Events

Deadline: January 31st, 2013 Payment: By line, one electronic copy, and one paperback copy, or $5.00 without paperback copy. (Per author, not poem.) Deadline ~ January 31st, 2013 It matters not what hides behind the eyes, as long as it remains seperate from the soul. Deep within us all, in our darkest place, dwells secrets we would rather keep hidden. Bring forth your monsters of the mind, and bask in the strange, the beautiful, the dark, and the macabre, as those secrets scorch minds and ooze down the pages of "In Darkness Dwells." Format: No more than 40 lines, any poetry style, size 12 font. Must be dark! Cross some lines if you must, and give us your best. Up to five poems per author. No reprints! New works only. Payment: By line, one electronic copy, and one paperback copy, or $5.00 without paperback copy. (Per author, not poem.) Send your submissions to: [email protected]. In the subject line please put: Poetry_your first poem title_last name. Please attach your submissions. Do not put them in the body of the email. Dig deep, and share your dark side.

Deadline: January 31, 2013 Payment: 5 cents per word The Wily Writers site publishes two short stories per month in both audio and text formats. We host a celebrity editor for each of them, and they choose the stories along with the producer (Angel Leigh McCoy). We publish only short fiction that falls under the genre umbrella of speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romance / mystery / adventure. We have specific themes that we’re asking you to follow. THEME: Body Horror Submissions need to follow the guidelines listed below. IMPORTANT: Name your file so that it makes sense. An impressive filename for a fiction submission is: (lastname)-(word from title).RTF Word count: 1000 – 4000 (Firm. Do not query). Use standard manuscript formatting. (more info) No simultaneous submissions to other publishers. Multiple submissions okay, but only one story per theme. Story must have a speculative fiction element. Gore, sex, and adult language okay, but make sure it improves the story. We do not edit, so make sure you use good grammar, have double-checked the punctuation, and have done a spell-check. We prefer Chicago Manual of Style rules, and we will reject it if it’s a mess, even if it’s an amazing story. We may request revisions, so if you’re not open to the idea, then let us know in your cover letter. It will save us all some time by communicating that up-front. We will accept reprints. Make double sure that the rights have reverted to you. By submitting it to us, you affirm that it has been freed from all other commitments that conflict with the rights you give us. We reserve the right to change these guidelines without notice. Response Time: We will respond within 90 days after the appropriate issue’s deadline. Pay: Starting with the...

Deadline: January 15 to February 15, 2013 Payment: 5 cents per word and 2 contributor's copies and an ebook copy Sword and Mythos is an anthology paying professional rates (5 cents per word) looking for short fiction of up to 5,000 words which combines the pulp genres of Cthulhu Mythos and sword and sorcery. What we want Sword and Mythos. This includes any element of the Cthulhu Mythos (creatures such as shoggoths, characters like the King in Yellow, locations like Leng) combined with sword and sorcery (heroic fantasy). Stories can be told from the viewpoint of sorcerers or other non-traditional heroic characters, although fighters with brawn and brains will also be accepted. We are looking for a variety of settings and characters (Yes, we are GLBT-friendly). Although much sword and sorcery has utilized a proto-European setting, we’d like to see stories that take place in settings inspired by Middle Eastern, African, Asian, Prehispanic, and other cultures. We will accept secondary world stories and stories set in historical settings with magical elements. For example, Robert E. Howard set his Mythos-inspired “Worms of the Earth” in real-life Great Britain. We might also consider some sword and planet stories. But no copyrighted characters, please. We can’t afford the lawsuits. There are many famous sword and sorcery male characters, but we’d also like to see women hacking tentacles. Or summoning Mythos creatures. Overall, we want to be surprised and inspired to read beyond the first page. Scenarios which might be fun: A Mayan warrior faces Cthulhu’s own daughter, Cthylla. A crafty thief steals more than she bargained for when she takes a statuette from a Tamil temple. A Kurdish mercenary is hired to rescue the son of a rich merchant from the clutches of a sorcerer in medieval Cairo. An acolyte of Dagon grows...

Deadline: February 20th, 2013 Payment: Exposure only Flash fiction & Short Stories (1,000 – 3,000 words) Poetry accepted. Eternal life, what does it mean to live forever? What is the cost of such a prize, and is it worth the price? The scope of such a topic brings forth boundless notions for the budding author. Tales of the undead, and those who cheat the reaper give hope to a readership, or can just as easily take it away. I want stories of Eternal life. Give me deals with the devil, illegal experiments, and mysterious miracles. Zombies, Vampires, and Spirits are welcome. Make them dark, make them decadent, make them scary – these should be the kind of stories that wouldn’t usually see daylight. No taboos, just let your imagination run wild. Dark fairytales, bizarre, horror, surrealism, dark science-fiction are all cool here. Submission guidelines: Deadline for submissions – February 20, 2013. Word Count: 1,000 – 3,000 words. Please submit your manuscript as a *.doc or *.docx file (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact me prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you.) Font and formatting: Please submit in Times New Roman, 12 point font; single line spacing. Please format the document to 1st line indentation of 3″. The page margin should be set to .5″ (1.27cm) on all sides. Please check grammar. Only stories previously unpublished may be submitted. Upon acceptance into the anthology, you agree that Horrified Press holds exclusive publishing rights for six months from the date of publication; after that date has passed, all intellectual property rights revert to the author with the proviso that Horrified Press retains distribution rights in the format of the contracted anthology. This title will be available as an E-book, and as a quality trade paperback Nathan J.D.L....

Deadline: February 20th 2013 Payment: One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology. International call for original short story submissions Love, Lust and Zombies — an original anthology edited by Mitzi Szereto A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA Publication date: Autumn 2013 Let’s face it: zombies are hot, and baby, they’re getting hotter. Although not the most traditional of sex symbols, zombies are truly coming into their own, even landing on the silver screen in romantic roles, not to mention ambling and shambling across the pages of novels and television screens. Gone are those one-dimensional gut-munching characters from George Romero’s grim and gruesome flick Night of the Living Dead. Zombies now have a lot more to offer, and thank heavens we non-zombies are finally beginning to recognise this. From the bestselling novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the hit TV series The Walking Dead, zombies are infiltrating and enriching our daily lives. So isn’t it about time they had their more…err… romantic and sexy sides showcased? It’s my goal as editor of Love, Lust and Zombies to help make this happen. And here’s how you can help. I want you to write some fun and steamy stories featuring sexy zombie characters and send them over for me to chew on (in a literary sense, that is). Can zombies be sexy? Why the hell not? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. So can you do it without grossing us out too much or being too gory? Sure you can. And you know you want to! Submission deadline: Feb 20, 2013 (I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, thoughI’ll still consider stories that make it in by...

Deadline: February 24th 2013 Payment: Digital copy and exposure 99 Penny Dreadful is a project intended to showcase some of the best short stories from authors of offbeat fiction. The kind of tales that may struggle to find a home elsewhere. This e-book is a homage to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, without which the world may have never heard of authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, and Robert E. Howard. Whether it's horror, crime, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, or any kind of unusual tale, we'd love to see it. We aren't concerned about whether your story has been published before. The mission statement of 99 Penny Dreadful is to expose innovative short fiction writers to the widest possible audience. Please feel free to put your best foot forward. It can be something that has been published before, or that hidden gem that hasn't found the right home until now. Nor do we demand exclusivity or any kind of ownership. Merely the right to publish your submission in 99 Penny Dreadful. Ideally, submissions should be 2000 to 8000 words, as we are looking for punchy reads for the bus or the train. This e-book will be priced at a modest 99 cents in the spirit of the title, so we are in it for love rather than money. Contributors will however receive a kindle copy. Please send submissions to the email address below by the 24th of February. Best of luck, and good writing! [email protected]

Deadline: February 28, 2013 Payment: Unlisted, possibly exposure only Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, coeditors of the World Fantasy Award and British Fantasy Award winning anthology The Weird, are pleased to announce a call for submissions for a new mega-reprint anthology. The Time Traveler’s Almanac will function as its own time machine: the ultimate treasury of time travel stories, presented in an imaginative way, with illustrations and some nonfiction in addition to the stories. The anthology will cover millions of years of Earth’s history—from the age of the dinosaurs to strange and fascinating futures, through to the end of Time itself. The Time Traveler’s Almanac will reacquaint readers with beloved classics and introduce them to thrilling contemporary examples of the time travel genre. The UK publisher is Head of Zeus and our editor Nic Cheetham, who also was our editor on the award-winning The Weird. The US publisher will be announced soon. Although we already material in mind we also know that we can’t see everything so we are asking for submissions as well as suggestions. If in doubt, send it. We will read submissions between January 15, 2013 and February 28, 2013. Any English-language story (or translation into English) previously published on a website, non-self-published ebook anthology, or in a print publication is eligible for consideration. Looking for REPRINTS ONLY (standard reprint rates apply). No nonfiction. Prefer works under 10,000 words. Willing to look at all kinds of Time Travel fiction, but mainly interested in work that pushes the boundaries, that is truly unique to the genre. FANTASY AND HORROR incorporating time travel are just as welcome as pure science fiction. Surreal isn’t bad either. Submissions up to 10,000 words should be sent in a Word or RTF document attachment to [email protected]. Please cut-and-paste the first three paragraphs into the...

Deadline: March 1st 2013 Payment: Payment for original fiction is at least 3 cents a word. Reprints at least 1 cent a word. Incubi. They seduce women (and some men) with their devilish ways. Infernal Casanovas and fiendish Romeos. This anthology will feature supernatural tales of lotharios that entice, arouse, and often destroy their prey. Tales do not have to be horror--dark fantasy is fine but please no paranormal romance (no vampires!). I have seen some disturbing tales featuring misogyny. That is not theme of this book and once I come across any such passage I will refuse to read further. Seeking stories no less than 3,000 words in length, no more than 12,000. Payment for original fiction is at least 3 cents a word. Reprints at least 1 cent a word. Deadline is March 1st, 2013.

Deadline: 3/1/2013 Payment: Every author will get a contributor’s copy of the eBook and a proportional percentage of the royalties The album Dark Side of the Moon explored, among other themes, chaos in society and madness of the mind. Dark Side of the Moon will feature the dark fantasy, twisted science fiction and horror focused on madness. Bring us your serial killers, your haunted asylums, your deranged computers and aliens. The threshold for profanity, sex and violence will be much higher, but we will still choose quality over shock-value every time. Submission Call Starts: 12/1/2012 Submission Call Ends: 3/1/2013 What We Want: We are looking for fresh perspectives on favorite songs. The story should have the following qualities Non-negotiable The story must be your own work. Reprints are fine, provided you hold publishing rights Multiple submissions are acceptable. Please do not submit more than 10k words at a time No stories which are freely available online. The plot should have a strong correlation to the lyrics of the song. The writer can and should take creative liberties, but the reader should have a clear indication of the base song. Include the song in your cover letter. Not required but strongly advised The story should be science fiction, fantasy, horror or a related sub-genre The atmosphere of the story should reflect either the style of music or the singer/composer Story length may be up to 5000 words in length Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know immediately if you are accepted elsewhere. What we don't want Boring literal interpretations of love songs Adult content– if sex is present, it should further the story Gore or profanity when it is only included for shock value Illegal content of any kind Blatant plagiarism The purpose of Song Stories is to celebrate...

Deadline: March 1st 2013 Payment: 7% of net royalties Untold Press is thrilled to announce a new call for submissions! Contributors are welcome to submit their short stories/novellas for the upcoming release of our Happily Ever Afterlife anthology. Stories accepted for this anthology will be based on classic fairy tales with an undead Happily Ever After ending twist! Requirements: Must be based on a classic fairy tale. Submission must have HAPPILY EVER AFTER ending. AT LEAST one main character must be ‘undead’. IE: ghost/spirit/zombie/vampire/etc, OR the story must in some way incorporate the Afterlife. Anthology will be adult oriented, but no erotica please. Please edit submission to the best of your ability prior to submission. Length: Minimum 7000 to 10 000 words. (Submitted stories can take place in any time period) Formatting: .doc format only please 11pt Times New Roman with single line spacing Page size should be 5×8 Set for narrow margins (0.5 inch) Justify all margins Details: Contract length is 3 years English version of eBook and Print Payment is 7% of net royalties NEW previously unpublished stories only please! Previously unpublished authors welcome to submit IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be careful of copyright infringement! Use only the essence of the story and till it in your own words. Be certain the story you are using as your inspiration is free from copyright (over 100 years old, public domain, or author-less). Fairy Tales are often published, and re-told over and over again. Ensure you are taking from its original (free from copyright) version and not another author’s adaptation. You will be required to sign a contract stating you have researched this point and will take sole responsibility for any infringement litigations. Submission Deadline: March 1st 2013 (or sooner if all spots are filled) Please email your submission as an...

Deadline: March 1st 2013 Payment: $20 and a contributor's copy Submissions are officially OPEN for the new StrangeHouse Books anthology STRANGE VS LOVECRAFT. We're looking for 5,000-8,000 word stories set inside the Cthulhu mythos. That means all stories must contain characters, settings, monsters, or plot devices from the bountiful worlds created by H.P. Lovecraft. BUT, what we're MOSTLY looking for is the most batshit crazy, insane, bizarro take on the mythos you can come up with. Let your freak flag fly and show us something TRULY original! Subs close March 1st. Payment is 20 dollars flat, and a copy of the finished anthology to be released in late April/early May. No reprints, please. We want 1st worldwide print and digital rights, exclusive for 1 year. Good luck!!! Please direct all submissions to: [email protected] [via: Strange House Books Facebook.