Events

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: Original Fiction (3,500 to 7,000 words) 0.01 pounds (GBP) per word, capped at 50 pounds Reprints (3,500 to 7,000 words) 10 pounds (GBP) per piece Reprints welcome but I suspect unlikely to be chosen We will be accepting six short stories of the highest quality for this anthology, which is designed to be read in one stormy sitting. The story must begin with an individual, couple, or group seeking shelter from a storm of some kind. Atmosphere, suspense, and a gripping plot are essential elements. Submissions open: January 1st, 2017 to July 31st, 2017 Acceptances: September 30th, 2017 Publication: Early 2018 What We Want: Well-written and thoroughly edited tales in the following genres: - Mystery (especially, a brilliant locked-room mystery) - Suspense - Psychological Horror - Historical (but you need to know your facts, because we do) - Strange and quirky stories - More of this: Shop It's also worth noting that we greatly prefer British English. What We Don't Want: - Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, or Modern Fairy Tales - Science Fiction - Supernatural Horror (but we will consider stories with an ambiguous ending) Payment: Contributors will be paid via PayPal upon publication. Contributors will also receive an ebook copy of the issue and will be able to order up to ten print copies at near cost price. Original Fiction (3,500 to 7,000 words) 0.01 pounds (GBP) per word, capped at 50 pounds Reprints (3,500 to 7,000 words) 10 pounds (GBP) per piece Guidelines: General submissions guidelines can be found on our submissions page. Via: Black Beacon Books.

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: .03CAD per word and two contributor's copies “The nethermost caverns … are not for the fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific … out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.” — H. P. Lovecraft, The Festival We’re excited to open submissions to our sixth anthology… Pelucidar. The Hollow Earth. DEROS, and the Shaver Mysteries. Blue-litten K’n-yan, red Yoth, and black, lightless N’kai. The Amigara Fault. Derinkuyu. Agartha. The world (and worlds) below. Inner earth, a near infinite space of vast, echoing potential … our (possible?) birthplace, and the place where we all return, either as corpses, or something other? … the churning, chaotic underworld, and true home of all that is weird, unconscious, and forbidden. Descend with us in this anthology of weird fiction; descend to the realms CHTHONIC. We are looking for weird fiction that explores the mystique and terror of caverns, abyssal spaces, and subterranean worlds. As with previous MMP anthologies, we will be including a seed story from H. P. Lovecraft’s oeuvre (in this case, The Rats in the Walls, though many of his stories went underground). We want to see bizarre civilizations, mind-boggling physical and biological phenomena, horrific rituals, mad science and madder sorcery. We want to feel the tunnel floors beneath our feet shake with the passage of beasts, machines, and gods that have never seen the light of the sun; sentient oils, intelligent muck, living rock, molemen, formless spawn and Efts of the Prime, worms, Dholes, and ghastlier things. But CHTHONIC won’t be just a serving of...

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: $50 per story Submissions open to LVP and HWA members: February 21 Submissions open to public: April 1 Submissions close: July 31, 11:59pm tentatively (*see notes below) Word count: 4,000 to 6,000 Payment: $50 per story, a digital copy of the anthology and a discount code for print copies from Lycan Valley Press Details: Phobias are defined as an irrational and extreme fear to something. Some of the most widely known phobias include arachnophobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, acrophobia, etc. Anything can be a phobia if it irrationally causes an intense and debilitating fear. What happens when these irrational fears/phobias become reality? Make the fears and the horrors associated with that fear real. Take them from irrational to rational. Pick a phobia from the list below and take that fear to the next level. Make it come to life and give us a reason to be scared. Your characters don’t have to overcome their fears, but if they do, show us how. If they don’t, why not? We don’t want characters sitting on a sofa in the psychiatrist’s office detailing their childhood or even characters with diagnosed phobias necessarily. Focus on the object of the phobia rather than the phobia itself as much as possible. We want you to make these phobias come to life in ways that will make readers sleep with the lights on, double check the locks on their doors and question reality. There must be a strong pulp element to the story as well, keeping in mind that pulp doesn’t mean poorly written. If you’re unfamiliar with the original pulp magazines and stories, please do some research before submitting. Check out Black Mask Magazine http://www.blackmaskmagazine.com/ and here’s a pulp archive to get you started (warning: reading on this website may be addictive). http://www.pulpmags.org/ and also...

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: $5 usd Note: Reprints Accepted Are you a poet? An essayist? A short story writer? An artist? If you have a piece you'd like to submit for the next issue of The Violet Hour, we want to see it! Send us an email to the address listed below and attach any written work in PDF or Word.doc format, and all artwork in jpeg format to submit it for consideration. With the exception of submissions for the open December anthology, don't forget to use at least one of the themes chosen for each issue. (For details about issue themes, launch dates and more, see the above "News & Events" posts.) ​       [email protected] ​ Submission Periods The Violet Hour Magazine is published quarterly, with three themed issues (published at the end of April, August and October) and one annual open-themed anthology (published at the end of December). Submission periods for the issues are as follows: 1. December 15th to March 31st (for April issue) 2. April 15th to July 31st (for August/September issue) 3. September 7th to October 14th (for October issue - *IMPORTANT:   ​October is a flash-submission issue - see September 7th News & Events post for details.) 4. January 1st to November 14th (for December open-anthology issue) ​ *Please Note: Submissions made to any of the themed issues that are not selected for publication in their relevant issue will not be automatically considered for the December open-themed anthology. Contributors are asked not to re-submit work already previously submitted to The Violet Hour, unless invited to do so by one of our editorial staff. ​ *Also Note: At this time, The Violet Hour Magazine will consider previously published works, as long as it has been a minimum of 6 months since the work's most recent publication. If your submission has previously been published elsewhere, please include the date and name of the publication in which it...

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: $25usd and a contributor's copy We loved our first Mental Ward: Stories from the Asylum call so much, we’re opening another for Volume 2 with the exact same details! Have at it wordsmiths, and send us true depravity to read! Sanatorium, mental ward, psychiatric hospital – they’re all the same. Places where the infirm, the crazy, and the certifiable go for treatment… Or what passes for ‘treatment’. We want stories of bedlam taking place within the padded walls of an institution. Give us stories of experiments gone wrong, patients revolting against the staff, or tales from the perspective of those charged with offering care. Make them sick, make them depraved, make them atrocious – these should be the kind of stories that rarely reach the light of day. Are you brave enough to see what your mind conjures up… Or are you afraid you’ll be locked up for trying? Deadline: July 31, 2017 Word Count: 4,000 – 8,000 words All submissions MUST be submitted to: [email protected] Reading & Evaluation Period: Two to three months after close of the deadline ** NO REPRINTS WILL BE CONSIDERED ** Payment: Each story selected for inclusion will receive a one-time payment of $25US, plus one print copy of the book. As per our standard guidelines, there will be no stories containing pedophilia, or graphic rape scenarios accepted. Full submission guidelines can be found on our website – www.SirensCallPublications.com – we invite you to read them before submitting! Via: Siren's Call Publications.

Deadline: July 31st, 2017 Payment: 4 contributor's copies We’re looking for short stories and non-fiction articles for the Spooky Isles Book of Horror anthology, to be published later in 2017 in both paperback and digital formats. ANDREW GARVEY tells you want we want… The Spooky Isles Book of Horror will be a collection of short fiction, paired with their real-life inspirations. Read on to discover how you can be part of this terrifying journey into the macabre! We are after 2000 to 3000 words for short stories and 1000 words for non-fiction articles. We are quite flexible about word counts but please, no 14,000 word epics and no 200 word flash fiction. What kind of horror are we looking for? The Spooky Isles is concerned with British and Irish horror. You could send us the best wendigo or Chinese hopping vampire story ever written and it won’t be published. Keep it British and Irish. If you have a story you want to tell but aren’t certain it quite fits the guidelines, just email and enquire. We want short stories paired with a non-fiction piece on the ‘real-life’ inspiration behind your story. Real life here may not be the most helpful term but… let’s say you’ve sent us a short story on the myth of Herne the Hunter. Your accompanying non-fiction article should discuss the origins of the legend, the basic facts or characteristics of it and a brief discussion of how you’ve been inspired by it or adapted it. Basically, someone who has never heard of Herne should be able to read your article and get the basics of the story. Look at the articles on www.spookyisles.com for an idea of the kind of non-fiction we want – straightforward, accessible reads, basically – just a bit longer than we usually...

Deadline: August 1st, 2017 Payment: 5 cents/word (CAD) Note: Only 5% of authors accepted will be from outside of Canada. Speculative writing, whatever the sub-genre, is full of food scenes. Food can be integral to the magic, the meetings, the processes of narratives from hard SF to high fantasy. For all of us, eating is a symbolic and magical act, a transformation, a covenant, a ritual, a comfort, and a necessity, and this awareness has been expressed in story – all the way from myth, legend and fairy tale to modern speculative writing – in many memorable ways. Alice eats and drinks to participate in Wonderland, Ripley's alien has to feed its young, Persephone eats the pomegranate seeds and spends half her life in the Underworld, the witch entices Hansel and Gretel with food to become food, the food in 2001's famous white room is spookily nutritious and generic, and Soylent Green is people. We can’t live without food, but sometimes we can’t live with it, either. In literature and in history, food-themed stories have had a darker side: starvation, poisonings (whether intentional or accidental), struggles with eating disorders, and more. We’re all drawn to candy coatings (in this case, literally) but we also want the story about how the missing ingredient ruined the feast. For the Food of my People anthology, its award-winning editors seek speculative writing that makes the magic and reality of food and nourishment integral to each story and its outcome. See the story "The Food of My People" by Candas that sparked this anthology, and began as an enquiry into what might be the everyday magic of the post-aboriginal incomers to the Canadian prairies, the culture of the jellied salad and the Saskatoon pie. Ursula Pflug and Colleen Anderson chose it for Playground of Lost Toys (Exile Editions, 2015), and when Candas read the story at ICFA...

Deadline: August 1st, 2017 Payment: Contributor's Copy Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its third furry anthology, Infurno: The Nine Circles of Hell. Deadline: August 1, 2017 Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable The Nine Circles of Hell has been a much-loved conception of the inferno, popularized by Italian poet Dante. Look here for the basic elements of the circles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)#Overview. This collection will be divided respectively into the nine parts. We expect stories to be framed to focus on people who will end up in a specific circle. Most of a story should focus on what they did back on Earth in life. Showing how they died is not required. We need to see their sin that brought them there, and you can definitely have them in hell (always fun to describe; in general, try to keep infernal descriptions consistent with Dante's). We want to see anthro-animal characters at their darkest and weakest moments: at the brothel, at the chopping block, in the morgue, in the dining room with the candlestick. It is perfectly fine but not required if submissions are NSFW. We are honestly expecting a fair amount of horror and erotica. However, again, adult stories are by no means required for acceptance. All story submissions must be "furry" in nature. We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider...

Deadline: August 1st, 2017 Payment: $5 for flash fiction and $10 to $20 (depending on length) for short stories Issue #9: Nothing but Witches, Bitches! (Fall/Winter 2017) All witches, all the time! Permutations of witchery, magick, crones, warlocks and familiars from fairy tale baddies to black or white magic, witch doctors, and the merely misunderstood. Personal power, communion with spirits and the dead, spells, trickery, solitude and a visionary third eye with a window on the fates. Submission deadline: 8/01/17 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.  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. Be advised: we generally begin reading submissions for a particular issue after the close of its submission deadline, so don't panic if you haven't heard back before then. 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...

Deadline: August 5th, 2017 Payment: 1 cent per word We are in search of erotic stories centered around the theme of haunted. How you execute this theme is up to you—a multitude of interpretations are possible. While fantastical and spooky elements are welcome, we suggest writers familiarize themselves with the full dictionary definition of “haunt” and think outside the box. For this anthology we aren’t just looking for ghosts, ghouls, and other monsters. We want to feel something that is persistently there. Something that twists the mind, invades our waking thoughts, disturbs our sleep. The characters must be haunted or haunting. The sex needs to be raw, passionate, hot, and at the story’s centre. Four-letter words are neither required nor discouraged, although we have a preference for graphic lust conveyed through beautiful prose. No hard requirements in terms of secondary genres. This theme lends itself well to speculative genres—but think sexy not scary. Please read our general submission guidelines prior to submitting. We prefer the erotic to adult content and have an extreme prejudice for stories with a literary style—however, hot, passionate sex must be at each story’s core. It may help to familiarize yourself with some of our other titles prior to submitting—particularly our short story anthologies and stand-alone shorts. 1,000-5,000 words, although we’ll consider pieces that fall outside those parameters on a case-by-case basis. Multiple and simultaneous submissions ok. No reprints. If accepted, pay is 1 cent per word. The deadline for submissions is August 5, 2017.   Submit here. Via: Mug Wump Press.

Deadline: August 6th, 2017 Payment: Royalties 60% of net earning split evenly amongst the authors123 Calling for submissions for the Deadman’s Tome September issue. The theme? Let’s go deep into the realm of sci-fi horror. Let’s explore the claustrophobic corridors of abandoned space ships, the fragmented ruins of distant worlds, and the demonic horrors that watch us from afar! Theme: Dark horror sci-fi. Gore and adult subject matter welcomed Word Limit: 5k Payment: Royalties 60% of net earning split evenly amongst the authors End Date: August 6th, 2017 Send to [email protected] with SCIFI HORROR in subject. Via: Deadman's Tome.

Deadline: August 10 2017 Payment: 0.01 cent a word and a contributor's copy Note: Reprints allowed A Science Fiction anthology looking at the future well after the current presidents of the USA have moved on. The projected science fiction date is 2030 and can examine American Politics in a new era, or look at world politics changed by the actions of USA policies and people. While war stories can be popular in this collection only 2 will be purchased. Political shenanigans would be interesting, as well as romance, spooks, robots and evil overlords. While the initial inspiration is based after the Presidency of Donald Trump it has been advised not to slander or denigrate him or anyone with anything that is not already well known and shared in open media sources (not rumour or innuendo – facts are okay, mistruths are not) Deadline – August 10  2017 Word Counts – 4000 to 7500 words Pay 0.01 cent a word paid on acceptance. Reprints 1/2 a cent per word.  I buy very few reprints. / Return times 6 weeks/ submissions to - [email protected] (subject line - TRUMPETER) Publication Date. – October/November 2017 The rights purchased are first international right in e-book/reader/pdf/POD/Print. All rights return 6 months after publication, though the anthology will remain in print for an indefinite period. As well as payment authors also get a copy of the anthology in print form and access to all forms of download systems. For Advertisers – a complete ad for the opposite page of a short story and which is in keeping with the futuristic style of the collection will need to be set at 5"x 8" with 5mm bleed all round. To help support this product ads are kept at a low rate of $150 per ad. All payments for ads...

Deadline: August 10th, 2017 Payment: Payment will be one half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Reprints are the same but with a max of $10. Note: Reprints Allowed Estimated to come out in time for Halloween.   Word Count:    500-10,500 Theme:    For this anthology, we want glimpses into the world of those we love to hate. Monsters, demons, murderers, etc. Are they as evil as they seem? What made them do those horrible things? What was their breaking point? Were they good once or has their heart always been black? A broader take on the fairy tale villains anthology. Any time period and sub-genre are accepted, however there must be a villain/bad guy as the focus of your story.  Villains may be taken from fairy tales, mythology, folklore, monster legends, history, or entirely original. ALWAYS READ THE FULL THEMES AND GUIDELINES WHEN SUBMITTING. Due to a large number of submissions for the new anthology that fail to meet the theme and/or guidelines, we have decided to give some extra clarification for what we are looking for. This is NOT just a horror anthology about villains/evil people. Get us into the heart of the villains. Make us question if they are really that bad. Help us understand why they do what they do. Show us that underneath their actions, there is something there that could make us empathize with their plight. Go beyond the darkness and evil and help us wonder what's under the surface of those we love to hate. PIECES THAT FAIL TO MEET THE GUIDELINES/THEME WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REJECTED.   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: Payment will be one half-cent per...

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: Contributor's Copy Note: Reprints Accepted The first anthology of Gehenna & Hinnom will be published in late-September of 2017. It will feature only the most disturbing and horrifying body horror tales readers have ever read. The challenge is up to you, the authors. How strange is your narrative capable of being? How morose is your prose? How in touch are you with the macabre? WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: We are seeking stories for this anthology that are of a Cronenberg-style theme. If you don’t know who David Cronenberg is, we suggest watching clips or the entire length of films such as Videodrome, The Fly, and Scanners. Genres can meld together. Science fiction, horror, weird fiction, cosmic horror, fantasy, all of these are acceptable as long as the stories don’t deviate from the body horror nature of the anthology. As defined by Wikipedia, BODY HORROR, BIOLOGICAL HORROR, ORGANIC HORROR OR VISCERAL HORROR IS HORROR FICTION IN WHICH THE HORROR IS PRINCIPALLY DERIVED FROM THE GRAPHIC DESTRUCTION OR DEGENERATION OF THE BODY. SUCH WORKS MAY DEAL WITH DECAY, DISEASE, PARASITISM, MUTATION, OR MUTILATION. WHAT WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR: Absolutely no erotica. This is non-negotiable. Nothing political, unless it is satire. Uses of rape, necrophilia, etc., are allowed though be very careful with these themes. If it is not integral to the plot, or if it is clearly gratuitous, your story will be rejected. We want to provide a certain amount of quality for our readers. This is an adult-aged anthology, but please be professional and technical with your writing. Stories that are not proofread and have mistakes that would be avoidable with a single read-through WILL be rejected. DEADLINE: AUGUST 15TH, 2017 PAYMENT: UNFORTUNATELY, WE ARE UNABLE TO PAY OUR AUTHORS AT THIS TIME SINCE WE ARE A NEW, EVOLVING COMPANY. HOWEVER,...

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: Royalties Season Two Holiday Horror. Mix it up. Give us a story about Easter, 4th of July, Yom Kippur. The big three are acceptable too…but fall last in line. Season Two Submission Deadline: August 15th, 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...

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: $0.06 per word The inevitable breakdown of a long-term relationship; losing your home due to gentrification; struggling with the deportation of a loved one; navigating the crumbling healthcare situation in Trump’s America. How do you define loss and grief? Radix Media presents AFTERMATH: Explorations of Loss & Grief, an anthology that will examine what it means to face the consequences after tragedy strikes. The theme is left intentionally open, giving contributors the freedom to tell their story as it is most relevant to their experiences. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We prefer previously unpublished pieces (though previously published pieces will b considered on a case-by-case basis), and they can be fiction, personal essays, or poetry, between 500 and 3,000 words. We will also accept comics, illustration, and photography that will retain its integrity in black and white. Accepted works will be collected into either a zine or paperback book, depending on the volume and length of accepted works. Visual submissions should be able to fit a print size of 5” x 8”. CONTRIBUTORS & PAYMENT Contributed pieces will be paid for at the following rates: Fiction & Non-Fiction: $0.06 per word Poetry: $35 per work Comics, Photos, & Illustration: $10 per page or $50 per work, whichever is greater We strongly encourage typically underrepresented voices to submit. If you are a person of color, queer, trans, disabled, or any combination of these, we would especially love to hear from you. DEADLINE Pieces should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected] by August 15, 2017. Please include your name,  e-mail address, and telephone number. Also let us know if the work has been previously published or not, or whether it is currently being considered for publication by another publisher. For written works, please paste the text directly into the body of...

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: .003 Cents per Word. $5 minimum and $25 maximum payments and contributor's copy GREETINGS FROM THE ETHER, The second anthology of Gehenna & Hinnom will be published in late-November of 2017. It will feature only the most speculative, intriguing, and mind-enhancing science fiction stories readers have ever read. The challenge is up to you, the authors. How in depth is your grasp of the rapidly evolving technological advances? How well could you portray the eventual cybernetic destiny of humanity? How engaging and mind-blowing can your depictions of Utopian and Dystopian worlds be? WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR We are seeking stories for this anthology that properly portray the technological evolution of humans, be it cybernetics, immortality granted through means of science, transcendence of AI into consciousness, the AI singularity and its impact on humanity, the assimilation of human and machine, and anything else you could think of that would fall into Transhumanism. For reference, think of films like, Elyisum (2013), Ghost in the Shell (1995), The Matrix (1999), Gattaca (1997), Ex Machina (2014), Avatar (2009), and Blade Runner (1982). Genres can meld together. Science fiction, horror, weird fiction, cosmic horror, fantasy, space opera, slipstream, etc. All of these are acceptable as long as the piece does not deviate from the transhuman theme of the anthology. Transhumanism as defined by Wikipedia, TRANSHUMANISM (ABBREVIATED AS H+ OR H+) IS AN INTERNATIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT THAT AIMS TO TRANSFORM THE HUMAN CONDITION BY DEVELOPING AND MAKING WIDELY AVAILABLE SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGIES TO GREATLY ENHANCE HUMAN INTELLECT AND PHYSIOLOGY. Transhuman as defined by Wikipedia, TRANSHUMAN OR TRANS-HUMAN IS THE CONCEPT OF AN INTERMEDIARY FORM BETWEEN HUMAN AND POSTHUMAN. IN OTHER WORDS, A TRANSHUMAN IS A BEING THAT RESEMBLES A HUMAN IN MOST RESPECTS BUT WHO HAS POWERS AND ABILITIES BEYOND THOSE OF STANDARD HUMANS. THESE ABILITIES MIGHT INCLUDE IMPROVED INTELLIGENCE, AWARENESS, STRENGTH, OR DURABILITY. TRANSHUMANS SOMETIMES...

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: Contributor's copy and 5% net profit royalties with a £10 token payment Note: Female authors only Submission Call: Her Dark Voice Volume Two Editor: Theresa Derwin Deadline date: 15th Aug 2017 Publisher: Quantum Corsets Genre: Horror/Dark Fantasy Attach as: Word doc or doc x Release Date: Late 2017/Early 2018 Following on from the publication of Her Dark Voice edited by Theresa Derwin, a couple of years ago, Quantum Corsets is calling for genre stories written by women for a second volume of this anthology, which will raise funds for Breast Cancer Research. This collection of short stories will continue raising awareness of female authors in SF, Fantasy & Horror, whilst raising funds and awareness for Breast Cancer Now. The book will feature 12 dark stories (the darker the better) written by female authors in the industry. We will consider; Horror, SF, Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Bizzaro, and similar genres. We will not consider; Zombies, Steampunk or Erotica The book release will be at a recognised convention with a limited hardback, paperback and eBook. We can offer 5% net profit royalties with a £10 token payment and a copy of those three editions mentioned. 15% of profits will go to Breast Cancer research. I hope you would be interested in producing a story for this cause. I am looking for stories from 4,000 to 6,000 words. Please follow the submission guidelines on our website. Follow the link below for further guidance http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html Email submissions to [email protected] as a Word doc only. Name your doc as follows; HDV2/Name/Story title Email subject as follows; Name/HDV2/Word count Via: Terror Tree.

Deadline: August 15th, 2017 Payment: $50 CAD and a contributor's copy The ability for people to control (to some extent at least) fire has long been held as one of the major events that contributed to human evolution, but when fire eludes or escapes our control it is also one of the most destructive forces on earth. Associated with passion, power, transformation and purification, fire is a ferocious element with an unquenchable appetite. We want to explore the many facets of this beautifully furious element and the creatures associated with it so Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns will be filled with stories about every kind of fiery creature you can imagine, not only those listed in the subtitle. We’re looking for phoenixes, ifrits, salamanders, lava monsters and fiery beasts no one has ever heard of before. And of course this anthology will not be complete without at least one demon, dragon and djinn! Rights and compensation: Payment: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange 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 nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology. Open submission period: June 1, 2017 - August 15, 2017 Length: Under 7,500 words   No simultaneous or multiple submissions. Via: Niteblade's Submittable.

Deadline: August 15th, 2017. Payment: $5 per submission, plus digital copy of issue to appear in. The 'Biweekly Bite' -the horror newsletter that gives you a short, a flick, and a surprise- is announcing the ’Horror Bites Magazine.’ We’re all about finding creative people doing interesting work and throwing views at them, and the magazine will be our next step in bringing small name horror authors to the people's attention. We can't do that without your submissions though! Deadline: August 15th, 2017. Payment: $5 per submission, plus digital copy of issue to appear in. Due for publication: in October. Word Count: 1,500-5,000 Reprints are allowed. Response Time:  If we don't get back to you by the end of September, shoot us a quick email. Payment: $5 per story paid via PayPal, plus a digital copy of the issue you will appear in. Payment will be distributed once we agree on the terms of using your story. Please send separate submissions attatched to separate emails. Guidelines for Submissions: At this time the Horror Bites Magazine is open to all short, horror fiction. Note that there are some things that we don’t publish: Nonfiction (for now). Poetry. Anything to close to ‘the classics.' Violence that doesn’t contribute to the story. Gore for the sake of gore. Torture and rape. Erotic horror.  All submissions are to be sent to [email protected] Please format your subject line as "Horror Bites Magazine: ." In the body of your email, please include your name (or pseudonym) 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 as a .doc, .docx, etc. Just use your better judgement. Only .PDF is unacceptable.  Accepted stories will appear in the first three issues (October, November, and December) of the 'Horror Bites Magazine,' to appear on...

Deadline: August 22, 2017 Payment: $10 usd and contributor's copy WE ARE SEEKING: Dark, vicious explorations of the terrifying thoughts lingering in the backs of our heads. Fictionalized accounts of real-life nightmares. The desires you'd never disclose to a partner. Those thoughts at 3 a.m. when the pain in your side won't go away. We want you at your worst. We want honesty. We want hate. We want solace. AGAINST SURVIVAL is an outlet. A place to voice otherwise unspeakable things. A violent reassurance that you could, in fact, be worse. This anthology welcomes essays and stories exploring these concepts and themes. Fact, fiction, and everything between. 1,500 to 5,000 words. Form and structure are up to you. Pseudonyms welcome. Email submissions as a .doc file attachment to [email protected] with author name and "AGAINST SURVIVAL" in the subject line. New, original work only. No simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions are welcome, but understand we reserve the right to accept only one submitted work. Payment: $10USD and one contributor copy. Deadline: August 22, 2017. 50% of all proceeds for this project are being donated to Planned Parenthood. "Red Slur Forsaken" by Arthur Welles is our urtext example and is available to download here for your creative inspiration and emotional repulsion. Via: Carion Blue 555.

Deadline: August 25th, 2017 Payment: One half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Estimated to come out in November.   Word Count:    500-10,500 Theme:    Autumn is a beautiful and magical time, and yet many times it is the most neglected. You hear of the wonder of Winter, the beauty of Spring, and the joy of Summer, well, this time we want to hear about Autumn. It is a time of death and rebirth. As the trees loose their leaves in one last explosion of color before the stark paleness of Winter, waiting to return again like a pheonix, what becomes of the world around them, both seen and unseen? What lurks benaeth the harvest moon? What only comes out when the world is fading and the Earth itself holds its breath, waiting for the first snow to fall? Fairies? Monsters? Witches? What adventures wait in this magical in-between? We can't wait to find out! We are primarily wanting fantasy and dark fantasy settings focusing on an Autumn theme. While we will consider modern/futuristic stories, we want the focus to be on the nature of Autumn and magic/fantasy elements inspired by it. ALWAYS READ THE FULL THEMES AND GUIDELINES WHEN SUBMITTING. PIECES THAT FAIL TO MEET THE GUIDELINES/THEME WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REJECTED.   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: Payment will be one half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Payments will be made by PayPal in USD. Payments will go out no later than four months after the publication date. Editing: Yes, your story will be edited if we decide to accept it. After we go through and edit your...

Deadline: August 25th, 2017 Payment: $100, on publication, and 10% of one’s own e-book sales General submissions are open! The Fantasist is now considering work for Issue 5 and, potentially, Issue 6. Submissions will close on August 25th, 2017. General Submission Guidelines: 1. Well-written. Prose craft matters a lot. And do your dialogue well (we read everything out loud). 2. Ideally 15,000 to 40,000 words, although, in exceptional circumstances, we may consider work that is somewhat longer. Stuff we like: We especially like stories set in a well-researched historical setting, set in the present or the future, stories with interaction between magic and science, the Napoleonic Era, Faeries, Dragons (but no dragon tragedy!), and stories not set in Europe. We love apprenticeship narratives/magical education, people coming together, stable romantic partnerships, nuanced friendships, remotely accurate economic and political systems, realistic depictions of power, magic that isn’t explained, highly systematized magic, made up plants, medical stuff combining magic and medicine, tall tales, pastorals, 2nd person, formal weirdness, real languages other than English (bonus points for Russian), constructed languages, intricate worldbuilding, interesting things with real or fictional religion (bonus points for Islamic characters), Speculative CNF, lyric essay, stories that engages with well-known texts, stories that deal with obscure or technical bodies of knowledge, epistemological fiction, epistolary fiction, fantasy inside virtual reality inside science fiction, surrealism, dark fantasy and horror, diagrams, psychology (but do your research), disabled people having sex, fake scholarship (Especially without seeing action in that world), trans and nonbinary characters in historical fantasy, technologically and/or historically accurate seafaring fiction, sex workers, domesticity, stories set in cities about something other than crime, the black-plague as apocalypse, the ridiculous backstabby internecine warfare of the faerie poetry community in Indianapolis, fantasy in small town America, addiction storylines, 12-step programs for magical things, socialism, communism,...

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: Royalties No, we are not looking for Twilight fan fiction. We are looking for short stories that deal with the grey area between night and day, between sanity and madness, good and evil, monster and hero … you get the point. Any genre will be considered. Submission length: 1,000-15,000 words. This is a loose guideline. Don’t self reject if you are a little longer or shorter. If in doubt, send us a note with the word count and we’ll let you know if it’s something we’d consider. We require at least 5 stories to publish. We’d like to reach 10. If by some miracle of the internet we get tons of high quality stories we’ll publish two volumes. Please submit using the contact form on the blog – copy and paste your story into the comment/contact box. If your story is accepted we will request a .doc file. As stated in our submission guidelines authors will be paid a royalty split which will be paid out 6 months after the release date and on the anniversary of the release date yearly. We pay via paypal. Authors will also be sent a copy of the book in the digital format of their choice with the understanding that it is for personal use only. We request first digital, or reprint, rights. All the details will be provided in a contract sent out in September. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 31, 2017 Authors will be notified before September 10, 2017 Authors may submit more than one story though only one will be selected per volume. We accept simultaneous submissions and reprints (so long as the rights have reverted back to you). Any questions? Just ask! Via: Schreyer Ink Publishing.

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy Release the monster within. Nothing is quite so deliciously freeing as caving to your instincts. For centuries, shapeshifters have personified our impulse to bow to our animalistic nature. From lycans to skin-walkers and everything in between, shapeshifters give us a chance to connect with our inner-selves and celebrate our intriguing differences, our passions, and ultimately our humanity through their necessity of striking a balance between their human selves and supernatural selves. We are seeking romantic and heated stories that delve into the different challenges all shifters face while navigating the mysterious paths of love and forbidden attraction. Transformed will be an exploration of our dark side through characters that challenge the human experience by simply being different. We would love to follow the tale of a misunderstood lycan just trying to find his true place beside the woman he loves. We want to experience the angst of a pair of shapeshifting lovers who must fight against their curse to shift into predator and prey every lunar cycle. We would love for you to explore the endless undercurrents of romance, intrigue, and passion that bubble under the surface of not only human and shapeshifter relationships but also those of star-crossed shapeshifting partners. Give us your misunderstood werewolves and gentle fawn-folk. Build us a world where anything goes and the term “humanity” is a loose distinction. We would love for you to write with passion and energy, but please keep violence to a respectful and tasteful level. All heat levels accepted, but strong emphasis on plot is a must if you wish to succeed. The details: Stories between 1,000 – 15,000 words long (query for longer) Reprints accepted but not preferred. When submitting a reprint include information about its original publication in your...

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: 0.03/word and a contributor's copy CRYPTOZOOLOGY:  the study of and search for animals and especially legendary animals (such as Sasquatch) usually in order to evaluate the possibility of their existence CRYTPID: an animal whose existence or survival to the present day is disputed or unsubstantiated; any animal of interest to a cryptozoologist We’ve explored loneliness, isolation, and solitude in our first anthology. We Put the Love Back in Lovecraft in our second anthology. Now we are looking for stories involving the creatures which hide in the shadows -- the monsters of cryptozoology. Bigfoot, Nessie, el Chupacabra, The Jersey Devil -- cryptids so well known that they have become part of the cultural zeitgeist. For our new anthology, tentatively entitled Hidden Animals: A Collection of Cryptids, we are looking for lesser known cryptids, creatures of the dark corners of cryptozoology. They can be the antagonist, the protagonist, the creeping dread which drives the story, but they must be present. What We Want: Finely crafted works of Dark Speculative fiction which feature one (or more) of the lesser known, but established cryptids. Authors are encouraged to put their own spin on the classic creature. Make them terrifying. Make them sympathetic. Make them humorous. Above all, make them feel real. What We Don’t Want: Non-fiction. We want fictional stories with a plot and a well defined story arc. While we are interested in hearing about your own personal experience, or that of your friend or family member, this is not the book for that. New Monsters. While we appreciate your creativity, we are looking for stories which feature creatures that readers will have at least a passing knowledge of. Give us your giant cats, dogboys, and lake creatures, but please do not create your own creature. Stories where...

Deadline: August 31, 2017 Payment: 50% of royalties go to the story contributors, prorated to each author by word count. There are stairs in the woods - as if you cut and pasted stairs from a house. The stairs are usually in good shape - strong and sturdy and not rotted. Sometimes they are in immaculate condition, as if somebody is maintaining them. ​They're locations don't follow any understood pattern. ​You might or might not be able to find the same stairs twice (up to the individual author). ​Approaching and/or climbing the stairs gives a sense of foreboding and weirdness. ​Sometimes really bad things happen if you approach or climb the stairs. ​The authorities (notably the park service) is keeping quiet about the stairs. Officially, they don't exist. The authorities do not talk about them - even among themselves. ​You can explain the stairs or leave them unexplained - up to you. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror are most likely - but your story can be in any genre. One author I contacted told me I wasn't likely to get many Romantic Comedies - but if you've got a good one, submit it! ​You can submit as many stories as you like, but we'll only publish one story per author in this anthology. ​Submissions should be in the 3000-20,000 word range. ​Submissions should be never before published, and we're asking for exclusive rights on this one. ​Submissions should be in Microsoft Word format (doc or docx) and should be in a legible font and size. EMail Submissions to [email protected] and must include contact information (name, e-mail, etc). Submissions are due by August 31, 2017. Payment will be the Silver Empire anthology standard: 50% of royalties go to the story contributors, prorated to each author by word count. Via: Silver Empire.

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: US$0.06 per word. Mother of Invention will feature diverse, challenging stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics. This ambitious anthology from award-winning Australian publishing house Twelfth Planet Press will be edited by Tansy Rayner Roberts and Rivqa Rafael. From Pygmalion and Galatea to Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Person of Interest, the fictional landscape so often frames cisgender men as the creators of artificial life, leading to the same kinds of stories being told over and over. We want to bring some genuine revolution to the way that artificial intelligence stories are told, and how they intersect with gender identity, parenthood, sexuality, war, and the future of our species. How can we interrogate the gendered assumptions around the making of robots compared with the making of babies? Can computers learn to speak in a code beyond the (gender) binary? If necessity is the mother of invention, what exciting AI might come to exist in the hands of a more diverse range of innovators? What we want We want to cover a variety of AI tropes, from the virtuous to the dangerous, from the purely computerised to the freshly built physical body. We want robots and programs and disembodied voices and steampunk and nanotech. We want stories that unpick the erroneous gendered assumptions around biological reproduction that so often underpin AI stories (do people who can gestate still want to make robots? We think so!). We’ll even accept sexbots and Stepford spouses if the story is good enough. It became pretty clear during our crowdfunding campaign that the notion of “feminist robot stories” struck a chord with our readership, so keep that in mind. We anticipate that some stories will tackle gender issues (broadly defined) directly; others indirectly. Both approaches are OK! The only hard-and-fast rule...

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: $50 AUD Callout for Submissions for a new anthology of short stories, 'Below the Stairs – Tales from the Cellar'   Featuring stories by Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, HP Lovecraft, and edited by Oz Horror Con's Steve Dillon, this is the second anthology in our 'Things in the Well' series. The first was published in May 2017, titled 'Between the Tracks – Tales from the Ghost Train'. This also featured stories by Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, and Mark Allan Gunnells, as well as Christopher Golden, Charles Dickens, M.R. James, G.M. Hague, Steve Vernon, Lee Murray, & more.     We’re now reaching out to unearth more best-of-breed tales. We're after new or – if memorable enough – reprints of short supernatural tales, psychological thrillers or creature features involving cellars, basements, dungeons or other subterranean chambers below the stairs (!) Word count isn’t too important providing the story is complete and memorable, although the length will typically be expected to be in the region of 6-10,000 words. We’re paying a flat rate of $50 (AUD) for this anthology. You will retain rights. More details on request.   For more details, go to the Oz Horror Con web site www.OZHorrorCon.com Via: OZ Horror Con.

Deadline: August 31, 2017 Payment: Contributor's Copy *SUBMISSION PERIOD: June 1, 2017-August 31, 2017* The fourth round of the Asterisk Anthology will feature Nautical Nightmares, so send us your most bone-chilling tales of the sea. We welcome sea monsters of all sorts, ghost ships, creepy coastal towns, mysterious islands, and more. Anything that evokes the terror and awesome majesty of the sea is welcome. Note: No freshwater—saltwater only. Short stories (3,000 to 9,000 words) will be accepted until AUGUST 31, 2017. *We will choose two winners. The first place winner will receive $10 and e-publication of their story on Nosetouchpress.com. The runner-up will also have e-publication on the website. The stories will remain online until the next round of winners is announced. Winning stories will be part of the upcoming ASTERISK ANTHOLOGY, to be published in October 2017. No reprints, please. Prose only. A paperback contributor’s copy will be provided to the winning contributors once the book is published. A signed contract will be required *for publication* online and in the anthology. * *Email entries to [email protected] <[email protected]> .doc or .rtf format • Please state “Asterisk ANTHO-Round 4” in your subject line. One entry per person. * Via: Nose Touch Press.

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: 6 cents a word, plus electronic and print contributor copies Take high school. It’s weird, confusing, complicated, and frustrating. It’s a time of growth and change, when teens start discovering what they’re made of and who they want to be. Now throw in magic. What happens? That’s the premise of this new YA anthology. Schoolbooks & Sorcery is what happens when you take all the normal ups and downs of high school, inject a healthy dose of magic, shake, stir, and serve. Editor Michael M. Jones (Scheherazade’s Façade) is looking for YA urban fantasy stories which incorporate the themes of sorcery, magic, and enchantment. The magic can come from within, as an intrinsic ability or a family trait, or from without, in the form of talismans, training, or teaching. Protagonists can be wizards, witches, sorcerers, magicians, shamans, apprentices, or practitioners of more esoteric traditions. Whether they pick it up on their own (accidentally or on purpose), learn from a master, or go to school for institutionalized training, they’ll be involved with magic to some degree. Or, of course, the protagonist could be without magic, and stumble into a world beyond their immediate knowledge. If authors wish to set something in a magical school of their own devising, or in a previously-established setting, that’s perfectly fine. But it doesn’t necessarily need to be set at a school, magical or otherwise, so long as the main characters are of the right age set. Just about every culture has some sort of tradition involving people who dabble in the supernatural to one end or another, and there’s a vast amount of potential left to be tapped in this genre, especially with teenage protagonists. Whether they’re wizards-in-training, voodoo princesses, the last descendant of an infamous historical figure, the newest apprentice in...

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: Up to 25¢ per word SPIDER, a literary magazine for children, features fresh and engaging literature, poems, articles, and activities for newly independent readers. Editors seek energetic, beautifully crafted submissions with strong “kid appeal” (an elusive yet recognizable quality, often tied to high-interest elements such as humor, adventure, and suspense). We have particular interests in stories that explore themes of identity (gender, race and ethnicity, neighborhoods, beliefs and traditions); citizenship and global cultures; scientific and technological exploration; and the creative spirit. SPIDER (for ages 6-9) is looking for fiction, poetry, activities, crafts, and recipes for the theme Spaceships and Superheroes. We’re interested in science-fiction and superhero stories about protagonists that save the day with help from super suits, super powers, or self-made gadgets. We’re especially interested in future technology like flying cars, interplanetary travel, holograms, robots, and teleporters. Take us on a time traveling mission or to the heart of a city that could use some saving. Especially welcome: twists on familiar comic book or sci-fi tropes, and female, people of color, and kid protagonists. Guidelines Before submitting, be sure to familiarize yourself with our magazines. (Sample copies are available for viewing at the Cricket Media Store, or you can order a current issue by calling 800-821-0115.)  Issues are also available at many local libraries.   Fiction Whether a fictional setting is long-ago or here-and-now, or the protagonist is the class clown or a talking tiger, characters and the worlds they inhabit should be complex and believable. Length: 300–1000 words   Poetry Poems should be succinct, imaginative, and accessible; we tend to avoid long narrative poems. Length: Up to 20 lines   Nonfiction For nonfiction, SPIDER readers enjoy well-researched articles about animals, kids their own age doing amazing things, and cool scientific discoveries (such as wetsuits for penguins and real-life invisibility...

Deadline: August 31st, 2017 Payment: $5 or $10 depending on length and a contributor's copy. Unfading Daydream is looking for unique and exceptional fiction to be showcased in our quarterly literary magazine. We strive to feature stories within the genres that have inspired us (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc) as well as stories that feature LGBTQ+ themes. We are brand new and looking for submissions for our debut issue. We are also currently seeking submissions for cover art. Basic Details We are open to established and new, emerging authors. In terms of length, we’re looking for stories between 1000 and 7000 words. Shorter or longer stories will be evaluated on a case by case basis. No previously published works. Reading periods are May, August, November, and February.  All submissions must be in by 11:59pm CST on the last day of the reading period (May, August, November, or February) Expect a decision within four weeks See full guidelines below Payment Stories that are between 1000-3000 words will receive $5. Stories that are longer than that will receive $10.  All contributors receive a hard copy of the magazine. Submissions We accept submissions only by email. Free to submit! Please send your submission to submit  unfadingdaydream com with the title of ‘Unfading Daydream Submission’. Full Guidelines We want to see your unique sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc. We prefer stories that are between 1000-7000 words, but if you feel that your 8000 word story or your 700 word story is brilliant, we’d love to see it. The Submission Piece One submission per author per reading period please. Contributors are allowed to include up to three stories in one submission. Please attach the stories individually to the submission email. Unless there is a theme stated for a particular reading period, there is no theme. Previously unpublished works only. No erotica please. Romance is fine and dandy though! We...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: $100usd Independent Legions Publishing is seeking original horror stories in English for the new anthology THE BEAUTY OF DEATH 2 - DEATH BY WATER, edited by Alessandro Manzetti and Jodi Renée Lester, to be published October 2017 in print and digital editions. We’re looking for stories that fit the theme: Death by Water. All types of horror are welcome. Sex or violence in a story should be artistically justified; no excessive gore. No stories about child abuse of any kind. We welcome all subgenres and forms of speculative fiction. Word Count: We are open to stories of 4000-5000 words. Deadline: September 1, 2017 Pay Rate: We pay (via PayPal) $100 for each original story. We buy first exclusive English-language rights for three years. We do not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions, nor do we accept unsolicited reprints. Submissions should follow standard manuscript format (12 pt Times New Roman or Courier fonts, 1” margins all around, line spacing 1½ or 2 spaces). It must be in .doc or .docx format or it will not be considered. Your name and contact information must be at the top of the first page of the story. Page numbers with author’s last name and/or partial story name on subsequent pages would be appreciated. Cover letter is optional, but if you do include one, please add a short bio (up to 200 words). Response time is currently within four weeks. After that, if you haven’t heard from us, please query. We will not be sending confirmations of receipt. ​ To submit a story, go to our story submission form below. To submit your story via email, put “SUBMISSION - TBOD2” in the subject line and send to: [email protected] SUBMIT Via: Independent Legions.

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Unlisted but “will always meet or exceed SFWA minimum compensation guidelines” Retro Future is a quarterly pulp magazine that searches for diverse, surprising, and progressive science fiction in art, prose, essay, and comics. Issue Submission Themes Issue #4: Resistance to oppression. Submissions Guidelines We welcome submissions of art and writing that approaches retrofuturism through a progressive lens. Essays and flash fiction of approximately 250-500 words is especially welcome; longer works may be serialized. Comic submissions should be 1-8 pages of finished work. Anything longer may get serialized across multiple issues. Please note that inside art should be in grayscale (please refer to art and comic templates for details.) Galileo Books acquires first serial rights; upon publication, these rights revert back to you, the author. We ask that you acknowledge Retro Future (Galileo Books) as the venue of original publication when the work appears in your book or is otherwise collected. If a work becomes unavailable while under our review, please contact us via email. Submitted work for specific issues may be considered for other issues if themes fit. Please include your name and contact information (at least an email) at the top of your submission. Art and comic templates are located here. Please make sure that art finals are high resolution (at least 300 DPI), in the RGB or Grayscale color space, and native Photoshop or TIFF files. No JPG or GIF. (Dropbox will ask you to join, you can ignore that and click the 'continue to download' link) Written material should be attached to the email in TXT, RTF or Word formats. Retro Future is a progressive publication. Subjects such as sexual violence, un-examined racism, and other potentially offensive material are often used as fodder for exposition in genre stories–this is not appropriate for...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Between $25 and $100 Tannhauser Press is looking for the short stories for the WHISPERS of the APOC anthology. Here is a set of common items all the submissions must include: The stories will be set after the Zombie Apocalypse has occurred. It could be the day it hit or a year later. The stories are from various locations around the country. No one knows why or how it happened. None of the stories will solve that mystery. Anyone that dies for any reason will become a zombie. The dead will turn Two to Ten minutes after they die, even if they were not bit. Zombies can only be killed with the destruction of the brain. The zombies dry out and mummify the older they get. Zombies hear and see and smell to find prey. It’s all they do. They will eat any mammal they can catch. Cats, dogs, rats, cows, horses, deer. Zombies get slower the older they get. Fresh ones can run and fight hard. Old zombies are shamblers. Zombie bites will not kill you outright. You die in 24 to 48 hours. Symptoms include sweating, extreme thirst, eventually fear of water (like rabies: Hydrophobia). These stories should be character driven and about survival. Stories will take place in a variety of places: Urban, suburban and rural. Even desolate places. The focus is on survival. Stories should be 5,000 to 20,000 words. Authors will be paid between $25 and $100 per story if accepted, with signed agreement. All submissions are to be delivered in MSWord format. Basic Italics and Bold are the only additional formatting used. Garamond 12 will be used. Scene changes will be separated by “ *** ”. WHISPERS of the APOC will be Rated R. The target soft deadline for...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: Royalties I’m looking for stories for the 5th TALES OF FORTANNIS anthology.  About the collection: The TALES OF FORTANNIS series is published by Double Dragon and is available in paperback, ebook, kindle, ibook, and nook. Double Dragon is perhaps the largest science fiction and fantasy e-book publisher out there, and has been around for about fifteen years. They have a good reputation, pay royalties on time, and make sure the book is available everywhere (Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, all e-book distributors). Previously unpublished authors are encouraged to submit, but should be aware that we ask for at least two years of exclusivity which can limit your ability to resell or republish the story later. (You can negotiate the exact terms of exclusivity with Double Dragon.) Once your story appears in TALES OF FORTANNIS, it will severely limit its future possibilities, including a future pay rate. Note as well that while the book will be promoted in a number of ways, sales will not be huge. Don’t give up your day job. You should be submitting mostly for the exposure. As a standard warning that applies in all similar cases, you need to decide if publishing your work in e-formats and/or on the web, giving up your First Publishing Right for a token payment, is really what you want to do. About Fortannis: Fortannis is the fantasy land where my novels ARCH ENEMIES and THE AXES OF EVIL take place as well as Derek Beebe’s recent novel IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH. Your story does not have to take place in the same kingdom as these stories, and you can create your own kingdom and characters; however, the more you can tie your story in with previous stories, the better. Fortannis is a high fantasy world with elves, dwarves, the mysterious...

Deadline: September 1st, 2017 Payment: $20 per piece Timeless Tales exclusively publishes retellings of fairy tales and myths. We only accept submissions that are retellings of the fairytale or myth listed as our theme. We don't accept original fairy tales or stories outside of our current theme. These are the known upcoming themes: #9. Rumpelstiltskin - Submission window Aug. 18 - Sept. 1, 2017. #10. TBD (But definitely one of the BIG famous fairy tales for our anniversary edition) Subscribe to our newsletter to vote on the theme and to receive notice when we decide on dates Additional Rules:  Length: Up to 2,000 words. Under 1,500 preferred. (For poems, you may technically send us multiple pieces up to 1,500 words total, but please be considerate of our editor and only send your best and most polished work). Genres:  As of 2016, we are now accepting poetry! In general, please think outside the box! We love to see modernizations, sci-fi retellings, prequels, continuations, mash-ups, etc. Just no eroticism, please (see Content section). Formatting: Please put your story's title and the author's name in the file name of your submission. Example: "Pandora's Choice by Zeus Smith.doc". Too often, we'll get a ton of submissions all labeled "Pandoras Box.doc" and it makes it harder to keep track of them.  Want to know what makes an A+ fairy tale retelling?, HERE is my blog post about it. Content: While Timeless Tales is not targeted specifically at children, it is a fairly conservative magazine, especially when it comes to language and sexual content, so I intend to keep the stories in the PG-13 range or below. However, I have a deep appreciation for the darker side of many original fairy tales, so don’t assume I only want “happy” stories. Pay Rate: As of 2016, we have slightly raised our rates. We now pay a flat rate of $20 per piece accepted--both poetry and fiction. You'll also get a free year...