramatic Works, Experimental, and Visual Art. We can’t wait to see your best pieces! Stonecoast Review offers feedback on 10% of declined submissions. Contributors will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their work appears. Stonecoast Review acquires First Serial Rights and First Electronic Rights for all work published in the journal. Rights revert to the author upon publication. Our staff is a group of volunteers, all either current Stonecoast MFA Program students or alumni of the program. We rely upon donations to cover advertising, website, and printing costs. To support the Stonecoast Review, please purchase a copy from stonecoastreview.org! GENERAL GUIDELINES When submitting your work, include a short cover letter and bio (100 words maximum). Submissions are only accepted through Submittable. Stonecoast Review accepts only blind submissions. Your name, email address, or any other identifying information must not appear anywhere in the document or submission title. We accept only one prose submission, one poetry submission (of up to three poems), or ten pieces of visual art per author,...

Deadline: April 15th, 2020 Payment: $0.03 per word Theme: "fun" stories with speculative elements SUBMISSIONS WILL BE OPEN MARCH 15 – APRIL 15, 2020. We are open annually for submissions from March 15th through April 15th for our August issue, and from September 15th through October 15th for our February issue. WHAT TO SUBMIT The short version: We pay $0.03 per word with a minimum of $20 in exchange for first world electronic rights in English. We ask for an exclusivity period of 3 months from date of publication. Maximum 5,000 words. Your story should contain speculative elements. We do not accept nonfiction. No simultaneous submissions. Only one submission per open period. Save your manuscript in Standard Manuscript Format as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf and email it as an attachment to translunartravelerslounge AT gmail DOT com. You’re welcome to include a cover letter, but try to avoid summarizing your story. We don’t generally look at cover letters until after we’ve read the story. Also, please limit your writing credits to your top two or three. (No worries if you don’t have any! We love new writers.) Translunar Travelers Lounge is co-edited by Ms. Aimee Ogden and Mx. Bennett North. Feel free to just address your email to “Dear Editors,” but if you decide to use our names, we would appreciate if you mention both of us, since this magazine is a joint effort. You will receive a response no later than two months after the submission period closes, and often much sooner. If you haven’t heard from us, please query ASAP at the above address, using the email header QUERY: Story Title by Author Name. The long version: Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. Yes, that descriptor is highly subjective, and ultimately it comes down...

Deadline: April 15th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Murder mysteries where someone has to wear a trench coat Note: Reprints Welcome Submission guidelines for The Trench Coat Chronicles Send us your best murder mystery stories! There is one requirement: your story must include a trench coat. We want creativity! While we love Dick Tracy and Humphrey Bogart, we really don’t want any story to contain those particular characters. Give us new, unique tales. We want our readers to be immersed in each story and invested in each character. Is the coat worn by the detective? The victim? The reporter? Is it peripheral to the story or the focus of it? In fact, the trench coat itself could be one of your characters! We want fiction between 500 and 3,500 words in length. We suck at math so if you go over by a bit, we’re not going to slap your wrist. We won’t even know. But just a little bit. Uninvited are screenplays and nonfiction. Also uninvited are stories that are publicly available on any website, such as a Facebook page or Wattpad. We will not accept stories with graphic adult content (no old-men-enticing-little-girls or flasher stories), and yes, we’ll know bad taste when we see it. We want YA readers to enjoy the published anthology without parental balking. Submissions will open at 12:00:01 a.m. EST on the Ides of March, March 15, 2020 and will close at 23:59:59 EST on April 15, 2020. The judges will not read submissions as they arrive; they will begin to read submissions on April 16. You will receive a status notification (rejected or accepted) approximately three months after submissions close (sometime in July). Judges will only offer an acceptance or rejection email, without feedback. Along with their thanks for submitting, of course, either way. There...