Events

Deadline: November 30th 2015 Payment: 1 cent per word PROMPTS: We want to see the prompt inspire your writing. To bleed through every letter. If our quarterly is about Apollo, give us stories about the galaxies, about the sun, about archery. Give us stories that breathe Apollo. If the prompt is Artemis, give us forests, give us beasts, give us epic hunts. This does not mean we want stories ABOUT Apollo, or Artemis. VERY IMPORTANT: Please include a note as to how your story is inspired or relates to the theme/prompt you are submitting to. If you do not do this, we cannot guarantee your story will be read. A single sentence is sufficient. This is not necessary for our annual, genre specific anthologies (Gaia and Typhon). Below are our OPEN prompts:   HESTIA (# 9) – Publication Date: WINTER 2016 Greek goddess of the hearth and home, eldest daughter of the titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister of Zeus. She is a sworn virgin, known for her kindness.The opposite of Aphrodite. Symbolized by the hearth, she is the first to receive any sacrifice to the gods, and oversees the burning of sacrifices on Olympus. Send us your household stories–your domestic noir, haunted houses, tales of forgotten homes, distant homes, missing homes. Tell us your hearth-side fairy tales and old legends. Contemporary stories of the sacrifices we make in our homes every day. “Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.” Submissions open May 1st 2015 and close November 30st 2015. NOTE: Please read the entire page before emailing questions. Make sure your submissions are up to the...

Deadline: November 30th, 2015 Payment: AUD4c/word and contributor's copy Anacondas, piranha, giant crocodiles/alligators/lizards, mutated bears near nuclear power stations, prehistoric sharks. These are a few of my favourite things. All of these featured heavily in books and films of the 70s and 80s, when bio-horror was at its modern peak. For this anthology of military-bio-horror stories, we are looking for you to take us back to those days. Think Greg McLean’s Rogue, Lake Placid, Eight-legged Freaks, Anaconda, Meg, Prophecy, Deep Blue Sea, and other modern films/books where people (in this case soldiers) are fighting against mutated or ultra-dangerous animals. Stories must include a strong military-combat aspect. We STRONGLY suggest you read some of the earlier SNAFUs to see what it is we like. SNAFU – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LNXHLJG SNAFU: Heroes – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MSVEY2Y SNAFU: Wolves at the Door – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RQ56AUG SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y3X86OC ~ Edited by Geoff Brown and Amanda J Spedding ~ Payment: AUD4c/word and one contributor copy in each format released ~ Wordcount range: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query for shorter or longer) ~ Submissions open September 1, 2015. Closing date is November 30th, 2015 (anything submitted before or after this time will be deleted without being read or replied to). No selections will be made until after the period closes. Projected publication date: August 2016 Please follow these guidelines when submitting to us: 1. Please put your full contact details on the first page of the manuscript top left, with word count top right. 2. Standard submission format, with minimal document formatting. 3. Courier or Times New Roman set at 12pt. Italics as they will appear. No underlining. 4. Double spaced. 5. Please don’t use TAB or space bar to indent lines. Use ‘styles’ only. If unsure or using a program that has no styles, do...

Deadline: $13 plus a contributor’s copy Payment: November 30, 2015 Witches have long captivated mankind throughout recorded history, and remain influential as one of the most iconic of folkloric images. Nosetouch Press wants your very best witch stories, featuring magical, powerful women who use witchcraft for good or evil, in classic as well as new takes on witches–we welcome vintage witches, good witches, wicked witches, futuristic witches, high fantasy witches, techno-witches, boundary-breaking witches–bring them all! Wax & Wane is an anthology of 13 fantastic witch stories to entrance and enchant readers and fans of witches everywhere. Submissions are open from October 1 through November 30, 2015. Please email Nosetouch Press at submissions nosetouchpress.com and include all submissions as an attachment (.doc or .rtf). Please list the anthology title in your subject line. No simultaneous or multiple submissions, please. Submission Schedule Submissions Accepted: October 1 through November 30, 2015 Length: 2,000 to 10,000 words Payment: $13 plus a contributor’s copy Release: May, 2016 Via: Nose Touch Press.

Deadline: November 30, 2015 Payment: $20 and a digital copy Do you love to write fantasy stories? Do you dream of princesses and dragons? Do the dragons sometimes win? Come write for me! I’m putting together my first anthology, called Swords of Darkness. Selected stories will be fantasy tales featuring a sword, though what you do beyond that is up to you. Previously published authors and newbies are both welcome to submit. What I’m looking for: Fantasy stories featuring a sword of some kind. Ideal length is 3,000-6,000 words, but stories up to 10,000 words will be considered. I’m more concerned that you tell a story to completion, rather than write to a specific word count. If you’re worried about length, just email me. I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible. Previously published works are fine, but please let me know at the time of submission. I’ll be selecting 10 stories for publication. Pay: I’ll be buying one-time digital publication rights. Pay is $20 per story + a digital copy when the book is completed. (You can do whatever you want with your story, including self-publish it or submit it to other publishers. You retain all of your rights.) Submission deadline: November 30, 2015 Publication date: January 1st, 2016 Edited by: L.C. Mortimer, author of The Dead of Night. When I’m not busy penning zombie novels, I’m a full-time non-fiction writer and editor. Where to Submit: Email submissions to [email protected]. Please don’t stress or worry about formatting. I will be reformatting everything once I select the stories, so don’t waste your time worrying. As long as I can open the story in Word, I’m happy. You will hear back from me with a yay or nay by December 15th. What to Send: Email me your story as an attachment. Please include a brief author bio. If you have social media...

Deadline: November 30th, 2015 Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. For our Fantasy issue we are looking for serious fantasy. If you want to write about elves for instance, we are more likely to accept a story about the kind you’d find in middle earth rather than the north pole. Dark fantasy will have an easier time being accepted, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be horror to be dark, there is a difference between grim and gruesome. Also, don’t misinterpret serious to say we aren’t interested in humor, but the jokes and quips need to be ‘part’ of the story and not the ‘point’ of the story. We are flexible about sub-genre, but it should be fantasy primarily. Some examples of the type of fantasy we like are found in the works of Terry Brooks, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and Jonathen Moeller, among many others. Overall we like quality fiction that tells a good story and takes us to amazing and mystical worlds. If in doubt, go ahead and send it to us. At worst we’ll reject your story and at best we’ll accept it. We are currently accepting short stories for our yearly anthology and illustrations for an anthology contest. If you wish for us to review one of your published ebooks for promotion on this sight, please refer to the bottom of this page.   Short Stories: To be included in our annual anthology Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. Word count: 2,500 – 7,000 (5,000 is preferred) Submission Window: October 1 – Nov. 30th Projected publication date: January Please follow these guidelines when submitting (Failure to comply may result in your story being deleted without being read) Standard Manuscript Formatting We do accept multiple submissions, but...

Deadline: December 1st, 2015 Payment: Royalty split and contributor's copy Technology gone wrong. Madmen playing with science beyond their control. Alien creatures with malign intent. Welcome to Dark Horizons, where the future is lost. Open to submissions until Dec 1st for stories around 5,000 words. Seeking print and digital rights. Pay is a 50/50 split with the editor and 1 copy. Books will be distributed through IPG and available to brick and mortar stores. Send stories to [email protected] Via: Elder Signs Press.

Deadline: December 1st, 2015 Payment: An equal share between contributors of 20% royalties and contributor's copies (1 physical and digital With the blessing of Black Bed Sheet Books, I've been given the opportunity to compile, design, and edit an anthology that will be published under the BBS name.  This isn't just an announcement, this is an open call to all horror writers.  Below are the submission guidelines.  If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact me. First, a little about BBS:  Black Bed Sheet Books was founded in 2008 by one, Nicholas Grabowsky.  Nicholas has been a published author since the 1980s, including the novelization ofHalloween IV.  His Wikipedia entry is extensive and worth checking out, giving some very interesting information.  His work has received positive acknowledgements from both Clive Barker and Wes Craven. To learn more about BBS check them out here, where you can also find their brand new 2015/2016 catalog. Also, do note, the picture to the left is not the working cover of the book.  It's a tentative mockup. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES for "Bumps in the Road" How long can my story be?  Between 1,000 and 7,000 words. What's the theme?  Road trips.  Long stretches of road with an exciting destination ahead of you, whether alone or with a group of friends and/or family, can be a great time.  We don't want to hear about those good times.  We want to hear about the regrettable ones.  The unfortunate things that happened along the way.  Whatever it is, you must include a road trip of some sort; be it car, bicycle, motorcycle, hitchhiking, one of those sweet custom 70s vans. You get the idea.  This should leave you with a wide avenue (see what I did there?) to work with.  I'm not even going to give...

Deadline: December 1st, 2015 Payment: 5 cents per word Note: While paranormal might not apply this would be a good place for some of your suspense work if it involves crime Next year, Broken River Books will be releasing its first anthology, titled The Broken River Review. It will be a collection of short fiction, poetry, and essays, all centered around crime and crime fiction. Here are the guidelines: 3,000 words or fewer Reprints okay Deadline of December 1st, 2015 Payment is 5 cents per word Submissions go to [email protected] Other than that, have fun with it! As with the novel submissions, please familiarize yourself with the Broken River catalog, so that you might tailor your submission to our particular aesthetic. We like fiction that plays with and subverts tropes in interesting way. Special preference goes to crime fiction, or at least work that leans in that direction. Via: The Broken River Review.

Deadline: December 15th, 2015 Payment: 3% of sales Twit Publishing is going far afield again with this one and hoping to help establish a new genre that we’ve already published in an earlier anthology. We’ve already covered the older genres from the 1920’s to 1950’s pulps with Twit Publishing Presents: PULP! anthologies, and are looking again at a young genre that re-examines the 20s, 30s, 40s, and early 50s: Dieselpunk. But this anthology will have a twist, Dieselpunk: Fairy Tales. What is Dieselpunk? Dieselpunk is a re-imagining of the diesel-era (the post-World War I era to the early 1950s). It’s gangsters, bootleggers, swing, Mexican revolutionaries, Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, U-Boats, the Depression, the end of the Wild West, Bolshevik agents, greasers, zeppelins, jazz, art-deco, roadsters, hobos (anything that fits into this era of time along with cross-genres), and the Red Scare. It is the beginning of mechanization of the military and the beginning of the mechanization of the factory. Of course, though, there will be a twist. Each story will be in the Dieselpunk genre, but will also be based on a fairy tale. We’re looking for over-the-top storylines that fit into this mash-up of genres. Horror, action, detective, crime, and even fantasy can be fit into this genre. Think steam-punk, but with petroleum-fueled engines. All submissions will have to be based on a retelling of a fairy tale. There are a few common fairy tales that writers will want to base their stories on, so if you have any doubts if your fairy tale has already been submitted, please email [email protected]. The word count should be between 4000 and 9000 words. U.S. writers only, please. Please submit stories to [email protected]. Payment will be based on 3% of sales. Submission deadline 12/15/15 Via: Twit Publishing.

Deadline: December 15th, 2015 Payment: .03CAD per word and contributor's copy Martian Migraine Press is now open to submissions for our fourth annual anthology, Cthulhusattva: Lovecraftian Tales of the Black Gnosis. When it comes to Lovecraftian fiction, readers are already well familiar with the standard protagonists. Men of Science. Hardened, world-weary investigators. Sensitive artists, and the like. All of whom eventually learn too much, as they come into contact with forbidden books, foul thaumaturgies, and the human (and not-so-human!) servants of the Great Old Ones. Through curiosity, stupidity, hubris (and oftentimes a combination of these) such foolhardy individuals are blasted to madness in the deadly light that breaks through into their existence when they dare tread the shadowed paths of the Mythos! Surely death would be preferable! But… What of the opposite numbers to your standard Lovecraftian hero? What of those servants of the Great Old Ones? The cultists. Sorcerers. Witches. Lone madmen and women. What of those who goseeking that dark enlightenment of their own free will? What of the individuals who choose to cast off from the shores of humanity’s placid island of ignorance, who choose to voyage far on those black seas of infinity that surround that island? Whatever else can be said about the Mythos (within the Lovecraftian world-view, naturally) it remains that the madness which underlies it is THE TRUTH OF EXISTENCE. The light may be deadly, yes, but it isstill light, and it still reveals! Remember, too, that the Great Old Ones and their servants, have been around for a very long time. What wisdom, what insights into Life, Death, and Reality might be gained by currying their favour? What would be the price of that wisdom, and more… would it be worth it? For Cthulhusattva: Lovecraftian Tales of the Black Gnosis, we are...

Deadline: December 15, 2015. Payment: $15 and a contributor's copy 1. Don’t Open Till Doomsday  will be a collection of Science Fiction short stories totalling 10 - 15 pieces. 2. Submissions are open until December 15, 2015. 3. You may submit only one story of 2,000 to 10,000 words. Your story must be completely original and must not be set in someone else’s world. We are interested in fresh voices and new points of view. Use today’s science to create the “what if” stories of tomorrow. 4. We seek first print rights. Story may not have been published online, or in print, in any form, although we will consider it for publication if portions of it have been posted on the writer's personal blog. 5. Compensation: one contributor copy and a one-time payment of $15. 6. We are open to all styles and voices. 7. Please wait 90 days before inquiring about your submission. 8. For answers to any questions, please use the form on the Contact Page. Via: Punks Write Poems.

Deadline: December 15th, 2015 Payment: $0.01/word and a contributor's copy Anthologist: Bascomb James Third volume in the Far Orbit anthology series edited by Bascomb James. Series includes Far Orbit (volume one) and Far Orbit Apogee (volume two); Far Orbit Perigee (volume four, accepting submissions starting January 1, 2016.) To protect from all enemies… World Weaver Press is expanding the Far Orbit anthology series with a new a new military science fiction anthology, Last Outpost. Last Outpost will be published in 2016. As the name implies, we’re looking for military adventure stories, page-turners that keep us on the edge of our seats. We’re not looking for mindless mayhem; we want compelling science fiction stories with a military theme. Send us stories about grunts, space fleets, espionage, alien invasion (even if we are the aliens), hostage recovery, battle bots, drones and droids, cyber wars, special ops, inciting rebellions, or quelling them. Anything in the military action adventure genera is fair game. We’ll entertain biopunk, cyberpunk, solarpunk, and other punkish motifs but the story has to be a rip-roaring adventure. Please stay away from fantasy elements (wizards, magic, gods, etc.). Fan fiction is a definite no-no. Fantasy-like adventures (John Carter of Mars) have to be really special to be included in the anthology. Gore is OK but it has to advance the plot. Please remember that this is a science fiction anthology. The action can take place on far off worlds or on Earth, in the far future or the day after tomorrow; so long as it’s a military themed science fiction adventure. If you can write a military space opera in under 10,000 words, go for it. We’ll be happy to read it. Here are some submission tips from Bascomb James, the series anthologist. I’m not a fan of the “everyone dies horribly” ending unless you...

Deadline: December 15th, 2015 Payment: $25 Editor: Carrol Fix Word Count: 3,000 – 8,000 Deadlines: Art: 10/30/15 Stories: 12/15/15 Authors and Artists receive token payment of $25. Authors and Artists The theme is whatever could occur in the deep regions of space between stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Physical contact and proximity to other stars/planets is off-limits, although communications of all kinds are allowed. Via: Lillicat Publishers.

Deadline: December 15th, 2015 Payment: 3 cents per word "It's Come to Our Attention" or "Scratching the Surface" - Under the radar: things that are happening quietly, without a lot of fanfare, that may still be extremely significant or make a big difference. Like, what's going on with those bees. Maybe a little "Tragedy of the Commons" would work under this theme. Reading Period: October 15 - December 15, 2015 Writer Deadline: December 15, 2015 Publication Date: February 15, 2016 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,...

Deadline: December 15, 2015 Payment: $5.00 plus equal share of 50% of royalties. Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Empire into victory… Mara Jade fights first for the Empire and then for the New Republic struggling against the past and using her talents with the Force to fight for what she believes is right… Katniss Everdeen offers herself up for the gladatorial Hunger Games instead of her little sister, who she fears would not survive… When felinoid alien, Pianfar Chanur, runs across a “human” alien, it is only the pride that keeps her from returning him to his captors… Fleet Lieutenant Esmay Suiza must face the truth of her background simultaneously with the threat of alien invasion… We never tire of reading about these amazing heroines and their exploits, but have you considered writing a science fiction story of your own about a heroine or perhaps a female-dominated society?  Here’s your chance. We are looking for stories primarily about women from female-dominated societies (Gate to Women’s Country, The Shore of Women…) to powerful female heroines such as the ones listed above. We're interested in science fiction, futuristic magic use (think Star Wars), grand adventures with swashbuckling heroines, and touching tales. Whether they are from a matriarchal or Amazon-style society or traditional male-dominated world, bring us powerful women and their stories. RESTRICTIONS:  No fan-fic. Keep the content PG-13, please.  Limit profanity and erotic content. We want to make this book available to young adult readers as well as adults. If you have questions about content, please feel free to email: SUBMISSION EMAIL: [email protected] READING PERIOD:  November 15, 2015 to December 15, 2015 (DO NOT SUBMIT PRIOR TO NOVEMBER 15th) RELEASE DATE:  March 31, 2016 PAYMENT: $5.00 plus equal share of 50% of royalties. SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED: We do not...

Deadline: December 25th, 2015 Payment: 6 cents per word for original work, 3 cents per word on reprints Reprints Allowed We're looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology. Technical details Stories can be up to 10,000 words. The anthology will be published in ebook and POD formats. We pay 6 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 3 cents/word for reprints. We are seeking one year of exclusive worldwide print and electronic distribution rights for original works (with exceptions for Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic distribution rights in perpetuity for both original works and reprints. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. Send us only one story at a time, and don't send us a story that's currently with someone else or send someone else a story to which we have not yet responded. Don't re-submit a rejected story unless we request revisions. We hope to have responded to everyone within one month of the submission window's closing. Feel free to query if it's been longer than two months. Stories must be double spaced, in 12-point Courier or Times New Roman font. The story title, your byline, a word count, and contact information should appear on the first page, and your last name, story title, and page number should appear in the header information of all other pages. We're not particular about whether you use italics or underlining for emphasis, how many spaces are after the period, or whether you use straight or smart quotes. Submissions may be sent to the email address: Submit your stories via email as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. The subject of your email should be FICTION: <story title> by <byline>. The email body should contain a list of your three or four best publications (if...

Deadline: December 28th 2015 Payment: $10 Being sick sucks, and being the healthy one in a household of sickies is even worse, though being a paranoid germaphobe in flu season is unbearable No real guidelines here, just get creative InfectiveINk.com is interested in great fiction. Unless specified, we are open to all genres and styles, except erotica. We offer $10 per Short Story, payable via PayPal. We do not currently pay for Short Story submissions under 1500 words, or for any Flash Fiction submissions, bragging rights however, are priceless. Remember, InfectiveINk.com is a prompt-driven publication. Be sure that the story you're submitting corresponds to one of our prompts before sending your work. Submissions should be sent to [email protected] In the subject line please include the word 'submission', your last name, and the prompt you're submitting for, e.g. Submission, Fitzgerald, Monsters. The body of the email includes: Your name Your pen name, if you use one Your contact details (including the email address we would send your Paypal payment to if your story is 1500+ words) The word count An interesting bio that doesn't simply list your publications Your submission You are welcome to paste the submission in the body of the email, we also accept .doc, .docx, .txt, and .rtf attachments. Please replace any curly quotes with straight quotes, curly apostrophes with straight ones. Double and triple check for grammar and spelling errors, watch your possessives, take care with there/their/they're. Write to the prompt and HAVE FUN! These aren't the stories to devote months of intense effort toward. Let your creative juices flow freely (yeah, that sounded gross), and play fast and hard! Edit with a vengeance and submit. Please read over our Author Agreement before submitting. InfectiveINk.com is listed at Duotrope, don't forget to track your submissions! Questions? Need...

Deadline: December 31st Payment: We pay first-time authors a royalty rate of 45% of the net sale from books sold on the Torquere Books site, and 35% of monies received from our distributors' sites, paid quarterly. Distributor sales are not paid until we receive payment from that seller. Print books pay 25% royalties on net monies received from our distributors. Once an author has a proven sales record with us, incentives may be offered on further contracts Our anthology calls are a great place to get your feet wet with a short story, or to explore a theme without committing to a full novella or novel. For all anthology calls, we’re looking for fully realized, romantic LGBT stories about the chosen monthly theme. Make us laugh, make us cry, or surprise us and make us glow with happy endings! Please send your submissions following the below specified word count to [email protected] with the title of the theme (ie: Torqued Tales) and your story title in the subject field. Please see our general submissions guidelines for formatting etc. Each theme has a title and due date listed on the individual call. If the completed anthology reaches a minimum word count of 60K, the book may go to print. In that case, payment is a $35 flat fee for first time electronic and print rights for three years, as well as an electronic and print copy of the book. Print rights are reserved for six months. If the print rights are not optioned, all print rights revert to the author. We'll also be releasing the story on its own in ebook format. Royalties for the single title electronic version will be 45% net on books sold through Torquere Books and 35% net on books sold through our distributors, again for a period...

Deadline: December 31 2015 Payment: $0.06 per word Note: These will initially be printed online with the possibility though not guarantee of an ebook and physical anthology at a later date. Book Smugglers Publishing is currently open for submissions for short stories to be published between June and August 2016. General information and theme: We’re looking for original short stories from all around the world as long as they are written in English. Our goal is to publish at least three short stories, unified by a central theme. Each short story will be accompanied by one original piece of artwork from an artist commissioned by us separately. For the publication period between June and August 2016, the theme is: The Year Of The Superhero Recently, we announced that 2016 is going to be the Year of the Superhero and we have quite a few things in the pipeline. To supplement the awesome projects we have in the works, we are also looking to add short stories to our Superhero calendar! When it comes to superheroes, we think of sweeping themes that deal with the central issues of heroismand, of course, superpowers. As usual, we welcome authors to subvert these sample themes, to expand upon what “superhero” means, and adapt the prompt to other possible connotations and genres under the Speculative Fiction umbrella. What We’re Looking For: DIVERSITY. We want to read and publish short stories that reflect the diverse world we live in, about and from traditionally underrepresented perspectives. We more than welcome stories featuring LGBTQIA characters: PLEASE SEND THEM TO US. It should go without saying that we’d hope for a respectful and responsible approach to creating diverse worlds and characters. Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult audience submissions are welcome.Good speculative fiction is ageless! We are VERY keen...

Deadline: December 31st 2015 Payment: £10 and contributor's copy Oh, another bloody slasher. Oh, more extreme horror. Oh, it must be Tuesday. BORED! Whilst sipping a martini clarity arrives: one hungers for a change of pace, dash it all: So we would like tales of civilised, gentle(wo)manly horror, cold, calculating and bloodless; spinechillers rather than slashers, enervating instead of eviscerating. Though a wee bit of the red stuff will not make us blanch, focus more on unshakeable dread. Make us afraid to investigate that noise downstairs. Cause us to shudder when we glimpse something move out of the corner of our eyes. Think Ann Radcliffe and the Gothics, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, M.R. James and even those modern folks like Shirley Jackson and Fritz Leiber. It’s all about the style. Mashups are the Fox Spirit specialty, so mix and match to your little heart’s content (Lovecraftian Wodehouse has been done). Just be sure to keep the theme uppermost. Humorous attempts at horror are acceptable, but be warned that your editor’s sense of humour like her taste in martinis is most peculiar and exacting. You would be strongly advised to inform yourself of her tastes. THE PARTICULARS for Respectable Horror Follow our house style and submit via Word document attachment to katelaity at gmail dot com by December 31st, 2015. Selection of stories will happen in the spring; the publication itself will appear later in 2016. You will be expected to join in the publicity efforts as much as you are capable (social media mostly). Word count: ~4-8K Payment: £10 upon publication + digital and print copy of the volume What ho! Ask any questions you have in advance of the closing date. Via: Fox Spirit.

Deadline: December 31st, 2015 Payment Breakdown: Reprint Flash Fiction - one E-book. Reprint Short Fiction - one E-book and 1 share of royalties. New Flash Fiction - a half cent a word paid on publication as well as one E-book and 1 share of royalties. New Short Fiction - one cent a word paid on publication as well as one E-book and 2 shares of royalties. Note: Reprints Accepted Strange Musings Press is looking for short funny paranormal stories of life after death for our new anthology, Alternate Hilarities 5: One Star Reviews of the Afterlife. I don't want to lock anyone down as to what I am looking for, but you need to have two things for sure. It needs to deal with the afterlife and it needs to be funny. I'm looking for administrative mistakes in heaven, weird deals with the devil, strange stories of hauntings and odd interpretations of eternity. I will consider Fantasy, Science Fiction or Horror if you make some connection to the afterlife. Remember, your story needs to be funny all the way through. If it is just a lead up to a punch line, make it short (500 words). We will consider reprints if your story has been out of print for more than two years. We are looking for: Flash Fiction between 500 and 1500 words. Short Fiction between 1501 and 6000 words. We are paying: Reprint Flash Fiction - one E-book. Reprint Short Fiction - one E-book and 1 share of royalties. New Flash Fiction - a half cent a word paid on publication as well as one E-book and 1 share of royalties. New Short Fiction - one cent a word paid on publication as well as one E-book and 2 shares of royalties. We will be running a Kickstarter to fund a print edition and our first set of stretch goals will be to increase...

Deadline: December 31st, 2015 Payment: 4% royalties after cost and a contributor's copy Chocolate. Some people crave it, some people hate it. It is given and used for many occasions, for celebratory reasons and for some as comfort in bad times and sad times. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘death by chocolate’, and I want you to think about exactly what that could mean. We could go literal with the eventual cholesterol induced cardiac arrest of an over-indulging chocoholic, to someone being drowned in a chocolate fountain, maybe even encasing someone inside a chocolate filled sarcophagus. Maybe opening that Terry’s Chocolate Orange will open more than just orange-flavoured chocolate segments, what if Willy Wonka was the devil and had lured the children with delicious temptation that would end in their sticky demises? I want soft centres, hard centres, maybe even a few fruity centres to get my teeth into, but I want chocolate horror. Works around 5,000 words are most likely to meet with the editor’s approval, although slightly longer/shorter pieces will also be considered. Aim for 3,000 – 6,000. Please follow standard manuscript format and under no circumstances use the Tab key or the Space Bar to indent your paragraphs. Either do not indent at all or use MS Word’s built in features to do so. Submissions must be .doc, .docx, or .rtf format, typed in Courier, Garamond or Times New Roman, 12 point, double spaced. Please include your full name, address, email address and telephone number at the beginning of the manuscript. Submissions should be sent to [email protected] with the email subject header “SURNAME/CHOCOLATE/WORDCOUNT”. Authors will retain copyright. Multiple submissions up to a maximum of two stories per author may be submitted. We will write to you within three to four weeks of the submission deadline to let...

Deadline: December 31st, 2015 Payment: 1 cent per word or 1 dollar per accepted drabble and a contributor's copy Guidelines A “drabble” is defined as a short story containing exactly precisely no more and no fewer than 100 words. It has a title, which can be from 1 to 15 words–but no more than 15. That’s a drabble. You have to count each word. Hyphenated words, such as tete-a-tete, count as one word. Don’t use your word count tool to count the words, because that tool will count . . . as three words, which really should be counted as one word. It will also count dashes as words, which is wrong. So count each word by sight, not by tool. Our drabble contests will have themes. For each contest, we will simply throw the theme out there. Whatever the theme inspires you to write, that’s what you write. The theme of this contest is: Confessions of a Shapeshifter. Basically, we’re looking for stories that are a bit off-beat, quirky, unusual. I mean, face it, what would happen if you went to bed with your lover and woke up next to an octopus…or a three-antennaed alien from Betelgeuse VII? And if you have a Little Green Man who somehow gets addicted to little blue pills, that could be cause for humor as well. This contest is open from 1 October 2015 through 31 December 2015. You have three months to write 100 words. Easy! NEW SUBMISSION ADDRESS: Ah, but once you have written them, where do you send them? You send them to the contest editor, Terrie Leigh Relf, at tlrelf at gmail dot com. You’ll have to combine that address–sorry, but we don’t want her to be spammed. Send your submission in the body of the e-mail, please. If...

Deadline: December 31st, 2015 Payment: We pay 2 cents per word or $20 per work, whichever is more Are you feeling inspired to write a short story but stuck for ideas? “Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things” is currently looking to purchase a themed submission entitled: “THE CARROT IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD” Scheduled for the Spring 2016 issue, the chosen story will bring to life the amazing cover which has been specially designed by by artist and illustrator Sean Greenberg. Deadline: December 31, 2015 Let your imagination go wild for this one! We want your best, most creative stories using the picture as inspiration, or even telling the story of the artwork itself – it’s up to you! Our submission guidelines for this piece are the same as always and can be accessed at http://emberjournal.org/submission-guidelines/. We are really looking forward to seeing your work! Surprise us. Entertain us. Make us forget that it’s a cold, wet, November out there and brighten up our lives with your scintillating wordplay and deft descriptions. Please send in your work by the end of December in order to make the publishing deadlines. NOTES FROM THE EDITOR: There is no special submission queue for this call. Submissions are made through our online submission form. You do not need to title your manuscript “The Carrot is Mightier than the Sword” but you should give your submission this title so we know it is in response to this call. We are primarily looking for prose for this call, but metered poetry will also be considered. AUDIENCE Ember is a semiannual journal of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for all age groups. Submissions for and by readers aged 10 to 18 are strongly encouraged. HOW TO SUBMIT Submissions are managed through our Submission Manager, powered bySubmittable . If you submit by e-mail, we...

Deadline: December 31, 2015 Payment: 0.06 per word, to be paid out of the Kickstarter. As creators ourselves, we are planning on introducing stretch goals to further raise the word rate. Attention writers! Announcing the open call for submissions for the upcoming Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytellinganthology. This collection is edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates, and will be coming in 2016 from Apex Publications. There have been quite a few discussions in science fiction and fantasy addressing the idea of tropes and cliches, from whether they’re good or bad to how they change over time. Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is a collection of stories that aims to subvert many of the popular tropes and cliches to show them in a new light. Each story in our collection will be an author’s creative examination of a specific trope that is prevalent in science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Examples of tropes include some well-defined character tropes, but also storytelling tropes that lazily incorporate race, gender, religion, etc. Writers who have already been accepted to the anthology include Alyssa Wong, Nisi Shawl, Sara M. Harvey, Maurice Broaddus, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Michael Underwood, and many more wonderful authors. Hugo, Chesley, and World Fantasy Award-nominated artist Galen Dara will be providing the art for our cover. Tropes examined thus far include: Chainmaille Bikini The Magical Negro The Super Soldier Chosen One Guys Smash, Girls Shoot Love at First Sight Damsels in Distress Heroine Loves a Bad Man Yellow Peril The Black Man Dies First The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood The City Planet Prostitute with a Heart of Gold The Singularity will Cause the Apocalypse To be considered for Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling we ask that authors a) identify the trope and b) break, bend, twist, smash...