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Deadline: May 30th, 2022 Payment: 3 cents per word Theme: Shared world science fiction anthology based on the short story at the end of this post A Shared World Anthology based on an existing short story contained at the end of the this description. 500 to 5000 words. Obviously no repritns. Poetry considered. Pays 3 cents a word upon publication. Closes May 30, 2022.  Anticipated Pub Date, February 2023. This is the short simple story the world is set in. Use your imagination.  This is not the only settlement.  These are not the only characters.  I'm looking to fill a world here. Scott's Planet I set my gear on the shelf outside the back door and wiped my feet.  There was a downside to free range chickens. Lois spoke from the kitchen. “So it’s happened.”  She said the words matter-of-factly. “Yup.”  I answered.  I began shedding my boots--even cleaned, they didn’t enter the house. She continued. “I downloaded the details.  They say we have three weeks to be ready for transport. There’ll only be one ship.  A one-way trip to almost anywhere.” We had known this was coming.  Now it was final. Scott’s Planet, once in the first wave of colonization planets, was now determined by the Union to no longer be economically viable. “We don’t have to go.” I said. “Don’t be silly.  You know we’ve always talked about leaving.” She was right.  She often spoke of leaving. I let the silence speak for me. All sounds from the kitchen stopped.  There were footsteps.  Lois appeared in the doorway.  “You don’t want to go.” The bottom fell out of my stomach.  All the make-believe conversations I’d held in my head dropped with it. “I thought we might could talk about it.” “Talk about what?  Living in caves and eating...

Submission Window: May 1st – 30th, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Is There Anybody Out There? Stories about unexpected encounters in isolated places. What we’re looking for We want stories that challenge our relationship with space—past, present, and future. Get wild. Show us new mythologies and undiscovered gods. Show us what emerges from a black hole when its egg finally cracks. Show us the place where science becomes magic. Your characters don’t need to be human, but there should be something undeniably human in their story. We want social outcasts and lovable bastards. We want courageous optimism in the face of despair. We love dark fiction and elements of horror, but there should be a glimmer of hope in it all. For a sense of our taste, our favorite authors working in this genre include Kameron Hurley, Nnedi Okorafor, and Tamsyn Muir. What we’re not looking for Humans conquering/dominating as a monolithic group. We love unapologetically kickass characters, but we want more nuanced interactions with power. Moralizing from the author. We eagerly welcome stories that reveal a reader’s blindspots and/or biases. We believe the most impactful stories accomplish that through character and narrative, not by telling us how to feel. Gore Erotica Poetry or nonfiction Hateful content directed/analogized toward any group   Issue #1: Is There Anybody Out There? The call for our inaugural issue will be May 1 – 30, 2022, with the theme, Is There Anybody Out There? We’re seeking stories about unexpected encounters in isolated places. We will publish one story a month from June through November 2022. All six stories will be compiled in a PDF and made available for download as Issue #1 in December 2022. Here is a sample of our contract: PDF link Before You Submit Our submission window will run from May 1...

Submission Window: May 1st-31st, 2022 Payment: $0.01 per word, minimum of $20 payment Theme: Astronomy or night-sky themed horror stories about humans and our connection to the stars. Nightmare Sky:  Stories of Astronomical Horror Submission window:  May 1 – 31, 2022 Since the dawn of humanity, we have looked to the stars with awe. They call for us to gaze upon their brilliance while we sit around campfires and make up tales of their histories. Tales that are often fraught with horrors. The very dust of their explosive pasts traveled lightyears across the unknown, and now that dust pulses through our veins, drawing our eyes up, back to our origins. What we’re looking for: I am seeking astronomy or night-sky themed horror stories about humans and our connection to the stars. Get scientific. Get mystical. Get psychological or supernatural. Get cosmic or earthly, but make it about the character’s experience. While I love the science of astronomy, I’m very excited to see different interpretations of this theme. Give me psychological horror about an astronomer. Give me witches with a connection to the stars. Give me cosmic horror, folk horror, sci-fi horror, or ghosts. If the theme is deeply entwined with the night sky, I’m excited to read it. This anthology is open for all to submit, and I strongly encourage writers from all marginalized communities to send their stories. We are many people of many backgrounds, living under one enormous sky. I would love for this anthology to reflect that diversity. 1,000 – 5,000-word stories Poetry welcome! Approximately 50 lines or fewer preferred (this is not a strict upper limit) No reprints Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know as quickly as possible if you need to withdraw. Please do not send multiple submissions. Just send your best...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Lovecraftian gods featured in the wildly successful The Gods of HP Lovecraft OPEN CALL Anthology Title: Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao Edited by Aaron J. French Based on The Gods of HP Lovecraft Publisher: JournalStone Publishing Anthology Theme This project will be the first in a series of anthologies focusing on each of the Lovecraftian gods featured in the wildly successful The Gods of HP Lovecraft (published in 2015 by JournalStone Publishing). This first anthology begins with primal origins and the god Azathoth, who represents primordial chaos in the world of the Lovecraftian Mythos. H.P. Lovecraft described Azathoth as a demon king ruling from a dark throne in the middle of the fiery cosmic void, out of which all created things emanated. Surrounding this orbiting spiral of infinite chaos and creation sounded the repetitive notes from an incessant flute. This is a reference to the god Pan in Greek mythology and the symbol of created chaos behind the apparent orderliness of the natural world. Taking this imagery as our departure, the stories presented in this first anthology will deal with the notion of “order out of chaos” (Latin: Ordo ab Chao) and will engage with the cosmic demon Azathoth as ruler standing over this endless chaotic process. Stories must include Azathoth in some shape or form, the more creative and different the better. Furthermore, some aspect of the story must include the theme of order out of chaos. How this looks and develops in the story is up to the author. Not interested in overt Lovecraft pastiche. Elements of occultism, esotericism, and magic are very much appreciated. Submission Guidelines – Submissions Now Open Seeking stories: 5000 to 7000 words Format: double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font Payment: 5 cents a word and a copy...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: $0.03 per word for the winner, and 2 cents per word and 1 cent for second and third place respectively Theme: Open Water Your June theme is... ...Open Water. Whether it’s lost at sea, trapped in a boat, being a stowaway, kidnapped, going down with the ship, etc. But keep it dark and psychologically disturbing. Bonus challenge: write the story in a pre-21st century setting. The winner will receive $0.03 per word, publication, and an Author Spotlight on our newsletter and Patreon page. Since we’ve reached out goal of 180 patrons, we can once again offer $0.02 a word to 2nd and $0.01 per word to third place respectively. Submission guidelines: -Max 1,500 words -Submit your entry in the body of an email to [email protected] (no attachments) -The email subject line should be the story’s title and your author name / pseudonym -The deadline is midnight at the end of May, wherever in the world you may reside. -No multiple submissions (only your best story) Please take note… You do not need to be a Crystal Lake Patreon patron to enter. This is a contest and only the top three placing stories will receive payment. I'll personally read all the email submissions and post the best 10 to 20 stories on the Crystal Lake Publishing Patreon page (to our $5 a month and higher tiers). Our patrons will then read all the entries, posted one per day, and vote for a winner. Some editors/publishers may consider having your story posted on a subscription-based platform, like Patreon, as a first publication. If your story does not win, we will remove it upon request.   Via: Crystal Lake Publishing's Patreon.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: Royalties on 4k+ stories Theme: Pirate stories that involve but don't focus on famous pirates. Title: The Call of the Sea Opens: 1 February 2022 Closes: 31 May 2022, 11:59 EST Theme: Gather round, ye bilge rats, and send the landlubbers back whence they came! These tales are for the strong of heart, the courageous corsairs, adventurous scallywags, and lads and lasses loyal to the lawlessness of the sea. Give us ADVENTURE, searches for treasure, sea battles, the perils of loving a Jack Tar, and the dangers of the briny deep. You can use any of the big names in your story (Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Ching Shih, Sir Francis Drake, Black Bart, etc.), but they should be secondary characters, with your MC as an ordinary, unknown person. These are the stories that created legends. Word Limit: 2-8k Author Eligibility: Open to all Reprints: Allowed if rights belong to author, royalty paid at a lower percentage Simultaneous Submissions: Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Max of 2 acceptances Author Compensation: One digital copy and wordcount-based royalty split Send your story and up to a 100-word author bio with 2 (two) links as a Word doc attachment to: [email protected] Please include the Anthology Title, Story Title, and Author name in your email subject line, with your document file name as: Author Name - Story Title. Via: Black Ink Fiction.

Submission Window: May 1st-31st, 2022 Payment: $.01 per word Theme: Quiet Horror We want quiet horror at Dread Imagings. No slashers, no zombies, no vampires, no werewolves (though transformation tales interest us). Also, no ghost stories. This last one is a personal preference. There are many fine ghost stories and authors who write them; we just don’t want them here. Stories of dread don’t need to be supernatural in nature. Think Poe. Or, better yet, think Shirley Jackson (The Lottery, The Witch), Flannery O’Conner (A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Good Country People), Ursula K. LeGuin (The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas). Not necessarily horror fiction at all but fiction that gets under your skin. In the vein of Thomas Ligotti is always welcome. We want new writers as well as established ones. We want voices from outside the U.S. and diverse voices from anywhere. We publish one story a month, and the collection of stories on our site should represent the full spectrum of human experiences. We’ll accept stories from 2,500 to 4,000 words. This isn’t a hard rule, but don’t stray too far from these limits. Use Shunn formatting (doc/docx/pdf). We pay $.01 per word. No reprints. No multiple submissions. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your story is selected elsewhere. Authors retain all rights to their stories. We ask for first digital rights with no period of exclusivity and permission to keep the story on our site. Our response time should be within thirty days, and we respond to all submissions. If you haven’t heard back after six weeks, please inquire. Via: Dread Imaginings.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: $0.06/word Theme: Ghost stories Do you love All Hallow’s Eve? Ghost stories? Tales from beyond that leave you feeling unsettled while walking to the kitchen at night? The orange-and-black vintage Halloween aesthetic? Haunted houses with shuttered windows? We’re inviting writers of dark fiction to submit short stories of classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around Halloween. Bonus points if they’re about families, siblings, longtime pals, or pets. #ownvoices BIPOC, gender-diverse, LGBTQIA, and authors of other marginally represented groups highly encouraged to apply. NOT looking for: children’s or middle grade stories, poetry, long fiction, novellas, flash fiction, slasher horror, vampires, werewolves, zombies, extreme horror, or creature horror (unless they’re ghosts). Just creepy-ass ghost stories. Ghosts. Spirits. Hauntings. The supernatural. Creepy and dark. GHOSTS. Rated PG-13 and R. Okay? Okay. ​ Contributors so far: Jonathan Maberry, Gwendolyn Kiste, Tim Waggoner, Cynthia Pelayo, Sara Tantlinger, Catherine Cavendish, and Lee Murray No reprints, multiple submissions, or simultaneous submissions. Original fiction only.  Pay: $0.06/word Length: 2,000 to 4,000 words Submission Deadline: May 31, 2022 (no extensions; on tight production schedule) Expected Publishing Date: Oct. 1, 2022 Submit .doc or .docx to: [email protected] Subject line: GHOST ANTHOLOGY - “Story Title” by “Author Name” Good luck! Via: Gaby Triana.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: $15 CAD upon publication ($10 for reprints) Theme: Exhaustion: Limited Reserves Note: Reprints Welcome “Exhaustion: Limited Reserves” Chapbook – Poetry and Flash Fiction Deadline: May 31, 2022 A common human experience is exhaustion in its many guises. Feeling used up or worn out. Reaching the limits of our personal and collective resources. Tapping out. Laying waste to the planet. Burning fuel until there’s nothing left but fumes. Covering a topic in its entirety, until everything that could be said has been said. This chapbook will engage these and other notions of exhaustion. Submission Guidelines: Flash Fiction: maximum 1000 words (no minimum). All genres welcome. The more imaginative, the better. Poems: maximum 60 lines each INCLUDING BLANK LINES (shorter is preferred – long pieces will need to earn their length). All styles welcome. Payment: $15 CAD upon publication ($10 for reprints) All payments through PayPal, Wise, or bank transfer. No submission fee. Multiple submissions: Yes. You can submit as many pieces as you like. Please submit each poem or story as a NEW SUBMISSION. Simultaneous submissions: Yes. Please email [email protected] right away if your piece is accepted elsewhere. Reprints: Previously published pieces will be considered, although we prefer original works. If you do send a reprint, please provide the name of the journal/date of publication, so that we can give proper attribution. Format: We aren’t too hung up on formatting. Just make it easy for us to read. No PAGES files. DOC or DOCX preferred. PDF accepted for poetry. Please title your file as follows: Title – Author Name SUBMIT TO “EXHAUSTION” HERE Via: Off Topic Publishing.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: £10 Theme: Earth Song—Stories of animal or ecological-themed horror, or of Mother Nature’s wrath, in support of World Environment Greetings boils, ghouls, and other creatures of the night! Starting in December, 2021, we are open for submissions of flash fiction horror stories on a different theme each month. We will be seeking horror fiction of all forms and flavours to be published as part of a new and ongoing series from Night Terror Novels Publishing, titled The Theatre Phantasmagoria. If this has piqued your interest, please scroll down for the full details! What are We Looking For? Each month, a new theme will be announced, and we will be accepting flash fiction submissions based around this theme. From these submissions, four stories will be chosen to be published each Friday of the subsequent month, and at the end of the year, these forty-eight pieces will appear in a similarly titled anthology. As always, if your story is blatantly racist or homophobic it will be instantly rejected. We also encourage submissions from female, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors, as we’re striving to offer a range of experiences and perspectives in this series. Our current lineup for The Theatre Phantasmagoria, January to April, includes Mia Dalia, Paul Wilson, Angela Sylvaine, Yvonne Lang, Mark Robinson, James Van Pelt, D. Matthew Urban, Ali Seay, Alex Ebenstein, Nikki R. Leigh, Andrew Jackson, Safia Mlani, Michael H. Hanson, Matt Bliss, Megan Kiekel Anderson, Andrew Gehlsen, and Samuel M. Hallam. If you want to see your name alongside these terrific writers, then send a piece our way! The anthology will be edited, and the stories selected, by J. D. Keown. He can be found on both Instagram and Twitter @JDKAuthor, and we can be found on Instagram @nightterrornovels. All updates and announcements regarding this project will be posted on each of those accounts, so give us a follow...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word (there is also a contest to win $3,000 though it has submission fees.) Theme: Open Road Write a story involving roads, and a glove. Does the road call to you? To some, it offers freedom, adventure, and opportunity. To others, injury and death. Or, as you slow for the shadowed hitchhiker, you wonder if the risks aren’t more sinister… Roadtrips, van life, and fugitives on the run. From deserts to coastline to deep-shadowed forests, the open road has a place in our hearts. Whether it calls you to drift or confronts you with the long road home, it’s undeniably a place of self-discovery. Of new faces and new attitudes. Just don’t take a wrong turn, blow a tire, or stop in ghost towns. Beware the long grass and mutant bikers. Don’t roll down the window for strangers, but do give them a lift. Travel by horse and buggy, sneaker and bag, or get behind the wheel, but hit the dusty trail and head into the unknown. Our Mission: Help new talent go pro, award life-changing prize money, and promote fiction writers worldwide. HOW IT WORKS Each month we hold a contest based on a short fiction prompt. You write a wonderful story and enter the contest. We choose the winner who receives the grand prize. We also choose the best stories, pay the authors above-professional rates, and publish them in our magazine. WHO CAN ENTER? Anyone can submit work to the magazine for free, but you must be an Elegant+ Member to enter the contests and win prizes. Membership is $10/month and includes over $250 in exclusive discounts from our partners like Scrivener, ProWritingAid, Novel Factory, and more. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? The odds depend on the number of members who...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: Charity anthology that pays: £25 Theme: Horror-themed fictional stories that simply feature a house that was once somewhere, but is no longer. “𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦 𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘒-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺.” We are now officially open for submissions to our third anthology and our first charity anthology, titled There Used to Be a House Here. This anthology is raising money in support of the UK-based charity, Shelter, which strives to tackle poor housing and homelessness across the country. Our cover art will be finalised and uploaded to this page in the near future. If this has piqued your interest, please scroll down for the full details! What are We Looking For? We are looking for horror-themed fictional stories that simply feature a house that was once somewhere, but is no longer. Why the house no longer stands where it once did is up to you; perhaps it was simply torn down, or maybe it was sucked into another dimension entirely. Setting and theme-wise, we are open to any approach; classic haunted house stories, tales of gentrification or displacement, or maybe the house isn’t even a physical object at all—how you interpret the premise of this anthology is really up to you. We are also open to poetry pieces for this anthology too, provided they fit the general concept of the anthology. IMPORTANT: This is a charity anthology. 100% of proceeds from the sale of this anthology will be going directly to the UK-based charity, Shelter. Shelter is a charity that does terrific work across England and Scotland to help combat poor housing conditions and homelessness. Charities of...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: £10 Theme: A non-zombie outbreak O is for Outbreak – Submissions open April 1st. Deadline May 31st. Think outside the box for this one, and no zombies please! We’re sure Book 26 will cover that! 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 (glorification of child abuse, rape, etc.). 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...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 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 translations? Yes. Please include...

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: £10 Theme: Dark Fantasy Title: Into the Darkness - Book One Title: Out of the Darkness - Book Two ​ Opens: 01 February 2022 Closes: 31 May 2022 ​ Genre: Book One - Dark Fantasy           Book Two - Light Fantasy ​ Reader Age Range: Teen ​ Word Count: 4000 - 8000 10% wiggle room over. ​ Info: Very open call. No specific theme besides genre. Must be a clear distinction between light and dark. ​ Reprints: Not allowed Simultaneous Submissions: Allowed, but please email if accepted elsewhere. Multiple Submissions: Up to 1 accepted per author per book - You may submit to both books Author Compensation: £10 per story accepted. Paid via Paypal only Please note any submissions accepted before or after the varying Submission dates will be deleted. Additionally, any submissions sent without the anthology title in the subject or email body will be automatically rejected. Via: Raven and Drake Publishing.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: $5 Theme: Vampires In celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the first publication of Dracula, the grandaddy of them all, we are courting vampire stories of all kinds. So, send us your very best vampiric tales - gothic, contemporary, speculative - chill our bones and have us panic-buying garlic and wooden stakes... PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 4K- 10K word count (although we are incredibly flexible for awesome stories!) * Write ''VAMPIRES' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email.   To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) Deadline: 31 May 2022 Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 120K words in total. Via: Hellbound Books Publishing.

Deadline: May 31st, 2022 Payment: £10 Theme: Light Fantasy Title: Into the Darkness - Book One Title: Out of the Darkness - Book Two ​ Opens: 01 February 2022 Closes: 31 May 2022 ​ Genre: Book One - Dark Fantasy           Book Two - Light Fantasy ​ Reader Age Range: Teen ​ Word Count: 4000 - 8000 10% wiggle room over. ​ Info: Very open call. No specific theme besides genre. Must be a clear distinction between light and dark. ​ Reprints: Not allowed Simultaneous Submissions: Allowed, but please email if accepted elsewhere. Multiple Submissions: Up to 1 accepted per author per book - You may submit to both books Author Compensation: £10 per story accepted. Paid via Paypal only Please note any submissions accepted before or after the varying Submission dates will be deleted. Additionally, any submissions sent without the anthology title in the subject or email body will be automatically rejected. Via: Raven and Drake Publishing.

Submission Window: May 1st-31st 2022 Payment: ¢1 per word CAD Theme: Stories of horror with the theme of 'FIRE' - Rated R welcomed Stories of horror with the theme of 'FIRE' - Rated R welcomed ​Fire - Volcanoes - Smoke - Burning - Ignition Welcome to our four-book series, dedicated to horror from the elements.   Each quarter has been assigned an 'element'. Please review the elements and open submission windows below. Each quarter submission window is only one month, so please make sure to submit during that specific time period Patreon members will be allowed to submit one week early, and be given a one-week extension to each quarter call. Although there can be some fantasy elements tossed in there, the overall feel of the stories must remain in the horror genre. Aim to scare. ​ Each part will be approximately 70,000 words and have its own ebook and paperback. Once all four sections are complete we will release a 'collection' containing all four books in ebook, paperback and hardcover form.  ​​Word count: 1500 - 7000 firm. Payment: Flat rate payment ¢1 per word CAD after approved edits. Reprints? No ​ Multiple Submission? No 💀 Only one submission per author per theme/quarter. (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) ​ Formatting:  Please use 12 pt Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, set auto-indent new paragraphs. Add the story title to the top of the manuscript. Do not include your name or email in the manuscript. These stories will be read "blind" by our reading team. Title your manuscript "Title of Story - Theme"  example "The Ruin - Earth" Please make sure the title of the story and the title on the manuscript match. ​ How to submit? Submit via the FORM - Which will open on the start of each quarter. (A button will appear) IF you have issues with the form,...

Deadline: June 1st, 2022 Payment: 2 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Texas Horror By Texas Writers Death's Head Press is pleased to announce plans for the 2022 edition of Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers, Vol. 7. Author Wiliam Jensen will serve as editor, and he's looking for original horror stores 1,500-10,000 words in length. The stories must be written and submitted by Texas authors and must be set (based) here - hence the title. Two cents per word and contributing writers will receive one free copy and a 50% discounted wholesale price on any copies of the book that he or she purchases to carry and sell on their own. Writer stipends will look something like this: 10,000 words - $200, 7,500 words - $150, 5,000 words - $100, 2,500 words - $50, 1,500 words - $30. All payments will be made upon official acceptance, and when acceptance is communicated each author will need to send a short bio. Death's Head will be requesting two-year non-exclusive rights. This means we will use your story in this anthology and we can print excerpts of it online and otherwise (for promotional purposes, etc), but two years down the road you can do with it what you like. The Submission Period begins on March 1. The deadline to turn in stories is June 1, 2022, and our intent is to have the book printed and available by October 15, 2022, in plenty of time for Halloween. Please send submissions to [email protected] Via: Death's Head Press.

Deadline: June 1st, 2022 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: June 1st, 2022 Payment: US: $40 and a contributor's copy, non-US: $45 Theme: Cosmic/eldritch horror, based on the prompt below. Basically, stories that take place in or about Brackish Harbor Welcome to Brackish Harbor. Settled in the 1920s on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, it was once a booming fishing town that attracted tourists who longed for a quiet retreat. Even when the island was plunged into isolation during the winter months, the townspeople persevered. It was a community. A promise. A home. Until... ​ The fishing industry that sustained the small town dried up, and over time, the tourists lost interest. Many loyal villagers relocated. But most were forced to remain, scraping by amidst the dilapidated buildings, docked fishing boats, and vestiges of better days. ​ There are many unanswered questions in Brackish Harbor,  as well as many untold stories. It's up to you to tell them.   Quill & Crow Publishing House is pleased to open submissions for our surprise anthology for 2022, Tales from Brackish Harbor: An Anthology of Eldritch Horror. For this collection, we are looking for short stories (5,000 - 8,000 words) of cosmic/eldritch horror, based on the prompt above. Stories can be from whatever time period, but must tell the tale of the doomed village and it's mysterious secrets. We are really interested to see if anyone is up to the task of blending the genres of Gothic horror (our first love) and the weirdly wonderful cosmic horror. ​ Notes regarding the theme: Don't worry about the continuity details. Follow the information and theme and, upon submission approval, we will adjust as necessary. Above all, tell us a good story. Things we are looking for: cosmic/eldritch horror historical horror dark themes Gothic elements literary horror historical sci-fi/horror blends Things we ARE NOT...

Submission Window: April 15th – May 15th 2022 UPDATE: New deadline is June 1st, 2022 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: Mothers Weird Little Worlds Press is looking for contributors to its second Kickstarter science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthology. Bring your weird and help us tell the scariest and most interesting mother stories you’ve ever imagined. LENGTH 1,000-3,000 REPRINTS No PAYMENT .05 per word .50 per line   MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS No DEADLINE Apr. 15 – May 15, 2022 SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS Yes There is no one with more power and control over the fate of the world than a mother. Whether it’s an evil stepmother or a virtuous mother-to-be, there are stories inherent in the acts of mothering and being mothered. In these stories and poems, mothers become heroes and villains. The concept of motherhood is examined and stretched to its ultimate limits across time, space, gender, location, and concept. Deliciously dark, each tale forces us to examine the depth and breadth of what motherhood is and what a mother will do for her offspring. With brand new stories from: Gemma Files • Donyae Coles • Brian Evenson Ai Jiang • Sarah Read • Nadia Bulkin John Langan • S.P. Miskowski • Shane Hawk Steve Toase • Christina Sng • Steve Rasnic Tem Hailey Piper • Gabino Iglesias • Mercedes M. Yardley and many more The Details: Deadline: April 15 – May 15th Length: 1000 – 3000 words (5000 if stretch goals are met) Pay: .05 (.06 if we can unlock our $10k stretch goal) Poetry: $.50 per line up to 50 lines (Up to $2 if stretch goals unlocked) Rights: We retain full rights of the story for 12 months after publication at which they revert back to you. This includes audio and reprint permissions. Format: Shunn Manuscript, BLIND SUBMISSION....

Deadline: June 1st, 2022 Payment: $10 and a contributor's copy - proceeds will be donated to the literacy charity First Book Theme: "Monsters" from authors with active BookTube or AuthorTube channels Note: Reprints Welcome Note: Apologies for the short window, stumbled across this one recently as we didn't get an e-mail for this volume Seeking submissions from authors with active BookTube or AuthorTube channels for the next HorrorTube Anthology. Again, we are looking for a diverse group of authors with active BookTube and/or AuthorTube channels (no channel too small) so please do not hesitate to submit. Genre: Classic Horror! *Please, no horror erotica, paranormal romance, or romantic suspense. Theme: MONSTERS! Monsters can be human or inhuman, but for this anthology, we’re seeking horror stories of a gorier nature, so don’t hold back! But please, no graphic depictions of sexual assault, child or animal abuse. Supernatural stories depicting unique monsters are encouraged. Contact Regina at [email protected] with any questions. *See FAQs below. Length: 1,000 – 5,000 words Deadline: June 1, 2022 Details: Please submit your story as a separate attachment (word doc) along with a short cover letter including a clean link to your YouTube channel to [email protected]. Please use the standard submission format. For guidance see https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html. Please submit only your best, most polished work. Reprints are okay. The terms include the nonexclusive right to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit and sell digital and print reproductions of your story worldwide. English language only. Payment for accepted submissions: $10 honorarium, print and digital copy. All proceeds will be donated to the literacy charity First Book. Deadline: June 1, 2022 Release Date: October 2022 Cover Design: Cameron Roubique Edited by Regina Saint Claire with a  foreword by Steve Donoghue. Frequently Asked Questions What is considered an “active” booktube/authortube channel?  Your channel should have recent uploads (at least once a month) and include bookish and/or writerly content. Why is my story rejected? The biggest reason...

Deadline: June 15th, 2022 Payment: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25 Theme: Veterans of Alien Wars Eye to the Telescope 45, Veterans of Alien Wars, will be edited by Deborah L. Davitt. Conflict's unlikely to vanish, even in the most utopian of futures. How will veterans of future wars have to adapt and adjust to civilian life once their cybernetics have been stripped from their bodies and they have no more access to their power armor? What memories will haunt them as they learn to live in a reality in which the aliens they fought are no longer their enemies? I have a special fondness for form poetry done well—rhymes that don't jingle, sestinas that aren't forced—but will absolutely consider free-verse as well. Special consideration will be given to writers who have served in the armed forces, and we hope that this provides them with an artistic outlet that they may not have pursued in the past. We are eager to read what you send! Submission Guidelines SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Use the form at bit.ly/SFPAettt45 to submit. Please submit 1–3 poems in English (ideally, attached as .docx or .txt) and include a short bio. Translations from other languages are acceptable with the permission of the original poet (unless public domain). Inquiries only to [email protected] with “ETTT” in the subject line. Deadline: June 15. The issue will appear on July 15, 2022. Payment and rights Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25. Payment is on publication. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association normally uses PayPal to pay poets, but can also send checks. Eye to the Telescope is an online publication. Therefore, First Electronic Rights (for original unpublished poems) are being sought. Who can submit? Anyone writing speculative poetry. What...

Deadline: June 15th, 2022 Payment: Royalties on 4k+ stories Theme: Scary houses and dwellings, more details below! Title: Home Sweet Horror Opens: 1 February 2022 Closes: 15 June 2022 11:59 pm EST Theme: Haunted houses, cursed dwellings, terrors close to home. Give us the squeaks and creaks in the middle of the night, the tension of the unknown that sends your heart racing, the things that haunt you in the one place you're supposed to be safe. Big or small, bold & bloody, silent & psychological--we want it all! Word Limit: 100 words-5k words, excluding title Author Eligibility: Open to All Reprints: Allowed Simultaneous Submissions: Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Max of 5 (five) acceptance per author Author Compensation: One (1) digital copy, wordcount based royalty on anything 4k and over. Send your story and up to a 100-word author bio with 2 (two) links as a Word doc attachment to: [email protected] Please include the Anthology Title, Story Title, and Author name in your email subject line, with your document file name as: Author Name - Story Title. Via: Black Ink Fiction.

Deadline: June 15th, 2022 Payment: Royalties and receive an advance of $15 Canadian Theme: The underlying significance, emotional aspects, and nuances of a particular ritual. Rituals are a core part of the human experience. Whether sacred or secular, they provide a point of connection to the world beyond us, and even to our deeper selves. When we take a step back and examine our lives, we find that our existence is weaved together by rituals— whether they involve our morning habit of grinding coffee beans as we prepare breakfast, or something large-scale such as a cultural or religious holiday. Whatever their purpose, rituals ground us in a society that’s in constant flux. In this anthology, writers can explore the underlying significance, emotional aspects, and nuances of a particular ritual. Send us your best nonfiction, poetry, or work that blends these forms. We are looking for innovative writing that engages in new ideas. Anthology edited by Brina Patel All writers are paid in royalties and receive an advance of $15 Canadian prior to publication. 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. To submit, please email info bellpressbooks.com and include: your writing attached as a single word document a cover letter on the first page of the document introducing your work a brief bio included in the cover letter the subject line “RITUALS anthology ” Preferred formatting: Times New Roman 12pt double spaced word count at the top of the first page poems in one...

Deadline: June 15th, 2022 Payment: Royalties and receive an advance of $15 Canadian Theme: This anthology is about the human body and what it carries. Note: Primarily looking for Canadian authors This anthology is about the human body and what it carries. It’s about the untold stories we carry on our skin and in our bones: how you got those scars on your arms, the emotional density of having adult acne, the texture of your hair and how you’ve tried to change it, or the rigidness and pressure of weight loss culture. At some point in our lives, we look in the mirror and suddenly notice our bodies in a sort of visceral way. This collection is looking for stories of these moments: from epiphanies, to revelations, to acceptances. Send us your best short stories, poems/art songs, creative nonfiction pieces, personal essays, features, and scripts. We are looking for imaginative writing that has unique description and poetic devices. Unconventional pieces that are relatable, and holds resonance within our readers long after they’ve read your piece. Fabulism, magical realism, speculative fiction, allegories, or anything of the sort is strongly encouraged. We want weird fiction that doesn’t follow any rules, and follows the impulse of our bodies. Anthology edited by Catherine Mwitta For this call, we are particularly interested in Canadian authors, though some International submissions may be accepted. Priority is given to Canadian work to align with Canadian granting body requirements. All writers are paid in royalties and receive an advance of $15 Canadian prior to publication. 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. Page lengths: Scripts: 10–15 pages Short...

Submission Window: June 1st-15th, 2022 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: June 15th, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word. Theme: Fashion / Style Baffling Magazine currently publishes two to three flash story a month on our Patreon. Subsequently, each quarter of published work is 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 for issues eleven and twelve will be open June 1-15. We will be welcoming stories on the theme of “style/fashion” as well as unthemed stories. Note on timeliness: We took an awful long time our last submission  round. It took about five months for us to get our act together and make  final decisions from our short list. While we do have simsubs, and  we’ll be trying to make decisions faster this next submission round, we  still want to warn y’all that we take forever. We are looking for: Wordcount:   Under 1,200 words.  We 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 modern Standard Manuscript Format.  Please use italics for italics etc....

Deadline: June 15th, 2022 Payment: 3 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Stories about Dracula Issue 1: Dracula: (To be published November/2022) Stories with Dracula himself as the main focus. His name is on the cover of the book, but he’s not the star of the show. Let’s change that. What was he doing prior to the novel? What was he doing when we didn’t see him in the novel? Did he survive? Expand on one of the many movie adaptations. Give us an alteranate take. The canvas is blank, spatter it red. Submissions open until June 15, 2022 We like stories that feel like they could be canon, but we also enjoy fun alternate takes, so unleash your creative powers of darkness. We look forward to seeing what you come up with. Stories should be 1500-5000 words. Poetry will be considered, but is not necessarily sought (We are hoping to have an all poetry issue sometime in the future). Compensation will be monetary plus contributor’s copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify us immediately if accepted elsewhere. Some stories may be chosen for the website, but not the publication. Please adhere to the Shunn format - https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ Please only send .doc, .docx, or .pdf Filename and email subject should be - “lastname_title_drac” or “lastname_title_renfield” Include short 3rd person bio Cover Art Submissions What we want Eye catching design. Think pulp paperbacks, Basil Gogos’ Famous Monsters covers, EC Horror Comics, Vintage Movie Posters. Originality. Homage is fun, plagiarism is not. Please make sure you own all aspects of your work. Knowledge and Love of all things Dracula. Hide some Easter eggs in there. Make it so that we keep coming back to find more to enjoy. Keep it clean. Sensual is fine. Erotica, not so much. Parameters Format...

Submission Window: April 15th to June 15th, 2022 Payment: $0.01/word for short stories chosen for the zine, and an even split of 50% of the royalties after the fact Theme: Monsters Archive of the Odd, the magazine of analog and found-document horror, returns for a second issue with the theme of “monsters”! We’ll be open April 15-June 15 for submissions, with the intent to publish August 15. If you submit to us last window (thank you!), you’ll probably be good just looking at the bolded pieces, as those have changed. First of all, all submissions must relate to the theme of monsters and also be non-traditional prose. Not sure what we’re talking about? The best way will be to look at the stories on our website, or get the first issue to see the full zine treatment (in fact, if you email us or DM us on Twitter we’ll give you a coupon code for being a savvy author… just saying). Alternately, think about all the things you read on a daily basis that aren’t fiction. Newspapers? Emails? Product support guides? …Submissions calls? A couple of brief clarifications: I read the zine—do I have to set up my submission like that? No, it’s not required! Visual elements are generally from the editorial side. As long as we can follow what’s going on, plain text is fine. By all means, though, if you want to, you can set up your story however you want. We do not consciously give pre-formatted pieces an edge, but if you have what it takes to design your own forum, mimic online article formats, or provide the world’s most disconcerting children’s product design, we do delight in seeing them. I submitted last time and you said you’d like to receive it again. Is that true? Yep! If we suggested that you...

Deadline: June 17th, 2022 Payment: Non-fiction pays $0.08/word. Creative works earn $0.04/word, with short stories capped at $75. Comics pay $30/page, capped at $150. Theme: Capture an adulthood dilemma so universal it transcends culture and time---then explain it so a child can understand. Capture an adulthood dilemma so universal it transcends culture and time---then explain it so a child can understand. Any era. Any world. Any hero or antihero. Focus on the hardest-earned lessons of your life. The things you WISH someone had explained to you earlier, and wrap that wisdom in a package "younger you" would have adored. DO NOT SUBMIT "REIMAGINED" FAIRY TALES! We are seeking UTTERLY UNIQUE shorts in the poetic STYLE of myths and fairy tales.  Short stories: 500 - 2,800 words Non-fiction articles: 200 - 1,200 words Graphic-style stories and comics also welcome! (Limit = 8 pages. Please submit in color) Rough storyboard pitches welcome -- due April 7th. Terms & Process Mythulu eMagazine pays an average of $0.06/word or $15/page. Non-fiction pays 0.08/word. Creative works earn 0.04/word, with short stories capped at $75. Comics pay $30/page, capped at $150. We edit aggressively to create a dense, entertaining, high-quality publication. Non-fiction articles, especially, receive heavy edits. We may cut, rearrange, paraphrase, or even recommend additional content to maximize article quality, then send it back for your approval. We don't guarantee that an article we edit with you will be published. Author earnings listed above are based on final published word count, not your initial submission. Preview full terms here: www.mythulu.com/emag-terms Thank you for contributing! Laura Crenshaw Creator of Mythulu Terms of Publication Mythulu eMagazine pays an average of $0.06/word or $15/page. Non-fiction pays $0.08/word. Creative works earn $0.04/word, with short stories capped at $75. We strongly encourage contributors to boost their earnings through our contributor-exclusive affiliate program. We edit...

Deadline: June 25th, 2022 Payment: $0.01 per word and royalties Theme: Original monster stories Every culture has stories about those things that go bump in the night. From Mary Shelley to Stephen King and everything in between, our stories are filled with monsters. For this submission call, we are asking for your best original monster story. The monster can be real, in a character’s imagination, or something in between. The only requirement is that the story falls into the horror genre, and features the idea of a monster. So here are the details for submission: Deadline for submission is June 25, 2022 9PM MST. Submissions are to be sent in William Shunn’s Manuscript Format Please place your name and contact information on the manuscript itself. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Reprints are NOT accepted. All submissions must be written in English, or translated into English prior to submitting. Accepted file formats include docx, odt, txt, rtf, and doc. Word count is between 1,000 and 7,500. Submissions that do not follow these requirements will be ignored. Please send submissions to [email protected] with the subject line “Submission-Your Name-Monster” If you don’t hear from us within a month after closing, consider your piece a better fit somewhere else.   Payment is $0.01 per word plus a percentage of royalties. Expected publication is late 2022 or early 2023. Looking forward to reading your best! Via: Antimony and Elder Lace Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $25 Theme: Tales of the people who fight for, sacrifice for, and work toward the takeover of the world by the Old Ones. In this, our seventh anthology of the Lovecraftian series, we are looking for tales of the people who fight for, sacrifice for, and work toward the takeover of the world by the Old Ones. In a previous anthology, we dealt with the worshipers. They helped bring about the appearance of the Old Ones. The soldiers in this anthology are those who actually help the manifest Old Ones in their conquest. This is war. Conflict. There will be atrocity. Horror in the truest sense of the word, from madness to mayhem. Tell us about the weapons, physical and not, used by the soldiers in their campaigns. Show us the progress or lack thereof toward the endgame of total victory for the Old Ones or humanity. Is it possible humanity can win? Maybe, but show us how. We recognize that horror requires a certain amount of leeway on some things, but be warned. We look down on overuse of specific issues. These include: • Sexual content not inherent to the storyline. No adult content. Keep your tentacles to yourself. • Explicit description of torture or sacrifice, human or otherwise. As a plot device, there is a way to present this without resorting to splatter. A certain amount of gore is to be expected, but don't overdo it. • Violence or abuse against a minor, infant to teenager. • Overuse of profane language. People curse. But not every sentence. • Hate language against a race, creed, or gender. Against monstrous races and gods, that’s okay. • Quoting previously published material not in the public domain. This is a legal issue and will not be tolerated...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $5 Theme: Speculative Fiction reprints set in an Asian country and must have Asian main characters About: This is our annual reprint anthology, started in 2020. ‘Insignia 2022’ will feature new Asian speculative short stories. Pieces should be set in an Asian country and must have Asian main characters. (Exceptions are for non-human characters, or non-Earth settings, but your story should still have recognizable Asian elements in these cases. If you’re not sure, please query). Theme: Anything speculative: horror, light or dark fantasy, and science fiction. As usual, we aim to have a good mix of Asian settings and cultures, as well as speculative sub-genres, so the more original your ideas are, the better chance your work will have of being accepted. Reading period: JUNE 1st to June 30th, 2022. (by midnight USA/PDT time please). Word Count: 1000 – 6000 words preferred. (A little under or over will still be considered). No. of Submissions: Only 1 story per author will be ACCEPTED, however you may submit up to 3 stories initially. If any stories are rejected, you may submit new pieces. Other Conditions: Reprints only are accepted. Please be sure that your story is not still under exclusive contract elsewhere. Include the publisher and first publication date in your cover letter and/or in the story document. If your story was self-published on your own blog it will still be considered, however preference will go to work published in known literary markets. Formatting: Times New Roman and 12pt preferred. Include the story title, your pen name, and email address in the story document (top left, above story). Each story in its own document. No italics for non-English words please. Payment & Rights: $5 per accepted story. In addition, each author will receive a review copy of the finished anthology (MOBI or EPUB). Rights remain with the...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: The Librarian travels the multiverse (along the timeline - past through the future - and across planetary systems and universes) helping out people, societies, and those in need, with their questions, problems, and research (as librarians do). Looking for positive, hopeful stories with positive endings, and narratives that celebrate librarians. Note: Apologies for the late posting, we didn't see an e-mail with this call when it went live as we normally do. We are seeking stories for an anthology to be titled The Librarian which will collect stories about one Librarian's adventures roving through the multiverse. To be published in the winter of 2022 by the Air and Nothingness Press. Theme: The Librarian travels the multiverse (along the timeline - past through the future - and across planetary systems and universes) helping out people, societies, and those in need, with their questions, problems, and research (as librarians do). Looking for positive, hopeful stories with positive endings, and narratives that celebrate librarians. In the interest of assembling the book as a coherent whole, here are some guidelines concerning The Librarian as a character (not hard and fast rules as such, but helpful suggestions): 1. The Librarian is always a force for good, for knowledge and learning, and for science. 2. When visiting a particular location in the timeline, planet, or alien culture, The Librarian has the ability to appear as that culture's conception of their idealized 'librarian'. Though sometimes they may choose to appear in a contrary or different form for reasons of their own. Therefore The Librarian may be a him, her, it, they, xer, sentient rock, etc... Author's choice. 3. The Librarian can appear under many guises but they are always helpful, cheery, and maybe they have a bit of good natured...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: 2 Contributors Copies Theme: Mixing up some humor, horror, and medicine! Whose advice do you trust when your health seems amiss? Are you afraid of going to the doctor? Dentist? Voodoo Doctor? Alchemist? Perhaps you can recommend a witch or mage or occult healer? Suffering from a toothache, measles, black plague, boils? Is it time to get that back pain from the demon possession looked at? Submit all your horrifying and humorous medications, cures, malpractice, and more in this collection of squeals and squeamish delights! Deadline JUNE 30th 2022 at Midnight EST Publications October 2022 Rights & Payments 2 complimentary Access to buy author copies at a discounted rate We retain first publication rights for the first 90 days of publication. After that feel free to sell and republish your entry as you wish. All entries will solely belong to you. This only covers publishing for this particular volume. This will be sold wide – Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and beyond. Retail price to be determined at a later time. By sending in a submission, you are agreeing to the rights above and will receive confirmation to further clarify. If no response in 7-14 business days is received, please feel free to contact or resubmit. Submission Guidelines Here’s what we need from you to include: 12 pt font Calibri or Times New Roman Double-spaced throughout (without extra spaces between paragraphs) Indented for new paragraphs 1-inch margin all around Include a title page with:First and last name Title of work Blurb/Pitch Header with last name, title, and page number in top right-hand corner. 2,500 – 5,000 words Via: 4 Horsemen Publications.

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $20 and a contributor's copy, or $35 for authors outside the USA Theme: Solid stories in a cosmic horror/Lovecraftian vein Note: Reprints welcome Yes, we're starting our third year. Thank you for your interest and support. The guidelines are below. Strange Aeon: 2022 (Hopeful Monsters) is a continuation of the Strange Aeon anthology series. As always, I want good, solid stories in a cosmic horror/Lovecraftian vein.  I specifically say Lovecraftian rather than Cthulu because I’d like stories across the entire Mythos, including additions by the original group of Mythos authors like Robert Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. . In fact, I’d like to use more stories that do not have specific Lovecraftian references and that move away from the traditional Lovecraft style and voice. Try to avoid pastiche and tell fresh new stories in your own settings. Style preference applies to gore and sex as well: think early Weird Tales, no excessive language or explicit sexual references. I am especially interested in stories of mad science, monster-based horror, weird western, and stories that “peel the onion.” Indeed, I cannot emphasize strongly enough the need for these categories. Victoriana and Lovecraft era period pieces will have a much harder time finding acceptance. This year’s anthology is slanted more towards stories showing protagonists “fighting the good fight” in the face of implacable horror and fewer stories that are mood based rather than plot driven. That being said, please send anything you consider a good story. Feel free to query for any questions. If you are planning to write a story especially for this anthology, by all means query the idea first. For this anthology I’m asking for non-exclusive rights and will happily take reprints. Simply tell me the publication history so that I can give proper copyright acknowledgement. Simultaneous and multiple submissions...

Submission Window: June 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2022 Payment: $0.08/word Theme: "the next season of Black Mirror that never got aired" Dark Matter Presents: MONSTROUS FUTURES is a brand new sci-fi horror anthology, edited by Alex Woodroe of Tenebrous Press and produced by Dark Matter's new trade imprint, DARK MATTER INK. The anthology will publish in both print and digital in 2023, and will be available to purchase right here on our shop in all formats, and wherever else books are sold. MONSTROUS FUTURES is Book Two in the Dark Matter Presents: Monsters series. Book One, Dark Matter Presents: HUMAN MONSTERS, edited by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Saywers, features 35 brand new tales of terror and is available for pre-order now. HUMAN MONSTERS publishes October 18, 2022. Order your copy today! THE SUBMISSION PORTAL OPENS JUNE 1 AT MIDNIGHT (CST) Check back here at the end of May for a direct link to the portal. The submission portal for MONSTROUS FUTURES will open June 1, 2022, and close June 30, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. CST. To be considered, stories must be submitted via the anthology’s Moksha portal. Emailed or late entries will not be considered. From Alex: I’ve been referring to this anthology as “the next season of Black Mirror that never got aired” and that’s exactly what I’m looking for--dark sci-fi with an emphasis on exploring our connection with technology and one another through speculative concepts and backdrops. I want every piece to look at some aspect of our lives through a “what if” lens and only lean on science as much as strictly necessary to show those human experiences. Think about that Twilight Zone episode, “The Lonely”, where an inmate serving time on an asteroid receives a synthetic companion. We don’t need to know a thing about the propulsion of the ship or the makings of the AI in...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $10 Theme: A complete story in any genre 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 sell: stories involving vampires, zombies, or werecreatures (read an exception here) pure romance with no other significant elements the now-ubiquitous young adult paranormal romance military fiction or stories of battles or wars stories with a religious message or theme We’re also pretty tired of reading about straight cis white guys, honestly. We get it; they’re everywhere. Give us some diversity,...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $30USD Theme: Science fiction stories that take place on another planet. Title: Strange Sunrises: Tales from Distant Planets Theme: Science fiction stories that take place on another planet. The setting should feel alive and have some influence on the plot. Any subgenre is welcome, but please submit horror stories to the Sunsets collection. Word Count: Preferred 2500-7500. Hard cap on 10,000 words for exceptional stories. Payment: $30USD Rights: First time publishing rights for one year after publication. The author is free to publish the story elsewhere afterwards. Reprints: No. Original stories only. Multiple Submissions: Welcome. Simultaneous Submissions: No. If you do not hear back within eight weeks, you may submit the story elsewhere. How to submit: Email manuscript to [email protected] attached as a Word (.docx) document. In the subject line, please write Sunrises_Your_Name. In the body, please include a few sentences summarizing the story. Via: War And Whiskey.

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: £200 and 15% royalty rate on print sales, 50% on audiobook and ebook sales. Theme: Gothic, horror, and dark fiction genres (read below for more details.) Closing date: Friday 1st July @ noon BST The below guidance is in place for transparency about our submissions process. Information About the Publishing Process. We are a book publisher and welcome submissions from both agented authors and those without agents. Please see these guidelines for an idea of what we are looking for. Our aim Haunt is a small press dedicated to Gothic, horror and dark fiction. Our aim is to shine a flickering candle on Gothic and horror in new areas. Think Frankenstein in Baghdad and the film Under the Shadow. We also love traditional Gothic! If this sounds like it fits with your writing, we want to hear from you! Learn more about us here. Genres we publish in We are looking for books in the Gothic, horror and dark fiction genres. We particularly look for work that is engaged in some way with Gothic preoccupations, such as doubling, decay, occultism, supernatural monsters or beings, hauntings, the blurring between reality and the supernatural, or death. To give an idea of our book tastes, here are some books we love: Beloved by Toni Morrison Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Girls by Emma Cline The Vegetarian by Han Kang Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan What we are looking for We want books with the curse of unputdownability, that keep a reader up all night. Books that provoke unease, terror and dread. Basically, we want books...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: 5 cents ($.05) per word for nonfiction and prose fiction. Poetry pays $50 flat per poem. Payment for artwork is $50 per piece. Theme: Original work inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes A source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. Vastarien.  The forbidden tome. The impossible otherworld. A textual entryway into a place where everything was transfixed in the order of the unreal. . . . Each passage he entered in the book both enchanted and appalled him with images and incidents so freakish and chaotic that his usual sense of these terms disintegrated along with everything else. Rampant oddity seemed to be the rule of the realm; imperfection became the source of the miraculous — wonders of deformity and marvels of miscreation. There was horror, undoubtedly. But it was a horror uncompromised by any feeling of lost joy or thwarted redemption; rather, it was a deliverance by damnation. And if Vastarien was a nightmare, it was a nightmare transformed in spirit by the utter absence of refuge: nightmare made normal. Our name is drawn from Thomas Ligotti’s classic story of the same title (quoted above), which S. T. Joshi has characterized as “Ligotti’s most searching exploration of the forbidden book theme.” WE WANT: Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re interested. As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewellyn, S. P. Miskowski, Junji Ito, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D. Klein, Kelly Link, Helen Marshall, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Allyson Bird, Laird Barron, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Nicole Cushing, Victor LaValle, Mark Samuels, and many more have produced work that we would...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: 10 cents per word for acceptance into the magazine, $3,000 prize for the contest (contest has submission fees, the magazine does not.) $200 for artwork Theme: Fearless Friendship Who would you call to bail you out of jail? Is there a friend good enough to drop what they’re doing and lend a hand? No, of course not, because they’re locked up right beside you… Our stories are full of fearless friendships: from grand quests fighting evil to owners rescuing pets. But fearless doesn’t need to be heroic. It can be that friend who’s always up for anything. Pushing our comfort zone and forcing us to be brave, or dangerously reckless. Friends stand up for us in hard times, give us a shoulder to cry on, and fight back against our bullies and enemies. They speak their minds when we’re in the wrong. A friend will push us to be better and go further. So what, if they call and ask us to meet them in the woods with a pair of shovels… This contest invites you to explore friendship, whatever that means to you. Fantasy, contemporary, romance, crime. All genres are welcome. Submissions close June 30th at 11:59 pm EST. Contest only open to new writers. All new writers can submit work to the magazine. It’s free. We don’t believe publications should charge authors to be published. However, we have a specific submission process you must adhere to in order to have your work considered. Our submissions window opens on the first and closes at midnight on the final day of each month. Each issue of the magazine is themed according to our monthly prompt. The prompts are designed to inspire ideas but leave room for you to tell the story you want to tell....

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: A flat payment of $25-$75 Theme: The theme of coming of age as a queer pagan Rites of Passage: An Anthology of Queer Pagan Fiction Coming of age as a queer person can be a difficult but exciting time. Queer people know that they’re different growing up but it’s during this coming of age that they finally connect the dots and understand what is so different about themselves. Previous generations identified heavily with labels such as gay, bi or lesbian and with various queer subcultures. The current generation has largely eschewed these labels and allowed their identities to be more fluid in terms of both sexuality and gender. Along similar lines, the current generation of Pagan have had ample resources available such as books and the internet. They haven’t taken the traditional road of finding a teacher or initiating into a tradition. This sets up a tension between the generations as the older generations attempt to gatekeep based on initiations, traditions and labels while the younger generations live more fluidly. This anthology will explore the theme of coming of age as a queer pagan. We are also interested in exploring this difference between the generations with one generation identifying their difference through labels while the other refuses to label what makes them different. The genre or setting of the story is less important than the exploration of the theme. Please submit your stories of 2500 – 7500 words that have not been previously published. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Payment will be a flat payment of $25-$75 within 30 days following publication. To submit, please end an email to [email protected]. Put the title of the anthology in the subject line. Deadline: June 30, 2022 Via: Periculum Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $5 or a contributor's copy Theme: Show us your spin or retelling of old tales; create some new ones; tell us of your childhood—or current—obsessions. A Literary Journal with Some Art and Analysis Thrown in for Good Measure As Quarter Press continues to grow, we’re adding another coin to our pocketful of change. We want to offer a space for shorter works to mingle with art and other bits of nonsense, so we bring you The Quarter(ly): It just makes cents. Each issue will be themed; however, we will consider any interpretation of said themes. Myths, Fables, and Folklore (June 30) What’ve you got to show us? Stories and / or Poems For Stories: We’re open to micro works all the way up to 10,000 words. Just keep two things in mind: We want to be engaged and the submission must be completed (no pitches, please!) For Poems: We’d love to see up to five poems from you, but you can always just send one, too. Graphic Stories Show us your comic strips or complete short works; we’d love to see them all! Please try to keep submissions to 20 pages or less. Feel free to also send a collection of comic strips / one shot comics, as well. (Please note that our publication size / dimensions might change between issues. Our “Norm” is 5x8”). These must be COMPLETE works. Art As long as it has some tie to the current issue’s theme, we’re open to see any art created in any medium at any time. Just know that it will need to “work in print” and—might—be presented in black and white. Analysis / Interviews / Reviews As long as it is tied to the theme in some way, we’d love to see any and...

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $5 Theme: Scary Kids You don't have to be a parent to know just how horrifying children can be. We want your stories innocent youngsters turned malevolent (think: The Omen, Children of the Corn, The Midwich Cuckoos, etc.)- the more terrifying the better! PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 4K-10K word count * Write 'KIDS' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. To submit, email your polished story to [email protected] - Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you: DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF) Deadline: 30 June 2022 NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY Payment - $5.00 for first rights. Capped at 120K words in total. Via: Hell Bound Books.

Submission Window: June 1st-30th, 2022 Payment: 1 cents per word Theme: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. MYTHIC is seeking diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. We publish both new fiction and reprints. Authors are encouraged to submit their stories during the specific reading periods listed below. Reading Periods MARCH 1-31 JUNE 1-30 SEPTEMBER 1-30 DECEMBER 1-31 GUIDELINES Works should be between 2,000-5,000 words. (No wiggle room above or below.) 1.) Submit in Standard Manuscript Format We prefer Times New Roman or Courier and 12-point type. Double-spaced pages. Do not have tabs in your manuscript; please set first line indents. Please include your name and contact information at the beginning of the story. Submit in .doc, .docx, .rtf format. 2.) Please NO SIMULTANEIOUS OR MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS. Rights Purchased: For NEW/UNPUBLISHED FICTION, we are purchasing World English Rights For REPRINTS we are purchasing reprint rights Following an exclusivity period, all other rights revert to the author. MYTHIC retains a nonexclusive right to keep stories in the issue they appear for as long as the issue remains in print. Compensation: At this time, we PAY $0.01 CENTS A WORD for NEW short fiction. At this time, we PAY $25.00 for REPRINT short fiction. We provide authors with one free copy of the issue in which their story appears. Payment made upon publication via PayPal. (We are not responsible for any transaction fees). Authors will also receive free ad space to promote their book or sci-fi/fantasy project in an issue of MYTHIC. To submit fiction: Send all stories to [email protected]. Your story should be attached. Be sure your subject line is: "New Submission: Title of your Story" or "Reprint: Title of your Story". Please include your name, title, word count, and contact information in the body of the email. Note on nonfiction: All articles and other content are chosen in-house. Please do not submit queries at this time. If...

Submission Window: June 1st to June 30th, 2022 Payment: A contributor's copy and Stories: $0.08 a word, Poems: $50 a poem, Drabbles: $50 a drabble Theme: horror or dark fantasy stories, poems, and drabbles about malevolent mermaids, sinister sirens, scary selkies, spirits, and other deadly and dangerous women of the sea. Submissions Open: June 1 st to June 30th Title: Dangerous Waters: Deadly Women of the Sea Type: Anthology of short stories, poetry, and drabbles Editor: Julia C. Lewis Theme: We’re looking for horror or dark fantasy stories, poems, and drabbles about malevolent mermaids, sinister sirens, scary selkies, spirits, and other deadly and dangerous women of the sea. Stories including the ocean or sea are the focus of the anthology, but we will consider stories involving rivers as well. No explicit sexual content, no racism or anti-LGBTQIA+, animal cruelty, extreme horror, or violence just for violence’s sake. No reprints. What: Submissions should be a Word doc or docx. On the first page of your piece, only put the title, word count, and trigger warnings. Do not use headers or footers. Stories: 500-3,500 words Poetry: up to 350 words Drabbles: exactly 100 words Titles are not included in word counts Multiple submissions will be accepted (up to 3 pieces per author), but only one piece will be printed. Simultaneous submissions are fine, please let us know if your piece is accepted elsewhere. Please include an author bio (including any social media or website links you want displayed) as a separate document. Where: Email all submissions to [email protected]. In the subject line put DANGEROUS WATERS. Compensation: Complimentary ebook and paperback copy of the anthology. Stories: $0.08 a word Poems: $50 a poem Drabbles: $50 a drabble Questions about the anthology? Send an email to [email protected] Via: Brigids Gate Press.

Deadline: June 30th, 2022 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: June 30th, 2022 Payment: $0.04/word and a contributor's copy Theme: Dark Speculative fiction which combine humor and something from the Cthulhu Mythos. CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: LOLcraft: An Compendium of Eldritch Humor “Comedy and horror are opposite sides of the same coin.” Robert Bloch There is a long history of blending comedy and horror, two genres which shouldn’t work together, but movies from Beetlejuice to Cabin in the Woods show that they can. Both genres evoke visceral, physical reactions. Horror generates fear and dread. Our hearts race. The stress rises and we feel the need for a release, to scream. Humor generates similar physical reactions, but the release comes in the form of laughter. When done well, the feelings don’t leave us when the story is finished, they stay with us. And this is what we want from you. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Reduce us to maddened, mindless, lumps of goo. Make us long for that release, whether it be in the form of laughter or shrieking in dread.  In Eldritch Embraces: Putting the Love Back in Lovecraft we were looking stories which combined the elements of the Cthulhu Mythos and romance. This time around we want you to mix humor with your favorite Mythos elements. What We Want: Finely crafted works of Dark Speculative fiction which combine humor and something from the Cthulhu Mythos. The humor can be light or dark, subtle or over the top. We want the laughter but we also want that sense of helplessness and dread that comes with a good Lovecraftian tale. While not strictly necessary, it would certainly be helpful to have a strong Mythos knowledge base. Read the originals, but also read recent works which put a new spin on the material.  To get an example of what we have published in the past, feel free...

Submission Window: June 1st - 30th, 2022 Payment: Drabbles and Flash - £5. Short Stories 1001 to 4000 words - £10, Short Stories 4001 to 8000 words - £15 Theme: Stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something. Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. Note: Only publishes creators from under represented and/or marginalized communities. We’re looking for stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something. Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. We want it all.  All genres, styles and themes will be considered and we especially love stories that are outside the box in their telling. Ambiguous endings? Non-linear storytelling? Antagonist’s point-of-view? A story told in just one scene? We love it all. ​ SUBMISSIONS: February 1 - 28 (for June issue) April 1 - 30 (for August issue) June 1 - 30 (for October issue) August 1 - 31 (for December issue) October 1 - 31 (for February issue) ​December 1 - 31 (for April issue) ​ we do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events SUBMISSION GUIDELINES How to submit: Please submit via the form at the bottom of this page. If you have any problems using the form please email us for assistance. Who should submit: Please ONLY SUBMIT IF: you are aged 18 or over you belong to an underrepresented or marginalised community. These include, but are not limited to: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled people. Whilst we also love stories about diverse characters, it is not compulsory that your story feature them. What to submit: Drabble (exactly 100 words) Flash Fiction (101 to 1000 words) Short Stories (1000 to 8000 words)...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: $0.01 per word for new stories and/or $25 for reprints. Theme: Religious Horror Note: Reprints Welcome From the editors that brought you, Welcome to the Funhouse via Blood Rites Horror, Kelly Brocklehurst and Jamie Stewart, comes a new collection of religious horror stories that will chill you to your core.   ARE YOU READY TO RECEIVE THE SACRAMENT? Please read carefully. Submissions that don’t meet the guidelines may be rejected. Submissions will be accepted until July 1st, 2022. Please submit to [email protected], ensuring ’The Sacrament’ is in the subject line.   What we are looking for: Diversity among the religions represented (e.g., we don't want every story to focus on Catholicism). We encourage people to think outside the box when they write about what a religion is (e.g., invent a fictional religion or think about things that get cult followings, such as MLMs). We also encourage writers to have a good representation of POC, LGBTQ+, and strong female characters.   What we are NOT looking for: Please, do not submit stories that do not fit the theme. Submissions cannot contain graphic rape scenes. Please ensure any scenes of a sexual nature are necessary and non-exploitative.   Submissions must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words. Title, submitter’s name, pen name (if different), story word count, and author email address must be centred at the top of your submission. 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 an anthology. Notify us by email at [email protected] if you...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: One cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) Theme: Fantastic Fiction You really NEED to read the description below. The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English. This fiction, which we would describe as irreal, resembles the work of writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe, Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. As a type of fiction it rejects the tendency to portray people and places realistically and the need for a full resolution to the story; instead, it shows us a reality constantly being undermined. Therefore, we're interested in stories by writers who write about what they don't know, take us places we couldn't possibly go, and don't try to make us care about the characters. We would also suggest you take a look at the current issue, archives, and theory (especially the essay, "What is irrealism?") pages on this web site. We accept unsolicited fiction up to 2,000 words in length. Translations are welcome. There is no minimum length. We accept only electronic submissions via e-mail at [email protected]. We cannot, due to the various computer viruses and worms, accept attachments anymore, so please paste your story into the body of the e-mail. Also include your name, address, e-mail address, and a short bio in the text of the submission; please put the word "submission" in the subject heading of the e-mail to ensure that your submission doesn't get lost among all the spam. We pay an honorarium of one cent U.S. per word ($2 minimum) to buy first-time internet rights (the story will then be archived). Payment is made upon publication. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and are only interested in reprints in unusual cases (e.g., the story has appeared in print but...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10 Theme: The Crumpled Yellow Paper 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. NOTE: Fewer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages preferred. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline.  NO READER'S FEE. Mail to: THEMA, Box 8747, Metairie, LA 70011-8747. Outside the US: email [email protected] On acceptance for publication, we will pay the following amount: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10; artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Copyright reverts to author after publication. THEMA isn't for everyone. To find out why, click here. New to submitting manuscripts to journals? Click here to download a PDF file of a few basic guidelines. Unlike many publishers, we prefer works submitted by the authors themselves, without the involvement of an agent. Be sure to indicate premise and include SASE for each submission.  BE SURE to include a separate SASE for each premise. No handwritten manuscripts will be considered. NOTE: We do not accept e-mailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside the U.S. For those living outside the U.S., submit manuscript as an email attachment (readable by MSWord ― either as a DOC file or an RTF file), and include the following information on the title...

Submission Window: May 1st - July 1st, 2022 Payment: ¢1 per word CAD after approved edits - up to $70 CAD Theme: Folk Horror Welcome to our folk horror series!   We are searching for stories that fall into the theme of Folk Horror. ​ Theme: Give me your rituals, your sacrifices. Give me your isolated communities and their backwards practices. Give me your old or forgotten gods and the creatures that men fear to speak of above a whisper. Give me idols, pagan practices, and harvest festivals. Think movies like The Apostle, Wicker Man, Midsommar, The Ritual, and Kill List. Stories do not have to be set in modern day, or in our reality, but any fantasy submissions must be dark fantasy with an emphasis on the dark elements, and must have the intention to unsettle the readers. We’re looking for stories that explore the dark side of human nature in interesting and foreboding settings. In folk horror, setting is just as important as characters. We want stories dripping with atmosphere. Transport us, and give us a front row seat to your nightmares. ​ Please do not send stories with rape, gore for gore’s sake, or torturous adult content. Do not send stories that promote discrimination or hate speech. The editor for this anthology prefers to be creeped out, not grossed out. ​ With this call we are hoping to create two fantastic volumes, comprising of approximately 60k -  70k per book. Our goal is to make this a running series, so please send your best and make sure to support us by liking and sharing when you can.  ​ ​​Word count: 2000 - 7000 (Some wiggle room allowed - please let us know on the form, no need to email) ​ Payment: Flat rate payment ¢1 per word CAD after approved...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: $20 Theme: Fantasy, scifi, and horror stories set in winter where a tree plays an important role and are creepy In winter, there’s a stillness – a silence. As wet snowflakes fall, sounds are muffled. A hush lingers in the air. Bare trees reach upward from the frozen ground, grasping with their spindly branches. Swaying in the frigid breeze, brittle bark creaks and moans as the trees whisper ancient secrets to one another. Sentries, standing in the stillness. Watching. Learning new stories to share with each other long after we have gone.  This winter, we want to celebrate these majestic beings and what happens when the stillness is disturbed. Submission Info We’re looking for stories, poems, photos, and/or artwork that follow these guidelines: Respect the genre norms from the Fantasy, Horror, & Sci-fi genres (including the associated sub-genres). For an excellent overview of the elements within and differences between these genres, check out this link. We’re looking for stories, poems, photos, or artwork that feature: the winter season a tree that plays an important role in your stories, poems, artwork, or photographs. the creepier side of winter - the thrills and chills! Bring us pieces that will make us want to bolt the door and hide under our blankets – both from the chill in the air and the scares. NOTE: Send us your stories that unsettle, unnerve, frighten, discomfit, challenge, and/or just generally entertain. Please do not send us stories that glorify rape or abuse — especially of children or animals. We also will not include stories that promote bigoted thinking. While we recognize that some amount of violence is often seminal to these genres, we’re not interested in scenes that painstakingly, even lovingly, describe extreme violence. Word/Entry Limits: Short Stories (English only): Up...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: £30 Theme: An extreme horror/bizarro anthology. An extreme horror/bizarro anthology. Theme: Stories must feature elements of both extreme horror and bizarro. Can be primarily extreme horror with bizarro elements, or vice versa. Length: 7000 words - 10,000 words. There will be fewer slots available for this one, so make your story count! Open: May 1st - July 1st. Submissions sent before/after will not be read. Compensation: £30 & a digital copy of the anthology. Expected publication date: August Simultaneous submissions: No Multiple submissions: Yes Reprints: No Cover and title subject to change. Email your submission to [email protected] Via: Planet Bizarro.

(Cover for Volume 1) Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: Royalties Theme: Horror Comedy / Creature Feature After the success of the first Trailer Park anthology, we’ve decided to bring it back next year for another go. Stories should be original creature feature, horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. And of course, our heroes winning the day in all of their redneck glory. Genre: Horror Comedy / Creature Feature Word Count: 7,000 – 10,000 Edited by: William Joseph Roberts Anchor Author: Jonathan Maberry Due Date: July, 2022 Email submissions to: threeravenspublishing @ gmail dot com with “Trailer Park” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. Please follow the Three Ravens submission guidelines that can be found here MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, adult content) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submission in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward in ways that the reader may not expect when properly used, these elements should not, however, be the primary focus of the story. (i.e. torturous adult content). Discrimination: Again, whether racial, religious, social, etc.,...

Deadline: July 1st, 2022 Payment: $15 Theme: Crime, Noir, or Hard-boiled flash fiction Established 2011, Shotgun Honey has been a steady outlet for crime, noir, and hard-boiled flash fiction. After a decade of submissions, we’ve seen nearly every permutation of the genre that can fit within this tiny 700 word world. So surprise us and send your best original crime flash stories. Please consider and follow the following guidelines prior to submitting. No Multiple Submissions1 700 words or less (recommended no less than 300 words) Genre is Crime, Noir, or Hard-boiled2 No content that could be deemed as condoning or promoting: sexual abuse child abuse animal abuse No romance, fetish, or adult fiction As of 2022, accepted flash submissions will receive $15 upon publication. Submit Your Story Due to overwhelming submissions and acceptances, submissions will be closed until July 1, 2022. 1. Submit only one story at a time. You may submit a new story as soon as your current submission is either accepted or rejected. 2. We have published western and horror fiction in the past, but unless otherwise stated, do not submit works outside the crime genre. You can submit your work at the following link. Note: The following isn't immediately clear. You do need to login to their in order for the submission form to appear and you can login or register right here. Via: Shotgun Honey.

Submission Window: July 1st-3rd, 2022 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. 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 8¢ 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...

Submission Window: June 1st-3rd, 2022 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 8¢ 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: July 1st-3rd 2022 Payment: $50 Theme: Weather. A new theme, weather, starts in January 2022. 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. Added March 3, 3021: Although it states below that only one work per author per submission, I am suddenly getting multiple poems at a time. Only one story or poem per submission, per author. (Kate Wolford, Editor-In-Chief.) And the theme for 2022? It’s “WEATHER.” (No more submissions are being accepted for publication in December of 2021). The following is relevant to all submissions for 2022, and the first submission window opens Jan. 1. More below.   Writing opportunities for 2022 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.   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 2022.   * Writers will have a chance to submit fairy-tale inspired stories/poems five times in 2022. Since we will be choosing eight to 10 works per publishing month, there are up to 50 slots to be filled in 2022. That’s a lot! And it does not...