Events

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry and contributor's copy Summer: The plan suddenly made sense. Due date: May 1, 2017 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 fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written with the...

Deadline: Deadline: May 1, 2017 Payment: ½ cent per word. Hitchhiking is the art of traveling through getting free rides from folks. You stick out your thumb and gamble on if you’ll make it to the next stop or if you’re walking further than you had planned. Passing Through is seeking short stories with anthropomorphic characters on the road. Cash, Grass, or Ass, give us your best hitchhiking tales! Stories must contain anthropomorphic animals (humanized animals). This is a furry anthology, keep this in mind when submitting. We are not accepting reprints for this anthology. Rights: Non-exclusive printing and publishing rights while the anthology is active. Rights will revert back to the author upon publication. We will ask that if your story is accepted elsewhere after Passing Through has been published that you inform the new publication of your story’s original appearance. This anthology will have a limited print run (unlike our past anthologies that are always active). Payment: ½ cent per word. Deadline: May 1, 2017 ​ Rating: PG - R You may submit up to 3 stories through our submittable. We will not accept any submissions through email, unless you are having serious technical issues. Stories must be either a DOC or DOCX. We ask that you refrain from submitting any other file types. Word count: up to 10, 000 words. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. It is YOUR responsibility to inform us if your story has been accepted elsewhere. ​ Submit: https://weaselpress.submittable.com/submit/68208/passing-through Via: Weasel Press.

Deadline: May 1st 2017 Payment: $25cad Where Evil Blooms in the Shadows   Reaper has a hobby – gardening. In a garden sowed by the seeds of the damned, Reaper tends to the plant’s every need. These black seeds bloom in the shadows, petals unfolding as the vile, mortifying tale takes root in your mind. Like Mandrake, you only need touch it and the poison absorbs into your skin, penetrating your soul; and like mandrake, these tales should be locked up – never to be told – but we disagree. Put on your protective gloves and delve into this garden of prose. Add your own black seed, your tale that would not be shared elsewhere. Dig deep into your darkness and come back with a tale you may be too afraid or ashamed to admit came from you, do your worst. Just remember... you reap what you sow.   This is a Lycan Valley Press BLACK BOOK series, Volume 1. It is different from our other anthology titles as we are granting much more leniency to our writers’ imaginations, and taking a much bigger risk due to content. Gore and cursing are fine. Implied reference to rape, child harm, and sensitive material are permitted as long as they are crucial to character or story development. Reaper is looking for extreme horror stories.   Down to business: Open until May 1st 2017 (Publication date TBA) Rights required are First North American Anthology Rights with one year exclusivity. Payment is $25.00 CAD and a digital copy. A discount code will be available for print copies. (This Series may add print with pay in the future – if we survive.) Please refer to Shunn’s standard short story formatting. (http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html) Email as an attachment in .doc or .docx format to: [email protected] Subject line should...

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalties (See details below.) Season One Currently we are seeking science fiction with a deep space theme. A galaxy far, far way…if you will. Season One Submission Deadline: May 1st, 2017 How to submit: At the moment, we are accepting submissions through our Online Submission Form. Only submissions through the online submission form will be accepted. What we’re looking for: We will be publishing 3 SEASONS of genre anthologies each year. Each Season will have its own theme. See the SEASONS page to see what seasons we are currently looking for and what seasons have past. We will also be publishing other anthologies, so feel free to send us work at anytime. We will post if and when we have themes for other anthologies. We publish anthologies with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror themes. Please note that we do not consider novel excerpts, or anything with illustrations or photographs. Our anthologies will be available in paperback and ebook formats exclusively through Amazon. What’s the deadline? Check the SEASONS page for each seasons deadline. Otherwise, please feel to send us other work that may be great for another anthology as we will be publishing others. International submissions: We’re based in the US but we accept submissions from authors all over the English-speaking world. Rights We ask for first serial rights on any story we publish. This means that the story should not have appeared anywhere else, either in print or online. (This includes publication on an author’s own website.) When we publish a story, we ask for a brief period of exclusivity (roughly 18 to 24 months), and the right to keep the story in print. We do not place any limits on what you can do with your story after the exclusivity period. Word count We are...

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: $75 plus two contributor’s copies For the vampire erotica anthology Blood in the Rain 3, available October 2017, we seek short stories of 2000–7000 words with both a vampire and an erotic element—anything from a sexy tease to hardcore adult content (we lean toward adult content!). We encourage stories nonstereotypically including people of color, people who are LGBTQIA, and people over 18. Most of all, we want compelling characters having hot sex, with a story that draws us in. And a vampire. Make us horny! We pay within 30 days of publication: $75 plus two contributor’s copies. Stories are due May 1, 2017.  See the nitty-gritty details to submit. Via: Blood in the Rain.

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: $10 flat fee per story Note: Female authors only We will be creating an anthology titled My American Nightmare. It will be a collection of fictional short stories in which the protagonist will be between the ages of 13-19 (we’re aiming for the YA horror genre), the setting MUST take place in the United States (hence the title of the anthology), AND the author submitting MUST BE FEMALE. The author must retain full rights to the work intended for our consideration and that the work itself is complete and not published anywhere else (including personal websites or social media). Having been previously published isn’t a requirement, if you have a compelling story, send it to us! The short stories must also be inspired by horror stories drawn from literature, television, film, or music, to create a unique spin on classic tales of terror (please include the source of inspiration of the short story at the end). Think Slasher Girls and Monster Boys YA anthology to get an idea of what we’re looking for. Requirements: Stories must NOT exceed 8,000 words. Format: Word doc, 12 font, double space Arial or Times New Roman. Not a reprint. We are asking for exclusive first worldwide electronic and print rights for 18 months and the right to keep the story in print, and nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology. We do not place any limits on what the author does with the story after the exclusivity period. We are not looking for poetry or screenplays. Submission method: Please send story as an attachment (.doc or docx. Only) to azzurranoxyahoo.com Please include the following with your submission: Author (Legal Name) Pen name (if applicable) Email Story Title Word Count Source of inspiration behind story...

Deadline: May 5th, 2017 Payment: $10, contributor's copy, and royalties We're going a little bit different for our summer anthology versus our winter one. Think Evil Dead or Shaun of the Dead. Dark with a humorous, tongue-in-cheek, or ironic bent. We don't need to be rolling on the floor laughing when we read your submission. Getting a chuckle or an eye roll out of us will do. As usual, this is a non-themed dark fiction anthology. WHAT WE WANT: 100% original short stories. We are not accepting reprints. We are purchasing the exclusive world-wide first print and electronic rights to your work. Minimum 1,000 words. Maximum 5,000 words. Anything above or under these guidelines will be discarded, unless you get a written exception from us. Stories can be set in any time period you choose and any genre you choose, except romance, erotica, hard science fiction, historical fiction, extreme horror/splatterpunk. Characters and plots that are three-dimensional. Neither are required to be likeable, but they are required to be believable. Immerse us in your characters' lives and fictional world. We want to see pieces from all background and experience level. Having diverse characters is a plus for us, too. We support diversity every chance we get. This anthology project is no different! Manuscripts must be in .DOC or .DOCX file format and formatted in standard manuscript format. We will not accept RTF files. We will discard any story that doesn't follow the standard manuscript format outlined here:  http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html. No exceptions. Simultaneous submissions are okay, but we ask that you let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere as soon as possible. WHAT WE DON'T WANT: No parts of novels or novellas. The story you submit must have a defined beginning and end. No multiple submissions. No trunk (unfinished) stories. We...

Deadline: May 10th, 2017 Payment: $20 CAD Note: Reprints ONLY For The First Issue WHAT IS THE PREVIEW ISSUE? The Augur Preview Issue will be a collection of fiction, poetry, and graphic fiction reprints, featuring at least 75% Canadian content. We aim to create an issue that sets a precedent for the voice and tone we’re looking for in future original submissions. Why reprints? We want to show how Augur Magazine will bring together voices that can be found in a variety of disparate publications, forming a cohesive tone that explores the line between the real and unreal. That said, we know that doing a call for reprints limits the kinds of work we’ll get and authors we’ll hear from—so we’re happy to accept submissions that have previously been published on blogs, in student magazines and journals, in unpaid publications, and in any other form of publication. The Preview Issue will be released for early access when we launch our crowdfunding campaign as a sample of our future work. Afterwards, it will be available for free so prospective writers and artists can see what we’re about—we want to take down a the barricade of writers having to purchase subscriptions to every magazine they’re interested in contributing to, and this is where that project starts. WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? (Although we always love surprises) We’re looking for reprints of uncanny or dreamlike realist fiction, literary speculative fiction, and magical realism. Our perfect submission defies categorization—pieces that could be “too speculative” for canlit or “not speculative enough” for spec magazines (although we’re open to stories on both these sides as well). At this time, we offer a small honorarium payment (specified in the category breakdowns) in CAD, and are working to improve them. We also accept multiple submissions (specified in the...

Deadline: May 14th, 2017 Payment: 6 cents per word Stories should be the type generally referred to as "sword and sorcery" and must have a strong female protagonist whom the reader will care about. See Sword & Sorceress 22, Sword & Sorceress 23, Sword & Sorceress 24, Sword & Sorceress 25, Sword & Sorceress 26, Sword & Sorceress 27, Sword & Sorceress 28, Sword & Sorceress 29, and Sword & Sorceress 30, (or S&S 1-20) for examples. We do not want stories with explicit sex, gratuitous violence, or profanity. We are NOT a market for poetry. We are willing to consider stories set in modern times (urban fantasy), but we don't buy more than one or two of those for the anthology. We always want something short and funny for the last story. No reprints. No simultaneous submissions. With regard to multiple submissions, do not submit more than one story at a time. If we've rejected your first one, you may send one more, as long as it's before the deadline. We have occasionally bought someone's second submission. We have never bought a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth submission. If you send us two stories, and we don't hold either of them, wait until next year to try again. Please do not re-submit stories we have already rejected (including stories rejected in previous years). If you have not previously sold to Sword & Sorceress, please read "What is a Short Story?" and "Why Did my Story Get Rejected?" before submitting to us. Reading period: Monday, April 24 to Sunday, May 14, 2017. Stories received before or after this period will be deleted unread. Response time is expected to follow MZB's traditional standards: you should hear within a week if we're holding your story for the final line-up or...

Deadline: May 17th, 2017 Payment: Royalties Note: Reprints Allowed All Submissions should meet this criteria: Works: short stories, flash fiction Genre: Horror, Dark fiction Current Theme: Horrors of War – Disposable Heroes Deadline: May 17th – could close early if filled quickly Format: Attach the .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX  Word Count 2k – 4k words approx. Multiple Submissions okay.  Submit a brief bio, we don’t care if you have no work history, give us a brief bio of yourself. Payment and Royalties Deadman’s Tome pays authors whose work is published in the magazine (whether digital or print) royalties calculated at 10% of net sales and a free digital copy. Deadman’s Tome offers authors whose work is published on the site exposure AND opportunities to earn cash through various contests such as Story of the Week. Payments are sent via PayPal. Send submission to [email protected] Via: Deadman's Tomb.

Deadline: May 25th​​, 2017 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Reprints Allowed See Through My Eyes Anthology Call: Ghost Mystery/Horror Anthology Submission Period: January-May 25th​​   Word Count:    1,500-15,000 Theme:      Horror anthology featuring chilling ghost mysteries. With this anthology, I want you to send chills up my spine and keep me guessing at every turn. Who is the real ghost? Do they know they are dead? Do you? Who killed them? Why? What do they want? For this anthology, we will not be accepting flash pieces as it is hard to convey the atmosphere and intricate mystery story line that we are looking for in so few words.   Response Time:  Please allow up to one month. After that, if you don't hear from us then feel free to give us a little nudge.   Payment: Compensation for the anthology will be one paperback print copy as well as a PDF. All authors will also get a Createspace discount code to purchase additional copies. Editing: Yes, your story will be edited if we decide to accept it. After we go through and edit your story, it will then be sent back to you for final approval. In some cases, we may ask for revisions to be made.  Reprints, Multiple & Simultaneous Submissions: Yes Expected Release: Summer/Fall 2017 Guidelines for Submissions:   All submissions are to be sent to [email protected]. In the subject line please type GHOST ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION: . In the body of your email, please include your name and word count. If the story is under 2,000 words, please paste the text in the body of the email, otherwise please attach it.  We will list all published authors on our site. Once you have a story accepted for publication, we will post a little author bio up on our site with a list of all published pieces (published by FDM). Via: Fantasia Divinity Magazine.

Deadline: May 25th, 2017 Payment: Fiction: $5 per thousand words Poetry: $.35 a line with a $5 minimum payable upon publication Since the third issue of The Audient Void: A Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy is now out we are opening submissions for issue #4. We are looking for quality works of poetry and short fiction. Poetry should be weird or darkly fantastical with strong imagery. We pay $.35 a line with a $5 minimum payable upon publication. For short fiction our tastes are broad and we will consider anything with a weird, horrific or fantastical element. We will consider any length work but will be much less likely to publish stories over 5,000 words. Our rate is $5 per thousand words payable upon publication. To submit please send you work as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file to [email protected]. The submission deadline is May 25th, please do not inquire about your submission before that deadline and understand that it may take a little time to follow up on all submissions after the deadline has passed. Via: The Audient Void's Facebook.

Deadline: May 26th, 2017 Payment: a percentage of profits after six months of anthology sales Reprints Allowed It took some time, but the time has come: we’re putting together an anthology of poetry and flash fiction about spirits, ghosts, seances, Ouija boards, famous hauntings, not-so-famous hauntings, possessions, and anything else relating to supernatural bumps in the night (or day, we aren’t fussy). Submissions are open from 31st March 2017 until 26th May 2017, and the book will be published in late summer (August). This anthology will be edited by Kate Garrett and Caroline Hardaker. As this is a centuries old vein of storytelling, originality is important – whether it’s a new angle on the themes, a very obscure bit of lore, ghosts in mythology, a different view of famous literary ghosts (e.g. Hamlet’s father, the spirits in A Christmas Carol, you get the idea), or a very specific ghost story (by ‘story’ of course we mean folklore: a haunted library or pub in your town, something along those lines, not a Susan Hill book…) not many know about, to name a few examples. It isn’t as hard as it sounds – it’s just what we don’t want is the plot of every ghostly horror film over and over again. So all of that being said: just send us your best work! Please submit: 1-5 poems (no line limit, within reason) 1-3 flash fictions (up to 1,000 words – we’ve increased the limit!) or a mix of the two not exceeding 5 pieces in total in a Word document (if submitting multiple pieces, send them in a single Word document please) or the body of an email (please NO PDFs) to [email protected]. Please mark your submission as ‘Ghosts and Hauntings – Your Name’ (e.g. mine would be Ghosts and Hauntings – Kate Garrett) in the...

Deadline: May 27th, 2017 Payment: Up to 10¢ per word Cicada YA/teen lit magazine seeks fiction, poetry, comics, and essays on the theme of Puppets & Dolls. Around the world, puppets and dolls serve many purposes—children’s toys, storytelling props, decoration, conduits for the supernatural. How do we pull one another’s strings to get what we want? How do we project our feelings onto one another? How can this harm a relationship? Respectful works exploring manipulation/toxic relationships: great. Exploitative, explicit, or abusive works: nope. Also encouraged: works about totally non-metaphorical dolls and magnificent puppetry performances. CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. We publish poetry, realistic and genre fic, essay, and comics by adults and teens. (We are also inordinately fond of Viking jokes.) Our readers are smart and curious; submissions are invited but not required to engage young adult themes. CICADA does not distribute theme lists for upcoming issues. Especially welcome: works by people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQAI+ folks, genderqueer folks, and other marginalized peoples. Not welcome: cultural appropriation. Fav writers, YA and otherwise: Sarah McCarry, Nnedi Okorafor, Sherman Alexie, David Levithan, Daniel Jose Older, Debbie Urbanski, Nalo Hopkinson, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ntozake Shange, Anne Carson, Jacqueline Woodson, ZZ Packer, Angela Nissel, Sofia Samatar, Richard Siken, Malory Ortberg, Saeed Jones, Octavia Butler, Andrea Gibson, Via: Cicada Magazine's Submittable.

Deadline: May 30th, 2016 Payment: 6 cents per word. Note: Only female authors. Announcing an open call for submissions for Broad Knowledge: 35 Women Up To No Good, an anthology of dark and speculative fiction in the Women Up To No Good book series, co-edited by H.L. Nelson and Joanne Merriam, to be published by Upper Rubber Boot Books. Authors must identify as female, non-binary, or a marginalized sex or gender identity. This anthology will be themed around the idea of knowledge (learning/science/education/training/etc). Stories may be funny or serious, set anywhere on or off the world, in any time period, but must feature female protagonists whose knowledge is integral to the plot/conflict. Word/page count: Up to 5,000 words/story. Payment: six cents per word. Genres: Dark and speculative fiction encompasses horror, science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, and we welcome all of these genres. Publication history: Original stories only. Reprints may be submitted by invitation only. Multiple submissions: No. Simultaneous submissions: No. Deadline: 30 May 2017. We plan to reply within one to two months from the deadline. To submit: Send to joanne at upperrubberboot dot com: (a) your complete manuscript as a .RTF, (b) a bio of 100 words or fewer, and (c) make sure you provide the following information: legal name (if different from the name you write under), mailing address, and word count. Put “WOMEN UP TO NO GOOD” in the subject line. If the work is a translation, please also provide a statement from the rightsholder that you are authorized to translate and submit it (both author and translator will receive full payment). We encourage and welcome stories from voices underrepresented in speculative fiction, including (but not limited to) writers of color, LGBTQ writers, writers with disabilities, and writers in translation. Via: Upper Rubber Boot.

Deadline: May 30, 2017 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Open for Submissions: April 1, 2017 - May 30, 2017 Expected Publication: Winter 2017 Story Length: up to 10,000 words Payment: $10 + contributor copy For a long, long time Santa Claus has hogged the spotlight relegating his wife to the shadows, but no longer. Now it’s Mrs. Claus’ turn to shine! We’re looking for stories that let Mrs. Claus (or is it Ms. Claus?) take centre stage. Whether she more closely resembles Michelle Obama, Betty White, Shohreh Aghdashlooor or Maggie Smith, Mrs. Claus must be a developed, independent character and not simply an extension of her husband. She can help and support him—of course she can—but there needs to be more to her than only that. What’s her role on Christmas Eve? What about the other days of the year? Is she into sleek red snowmobiles or is she more of an old-fashioned magic sleigh kinda gal? Does she prefer baking cookies or kickboxing? Betting on the Reindeer Games or Avon parties with the elves? And what is her first name, anyway? Stories are encouraged to re-imagine the North Pole in new and interesting ways (steampunk? alien? magically relocated to the equator?) and to explore a variety of other settings as well. They can also take place in time frames both real and imagined—Christmas in 1940 Poland, Mars in 2050 or a rediscovered Atlantis in 2017 would all be welcome in this anthology. Note: This anthology is intended for an adult audience, please don’t submit children’s stories. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and nonexclusive right to continue to publish for...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: $15 and a contributor's copy if in the US There are things that define us. Things that separate us from the whole. Everyone’s a stranger in some way or another. Whether by coming to a new land, practicing different traditions, estrangement from your own people, or becoming a refugee forced from your home only to find yourself at the mercy of a tyrant… whatever the circumstances, strangers are compelling protagonists and so the theme of our anthology. The Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers Group’s third anthology will be a collection of short stories about strangers. We want to see stories about estrangement, oddballs, and those who simply do not follow rules. We want to see outsiders and those deemed unworthy by society. Outcasts are welcome. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Submit your work in standard manuscript format to [email protected] with a subject line beginning with “Anthology Submission:” and ending with the title of your submission. Maximum word length is 7500 words. Payment is 15$ and a contributor’s copy. (Only writers within the U.S. will receive a physical contributor’s copy. Writers outside the U.S. will receive an e-book contributor’s copy.) Please only send speculative fiction. That’s science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between. We are looking for compelling storylines and, more importantly, compelling characters. Please no erotica or gratuitous violence. Please no multi-submissions or reprints. We will respond within thirty days of submission. Please do not query about submission status until thirty days have lapsed from when your story was submitted. If querying, please email with a subject beginning with “Query:” and ending with the title of your submission. The deadline is May 31, 2017. Via: Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers Group.

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: Up to $100 and a contributor's copy We are currently requesting submissions for a new horror anthology of short stories we plan to publish this year. We're paying up to $100 per published story based on word count, AND a free printed version of the anthology.  We are looking for edited, well-written, horror stories from 5K to 10K words in length.  Scare us so we can't sleep at night!  Your stories need to be previously unpublished - exceptions to this will be handled on a limited basis as long as you still retain all rights to the work.  We are looking for original content. If you have previously published your story to a blog or social media account, we will not be interested. Please email your story to the address below and in the subject line and enter the words "Horror Anthology." Then, copy and paste your story in the body of the email, do not attach files. If accepted, we will notify you and ask you to submit an MS Word document.  Payment amount to be determined based on word count. We will discuss terms upon acceptance for publication. Submissions will close midnight, May 31, 2017. Other submissions are closed at this time. Please send your submissions to: Via: Rice Paper Press.

Deadline: May 1st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent a word Submissions for the horror collection THE EDGE: INFINITE DARKNESS, the second book in The Edge series, are now open. Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Send your story as a message, not an attachment, and include a short bio about yourself above the story so we can get to know you. Format your submission title as: "Darkness Submission - Title - Author Name". Please edit your story before sending it because if I can't read it, I won't. (NO REPRINTS - NO REPRINTS - NO REPRINTS) Pay: 1 cent a word (7,000 words = $70 = 0.01 x 7,000) Requirements: 500-7,000 words a story – multiple submissions are allowed within reason, spam is not allowed. My only rule vs multiple submissions is more of a warning than a rule. If I don’t like the first submission, then I can’t promise I will read the following submissions. Timeline: Submissions will be viewed until either May 1st or the book reaches its goal length, whichever comes first. That is, unless the stories received are unsatisfactory and I’m forced to leave submissions open longer, but let’s hope that’s not the case. This collection is the embodiment of Darkness. There is no direct theme in terms of “ghost”, or “monsters”, or anything like that. What darkness can you bring forth that is hidden from the world? A darkness that perhaps exists in the woods, or your basement, or in the back of someone’s mind. Take the reader by the throat and drag their struggling body into the confines of this darkness and make them beg for their own sanity that you let them go. Dark. Twisted. Sick. Perhaps psychological. Write something that would make the school psychologist call you in for questioning. Write something that...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word advance and royalties Note: Reprints ONLY Dust off your dragon stories. It's time to "releash" them on the world in the first DFF Dragons anthology. No word on publication timing as this will depend on the quantity and quality of reprint short story submissions. The Basics Theme: Dragons Open: Now Closes: May 31, 2017 (Or upon receipt and contracting of a full TOC; so don't wait.) Stories: Approximately 30 Reprint Stories; Total Words: Approximately 150,000; Story Words: 750 - 10000 Words - Or by prior invitation/permission more or less words; Type: Reprint Only - prefer semi-pro to pro prior publication; Rate: 1 cent per word advance - (less fees charged to author by PayPal). Participation in royalty sharing after advance; Rights: Non exclusive World English print (paper & hardcover), ebook/digital, audio - all for the complete anthology only. Publication: Complete anthology only - no one offs and no individual story license. Response Time: Could be 3 weeks, but if we've short listed your story it could be considerably longer while we build out our TOC. You may submit your reprint to other markets; just us know if it is no longer available (and congrats). However, we will do our best to keep authors in the loop. Submissions will be reviewed for inclusion upon receipt. Please submit only ONE story for consideration at a time; multiple entries will be rejected. IF your story is rejected you may submit another story for consideration - but just one at a time, please. IF your story is accepted then additional stories require pre-approval to submit. We are not looking for and will not license stories that are available to download on-line for free as a stand-alone story from any venue. Notes Dragons - bad-ass dragons. Dragons that destroy things...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017 Payment: Novella (17,501 to 40,000 words) — $150 + two print courtesy copies Novelette (7,501 to 17,500 words) — $100+ two print courtesy copies Short Story (2,501 to 7,500 words) — $50 + one courtesy copy Poetry (one or more poems; 100 lines total) — $25 + one courtesy copy; additional $25 for each 100 lines Micro Story (less than 2,500 words) — $10 + one courtesy copy Anthologies are a great way to get your stories noticed. Caffeinated Press sponsors an annual house anthology titled “Brewed Awakenings,” with a new volume released every autumn. The first volume, released on March 2, 2015, contains the work of eight invited authors from West Michigan who penned stories under the loose theme of “all goes dark.” The second volume shipped in September 2016; subsequent volumes will follow each October. The anthology ships in print format (vol. 1); print and ebook (vol. 2); print, ebook and audio book (vol. 3 and subsequent). We are currently in the reading window for vol. 3. The window closes 5/31/17. We recommend that you read the Q&A that follows, then visit our Query page to read our formal house editorial guidelines. The submission form for proposed Brewed Awakenings content is at the bottom of the Query page. It will be to your advantage to read both of these documents in their entirety before you consider whether you should submit to us. Q&A When can I submit stories? What’s the deadline? We accept stories year-round. The cutoff for each autumn’s volume is May 31. Submit before then, you’re in consideration for that year’s copy; submit after that, and you’re in the pile for the following year. You obtain neither benefit nor disability from submitting well in advance of the cutoff, but technical errors in the submission...

Deadline: May 31st, 2017. Payment: 5 cents per word Chiral Mad 4 is officially open for submissions! The anthology is scheduled for publication in the first or second quarter of 2018 by Written Backwards, an imprint of Dark Regions Press, to be edited by Bram Stoker Award winning editor Michael Bailey. Much like Chiral Mad 3 and The Library of the Dead, this latest installment will be published in trade paperback, eBook, and deluxe hardback editions. Unlike past Written Backwards projects, this fourth volume in the critically-acclaimed series of anthologies will be a completely collaborative effort of originality, collecting 4 short stories, 4 novelettes, 4 novellas, and 4 graphic adaptations (to celebrate this 4th book), all co-authored and/or co-created. The anthology itself may even possibly be co-edited. We’re also seeking individuals willing to write a co-introduction for the book. Email [email protected] if interested in either of these opportunities. The goal of Chiral Mad 4 is to help bring our creative community together, to make us stronger, to strengthen relationships already in place, and to help create new relationships entirely. It’s time for all of us to play nice, to get along, and to do what we do best: create somethings out of nothings… and we’re going to create these beautiful somethings together. Have a specific writer/artist you’ve always admired? Well, now’s your chance. Reach out. Ask! That’s all it takes to get started. Find a partner, or two, or three, and start collaborating! The more unique the collaboration, the better the chances you have of making it into Chiral Mad 4. The more diverse the collaborations, the better the chances you have of making it into Chiral Mad 4. Now, here’s the hard part: knowing whether or not someone is already collaborating… Email [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about this. While half the anthology will be filled with commissioned works (the book is...

Deadline: June 1st, 2017 Payment: $0.03 cents per word WE NEED TEN TALES OF HIERARCHY HELL AND BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE! Of all bureaucracies, corporations are the most powerful, seeming to have a life and will of their own.  They're privately held with a multi-national reach, seemingly bottomless resources, and armies of lawyers jealously guarding their trade secrets.  Anything and everything is justified by the bottom line.  Who needs a Cthulhu Cult when you've got Cthulhu, Inc.? Into this insidious world are thrust our heroes—the curious, the puzzled, and the frustrated.  Defying authority, seeking answers they'd be better off not knowing, the secrets they discover threaten their sanity and their lives.  Will they become the next whistleblower media hero?  Or disappear, leaving nothing behind but an empty desk and whispered rumors in the break room?  Remember: it's nothing personal—just business. Corporate Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian horror anthology about the intersection of the Cthulhu Mythos and corporations or other large bureaucracies. This is an OPEN call for submissions—anyone and everyone is free to submit a short story to the slush pile.  Feel free to share this with other writers you think might be interested. What We're Looking For •    Short stories up to 7000 words. •    Original, previously unpublished fiction. •    We're particularly interested in submissions from writers traditionally underrepresented in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fiction.  This includes racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people living with disabilities. •    Stories must include at least a passing connection to the Cthulhu Mythos and/or Lovecraft's other work.  The stronger the connection, the more likely the story is to be accepted. •    Stories that make skillful use of Lovecraftian horror themes: insanity, helplessness and hopelessness, inherited guilt, old isolated locations, books of forbidden knowledge, ancient extraterrestrial influences on humanity, the risks of runaway science, civilization vs. barbarism, humanity's...

Deadline: June 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalties **Deadline: June 1st, 2017** Prompt: Literature is inseparable from context: medium, culture, and conflict. Whether that be social media or formal writing, we are always part of a conversation with the world. As writers, we live our lives in the margins, we go beyond a social conversation and create an artistic dialogue. This is the way we process and handle big events in our history, this is the way we change our history; by recognizing what is happening within our environment and putting it in ink. “People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster” (Baldwin, 1953). We want to read your work outing the monsters and keeping our eyes open. We want to share your experience with the world as a statement. Writing reflects the human experience—especially that bound by social and political pressures. We write in hopes to disrupt power dynamics and increase the voice of subalterns (Said, 1979). Onyx Neon seeks submissions of disruptive poetry for a social activist anthology. The Project: In Fall 2017, Onyx Neon will release a collection of poems under the umbrella of American Upheaval. The world is reacting to a drastic shift in administration—and those reactions are raw, loud, and critical. We want poems that add to the political conversation. This collection will be edited by Head Editor of Onyx Neon Shorts, Lindsay Deter-Wolf, with Kit Martin. Submission Instructions: Please submit 1–6 poems. Each poem (including its enjambed stanzas and verse paragraphs, your chosen formatting) should appear on its own page, and the submission itself must exceed no more than six pages in total. What we pay: Our standard collection rate...

Deadline: June 1, 2017 Payment: $25 usd There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. – Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio Anthology Editor: Carrol Fix Word Count: 3,000 – 8,000 Deadline: June 1, 2017 Authors receive token payment of $25. Please read our Submission Guidelines before submitting. Submit using only this Submission Form. If you send the story directly to the editor, you will be asked to resubmit through the form. Not all stories will be accepted. Only the best of the best authors will earn a spot in Visions VII: Universe, the final Visions Series volume. Visions VII: Universe will focus on the previously unimaginable; in the vastness of the Universe, all things imaginable are possible. Please keep the science fiction theme. This is not a carte blanche invitation to turn your science fiction story into fantasy. If you include things that seem fantastical, make sure there is at least a bread crumb trail of science to support it. Via: Lilli Cat Publishers.

Deadline: June 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalties and a contributor's copy Not horror, but with undeath involved you may be able to weave some elements in We’re looking for Steampunk stories—specifically, mysteries that take place in a Steampunk setting. A mystery is the story of a crime and its solution. As for Steampunk, you can find a good, concise description at Steampunk.com. Supernatural elements are welcome. Here are the particulars: Length: Maximum 10,000 words. Deadline: June 1, 2017 Submit to: editorjessfaraday at hotmail.com Format: paperback and e-book Payment: share of royalties plus author copies Contract: we use a modified EPIC contract. Additional Information: A lot of Steampunk focuses on the European experience. Elm Books is dedicated to promoting diverse authors and stories. Priority will be given to stories that feature characters from traditionally underrepresented groups—main characters of color, female protagonists, differently-abled main characters, LGBTQ main characters, and so on. Also, priority will be given to stories set outside of Europe, especially those examining colonialism from a non-European perspective. We will not print stories containing graphic sex or violence. Sound like enough of a challenge? Get writing! Via: Elm Books.