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Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: Contributor's copy Theme: Horror that contains a main character named Marisa and a garden statue Submission deadline is June 30, 2020. MARISA’S RECURRING NIGHTMARES GUIDELINES Thank you for choosing to submit to the sixth annual Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (GLAHW) mini-anthology. We are looking for horror fiction, between 2,000 and 5,000 words, along with the following requirements. 1. A feature character named Marisa. She can be the protagonist, antagonist, monster, victim, friend, etc. As long as she (or, I suppose they, since gender fluidity is fine) plays a significant, if not pivotal role in the story. 2. The story must contain a garden statue. How you use the statue is up to you. Please follow the standard format rules. Here’s a handy site, in case you’re not conversant with those: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html. I will be editing the stories, but I will not make any changes without first discussing them with you, the writer. I’m a writer, too, and I know what it’s like to have my story altered without my consent. I won’t do that to you. Having said that, however, I will try my best to make each of the stories in this anthology the best they can be. So, if I give you notes, I’d appreciate it if you’d consider them carefully. I’m not saying you have to agree with me (I’ve had plenty of writers argue with me, and sometimes, I see their point and concede the edit). Just that you listen. The cover art for Marisa’s Recurring Nightmares will be handled by the talented Steve Bejma PAYMENT All acceptances will receive one (1) Contributor’s Copy and our humble thanks. We’re happy to mail it to you anywhere in the U.S. Authors outside the U.S., you will get our eternal thanks and a digital copy. Accepted members will...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 advance, royalties, 2 contributors copies Theme: A horror wester anthology Six Guns Straight From Hell was a western horror anthology first published by Science Fiction Trails in 2010.  A second volume came out in 2014. We’re going to bring a third volume in late 2020. The project is being edited by David B. Riley and J. A. Campbell. We are looking for original western horror.  Look at the title. Scare us or shoot somebody. Better yet, do some of both.  We’re not requiring gunplay, but it would help.  The preference will be for active stories. Any type of horror is okay, including dark fantasy, although we’re not fans of excessive sex or gore.  Have some sense of danger or peril.  Unlikely heroes or villains are especially wanted.  Above all else, give us a flavor of the Wild West along with whatever supernatural elements you bring to the table. Stories should take place in the western United States between 1850 and 1900. This can include western Canada and northern Mexico. Preferred length is 1k to 5k words, although we will accept stories to 8k words. We tend to see too many sheriff stories. There were plenty of other people out west, including merchants, photographers, reporters, ranchers, Indians, miners, soldiers, telegraph operators, saloon keepers and prostitutes. We encourage stories involving these folks.  If you do feel the need for a lawman, make that person interesting—not simply a walking badge. Over the years, we’ve noticed some common mistakes a lot of writers make.  We thought we’d mention a few of them. Ships. The names of ships are italicized.  Yep, they are. A lot of folks don’t seem to realize this. Short stories: Titles of short stories are not underlined. They should be put in quotation marks.  Names...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $25.00 and a contributors copy Theme: A strong female Main Character who will do whatever it takes to protect/avenge those she loves and must be written in the horror genre Do you want your story to appear in the next volume of the Better Off Dead Series? IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE: Volume 3 Submission Guidelines ​ Please read carefully. Submissions that don't meet the guidelines will be automatically rejected. ​ All submissions will be reviewed after the submission deadline and chosen stories will be published in IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE- TALES OF DEADLY WOMEN AND RETRIBUTION - The Better Off Dead Series Volume 3, which will be released in the fall of 2020 Submissions must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words Title, submitter's name, pen name (if different), word count and email address must be centered at the top of your submission Submissions must be 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced with special first-line indentation of 0.5" Submissions must be in .Docx format with 1" margins all around Submissions should be clean and edited Submissions must have a strong female Main Character who will do whatever it takes to protect/avenge those she loves and must be written in the horror genre Submissions cannot contain graphic sexual or rape scenes Submissions must not have been published elsewhere before in any medium The number of stories published will depend on word count of the chosen stories, but will be no less than ten stories and no more than twenty Authors may submit as many stories as they want for review, however, there will be a limit of one published story per author The deadline for submission is June 30th, 2020 Authors will be notified by July 31st, 2020 if their story was selected Authors...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: 50% of net revenue Theme: Bizarro! WE ARE CURRENTLY OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS APRIL 1 – JUNE 30, 2020 All submissions will receive a reply on July 31, 2020. What we are looking for: Eraserhead Press is seeking original novellas and novels of 20,000 to 100,000 words in length that fit into the Bizarro Fiction category. We want surprising, unique, well-crafted weird stories with compelling plots, eccentric characters, and never-before-seen concepts. We want a balance of both plot and character – we love weird characters with weird problems in weird places. We are looking for exciting concepts that make people say “I have to read that!” and well-developed characters they can fall in love with along the way. We’re most drawn to darkly absurd tales that are addictive to read and contain a strong emotional core. We love fiction that is both heart-rending and fun. While it may or may not be funny, we are interested in more than just a joke. If you can make us both laugh and cry or creep us out and draw us in, we will love your book. We are looking for entertaining and accessible stories that speak to a specific audience. Will your book appeal to vegan punks? Riot grrls? Overworked airline pilots? Cos-players? Fans of 80s New Wave? If you’ve identified the audience for your work, please tell us in your book description. Multiple submissions are okay – during our open submission period we are open to reading as many manuscripts as you feel would meet our criteria but we are only interested in your best work. Bring it on! We are interested in writers from underrepresented populations. This includes, but is not limited to, writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class and physical or mental ability. We want to work with open-minded, creative people who are interested in connecting...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $.005 per word Theme: Horror and humor mixed together Horror. Comedy. Two totally different genres. Yet something amazing happens when they are able to combine in a way that keeps both the horror, and the humor. In Coffin Blossoms, we seek those rare stories that make us chuckle while giving us goosebumps. They are usually full of one-line zingers, and absurd situations. The ability to combine humor with horror in a respectable work of fiction is rare, but at Jolly Horror Press, we know these stories exist. That’s why WE exist, to give them their proper home. Bring us your funny horror, the ridiculous situations that are both scary and make you roll on the floor. You can write about whatever you want, there is no theme for this one. The only requirement is that it is horror, and hilarity. Your story must include elements of both horror and comedy. We wanna chuckle when we read it, in between sh*tting our pants. Specific guidlines are below: Coffin Blossoms Guidelines Here are a couple of tips to put your story in better position to be accepted. 1. Fit the theme. Horror/Comedy. Scare us and make us laugh. If we don't laugh a few times, we're not going to accept your story. If all we do is laugh, same thing. 2. Be within our word count guidelines (for Coffin Blossoms, 2000 to 6000) or query us for shorter/longer. 3. No matter how good your story is, if it hasn't been edited, there is a big chance we won't accept it. In the past, we've accepted stories that needed a lot of editing work, but it took so much effort to make them presentable. We aren't doing that anymore. If within a page or two of reading the story we...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: One cent per word Theme: The lore, myths, and legends of women who dwell in the forest. Women of the Woods is an upcoming collection about the lore, myths, and legends of women who dwell in the forest. Historically, it's the witches, artists, and outcasts who make the dark forest their home. Whether you retell a piece of folklore or create something altogether new, Fabled Collective would love to see your story. We are looking for spooky, eerie, gothic tales that leave out the gore and focus more on a feeling of dread and foreboding. We're interested in stories with rich, haunting settings. Think dark fantasy or quiet horror. Give us complex characters, ghosts, witches, magical realism, and more! Submission Guidelines: Stories between 2,000-8,000 words. Please format all submissions TNR 12pt, double spaced, with page numbers. Word documents preferred. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please let us know immediately if you've accepted publication elsewhere. No previously published stories. Only one submission per author. Please Include: A short bio. Links to your social media and website. Payment: One cent per word to be paid upon acceptance. ​Examples: 2,000 words = $20 5,000 words = $50 8,000 words = $80 Rights: Fabled Collective is free to publish your work in ebook, print, and audiobook formats, but the author retains rights to sell, publish, and distribute their work in the future if desired. All work must be original. Fabled is free to grammatically edit all works. Send to: Please send your work to [email protected]. Via: Fabled Collective.

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Prize: $350 Theme: a personal history of how you dealt with being isolated from your community, we would prefer stories of a more distracting nature Note: Apologies for the short window, thought we published this one already! Send us your stories, be they poetry or prose, to be published in a forthcoming compilation In 1348, the Black Plague hit Florence, Italy, and it would kill tens of thousands of the city's residents by the time the pandemic was over in 1351. Among those who lived in Florence at the time was Giovanni Boccacio, who would become famous for writing The Decameron. A collection of 100 short stories, The Decameron's main narrative tells the tale of seven young women and three young men who escape the plague by travelling to a countryside villa. There, they each tell one story each night for ten nights. The title "Decameron" combines the Greek words for "ten" and "day." The stories themselves were not about the plague. The 10 characters wanted to escape its horrors mentally as well as figuratively. They told stories of love, of lust, greed, of the fickleness of fortune, of the power of the human will. These stories would inspire the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Moliere, to name a few. We're now living through a similar moment in time, as we each do our part in fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. At Muskeg Press, we look back and admire the attitude of Boccacio, who, in the midst of a terrible pestilence, wrote a great work of art that survives to the present day. With that in mind, we are putting out a CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for any author out there who would like to spend this time in self-isolation to write a story for a forthcoming publication of Muskeg Press....

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Alternate history set in Australia Australia: the youngest continent in terms of recorded history, the smallest in population unless one counts Antarctica, yet still packed full of What If? possibilities. From Aboriginal civilisation to Gallipoli, from Cook and La Pérouse to Maintain Your Rage, the Land Down Under is begging to be the subject of more alternate history tales. Now's your chance to write one. This anthology will be edited by none other than @Jared Kavanagh, author of the greatly ambitious and justly popular Australian timeline Lands of Red and Gold (whose first volume was recently published by SLP). His submission guidelines are listed below. - Alternate history set in (or mostly in) Australia, or otherwise which has a very strong link to Australia. - Aiming for around 10-12 stories with a total length of 60-70,000 words - Average story length should be 3000-8000 words, but flexible - Focus is on realism rather than supernatural aspects, but contact me if unsure - Closing date for submissions is 30 June 2020. If you're interested in submitting an entry, first contact Jared Kavanagh at [email protected] to discuss. Will consider all entries, but lodging a submission does not guarantee inclusion in the final anthology. Please make sure you use the email address [email protected] to submit stories or make queries (rather than PMs or social media messages), as we want to limit the number of avenues of discussion to make sure no-one is overlooked by accident. Come on over and give AH writing a go, we'll throw another shrimp on the barbie for you. Via: Sea Lion Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 Theme: Humans as the aliens What This Is  In science fiction, humans are usually boring compared to other spacefaring races: small, weak, with no claws or tentacles, and no special abilities to speak of.  If we’re lucky, humans have an indomitable spirit when the chips are down.  Not much more than that. But we don’t have to be boring.  We can be the impressive ones, the unsettling ones, the ones talked about by all the other aliens.  Maybe body heat is rare.  Maybe the most civilized species all eat very specialized diets, and have never heard of an omnivore.  Maybe other aliens don’t tend to domesticate animals, and don’t understand cats or dogs or horses or the ability of that one stranded crew to tame a half-dozen monsters by the time they were rescued — and no they most certainly can’t bring the things on board; I don’t care if they are “friend shaped”! The possibilities are endless.  Writers online have been exploring these ideas, taking them in fascinating directions, and there’s enough material out there to fill many books.  I’m putting together an anthology of the best.  Vivian Caethe blazed the trail with the Humans Wanted anthology, which focused on the ways a human can be valuable in space.  This collection will explore the many ways that humans can be weird. Even by our own planet’s standards, our endurance tops the charts.  We take a fondness to inanimate objects, granting them names and personalities.  We teach our young to imitate other animals’ calls, and get unnervingly good at it.  Our teeth grow back once.  We navigate by something called “eyesight.” If this sounds like your kind of story, then come join the adventure!  There’s plenty of adventure to be had.  You’ll never think of humans as boring again....

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: USD $0.05 (five cents) per word Theme: Original flash fiction stories in the gothic fiction genre Note: My apologies for the short window, this one didn't hit my radar sooner. Love Letters to Poe seeks original flash fiction stories in the gothic fiction genre. We’re open to submissions now through the end of June 2020. Fiction Guidelines What we’re looking for:  - Original, previously unpublished gothic flash fiction - Stories that evoke wonder and terror, romance and horror - Complete story arcs with character growth - Avoid explicit sexual content - Avoid excessive gore Word Count: Up to 1,500 words, with a preference for shorter works. As this is a firm limit, sadly, longer submissions will be rejected unread. Please do not inquire about longer submissions. Payment: USD $0.05 (five cents) per word of original fiction. Payment via PayPal. Our payment is at the professional Horror Writers Association qualifying market level. Rights: We claim first worldwide rights, non-exclusive reprint rights, non-exclusive audio rights, and non-exclusive anthology rights for our annual anthology. Language: English Preferred format: Standard manuscript format Cover letter: Brief is best! Please note the length of your story, the title, a short reference to relevant publishing history, and a link to your website, if you have one. If your submission is set in the world of a work of gothic fiction in the public domain, please also note this. Fiction Submissions Process After reading the above guidelines and making sure your story meets them, you can submit your story by going to Moksha. Unfortunately, submissions sent by email or any other means than Moksha as well as submissions sent outside open submissions periods will be deleted unread. SUBMIT Submissions FAQs Do you take multiple submissions? While your first submission during an open submissions period is free, if you’re interested in submitting additional stories during an open...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Speculative fiction, primarily horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Formatting Guidelines This is proving to be a recurring problem, so we're putting it up front. Please, for all our sakes, read this next part carefully. All submissions should be sent by e-mail (no letters or telephone calls please) to [email protected]. Below are some formatting rules to help us process your submission more quickly. EMAIL AND COVER LETTERS Email is accepted in both text and HTML formats. When submitting, please put this in the subject line: Submission: (Title) - (First and Last name) Include the following in the body of the email and in the attached submission: Your name Name to use on the story (byline), if different Your preferred email address Your mailing address The story's title The story's word count You may also include a cover letter in the body of the email. We get a lot of strange stuff in cover letters, so if you're unsure of what goes in them (and especially what doesn't) please refer to these cover letter tips: How to write a cover letter | What not to put in a cover letter by Jed Hartman SUBMISSION FORMATTING We ONLY accept submissions as attachments! All stories submitted as an attachment must follow standard manuscript formatting. We will no longer read any story not properly formatted. (And we much prefer Courier New to Times New Roman) For explanations and tips on what SMF is and how to do it with word processing programs, please see this article. Please send your submission as an attachment in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Rich Test Format (.rtf) only. Other formats, such as Works, WordPerfect, Open Office, etc., have proven difficult to open. Please note that we no longer accept "inline" submssions; that is, submissions with the stories pasted directly into the...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $15 and 3 contributors copies Theme: Feminist speculative chapbooks — that can mean poetry, prose, fantasy, sci-fi, fairy tales, folklore, fabulism, horror, slipstream, solarpunk, or anything else speculative CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Sword & Kettle Press is seeking manuscript submissions for Cup & Dagger, our mini-chapbook series. Each chap will be 12 total pages, including covers, printed on three sheets of cardstock and bound together by hand. We’re looking for feminist speculative chapbooks — that can mean poetry, prose, fantasy, sci-fi, fairy tales, folklore, fabulism, horror, slipstream, solarpunk, or anything else speculative! We would love to see OwnVoices speculative writing. Please note that you do not need to be female or femme to submit a piece; writers of any gender identity and expression are welcome. Submission are open from June 1-30, 2020. SUBMISSION & PUBLICATION PROCESS To submit your chapbook manuscript, please fill out this submission form. We’re looking for up to 2000 words for prose, and up to 8 poems for poetry. You’re welcome to include your own cover, artwork, photos, or collages if you like, or just send us your writing and we’ll lend a hand with the design. Please submit only one chapbook. If your manuscript is accepted, we’ll notify you via email and send you a contract. After the contract has been digitally signed, we’ll send payment confirmation and get to work on your chap! We offer an honorarium of $15 for each accepted chapbook, and will send 3 contributor copies. Copies of the chapbooks will be sold in our online shop and at local craft fairs and markets. EDITORS The Cup & Dagger series will be edited by Kay Allen, Naseem Jamnia, and Jessie Ulmer. Kay wants to see pieces with hopeful visions of what life could be like, whether that's...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: 5 cents ($.05) per word for nonfiction and prose fiction. Poetry pays $50 flat per poem. Theme: Work inspired by Ligotti WE WANT: Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re interested. As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewellyn, S. P. Miskowski, Junji Ito, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D. Klein, Kelly Link, Helen Marshall, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Allyson Bird, Laird Barron, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Nicole Cushing, Victor LaValle, Mark Samuels, and many more have produced work that we would love to see subjected to intelligent critical analysis and discussion. Literary Horror Fiction from 750 to 6,000 words. We are looking for original work inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes (regarding which, see the list on our main page). Poetry at a length of no more than 50 lines, dealing with subjects and themes that fall within our area of interest. Artwork that similarly addresses our subject matter. DIVERSITY STATEMENT: Vastarien believes in promoting a range of excellent writing and artwork from authors of diverse backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations. We encourage submissions from authors and artists traditionally underrepresented in horror and pieces that reflect these varying perspectives. The following authors and their work are of especial interest to Vastarien: Charles Baudelaire Thomas Bernhard Aloysius Bertrand Jorge Luis Borges William S. Burroughs Angela Carter Louis Ferdinand Celine E. M. Cioran Charlotte Perkins Gilman Douglas Harding Shirley Jackson U. G. Krishnamurti H. P. Lovecraft Vladimir Nabokov Emile Nelligan Michael Persinger Edgar Allan Poe Maurice Rollinat Arthur Schopenhauer Bruno Schulz Paul Valery Peter Wessel Zapffe LENGTH: See the specific guidelines above for length requirements for different types of submissions. Additionally, in no case will a submission over 7,500 words be considered...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $100 for stories and $25 for poems Theme: Heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is generally open to fiction and poetry submissions four months per year. The months you can submit are: March June September  December  If you submit fiction or poetry in any other month, you will receive an auto-response and your tale will not be reviewed. * * * As its name suggests, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place. We pay $100 for stories and $25 for poems, upon publication.  (Scroll down for info on art submissions.) We purchase first world English language electronic rights, electronic rights for 90 days, archival rights for twelve months, and excerpt rights. Our fiction word limit is a soft 10,000 words, although we are willing to serialize at a maximum of 50,000 words over four issues. You may submit up to three poems, with a cumulative maximum of 30 pages.   No simultaneous submissions, please. While we don’t have iron-clad rules regarding our fiction payment, we roughly pay $25 for stories under 1,000 words, $50 for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words, $75 for stories between 5,000 and 7,500 words and $100, for stories of 7,500 words and over. Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry epics/sagas/vedas will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25. Art: HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each new issue. Please review art from the past two issues to see the style we prefer. Image dimensions should be approximately 850 x 250...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $20 for stories between 300 and 8,000 words, $10 for flash fiction (under 300 words not counting the title), and $10 for poetry. Theme: Global warming causing or exacerbating a global epidemic or pandemic. The initial submission window closed on January 1st, 2020, but I'm briefly reopening the anthology (until June 30, 2020) for submissions of an additional, very specific type of global warming story: I'd thought the anthology was complete, but recent events proved that there's one type of story missing from the cli-fi anthology: a story or stories about global warming causing or exacerbating a global epidemic or pandemic.  For example, malaria mosquitoes have been moving farther north, but rather than using malaria, write about a fictional pandemic that's caused or exacerbated by global warming.  You can build on what we currently know about COVID-19, or even mention that your fictional pandemic is "worse than the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/the early 2020s/the 2020s" (God help us if the COVID-19 pandemic lasts the entire decade), but your pandemic story must also have a tie-in to global warming. For an idea of some real science behind such a story, read this article: "The Next Pandemic Could Be Hiding in the Arctic Permafrost". ​ Please follow the guidelines below. Payment is $20 for stories between 300 and 8,000 words, $10 for flash fiction (under 300 words not counting the title), and $10 for poetry. Again, the submissions window is now open only for pandemic stories involving global warming. To all authors who submitted works in 2019: Feel free to submit a second story involving an epidemic or pandemic caused (or exacerbated) by global warming. All submissions from 2019 have been reviewed, and 36 stories and poems were accepted, written by authors from nine (9) different nations representing four of Earth's continents!  All authors have been notified if their story or poem was accepted.  I'm now in the process of sending out contracts...

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: AUD$80 per accepted story as our standard rate Theme: Climate Change Bushland is burning. Forecasts say the Arctic will be ice-free in the summers to come. Oceans are swelling with the run-off, and heaving with plastics and endocrine disruptors. Coral is dying, and the knock-on effects have barely begun. Climate change is here. Now what are we going to do about it? Do we need to help the environment change as fast as the climate? Release chemical mutagens into the ecosystem to drive natural selection at a hundred miles an hour so we can see what survives on the other side? Is it time to reinvent our social, political, and economic systems from the top down – or the bottom up? Our current lifestyles could become as alien to the next generation as the Aztec civilisation now is to us. In a world of guerrilla-style eco warriors, or digitised barter economies, or robot socialism, or ageographical nation states, what will we preserve? Which threads will we weave forward? Or could it be that a more gradual transformation of our destructive policies is the way to safety, taking each set of problems one box at a time? Our future could look much like our present, but with supercharged carbon sequestration, genetically modified bacteria safely breaking down plastics, and next-generation smart phones. How does it start? What drives it onward? Or do we need to move backwards? Our answers may not lie in the new, but in the old. Perhaps our best future is a radical rebuilding of history, and all we need to decide on is whose. And Lately, The Sun explores such ideas in a short story anthology slated for publication in November 2020. We are currently calling for submissions until midnight (GMT) on the 30th of...

Deadline June 30th, 2020 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: A strong female Main Character who will do whatever it takes to protect/avenge those she loves and must be written in the horror genre Do you want your story to appear in the next volume? IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE: Volume 3 Submission Guidelines Below ​ Please read carefully. Submissions that don't meet the guidelines will be automatically rejected. All submissions will be reviewed after the submission deadline and chosen stories will be published in IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE- TALES OF DEADLY WOMEN AND RETRIBUTION - The Better Off Dead Series Volume 3, which will be released in the fall of 2020 Submissions must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words Title, submitter's name, pen name (if different), word count and email address must be centered at the top of your submission Submissions must be 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced with special first-line indentation of 0.5" Submissions must be in .Docx format with 1" margins all around Submissions should be clean and edited Submissions must be have a strong female Main Character who will do whatever it takes to protect/avenge those she loves and must be written in the horror genre Submissions cannot contain graphic sexual or rape scenes Submissions must not have been published elsewhere before in any medium The number of stories published will depend on word count of the chosen stories, but will be no less than ten stories and no more than twenty Authors may submit as many stories as they want for review, however, there will be a limit of one published story per author The deadline for submission is June 30th, 2020 Authors will be notified by July 31st, 2020 if their story was selected Authors That Are Selected For Inclusion...

Deadline June 30th,2020 Payment: 80/20 split. 80% will go to the contributing authors to be paid within 10 days of Amazon payments for the book. Are you an Edgar Alan Poe fan? Would you like to be in an Anthology dedicated to his style of writing? Stories are to be in the fashion of Poe's writing. 5k can be a little bit over. Completed stories must be edited, but not formatted. Deadline June 30,2020 Release: July 2020 No buy-in. Published by Heart's On Fire Publishing, LLC https://www.facebook.com/groups/1172927172906061/ Payment will be an 80/20 split. 80% will go to the contributing authors to be paid within 10 days of Amazon payments for the book. 20% goes to the publisher for the cost of the cover, formatting, and an extra round of edits on all stories. Each author will receive a .mobi copy of the anthology to use specifically for giveaways. Paperbacks will be able to be bought from the publisher at cost. Stories should be submitted to [email protected]. Please put Poe in the comments of the email. Thank you!!  

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: $40 and a contributors copy Theme: Silence is the theme of this anthology. From tales of what lurks in a world without sound to characters whose voice are taken or go unheard, we want them all. Open for Submissions until June 30th 2020 Sonorous silence Silence is the theme of this anthology. From tales of what lurks in a world without sound to characters whose voice are taken or go unheard, we want them all. ​ We hope to keep the theme loose to allow the author creative freedom. If you think an idea fits, let us have it. ​ The word count for short stories should be between 2k and 10k. Formatting When submitting, please format your works using the industry standard. You can find a lovely guide here. ​ Basically:        -Courier or Times New Roman (The former is preferred)        -12pt font        -Double Spaced        -Include a header with your legal name, address, and e-mail        -Give us a word count on the first page        -Subsequent pages should be numbered and labelled with the author's last name ​ ​ ​ ​ Submissions should be made to:       [email protected] ​        -In the subject line tell us the submission type and title.         (ex. "Anthology- Book Title") ​ ​ ​ ​ Pay Since we are new and will be paying for expenses out of our own pocket for the time being, pay isn't going to be as great as we'd like. In time, we hope to be able to offer our authors more. For now, rates are as follows. ​ ​ Short Stories:        A flat rate of $40 + contributor copy Via: Pavor Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Lethal Impact (Rated R) Deadline – June 30th, 2020 Publication – September 2020 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – In this post-apocalyptic anthology, nothing matters except survival. In a world full of humans pitted against each other, how can there be anyone left to trust? After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. View our blog post on the topic of how to submit to a publisher.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2020 Payment: Contributor's Copy Theme: How did the elves vanish? A Collection of Short Tales Zimbell House is holding open submissions for short tales about how the elves vanished. Let your imagination roam and put our readers in the middle of the action. We want complete stories that explain the last war of the elven race. Who was it between? How did it start? Where did the elves go after the war ended? What realm was the war fought on? What was life like before the war, and then show us the after-effects. Please keep foul language to a minimum-it loses its punch if over-used. Dialogue needs to be believable, and please keep dialects/slang to a bare minimum if you must use them. No head-hopping or POV changes. Pick one point of view and stick with it. Please show more of the action than just telling the reader what happens. Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,500 and the maximum word count is 19,500. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: June 30, 2020, with a targeted release date of late August 2020. Submit your best work. Poorly formatted and unedited work will be turned down. Please use Americanized English spellings. We will be doing light editing as necessary to fit the standards we strive to maintain. Submission Guidelines: Any work under 4,500 words will be automatically disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print or online anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit up to three (3) unique works—please submit them separately. Work must be in Microsoft Word or RTF, double-spaced, 12-point font-no headers/footers....

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $100 Theme: Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. The first edition of The-Binge Watching Cure encompassed a huge variety of genres. The second edition centered on horrific themes that kept us up at night. For the third volume, we are abandoning earthly conventions entirely in favor of the weird, wild worlds of science fiction. So what is science fiction? SF features stories based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social, environmental, and evolutionary changes. That is just a textbook definition. Science fiction has a huge range of subgenres, and I’d love to see them all. Alien races, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic futures, colonization, cyberpunk, etc. Remember, first and foremost, this is a science fiction anthology. It’s okay if your story has some genre crossover, but we are less likely to except an alien invasion that reads like zombie novella. For the SF volume, we are offering a one-time payment of $100 for each story. We will be licensing the non-exclusive print and electronic book rights, including foreign-language rights (but not audio, film rights, or magazine rights). Your name and bio will be included along with your story. Submissions will open January 20th and close July 1st. Use “Last name – SF – word length category” as the subject line of your email. Questions? Visit our FAQ page. Our FAQ page has more detail about the kind of stories we’re looking for as well as details on formatting and publication details. Ready to submit? Hop over to our submissions page. Via: The Binge-Watching Cure.

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Dark fantasy that includes elemental magic Submission Open: April 1, 2020 Submission Close: July 1, 2020 Publishing timeline: December 2020 SOON Theme: Think Elemental Magic This title is a work in progress Think Elemental Magic DARK FANTASY - Rated R Stories welcome ​ Theme: Elemental Magic - Earth, wind, fire, water and spirit. Dark versus light. We are giving a lot of leeway for story building, but magic must play a part in your world and there must be a dark fantasy element. Create a fantasy world for this to all play out in, or build something in ours. The choice is yours. The only requirement is that you must feature elemental magic. Fae and other realms, magic and witches, dragons or orcs, all magical and fantastic creatures are welcome. This one has opportunities for a lot of world-building so the call out is for larger stories. We will only be accepting a limited number of stories for this project, but volume II is under consideration. Stand-alone stories only, no to be continued. ​ Word Count is 7000 - 15000 (not a hard limit) we are looking for longer stories and small novella's. ​ Compensation: Equal royalty split per story. Digital copy. ​ Formatting guidelines: See our Submission Format guide below ​ How to submit: Submission form will open in April 2020 ​ Multiple Submission: Yes - We will be happy to read up to two stories per author, but note we will only be accepting one story per book. Please send each story in a separate form. Reprints: No. ​ Things that are a hard pass: any animal erotica and all forms of rape Remember to read the submission guidelines in full. Failure to comply could result in your submission being rejected or sent back for correction. At this time we are only accepting manuscripts in English. Word...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: 750-1500 words - $10, 350-749 words - $5, Reprints at $5 and $3 for the previous word counts. Theme: POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. Note: Reprints Welcome People of Color Destroy Lovecraft  ​Lovecraft wrote some hella scary monsters, on that most horror scholars agree, but he was terribly racist. I would like to see for this issue, POC characters that turn Lovecraft's racism and monsters on his/their heads. My preference for this issue is to have the majority of stories written by writers of color, if not all. Queer writers of color are especially encouraged to submit. Flash/shorts (750-1500 words. No more, no less) for $10 per piece original, previously unpublished. Microfics (350-749 words) will pay at a $5 per story rate for original, previously unpublished stories. NO POETRY OR DRABBLES FOR THIS ONE. Reprints will be accepted on this one. BUT will pay at a $5 rate for flash/shorts (750-1500 words) and $3 for microfics (350-749 words). You must identify your story as a reprint on the cover page of the manuscript and provide the market and date (mo/yr) where it was last published. Please follow instructions on the Guidelines page and include your name, PayPal email, and word count (total, not approximate) on the first page of your story document. Deadline July 1st, 2020.  Via: The Were-Traveler.

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission : Not of this World To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here . ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE. NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright. The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline. NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission. BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: $5 for 500 to 1000 words, $10 for 1000 to 3000 words, $25 for 3000 to 5000 words Tell-Tale Press now has submissions open to SHORT STORIES ONLY for at least one year, from July 1, 2019 through July 1, 2020. We plan to read through submissions as they are received and choose stories to publish on the Tell-Tale Press website online as they are selected. The stories may also be selected for digital and/or print anthologies in the future. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 500 to 5000 words ONLY. Shorter or longer pieces will not be considered, even if it's just a few words. Word count does not include title, author's name and contact information, and any section numbers or section breaks. Original work only. No reprints, unless you are an author who has previously published with Tell-Tale Press. No simultaneous submissions. Only four submissions total per author during this time period. If you send more than four submissions, all of your stories will automatically be rejected. PLEASE FOLLOW STANDARD MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING. This includes one-inch margins, double spacing, either Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font in 12 point, and consecutive page numbers. ANY STORY THAT IS POORLY FORMATTED WILL NOT BE READ. Click here for guidelines on how to create a standard manuscript. YOU MUST USE THE SUBMISSION FORM ON THE WEBSITE, including the upload link as to where to upload your story. Any stories submitted not using this format will not be considered. Your file must be in the format of .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf. STORY REQUIREMENTS The story must fall in the genre of fantasy, horror, mystery/crime, and/or science fiction. There is no specific theme at this time. Some examples of what will be considered are crossover work, such as sci-fi horror or horror western, and subgenres such as historical fiction, steampunk,...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Tiny Red Suitcase To download a PDF file of the guidelines, click here . ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE. NOTE: Previously published pieces are welcome, provided that the submission fits the theme and that the author owns the copyright. The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the plot, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline.  NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission.  BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside the U.S. For those living outside the U.S., submit manuscript as an email attachment (readable by MSWord ― either as a DOC file or an RTF file), and include the following information on the...

Deadline: July 1st, 2020 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but...

Deadline: July 2nd, 2020 Payment: 6 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored.   We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of —...

Deadline: July 5th, 2020 Payment: $50 and a contributors copy Gothic Blue Books were short fictions popular in the 18th and 19th century. They were descendants of the chap book trade and are now a thing of the past. Burial Day Books is now open for submissions for Gothic Blue Book Vol. 6 to be available October 31st 2020. What was a Gothic Blue Book? Gothic Blue Books were abridgements of full-length Gothic novels. The subjects of these books fell into one of two categories; the first being set in a monastery or convent and the second being set in a castle. In terms of the physicality of the book, they were three and a half to four inches in width and six to seven inches in height, with a page count of thirty-six to seventy-two pages. These little pieces of terror were popular at the time because they were affordable, a sixpence or a shilling each. Their cost affordability led them to be nicknamed Shilling Shockers or Sixpenny Shockers. What are we looking for? Original Gothic Blue Books typically took place in either a monastery, convent or castle. In years past we have asked for short stories that take place in one of these locations, or a modern day location such as a morgue, haunted house or cemetery. This year, we have added a new theme – Krampus, Christmas, and ghosts / lore from the globe revolving around a major celebration. Christmas ghost tales have a history stretching back that includes Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL and more. Please submit a short story or poem no longer than 3,500 words that follows one of the following: A single mention or setting in one of the original Gothic Blue Book settings: a) Monastery b) Convent c) Castle OR – A single...

Deadline: July 6th, 2020 Payment: Split of 20% of royalties between the authors Theme: Short stories revolving around the planet or God Neptune Note: Reprints accepted Starting in December 2019, Tuscany Bay Books will be releasing an 11-book anthology series: Planetary Anthology Series. First up is Pluto. You can pre-order the e-book edition now. On Dec. 5th you can get it for free if you are a KU subscriber on Amazon. Shortly after Dec. 5th you should be able to order the paperback edition as well. Next up is Luna and then Uranus. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Sol and Saturn should then follow. NOTE: Submissions are now open again for Neptune and Saturn. Payment is a split of 20% of royalties between the authors. For more info on what is required and how to submit, see this post: ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION CALL   Lord of the Sea. Ruler of Pisces. Exalted in Cancer. Mythologically, Neptune is associated with the sea, navigation, springs, horses, and racing. Astrologically, Neptune associated with idealism, dreams, dissolution, artistry, fluidity, illusion, and glamor. Astronomically, it is the beautiful sea-blue eighth planet. All these together tie into what we think of when we hear “Neptune.” Stories working with the genre conventions of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Weird/Pulp, or anywhere between will be considered. • Word count is 1,000 – 10,000 • Poems will be accepted • Reprints will be accepted • Stories may be connected to Neptune astronomically, mythologically, or astrologically, as you prefer Please submit to the editor, Jake Freivald, directly at [email protected] Subject line should appear as follows: Neptune Submission/Story Title/Author SurnameTentative submissions close date: You can submit until it’s no longer July 6, 2020 or earlier anywhere in the world. Via: Tuscany Bay Books.

Deadline: July 7th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. Note: This is listed on the site a day early, do not submit until the 1st. Fantasy is a digital short fiction magazine edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg. Instructions for submitting to Fantasy Magazine follow. Please read everything on this page and read the magazine before submitting. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Submission Periods: Fantasy is open to submissions the first week of every month (1st-7th). Please do not query about submitting outside our open submission periods. Anonymous Submissions: Fantasy only accepts anonymous submissions. Do not include your name, address, phone number, or other similar identifiers on the manuscript. All original short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry submissions will be read anonymously on first read: moving out of slush depends on the merits of the story alone. Please make sure the title is on the manuscript. Instructions: All fiction must be submitted through our Moksha online submission system. Please do not email your submissions. If one of the Submission Type options is grayed out, that means we are currently closed to that Submission Type. Questions/Problems: Email [email protected] for all submission-related inquiries, or if you have any trouble using our online submission system. Please do not email your submissions to this address. All submissions must be submitted via our Moksha online submission system. Rejections/Response Times: Be aware that we expect to receive several hundred submissions during our submissions periods. As such, we cannot offer personalized feedback on each story. If we say “send more” it means we really do hope to see something else from you. Most rejections will be sent out within a few business days, while stories being seriously considered may be held for up to a few weeks. Please do not respond to rejection letters, even just to say...

Deadline: July 10th, 2020 Payment: $80 USD per piece Theme: Flash fiction stories from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) writers who re-envision the future For the rest of 2020, we’re asking writers to reimagine our world for the better. We’re looking for flash fiction stories from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) writers who re-envision the future. What were you imagining for 2020 when it began? What’s on your apocalypse bingo card for next month? Does it feel like tempting fate too much to ask if our current reality can get any worse OR any better? We invite you to fast forward and tell us how any or all of 2020’s chaotic plot lines resolve, get tangled, tied off, or cut. Write us some Alternate Endings to tell around the fire until we get there. Does the fae spell break at 00:00:01 on Jan 1, 2021? Is a free-roaming space colony in Andromeda still trying to wipe out a sentient mutated Covid-19 200 years from now? Show us our futures in evocative, speculative flash fiction (up to 1,000 words) that responds to what humanity is facing this year. Experiments with story form welcome. We are featuring BIPOC writers for this call and will select one story for each month through the end of 2020. Society needs new blueprints to build from. Show us your Alternate Endings. ​ Our Guest Editor for this call is Jamileh Jemison. Submissions will be open June 5, 2020 — July 10, 2020. We may open for a second call in September if we do not receive enough stories in June/July. What we want: Previously unpublished flash fiction (up to 1,000 words). You may submit up to 3 pieces. Speculative genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, or any interpretation of these that fits the theme. By writers of...

Deadline: July 11, 2020 Payment: $0.08 U.S. per word Theme: Twisted Holiday Stories (any holiday!) Happy Hellidays (working title) Give us some twisted, unexpected holiday stories. Don't limit yourself to Christmas -- we're looking for all kinds of special occasions gone awry. Editor: Sandra Ruttan Submission Information Note: We will not process or respond to submissions sent to the wrong email address. Only submissions sent to [email protected] will be processed. Note: Each story should be submitted in its own email. Do not send a submission as a response to a rejection or email query. Do not send multiple stories in the same email. Pro Tip: Read Rigor Morbid: Lest Ye Become to get a sense of what the editor is looking for in stories. The tone is appropriate for Disturbia and Rigor Morbid 2. We welcome submissions from diverse authors. We encourage individuals to opt to include a bio (100 words, written in third person) and author photo that can be used with the publication when submitting.  *Diverse can refer to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or those that are specially abled Payment $0.08 U.S. per word We will not publish stories that are donated — all writers must be prepared to receive payment through one of our approved payment methods. All payments to U.S. writers will be made by check. All payments to international writers will be made by Paypal to a verified Paypal address that is in the writer’s name. Guidelines Stories should be 3000 words or less Stories should be attached as a .doc or .docx file Text in stories should be in black ink No underlined text in stories Use a standard font (Times New Roman or Courier) stories should be sent to the proper email address submissions should be addressed to Sandra Ruttan submissions should have the requested information in the subject line submissions do...

Deadline: July 11th, 2020 Payment:Flash: 250-1000 words – $5.00, Short: 1001-5000 words – $7.00, 5001-7000 words – $10.00 Theme: Body Horror Sci-Fi & Scary is pleased to announce that we are opening submissions for our first charity anthology, with a goal of publishing in mid-February, 2021. Proceeds will be split between: Pulmonary Hypertension Association  and National Domestic Violence Hotline Twisted Anatomy: A Sci-Fi & Scary Body Horror Anthology* *Tentative Title We blame Laurel Hightower. One innocent discussion about vagina tentacles planted a seed that very quickly took root. Body horror is perhaps one of the most disturbing kinds of horror. Our bodies are meant to behave in certain ways, and the corruption or mutation of that, of our own selves turning against us, in a declaration of war against an enemy we can’t fight because it’s in our own skin? Terrifying. Women in particular have so little control over their own bodies as it is in some areas. To have even more taken from us? No , thank you. But it’s fascinating, isn’t it? Body horror holds an unique allure, so we’re excited to invite everyone to participate in this anthology. What is Body Horror? Body horror or biological horror is a subgenre of horror that intentionally showcases graphic or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body. These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutations, mutilation, zombification, gratuitous violence, disease, or unnatural movements of the body. Wikipedia.com Specifically, we are looking for tales of mutation (think Vagina Monsters!)  and corruption, though other forms will be considered as well. We will not accept stories depicting rape, pedophiia, or espousing views that promote bigotry, racism, sexism, or homophobia. We will be including content warnings in this anthology as we believe in letting readers experience what they want without fear of stumbling over trauma-inducing...

Deadline: July 12th, 2020 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Original takes on vampires Note: Reprints Welcome Nightmare Press is open for submissions for our upcoming vampire anthology. The stories will be personally selected by the Vamp Man himself, Todd Sullivan, author of The Vampire Series of Extreme Horror: BUTCHERS and THE GRAY MAN OF SMOKE AND SHADOWS. - $25 if you are accepted - A free print copy of the book - You will be able to purchase copies at cost, which includes shipping. - Word Count: 1k - 5k - Deadline: July 12th - email stories to [email protected]; include the name of the story and your name in the subject line - Doesn't have to be an exclusive submission, just please tell us if your story is accepted elsewhere - One story per person - If it's been previously published, that's fine as long as you have the publishing rights back A little tip: We're looking for something fresh. If you've read Sullivan's work, you know it is a new take on the vampire genre. Nightmare Press personally recommends at least taking a glance at his work to get an idea of what we're looking for. Also, we would really like to see something other than your typical American or European vampire. It's okay to send those stories if you have something really good, but we'd like to see vampires that are unique. Nightmare Press looks forward to your submissions. Via: Nightmare Press's Facebook.

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: $20 per story Theme: Electric Spec prefers science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. Please don't query us about your story submission. We don't have the manpower to answer such queries. An editor will email you back as soon as possible with the decision about your story. This can take a few days, or, up to three months. We make every effort to get back to authors in a timely manner but we get a lot of submissions so sometimes it's not possible. A note on our editorial policy: before publication we may edit the story for length or readability. However, we always remain true to the spirit of the story. Issues are published at the end of February, May, August, and November. We reserve the right to shift publication date slightly, as necessary. We have reading periods for each issue, though we never close to submissions. February closes January 15 May closes April 15 August closes July 15 November closes October 15 Please do not submit the same story more than once, and please submit only one story at a time. We consider any story between 250 and 7000 words with speculative fiction elements. We prefer science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre, but we're willing to push the limits of traditional forms of these genres. We do not consider poetry, stories with over-the-top sex or violence, serials, novels, fan fiction, or non-fiction. We don't accept multiple submissions; in other words, only submit one story at a time and wait for a response before submitting another. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know up front and tell us as soon as it's accepted elsewhere. We do not publish reprints, including anything...

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: Split of 20% of royalties between the authors Theme: Short stories revolving around the planet or God Saturn Note: Reprints accepted Starting in December 2019, Tuscany Bay Books will be releasing an 11-book anthology series: Planetary Anthology Series. First up is Pluto. You can pre-order the e-book edition now. On Dec. 5th you can get it for free if you are a KU subscriber on Amazon. Shortly after Dec. 5th you should be able to order the paperback edition as well. Next up is Luna and then Uranus. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Sol and Saturn should then follow. NOTE: Submissions are now open again for Neptune and Saturn. Payment is a split of 20% of royalties between the authors. For more info on what is required and how to submit, see this post: ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION CALL   The most beautiful of the wandering stars, surrounded by a mysterious and remarkable series of rings, crowning the planet in glory. Jupiter may be the king of the planets, but Saturn is the progenitor, named for the powerful and terrible Titan that fathered the gods themselves. Saturn is the lord of Time, Age, and Endings. And when everything else disperses into a heat death and the cosmos is an empty void, it is Time that will rule over all. Bullet point form: Word count is 500-10,000 Poems will be accepted Reprints will be accepted Simultaneous submissions will be accepted Stories can be about the actual planet Saturn, time, age, and endings. The Titan Saturn may also feature.   Submissions should be in standard manuscript format, though please italicize instead of underline when appropriate. If the story is not in standard manuscript format, it may be rejected without being read. Seriously. I’m not kidding here. For that matter, ditto if the stories are under...

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: Contributors copy Theme: Tales through a zombie's point of view for middle-grade readers Chipper Press is looking for short stories from the point of view of the Zombie. Write your tales as if they are diary entries and tell our young middle-grade readers what daily life is like as a zombie. Tell them about Zombie school, going to the Zombie Mall, or a Zombie vacation. Where do they go camping? What are their holidays? Do they go to a grocery store? Submissions of both short stories and novellas to this anthology are welcome, please keep in mind the minimum word count is 4,500 and the maximum word count is 17,000. Dialogue needs to be believable, and please keep dialects/slang to a bare minimum if you must use them. No head-hopping or POV changes. Pick one point of view and stick with it. (Your submission will be declined if there is head-hopping.) Characters need to be fully developed and the stories need to be complete-not just a scene. This anthology is a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers and allow them to build their professional platforms. Submission Deadline: July 15, 2020, with a targeted release date of late September 2020. Submit your best work. Poorly formatted and unedited work will be turned down. Please use Americanized English spellings. We will be doing light editing as necessary to fit the standards we strive to maintain. Submission Guidelines: Any work under 4,500 words will be automatically disqualified for this anthology. The work must not have appeared in print or online anywhere before. All submissions must be in English. Each author may submit up to three (3) unique works—please submit them separately. Work must be in Microsoft Word or RTF, double-spaced, 12-point font-no headers/footers. All contributing authors will receive a free copy of the...

Deadline: July 15th, 2020 Payment: Between $0.04 and $0.08/word, depending on variables below Theme: SF and Fantasy genres, but no horror please. More details below Note: Reprints welcome DreamForge is Opening for Submissions DreamForge is opening for submissions on July 1, 2020.  We’ll be open until Wednesday, July 15th at 12 Midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Submissions will be through our online Submissions Portal, which will not be available before midnight on June 30th. What are we looking for? If your story fits within the general guidelines below, please send it our way. That said, here are some things we’d like to see. More flash fiction between 500 and 1500 words. I’d like to feature more authors, especially talented beginners. Our theme will be the “Hope of the Big Idea.” Which means we’d like to see stories that call upon powerful new visions of how life could be shaped for the better either through technological or social change, or both. Stories can be serious, lighthearted, or funny. They can include themes of rebuilding or starting fresh. We’ll be reading for Issue # 7, which has a target date of November 15th, toward the end of a long and trying year. Who even knows what we’ll have to face between now and then, so let’s look to a hopeful future! Our General Guidelines Positive stories demonstrating the triumph of the human spirit and the power of hope and humane values in overcoming the most daunting challenges. We are interested in all SF and Fantasy genres, but no horror please. No to Pollyannish and Utopian simplicity. Yes to communities and teams working together to overcome dire challenges. Yes to marginalized and under-represented characters as protagonists. Yes to science and magic that solve problems, alleviate suffering, and boldly explore new possibilities. No to corrupt, dystopian governments or...

Deadline: July 15, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Contemporary cozy mysteries Note: Reprints accepted Cozy Villages of Death an anthology of cozy mysteries Anticipated release: October, 2020 There’s something about quaint country villages, picture-perfect mountain towns, and tranquil island resorts that draws us to them. And when we can’t visit in-person, reading about the quiet, peaceful life is the next best thing to taking a mini-vacation. But there are secrets hiding behind those shuttered windows. Deception awaits around the next curve in the road. Rumors spread over garden hedges, across fishing ponds, and around knitting circles. And when Death strolls through the tranquil countryside or checks into the quaint village inn for the weekend, it’s the intrepid – and often accidental – investigators who must find and decipher clues, unravel mysteries, and bring the killer to justice. Cozy Villages of Death invites you to share your contemporary cozy mystery with us. Take us to the towns where your own characters follow in the footsteps of Miss Marple and Father Brown. Let your own Jessica Fletcher-inspired amateur sleuth discover “whodunit” before the police. Let our readers work with small town officers, in the vein of “Midsomer Murders” and “Death in Paradise.” Introduce us to your own independent investigators, in the spirit of the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” or Miss Phryne Fisher. What We’re Looking For: Contemporary cozy mysteries (no ghosts or other paranormal elements), set between 1900 – present. Small town locations, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. We’re happy to read about cozy English villages, but we want to know what’s happening in other countries, too. Tell us the stories of small town police departments with limited resources, investigators who prefer the country life to the hustle of the city, and AMATEUR SLEUTHS – the everyday people who stumble across one too many clues to ignore and can’t help but...

Deadline: July 19th, 2020 Payment: Advances and royalties Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, and horror. From old-school to modern, pulpy to literary, classic to cross-over, if it’s genre, and it’s good, then we’d love to read it! Note: This call officially opens on July 6th but we wanted to get this up asap in case you needed some last-minute polishing on your story! Open the Pod Bay Doors! Open Submissions 2020 It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again! No, not Christmas, the Angry Robot Open Submissions Period! If you’re an SFF/horror writer without agent representation, this is YOUR chance to submit your novel-length manuscripts to Angry Robot Books! In recent years our Open Submissions have led to publication of acclaimed and award-nominated novels including Shrouded Loyalties, The Light Years, and The Imaginary Corpse, and as always we’re excited to see what gems are sent in by budding authors this time around. As an imprint devoted to publishing the very best in genre fiction from the very widest range of voices, we particularly encourage those from minority and underrepresented backgrounds to send us their work. The 2020 Open Subs period will run for two weeks, from 12:00am BST (British Summer Time) Mon Jul 6th to 11:59pm BST Sun Jul 19th – there’s no preference of any kind given to early submissions, so please do take the time to polish your submission documents before sending them in! What we’re looking for: novel-length works (60k words minimum) only science fiction, fantasy, and horror. From old-school to modern, pulpy to literary, classic to cross-over, if it’s genre, and it’s good, then we’d love to read it! You can check out our complete publication list here to see how wide our tastes run one submission per author, so take this as an opportunity to send us your best work! finished manuscripts...

Deadline: July 21st, 2020 Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words. $10 for anything over 5000 words. Theme: Halloween-themes horror! Note: Reprints Welcome It's time for Halloween Horror again! Same as last year, we're looking for spooky, scary, gross, funny, dark, and demented tales all about our favorite holiday, Halloween. The call here is pretty wide open. Whatever you can think up, we want to read. The only rule is that it must relate to Halloween in some way.  Submission Deadline: July 21st, 2020 Word Count: 2,000 - 8,500. A little over or under is fine. Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words.                     $10 for anything over 5000 words. Important Bits Include a bio or greeting with your email. We don't need a lot, but at least let us know who you are. Please send all submissions as a .docx or .rtf attachment with the subject line of your email as: DBND - HalloweenHorrorII - Story Title  Stories sent after the submission deadline will be rejected unread. Multiple submissions welcome. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please keep us updated on the status if your story is picked up elsewhere. Reprints will be considered. Don't sit on your submission! If we reach the word count for the anthology, we will close submissions early. Send submissions to: [email protected] Via: DBND Publishing.

Deadline: July 25th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling Note: Reprints accepted Scare Street is accepting submissions for short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Short stories must be 3,000-7,000 words and will be included in a collection totaling 50,000 to 65,000 words.  These stories will be published in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats. WHO ARE WE? Scare Street is a horror publishing company dedicated in helping fellow horror lovers experience sleepless nights. We’ve been around since September 2015 and have published 180+ e-book and paperback titles along with 110+ audiobooks (and counting!). WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? Get visibility from thousands of horror readers. We will promote your work on our email list (23,000+ active subscribers), Facebook Page (17,000+ followers), Facebook Group (7,000+ members), Pinterest (600k+ monthly views) and the rest of our social media channels. Work with an experienced publisher. We’ve been publishing high quality manuscripts, non-stop for 4 years. We’ve worked out the kinks and know what it takes to bring stories to the masses, operationally. And marketing, too (see the point on visibility). Distribution in e-book, print and audiobook formats. You’ll also receive a complimentary digital e-book and audiobook formats when they’re published. Note: These cannot be distributed without written permission. Non-exclusive rights. Keep your rights and sell your work again! We’re looking to purchase non-exclusive license so you’re free to continually distribute your story and/or sell your stories to other publishers. We accept reprints. Dust off your old horror stories. We’ll happily bring them back from the dead. Jump to the top of our queue. Stories willing to be offered for a 6 month to a 1-year e-book exclusivity period will jump to the top of our submissions pile....

Deadline: July 25th, 2020. Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties. Payment made upon publication. Due Date: July 25, 2020. Word Count: 1,000 to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties. Payment made upon publication. The idea of seeing the future or having warnings of what is to come is an idea that spans nearly every culture. Whether the omens are good or bad, there is the potential to affect us all. To be considered, your story must deal with the idea of omens in some fashion. Please email your submission in standard manuscript format and a short bio to [email protected]. Please put “Omens Submission” in the subject line. Expected publication date is January/February 2021.   Via: Ael Press.

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: €15 per poem and €15 per page of prose up to a total maximum fee of €60 Theme: A particular interest in work which encourages reflection on human interaction with plant and animal life, landscape and the self We are now inviting submissions across all forms for Issue 3, and will be accepting fiction and poetry until 31 July. Essay submissions, which will be considered for online publication as well as for future print issues, are accepted ongoingly. What We Publish We publish new, previously unpublished work that engages with the natural world. We have a particular interest in work which encourages reflection on human interaction with plant and animal life, landscape and the self. Each issue includes a mix of poetry and fiction, alongside a selection of essays which may include creative non-fiction, criticism, and the occasional review of new creative work or of community-based environmental projects. We also welcome submissions in translation. Essay – [email protected] We accept both completed essay submissions and proposals. Completed essays (including creative non-fiction, reportage, commentary, and criticism) should generally not exceed 6000 words. We ask that you send your essay as a Word document attachment to the above-listed email. If you have a proposal for an essay or an interview, please contact us directly with a brief description of same. Essay submissions exclusively will be accepted on a rolling basis, regardless of the dates of submissions windows. As well as accepting essay submissions for print, we welcome submissions for online publication on the Channel blog. Pieces of 1500 words or fewer which explore a particular issue in current events or explicate upon a community-based environmental project are particularly encouraged for blog publication. If we feel that a piece submitted for the magazine would do well online, we may also offer...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Publication – November 2020 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – A new twist on fairytales with a fresh element: dragons. Each fairytale has been reimagined with these beasts based on the author’s preference. Wise dragons, evil dragons, elemental dragons, oh my! These classic characters will never see this coming. Note: Any kind of dragon is welcome. Fairytales can be from any country and dark or cheerful. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Dark Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Fantasy, or Thriller. We are now open to novel and novella subs for only the third time in our eight years of publishing. This submission window will be open throughout July. We only ask for a one to two page, detailed synopsis, an author bio, and the first three chapters (we will ask for the full manuscript if our interests are piqued). Accepted titles will be published throughout 2021 and early 2022. No reprints. Only one submission per author. Simultaneous subs allowed. Here are some more details on what we’re looking for: Length: 30,000 to 120,000 words Genre: Dark Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Fantasy, or Thriller. Subgenres/Tropes: We love them all, although we’re more interested in dark, suspenseful fiction than just outright horror. Our readers want to go on an emotional rollercoaster of fear, fright, sadness, joy, loss, and the beauty behind every character’s story. What we’re not looking for: Romance/Erotica (although they can certainly be used in subplots) Anthology pitches Short stories Short story collections Poetry Screenplays Young Adult Submission guidelines: Email your CV, synopsis, and sample to [email protected] The subject of your email should be ‘Open subs 2020’. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please inform us if you’ve subbed it elsewhere, and be sure to withdraw it in case it’s accepted elsewhere. Only one submission per author, so make it count. In the body of the email, be sure to mention the title of your book and the total word count of finished manuscript. A one sentence tagline that encapsulates your main plot. No reprints/previously published or previously self-published. Your novel/novella needs to be at least 80% finished when you submit your first three chapters. As attachments (or one attachment containing all the required info): a one...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Deadline – July 31st, 2020 Publication – October 2020 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level. * Introduction of yourself should be a short biography in 3rd Person between 100-200 words. Upon acceptance, this will be used within the anthology. Send a bio with every single anthology submission. We work with hundreds of authors and will not take time to retrieve yours from a previous anthology. * Poetry submissions: All poetry needs to be contained within a single e-mail. Each poem should be in a separate document. Haikus may be grouped together. * All e-mails should be addressed to “Dear Editor.” After receiving edits back, the author has two weeks to return the submission for formatting. All submissions will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of the anthology’s submission deadline. This ensures submission calls do not close early and gives everyone a chance to submit. You will know your submission has been received for consideration by receiving a generic response. Whether accepted or rejected, you will always receive a response. View our blog articles on how to submit to a publisher and how to write a proposal.   Failure to submit following all of the guidelines will result in an immediate refusal. You are able to submit again before the submission call deadline.   Rating – Check each anthologies‘ rating. Word count – Check each anthologies‘ word count requirements. E-mail address to submit to – [email protected]   NOTICE –  Failure to submit correctly will result in refusal of submission. Via: Dragon Soul Press.

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: 8 cents/word Theme: Speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology. We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!). Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits a story written on their own, that would not violate our no multiple submissions policy. Submitting two stories co-written by the same two people would violate our no...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: $50 Theme: Stories that are "scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad" What We Publish At 34 Orchard, we like dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad. We like things we can’t put down and things that make us go “wow” when we’ve finished. But our main goal here at 34 Orchard is to publish the stuff we like to read, and you’re not in our heads. So don’t over think it. Just submit. *Update: There has been some question floating around social media in some writing circles as to whether or not writing about the world’s recent pandemic is appropriate, as in, is it “too soon?” At 34 Orchard, we do not think it is too soon. Some of the best art emerges from the darkest tragedies, and often during or immediately afterward. If you have a dark, emotional piece about the pandemic—any aspect of it—we are more than happy to consider it when we are open again for submissions.* Word Counts Short fiction from 1000 to 7500 words Poetry any style or length When We Publish We publish two issues per year, one in the spring (April) and one in the fall (November). Issues are hosted on this site as PDFs. Reading Period Our reading period for the Spring Issue is January 1-January 31. Our reading period for the Fall Issue is July 1-July 31. We only accept submissions, therefore, during January and July. Anything submitted to us outside those months will be deleted unread, and no response will be sent. Simultaneous Submissions Yes, we welcome and encourage them! Just notify us at [email protected] if it’s been accepted elsewhere as soon as you know. Multiple Submissions No. We only consider one piece of fiction per writer at a time. Poetry: you may send up...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: $25 AU Theme: Wierd stories - multi-eyed heads in jars, things from swamps, or killer robots-anything really-except copy-and-pasted wolves or lightning. We're looking for fantastic fantasy, super-duper science fiction,  Wonderfulliy Weird, and Macabre. ​ Think classic outer-worldly.  Think swashbuckling adventure.  Think stuff that would give Lovecraft the shivers.  Mad professors, demons of the dark, heroes, monsters, giant robots...  We could could go all day.  You get the idea. ​ New, unpublished writers are welcome! ​ Think you've got the chops?  Here are the rules: Under 18? No problem. Just send a note from your teacher or guardian with your submission, telling us it's ok for you to write for us. No gratuitous sex or excessive profanity.  No nasty sex of any kind unless it's inherent to the story, and not glorified.  Gore is fine if it's written well.  Hate speech, or material we might find offensive is not. ​ We pay a flat rate of $25 AU per original piece of fiction.  That’s low right now, but Rufo’s Dog is still a pup.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to pay more soon.  The best way for that to happen is for you to you tell all your friends to buy a copy and or subscribe, then we’ll have more moolah to throw at the next issue. We pay a flat rate of $100AU for any original colour artwork that makes the cover, and $25AU for any other artwork.  For commissioned work, payment is subject to negotiation with the individual artists. ​ For contributors with an Australian bank account, payments made via bank transfer are possible.  For international contributors, we prefer to pay via PayPal.  We do not pay via Western Union or similar services which charge payment fees.  WU charges $15 AU per transaction, and we just can't afford that. ​ Rufo's Dog will also provide a password and...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 or more Theme: Stories with a unique perspective and honest insight into our world We are looking for submissions of poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction and visual art. Writing that grabs us conveys a unique perspective and honest insight into our world. We are especially interested in underrepresented voices of all kinds, and we want to see submissions from writers and artists of all races, sexualities, nationalities, religions, and genders, as well as disabled and neurodivergent creators. Genre fiction submissions are welcome, particularly speculative fiction. We are all writers and artists, so simultaneous submission are encouraged, but please let us know immediately if it has been accepted elsewhere. Previously published work will not be considered, and this includes work published on social media and personal websites. If it available publicly online, that means it is published. Once you have received a response to a submission, please wait two months before sending us a new work. Submitting is free, but please consider tossing a couple of dollars in the feedback option – you’ll receive personalized feedback on your submission! We are closed to regular submissions during the months of January, May, and September as we put together the new issue, although feedback and visual arts submissions will remain open. ****NOTE**** Due to the uncertainty of when things will return to a normal schedule, we will be publishing May’s issue combined with September’s in a special jumbo 20th issue. We will remain open to submissions until July 31st, 2020, with scheduled printing of the jumbo issue coming the beginning of September!! Prose Submissions: There is no minimum number of words, although we most frequently publish fiction and non-fiction between 500-5,000 words. We accept up to three prose submissions per author as long as the total number of words...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: The Wonderful Weird Volume 3, Issue 1: Winter 2020 Coming in November 2020 Theme: The Wonderful Weird Preferred Genres*: Weird Fiction Word Count: We are looking for short stories and novelettes ranging from 2,500 to 15,000 words, and poetry of up to 20 pages in length**. Submission Deadline: July 31, 2020 Show us the strange side of your imagination, from tales of cosmic horror that explore the unknowable to delving into supernatural mysteries. Weird fiction is a genre that both pre-dates and defies speculative fiction genre conventions. Blending fantasy, horror, and science fiction with elements of the supernatural; it is more an exploration of tone and theme than one of genre conventions. Learn more about what we’re looking for in The Origins and Evolution of Weird Fiction by our Editor-in-Chief, B.K. Bass. *We hope to ensure that the majority of each issue fits a theme, but will consider other submissions for each issue. Stories in the Preferred Genres will receive primary preference, related genres and or themes will be considered next, and unrelated content will be given tertiary consideration. ** 20 pages in an 8.5″ x 11″ Word doc at 12 pt TNR or Courier, single-spaced with spaces between stanzas. Submission Guidelines Please read through this section thoroughly before sending your story! Submissions that do not follow these guidelines may not make it through our initial screening process. What to Include in the Email An introduction is always nice. Tell us who you are. Have we met, or did somebody refer you to us? Here is a good place to remind us. The elevator pitch. In one to three sentences, what’s the selling point for the story? What’s it about? What makes it stand apart? What are the genre(s), main theme(s), and word count? The...

Deadline:July 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 USD Theme: Stories that the editors can connect with and be moved by Regular submissions for mojo 18 are now OPEN. Fiction: We are interested in stories that excite us with innovation in form, structure, and language, but above all, we’re looking for stories that connect us, touch us, and revolutionize our worlds. Experimental or not, give us a quality story.   Please send a single story under 6,000 words. If you’re submitting flash fiction, include up to three stories in a single document. Poetry: Our staff is interested in poems that blur contemporary styles with traditional modes, poems that light up with raw energy but point in a specific direction, and poems that push through leaps of image and gesture but resound with a strong emotional core. Above all, we enjoy poems that are willing to take risks while maintaining clarity of expression.   Send up to 4 poems at a time or 8 pages maximum. If you have a single long poem that exceeds 8 pages, we welcome you to submit it as an exception to the page-limit rule and as the totality of your submission for that issue. Please submit all of your poems in one document. Nonfiction: We enjoy creative nonfiction pieces that embrace the tactics of fiction, but we don’t shy away from the innovative and experimental (in fact, we’re rather interested in what you can show us)! But keep in mind, we’re looking for engaging nonfiction stories, not journalism or academic essays.   Pieces should be under 6,000 words. Comics: We’re interested in narrative-driven art and comics that embody any number of different styles and techniques. Show us something that uses the visual medium to push boundaries and says something important.   We are looking for anything. Political commentary. Comedy. Memoir. Or just a good...

Submissions Window: June 15th to July 31st, 2020 Payment: A royalty percentage of ebook, print, audio, and merchandise profits. The exact numbers will be available when the call opens on the 15th. Theme: Dark Fantasy Note: I would usually wait to schedule until all payment details are available but ER has a good track record and if anyone was close to finishing a novella or novel in this style I wanted to give you extra time to prepare. Open Submission Window June 15 - July 31, 2020 What are we looking for? DARK FANTASY We are seeking high-quality stand alone novels and a potential novella series in the dark fantasy genre. At this time we are not interested in short story collections, full erotica, strictly religious fiction, or poetry. We want unique, well-crafted worlds with compelling plots, exciting adventures, entertaining characters, and new dark fantasy concepts. We are drawn to the fantasy worlds with a grim heartwrenching twist. The perfect story would balance the light and the dark storyline with humour alongside the emotional twists and turns. In essence, if you can envoke a gambit of emotion throughout the story we will be hard-pressed to say no. Manuscripts should be written in good taste and be aimed for a mature audience that enjoys the darker side of fantasy. As this is dark fantasy, we encourage a step toward some of the darker and horror tones within the storyline, and we won't shy away from some use of violence and gore. However, we will not be accepting any manuscripts with detailed rape scenes, pedophilia, or untoward behaviours to animals of any kind. (you know what I mean) Submissions of novels should be between 60,000 and 120,000 words. Submissions of novellas should be approximately 25,000 - 50,000 words with a series potential...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: 1000-3000 words is $5 and longer is $10 Theme: Unique and exceptional speculative fiction 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 currently not open for submissions. 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. Please no simultaneous submissions If you are under 18, we require parental permission and have made a permission form. The form can be found HERE Reading periods are May to July and November to January. All submissions must be in by 11:59pm CST on the last day of the reading period (July or January). Be advised that if we get enough stories before the end of a submission period, we may close submissions early. Please do not send submissions outside of our reading periods. Submissions received outside of reading periods will not be considered. Expect a decision within 4-6 weeks of the reading period closing 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. In time, we would like to pay contributors more! 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...

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.01 cent a word and a contributors copy Theme: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. MYTHIC is seeking diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. We want original short stories that have never been published. Authors are encouraged to submit their stories during the specific reading periods listed below. Reading Periods June 1 through July 31 (Reading for Fall and Winter Issues) December 1 through January 31 (Reading for Spring and Summer Issues) Guidelines Please submit in standard manuscript format. Works should be between 2,000-6,000 words. (No wiggle room above or below.) Submit in Standard Manuscript Format We prefer Times New Roman or Courier and 12 point type. Double-spaced pages. Please include your name and contact information at the beginning of the story. Submit in .doc, .docx, .rtf format. Please no simultaneous or multiple submissions. No reprints. Rights Purchased: We are purchasing World English Rights on all short stories. Following an exclusivity period, all other rights revert to the author. MYTHIC retains a nonexclusive right to keep stories in the issue they appear for as long as the issue remains in print. Compensation: At this time, we pay $0.01 cent a word for short fiction. We provide authors with one free copy of the issue in which their story appears. Payment made upon publication via PayPal. (We are not responsible for any transaction fees). To submit fiction: Send all stories to [email protected]. Your story should be attached. Put “Fiction Submission: Title of Your Story” in the subject line for fiction. Please include your name, title, word count, and contact information in the body of the email. Note on nonfiction: All articles and other content are chosen in-house. Please do not submit queries at this time. If you have further questions, use the contact form.   Thank you for your interest in MYTHIC. Via: Mythic Magazine.

Deadline: July 31st, 2020 Payment: $8 Theme: Cutting edge Science Fiction, Slipstream, Classic and Modern Fantasy Submissions Welcome to the Silver Pen Writers Association group of publications. From this web page, you will have an opportunity to submit your work to Silver Blade Magazine. General Guidelines (Updated February 2020) Give us something unexpected and well written.  Technique, voice, characterization, and language will all play a part in our decision to publish.  Amaze us with your writing, use of language, sense of story, and memorable characters.  Give us a story readers will not be able to forget and will eagerly recommend to others. The following are “hard sells” here: Stories possessing several of the cliché elements listed here. Fan Fiction or erotica Anthropomorphism (talking cats, foxes, toasters or whatever) Sloppy work–significant typographical, spelling, or grammatical errors (please proofread before you submit) Publicly available items (seriously, why would we pay to publish something being given away on a blog, forum, social media, etc?) Our editorial policies respect the artistic license of our authors.  However, there are occasions when changes are needed that go beyond basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections. In any case, the author will be given the choice of final approval, prior to publication, over substantial edits made by our staff. We appreciate your willingness to work with us in this regard. Do not submit if you are not open to suggestions. Formatting All submissions should… Have 1 inch margins, 1 1/2 line spacing and double space between paragraphs. NO fancy headers or footers, text effects, background colors or images. Use a standard font (Arial, Calibri, Times Roman, Courier) in 12 point size. Exceptions will be made ONLY for poetry submissions (see below). Silver Blade Poetry Poetry up to 1,000 words: Submit Now Our poetry reading periods are as follows: December and January (For the February Issue)...

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: $50.00 Theme: Giallo/Slasher, Sci-fi Horror, 80's Splatter, Japanese Body Horror, 50's B-Movie Creature Feature, Southern Gothic, Satanic Cult, Lost World, Lost Tribe. Other sub-genres could apply as well, but must have a strong horror connection, including: Carsploitation, Blacksploitation, Spaghetti Western, Women in Prison, Vigilante, etc. Our second fiction anthology, Violent Vixens, will focus on Grindhouse horror films, made famous by movies such as Night of the Living Dead, Death Proof, and Suspiria. Since this genre encompasses so many different styles and mashups, we have decided to focus solely on Grindhouse horror stories featuring a strong female lead. The lead may be the protagonist or the antagonist. In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez set out to revitalize this genre with their excellent double-feature, Grindhouse. Although it was met with critical success, it ultimately failed at the box office. However, in recent years, the genre has gone through a resuscitation of sorts, and a new era of filmmakers are now creating homage-style exploitation films using the borrowed aesthetics of the 70s and 80s--successful films like House of the Devil, Turbo Kid, and Mandy. This is exactly what we are looking for in your stories; we want to see your particular homage to this style of storytelling in narrative form. We are looking to publish around twelve pieces of original fiction for this anthology. Overall, we tend to lean more toward fun, action-oriented stories like Army of Darkness, Planet Terror, and Blood Drive over anything too serious and brooding. Genre mashups are HIGHLY encouraged. All stories and characters must be original works. Fiction Submissions: Giallo/Slasher, Sci-fi Horror, 80's Splatter, Japanese Body Horror, 50's B-Movie Creature Feature, Southern Gothic, Satanic Cult, Lost World, Lost Tribe. Other sub-genres could apply as well, but must have a strong horror connection, including: Carsploitation, Blacksploitation, Spaghetti Western, Women in Prison, Vigilante, etc. Word Count: 2,000 -...

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: SF, F, H, steampunk, cyberpunk, mythology, satire. Stories could feature puzzle solving and ingenuity, inverted tv tropes, inventions (clockwork, practical, or Rube Goldberg), masterful creations (like JS Bach's Goldberg Variations), and social commentary Brain Games: Stories to Astonish - SF, F, H, steampunk, cyberpunk, mythology, satire The left side of the brain is associated with logical and analytical characteristics, while the right brain with creativity. We'd welcome stories from both sides of the brain. Stories could feature puzzle solving and ingenuity, inverted tv tropes, inventions (clockwork, practical, or Rube Goldberg), masterful creations (like JS Bach's Goldberg Variations), and social commentary Reading period: July 1 - August 1, 2020 Writer deadline: August 1, 2020 Publication date: October 15, 2020 Third Flatiron Publishing is based in Boulder, Colorado, and Ayr, Scotland. We are looking for submissions to our (approximately) quarterly themed anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We want tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios. Light horror is acceptable, provided it fits the theme. Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Inquire if longer. Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, Iain Banks, Alastair Gray, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today. For each anthology, we will also accept  a few very short humor pieces on the order of the "Shouts and Murmurs" feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective...

Deadline: August 1, 2020 Payment: $25.00 CAD Theme: Elemental magic Submission Open: April 1, 2020 Submission Close: August 1, 2020 Publishing timeline: December 2020 OPEN DARK FANTASY Rated R Stories welcome ​ Theme: Elemental Magic - Earth, wind, fire, water and spirit. Dark versus light. We are giving a lot of leeway for story building, but magic must play an integral part in your world and there must be a dark fantasy element. Create a fantasy world for this to all play out in, or build something in ours. The choice is yours. The only requirement is that you must feature elemental magic. Fae and other realms, magic and witches, dragons or orcs, all magical and fantastic creatures are welcome. This one has opportunities for a lot of world-building so the call out is for larger stories. We will only be accepting a limited number of stories for this project, but volume II is under consideration. Stand-alone stories only, no to be continued. ​ Word Count is 5000 - 15000 we are looking for longer stories and small novella's. ​ Compensation: $25.00 CAD. Digital copy & discounted author copies ​ Formatting guidelines: See our Submission Format guide below ​ How to submit: Access submission form here, or use the submit button ​ Multiple Submission: Yes - We will be happy to read up to two stories per author, but note we will only be accepting one story per book. Please send each story in a separate form. Reprints: Yes we are accepting a small number of reprints. ​ Things that are a hard pass: any animal erotica and all forms of rape Via: Eerie River Publishing.

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: The Simmons public library was a melting pot of the haves and have-nots, a mixture of homeless people and the wealthy older residents of the nearby neighborhood. We love 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 three to four 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...

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: $30 Theme: Super heroes! Super-powered pulp heroes. Supers with a single power who fight crime or villains. Good folks versus bad folks, no gray areas, no amorality, no Byronic heroes. And no non-powered heroes. So think of characters like Doc Savage, the Rocketeer, Zorro, The Phantom, and Flash Gordon, but with powers and ideals like Superman and Wonder Woman (in their earlier renditions). Sorry, this means no Punisher, Logan, or even The Batman. It also means no Superman or Wonder Woman with those surplus of powers. Blatantly heroic original-to-the-author-only characters with no ambiguity in their pursuit of stopping villainous behavior. Super Beings & Wondrous Entities only.   Current or alternate or future world settings. No rules on how superpowers exist (they can be the result of science, magic, disease, aliens, mutation, etc.) or on how they are employed (inherent, learned, bequeathed, device-driven, etc.). 11 week submission period. We will be accepting 13-15 stories, and stories should be 2k-9k words in length. Nothing shorter will be read, and our sweet spot is in the 5k-7k range. Publication is intended for Christmas 2020. Payment of $30 flat per story shall be rendered after publication. Authors will receive electronic copies and permanent discount on print purchases from RBE. You can submit at Rogue Blades' Submittable. Via: Rogue Blades.

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: A 1980's genre story that involves a haunting and pizza parties Note: Reprints Welcome What’s the coolest place around? The Mall! Outrageous neon-drenched, air-conditioned corridors welcome us inside. It’s an oasis. From the food court pizza parlor to every hip store, you could totally find everything you ever wanted. It’s good times to the max! But that’s not all you can find at the mall. Not even! Pastel paint streaks the walls, flowing over the occasional gaps between shops. But if you stare at it, the colors shift and combine, and follow you. The music store is rockin’, but don’t get the used cassettes. Debbie Gibson gives way to electric howls as something screams from the void. And don’t even think about trying that weird game at the back of the arcade! The guys say it’s giving them nightmares and weird vans are following them. But I saw the van, and I know it was Bobby driving and trying to scare us. So don’t encourage them! I love the Mall. But you wouldn’t want to be trapped here alone at night…   WHAT WE WANT THE BASICS: Supernatural stories set in the 1980s. Not horror stories, necessarily, but stories that use the 1980s and its culture in an engaging way. Bring us supernatural adventures, supernatural mysteries, supernatural fantasy, or supernatural pulp. First and foremost, aim to capture the spirit of the era. That’s something we feel both Speakeasies & Spiritualists succeeded in for the 1920s, and Sockhops & Séances succeeded in for the 1950s. If you’re looking to know exactly what we want, reading those books is the best place to start. THE PIZZA PARTIES: Historical accuracy is required. This extends beyond technology to attitudes, beliefs, and so on. See below for a full discussion of historical...

Deadline: August 1st, 2020 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Your personal local lore/oddities We’re currently looking for previously unpublished horror stories, 3-6k words, for a themed anthology to be released in September 2020. The theme is: your personal local lore/oddities. Write something dark into a setting you’ve experienced — it could be a place you’ve lived, or even just somewhere you’ve visited on a vacation. Is there a landmark in your town or city that you can write a nightmare scenario into? Have you ever legend tripped somewhere and thought, well, that cave/mausoleum/torture tree was neat, but I wish there was more to the story? If so, you’re welcome to send us (1) submission at [email protected] in DOC or RTF form. Deadline August 1, 2020. Paying .05/word per accepted submission for First Rights Publishing, asking that you don’t republish your story until August 1, 2021. In our fifth year of publishing we’re looking to expand our reach into 21st Century folklore, urban legends, and the space between creepypasta and literary horror. For examples of what we’re looking for, see Other Voices, Other Tombs; At the Cemetery Gates: Year One and Volume 2; or Corpse Cold: New American Folklore -Joe Sullivan, Editor Via: Cemetery Gates.

Deadline: August 2nd, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: A character with a sixth sense of some sort SIXTH SENSE OPEN | Deadline: August 2, 2020 What if a detective could see sound or taste light? Give us some synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense elicits a response from a different sense. Or how about proprioception? That’s the sense responsible for letting you close your eyes and touch your finger to your nose. Imagine a ninja with superhuman proprioception! Go classic with extra-sensory perception. Do your characters see dead people, sense the past of objects when they touch them, or wake up with premonitions of alien invasions? Then there’s the heightened senses of the animal kingdom—sensitivity to electricity, magnetism, x-rays, and sonar! Show us what life could be like beyond the five senses. We’re only human, but we’re capable of imagining so much more. (Publishes in October, so this is your chance for ghost stories and other supernatural encounters.) Havok provides sharp, memorable fiction under 1,000 words. We want stories that hit fast and strike hard––stories that, no matter the genre, can cut through the day’s troubles and grip distracted readers. And there’s no quicker way to get your masterpiece rejected than to ignore our submission guidelines. So read through the following information and be sure to follow it to the letter. Or else… Your Story Your well-edited story should be between 300 and 1,000 words long. We only accept stories that fit our daily genres (mystery, science fiction, comedy, thriller, fantasy) and Season Themes. Check ’em out. The themes function as story prompts that will help us together craft story collections that readers will love. Tip: Make sure your opening lines have a strong hook! Hook our editors and you’ll have a better chance all around. WE DO NOT PUBLISH: Previously published flash fiction. Poetry. Fan...

Deadline: August 2nd, 2020 Payment: 6 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored.   We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established.  Submit only work you are proud of —...