Events

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: a percentage of the final product based on how many stories are in the collection. The Project:  In Fall 2016 we’ll be releasing our second collection of stories under the wide umbrella genre of ‘Horror.’ It will be released as one large volume. This collection will be edited by Head Editor of Onyx Neon Shorts, Jeffrey P. Martin. What genre are you looking for?: This isn’t for a specific sub genre, but more of a call for anything that fits under the larger umbrella of “Horror.” Stories about haunted houses, killer dolls, classic gore, weird fiction, or various other topics will fit right in. What authors inspire you? We are inspired by authors like Laird Barron, Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, Nathan Balingrud, M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft How will this work? We’re looking for 13 stories and they will be released in one large collection in October/November. What’s the length? Because it’s a collection of stories they can range anywhere from 0-30,000 words. So, no minimum limit. What we pay: Our standard collection rate is a percentage of the final product based on how many stories are in the collection. What’s the deadline: Because the collection comes out in the fall, no stories will be considered if they come in after August 1st. We need time to read through stories and decide if we want to include them. This isn’t a moveable deadline. This is literally the final deadline that we will take submissions for the collection so please, be aware. First Print and Electronic Publishing Rights: It must be stated that when your story is published for the first time that publisher has taken your stories First Print Rights. What this means is that every publication that publishes the story after that has to list where the stories were published. In this case we...

Deadline: August 1st, 2016 Payment: $25.00 – $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 – $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars). We also send you a copy of the issue in which your piece appears. You’ll receive your money and issue at the same time. Fall Prompt: Mrs. Morrison was too busy to die. We love the fact 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 two to three 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...

Deadline: 8/01/16 Payment: $5 for flash fiction and $10 to $20 (depending on length) for short stories "We are not afraid." Body Parts Magazine is an online literary magazine of horror, erotica, speculative fiction, essays and art. Each themed issue honors Eros and Thanatos, the Greek gods of libido and mortido—life and death. We celebrate the vast and various expressions of dreams and darkness, our primitive desires and urges, and seek to encounter—and embrace—those shadowy monsters who dwell in the dimly lit corners of human experience. Submission Guidelines Upcoming Themes Submissions for each issue are accepted through the last day of each reading period (if specified). You are welcome to submit material for any issue--simply indicate which issue you would like your work to be considered for. Issue #7: Fairy Tales, Mythology and Gods & Monsters (Fall/Winter 2016) Submission deadline: 8/01/16 Fiction Body Parts accepts well-written, thoughtfully structured horror, erotic horror, speculative fiction, dark fantasy (including fairy tales and mythology), exceptional stories about ghosts, ghouls, monsters and wretched creatures, Gothic fiction, and all combinations of the above. Our boundaries are few and far between. Flash Fiction: 1,000 words or fewer. Short Stories: up to 8,000 words. Serialized or Longer Fiction: query us with total word count. Art/Photography We accept your original artwork and photography reflective of an issue’s theme. Email a query with a link to your art online (web, Dropbox, Google album, etc.) Payment varies. Essays & Interviews We accept short essays and interviews (up to 1200 words) about topics that fit within our themes, people integral to the type of work published in Body Parts (writers, artists, photographers, etc.). Query first. We do not accept book/game/music reviews. Payment varies. Payment Body Parts is a paying market. We offer an honorarium of $5 for flash fiction and $10 to $20 (depending on length) for short...

Deadline: August 1st, 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: August 1st, 2016 Payment: $50 Great fiction never simply reinforces what we already know, and a good scary story, by the same token, goes beyond a mere exploitation of those fears with which we have become familiar. Old, dilapidated houses, primordial forests, dark alleys, and cramped, creaking elevators may provide familiar settings, but a good scary story does more than remind us of the everyday dangers inherent to these uncomfortable places. What we find in truly terrifying fiction is not only the possibility of violence or even annihilation, but a confrontation with a world that is utterly different than we perceive it to be. To fear not just a set of negative outcomes, but the utter dissolution of reality, is the challenge and triumph of every great scary story. While most of us have at some point in our lives feared the death of a loved one, rarely do we stop to consider the ramifications of our departed returning home a half-feral and decaying corpse, but this awful scenario is precisely what Nathan Ballingrud forces us to consider in his horrifying and heartbreaking story, “The Good Husband.” Many people suffer from a natural revulsion to cockroaches, but those who have read “Mimic” by Donald Wollheim have found themselves pondering in disgust the possibility that their strange and mysterious neighbor might be an unidentified species of man-sized bug with an apartment full of fertilized eggs. The devices and methods by which fiction can terrify its readers are as broad and twisted as the imaginations of the authors who dream them up. Scary stories can come in all shapes and sizes, from surrealistic fever dreams like Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor” to contemporary, enigmatic ghost stories such as Kelly Link’s “I Can See Right Through You,” from vicious retellings of classic fairytales...

Deadline: August 15, 2016 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Anthologist: Kate Wolford Krampus, Santa's dark companion, is in the spotlight these days. Thousands of people across the globe celebrate Krampusnacht on December 5th of each year. And the movie, Krampus, was a hit during the 2015 holiday season. Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus, which I anthologized and World Weaver Press published, was a hit as well. So, World Weaver Press and Enchanted Conversation are publishing another volume. For now, it's just called Krampusnacht Two. Remember, Krampus is the "corrective" to Saint Nick or Santa's indulgence and generosity. He carries a switch and chains, and sometimes throws very rotten children in a basket he carries on his back. He has horns, hooves, and a creepy, long tongue. He's horrible and fascinating at the same time. You can learn a lot about him from this site , and you should read Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus as well, to see what we like. But we are interested in new, fresh stories, not retreads of what we have already published. We’re looking for short stories that explore every possible Krampus angle. He’s a nasty old dude, and we hope your imaginations will get the better of you. Now for the fine print. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and paperback copy of the anthology. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. We are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains non-exclusive right to continue to publish for life of the anthology. Open submission period: May 15 - Aug. 15, 2016. (Please do not send stories before May 15!) Length: 1,000 to 10,000 words. Submission method: Email cover letter and story to enchantedconversation gmail com...

Deadline: August 15, 2016 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Sorry about the short notice on this one, just hit my inbox. We’ve learned a lot while creating our first book “Asylum of the Ancient Ones” is that it takes a long time to collect submissions. This time around, we are working on multiple books at once. It sounds kind of crazy, but it makes sense to us. We are looking for both short stories and artwork. Guidelines for Submissions: All work must be original. All submissions must be horror of some kind. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, etc…classic horror stuff. No limit on how many stories or how much art you can send in, as many as you want. You can send both art and stories. If the artwork goes with the story, all the better, but it doesn’t have to. No limit on story length, as long as it’s a well-developed story. Focus on content, not length. Artwork can be any medium, as long as the content is horror. Artwork must be in JPEG format, please get all the image in the picture without cutting anything off. Stories must be double-spaced, have paragraphs, and one space between sentences. All stories should be spell checked and grammar checked prior to being sent in. Some minor mistakes are expected, but if the document has too many, it will be rejected. All submissions must include Name, address, and an optional short bio, along with any websites you’d like people to visit. All submissions must be sent to [email protected], with “Horror Submission” in the subject. All submissions must include a release form for all submissions. We have one for art and one for stories. If you have multiple submissions, you can do one for all art and one for all stories if there is enough space. Here...

Deadline: August 22, 2016 Payment: $5.00 for poetry/flash; $10.00 for short stories and a contributor's copy Reprints Allowed Anticipated Release Date: February 2017 in print and ebook. Once again, the title should tell you all you need to know for the theme. Sharks and/or dinosaurs! We expect teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. Beyond that, pretty much anything goes. Fighting each other? Chomping teenagers on spring break? Teaming up buddy-cop-movie-style and learning to respect one another’s differences? The doomed romance of star-crossed lovers? Time travel? Monstrous hybrids? Magical musical singing and dancing? Bring it! Submission Period: July 22, 2016 — August 22, 2016 Word Limit: poetry/flash fiction up to 1000 words; short stories 2000-5000 words. Compensation: contributor copy, $5.00 for poetry/flash; $10.00 for short stories. Standard manuscript format; Times New Roman 12-point preferred. Italics for italics and whatnot.  Send submissions attached as a .doc or .rtf to: [email protected]. “Fossil Lake IV” in the subject line, please. What we look for: the dark, the transgressive, the controversial, the surreal. Horror, humor, bizarro, erotica, suspense, fantasy, historical, Lovecraftian … pretty much anything goes genre-wise and content-wise as long as it’s well-written and entertaining to read. Bonus points for somehow involving thematic elements of fossils and/or lakes. What we’re NOT looking for: Crap writing (hey, let’s be honest).  Some editorial pet peeves and tough sells include adverbs, non-“said” dialogue tags, passive voice, “was (verb)ing” and “could (sense)” phrasing, excessive blocking or stage direction. What we’re hoping for: close communication with authors who are willing to work with an editor, can handle criticism, and are just generally personable and fun. What we’re asking: One-time non-exclusive anthology rights. Reprints are welcome; just let us know where and when the piece has appeared before. Via: Fossil Lake.

Deadline: August 30, 2016 Payment: 2¢ per word, contributor's copy, potential royalties Pole to Pole Publishing is seeking original science fiction, fantasy and horror stories of 3,000-5,000 words (firm) to be published in the In a Cat’s Eye anthology, slated for publication October 2016. “In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.” ~ English Proverb Is it true that all things belong to cats, or do they just think so? Will cats one day rule the world, or one day get their comeuppance? Either way, we want to know about it. Stories should be dark, and include a cat—which should be integral to the story. Edition and Rights: In a Cat’s Eye will be published in electronic and trade paperback in English. We are asking for exclusive, worldwide rights to your work for both electronic and print for six months. Payment: Payment is 2¢ per word for new fiction, paid at publication, via PayPal only. If you do not have a PayPal account, please do not submit your work. Bonus Royalties Multiplier: If the anthology earns out, that is, recoups all up-front costs to produce, authors will receive a royalty-share payment based on word-length of their story, at six-months from date of publication. Authors will receive one copy of both the electronic and trade paperback versions of the anthology. Submission Procedures: Submit stories through the Pole to Pole Publishing Submission Manager only:    Submission Manager In your cover letter, tell us your favorite cat quote and cat story. All stories should be in standard manuscript form and in rich text format (.rtf) only. In a Cat’s Eye is not accepting poetry. Please do not send poems. Poetry will be deleted without a response. No reprints. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but not multiple submissions. Please send your best work. Only one...

Deadline: Aug 31st, 2016 Payment: $5.00 plus equal share of 50% of the anthology’s royalties. Crime. Punishment. Justice. Order. Security. Community. Safety. Rehabilitation. Crime and punishment has been a part of human history since the earliest days of man. And will (unfortunately) be a part as we move forward into the future. Incarceration (tentative title) is looking for stories that feature incarceration in the future. Be it some form of innovation rehabilitation, a return to public shaming, an evolution of the prison system—whatever form it takes. We want to see ideas of where the system can go to do a better job at separating out those who truly must be separated from society as a whole. Rehabilitating those who can be rehabilitated and re-integrated into society. Punishing those who deserve to be punished for their crimes. Will current crimes no longer be crimes in the future? What will be considered a crime? What types of punishments will exist for what crimes? What will incarceration be like in the future? Warning the editor worked for ten years as a Deputy Sheriff in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center and will be looking for realistic scenarios. I am also looking at the possibly of writing an introduction to each story selected that compares the story’s incarceration setting to what is current practice in some areas today. Break the story-writing rules if you want. If you use a tried and true plotline, twist it in an original and interesting way. Original stories are preferred. Query for reprints. ALL writers are encouraged to submit. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro with years of credits, a beginner just starting out, or a teenager - please feel free to send the editor a story. In your cover email, please tell the editor a bit about...

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: 5 cents per word and 3 Contributor's Copies The purpose of the SpeKulative,tories Anthology Series is to publish provocative and powerful tales related to a single theme. Our debut anthology Is titled AUTOMOBILIA, and as the title suggests an automobile should be such an integral part of the story that if removed the story collapses. We seek quality short stories (and poems) from every genre: fantasy, magical realism, science fiction, mystery, crime, romance, supernatural, horror, and mainstream; from drama to humor, but if you are submitting horror try to avoid slasher or gore. We are open to all genres because the focus of AUTOMOBILIA is to celebrate the influence of the automobile on the hearts and minds people as seen through the eyes of fiction writers, whatever that form may take. We are writers too so we are writer friendly. GUIDELINES: • All genres accepted. English language only. Stories from any country accepted. Previously published stories accepted. 7,500 words max for stories. Pays 5 cents per word for stories on acceptance. Negotiates higher rates for established authors. Poems also accepted. 50 lines max. Pay S1 a line. Buys first or reprint anthology rights. • Unpublished writers welcome. We provide feedback when time allows. Send your best work. • Submissions accepted as an e-mail attachment in Word, or by postal mail. E-mail to: [email protected]. Write "Anthology" in the e-mail subject line. Include a cover letter in the body of the email noting a few prior publishing credits {if you have them) and a bio. Postal Mail to: OmicronWorld, 800 Village Walk, Suite 281, Guilford, CT 06437-2762 USA. When submitting by postal mail please include your e-mail address (or a Self-Addressed, First Class Stamped Envelope) for our response. Manuscripts sent on paper will not be returned. •...

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: 5 cents per word Before submitting to SpeckLit, please read the submission details below carefully, then fill out the contact form at the bottom of this page to let us know a bit about yourself. Do not send us your submissions directly. We want to get to you know you first. Include your pen name, website, Twitter, and a link to your most recently published work (if you have one) in your initial contact. Fiction:  We are suckers for plot. If it ain’t got plot, it ain’t a story. We want each piece to have the feeling of a beginning, a middle, and an end (or inciting incident, attempt(s) to fix it, and climax). All fiction must be original. There are lots of places for fanfic – this isn’t one of them. And finally, of course, it also has to be speculative – fantasy, science fiction, myth fairy tale, dark fantasy, etc… – but no erotica and no gore. A well-placed swear word, the recognition that we are sexual beings, and off-camera violence are all okay, but within limits, eh? Besides, with the focus on plot, there’s no time to get all graphic. Titles do not count as part of the 100 words, and after your drabble, add a bit of an explanation of how you got there from the topic (but remember to keep it short!). Non-fiction: We also publish drabble-length reviews of spec-fic containing media – books, movies, video games, comics, TV shows (or even specific outstanding episodes of TV shows), etc… Make sure your reviews are non-nasty (negative reviews are fine, but be nice!), and of course, spoiler free. Again, you don’t have much space, so get to the point. Your hundred words do not need to include the title, author, director,...

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: Contributor's Copy I am also a writer and I understand that some of the guidelines today are broad and vague with lots of voids. I shall attempt to strip away the excess fat and leave you with my guidelines. For cover contest submissions, follow link. First thing’s first: THERE IS NO SUBMISSION FEE! **Submissions will be open through August 31st, 2016.** *We are hoping to publish in time for Halloween 2016* We are only accepting previously unpublished work. NO REPRINTS. Simultaneous works are accepted, please notify us in cover letter and if accepted elsewhere. We are all adults and the stories are meant for adults. I am not worried about language and sex and such, as long as it’s done tastefully and assists the story, not overpower the story itself. Genre: This is a horror anthology. Make it speculative, make it sci-fi, make it funny, whatever, as long as horror is the overall theme. Gore does not guarantee acceptance; a story that hooks us as readers and leaves us pondering our existence does. Only one story per submission, 1-3 stories of flash fiction (no more than 4k words total). I will accept simultaneous submissions, just please notify me in the cover letter. If it is accepted elsewhere, please have the courtesy to notify me promptly by e-mail so that the submission can be withdrawn. No reprints. Please add brief bio in the cover letter. Word Count: Nothing more than 5k words, anything more shall be rejected without reading. Somewhere in between 2k and 4k would be that one taboo spot that makes nuns say four Hail Marys and two Our Fathers, but, ultimately, let the story decide. Anything below 2k will be considered as flash fiction. Rights: I ask for first world publication rights without any contract....

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: $50.00 and 2 paperback copies We are currently accepting submissions for the 2017 Anthology. Deadline extended! Submissions close at 11:59PM on AUG 31st! 2017 Anthology Theme: Songs Have you ever listened to a song and wondered what the lyrics are really about? Perhaps you’ve imagined a story inspired by a song. We are looking for Speculative Fiction stories inspired by a song, in which: the lyrics and title of the song DO NOT appear in the story; and the story is NOT a literal translation of the song. For example: If your inspiration song is “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” do not use that title anywhere in the story and do not submit a story about a person tiptoeing through a flower garden. Our intent is to have a collection of stories that move beyond the obvious. Contributors will add an “author’s note” after their story that explains how the song inspired their story. Story Length: Your polished submission’s word count should be between 8,000 – 10,000 words. Eligibility: Published and unpublished authors are welcome. Middle grade or erotica stories will not be accepted. Submissions must be original, unpublished works. This means submissions may not have been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere in any format including: self published or independently published published in other anthologies, magazines, e-zines, or websites Submissions must not be simultaneously submitted to other publications. Entrants may submit as many separate entries as they like, so long as they each meet the submission guidelines. Potential contributors must accept the Wicked Ink Books Anthology Publishing Agreement before their submissions will be eligible for publication. Timeline: May 15, 2016: Submissions open. August 31, 2016: Submissions close at midnight. September 30, 2016: All selections will be finalized and all entrants will be notified via email. Spring...

Deadline: August 31st 2016 Payment: $50 Notes: Sorry that the publisher only included their guidelines in an image We are now accepting short stories up to 8,500 words for our fall anthology. The details: Stories should be new and NOT published elsewhere Submissions will be considered through August 31st The anthology will be published in October 2016 All stories selected for the anthology will be paid $50 All stories will be entered for a Readers’ Choice Award. The winning prize is $100, Runner-up is $50 If we are interested in your story, we will send you a contract and additional details about edits, payment, and final due dates Send submissions to [email protected], and we will respond within 2-4 weeks. We look forward to hearing from you! Via: Owl Hollow Press.

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: $30 Lit Select publishes multiple anthologies each year for our Love Slave and Legendary Stories Imprints. Here you will find our most recent Submission Calls. For our Standard Formatting Guidelines, please click here. Please submit stories through our new Online Submission Manager Submissions that do not follow Standard Formatting or do not include all necessary elements will be deleted without being read. Please no simultaneous submissions. Lit Select does not take queries for novels, novellas, or other original fiction works at this time. Legendary Stories: Enchanted Forests Call Open: August 1- August 31 Payment details: $30 per story Word count: 3000 - 8000 (flexible, but the longer the story the stronger it must be) Theme: Enchanted Forests Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Speculative (please no horror) Submission limit:One story per author max Please no simultaneous submissions. Take us deep into the forest and show us what we'll find within. Whether it's leafy branches hiding elfin lords or a steampunk graveyard covered in mechanical vines, we want to know what's hidden inside the forest and what dragons (or rogue robot monsters) our heroes will have to slay to make their way through. Paint us a vivid world that makes us want to explore the realm you create. Give us new heroes to love and villains we love to hate. We're looking for an eclectic mix of stories that give us a new view of the forest and features smart storytelling.  Please no: Explicit violence or sex for shock value.  Established authors welcomed, newcomers encouraged. All submissions acknowledged within 5 days and acceptances notified by August 15.  We look forward to reading your work. Please submit stories through our new Online Submission Manager VIa: Lit Select.

Deadline: July 31st, 2016 Payment: $25 and contributor's copy Update: August 31st THE ANATOMY OF MONSTERS (For Lycan Valley) collected by Robert Teun (Twitter: @RDTEUN) $25.00 PLUS COPY MIN WORD COUNT: 3,000 MAXIMUM WORD COUNT: 10,000 CONTACT EMAIL: [email protected] PLEASE SEND ALL ENTRIES SEND AS AN ATTACHMENT. What is the biography of Frankenstein's (monster) body parts? What unholy pact did the very first vampire make to become what they are now? How did Werewolves become slaves of the moon? Who was the first Ghost in the world and how did they react? The Mummy, The Hunchback, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Invisible Man, and even The Creature From The Black Lagoon... How did they come to be? How do they deal with their new nature? And who suffers because of it? GIVE ME NEW ORIGINS OF OLD MONSTERS! This is will NOT be your usual submission call. Submissions will be in rounds. This is so you don't have to wait for ages for a response. (ALL COMPLETED STORIES MUST BE IN BY DEC 1st 2016) ROUND ONE will be the FIRST 200 words of the story, you have this to grab my attention. If you do, you'll go through to the second round. (THIS ROUND CLOSES JULY 31st) ROUND TWO will be the first 1,500 words of the story. If you're still engaging me, you get through the last round. (THIS ROUND CLOSES SEPTEMBER 30th) FINAL ROUND The decider. The final yay or nay. (THIS ROUND CLOSES DECEMBER 1st) ALL REJECTIONS AND ACCEPTANCES WILL BE KNOWN BY JAN 3rd AT THE LATEST UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. ALL SUBMISSIONS will be blind. That is to say, all details will have all the details stripped from them in the interest of equality. I won't know if you're male, female, or giraffe. I...

Deadline: August 31 Payment: $50 – $100 and a contributor's copy of each edition Shadows & Tall Trees Vol. 7 is now open for submissions. Deadline August 31. Based on the number of subs already received in the first few hours, (and the terrific writers submitting wok) I am going to be rather busy, and also will likely have some hard decisions to make. SHADOWS & TALL TREES, VOL. 7 (Undertow Publications) Open to submissions from August 1 to August 31 only! (Standard Manuscript Format) – I want literary horror, weird fiction, strange tales, à la Robert Aickman. – Original, previously unpublished fiction only, please. – Manuscripts should be 2500 to 8000 words – Payment is a princely $50 – $100 and a copy of each edition, for first English-Language rights for Hardback, Trade and eBook editions. – No overly long and effusive cover letters. I don’t read them. – No simultaneous or multiple submissions, please – No familiar tropes. i.e. vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Ghosts, though? Hell, yes. – No science fiction, high fantasy, or poetry please Stories, in standard manuscript format, as attachments, are to be sent to this address only: [email protected] Full guidelines: Quiet horror and weird fiction. Fiction that is offbeat and eclectic; dark, bizarre and psychological. Stories both subtle and prosaic. Weird, strange tales. Shadows & Tall Trees is an anthology of the dark and fantastic, with mainstream sensibilities. I am seeking low-key, literary work. Voice is very important. Volume 6 was a World Fantasy Award, and Shirley Jackson Award Finalist. Several stories published in Shadows & Tall Trees have been selected for reprint in various “Best Of” anthologies. Peter Straub has declared it “A beautiful and courageous volume.” I am looking for stories that share the same weird and strange sensibility experienced in the...

Deadline: Best Story = $100, First Runner Up = $50, Second Runner Up = $25, All other accepted authors = $10, All accepted authors will receive 4% of sales. Winners selected through a double-blind process. Payment: August 31st, 2016 It’s All Trumped Up Trump’s dramatic entrance into American politics sets the stage for global tragedy. His life, a maelstrom of petty lies, construction supplies and gold bricks is Shakespearean. Daily he is the buffoon—representing the absolute worst in us, a cowardice that denies us the better parts of ourselves as Americans. Writers have a long history of holding the idiotic and powerful accountable. When the mainstream media fails, it has been the brave poets and novelists who have skewered the gilded.  Now is the time to wield the pen. We are seeking speculative fiction that explores what four years of a Trump presidency would do to America and the world. Writers should submit stories ranging from depictions of his absurdity to the impact of his politics on the disenfranchised, our international friends, and world peace. We strongly encourage submissions from outside the United States. Feel free to submit a story in a language other than English. We will do everything we can to get it translated. But, if you’d like to submit the story in your native language and provide a translation, we would super love that! Deadline: August 31, 2016. We will review submissions, as they are received. Word Count: 3,000 words. Stories should be short and sweet. Submissions: Compensation: Best Story = $100 First Runner Up = $50 Second Runner Up  = $25 All other accepted authors = $10 All accepted authors will receive 4% of sales. Winners selected through a double-blind process. Book Details: 10 stories with a foreword and an afterword. Storied will be selected with a...

Deadline: August 31st, 2016 Payment: £10 and an illustration of your flash This month we’re asking you how the world would be if it were missing something we all take for granted. The colour Blue, the ability to freeze ice, the world was just one continent, etc, etc, etc. The attached videohttps://www.facebook.com/zeroflash.org/videos/1222498304449900/ is just a little fun, but imagine if Sharks lived in Duck Ponds! That’s right. It doesn’t have to be serious but if that’s your thing. Go for it! For those of you that would care to submit, we’re looking for stories of anywhere up to300 words. We’d love a beginning, are partial to a middle and if you could see your way clear to adding an ending, we’d be ever so grateful. Other than that, any genre, any style, any tone, any language. Fill it with character and description and make us think and cry and laugh and gag and stuff. Just the one submission each per month, please. Deadline is Midnight GMT on the final day of the month. Please allow Zero Flash the first opportunity to publish your work. Once the competition is over, feel free to publish anywhere else you like. Do your best to format as Times New Roman and 12 points please. Every month we will decide on the best story and make a showing of it for the world to see. We’ll tell everyone that it’s great and they should admire and praise it…and then we’ll start all over again. PRIZE: An original illustration of your winning entry from artist-in-residence, Sophia Johnson (illustrator of Zeroflash Logo fame) and £10 from my back pocket. If you do decide to grace us with your prose, there’s a good chance that at some point (probably a year down the line) we might use it...

Deadline: September 1st Payment: $15.00 Submissions Before you submit to Goblin Fruit, there are a few things you might find useful to know; for instance, the submission guidelines. If any question you have has not been addressed below, feel free to query at goblin.fruitgmailcom, and please do read our Frequently Implied Questions for additional information. What is it we want? We want poetry that we can call "of the fantastical", poetry that treats mythic, surreal, fantasy and folkloric themes, or approaches other themes in a fantastical way. Re-write a fairytale, ponder an old story, consider history from an unusual perspective — really, it's up to you, so long as the fantastical element is there. Since what qualifies as "the fantastical" is easily debatable, however, here's what we're not interested in: science fiction poetry (it's not you, it's us), horror for horror's sake, and poetry that's self-consciously gothic. We have no prejudice against traditional poetic forms, rhyme, or meter. We'd like to stay that way, so please let the form serve the poem, not the other way around. Prose poems will be harder to sell, mainly because so many of them straddle the flash fiction line. How much do we pay? Beginning in January 2016 we will be paying $15.00 USD on publication for original, unpublished poems, and $5.00 for solicited reprints. If you'd like to submit a poem that has been published elsewhere, please query first with the poem's title, where it was originally published and when. We purchase first North American serial rights and first Worldwide Electronic rights for three months; after that rights revert to the author, although we do request permission to keep the poem in our archives indefinitely. When can I submit? We are accepting submissions during the following times: April 9th - June 1st July...

Deadline: September 1, 2016 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Open Submissions: July 1 – September 1, 2016 Theme: This horror/dark fantasy anthology will be centered in a nefarious motel established in the 1960s by the devil himself, some say. Each story needs to take place in a room of the motel. Stories can begin in another location and arrive at the motel or bleed out into the parking lot, but the bulk of the tale should be in the room. Writers can get creative with their stories and the design of their rooms, but the main lobby and innkeeper needs to be consistent if referenced. Name of the Motel and Description: Located in a poor, decimated, part of Atlanta, the Kretcher Motel is a two story construct, with peeling mauve paint on the outside. Inside, the lobby looks bright from harsh yellow lighting. It has a mini fountain with no water that sits in the middle of the sticky, dirty, tile floor. Only the counter seems immaculate with a polished mahogany counter. The elevators are filled with graffiti, smell and are missing panels on the ceiling. The halls are ominous and dark, with flickering lights, and grimy diamond patterned carpet. The motel is in the vicinity of several dilapidated buildings, overgrown shrubbery, and a 24 hour gas station sits directly across from the motel. Although it sells little gas, it is frequented by prostitutes, hustlers and drug dealers who make use of its restrooms for their services. Other desperate individuals down on their luck can be seen standing, leaning against or walking by the hotel as they wait for their miracle or enjoying the many snacks to be purchased there. Name and description of the Innkeeper: Sybline Kretcher is an ageless Black woman who could be anywhere from 35-70,...

Deadline: September 2nd, 2016 Payment: 5% of the gross profit Anthology Curated by Nicole Petit “Most mediums, with their spurious and specious methods, with their ghostly trumpets and spectral hands, hold few secrets—and fewer terrors.” ~Rose Mackenberg, “Exposing the Weird Secrets of ‘Mediums’ and ‘Spirits’” ADVICE TO THE SPOOK-BUSTERS By Annabelle Lovelace Chicago’s Daily Star, September 28th, 1928 War is boom time for the frauds. Concentrated human misery is a sure-fire way for charlatans of every stripe to find easy marks among bereaved mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and wives. As we have recently survived the war to end all wars, today is a gold rush for fraud. Women rapping tables with their toes convince the bereaved that husbands and wives have found peace in the higher realms, and men with collapsible trumpets are all the evidence some need that departed children are not so departed. Every cause has a trick, all performed with the finest materials your corner store has to offer: painted balloons for spirits, corn flour for otherworldly smoke, or tambourines hoisted on black poles. Despite the petroleum jelly ectoplasm, and haunted hands piloted by a man under the table, and all the tricks of the false spiritualist--there are stranger cases. For example, I’ve been called in on three such cases in the last month: The upper crust is beset by fads. A fad for speakeasies and a fad for séances. One enterprising hostess set out to combine them all--inviting her guests down to their favorite speakeasy for a night of summoning. In one of the back booths things progressed a bit further than normal, spirits coming up and running free among the spirits. It’s quite a thing for cowed gangsters to show up at your door, begging for help. While lecturing in England, I came across the...