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Deadline: April 1st, 2016 Payment: $5 per poem and a contributor's copy Apex is accepting poetry submissions for the following anthology: Apex Publications seeks submissions for Undead: A Poetry Anthology of Ghouls, Ghosts, and More. Editors Bianca Lynne Spriggs (Apex Magazine's poetry editor) and Katerina Stoykova-Klemer welcome your specters, apparitions, zombies, wraiths, phantoms, thought forms and anything (or anyone) animate but no longer living. Email 1-3 poems to [email protected] byApril 1st, 2016. Previously published work is eligible, as long as you own the rights. Payment is $5 per poem and one comp of the anthology. Via: Apex Publications.

Deadline: April 1st 2016 Payment: $10 What We Want: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires will be a horror-themed Steampunk anthology of short stories, released as an ebook and as a paperback simultaneously. We are looking for Steampunk featuring the supernatural (ghosts, shapeshifters, demons, etc.)—as well as a beautifully crafted, original story. What We Don’t Want: Any stories that contain rape, and/or the abuse of minors. Violence and sex are acceptable but make them integral to the plot. Submissions: Submit your work to [email protected] with Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Sub: Your Story Title_Your Last Name in the subject line. (for example: Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Sub: Something Amiss Midship_Poe) Attach your story as a DOC or DOCX file. Submissions sent in the body of the email will not be read. We prefer to see submissions using something approaching Standard Manuscript Format, which can be found here: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html The only exception is that italics MUST appear as they will be used; no underlining. Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email stating your name, pen name (if using one), story title with word count, address, website or blog, and any professional publication credits you think might interest us. We will accept works of 1,500-6,000 words. Please query first if you wish to submit outside of these guidelines. No simultaneous submissions, please. Don’t submit a story to us and to another market at the same time. Multiple submissions are acceptable. If sending more than one story, please send them in separate emails. We are not accepting reprints for this anthology. We will pay a flat $10 per story via Paypal only. Payment will be made within 45 days of publication. We are seeking Worldwide English Language rights for 12 months in print and digital formats. Authors from outside of the United States are welcome, but submissions must be in English. Please be aware...

Payment: 5% of the gross profit will be paid for each accepted story. These payments will be issued to you at quarterly intervals. Stories under 1,500 words will only receive 4% of the gross profit. Deadline: April 2nd, 2016 Note: Reprints Allowed Anthology curated by Nicole Petit King Arthur is dead. Camelot has fallen. Britain drowns in Saxons. These are the stories of what come after. After Avalon is seeking stories based on the premise, “What happened to these people and relics after Camelot fell?” What do the knights do when there is no more Brittan to defend? Did Sarras fall, or did the nation surviving knights built stand the test of time? Who wears the Green Knight’s girdle, now, and where does the Lady in the Lake reside? Is Merlin still trapped inside his tree? Who else has gone to Avalon? Were Galahad, the Holy Grail, and the Spear of Destiny really assumed into Heaven? Or did bards invent that story, an easy solution to explain where Camelot’s greatest knight was on the day Camlann killed them all? What’s become of the Questing Beast and the White Stag? Gawain’s mother and half-brother have destroyed Camelot, what does he do now? Does Pellinore still chase the Beast? Has Arthur already returned? Stories can take place anywhere between Arthur’s death and the present day. Stories set in the future may or may not prove to be a harder sell. We encourage historically accurate stories set in a variety of times and places. Don’t be afraid to set your story during the crusades, or the Victorian era. Beware that the curator and her assistants are extreme history buffs, and they will notice anything inaccurate. Do your homework. We’ll say no, thank you to excessively dark stories or stories that insult the Arthurian...

Deadline: April 4th, 2016 Payment: $25.00, plus digital and 1 trade paperback copy upon distribution Elven, Dwarven, Orc or Mage. Fae and Seelie leap off the page. Poems, sagas, epics too, this is what we ask of you. With parchment and quill in hand, take us to your mythic land. Build a world ethereal and fair, bring it to us so we can share. An anthology for us to build, helping us, the lily gild. Please do not use or reference stories, characters etc that are already established and/or property of someone else. No copyright infringements please.  We are looking for original work with original characters and the plot should be original as well. Please, NO fan fiction. Characters must be your own, originally created, and not a version or fan fiction of an existing character. Do not use the names or personalities of existing trademarked characters. No references should be made to characters from well-known sources. Please keep stories relatively clean as we are looking to make this available to all ages. Therefore in keeping with the Codes of Chivalry, profanity, gratuitous violence, sexual themes and the like will be deemed as unsuitable for this work. Only submit unpublished, original stories, and characters. Story length, between 2,500 minimum and 8,000 maximum words. This is going to call for a high level of skill to keep your story fast paced and interesting without falling back on those particular crutches to carry the plot along. We are looking forward to some high quality, entertaining reading. We are looking for short stories between 2500 and 8000 words. Please spend time reviewing the guidelines, this will ensure that your best work is submitted free of editorial issues, such as spelling, formatting, and grammar. Any submission with EXCESSIVE formatting, spelling, grammatical or editing issues...

Deadline: April 15th, 2016 Payment: $20 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 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 that has appeared on a website. We pay $20 for each story we publish. We buy first-printing world exclusive rights for four months. Payment will be made shortly after publication using PayPal. We encourage our authors to establish a PayPal account if they don't already have one. We prefer to read submissions in traditional manuscript format. This means indented paragraphs instead of left justification, and Courier or Times New Roman font in 12 pt, double-spaced. Also, please include the title, your name, address, and word length on the first page of your story. To submit your story to Electric Spec, e-mail it as...

Image By Phil Champion, CC BY-SA 2.0 Deadline: April 21st 2016. Prizes: First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize, Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize, Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize For April's Short Fiction Contest I've decided to go with a more light hearted image - that's not to say that terrible things can't happen if you ignore the sign! As always the stories can be of any genre. They just have to be inspired by this month's image and no more than 500 words. Entry to the contest remains free and there are prizes for the three winners. I will also feature any of the stories that don't win but I believe are worth showcasing on this blog. First prize is a £50 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Second prize is a £20 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize Third prize is a £10 Amazon gift card or PayPal prize The money for the prizes come out of my own pocket, although I do make a little from advertising on this blog. So if you see something of interest then feel free to click on the links and purchase away! If you haven't tried my books yet then check them out at the top of the page, as well as buying a good read you'll be helping this contest. Please make sure to check your story for typos before submitting. I don't mind a few errors, but my enjoyment of a story is diminished if I have to wade through too many. I'll post the winning entries by May 1st 2016. As with everything in life there are a few rules: Only one entry per person. The story must not be longer than...

Deadline: April 27th 2016 Payment: $10 Dear Diary Diary entries should factor heavily in your story, but if your piece is all diary entries, please be sure that those entries tell a coherent story 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 some help/guidance? Email us at...

Deadline: April 30th, 2016 Payment:$.06 per word and half of royalties distributed among the writers after the recovery of initial cost The evocative painting to your left is the work of Sergio Diaz. It will be the art for the cover of the upcoming Horror Anthology, LET US IN. LET US IN. will be the first horror anthology released by TIME ALONE PRESS. Payment $.06 per word. *PLUS* Half of royalties distributed among the writers after the recovery of initial costs (paid twice per year). The submission period for stories will run from December 24th 2015 until April 30th 2016 Official acceptances will be announced on July 1st 2016. Join award-winning author Ray Garton on our table of contents! His new story “Shadow Children” has already been purchased to appear . We are looking for stories of Approx 4000 wds (but, let the story decide). Poetry that keeps to the theme may have a chance, as well. The theme of the anthology will be lightly shaped as we go, but here is the gist: Write for us the horrors that we invite into our lives, whether willingly or with reluctance. These are horrors that need our permission to enter. Why do we allow them into our lives? Because they entice us? Because we need to escape a current hell? Because we are curious? Because we want them to save us? Because we want vengeance against someone else? The Monsters here may be human or non-human. Open your imagination to *anything*. We’ll take traditional vampires or werewolves, demons, or forces from other dimensions. Give us abusive spouses, or “saviors” from outer space with tricks up their sleeves. Any of that, or anything else that I may have missed, anything that you think fits. Style: Go wild. I don’t care how loud and...

Deadline: April 30, 2016 Payment: 3 cents/word Graythorn Publishing is open for submissions of science fiction short stories for the DARK CLOUDS anthology to be published in June 2016. Did you know that humans emit clouds of microbes? Over a million particles an hour. With that sort of chaos something is likely to go very, very wrong. Send us your completed short story of 3,000 to 10,000 words. Stories must relate strongly to the theme, and be primarily science fiction, although genre mashups with horror, romance, mystery, etc. will be accepted. Rights purchased for six months. Please submit [email protected] Via: Graythorn Publishing.

Deadline: April 30 2016 Payment: £10 and a contributor's copy Summer’s End is an anthology of fantastical stories that will be about the end of ages, civilisations, golden times that decline inexorably or suddenly. Think the fall of the men of Numenor, the end of the first age of Yggdrasil, the sacking of Rome or the swallowing of Anhkor Watt by the forests as its people disappeared. We’re looking for original, previously unpublished pieces of between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Submissions will be open until midnight April 30 2016. Normal submissions formats are an absolute requirement – so if in doubt go to our submissions guidelines page for guidance. We are committed to providing a small, token, payment to each author (£10) and contributors copies. Further payments will be royalties based on profit after costs – it’s not ideal we know and as we build a base of books then we expect to change that but for now that’s the gig. Submissions should be sent to: [email protected] Via: Alternate Realities Publishing.

Deadline: April 30th, 2016 Payment: £10 and a contributor's copy This is our first submissions call. The two anthologies are Summer’s End and Broken Bones & Ten Dollar Bills Summer’s End is an anthology of fantastical stories that will be about the end of ages, civilisations, golden times that decline inexorably or suddenly. Think the fall of the men of Numenor, the end of the first age of Yggdrasil, the sacking of Rome or the swallowing of Anhkor Watt by the forests as its people disappeared. Broken Bones & Ten Dollar Bills is an anthology of science fiction stories that explore our relationship with body altering technology, be that genetics or other techs. We want to see stories that explore our relationship with technology but also those people who traffic in these goods, those scientists who invent them and the corporations who profit from our awkwardness about being embodied. For both anthologies we’re looking for original, previously unpublished pieces of between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Submissions will be open until midnight April 30 2016. Normal submissions formats are an absolute requirement – so if in doubt go to our submissions guidelines page for guidance. We are committed to providing a small, token, payment to each author (£10) and contributors copies. Further payments will be royalties based on profit after costs – it’s not ideal we know and as we build a base of books then we expect to change that but for now that’s the gig. Submissions should be sent to: [email protected] Via: Alternative Realities Publishing.

Deadline: April 30th, 2016 Payment: 10 cents a word Ever spotted a semi-colon tattoo? Nope? Well, if you ever do, just know that the individual has likely survived suicide – or is perhaps wearing a permanent tribute to a loved one. They’re wearing a STORY. A story of survival, a symbolic punctuation of life. A portrait of struggle, a pause to think about mental illness. A life, not yet over, unready to be finished; a book, awaiting its next chapter. I know how depression feels. I know how events can spiral out of control, with one piece of shitty news after another. I know how smallstuff rapidly becomes bigthings. And I know just how easily a camel’s back breaks. This anthology, SEMI-COLONIC IRRIGATION, is in aid of as-yet-undetermined charities. We’re initially looking to raise funds for counselling services and those who offer support to survivors. As it’s a charity anthology, we shouldn’t be paying our contributors, right? Wrong. This is where we get to mess with tradition. Now, I am not suggesting that publishers of ALL charity anthologies *should* pay their writers, it’s just something I’m personally choosing to do because I believe writers are worth it. So get over it. The main charity aspect of this book, the donation we shall be making, is AWARENESS. We could help someone with this book. We could save a life – just the one. And that, my friends, is priceless. If we raise a tenner or even ten grand, that’s a bonus. We can’t give a greater gift than a part of ourselves. We’ve already been inundated with fabulous pieces – some of which we’ve accepted. Some guys and gals have refused payment, or offered reprints for free. In one case, I’m doing a full edit on a novel in exchange for...

Deadline: April 30, 2016 Payment: $0.06 / word Submission Guidelines Works between 3,000 and 12,0001 words that are unpublished in English. We publish literary genre fiction: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Westerns, Pulps, Thrillers, Horror, Romance, etc. We do not publish poetry, inspirational fiction, or young adult fiction. For the most part we aren't interested in publishing erotica and graphic violence. At this time we are not accepting unsolicited artwork. We accept simultaneous submissions, but not multiple submissions. Review is blind. Please do not include your name or identifying information in your submitted document. Submission is open to all writers, apart from residents of Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.2  You must have a taxpayer identification number (TIN) for tax and compliance reasons. There are some additional requirements for authors outside of the US. Please e-mail the editor with questions. We'll post broadly applicable answers here. Publication and Payment Terms We acquire First North American Serial Rights and use the SFWA model contract. Our pay rate is $0.06 / word. How to Submit Our reading period is currently open. It closes on April 30, 2016. All submissions are by e-mail. You can either attach a single file or paste your story. We’ll use the subject of your e-mail as the title of your story. You can send any file that Google Docs can handle, including .docx, .odt, .rtf, .txt, and .pdf. Attachments are limited to 10 megabytes. You can test your document in Docs to see how it looks before sending it to us. If submitting via attachment, please include two (2) extra pages at the end of your document: a blank page, and a subsequent page containing your e-mail address. When sending an attachment, our robot will discard the rest of the e-mail message. When submitting via e-mail body,...

Deadline: April 30, 2016 Payment: $10 for original work and $5 for reprints Note: Reprints Allowed For an anthology Memento Mori Press will release in August 2016, we’re looking for several haunted house stories. The stories must involve a haunted house of some sort, but please be creative. The people can be haunted rather than the house, or the haunting can be in a character’s mind, and so on. Stories need to be between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Payment is $10 for original, unpublished stories, and $5 for reprints. We purchase exclusive eBook and print rights for two years, and non-exclusive print and eBook rights for five years after that. Please send your story to [email protected]. The deadline for this anthology is April 30, 2016. Via: Memento Mori Press.

Deadline: April 30, 2016 Payment: $10 Canadian per story MacKenzie Publishing is accepting fiction submissions for its first anthology, a horror/suspense anthology for teens, tentatively titled OUT OF THE CAVE. Please ensure stories are suitable for that age group. Stories should have a teen protagonist. Submission deadline: April 30, 2016 (or when anthology is full) Payment: $10 Canadian per story, paid via Paypal upon publication Word count: 2,000 to 5,000 words Publication date (print and e-books): on or before September 1, 2016 MacKenzie Publishing does not accept material which has been published previously, either online or in print. By submitting to MacKenzie Publishing, you are assuring that you hold the rights to the work and are granting MacKenzie Publishing the rights to edit and publish the submitted work. MacKenzie Publishing requires exclusive rights for 12 months from date of publication. To Submit: Paste info and document in the body of an email (no attachments) in this order: -Title of story, your name, email, word count -Story -Bio (up to 150 words) Email stories to MacKenzie Publishing at: [email protected]. Put the title of your submission in the subject line. Via: Writing Wicket.

Deadline: April 30th, 2016 Payment: 12.5 cents per word Fireside will open to submissions April 1-30 with guest editor Daniel José Older Fireside will be looking for original, unpublished flash fiction (1,000 words or less) and original, unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words. We do not ever accept unsolicited submissions of art, novels, novellas, novelettes, or anything else longer than 5,000 words. If you submit a novel or anything way over the word count limits, we’ll probably blacklist you. We are thrilled to have Daniel on board as a guest editor for this submissions period. Daniel will be selecting stories that will be spread out over a number of issues. Daniel is a fantastic fiction writer and essayist, and he is an essential voice on both writing and social justice. We are lucky to have that reflected in Fireside. Fireside is able to publish about 10,000 words a month and pay the writers well because of the generosity of our subscribers and Patreon backers. The more we raise each month, the more stories we can buy! (Note: Backers do not receive preferential consideration.) Please read ALL the guidelines before submitting a story. You can find instructions on how to submit at the end of this page. Payment, rules, etc. Fireside pays 12.5 cents per word, with payment on completion of edits. We buy first world publication rights and six-month exclusivity, as well as the right to reprint the story once, non-exclusively, in a Fireside anthology.   Please DO NOT resubmit stories that we have previously rejected by Fireside, even if you have revised them. They will be rejected unread.   Please DO NOT submit a story that you have already submitted elsewhere but have not heard back from. (Often called simultaneous submission.)   You can only submit ONE flash story (up...

image description Deadline: April 30th, 2016 Payment: $0.07 per word + contributor copy Note: I swear I had posted this one, sorry on the short deadline Please read the guidelines carefully before submitting your story! Unidentified Funny Objects is an annual anthology of humorous SF/F. UFO5 headliners include David Gerrold, Laura Resnick, Esther Friesner, Mike Resnick, Gini Koch, Tim Pratt, and Jody Lynn Nye. For UFO5 we’re seeking all style and sub-genres of speculative humor. SUBMISSION WINDOW: April 1 – April 30, 2016 LENGTH: 500-5000 words. Limit of 1 submission per author — even if you receive a response before the submission window closes please do not send more unless directly invited to do so.     PAYMENT: $0.07 per word + contributor copy. Payment will be made upon acceptance. Our preferred method of payment is via PayPal, but you may request a check. FORMAT: RTF or DOC. Standard Manuscript Format or something close to it (We won’t take points off if you prefer Courier over Times New Roman or some such). SEND TO: Upload your stories via this submissions link. Limit of 1 submission per author — even if you receive a response before the submission window closes please do not send more unless directly invited to do so. Please do not respond to rejections. The email address associated with submissions is not monitored directly. If you wish to query for any reason, please use thecontact form or e-mail us directly at ufopublishing at gmail dot com.     RIGHTS SOUGHT: First Worldwide print and electronic English Language rights. Exclusivity for 90 days from date of release. Non-exclusive rights to keep the anthology in print across different publishing platforms afterward. Preview sample contract. POLICIES & RESPONSE TIME: No reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions please. Do not send any stories...