Events

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: Get It Over With! Note: Reprints Welcome Upcoming premises (target themes) and deadlines for submission : Watch the Birdie! (July 1, 2021) Get It Over With! (November 1, 2021) To the Pond (March 1, 2022) 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....

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Video Gamers II If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 73.) Video Gamers II; deadline 1st November 2021 !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "Later that evening, they sat alone in their apartment, wondering if they had made the right decision." 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. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. 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...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: $50 (US) for each original short story or novelette (up to 17,500 words) or $25 for flash (up to 1000 words) or poem (up to 100 lines). Theme: Noir Fiction combined with the existing goals of TFF (progressive, feminist, queer, postcolonial, inclusive, accessible, ecological and international speculative and genre fiction). Note: Reprints are welcome but the pay is half the above Call for stories and poems for a Noir-themed issue/anthology from The Future Fire to be published in early 2022, guest edited by Valeria Vitale. We are looking for stories that combine themes or aesthetic from Noir fiction and cinema with the existing goals of TFF (progressive, feminist, queer, postcolonial, inclusive, accessible, ecological and international speculative and genre fiction). Stories by authors from under-represented groups are especially welcome, although you are not expected or required to self-identify in any way. Submissions need not include science-fictional or fantastic settings, but we are mostly likely to be interested in those that play with genre and Noir aesthetic in some way, including cyberpunk. Tropes we are not generally interested in include: Women who die just to make the male protagonist sad Characters committing or enabling crimes to hide their sexual orientation/preferences Other plots whose impact revolves entirely around normative/puritanical/prejudiced assumptions (characters may have such opinions, but the story shouldn’t validate them) Detective stories where law and order unproblematically win the day Please submit stories for the attention of the editors of this issue by sending as a .docx or .doc attachment to [email protected] with subject line “TFF NOIR (title) (wordcount),” before the end of November 1, 2021. TFF Noir will pay $50 (US) for each original short story or novelette (up to 17,500 words) or $25 for flash (up to 1000 words) or poem (up to 100 lines). (Please note that for some longer stories this will amount to under 1¢/word, and...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: 8 cents a word Theme: a horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES What is horror to those living in the margins? Where terror is systematized and in the very air everyone happily breathes? A misheard word. The thud of boots. An impossible color. A foreign growth. DEATH IN THE MOUTH is a horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world. It will feature twenty prose stories spanning from the distant past to the far future, real and fictive worlds, all while exploring new and unique manifestations of horror. Each story will also be accompanied by an original black and white illustration by a unique artist. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: Original manifestations of horror, dread, grief, fear, and anxiety. Embodiments of mania and displacements of faith. Harrowing ecstasy and debilitating hope. Consuming, relentless love. Transgressions of the body, the spirit, and the community. Quiet, creeping absurdities. Unique and terrifying alien mythology from the future. Weird and unsettling folklore from secondary worlds. Quiet contemporary techno-panic. If that sounds broad, that’s because it is: our tastes run wide wide. We want to see stories written from places of boldness and tenderness. Stories that nauseate or introduce the smallest of psychic itches. Stories that span interstellar time or small, restrained fragments. Mixes of other genres (speculative, contemporary, “literary”, historical, etc) are great, but horror should be the focus. A few writers with the vibe we enjoy: Tananarive Due, Helen Oyeymi, Kazuo Umezu, Augustina Bazterrica, Brian Evenson, Yoko Ogawa, Nathan Ballingrund, Carmen Maria Machado, Toni Morrison, Richard Van Camp, Octavia Butler, Stephen Graham Jones, Samuel R Delaney, Junji Ito WHAT WE DON'T WANT: Overused tropes and story shapes.Didactic, fable-like stories.Generic or “classic”...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: $.02 per word and a contributors copy Theme: Optimistic views of the future SOLARPUNK SUNSCAPES: OPTIMISTIC VISIONS OF THE FUTURE Story Length: 500 to 7,500 words Story Payment: $.02 per word + contributor copy Poem Length: 5 poems or 5 pages Poetry Payment: $30 per poem + contributor copy Submissions Open: September 1 — November 1, 2021 Expected Publication: Summer 2022 Editor: Justine Norton-Kertson What is Solarpunk? Solarpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that developed as a reaction to cyberpunk, the decades long dominance of apocalyptic fiction, and a growing desire to tell, read, hear, and watch stories that provide solutions to the very real and potentially catastrophic challenges of climate change. Solarpunk tells optimistic and hopeful stories about future societies (near-future or distant) powered by renewable energy, and where nature and technology coexist in harmony rather than in conflict. This is a subgenre that’s about restoring the web of life that connects us all. It’s about a desire to protect all life, not just human life. It’s about the drive to embrace and empower life, and restore the planet. Solarpunk futures aren’t usually “perfect” utopias. Well sometimes they are, or at least really close — but not always, not even usually — and even when they come close they are still never without conflict and challenges. But they also are absolutely not dystopias. A perfect utopia will never be achieved. However, if solarpunk societies haven’t yet reached some sort of utopian ideal, then the communities in solarpunk stories have still either solved, or are at least in the process of optimistically working together to solve or adapt to the climate crisis. They are consciously and collectively working to create a better world that is ecologically sustainable and is also free from racism, patriarchy, greed and inequity, war, hunger, etc. In short,...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: $0.01 per word Theme: DEVOUT: Martyrs, Cults, and Madness Last Girls Club Winter Issue Theme is DEVOUT: Martyrs, Cults, and Madness No more than two fiction or flash fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($25 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($10 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] The Last Girls Club The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. Please check on the website for the theme in detail. Submissions will be accepted from Jan 1-Feb 1, April 1-May 1, July 1-Aug 1, Oct 1-Nov 1. Final notifications will be Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, Nov 15. No more than two fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Flash fiction must be under 1,000 words, no more than two from an author. No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] Via:...

Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: 1,000 USD + 2 trade paperback copies Theme: Dark Fiction Note: Author must self-identify as an Indigenous person and must not have more than two published books Are you ready to be un-settled? Never Whistle At Night, edited by Shane Hawk and Ted Van Alst, is an anthology exclusive to Indigenous creatives and will be published by Penguin Random House in 2023. The anthology will comprise of twenty-one dark fiction short stories and a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones. Approximately seven stories are reserved for lesser-known and up-and-coming authors who will be selected through this open call. Our mission is to spread both new and established Indigenous authors and their work to as many readers as possible. The time is ripe to publish an Indigenous dark fiction anthology. Authors of historically excluded communities often float toward dark fiction to tell their stories because of its ability to effectively address social issues. Now it’s our turn. CURRENT CONTRIBUTORS Cherie Dimaline Kelli Jo Ford Owl Goingback Shane Hawk Brandon Hobson Stephen Graham Jones Darcie Little Badger Tommy Orange Mona Susan Power Waubgeshig Rice Rebecca Roanhorse Andrea L. Rogers Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. David Heska Wanbli Weiden Erika T. Wurth ELIGIBILITY FOR OPEN CALL Author must self-identify as an Indigenous person Author must submit an original, unpublished work Author must not have more than two published books SUBMISSION DETAILS AND PROCEDURES We are not restricting authors to a specific theme aside from an adherence to the umbrella term of dark fiction. We expect to see stories with dark elements from all subgenres of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and gritty crime. Again, we are looking for original, unpublished work. No simultaneous submissions, please. Shane and Ted will be working alongside two open-call readers to judge submissions. To ensure...

Submission Window: November 1st-2nd, 2021 Payment: 8 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 Window: November 1st-3rd 2021 Payment: $50 Theme: Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk. Hi there! We’ll no doubt write more about this later in the next year, but for now, what follows below will tell you all you need to know. And the theme? It’s “Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk.” (No more submissions are being accepted for publication in December of 2020–but we will be publishing stories that have already been accepted.) The following is relevant to all submissions for 2021, and the first submission window opens Jan. 1. More below.   Writing opportunities for 2021 include:   New Fairy Tales: Fairy tales that are almost or entirely new or are just new takes on old tales are all welcome. Mashups of existing fairy tales are welcome as well. Submissions must follow the theme below to be considered.   Essays: Nonfiction articles about any aspect fairy tales and folklore are being sought. The term “essay” just means you’ll be writing about fairy-tale related matters in a nonfiction article.  Creative nonfiction is welcome. You do not have to stick to the theme, but you can.   Poetry: Poetry inspired by fairy tales and that follows the theme is also welcome.   Please read the following in its entirety before submitting.   Want to know what is likely to get published here? There are well over 10 years of stories, essays and art on this current site. It’s the best place to start if you want to be published here.   HERE IS HOW YOU SUBMIT AND FORMAT   Only the kind of submissions outlined below will be accepted at EC in 2021.   * Writers will have a chance to submit fairy-tale inspired stories/essays/poems 11 times this year. Since we will be choosing four works per publishing month, there are 44...

Submission Window: November 1st-7th, 2021 Prizes: 1st place: $100, 2nd place: $50, 3rd place: $25 Theme: cosmic horror, dark science fiction, or weird CHM wants to find the very best cosmic horror flash fiction. SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT. Submissions will be ongoing and open the first week of every month for that month’s contest. THREE stories will be chosen per month to be published the month after they were submitted. (If you submit a story on October 3rd and it is chosen, it will be published in November.) Submissions are open monthly from the 1st to the 7th. Submission close at 12 am (midnight) eastern standard time. One entry per writer per month please! No simultaneous submissions. All stories accepted must be currently unpublished. Once a story has been submitted, please no resubmissions! We are looking for flash fiction (500 words or less) that can be classified as cosmic horror, dark science fiction, or weird. If you are unsure if your work qualifies, submit it and let us be the judge! Payment 1st place: $100 2nd place: $50 3rd place: $25 Make all submissions to [email protected]. Paste a cover letter with your information, publishing history, and word count into the body of the email. Attach the manuscript as a word document (.docx). Thank you and best of luck! Via: Cosmic Horror Monthly.

Submission Window: October 31st to November 7th, 2021 Payment: $0.01 per word for 1,500 – 6,000 words and $10 flat for 500 – 1,500 words Theme: Anything with a Dark Souls, Morrowind, or Oblivion vibe will have us foaming at the mouth. Also, one of the editors has also had a lifelong, questionable obsession with A Clockwork Orange and those old Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comics . . . Updates from original call Changed our response time to 3 months/90 days. Changed the upper limit of short fiction to 6k instead of 8k Starward Shadows Quarterly is an online dark speculative fiction magazine seeking stories between 500 and 6,000 words. We’re interested in exploring the wicked, strange places that walk the line between reality and nightmare—the alien, the absurd, and above all else, the weird. If you submitted during our first reading period and haven’t heard back, we’re still considering your story for our Winter issue. We ended up receiving over 500 submissions, so response times are much longer than we originally anticipated. Thank you for your patience. Genres We Accept: Cosmic Horror, Sword and Sorcery, Sword and Planet, High/Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Lovecraftian/Cthulhu Mythos inspired tales, Gothic Horror, Space Opera, Dark Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, New Weird, Grimdark, Slipstream, and Cyberpunk. However, feel free to send us anything that falls under the incredibly broad umbrella of “speculative fiction.” Inspirational authors: H. P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Michael Moorcock, J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Ruocchio, Tamsyn Muir, Robert E. Howard Things we love: Monsters, vampires, aliens, psychological horror, first-person unreliable narrators, eloquence, themes of neurodivergence, angst done right (think “Interview with the Vampire), death cults, weird religious undertones, wraiths, trickster kings, black metal, stories where the bad guys win, character-driven narratives, and stories that take place somewhere strange and far away where...

Deadline: November 12th, 2021 Payment: $25 Theme: Stories with a fantastical inclination Open Call for short fiction, Oct. 8-Nov. 12 The Fabulist Words & Art’s next open call for short fiction will run from October 8 at 12:00 a.m. through 11:59 p.m., November 12. We will read and respond to submissions through January 2022; selected works will be scheduled for publication throughout 2022. NOTE: 2021 was our final year as a non-paying market. For works published in 2022, as a first step toward ultimately offering a per-word rate, we will be paying a $25 honorarium to all contributors. Writer Guidelines & Submission Portal: To review our writer guidelines and, beginning October 8, submit your work for our current open call, please visit our Submittable page, or push this here big button: General Submissions Policies • We never, ever charge reading fees • Submissions are only accepted through Submittable during open calls, or by invitation of the editors • We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere • Do not email your submission; you will not receive a response Statement on Non-Discrimination Submissions are welcome and encouraged from contributors regardless of ethnicity, faith, continental ancestry, national origin, gender, and sexuality. Please do not feel constrained; we are honored that you would consider The Fabulist, and thank you for the opportunity to review your work. Evaluation process & response time Submissions are reviewed by committee through several evaluation phases that last from three weeks to three months. On occasion it may take us six months or more to arrive at a decision for certain works. If you have submitted using Submittable or, previously, Green Submissions, and haven’t received a decision after six months (or more), feel free to send a letter to the editors for a status check. Rights, fees &...

Deadline: November 14th, 2021 Payment: Royalties Theme: Adventures among the stars Edited by Tracy Cooper-Posey Stories Rule Press (SRP) is now seeking submissions for Space Opera Digest 2021: Have Ship, Will Travel, the second anthology in this series.  The anthology will be published on January 27, 2022. Deadline: November 14, 2021 Length: 2,000 to 7,500 words Payment: Revenue share Genre This is an anthology of short space opera stories. Please note: We are severely limiting the number of military SF stories to be included in the anthology. Theme The theme is “adventures among the stars.” Please see the retail book description, below, for more on this. The story should conform to space opera subgenre expectations, which generally provoke a sense of wonder. We are looking for a range of stories which explore the anthology theme from different angles. The retail book description This is the description that will appear on the back of the book, and on retail sites. (Please note: the actual number of stories to be included in the anthology is to be finalized during the reading period.) ========Retail Book Description============ Adventures among the stars need a ship to get you there. Stories Rule Press presents Space Opera Digest 2022: Have Ship, Will Travel Space Opera heroes and heroines explore the stars and discover cool new places in ships which range from beat-up rust-buckets to sleek technologically advance craft that are the envy of the galaxy. Space ships are quintessential for the adventures and challenges our favourite characters face. Come and explore a dozen worlds of wonder and the ships our heroes fly with Stories Rule Press’ 2022 edition of Space Opera Digest. Space Opera Digest 2022: Have Ship, Will Travel is the second volume in a quarterly collection of genre fiction anthologies presented by Stories Rule Press. Space Opera Science Fiction Anthology __ Stories Rule Press...

Deadline: November 14th, 2021 Payment: $500 and 25 contributors copies Theme: literary fiction Submission Periods: January 15th - May 31st | October 4th - November 14th What kinds of stories is One Story looking for? One Story is seeking literary fiction. Because of our format, we can only accept stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They can be any style and on any subject as long as they are good. We are looking for stories that leave readers feeling satisfied and are strong enough to stand alone. Does One Story pay? Yes. One Story pays $500 and 25 contributors copies for First Serial North American rights. All rights will revert to the author following publication. Does One Story accept previously published material? No. One Story is looking for previously unpublished material. However, if a story has been published in print outside of North America, it will be considered. Stories previously published online—on blogs, personal websites, online literary magazines, or forums—will not be accepted. Does One Story accept simultaneous submissions? Yes, but please withdraw your submission immediately if your submission is accepted for publication elsewhere. What file types can I submit? We accept DOC, DOCX, PDF, and RTF files. Please include the story title and all writer contact info on the first page of the submitted file. Will you send me comments on my story? No. One Story receives close to 200 submissions each week. Please understand that we do not have time to comment on individual stories. Can I change the story I submitted with an updated draft? We strongly prefer that you only send us final drafts, but if you must upload a new version, please withdraw your submission through Submittable and resubmit. Can I send a revision of a story that was previously rejected? No. Please send us new work. Revisions of previously rejected stories will not be considered and will be automatically declined. Do you consider...

Deadline: November 14th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Horror We are very excited to announce a new call for submissions which is now open! Please read through the details for submissions carefully before submitting your stories and make sure to include the project name in the subject of your email. Close to Midnight A New Collection of Horror Stories We are very excited to open submissions for this new anthology, edited by Mark Morris ("...one of the finest horror writers at work today" – Clive Barker)! Close to Midnight is the third book in the Flame Tree Book of Horror series, and follows Beyond the Veil, which is out now! Mark has once again approached an impressive range of authors but we've reserved space for four new stories from the online submissions. This is a prestigious anthology and will be published worldwide in hardcover and paperback. The first book in the series, After Sundown, was recently nominated for both Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy awards, so we’re looking forward to finding more unthemed horror stories for this third collection. Fees, Copyright and Other Terms: We pay Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates of 8 cents/6 pence for each word for new stories. We will not accept reprints for consideration to this anthology. We would prefer to pay for the selected stories via PAYPAL because bank charges to the US and Canada, in particular, can be crippling for all concerned. Payment for the chosen stories will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website flametreepublishing.com for details), although some may be paid earlier than that. Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel. Please submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your...

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $20 Theme: True ghost stories, unexplained occurrences, and weird encounters with the paranormal or supernatural. Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters Timber Ghost is proud to present, Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters. We are seeking true ghost stories, unexplained occurrences, and weird encounters with the paranormal or supernatural. If you have such a tale, please send it to us, and if it is creepy enough, it just might end up in this anthology (bonus if you have pictures that go along with the story). We anticipate a late 2021 or early 2022 release of the book. Authors accepted will receive a $20 payment. If the author has photos that go along with the story, they will be paid an extra $5. Deadline: November 15th, 2021. Guidelines: Stories must be 5k words or less Stories must be true events (no fiction) Authors must own the rights to the story as well as the rights to any photographs submitted Reprints are fine (just let us know in the submission that it is a reprint and that you own the rights) Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you let us know as soon as it gets picked up elsewhere No multiple submissions ​ Submission Format: Please submit your manuscript using the form below in either .docx, .doc, or .rtf following Shunn format ​Please direct any questions to Cody Langille at [email protected] Via: Timber Ghost Press.

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Cults If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 74.) Cults II; deadline 15th November 2021 !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story to us, you...

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Prizes: (1st prize, $75) which can come from any category and then a $50 “prompt prize” for each of these three categories. Theme: Stories to help keep Christmas weird! (prompts below) The unbearable heat of August reminds me that it’s time to announce the FOURTH ANNUAL WEIRD CHRISTMAS FLASH FICTION CONTEST! I want your stories to help keep Christmas weird! We’re in our fourth year of the contest. Last year’s results are here. The thing keeps growing every year, and each year we ramp up the weird and the creepy and the funny by at least three exponential elves. I expect the bottled up anxiety and rage of a covid year should make this contest’s stories even more upsetting. Perfect for Christmas cheer! New for this year!!! I’m making three “Prompt Categories.” This is just to shake things up, so I’m giving you three ways to enter this year. This is probably overly complicated, but what the hell. You’ve got three ways to submit a story and four ways to win a prize: “Stocking Stuffer” – In this category, just write whatever the hell you want. Anything goes as long as it fits the rules and general guidelines down below. “There was a man dwelt by a churchyard” – The king of Christmas ghost stories, M.R. James, wrote a story with that as a title because in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, someone starts a ghost story with that line but never gets further. I’m sure you guys can do better than M.R. James, a master storyteller who set the standards for all ghost stories to come. It’s a low bar. You can do it! Just write a story with that as the first line, and fame and fortune will be yours. (And, yes, those 8 words count for your total.) Thanks to Benito Cereno (@benito_cereno on Twitter)...

Submission Window: September 15th - November 15th, 2021 Payment: 6¢ (USD) per word Theme: dark, quiet horror Note: You must be able to say “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” Note: SFWA considers 8 cents per word as pro, HWA is 6 cents per word Special Call: New Writers “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” For the reading period of 15 September – 15 November 2021, we are having a special call—writers who have not yet had a professional sale. In your cover letter, please add the following statement: “If accepted, this would be my first pro-sale.” See this blog post for more information and a FAQ We have published writers of all backgrounds from all over the world in LampLight, but not everywhere, nor all shapes and sizes of writers. Help us to shine a light on greater diverse writing and keep LampLight a showcase of the best dark fiction out there by submitting and encouraging others to as well. We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling. For inspiration, we suggest “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and LampLight, Vol1 Issue 1 which is free. We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies, cannibals, high fantasy. Edition and Rights The quarterly is published as print and ebook, and at the end of the year all the quarterlies are bound together in an annual collection. We are asking for non-exclusive, worldwide, serial rights to your work for both electronic and print. We want to publish it, we don’t want to own it. Payment 6¢ (USD) per word 5100 words MAX (firm) Note: we will not be accepting reprints for...

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $5 USD Theme: "Most" Speculative fiction, read below for specifics. Note: Open only for women-identified authors. Simply follow the schedule below to be notified when we close and open for submissions. Criteria Luna Station Quarterly publishes speculative fiction written by women-identified authors. We think women write awesome characters and really cool stories and we want to show it to the world. We will consider stories submitted by any woman writer, regardless of experience or writing resume. If you consider yourself on the woman end of the gender spectrum in any significant capacity, you’re welcome here! Stuff we want: Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera New Fairy Tales (not retellings) Some creepiness Stories that explore the nooks and crannies of an original world Big events from the everyman perspective Unique settings and storytelling forms Well written stories with strong characters Stuff we don’t want: Anything biased toward any religion, race or moral preference Extreme gore or sexual content, in particular no explicit rape or sexual assault. (everything in moderation) Bizarro fiction Poetry Fan Fiction (original stories only, please) Bad grammar/punctuation (please proofread and watch your sentence structure!) Plagiarism A further note about sex and violence in submissions. Science fiction has a long-standing tradition of pushing boundaries and asking difficult questions. It is meant to challenge us and ask us to look at ourselves and how we treat each other and the world around us. That said, LSQ is centered on uplift and so any story that contains explicit sexual situations or violence especially toward women will be considered more carefully than other stories and the content must be justified within the story’s arch. Format and Details Stories should be 500 to 7000 words in length. We may publish longer or shorter works, but the greater your story is...

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $25 US Theme: 80's slasher heavy in nostalgia. Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines may be rejected. Submissions will be accepted until November 15th, 2021. Please submit to [email protected], ensuring ’Hex on the Beach’ is in the subject line. What we are looking for: Horrifying short stories, interviews and editorials matching the theme as it relates to all mediums of the horror genre including books, comics, music, movies, art and television 1,000 to 10,000 words in length. We also encourage writers to include good representation of POC, LGBTQ+, and women. If you run a small press, podcast, blog, YouTube channel or any other platform that is focused on amplifying underrepresented voices in the horror community, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! We will have several placeholders to advertise at no cost. Space will be limited so take a moment to let us know what you do to lift other's up in the community. Please include submitter’s name, pen name (if different), word count, and author email address. Submissions must be written in 12 pt. Times New Roman and double spaced. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. If your story is a reprint, please include its original publication details in your submission email. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but you must have the right to license your story in a publication. Notify us by email at [email protected] if you need to withdraw your submission. The deadline for submissions is November 15th, 2021.

Submission Window: November 1st-15th, 2021 Payment: 1 winner each month will win $10 Canadian Theme: A story at exactly 50-words If you’d like to have a 50-word story that you wrote featured on FiftyWordStories.com, first make sure that you understand exactly what a 50-word story is, and then read the submission requirements below closely. Submissions System Each month, submissions will be open between days 1 and 15 of that month. Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will be deleted, but can be resubmitted the following month. You may only submit one story per month. From the stories received in those 15 days, the best stories will be selected to be published that same month. Only enough stories will be selected to publish two stories per weekday. There is no payment associated with stories. However, each month a “Story of the Month” is selected, and receives a prize of $10 Canadian. Stories that were not selected will not be published, will not roll over into the following month, and cannot be resubmitted in following months. Authors will be notified whether their story has been selected or not once all stories from the month’s submissions have been reviewed. How to Submit Please email your submission to [email protected]. Paste the story into the body of the email. Please include a title, your name, and a brief third-person bio. Feel free to include a link to your website! If you are submitting a story related to a specific date or holiday, please include that information in the Subject line of your submission. You can also send your story in using the form at the bottom of this page. Tips and Guides Looking for help with writing microfiction? Check out Bob Thurber’s Anatomy of a Microfiction page. Terms and Conditions Please keep the content of your submissions appropriate for...

Deadline: November 15th, 2021 Payment: $.10 per word Theme: passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background. Please follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter to get all submission updates.  Editors-in-Chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas Uncanny Magazine is seeking passionate, diverse SF/F fiction and poetry from writers from every conceivable background.  We want  intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel. Uncanny Magazine is a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Qualifying Professional Market. Fiction Guidelines Uncanny is looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction stories between 750-6000 words. Payment is $.10 per word (including audio rights). We will reject any story that doesn’t follow our guidelines and procedures. You may not resubmit a rejected story. If you aren’t sure if your story counts as unpublished, please query us. Submission procedures: 1- NEW! Please submit your story via Uncanny‘s Moksha submission system. 2- All stories should be in Modern Manuscript Format and attached in .RTF, .DOC, or .DOCX formats. Please feel free to include your pronouns (optional) along with your name and email address in the upper left corner of your manuscript. Note, you do not need to add your mailing address or legal name to your manuscript. We will only ask for that information if your story is chosen for publication. 3- Your cover letter should contain the length of your story, your significant publishing history and awards, and information that might be relevant to that specific submission. 4- Please do not send multiple submissions at once. 5- We try to respond to all submissions in 30 days. Please feel free to query uncannymagazine gmail com if we’ve had your submission for over 45 days. Poetry Guidelines Poetry Editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu Uncanny is looking for original,...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: Royalties Publication – February 2022 Word Count – 5,000-20,000 Theme – Fairytales will never be the same in this reverse harem anthology. All versions of bedtime stories, folklore, etc are welcome. If unsure, message DSP’s Facebook page. * 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, 2021 Payment: Royalties Theme: Time travel and romance Everlast (Rated R) Deadline – November 30th, 2021 Publication – March 2022 Word Count – 5,000-20,000 Theme – Romance can be difficult on its own, even before adding the complications of time travel to the equation. These couples find themselves from separate timelines in history, but cross paths due to unforeseen circumstances. Deadline – December 31st, 2021 Publication – April 2022 Word Count – 5,000-15,000 Theme – Cyberpunk. These characters are trying to survive in a dystopia of advanced technologies. Living alongside Artificial Intelligence has its perks, but also many deadly downfalls.     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.Format video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjuYtJWIBI Format image example at bottom of page. 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...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: $10 USD per story Theme: Furries and technology cast in a 'bad' light (details below) Deadline: November 30, 2021 Payment: $10 USD per story Editor: Reinardo Villalobos Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable. ​ Isaac Asimov once famously stated, "I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them." Yet, this exact fear, fear of technology, has been a big staple in the news and in the media ever since. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. The Fly. Black Mirror. Even anime like Sword Art Online talk about the perils that may come from new technology, or from the right technology falling into the wrong hands. The idea is that each story focuses on one or two pieces of technology, their uses or misuses, and the consequences arising from that. A cybernetic genital implant could provide a deadly experience to its users. A deal on the dark web could go wrong for an unsuspecting wolf. An old camera could capture images coming out of this world. A malevolent AI could torment a couple by hacking their Bad Dragon toys.  A Furby could...exist. ​ We will take preference for stories that showcase both furry and their selected technology (currently existing or otherwise) in the front and center, and not just something to throw aside as soon as the main plot starts. Moreso if they find a way to integrate both elements together in unique ways. ​ Things we will NOT accept: ​ Racism, sexism, or discrimination presented in a positive light. Pedophilia or ex with characters under the age of 18 presented in a positive light. Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light. Snuff, necrophilia presented in a positive light ​​ If you are in...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: When your day is going too well and you don’t trust it and some shit finally goes down. Ah, there it is: The F*ckening. Because we don’t have enough to do, the SFL team has decided to open submissions to a new stand-alone anthology—The F*ckening. We’ve all seen the memes about “The F*ckening”—when your day is going too well and you don’t trust it and some shit finally goes down. Ah, there it is: The F*ckening. We were inspired by this sentiment and thus have heeded the call to create an anthology that embodies The F*ckening. SFL is looking for funny, speculative fiction short stories and poetry that embody The F*ckening. All stories must be science fiction, fantasy, horror, or a combination of the three. These stories can be witty, goofy, dark, sarcastic…whatever, we don’t care, as long as they are speculative fiction and contain a reference to The F*ckening and maintain a general theme of f*ckery. We know that some of you are going to be tempted to shoehorn a reference to The F*ckening into an existing piece; we won’t tell you not to do that. However: please don’t send us something that is obviously not within the theme where you changed two sentences just to get it in on a technicality. Our word limit is 7500 words. We have no problem with simultaneous submissions as long as you tell us as soon as your submission is accepted elsewhere. Two submissions maximum per person. We pay $10 for six-month exclusive print rights, and non-exclusive print rights thereafter. You own your work, and can submit elsewhere six months after the anthology is released. Submissions will be open until November 30, 2021, or we just receive too many words. The planned release date will be May 2022....

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: horror/dark fiction QUARTERLY PRINT MAGAZINE Breakdown of content: 8 fiction pieces (approximate word lengths) – 1x 5000, 1x 3000, 1x 2500, 2x 1500, 3x 500 3-5 non-fiction pieces – 1 article, 1-2 briefs, 1 interview and/or review – Fiction We are looking for horror/dark fiction pieces between 500-5000 words firm. Common sense when submitting please. We do not accept stories that involve the sexual abuse/exploitation of minors direct or implied. We are not looking for pure shock value. All components of your story should have merit. Gore for gore’s sake is not what we are looking for. Our pay rates: 5 cents per word All payments are made in US funds via PayPal.   We accept submissions during the following reading periods , with an expected response time of up to 12 weeks. This way we are able to accommodate all the submissions we receive. If you have not heard back from us after 16 weeks, please feel free to send us an update query. WINTER ISSUE: September 01 – November 30 (current reading period) SPRING ISSUE: December 01 – February 28/29 SUMMER ISSUE: March 01 – May 31 FALL ISSUE: June 01 – August 31 All submissions must be sent via e-mail to: [email protected] as an attached word document with the word “Fiction Submission – STORY TITLE” in the subject line. Please also include if you wish your story considered for both the quarterly print and the website publication. Note compensation rates are different for website so be certain. MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING: 12 point standard font standard margins left side of header: name, contact info right side of header: word count top of first page: title, author Variances from traditional manuscript format: single spaced NO INDENTS use bold, italics and underline as they are to appear...

Submission Window: November 1st, 2021, to November 30th, 2021. Payment: $0.02 per word plus a physical copy upon publication Theme: Horror stories that explore the complex relationships between artists and models. We didn’t know if we’d do it again, but Weirdpunk is finally publishing a new anthology with an open call. Stories of the Eye will be edited by Sam Richard (Sabbath of the Fox-Devils, Wonderland Award-Winning To Wallow in Ash & Other Sorrows) and Joanna Koch (The Wingspan of Severed Hands, Shirley Jackson Award-Nominated The Couvade). It will be published in 2022. Read on for info. Weirdpunk Books is seeking horror stories that explore the complex relationships between artists and models. Go beyond the male gaze. Show us the queer gaze, the disabled gaze, the un-colonialized gaze, the intergalactic gaze. Turn the model's gaze on the artist or audience. Explore the power of images, why we bring them to life or destroy them through duplication and representation, and how the act of creating changes them and changes us. Invent a future art form or resurrect a forgotten handicraft. Define "model" as widely and surprisingly as you like: people, objects, trees, oceans, ideas. Examine obsession, violence, commitment, love, or indifference. Give us a botanical illustrator on an unknown planet, a modern-day Gericault shipwrecked in a studio with body parts becoming medical waste, a necromancing choreographer, or a performance artist looking for that one special element to transcend reality in a final postmodernist feat of madness. **Given the title of the anthology, we’re seeing a lot of folks talk about eyeball stories. This anthology is not about eyeball horror. Please fully read the submission guidelines to see what we are looking for, which is not—I repeat, not—horror stories about eyeballs. Additionally, the Bataille reference is intentional as we’re both fans, but...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: £10 Theme: M is for Medical M is for Medical – Submissions open October 1st. Deadline November 30th. Think surgery gone wrong, sadistic nurses, organ trafficking, creepy doctors etc. We are currently calling for submissions for a series of horror anthologies – The A-Z of Horror. The series will be based on a variety of themes and will consist of twenty-six books in total. We are looking for short horror stories, between 4000 and 8000 words, on each of the themes listed below. You may submit to more than one book, but we will only include a maximum of one story from each author, in each book. Being accepted into one book does not guarantee acceptance into one of the others. The story must be your own work, to which you hold the rights. The story must not be available elsewhere and, if accepted, we will hold the rights to it for three months from the date of publication. After that time, you may use the story however you wish. Any sub-genre of horror is suitable, even extreme, so long as the story fits the theme of that book and does not include anything which may unnecessarily cause offence. Payment for the story will be £10, to be paid by PayPal, as well as a contributor’s e-book of the finished book. Please send submissions in a Word document (ideally Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced) to [email protected] with the title of the book you are submitting to in the subject line. Please ensure you have included your name on the Word document. If you have any queries, feel free to get in touch using the Contact page. We aim to respond to submissions within 2 weeks of the deadline, but feel free to get in touch if you...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: $50 CAD and a contributor's copy Theme: Pirate dogs, yes my friends, pirate dogs How do you follow up an anthology of swashbuckling cats? With pirating dogs, of course! As with the first anthology in this series I am looking for adventure-loving dogs, puns, water and fun. I’m looking for sailors, submariners, explorers, Vikings and more. Fun stories filled with excitement, drama, treasure-seeking, sword fights, discovering new worlds and dogs, dogs, dogs! All. The. Dogs. Be careful not to get too caught up in the fun and forget to include a strong plot and detailed characters for your story, though. I’m a sucker for a great setting, three-dimensional characters and high stakes, and if your story elicits real emotion from me—laughter, tears or anything in between—you will have increased your chances of acceptance significantly. We don’t deserve dogs. But we do deserve an anthology of pirating pups! Rights and compensation: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology. Open submission period: October 1, 2021 – November 30, 2021 Length: Under 7,500 words No simultaneous or multiple submissions. No reprints. Canadian spelling, please (just do your best, I won’t judge). Submit here –> https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/204831/pirating-pups Submissions received before October 1st will not be considered. Via: Rhonda Parrish.

Submission Window: November 15th through November 30th, 2021 Payment: $0.06/word. Payment for reprints is $0.03/word, Poems are paid at the rate of $25 to $100 Theme: All SF and Fantasy genres, but horror is unlikely to find a home here. Ideally stories with a message of hope. Note: Reprints are welcome Our next submission period is going to be November 15th through November 30th, 2021. When we are Open for Submissions, you will be directed to the Submissions Portal from this page Read our announcement about the November Submissions Period –  here. Special Notes DreamForge Anvil is about a passionate attention to storytelling as much it is about the stories themselves. This year, most stories will be returned without comment. That will give us time to pick a few “almost there” tales and work with the authors to see if we can collaborate in taking the story over the hurdle to select it for publication. When we find a story we want to work with, we’ll ask first if the author is interested, before we come back at you with a detailed review and suggestions. If you are interested, and if we accept your story after editorial changes, then we’ll publish your story and include a line edit comparison from your original to final so that those interested in story development can learn from the experience. We’ll also give you the opportunity to talk about your story and share insights into its development and the meaning it has for you. If you’d like to work on your writing with us, consider joining us in our DreamCasters discussion group, available to our Patreon supporters at Tier Two an above. All proceeds go to pay for stories in future issues of DreamForge Anvil. Learn more about what we look for in the guidelines below. 1 Story...

Submission Window: November 1st-30th, 2021 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Dark Void Magazine is a biannual science fiction horror magazine featuring four original short stories that take place off planet Earth. Dark Void Magazine is a biannual science fiction horror magazine featuring four short stories that take place off planet Earth. Genre: Science Fiction Horror Word Count: 3000-4000 words Format: Paper Manuscript Format (Modern) Submit to: [email protected] Submission Periods: November (Spring Issue), May (Fall Issue) Payment: $0.05/word (HWA Professional Rate) *All stories that take place on Earth will be automatically rejected. Via: Dark Void Magazine.

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: 4€ euros per 1000 words for original stories and two print copies, 2€ euros per 1000 words for reprints and two print copies Theme: Stories directly inspired by a Hitchcock film Note: Reprints Welcome Black Beacon Books publishes quality mystery and suspense anthologies. We are currently OPEN to submissions for our Hitchcock-themed anthology. We're looking for suspense stories directly inspired by a Hitchcock film. The story doesn't have to be set in the 50s or 60s but it must convey the atmosphere and tension that make his films so memorable. Please submit the first page only of your story and a synopsis of the entire plot. Include the name of the film that inspired your story in your introduction. Deadline for first page and synopsis: November 30th, 2021. Pay rates as per section below the # We will typically accept between four and eight stories per publication, depending on length. Length:  Between 6,000 and 30,000 words Rates: Please note the rates quoted are not inclusive of transfer fees. The amount received may be slightly lower; typically 3%. We use PayPal to pay our contributors. If your submission is successful, you'll need an account. Alternatively, we can pay with an electronic Amazon gift coupon. Payment is made upon publication. 4€ euros per 1000 words for original stories and two print copies 2€ euros per 1000 words for reprints and two print copies Rates are rounded up. A 10,500-word story (previously unpublished) will be paid 44€ Please read the full guidelines below before submitting. # ANTHOLOGY GUIDELINES AND DETAILS Please only submit one story per publication. No simultaneous submissions for original fiction. The best way to get a feel for the kind of fiction we're likely to publish is to buy our previously published titles. This provides you with examples of accepted stories, demonstrates...

Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word ($10 for every 1,000 words prorated, $50 for every 5,000 words prorated, and so on) Theme: Short horror stories that focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Scare Street is now accepting submissions for its Night Terrors anthology. We’re looking for unpublished short horror stories that focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. We want dark, creepy, weird, and unsettling fiction that are expertly told. Give us character-driven narratives with clever but logical twists at the end, creative and fresh takes on common horror tropes, terrifying monsters, and suspenseful tales. Gore and violence are fine as long as it follows our guidelines and it’s not just for shock value. Length: 3,000-7,000 words (we will consider stories that are slightly outside the word count range) Reprints: No Deadline: November 30, 2021 (11:59 PM PST) Payment: 1 cent per word ($10 for every 1,000 words prorated, $50 for every 5,000 words prorated, and so on) + E-book and Audio format anthology copies Scare Street is accepting submissions for short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales. Unpublished short stories must be 3,000-7,000 words and will be included in our Night Terrors anthologies consisting of ~65,000 words each. These stories will be published in e-book, print, and audio formats in English within 6 months after the submissions close date. Based on reader reception, we may also publish them in e-book, print, and audio formats in German and Spanish. WHO ARE WE? Scare Street is a horror publishing company dedicated to helping fellow horror lovers experience sleepless nights. We’ve been around since September 2015 and have published 200+ e-book and paperback titles along with 150+ audiobooks (and counting!). WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? Get visibility from...

Deadline: December 1st, 2021 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Surgery If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 75.) Surgery II; deadline 1st December 2021 !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story to us, you...

Deadline: December 1st, 2021 Payment: $.03 per word Theme: Stories to draw inspiration from the terrifying tunes of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s Scary Diary Press is accepting submissions from 01 August 2021 to 01 December 2021 for an anthology that has gutsy strings attached! But don’t fret! Are you a horror writer and a music lover? Does the rock of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s take you back to the nightmares of yore? If you can brew a scary tale that Alice Cooper and the Dead would love, we just might love it too! Submission Guidelines: Scary Dairy Press is seeking short story submissions between 2,000 and 5,000 words max for an anthology that combines a rock song theme and creepy horror into a tale that rocks readers to their bones! Anthology title pending the kinds of stories submitted and selected. For now, “Bloody Rock” is a placeholder. This ear-bursting anthology draws inspiration from the terrifying tunes of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Stories need not use the song title as the story title. Stories must not use the original song lyrics, however the song inspiring the tale should be clear. We are looking for stories that channel deathly waves on the air! Bonus points if tales champion animals or animal rights (animals can be our heroes!), focus on human rights, climate change, gender issues, and other important social issues. Any tale that combines terrifying tunes and creepy tales is welcome as long as we can pick it up, play it and shiver! What we want: Stories for this horror anthology may include additional elements of dark fiction, dark fantasy, speculative fiction, sci-fi or bizarro as long as horror is the primary venue. Your story may occur in any time, place or space. Mix it up, but make it...

Deadline: December 1st, 2021 Payment: $.03 per word Theme: Bloody Rock Anthology Scary Diary Press is accepting submissions from 01 August 2021 to 01 December 2021 for an anthology that has gutsy strings attached! But don’t fret! Are you a horror writer and a music lover? Does the rock of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s take you back to the nightmares of yore? If you can brew a scary tale that Alice Cooper and the Dead would love, we just might love it too! Submission Guidelines: Scary Dairy Press is seeking short story submissions between 2,000 and 5,000 words max for an anthology that combines a rock song theme and creepy horror into a tale that rocks readers to their bones! Anthology title pending the kinds of stories submitted and selected.   For now, “Bloody Rock” is a placeholder. This ear-bursting anthology draws inspiration from the terrifying tunes of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Stories need not use the song title as the story title. Stories must not use the original song lyrics, however the song inspiring the tale should be clear. We are looking for stories that channel deathly waves on the air! Bonus points if tales champion animals or animal rights (animals can be our heroes!), focus on human rights, climate change, gender issues, and other important social issues. Any story that combines a terrifying tune and a creepy tale is welcome as long as we can pick it up, play it and shiver! What we want: Stories for this horror anthology may include additional elements of dark fiction, dark fantasy, speculative fiction, sci-fi or bizarro as long as horror is the primary venue. Your story may occur in any time, place or space. Mix it up, but make it thought provoking and disturbing to the human conscience....

Deadline: December 1st, 2022 Payment: $25 Theme: True Love Never Dies We are presently accepting original work for our February 2022 issue. Short Stories up to 3,000 words Flash and Micro Fiction up to 1,000 words Poetry Author Compensation: $25.00 (USD) per piece Rights: We request first worldwide and digital rights for four months following publication. Thereafter all rights revert to the author. All copyright remains with the author. Feb 22 Theme: True Love Never Dies Publication: Digital Formats Deadline: December 1, 2022 Guidelines For all open calls, submit your work by email to [email protected] with the subject line formatted as such: “ ” (ex.“October 2021 – The Sinkhole – David Fey – Adult”). Please submit your work as an email attachment in .doc/.docx format. Authors may submit up to three pieces per issue. We request that each piece be submitted via its own individual email. You are welcomed to interpret each issue’s theme however you like. Ensure your document contains your story title, your name (or pen name), and an approximate word count. In the event that your story is selected for publication, we will need your legal name for the contract. Please include a header on each page of your document with your surname, title and page number. Your document should be formatted in Times New Roman, 12pt., with double line spacing and indented paragraphs. We do NOT accept simultaneous submissions. In case of acceptance, please also include a brief biography in the third person of approximately 75 words, a high-resolution headshot (optional), and any personal social media links (such as a Twitter or personal website) that you’d like to share. For a more detailed look at classic manuscript formatting, please refer to this article by WILLIAM SHUNN. Via: We Are The Quiet Ones.

Deadline: December 1st, 2021 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 1st, 2021 Payment: $10 Theme: A complete story in any genre FREEZE FRAME FICTION IS BACK! We are once again accepting flash fiction submissions. Please stay tuned and keep an eye on our social media for updates. For more information about what we want and expect, see our editor’s interviews with Jim Harrington at Six Questions For… and on Duotrope (visible to non-members). Also, take a look at 5 Tips for Writing Twist Endings at Flash Fiction Chronicles. What are we looking for? Good flash fiction is like a freeze frame—a snapshot of a real story about real characters. The word count is low, so many of the details are left to the reader to fill in, but they’re there. Flash fiction is neither a vignette nor a character sketch. Something must happen, and there must be an ending, whether explicit or implied. So first and foremost, we want a story. A complete, interesting story. 1000 words or less, any genre, no content restrictions. We want your science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, drama, literary works, satire, bizarre fiction, or anything else you can come up with or mix together. The more original, the better. The weirder, the better. The best way to find out what we’re looking for is to read what we’ve already published! Check out our current volume, free to read at https://freezeframefiction.com/. What are we NOT looking for? We are 100% okay with explicit content, so long as it serves a purpose to the story and/or characters. Profanity for the sake of profanity—or the same thing for sex, violence, or gore—does not impress us. Also, animal cruelty. Please just send that somewhere else. We do not publish fan-fiction, i.e., stories based in worlds or using characters created by other authors. All content must be original. The following things might be accepted, but will be a very hard...

Deadline: December 1st, 2021 Payment: $15.00 for 500-1999 words, $20.00 for 2000-4999 words, $25.00 for 5000+ words Theme: Speculative, horror preferred but not needed, Stories can be in any format except traditional prose A home for the strange, the uncanny, and the odd. Open Submissions Issue #1 (Oct 1- Dec 1 2021) Rules Prose: for the most part, the rules are simple. There is, however, a lot of them. Stories can be in any format except traditional prose. Stories told in forum messages? Great! Police blotters? Excellent! Receipts? If you can swing that, we want to see it! More weight will be given to new and unusual formats. Part of that is the sake of novelty, part of that is just because we don’t want five epistolary stories in one issue. Submissions do not have to rely entirely on text! If you would like to submit something in the form of a webpage that has considerable html/CSS going on, just make sure it’s in pdf form when you submit it. We still pay by word, but mixed media pieces are wholly welcome. All work must be speculative, horror being preferred. We’d like a variety of time periods but won’t judge against you for being set in the present or near present. Story lengths between 500-7500 words are accepted. You can haggle a bit on either end, but drabbles and novellas aren’t an option. (However, if you have a story you want to serialize, please query at [email protected].) Payments for writing are as follows: $15.00 for 500-1999 words $20.00 for 2000-4999 words $25.00 for 5000+ words After initial funds are recouped, contributors receive an equal split of 50% of royalties- the rest will be used to improve the zine for future issues, including increasing payment rates for authors. We understand that this isn’t...

Submission Window: December 1st-2nd, 2021 Payment: 8 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: December 5th, 2021 Payment: Royalties or $5, whichever is greater Theme: Weird Fiction and Cosmic Horror Note: Reprints Welcome SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We consider stories for two types of publications: Website Anthologies (approximately 20 stories per anthology) Response Time: We will try our best to respond in four to eight weeks after the submission period ends. The first wave of rejections is usually quick (two weeks after the submission period ends)   Word Count: 4,000–15,000 for website and anthologies; 500–2000 for flash fiction anthologies Submission Fee: None Rights: the copyright to the story remains yours. All we ask for are nonexclusive rights to publish your story Payment: Website: Currently, there is no payment for website publications because the blog is not yet monetized and we are in the beta phase (which may last for eight to twelve months). Once we get the numbers, we will come up with a model (probably token advance) that will allow us to pay our writers as well as fund the growth of TGVB (YouTube channel, audiobooks, story podcast, etc). It is an important goal for us to reach the stage when we can pay a decent sum to our authors. However, it will take time as these are some hard times for small presses. But we are sure we will get there if we keep working diligently. While monetary payment is not possible at the moment, we still want to offer some perks! Anthologies: Payment is 40% net profit divided equally among the contributors of that anthology. Net profit accounts for discounts, returns, and printing cost; we do not subtract any cover art, editing, formatting, or promotion costs. In other words, we pay 40% of the money vendors (such as Amazon) pay us. If the anthology doesn’t perform well, we will pay a one-time payment of 5 USD to each...