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Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Deadline – November 30th, 2020 Publication – February 2021 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – It is rare for soul mates to be discovered early on in life. These characters have begun creating their own fairytale happily ever afters. Whether it be the boy next door, a loyal princess, or a supernatural being, all of these stories have two things in common: everlasting love and * 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: November 30th, 2020 Payment: Flash (700-1500 words, no more and no less*): $10 per piece Drabbles (up to 100 words for drabbles; 200 words for double drabbles*): $1-3 per piece up to triple drabbles (300 words). Poetry (up to 30 lines-no fancy formatting*): $5 per poem Theme: Retro Science Fiction Note: Female authors only Note: Reprints Accepted Women authors only (Transwomen authors accepted because transwomen are women). Retro Science Fiction. What is retro sci fi? It's also known as retro-futurism, and described as "the future that never was." Something like the science fiction stories of the 40s and 50s. John DeNardo wrote a nice article about it in Kirkus Review. Link: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/why-i-love-retro-science-fiction/ I want you to imagine me a future of women characters that shine and live in a world (that they created or helped to create) filled with impossible wonders. Flash and short stories only. Flash are (750 to 1500 words) Short stories are (1501 to 2500 words (no more) Reprints will be accepted on this one, just let me know where it was previously published. Deadline is November 30th at 11:59 pm. Further submission guidelines can be found here. Via: The Were Traveler.

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: $0.005 per word. Theme: Blending spells/rituals/magic with sex Note: This anthology is seeking authors who identify as LGBTQ+. Dancing with Devils is an anthology looking to blend spells/rituals/magic with sex. Published under Red Ferret Press Payment: $0.005 per word. Word Count: up to 8000 words. It's rare that I look at anything over. If we're talking 100 words over that's ok, but not much more than that. And I typically don't include your title in your word counts. Deadline:   November 30, 2020. This anthology will be released Summer or Fall 2021 This anthology is seeking authors who identify as LGBTQ+. Please note that this is not a space for allies. We are seeking queer authors. Additionally, we would love to see queer authors of color, authors with disabilities submit to this anthology.   This submission call is for stories containing anthropomorphic characters otherwise known as Furry. I'm not really looking for human characters here, and if they do exist I would prefer they remain in the background of the story.   Here's what I don't want Straight Narratives. This is something you can find anywhere and has been boring to sit through. Most media you see incorporates a heternormative take on things like relationships, family, societal structure, and honestly I'm tired of it. I'm tired of straight people being the focus. Send me works that go against this; that say "f*ck all straight people." Fiction that contains racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, non-consensual/rape. Just because a character is queer, does not mean you have to stereotype them. Oh and white people who think it's ok to incorporate AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) into their white coded characters? F*ck off, I ain't here for that either. Cultural appropriation has no place in this anthology. If you need...

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Steampunk Deadline – November 30th, 2020 Publication – March 2021 Word Count – 500-15,000 Theme – Steampunk! We’re looking for steampunk stories. Additional subgenres are accepted (ex. Dieselpunk, Valvepunk). * 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: November 30th, 2020 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: movie/monsters ruin the holidays horror anthology Note: Sorry for the short window. The amazing Gabino Iglesias took this from rough idea to Cemetery Gates Media funding it yesterday afternoon. 2-5k words Deadline: November 30 (tight, I know, but it'll be out December 2020, so non-negotiable) Payment: $.05/word No reprints/poetry/romance/nonfiction I'm editing, so you know everyone is encouraged to submit. Looking at you, new writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of color, etc. This is a horror anthology, so make it dark, creepy, scary, gory, and horrific while using the smalltown/holidays/crappy movie aesthetic. No Hallmark tribute stories, please. Send submissions to [email protected] You're awesome Via: Gabino Inglesias's Twitter.

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: Flash: $25 plus 2 comp copies.. Short Fiction pays $.04/word plus 4 comp copies. Theme: Weird Horror, atmosphere, dread, and slimy things. Thanks for your interest in Green Inferno! What We Are: A quarterly 120-page trade paperback anthology of original short comics and fiction centered around Terrestrial Horror: stories that take place on or involving our planet, often (but not always) with an environmental or ecological bent. That is to say: not every story has to be Man v. Nature-- that would get old pretty quick!-- but Man v. Nature is a good germination point for what Green Inferno seeks to be, and it definitely falls under the umbrella. Here are some stories that, in our opinion, fall under the umbrella of Terrestrial Horror: The Fog - John Carpenter The Low Low Woods - Carmen Maria Machado & Dani Swamp Thing - Alan Moore & others Threshold - Caitlin R. Kiernan The Godzilla franchise The Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff VanderMeer The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock *Even Cosmic Horror like The Color out of Space, though extraterrestrial in origin, explores the horror wrought on Earth. We’d say that falls well within our purview. So, yeah, it’s a big umbrella, but we do think the title sums it up quite nicely: Green Inferno. The World Celebrates Your Demise. What We’re Looking For: Short Stories (8000 words or less) and Flash Fiction (1000 words or less). How Do We Want to Scare You Today…? -We love Weird Horror, atmosphere, dread, and slimy things. -Splatterpunk or moody Gothic creepiness are both super keen. -Throwback-y and uber-contemporary are equally great. -Sci-Fi and Fantasy angles welcome, but please keep it Earthbound (terrestrial) for now. -We like Horror comedy… sometimes. Everyone’s “funny” is different, but give it a shot! For Fiction Submissions: We are seeking Short Stories (8000 words or less) and Flash Fiction (1000 words or less). Flash Fiction pays $25 plus 2 comp copies. Short Fiction pays $.04/word...

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: 1-cent-per-word Theme: Pulpy dark fiction in the weird fiction and horror genres Welcome to the new pulp! Weird Horror magazine is a new venue for fiction, articles, reviews, and commentary. The best way to determine what we want is to pick up our inaugural issue, in print or eBook. FICTION GUIDELINES OPENS: October 1 CLOSES: November 30 Weird Horror Magazine is open to submissions of fiction only from October 1 through November 30. The submission period covers 2 issues - March and October. Fiction must be original and previously unpublished anywhere, in any format, on any platform. Please do not query about reprints. As we'll be reading for 2 issues, it may take the full submission period to respond. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please inform us if your story is accepted elsewhere. No multiple submissions. Please send 1 story. We anticipate buying 12 - 18 stories only for our 2021 issues, but they will all come from the slush pile. We are actively seeking new and underrepresented voices. We accept submissions from anyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality. As our title suggests, we are seeking pulpy dark fiction in the weird fiction and horror genres of 500 to 5,000 words. Monsters, ghosts, creatures, fiends, demons, etc. Dark crime. Suspense. Mutants. Killers. Ghouls. Golems. Witches. Pulpy goodness! We are hoping to bring some fun (and terror) to our readers. Payment is 1-cent-per-word (paid via PayPal) for first worldwide English-language rights, for use in the print and eBook editions. We ask for a 6-month exclusivity. Copyright remains with the author, and a contract will be provided. Submit stories in Standard Manuscript Format as a Word document or PDF, and e-mail as an attachment to: WeirdHorrorMag gmail com Please format the subject line of your e-mail thusly:...

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: $75 Theme: The horrors of capitalism Note: This market does not open until November 1st and will not take submissions prior to that. ProleSCARYet: Tales of Horror and Class Warfare will be a print and e-book anthology about the horrors of capitalism. We want monstrous bosses, jobs from literal Hell, working class folks fighting back against great cosmic evils, and any other wild idea you can come up with. As long as it’s anti-capitalist and horror, it’s good. We also welcome dark weird fiction and horror-adjacent sci-fi. The anthology is open to all writers, but we would especially like submissions from anti-capitalist writers of marginalized groups. Stories should be between 1,000 and 4,500 words. Multiple submissions are not allowed. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but withdraw your submission immediately if it gets accepted elsewhere. No reprints. Open for submissions November 1st, 2020 – November 30th, 2020. We will announce accepted submissions by January 15th, 2020. Anthology will be published in spring 2021. OTHER SUBMISSION CONSIDERATIONS If you’re retreading old ground and well-established tropes, make it fresh. We’re fine with horror that has erotic elements, but emphasis should be on the horror. Yes, make it anti-capitalist, but don’t be moralizing. We want nuance. Stories that deal with bigotry are fine, but bigoted stories are not. Splatterpunk is fine, but gore and extreme elements should serve story, character, and theme. FORMAT Use standard manuscript format. Send a doc/docx attachment. Do not copy-paste your story into the body of the email or submit it in any other format — we won’t read it if you do. Please send submission to [email protected]. Include your name, story title, and word count in the subject heading (e.g., Karl Marx — “Capitalism Bad” — 3,500 Words”). Include an author bio of under 100 words and...

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Wolf shifters Wolf Night (Rated R) Deadline – November 30th, 2020 Publication – March 2021 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – Wolf shifters galore! We are looking for romantic tales of wolf shifters in any setting or genre. The spicier, the better. Publisher INFORMATION Company name:        Dragon Soul Press Anthology Submission Email: [email protected] Website:                    http://dragonsoulpress.com/ Facebook:                  http://www.facebook.com/dragonsoulpress/ Duotrope:                   https://duotrope.com/listing/26543/dragon-soul-press The Grinder:              https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market/Index?id=9529   CHECKLIST Introduction of author                                                        This is not where the biography goes. Author Contact Information / Pen name MUST be included with real name. If real name is same as pen name, state so in email. Author Biography in Third Person in 100-200 words        Mandatory minimum of 100. Submission Word Count                                                   Also applies to poetry. Word count. Not line count.   Submission Formatted in Times New Roman 12 PT Font. One-inch margins. No indentations. No double-spacing. No extra spacing between paragraphs. No chapters. Only DOC and DOCX accepted.   Summary/Query Letter                                                      Summarized outline of all major events within the story. All emails should be addressed as “Dear Editor” Email subject and file name must be as follows – “Story Title by Author Name for (Name of) Anthology” All of the author’s social media links, including website if applicable Author must have an active social media account.   Important information Maximum of two submissions per anthology per author. Authors can submit to all anthologies simultaneously. Reprints from third party sources accepted IF author currently holds full rights. We will not publish duplicate stories within DSP. Authors get 30% Royalties for first year from date of publication. Afterwards, 30% of all proceeds go to a charity chosen by the Publisher. Story rights - The Publisher permanently reserves the right to publish the Work within the Anthology while the Author keeps ownership rights to the Work. Do not submit...

Deadline: November 30th, 2020 Payment: 5 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Silence Note: This anthology is open to those from any oppressed group: examples include Women, People of Color, LGTBQ+, Persons with a Disability. Guidelines: This anthology is open to those from any oppressed group: examples include Women, People of Color, LGTBQ+, Persons with a Disability. If you do not fall into this category, please refrain from submitting. There are plenty of other opportunities for you out there. The theme of this anthology is Silence. How you interpret that is up to you, so long as it’s clearly a significant part of the story. Do not send a story with Silence tacked on as an afterthought. You will waste my time and yours. Stories should be horror. We are open to most types of horror though prefer, for this anthology, to shy away from the more extreme: no splatter. Sex and gore are acceptable, provided they are not gratuitous. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, just so we’re absolutely clear: no stories that glorify the oppression of any of the Silenced groups listed above (or any we may have left out). This is an automatic rejection and we will probably never speak to you again either. Standard Manuscript Formatting, please: Times New Roman (or something equivalent) preferred, 12-point font, double spaced. First page, upper left, should contain your contact information and approximate word count (round to the nearest hundred). Word count is between 3,000 and 5.000. There is some wiggle room at both ends but please try to keep it close to that. Your subject line should read Submission: (story title), (your name). Failure to follow this may result in your story getting lost in the shuffle. We are only looking for original...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: 0.06CAD per word Theme: Multi-genre allowed by Blind and visually impaired writers Note: Will consider reprints Artificial Divide is an own voices anthology by Blind and visually impaired writers. It’s a multi genre anthology with visually impaired protagonists. It will feature a diverse array of short stories with protagonists that are visually impaired. For this anthology, edited by Robert Kingett and Randy Lacey, we’re looking for short stories between 500 and 8,000 words. We are looking for own-voice stories featuring blind or visually impaired protagonists, written by authors who are blind or visually impaired. The story need not be about being visually impaired or blind, and can be any genre of fiction. Stories must be in English, though we invite diversity and dialects, including AAVE. We will reject any story with racist, ableist, or homophobic, or otherwise bigoted themes. We don’t want to see those kinds of stories. Period. One of the editors will be using a screen reader to review submissions, so make sure your document does not contain any tables or graphs or charts. Layout tables are acceptable but highly discouraged because your submission will be converted to Proper Manuscript Format. If you already have your story in Proper Manuscript format, send it along in that format. If you’re visually impaired and need a screen reader friendly template, this page is a bit dated, but it has templates that work in all versions of Microsoft Word <https://www.shunn.net/format/templates.html>. Submit your manuscript in either docx or doc format. We’re especially looking for writers of color, LGBT+ writers, and other marginalized identities. Please note that priority will be given to Canadian writers from diverse backgrounds, though we are open to authors from around the world. In your cover letter, provide your name, your primary email address,...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: $0.06/word Theme: Parenthood in SFF Note: Only 2 stories available An anthology exploring the theme of parenthood from science fiction and fantasy authors who are parents themselves! Thank you SO MUCH for your support for this anthology. Now that we've reached our funding goals, behind the scenes we're organizing our timelines and getting started with writing. And thanks to your help in reaching our stretch goals, we'll be open to TWO SLUSH STORIES! The theme is, not surprisingly, parenting in SFF. You can interpret that any way you like, and take it in any direction you like. We'd love to see what you come up with! Stories should be no more than 5,000 words, and when they're all edited and ready to go, can be submitted in a .doc or .docx file to [email protected] no later than 11:15pm EST on December 1, 2020. Please remember to include your name, pen name if you use one, and contact info on your submission (not part of your word count). Thank you again, and stay tuned to our Kickstarter page for monthly updates and we move forward writing these fantastic stories of parents and kids in SFF! - Mike, Kai, and Keena Via: Don't Touch That's Kickstarter.

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: The future Submissions are now open for the FUTURES anthology. The future is filled with many things: dreams, dread, hope, despair. The future is inevitable. It pushes forward the course of our lives, it dreams up our ideas of an afterlife, and it forces us to imagine the inevitable end of this world. It drives us towards changes. What kind of future do you imagine? What is a future you’d like to see? Is the idea of “futures” and linear time a freeing or restraining concept? Send us your best poetry, fiction, essays, or creative non-fiction on the the theme of FUTURES. We welcome writing of all genres and forms (you name it: sci-fi, prose poems, literary fiction, political essays, philosophy, abstract poetry, life stories, fantasy…) All writers are paid in royalties with the full payment for the initial print run being paid up-front. Royalties are shared equally among all contributors and are not based on page or word count.  Full payment details provided in a publication contract. If you would like more details on payment before submitting, please contact Angela at angela bellpressbooks.com. There are no word count guidelines, but keep in mind that pages are limited and longer pieces may be less likely to have a place because of this. Anthology editor: Angela Caravan To submit, please email angela bellpressbooks.com and include: a cover letter in the body of the email introducing your work a brief bio in the body of your email your writing attached as a single word document the subject line “FUTURES anthology ” Preferred formatting: Times New Roman 12pt double spaced word count at the top of the first page poems in one document, with each starting on a seperate page One submission per writer, though you may submit up to 3...

Deadline: For proposals is December 1st, 2020. Submission deadline for stories is January 31st, 2021. Payment: $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is GREATER) and a paperback copy of the anthology Theme: Sherlock Holmes "A year of Mysteries", Stranger than Truth, and Stranger than Fiction. Details below! Note: This isn't our standard form of listing so be sure to read ALL of the details! Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mysteries - 1881   Synopsis: What adventures did Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve during their first year living in 221B Baker Street? What happened in January after the day the two friends met? What mysteries did they solve in their first summer and winter together? Find out in Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mysteries – 1881. This collection contains a dozen cases, one for each month of the year, from January to December. Submission Guidelines: Stories must be canonical in nature and follow the Baring-Gould Timeline (i.e. A Study in Scarlet occurred from Fri, Mar 4 – Mon, Mar 7, 1881. No other canonical adventure takes place during this year). Holmes and Watson should be young and still getting to know each other. Authors interested in participating should first send a synopsis of their adventure and the month of the year they wish it to take place. If your story does not need a specific month (i.e. it takes place in autumn and could be in September, October, or November) please let us know that as well. Once your synopsis has been accepted, you should begin drafting the story. Submission length: 5,000 – 10,0000 words (it is okay to go over some). Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever amount is...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: AUD$100.00 Theme: Remind readers of the hope and beauty of the Arts, and the way our engagement with writing, music, film, theatre, artworks in all media, and craft of all kinds are at the core of our humanity. The world in 2020 has been tipped upside down and shaken in ways we could barely have imagined, except perhaps in the post-apocalyptic and dystopic worlds of story. Amidst pandemic illness and death, political machinations and despair, one of the casualties has been, at least in a financial sense, the Arts. Governments across the world have slashed funding, galleries, theatres and entertainment venues have closed amid lockdown restrictions, money is being carefully metered with jobs more uncertain than ever, meaning our creatives across all industries are suffering. And yet, more than ever, we are turning to art to stay sane in lockdown, to keep our spirits up in isolation, and to remind us that despite the hardship, there is beauty in this world.  To that end, FableCroft is coming out of hiatus in this year of social distancing and staying at home, to call for submissions on a brand new original anthology, The Art of Being Human. Co-edited by Tehani Croft and Stephanie Lai, this anthology seeks to remind readers of the hope and beauty of the Arts, and the way our engagement with writing, music, film, theatre, artworks in all media, and craft of all kinds are at the core of our humanity. Stories should be between 2,000 to 20,000 words long, and not previously published. Poetry of any length is also welcome. Works are invited from all over the world, but must be primarily in the English language. Stories must contain speculative elements – science fiction, fantasy and horror and their sub-genres are all welcome, but we...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: Memories lost, remade, and revisited. How do we make memories? How do memories make us? We’re interested in memories lost, remade, and revisited. We’re interested in how the past is treated in different times and cultures. We’re interested in how societies and individuals create and define themselves through engagement with their pasts. What we keep. What we discard. How we use or once used technology to do so. How we craft, curate, and rework history, mythology, meaning, and identity, both societal and personal. How we lose memories. Talk to us about souvenirs, journals, and memorials, manuscripts, mixtapes, or tattoos. Talk to us about scars, storytelling, photography, monuments, inheritance, family heirlooms, and traditions. Talk to us about things we’ve forgotten or never even thought of. We want to see your fiction and non-fiction submissions. We would particularly like to see  creative non-fiction, personal essays, historical fiction, essays on history, and speculative fiction. We are interested in both the stories of individuals and broader cultural contexts. This is not an academic journal, but any sources should be footnoted. All writers are paid in royalties with the full payment for the initial print run being paid up-front. Royalties are shared equally among all contributors and are not based on page or word count.  Full payment details provided in a publication contract. If you would like more details on payment before submitting, please contact Angela at angela bellpressbooks.com. There are no word count guidelines, but keep in mind that pages are limited and longer pieces may be less likely to have a place because of this. Anthology editor: Devon Field To submit, please email djamesfield gmail.com and include: a cover letter in the body of the email introducing your work a brief bio in the body of your email your...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: $100 for a short story, or $200 for a novella. Theme: “Politics as Story Conflict.” Lagrange Books is soliciting short stories and novellas by new and established authors in the fantasy genre, between 3,500 and 7,000 words in length for short stories and between 9,000 and 15,000 words for novellas. (Shorter or longer works will be considered in cases of exceptional merit.) The goal is to select at least ten entries for publication* in a short-story anthology. Theme: “Politics as Story Conflict.” Your story must include as a significant plot element a political conflict that makes up a key piece of the worldbuilding. (For guidance on how to do this, you can refer to Beyond Kings and Princesses: Governments for Worldbuilders, from Lagrange Books.) Accepted authors will receive $100 for a short story, or $200 for a novella. Submission Rules How to submit: Email your manuscript (acceptable document formats: Word, PDF, Pages, TXT, RTF) to the following address: editor at lagrangebooks dot com. Begin the subject line with “”, and make sure to list your contact information in the email itself. (Also, please mention how you heard of this anthology!) Submission deadline: December 1, 2020. Genre: Fantasy, broadly defined. This includes traditional high fantasy, urban fantasy, or any other flavor that includes a magical or fantastical element. (If you are interested in other genres, please suggest them for our next project!) Details Entries must be your own work, must be previously unpublished, and may not be plagiarized. You must own all copyright to work submitted. No exceptions! Read this post and then this post for discussions of my editorial preferences. Be warned especially that even though the focus of this anthology is on worldbuilding, that does not free you from the need to have a strong plot. Works must show adequate command of the English language, grammar, and punctuation. Rule-breaking for effect, as...

Deadline: December 1st, 2020 Payment: $20 Theme: We ask our fiction writers to imagine their readers navigating a story with one finger poised over a mouse button. Can your story stay that finger to the end? “Turning words into art is unnatural. It begins with a contrary attitude. It says, I am unhappy with the way things are and desire to make things different. Rather than represent the world, I will make something wildly and savagely new. I will defy logic. I will invest in new perceptions. I will combine and recombine and fabricate and juggle until something that I have never experienced is experienced. The process is alchemical. The process is violent. It goes to the heart of creativity. It disrupts and shatters. It is splendid with provocation. It is an aggression against banality. It is sharp and loud like a janitor scraping frost from a window. The hectic bounce of steam on a street after a truck roars by. The anarchy of waters, the comedy of the face, dangerous feelings vented from a cage of skin.” ~ John Olson Poetry — We believe poetry is contrary by nature, always defying, always tonguing the tang of novelty. We look especially for plurality of meaning, for dual reverberation of beauty and concern. Contrary’s poetry in particular often mimics the effects of fiction or commentary. We find ourselves enamored of prose poems because they are naturally contrary toward form – they tug on the forces of exposition or narrative – but prose poems remain the minority of all the poetic forms we publish. Please consider that Contrary receives vast amounts of poetry and that we can publish only a small percentage of that work. Please submit no more than three poems per issue. Our poetry editor is Shaindel Beers. Fiction — We ask our fiction writers to imagine...

Deadline: December 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 —...

Submission Period: November 30, 2020 to December 4, 2020 Payment: 12.5 cents per word Theme: Fireside has two goals: to find and publish great stories regardless of genre, and to pay our writers and artists well. Fireside holds a submissions period for each upcoming issue of Fireside Quarterly. In 2020, Fireside will be open to submissions for short stories during the following period: November 30, 2020 to December 4, 2020 Submissions period for the Autumn 2021 Issue During open submissions periods, there will be a form on this page for uploading your submission. We have no further submissions dates to announce for the moment. Please subscribe to our newsletter if you’d like to be the first to find out about our future submissions dates. Guidelines We welcome previously unpublished work (‘published’ includes work posted on Patreon or on a blog) in English or Spanish from all writers anywhere in the world, and we are interested in seeing work from people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, members of religious minorities, and people outside the United States. We strongly encourage submissions from people of those backgrounds, and all others whom traditional publishing has historically excluded. If you have any questions about how to submit, please email us at: [email protected]. (Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread.) Accessibility We use an online form to gather submissions, but we understand that this may not be universally accessible to disabled people. If you have questions related to accessibility, please email us at [email protected] with the subject line: Accessibility Query. Accessibility Queries should only contain a request to submit by alternate means, and should not include a submission. Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread. Short Stories We accept short stories up to 3,000 words. Our budget allows us to pay for up to 7,000 words per...

December 5th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Stories that feature interesting characters finding ways into and out of dangerous situations at a rollicking pace. Submission deadline for CLIFFHANGER Issue 1: Saturday, December 5th, 2020, 11:59pm Editorial decisions: Saturday, April  3rd, 2021 Publication of issue: Saturday, June 5th, 2021 Length: We prefer short, fast paced fiction that tells complete and cohesive narratives. Word Count should fall between 5,000 and 7,000 words with the sweet spot being around 6,000. We do not accept Flash Fiction. Style: We prefer stories that feature interesting characters finding ways into and out of dangerous situations at a rollicking pace. Gratuitous sex and gore is frowned upon, though we recognize that horror and romance have their place in Adventure Fiction. Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in CLIFFHANGER, authors will (1) be paid an honorarium of $10 and (2) will be asked to provide, by contract, "First North American Serial Rights." In our opinion, this means that copyright is NOT transferred. All copyright stays with you, the writer; however, you will have sold/transferred a form of "exclusive use rights" called "First North American Serial Rights" (FNASR). This is the right to publish your unpublished work for the first time, and ONLY the first time, no more. The important thing to remember is that some professional publications may ask for FNASR upon acceptance of a specific work; you are not legally permitted to provide those for that specific work after publication in CLIFFHANGER, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in CLIFFHANGER, that works' associated FNASR have been sold/transferred. You CAN publish your previously published work elsewhere as a reprint but only as long as that publication does not require FNASR....

Deadline: December 1st-7th Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. 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. Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions: We do not accept simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. Please do not submit more than one set of poems at a time, more than one piece of flash fiction at a time, or more than one story at a time. You may, however, submit a single entry in each category at the same time: you can submit one batch of poems, one flash fiction piece, and one short story all at the same (or overlapping) time, and each category will be considered a separate submission. If we are already considering work in any given category, please wait until you have received an acceptance or rejection before submitting again in that same category. 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...

Deadline: December 10th, 2020 (Sorry!) Payment: $30 Theme: Weird, scary, and beautiful things that take place in the imaginary town of Bear Creek Welcome to the Bear Creek Gazette Bear Creek is a beautiful town that doesn't exist. The B.C.G is here to document the weird, scary and beautiful things that take place in the town. If you would like to write an article about your time in Bear Creek, please email us at ​ [email protected] ​ What we are looking for; Anything you would find in a regular news portal. So it can be a headline article about a serial killer on the loose, a Sudoku that tells you to kill yourself, a restaurant review that turns into rampant cannibalism or anything in between. While not a strictly horror themed site, I will always gravitate towards the unsettling and weird. Your creative process is entirely up to you, and you can go absolutely wild as far as I am concerned. Think Welcome to Night Vale, The Wicker Man, Twin Peaks and you are on the right track. While writing for a newspaper might seem constricting, this is an extremely strange town and almost anything goes. I aim to be as immersive as possible, so obviously I won’t be able to run 25 of the same type of article. If two people submit cool articles detailing the same sort of thing, only one will get chosen. If this happens I am going to strip naked, staple both pieces onto my body and run through the woods until one falls off. No word limit/image count. Send me anything. Format it however you want. I am not going to reject something because it’s in 48pt Comic Sans. Response time will be between 1 and 2 weeks. This 6 month thing is nonsense...

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 Payment: 2 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: The greatest and most complete travel anthology of (fictional) haunted buildings in the world. Title: Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (2021 edition) Edited by: Charlatan Bardot and Eric J. Guignard Publisher: Dark Moon Books (Los Angeles, CA) Submissions Accepted: November 15–December 15, 2020 Projected Release Date: Summer, 2021 Word Count: Short Stories between approximately 1,500–4,500 words (soft range). Payment: Two (2) cents per word and one contributor copy in each of all published formats. Reprints?: NO Multiple and/or Simultaneous Submissions: YES Response Time: January 15, 2021 (or earlier) Send submissions and queries to: [email protected] ### The greatest and most complete travel anthology of (fictional) haunted buildings in the world is opening soon! Hosted by Professor Charlatan Bardot, PhD, EdD, EJG, and curated by Eric J. Guignard, this book is seeking dark fiction short stories about haunted buildings (excluding houses) around the globe. Consider that, essentially, these are “Haunted House” types of stories, except they are to be set in ANY type of structure that is not a house; i.e. the theme of this book is for haunted buildings or structures that are subject of a fantastic, terrifying, magical, weird, or otherwise thrilling or speculative tale, but that the subject building is not a traditional stick-built/frame residential house. Additionally, these are to be “fictional buildings” (don’t use the Eastern State Penitentiary as the site of your story, but you could use a similar haunted prison modeled off, and named differently than, Eastern State Penitentiary). Use your wildest imagination for these tales of architecture and intrigue—any type of building (excluding traditional houses) is welcome. A haunted igloo? Yes! A possessed Yurt? Totally! Go wild with these tales, but not to the point of silliness. Although the book idea is playful, and I want the stories to be fun, they also should...

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 Payment: $10 Theme: Furry Zombies The Howling Dead Deadline: December 15, 2020 Editor: Cedric G! Bacon Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable The horror...the funky horror! Zombies have been a part of our cultural zeitgeist for decades, from each Night and Dawn and into the Day of the Living Dead, on up to the ones who Walk, Thurston Howl Publications is proud to add to the with their first “furry zombie” anthology, THE HOWLING DEAD! Your zombies can be the shambling Romero variety, the more comedic, or the more horrific, let your hungry imagination be satiated! Please note we are a progressive press and do not publish any conservative works. At least one major character must be furry. We will NOT accept: Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or sex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36) You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any). Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it. We will not accept simultaneous submissions. Payment: Authors will receive 10 USD per story. We will inform all authors regarding decisions within a week or two after the deadline. Via: Weasel Press's Submittable.

Deadline: December 15th, 2020 (Sorry for the short notice!) Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. Baffling Magazine currently publishes two flash story a month on our Patreon. Subsequently, each quarter of published work will be shared for free online on our website. We will publish additional work each month as our Patreon grows and will share those guidelines as we get closer to each milestone. ✷ The compensation level for original stories accepted to Baffling Magazine is $0.08/word. Stories will be published first on our Patreon, then made available in our quarterly issues, and finally in an annual print anthology. Submissions are currently open from December 1-15, 2020. To submit your work, please fill out this form. If you are unable to use the form for any reason, please email us at [email protected] for alternate submission instructions. We are looking for: Wordcount: Under 1,200 words. We would especially love to see more stories under 500 words. What we want to see: We are looking for speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. We want queer stories and we want trans stories and we want aro/ace stories. We want indefinable stories. We welcome weird, slipstream, and interstitial writing. What we don’t want to see: We’re not interested in unexamined bigotry or sexual violence; pieces that include such should be nuanced or looking at the post-event experience of the survivors. Guidelines: Please submit your story in .doc or .docx file, formatted in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format. Use italics for italics etc. One of the editors has a slight aversion to Courier and a fondness for Georgia. Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, and a brief bio. You may include...

Deadline: December 21st, 2020 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: In this story collection, the games are taking over and they’re out for blood. Open submissions being accepted for “It’s All Fun and Games Until Somebody Dies” 11/1/20 - 12/21/20 D&T Publishing proudly presents “It’s All Fun and Games Until Somebody Dies.” We all know the games. The ones we played as kids. The ones we all have fond memories of, crowded around a kitchen table with family, piled in the floor with friends around the TV, or standing in front of the flashing lights of an arcade game. The games that when we look back at our childhood, we have at least one memory of. But what if, those games turned sinister? What if they were real and out for revenge? In this story collection, the games are taking over and they’re out for blood. Specific information: - Accepting stories of 3,000-5,000 words about being killed in or by a game. - It can be a board or video game, game show or virtual reality. Do not use any actual games or a closely related premise to any current/past games. They must be new ideas and concepts. If they are too closely related, they will not be accepted. - Single spaced, 12 pt., Times New Roman preferred. Clean and edited copy, as much as possible. Submit in .doc or .docx format. Please, no weird fonts or spacing. Email it to [email protected] - A confirmation email will be sent to you within 24 hours of receipt of your submission. Please make sure that your name is on your submission. If you are using a pen name, please include your real name, as well. - For your email, please use “Games” as the subject. - Acceptance emails will be sent...

Deadline: December 24th, 2020 Payment: 50% of net profits Theme: Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Romance, LGBT-themed, Adventure, Paranormal/Occult, Comedy, Historical, Portal Fiction, A blend of any two or more of the above genres, Cross-genre, mixed genre, or things that don't fit genre norms, Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children's (please specify your target market in your query letter) We are an independent Canadian press of escapism fiction for all ages  and we are passionate about success. We partner with our authors to make the books we produce the best they can be and aim to market them together for maximum exposure.  We're proud to be able to offer our books as both paperbacks and e-books. We offer higher royalties than the industry standard  (50% of net profits), author copies at wholesale rate, and worldwide distribution. We respond to all queries we receive within six to eight weeks with a personal response, including suggestions on how to improve your manuscript even if it is not the right fit for us, so there is no need to send a follow-up inquiry. We also promise never to charge our authors for any part of the publishing process, and there is no fee to submit.    Please note: We are a traditional style publishing house, NOT a vanity press, which means we DO NOT charge our authors ANYTHING to publish with us. We proudly support our authors in every way we can and we gladly pay them royalties on every sale.  We're looking for Escapism Fiction... Our goal is to provide readers with the ability to escape the mundane through wildly creative fiction. We're looking for books that act as gateways to other worlds, times, or versions of reality. We prefer strong story telling, engaging openings, and compelling character development as well as imaginative settings, vivid world building, and interesting themes. If your manuscript transports a reader...

Deadline: December 25th, 2020 Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties Theme: The idea of resurrection, and of course, it’s aftermath. Due Date: December 25, 2020 Word Count: 1,000 to 7,500 words Payment: $0.01 per word and a percentage of royalties Who doesn’t want to live again? The idea of resurrection and conquering death is something that can be seen in many myths and legends of cultures around the world. This anthology will deal with the idea of resurrection, and of course, it’s aftermath. Please email your submissions to [email protected] with the subject line of “Resurrection Submission” in standard manuscript format. Also please include a short bio. Please note: All submission calls are open to writers from around the world; however we currently only publish in the English language. Via: Antimony and Elder Lace Press.

Deadline: December 26th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Cemetery Chillers, Spook Houses, Supernatural Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods We’re looking for 500-1,000 word horror flash fiction for a “pocket-sized” anthology. Paying $.08/word for original stories, no reprints. Reading until DEC 26, 2020. The theme of the anthology is horror subgenre medley. Please choose a theme to write and submit a story for: Cemetery Chillers, Spook Houses, Supernatural Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods. You’re free to submit (1) story per theme, so up to (5) stories. The ‘themes’ are open to interpretation, but we are looking for sinister tales. In your submission email subject line please include the title of your story, word count, and theme! Please attach your story as an RTF or DOC file. You’re welcome to submit stories up to 1,200 words, but we will delete stories over 1,200 words and under 500 words. We will accept stories before December, but will hold many stories without responding until we have a complete TOC. Simultaneous submissions are fine. We’re looking for First Rights Publishing and will ask that you don’t reprint your story until OCT 31, 2021. Send submissions to [email protected] -Joe Sullivan, Editor   Note for debut/young authors: Established authors hate writing anything under 6k words. This call is wide open. We want to give you a space, but you have to give yourself a chance. Write something new with the theme in mind, have at least a vague idea of what we publish, and don’t go over 1k words. We like NoSleep Podcast, Michael Wehunt, timeless urban legends, and stories with fresh takes on popular themes. Via: Cemetery Gates Media.

December 26th, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Any of the following: Cemetery Chillers, Spook Houses, Supernatural Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods We’re looking for 500-1,000 word horror flash fiction for a “pocket-sized” anthology. Paying $.08/word for original stories, no reprints. Reading until DEC 26, 2020(or until we fill each section of the book, approx. 40-50 stories .) The theme of the anthology is horror subgenre medley. Please choose a theme to write and submit a story for: Cemetery Chillers, Spook Houses, Supernatural Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods. You’re free to submit (1) story per theme, so up to (5) stories. The ‘themes’ are open to interpretation, but we are looking for sinister tales. In your submission email subject line please include the title of your story, word count, and theme! Please attach your story as an RTF or DOC file. You’re welcome to submit stories up to 1,200 words, but we will delete stories over 1,200 words and under 500 words. We will accept stories before December, but will hold many stories without responding until we have a complete TOC. Simultaneous submissions are fine. We’re looking for First Rights Publishing and will ask that you don’t reprint your story until OCT 31, 2021. Send submissions to [email protected] -Joe Sullivan, Editor Note for debut/young authors: Established authors hate writing anything under 6k words. This call is wide open. We want to give you a space, but you have to give yourself a chance. Write something new with the theme in mind, have at least a vague idea of what we publish, and don’t go over 1k words. We like NoSleep Podcast, Michael Wehunt, timeless urban legends, and stories with fresh takes on popular themes(no ghost POV stories, please.) Stories accepted per theme as of 9/14: Cemetery Chillers 4/10 Spook Houses 5/10 Supernatural Slashers 4/10 Witchcraft 5/10 Within the Woods...

Deadline: December 30th, 2020 Payment: $30 and a contributor's copy Theme: Survival in Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, or Contemporary We are seeking morally ambiguous stories with the fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and contemporary fiction genres surrounding the theme of survival. Not many things in this world are straightforward. Many individuals have encountered moments of extreme moral compromise when faced with a choice that meant life or death, or the perception of such. From the outside, it may seem that some choices can be evaluated in the simple vein of right or wrong, ethical or not. Yet when placed in a situation that perpetuates a choice between survival and death, would we have the same opinion? The theme of survival is meant to highlight situations that deserve another glance, that are not clean cut or easily defined within the realm of typical ethical boundaries. How far must a person go to survive? Or is death the choice we make instead of going against our morals? What will we do to survive? If you have a short story that fits the morally gray theme of survival, check out our submission guidelines below.   Details Submission Period: October 1 to December 30, 2020 Word Limit: 12K words per piece, not including addition information below Submission Cost: Free Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Contemporary  Previously unpublished works  You may submit up to 2 pieces, but each work must be a separate submission Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please let us know if the work is accepted elsewhere Please don’t send us all pandemic stories – if we pick any, it will only be very few What to Include with Your Submission *Please read carefully*:  A 3 – 5 sentence bio with social media links A paragraph detailing how and why your story is keeping with Inked’s mission to publish morally gray...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Prize: $10 Theme: A drabbled based on "Dead of Winter" Rune Bear Quarterly is a seasonal drabble contest. This season’s prompt is “Dead of Winter.” Submissions are open until December 31st. The winner of the contest will receive $10. Each season will feature a different prompt. Submissions should always qualify the prompt in some way. Stories should be exactly 100 words. Titles: 15 words or less. To submit to the Contest, simply type up your piece and send it to [email protected]. Your subject line should be the word: “QUARTERLY.” Make sure you attach your story as a .doc or .docx. No multiple submissions and no simultaneous submissions. Also submit an author bio of 50 words or less. By submitting, you grant us non-exclusive rights to publish your piece if it wins and to keep the winning story in our archives. We request the winner not reprint the story for six months after the drabble is published. Via: Rune Bear.

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $100 OR $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits and a paperback copy Theme: For one, Holmes's client must be a real historical figure, for the other, it must be a public domain character and fit in with the Victorian/ edwardian time frame of Holmes and Watson Note: I APOLOGIZE for how short this call is, usually these hit my inbox much sooner. Call for Submissions to Two NEW Sherlock Holmes Anthologies Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction Guidelines: These traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures are sure to be a lot of fun. For Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth Holmes's client is a real historical figure. It could be Queen Victoria, Billy the Kid, President Harrison, The Dalai Lama, Nellie Bly, Laura Ingalls Wilder, or any person who lived during the time Holmes and Watson worked together. For Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction Holmes's client is a fictional character. It must be a public domain character and fit in with the Victorian/ edwardian time frame of Holmes and Watson. Perhaps the client is an elderly Oliver Twist or a young Dr. Caligari. Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson could be visiting London and need help from a detective. Maybe Alice needs help finding Wonderland or Dorothy returning to Oz. Submissions:  Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Truth - Stories must fit traditional Holmes. Submissions should be 5,000 – 10,000 words in length (it is okay to go over or under some). Since these cases involve historical figures they should be canonical in nature. Holmes and Watson must be their traditional selves.   Sherlock Holmes: Stranger than Fiction -  Since these stories involve fictional characters, you have some leeway in adding elements of fantasy, horror, and science fiction (i.e. if you use Dracula, or the Time...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: £15 per accepted piece or B. £5 plus a contributor copy Theme: Aftermath (see below.) ‘Aftermath’ (n) originated in the 1520s to mean the second crop of grass which is grown on the same land after the first had been harvested. From after- + –math (which meant ‘a mowing, cutting of grass’. Figurative language came about in the 1650s. Similar to the French regain, from re- + gain (which meant ‘grass which grows in mown meadows’. Aftermath is now defined as ‘the consequences or after-effects of a significant unpleasant event’, but really, it can mean so much beyond this as well. When we asked our staff what ‘Aftermath’ meant to them, there were many different responses, some of which might inspire all you writers out there for the upcoming issue. What We Publish Epoch is a publishing platform for original, creative nonfiction. We want to hear every voice. Epoch enthusiastically encourages submissions from marginalised voices, BlPOC, POC, LGBT+ folks, emerging writers and people outside of academia. We hope you’ll trust us with your stories. Original Material Submissions must be written and/or created by you and never before published. Epoch also accepts original translations, but we require a cover letter indicating where the work was previously published and whether you have the rights to authorise a translated publication. We will consider work that has been simultaneously submitted to other publications, but you must notify us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere. Creative Nonfiction Creative nonfiction is a vast genre, and we like it that way. We accept submissions for: memoir, personal essay, flash creative nonfiction, nature writing, travel writing, city writing, etc.— even poetry will be considered. We are interested in any narrative of real life that is well written. Artwork We encourage the submission of all types of original artwork which can...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: Roughly $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. 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...

Deadline: December 31st 2020 Payment: $0.01/word Theme: The best speculative stories published in 2020 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. We’re Here 2020 is now open for submissions. The anthology will be co-edited by CL Clark and series editor Charles Payseur. Please submit your work here. If anything prohibits you from using the form, please contact us at [email protected] for alternate submission instructions. We are looking for: The best speculative stories published in 2020 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. We refer to queerness that is inclusive of ace/aro stories, trans and nonbinary stories, and intersex stories. What we don’t want to see: Original/unpublished work, unqueer work, non-speculative work. Guidelines: Please submit your story in .pdf, .doc or .docx file, formatted for publication or in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format.  Please use italics and bold as necessary. This should be the final version that was published, not including editor notes or track changes. Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, where/when the story was published, and a brief bio. You may include links to your website/social media, and previous publications if any. Please don’t stress about this cover letter, if we have additional questions about your submission, we’ll ask them. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Multiple submissions are welcome. Reprint submissions from 2020 only. This can include self-published stories, and those published on your blog or Patreon. Submissions are open to all.  Neon Hemlock Press is particularly interested in queer stories and authors.  Authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit.  Please don’t self-reject. The compensation level for stories accepted to WE’RE HERE: THE BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION 2020 is $0.01/word. Submissions will close December 31st 2020. Editors are encouraged to recommend work from their...

Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $5 and royalties Theme: Fantasy/Science Fiction/Speculative stories featuring a cross-species romance. Note: Reprints welcome I hereby announce that submissions are open for our very first anthology, Universe of Attractions! We are looking for Fantasy/Science Fiction/Speculative stories featuring a cross-species romance. Elves may be the champions of interspecies romance, but what about the others? What are some mythological races that usually are passed by? How do Venusians show their love? Do Alpha Centaurians get starstruck? Romance must be an essential part of the story, not just sprinkled on top, and the romance must contribute to character development. And because we are an all-inclusive press, you are not limited to any specific orientations. We’re not looking for hard adult content, but sexual intercourse is allowed. You should keep the striptease rule in mind—the more you leave to the imagination, the better. And if you mention body parts, do know where those body parts are! Inaccurate anatomy will get your story rejected. Length: the target range is between 2000-7500 words. We will consider works outside this, but they will be a harder sell. Deadline: December 31, 2021. Target date for publication is June 2021. Pay: $5, with a share of royalties after expenses are met. Payments will be made by Paypal, and will be sent upon receipt of a signed contract. Guidelines: Failure to follow guidelines will get your story rejected, but you may resubmit if you correct your mistakes. 1) Submit your story as an *.rtf file attached to your cover letter. 2) One-inch margins, double-spaced text. 3) NO TABS! Use the paragraph formatting tool to indent the paragraphs, and use CENTER to place your section dividers. 4) NO page numbers or other headers or footers on the pages! 5) Mark your italics with an underscore before and after the italics....

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $15 Theme: Speculative fiction, primarily horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Note: Reprints welcome. 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...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $5 Theme: A fantastical war going on under the fog, a new planet that needs some adventurers to discover it, a monster to scare someone’s socks off under the misty surface of a glass pane, or anything in between. Content: A fantastical war going on under the fog, a new planet that needs some adventurers to discover it, a monster to scare someone’s socks off under the misty surface of a glass pane, or anything in between. Accepted Styles: Short stories and flash fiction Accepted Genres: Anything that isn't erotica or children's fiction Simultaneous Submissions: These are allowed, but please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted by another publisher. Reprints: No. Stories posted on the internet, including but not limited to, FB, personal websites, blogs, etc., are considered published. Number of Submissions per Author: 1 short story or 3 pieces of flash fiction Length: A short story should be less than 5,000 words. Each flash fiction piece should be less than 1,500 words. Payment: Free electronic copy of the book and $5 per author, regardless of number of accepted submissions. Requested Rights: First rights to digital, audio, and print formats in English. Exclusive for one year from publication. After that year all rights revert back to the author. Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Formatting: Stories must be submitted electronically as a .docx attachment in an email to [email protected]. Submission should be 12 point font, Times New Roman, and double spaced. The document name should include the name of your submission. Please include the title and page numbers in the header of the attachment. In the body of your email please include your name, author name/website, address, short story title, and word count of submission. IF IN DOUBT PLEASE SUBMIT! Via: Pub 518.

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: Royalties Theme: All shifters Deadline – December 31st, 2020 Publication – April 2021 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – Shifters! Any animal shifters, settings, genres, etc are acceptable. All stories must include a main or secondary character that does not have a heterosexual preference. Publisher INFORMATION Company name:        Dragon Soul Press Anthology Submission Email: [email protected] Website:                    http://dragonsoulpress.com/ Facebook:                  http://www.facebook.com/dragonsoulpress/ Duotrope:                   https://duotrope.com/listing/26543/dragon-soul-press The Grinder:              https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market/Index?id=9529   CHECKLIST Introduction of author                                                        This is not where the biography goes. Author Contact Information / Pen name MUST be included with real name. If real name is same as pen name, state so in email. Author Biography in Third Person in 100-200 words        Mandatory minimum of 100. Submission Word Count                                                   Also applies to poetry. Word count. Not line count.   Submission Formatted in Times New Roman 12 PT Font. One-inch margins. No indentations. No double-spacing. No extra spacing between paragraphs. No chapters. Only DOC and DOCX accepted.   Summary/Query Letter                                                      Summarized outline of all major events within the story. All emails should be addressed as “Dear Editor” Email subject and file name must be as follows – “Story Title by Author Name for (Name of) Anthology” All of the author’s social media links, including website if applicable Author must have an active social media account.   Important information Maximum of two submissions per anthology per author. Authors can submit to all anthologies simultaneously. Reprints from third party sources accepted IF author currently holds full rights. We will not publish duplicate stories within DSP. Authors get 30% Royalties for first year from date of publication. Afterwards, 30% of all proceeds go to a charity chosen by the Publisher. Story rights - The Publisher permanently reserves the right to publish the Work within the Anthology while the Author keeps ownership rights to the Work. Do not...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.06/word, contributors copy Theme: The End Is the Beginning / The Beginning Is the End Note: Only open to underrepresented demographics (POC, LGBTQIA+, female) My voice needs to be heard. How can I submit? If you are not part of an underrepresented demographic (POC, LGBTQIA+, female), please do not submit at this time, but feel free to send recommendations; otherwise, if you feel your voice needs to be heard, send your submission to [email protected] (or just click the email link, but read the next part before doing so). There are no formatting guidelines other than file type: .doc, .dotx, .rtx, or plain text. The words are what matter. What can I submit? Fiction (5,000 words or fewer recommended, payment capped at 5K), only one submission at a time. If you receive a rejection, feel free to submit again, immediately. No reprints. Poetry (50 lines or fewer, payment capped at 50 lines), up to 5 poems at a time. If you receive a rejection, feel free to submit up to 5 more, immediately. No reprints. Artwork (9.25 height x 6.25 width, 300 DPI, black-and-white), .jpg preferred for initial consideration. Payment Fiction - $0.06 per word, US, capped at 5,000 words Poetry - $1 per line, US, capped at 50 lines Artwork - exposure only, unless contracted individually Contributor copies of all editions Deadline December 31st, 2020 (end of the year, basically) Contract A publishing contract will be made available for all accepted work, to be signed by both parties prior to publication. Here's what you can expect: Written Backwards requests first worldwide print rights Rights revert back to the creator immediately upon publication You're allowing your work to be published in this anthology for as long as there is a need for the anthology, but you get your rights back the moment it goes...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.05 per word Theme: To lost contact (not being specific in the call, just what that means to you, ideas for themes below!) Hi! If you are a writer, this post will be of great interest to you. But, before we get to our big announcement, I do want to point out we’ve recently uploaded several new titles on our homepage. Please check it out and order (or, in some instances, pre-order) a couple books. If you love indie horror, the best way to show that is to support publishers directly, and you can do that by ordering books through our webstore. (We will be issuing out other posts at a later date going into more detail on the new titles uploaded, such as Jessica Leonard’s debut novel, Antioch, which is gonna blow y’all’s minds; seriously, you might as well just go ahead and pre-order it right now before reading anything else in this newsletter–it’ll be the wisest decision you’ve ever made.) Now, on to our announcement… Long-time fans of Perpetual Motion Machine know we have released two critically acclaimed anthologies titled Lost Signals and Lost Films. These anthologies have featured fiction from folks like Josh Malerman, Brian Evenson, Kristi DeMeester, Gemma Files, Damien Angelica Walters, and so on… One thing we’ve been asked about the most, probably, is when are we going to complete the trilogy of these…LOST anthologies. And…well, it’s pretty obvious by now, but we intend on completing the trilogy in 2021. But we need help. Which is why, beginning right now, we are officially open for story submissions for a brand-new anthology called…LOST CONTACT.  Now, what does LOST CONTACT mean? I guess that depends on what the word CONTACT means to you. To lose contact…does that bring to mind something physical, something intangible? Does it give you a sense of isolation?...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word+ Theme: Urban fantasy stories set in the modern-day world with some type of god or deity as the central focus of the story THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE anthology Kickstarter (back us at tinyurl.com/ZNBDeity) has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I've posted the guidelines below. THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.  Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format.  The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example:  DERELICT:  Ghost Ships Gone Wild!).  The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for.  Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish.  Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered.  Please use Times New Roman font.  The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name.  Italics and bold should be in italics and bold. Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word+ Theme: Abandoned ships, whether it be ships at sea or starships in space. THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE anthology Kickstarter (back us at tinyurl.com/ZNBDeity) has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I've posted the guidelines below. THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.  Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format.  The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example:  DERELICT:  Ghost Ships Gone Wild!).  The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for.  Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish.  Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered.  Please use Times New Roman font.  The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name.  Italics and bold should be in italics and bold. Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology. DERELICT is to feature...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: 8 cents per word+ Theme: Science fiction and fantasy stories, including alternate history stories, where two different cultures “collide” in some way. THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE anthology Kickstarter (back us at tinyurl.com/ZNBDeity) has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I've posted the guidelines below. THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Submission Guidelines Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its three science fiction and fantasy anthologies THE MODERN DEITY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, DERELICT, and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.  Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format.  The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example:  DERELICT:  Ghost Ships Gone Wild!).  The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for.  Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails; you may submit to any or all of the anthologies as many times as you wish.  Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered.  Please use Times New Roman font.  The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name.  Italics and bold should be in italics and bold. Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $10 for short stories (3000-8000 words) Theme: Tales of enemies to the forever bound Working Title: Nemesis ​ Deadline: Dec 31 2020 or When Full Premise:Sometimes great loves begin with great fury. These are such tales of passion and partnership that ignite somewhere closer to hate.  Warriors on opposite ends of a battlefield align to oppose a greater evil. Sworn enemies become bound brothers for the greater good. Whatever it is that puts them at odds, its no match to the power of what binds them together. ​ Preference will be given to #OwnVoices, female authors, LGBTQA stories, but all are welcome to submit! Encouraged Tropes:  Enemies to Lovers Foe Romance Subtext (But skip the sub and make it TEXT!) Belligerent Sexual Tension The Only One Allowed to Defeat You ​ Pairing Examples: Buffy/Spike Rey/Kylo Batman/Joker (In fan fiction LOL) The Doctor/ The Master Riddick/Fry (Pitch Black) The Length Accepted: Flash, and Shorts. Eligibility: Open to all. No Reprints. No simultaneous submissions. Multiple Submissions: See guidelines and story lengths for the number of submissions per pen name. Publication: Feb 2021 Author compensation: Standard. See guidelines and story lengths for details. Submission Guidelines ​ Unless otherwise stated, all submissions should be sent to [email protected] Please fill the subject line as follows:  “SUBMISSION CALL – Author Name – Story Title” ​ Address the email to WTP for a general submission, or a specific editor if you choose (some calls will be run by different individuals). Length ​ Drabble = EXACTLY 100 words. Excludes title and author. Hyphenated words count as 1. Scene break markers and em-dashes are also excluded. No more than 5 drabbles per Pen Name per submission project. These may be submitted at the same time if connected to one another, but all must stand alone as they are likely to be...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $0.01/word Theme: The best speculative stories published in 2020 that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. Note: Reprints Only WE’RE HERE: THE BEST QUEER SPECULATIVE FICTION 2020 is now open for submissions. The anthology will be co-edited by CL Clark and series editor Charles Payseur. Expected publication will be Summer 2021 from Neon Hemlock Press. Learn more about the press here: www.neonhemlock.com Submissions are open for all speculative work published in 2020 under 17,500 words that deals either implicitly or explicitly with queerness. If you're not sure, send it in and let the editors decide. The compensation level for stories accepted to WE’RE HERE: THE BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION 2020 is $0.01/word. Submissions will close December 31st 2020. Editors are encouraged to recommend work from their publications and can submit multiple stories for consideration. Authors may also submit their own work; authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject. Please note that we will not be sending rejections for this anthology, as is standard for other Best Of anthologies. The authors of selected stories will be reached out to in April 2021. We will be announcing our ToC in May 2021. The name and photo associated with your Google account will be recorded when you upload files and submit this form. We are looking for: • Wordcount: Under 17,500 words. • What we want to see: We are looking for the best speculative stories published in 2020 that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness. We refer to queerness that is inclusive of ace/aro stories, trans and nonbinary stories, and intersex stories. • What we don’t want to see: Original work, unqueer work, non-speculative work. Guidelines: • Please submit your story in .pdf, .doc or .docx file,...

Deadline: December 31st 2020 Payment: $25 for original work, $15 for reprints Theme: Resist with every inch and every breath. Note: Officially opens to ALL on November 1st, however, currently open to Black, Indigenous, people of color, migrants, queer, disabled, women, working class, currently or formerly incarcerated, and/or living in poverty Note: Reprints allowed Lonely Cryptid Media is now accepting submissions for our second anthology, to be published September 2021. Theme: Resist with every inch and every breath. Stories of resistance and rebellion, but also of the steps in between and the change that comes after. People around the world rise up and resist those who hold power over them. In the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic, oppression persists and is magnified as crises lay bare the systemic inequalities within societies around the world. This anthology will invite us to reflect on this moment, but also imagine a world beyond it. What will happen if the momentum of Black Lives Matter carries us through and ends state violence? What does a world post-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) look like? What does a world without any borders at all look like? What will be the result of teachers’ and athletes’ strikes? How might we forestall climate catastrophe and work towards climate utopia instead? How can a pandemic be a time to come together even as we stay apart? What does a post-oppression world have in store for us? What will be the outcome of resistance to injustice? What does the future hold? Tell us about resistance big and small; real and imagined; rooted in reality or fantastical in nature; science fictional or science factual; historical, contemporary, or in the future. The everyday resistance of women. The power of youth and children’s rebellions. Resistance in the streets. The dismantling of white...

Deadline: December 31st, 2020 Payment: $10 for short stories (3000-8000 words) Theme: Horror romance/erotic horror Working Title: 50 Shades of Dark ​ Deadline: Dec 31 2020 or When Full Premise: Horror romance/erotic horror. This is not for pure erotica or romance (no standard PNR), and not for horror that lacks any romantic elements. The components of romance, sensuality, and horror should be well woven together. Happily ever afters not required. Sex not required, but if included should be well done. The best submissions will be equal parts titillating and nightmare fuel. Looking for stories at a hard R to NR rating, but all levels of sensuality and horror will be considered. If you have ever wanted to push boundaries, this is the call to do it in! Preference will be given to #OwnVoices, female authors, LGBTQA stories, but all are welcome to submit! Length Accepted: Flash, and Shorts. Eligibility: Open to all. No Reprints. No simultaneous submissions. Multiple Submissions: See guidelines and story lengths for the number of submissions per pen name. Publication: Feb 2021   Via: Wicked Taxidermy Press.

Deadline: October 31st, 2020 Payment: AUD .05 per word and a contributors copy Theme: Holy war military horror. What we want: Military ACTION-BASED horror, themed around religion and/or religious-based conflict. Think the Crusades, Europe’s Thirty Years War, The Troubles in Northern Ireland (but with unnatural monsters)… anything that can be considered a high-action monster story based around a conflict (overt or covert) of religion. For level of unnatural creature we will give priority to, think Dog Soldiers or Aliens. We want lots of monster goodness. We will also be looking for soldiers, mercs, police, private security/paramilitary. Hell, even a group of bodyguards protecting some arsehole theocracy warlord in his jungle property. Just ensure the action is central to the story, from start to finish, and don’t forget monsters! This volume is like the previous volumes squared. All action. We want extreme action, and it has to be military or paramilitary action. And to say it again, full action. Nothing less. Hoo-rah! We actively encourage submissions from all cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, and identities. Storytelling is for everyone, and we are richer for it when all voices are heard. SOME GUIDANCE – IF YOU TAKE THIS PLOT PATH, IT BETTER BE DAMNED GOOD: Modern America versus Muslim country war stories with religiosity at its core. These need to be extremely well-written to make it past the slush pile. What we DO NOT WANT AT ALL, IN ANY FORM: Rape as a plot device/backstory White saviour stories Racism, bigotry, misogyny of any kind Child abuse/paedophilia (can’t believe we have to say this, but we do) Rape as a plot device/backstory (yes, we have to say this twice) Fanfiction or derivatives Edited by Amanda J Spedding and Geoff Brown Payment: AUD5c/word and one contributor copy in each format released. Wordcount range: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query...