Events

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 AU Theme: Science Fiction We're looking for fantastic fantasy, super-duper science fiction,  Wonderfulliy Weird, and Macabre. ​ Think classic outer-worldly.  Think swashbuckling adventure.  Think stuff that would give Lovecraft the shivers.  Mad professors, demons of the dark, heroes, monsters, giant robots...  We could could go all day.  You get the idea. ​ New, unpublished writers are welcome! ​ Think you've got the chops?  Here are the rules: Under 18? No problem. Just send a note from your teacher or guardian with your submission, telling us it's ok for you to write for us. No gratuitous sex or excessive profanity.  No nasty sex of any kind unless it's inherent to the story, and not glorified.  Gore is fine if it's written well.  Hate speech, or material we might find offensive is not. ​ We pay a flat rate of $25 AU per original piece of fiction.  That’s low right now, but Rufo’s Dog is still a pup.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to pay more soon.  The best way for that to happen is for you to you tell all your friends to buy a copy and or subscribe, then we’ll have more moolah to throw at the next issue. We pay a flat rate of $100AU for any original colour artwork that makes the cover, and $25AU for any other artwork.  For commissioned work, payment is subject to negotiation with the individual artists. ​ For contributors with an Australian bank account, payments made via bank transfer are possible.  For international contributors, we prefer to pay via PayPal.  We do not pay via Western Union or similar services which charge payment fees.  WU charges $15 AU per transaction, and we just can't afford that. ​ Rufo's Dog will also provide a password and login for the full zine, valid for 12 months, for each contributer we publish. ​ No...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $20 or 2 paperback copies for US residents, $20 for everyone else around the globe Theme: Time Travel Get ready! Smoking Pen Press will be issuing a Call for Submissions for a short story anthology for our Read on the Run series. We do not yet have a title for this anthology, but the theme is Time Travel.  Sci-Fi, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure …  Yes! We welcome stories involving all types and aspects of time travel. Multiple submissions accepted. Simultaneous submissions permitted, but please let us know immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Reprints are accepted as long as all rights have reverted to you; please identify your submission as a reprint when you send it in.  Note: all selected stories (including reprints) will be edited before publication. The Call for Submissions will be open from April 1-April 30, 2020. Stories should be between 1,200 and 6,000 words. Submissions should be polished, (ie, not first draft) in Word (.doc or .docx) format, and written in English. Send to  [email protected] as an attachment. Stories submitted before April 1 or after April 30 will not be considered.  All stories submitted during the open Call will be acknowledged within three days of receipt, and authors of stories submitted during the open Call will be notified of a decision by June 1, 2020. There is no submission fee. As with all previous Read on the Run titles, this title will be published in both digital and paperback form. US and Canada authors of stories that are selected will receive their choice of a one-time payment of $20 USD, or 2 copies of the paperback; non-US/Canada authors will receive their choice of a one-time payment of $20 USD, or one copy of the paperback. For more information —  email us at [email protected] Remember: Submissions accepted: April...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: 1 cent per word, a flat rate of $20 if under 2,000 words. Theme: Speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Magical Realism, Slipstream, or an as-yet-unnamed genre. The Overcast is currently open to submissions three times a year, during the months of January, April, and October. (Note we are no longer reading during July.  Our summers have just gotten too hectic.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Thank you for understanding.)   What We Want We are interested in speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Magical Realism, Slipstream, or an as-yet-unnamed genre.  Anything that looks at the world and life from an unexpected angle.  We want the original vision of William Gibson.  The magic and beauty of Erin Morgenstern.  The uncompromising voice of Margaret Atwood.  The technical brilliance of Ted Chiang.  We want to read stories that transport us to places that we've never imagined.  We want to still be thinking about a story days after reading it.  Be original.  Be amazing. We are based in Portland, OR, and shine a spotlight on writers hailing from, living in, or connected in some way to the Pacific Northwest, as loosely defined by the bioregion of Cascadia.  We feel there is an exceptionally strong talent pool of speculative writers in Cascadia, and we want to celebrate and promote them to a larger audience.  Roughly half the stories we publish are by PNW writers.  That said, we are not exclusive, and the other half of our stories come from authors all over the globe.  So no matter where you live, send us your stories.  If they make us laugh, cry, or turn cartwheels of astonishment, preferably all at once, we will find a place for them on...

Deadline: April 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 and 2 contributors copies Theme: Rebellious pixies and fae Submission deadline has been extended to April 30th, 2020! We are seeking short stories of up to 10,000 words that deal with the theme of rebellious pixies and fae. Please limit your topic to the mythical beings commonly described as fae (do not submit stories of mermaids, trolls, werewolves, vampires, zombies, unicorns, dragons, or other legendary creatures).   Accepted submissions will be notified via email. All accepted authors of the anthology will receive a one-time payment of $25 and two free copies of the published anthology in either ebook or print format.   Please send your submission to [email protected] as an attachment with the word “submission” in the subject line of the email. Multiple and simultaneous submissions are accepted, and there is no reading fee. Estimated response time is up to eight weeks. Via: Corrugated Sky.

Deadline: May 1st, 2020 Payment: $20 Open for submissions from the first of May, 2019 until the first of May, 2020. After much back and forth about what the third volume would focus on, we have realized that all roads were leading back to the Rome (as it were) of Folk Horror, and we are immensely excited to explore the fields and hollows, tenements and seashores, where the notions of folk tradition abut and subsume the contemporary. Where the past and the now collide. We do hope you’ll join us. GENERAL GUIDELINES THINKING HORROR is a journal dedicated to exploring horror in literature exclusively. We do not publish articles or essays concerning any other medium (such as films, television, or games). The unofficial theme of the literature journal is “Why Horror?” We are looking for non-fiction articles about the genre written by the people who generally think most about it. Interested contributors must submit a short proposal to the editors outlining the proposed topic. It needn’t be long, just so long as it communicates the topic and the goals of the essay. This will help prevent repetition, or work on something that ultimately does not fit the journal’s intentions. We are not accepting interview proposals at this time. When imagining ideas for the literature journal, please keep in mind the idea of ‘timelessness’. In other words, material that would date the journal isn’t encouraged, unless a strong case can be made for it. The hope/goal of the journal is to have its issues remain releveant in perpetuity. We do not publish articles or essays concerning any other medium (such as films, television, or games). The sorts of articles we envision/encourage: • analysis of specific authors and how their work illuminates the genre as a whole • discussions of movements like Splatterpunk and New Weird • essays on the different facets of written horror (i.e. Nightmare Horror, Folk...

Deadline: May 1st, 2020 Payment: 1c per word Theme: Note: Texas authors only TEXAS’S 1ST AND ONLY HORROR ANTHOLOGY—Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers—is currently accepting submissions for Volume 5 (RK5). THE GUIDELINES REMAIN THE SAME: Texas tales by Texas writers. Stories must take place in Texas and be written by native or naturalized Texans. Be original. Be scary. Be weird, wild, wacky and/or insane. But be scary. SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE BETWEEN 2,500 AND 10,000 WORDS IN LENGTH. We’d like to pay more, but for this edition of Road Kill we’ll be shelling out one cent per word. That means a 10,000-word story will receive a check for $100 USD. We are buying first publication rights. Stories must be original, never before published tales designed to haunt, shock and terrify readers in a big way. Contributors will be free to publish the story as a reprint elsewhere after two years. RK5 will be compiled and edited by award-winning author and Road Kill co-creator, E. R. Bills, and published by HELLBOUND BOOKS PUBLISHING. Send your best, finely polished yarns to erbillsthinks at gmail.com. Include ‘RK5 Submission’ in the subject line. Include your current address and phone number. Submission deadline is May 1, 2020 But submitting sooner rather later, earns you brownie points. PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines. * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * single-spaced * 2.5K-10K word count * Write ‘RK5 Submission’ along with your name and story title in the header of your submission *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. Attach your story to email. *Make sure that you check your manuscript for grammar and punctuation. NO REPRINTS—ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY.      Payment—1c per word for first rights

Deadline: May 1st, 2020 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: The door was locked. 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 three to 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. 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 we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in...

Deadline: May 1st, 2020 Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Extreme horror which involved alcohol Some call it courage in a bottle while others perceive it as the devil’s cocktail. Alcohol comes in all shapes and sizes, bringing along with it the temptation of sin, the eagerness of confusion and the psychological bombardment on the mind and senses forcing us to play a game between life and death. BREWTALITY will dive deep in the subconscious where the demons swim, blinding our judgment and guiding us to make bad decisions without revealing the consequences. 3,000 word max Must have elements of Extreme Horror. NO REPRINTS No simultaneous submissions No violence/sex towards children Pay: 3c per word paid through Paypal + (1) print contributor copy 1-year exclusive rights Send as a .DOC or .DOCX attachment to [email protected] with the subject line: BREW SUBMISSION: Title by Author Name Do not copy/paste story in body of email. Include a very brief bio just to break the ice. Deadline May 1 Responses by June 1 Via: The Evil Cookie.

Deadline: May 1st, 2020 Payment: $30 Theme: Modern faerie tales to explain the 20th and 21st centuries Myths and faerie tales have been historically used to explain the world or enforce societal behaviors. The Gray Sisters are looking for tales that explain the events or enforce the behaviors of the 20th and 21st centuries in fanciful ways. The stories don't strictly need to take place in this world, but they do need to relate back to its existence or behavior. ​ Examples:        - A new explanation for a phenomena or occurrence that has happened or conceivably          will happen within your lifetime.        - Using old characters or creatures in new stories.        - Telling an old story in a modern way, (it should be nearly or completely unrecognizable          from its old form.) ​ Submissions may have adult themes and language and they may be violent or graphic. However, these things should be used for the quality of the story and not shock value or shortcuts. ​ Submissions should be between 1000 and 3000 words, in English, fully edited and on theme. ​ If you have any further content questions, please see the FAQ section or the Contact Us sections of this site. Submissions for our Summer 2020 Issue are open from December 22nd 2019 to May 1, 2020. Selections will be emailed out from mid to late May, and critiques (for those who chose them) will be emailed out before the next issue is published. Submissions should be between 1000 and 3000 words, in English, fully edited and on theme. ​ If you submit a piece you are attesting that                                              - it is your own work,  ...

Deadline: May 1st: 2020 Prizes: £75 (1st), £50 (2nd) and £25 (3rd) Themes: One Last Chance It’s 2020 and believe it or not, our fifth year of producing audio anthologies! Keeping this show on the road entails a lot of work and money, but I’m sure you’ll agree the outcome has been very entertaining. What makes all of this possible though are your stories that you submit and the precious time our judges give up to read the shortlisted work. So with it being our fifth anniversary we wanted to do something a little different and run a theme for this year’s anthology. The title will be ‘One Last Chance’. There’s no specific names or worlds, it’s simply going to be an image. All of the other rules around submissions still apply which you can check here, only the tale must include the scene from the picture below… CLICK HERE TO SEE IMAGE Stay tuned as we release further updates on this year’s judging lineup and the additional authors that will share a spot with our winners on Remastered Words 2020 Audio Anthology. Also why not take a look at some of our Write Advice articles on short story writing to get you started. We can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with and the tales you’re going to tell! Prizes Authors of the top three selected stories will receive a one time payment of £75 (1st), £50 (2nd) and £25 (3rd), as well as having their stories produced as an audio work by Remastered Words. Samples of these stories will be made available to listen to on our website and will also be created into an audio anthology. Authors will receive a 30% share of the royalties that will be split between the winners.   Schedule We are open...