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Submission Window: January 23rd - 30th, 2023 Payment: $20 Theme: Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories. Mythaxis is published four times a year, and is open to submissions within the following periods: January 23rd-30th April 23th-30th (this window closed in 2023) July 23rd-30th October 23rd-30th Submissions received outside of these dates will unfortunately be lost and therefore not responded to. When open, we seek and offer the following: Length: 1,000-7,500 words. This is a firm limit. Generally speaking, the further a story goes beyond 5,000 words the more it will need to impress, but the door is not shut in advance. Compensation: $20 on acceptance and return of contract. Please be aware that payment is via PayPal only. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours of submission, please get in touch. We aim to accept or reject within 14 days of acknowledgment, but rl (real life) and rl (reading load) can get in the way. If you do not hear from us after 30 days, feel free to query. We require First Print and Digital rights with a six month period of exclusivity from the date of publication. We also ask permission to potentially include accepted pieces in future anthologies, in event of which an additional full payment and digital copy will be offered in compensation. All other rights remain entirely with the author. Simultaneous submissions are not only accepted, they are encouraged. Please tell us if you are, and we merely ask that you notify us of acceptance at another market as soon as possible. In the event that we accept first we would expect a positive confirmation, so we recommend sim-subbing to markets of equivalent status - we won’t want to wait for someone else you’d like better to turn you down… Please wait until receiving a rejection notice...

Submission Window: January 1st-30th, 2023 Payment: 0.08 USD per word Theme: character-focused, weird sword-and-sorcery: stories of a dark and transgressive nature What  We  Want Old Moon publishes character-focused, weird sword-and-sorcery: stories of a dark and transgressive nature, set in a secondary or historical-paranormal (“our” reality, but with a twist, if you will) world, with a focus on rounded characters undergoing some sort of conflict, resolved (though not always successfully!) by the might of their main or mind. ​ We love stories that combine that sense of action and adventure with well-rounded characters who make us question our own realities and perceptions. We love to see the gothic, the baroque, the eldritch, and we love to see it hit with an axe. Weird fiction and sword-and-sorcery can both be slippery terms. That is part of the fun! But, for our purposes we know it may help prospective writers if we list a series of authors and their stories we feel encompass (at least in part) what we love about the borderland of sword/sorcery and weird fiction: Laird Barron ("Oblivion Mode," "Ode to Jode the Toad") E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros) John R. Fultz ("Chivaine") Robert E. Howard ("The Shadow Kingdom," "Worms of the Earth") Caitlin R. Kiernan ("The Sea Troll's Daughter") John Langan ("The Savage Angela in: The Beast in the Tunnels") Tanith Lee (Birthgrave, "Southern Lights") C.L. Moore ("The Black God's Kiss") Silvia Moreno-Garcia (The Return of the Sorcereress) Michael Shea (Nifft the Lean) Clark Ashton Smith ("The Charnel God," "Necromancy in Naat") E. Catherine Tobler ("The Living, Vengeant Stars, "And After the Fire, A Still Small Voice") Gene Wolfe ("Bloodsport") ​ The list could go on and on, of course, but we feel those provide a representative sample of the work we enjoy. We do not ask for pastiches of their work,...

Submission Window: January 16th - 30th, 2023 Payment: 2 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Anything with a supernatural and dark element, such as Horror, Dark Fiction/ Dark Fantasy, Weird Fiction, etc. Title: +Horror Library+ Volume 8 Edited by: Eric J. Guignard Publisher: Dark Moon Books (Los Angeles, CA) Submissions Accepted: January 16, 2023 through January 30, 2023 Projected Release Date: between July to October, 2023 Word Count: Short stories between approximately 1,500–5,000 words (soft range, with a preference toward lower word count) Payment: Two (2) cents per word and one contributor copy in each of all published formats Reprints?: No Multiple and/or Simultaneous Submissions: Yes (within reason, please) Audience Age Appropriateness: 16 years old and up. Profanity and sexually-related material is acceptable, provided it is not gratuitous nor excessive. What is not acceptable is anything culturally derogative (propagating racial hatred or malicious stereotypes); relating to torture or sexual abuse of children/animals; or involving graphic sex/ “erotica.” Genre Suitability: Anything with a supernatural and dark element, such as Horror, Dark Fiction/ Dark Fantasy, Weird Fiction, etc. Tone: Imaginative and/or harrowing adventure; beauty of darkness; horror (edgy or quiet); exploration through fears or discovery; original monsters and/or strange lands; life events turned slightly askew, etc. Response Time: February 30, 2023 (or earlier) Send submissions and queries to: [email protected] About the Series Since 2006, the +Horror Library+ series of anthologies has been internationally praised as a groundbreaking source of contemporary horror short fiction stories—relevant to the moment and stunning in impact—from leading authors of the macabre and darkly imaginative. Filled with Fears and Fantasy. Death and Dark Dreams. Monsters and Mayhem. Literary Vision and Wonder. Each volume of the +Horror Library+ series is packed with heart-pounding thrills and creepy contemplations as to what truly lurks among the shadows of the world(s) we live in. These anthology books have been a home for non-themed short works of...

Submission Window: January 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents/word and 4 cents/word for reprints Theme: Speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology Note: Reprints Welcome Open to fiction submissions each year during the months of January and July. Open to art submissions year-round. We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror--with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Fiction Guidelines Technical details Stories can be up to 9000 words (thanks, Patreon supporters!). This is a hard limit--our submission system will enforce it. We pay 8 cents/word for original stories (or original translations of stories that have not previously appeared in English), and 4 cents/word for reprints (thanks again, Patreon!). Authors are paid once we've agreed on edits and signed a contract, prior to earliest publication (generally on our Patreon page). We are seeking 6 months' exclusive worldwide publication rights for original works (with exceptions for established Best of the Year anthologies), and non-exclusive worldwide print and electronic rights thereafter for both original works and reprints. We want to publish your story online in our webzine and keep it there indefinitely. We're also acquiring the right to offer ebook versions of the stories we publish, as Patreon rewards or for purchase; and to publish a print and ebook anthology of all the stories that appeared in the webzine over a given 1- or 2-year period. For original fiction, we want to be the only place publishing it for the first 6 months; after that, you're welcome to publish it anywhere else in any format you like. No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If multiple writers co-write a story, we consider each distinct group of writers a different submitter. In other words, if two people co-write a story, and they submit the co-written story, and each of them also submits...

Submission Window: January 1st - 31st, 2023 Payment: $1 per accepted piece Theme: horrorku, horror themed tanka, haibun, see below for details The Submission may include any or all of the following: · Up to seven (7) horrorku or horror tanka  · Up to three (3) haibun · Up to five (5) pieces of cover art All submissions must be original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by a print or web-based journal. Posts in closed, critique-oriented groups and social media sites are acceptable for submission, but public posts on forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are not. By submitting a piece to us, you are guaranteeing that it is your original work and not under consideration or published anywhere else in the world. E-mail submission is required. Type poems into the body of the e-mail; no attachments of poetry will be opened. For art submissions, please include all five pieces in a .PDF file or send us a link to a private gallery. If we purchase an art piece for our cover, we will ask that you provide a 300 dpi version of said piece. E-mail: [email protected] Subject: Otoroshi Submission Please include a cover letter noting location in the world. Please include handles for Instagram and Twitter for promotional purposes. At this time, only one submission per issue will be considered unless the editors directly request a second submission. Submission periods are one month long: · January for the Spring Issue · April for the Summer Issue · July for the Fall Issue · October for the Winter Issue Acceptances will be sent shortly after the end of each period. Please note: Although most journals may publish your work as is, we are editors, too. This means we will make suggestions to your work as we see fit. This...

Submission Window: January 1st-31st, 2022 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is on the...

Submission Window: January 1st-31st, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction Note: Limited Demographic: Authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. Submission Windows General submission window February 01-28 April 01-30 June 01-30 August 01-31 October 01-31 December 01-31 Limited demographic window January 01-31 March 01-31 May 01-31 July 01-31 September 01-30 November 01-30 It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format...

Submission Window: January 1st, 2023 – January 31st, 2023 Theme: Stories about the mouthpieces of gods and goddesses. Payment: $0.08 a word for fiction, $50 for poetry, and a contributors copy Submissions Open: January 1, 2023 – January 31, 2023 Title: TBD Seers and Sibyls Type: Anthology of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry Editor: MJ Pankey Theme: We're looking for stories about the mouthpieces of gods and goddesses. Who interprets their omens, tells their prophecies, sees their visions, and performs their miracles? And to what end? Must Haves:  Spiritual element (prophecy, omen, vision, conversation with a higher power) Spiritual medium (Seer, Sibyl, Oracle, Shaman, Priestess, Prophet) Time period: anytime in the past or present Location: anywhere on Earth Won't Accept: Racism Anti-LGBTQIA+ Rape Incest Extreme Horror (excessive gore, explicit sex just for gore/sex sake) Reprints Manuscripts that don't follow the guidelines Religion bashing Guidelines:  Story must include a spiritual element (prophecy, omen, vision, conversation with a higher power, etc) and a medium (Seer, Sibyl, Oracle, Shaman, Priestess, Prophet, etc) in some way Retellings and reimaginings of classic stories are welcome, so long as they offer a new twist. Spiritual elements from any culture or civilization will be considered, so long as the thematic Must Haves are included, and it is does not bash the culture. Can be any genre or combination of fiction New and experienced authors are welcome Flash fiction up to 1,000 words Short Stories between 1,500 to 5,000 words Poetry up to 500 words In Cover Letter include: Brief bio and if you are a new or previously published author Trigger warnings, if applicable Story title Inspiration for story (myth, legend, culture, hero, etc) Manuscript: First page should have your legal and author name, email address, word count, and title of story Double Spaced DOC, DOCx, or RTF format Up to 2...

Submission Window: January 1st-31st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word and $500 for custom cover art and $100 for cover art drawn from an artist’s existing portfolio. Theme: Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Note: You must identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. khōréō is a quarterly publication of stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. We’re especially interested in writing and art that explore some aspect of migration, whether explicitly (themes of immigration, colonialism, etc.), metaphorically, or with a sly nod and a wink. Most importantly, we’re a new magazine and we’re still finding our identity: therefore, please don’t self-reject because you’re not sure if your work is a good fit. We won’t know until we see it, so please give us a chance to look! See submission requirements & how to submit at the following pages: Fiction Non-fiction Art Voice actors Who can submit? khōréō is dedicated to diversity and amplifying the voices of immigrant and diaspora authors and artists. We welcome, but do not require, a brief description of the author’s/artist’s identity in their cover letter. We invite you to submit if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented...

Deadline: January 31st, 2023 Payment: 5 cents per word for original fiction, 4 cents per word for reprints Theme: The rewritten lives of female literary legends Note: Reprints Welcome The rewritten lives of literary legends You suffer. You die. You exist so the hero can have his journey. Who are you? You're a woman in classic literature. Of course this isn't the destiny of every woman, but from Anna Karenina to Jocasta to Cio-Cio-San, from Esmeralda to Aida to Mrs Rochester, death, madness, or suffering is the fate of far too many women in classic stories. Anna Karenina Isn't Dead undoes that. In this anthology of literary women, these women live. Do they have a happily ever after? Maybe. Do they have a happy-right-now? Oh yes. Feel free to bring your woman to the present, future, to anywhere or anywhen. How your classic heroine finds her peace is up to you. Tell us a reimagined tale of the famous, the infamous, the barely mentioned woman in an old story, poem, or legend. Give her a better journey than the one she got. This call is open to writers of any gender and in any location; we accept simultaneous and multiple submissions (up to 3 stories per writer); payment is five cents American per word (four cents for reprints) up to 5,000 words – your story can be longer, but payment stops at 5K words. The deadline is 31 January 2023. Please send your manuscript as a .docx attachment, Times New Roman, 12-point – with your name and story title on the first page. In your email be sure to tell us who your character is, and from what story she comes. No characters still under copyright please. Submissions or questions to Atlin Merrick (she/her): [email protected]. Via: Improbable Press.

Deadline: January 31st, 2023 Payment: £30 plus a copy of the zine Theme: Ruins Note: British authors and authors of other nationalities living in Britain Submissions are open until midnight GMT on the 31st of Jan 2023. The theme of issue two is ruins. We want crumbling castle ramparts and wrecks haunting the sea bed. Give us derelict shopping centres and condemned flats. And don’t forget, people can be ruins too. We’re looking for submissions from British authors and authors of other nationalities living in Britain. We are particularly keen to hear from under-represented groups, including BIPOC, LGBT, and disabled writers. GUIDELINES Submit your story to [email protected] Stories must be no shorter than 3000 words and no longer than 4000. No previously published work, please. One submission per person. Submit your story as an attached Word file with your name and the story title in the filename, double spaced, font size 12. Please title your email SUBMISSION: CLOISTERFOX 3. Include a short biography in the third person – 150-ish words – along with any websites or social media you might have. Author payment: £30 plus a copy of the zine. WHAT WE WANT The best way to gauge what we like is to read the zine. But, for the uninitiated, we are looking for: Genre-crossing speculative fiction with a strange, uncanny bent. Stories that make you feel. It isn’t enough to creep us out – tweak our heartstrings, make us laugh. Take the prompt and play with it! We’re flexible and love to be surprised. WHAT WE DON’T WANT We don’t publish poetry, reviews, non-fiction, comics, or art. We’re not looking for straightforward genre fiction, erotica (though it’s fine to be spicy), or anything promoting fascist views. Original stories only, please – no reprints. Via: CloisterFox.

Deadline: December 1ts, 2022 to January 31st, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Stories of massive engineering megastructures that reshape stellar systems. We are seeking stories for an anthology to be titled Gargantua which will collect stories of massive engineering megastructures that reshape stellar systems. To be published in the spring of 2023 by the Air and Nothingness Press. All stories to be exactly 1000 words. Theme: Shellworlds, Alderson disks, Dyson spheres and swarms, O’Neill cylinders, Matrioshka brains, wormhole networks— these megastructures reshape stellar systems, are evidence of the engineering prowess of advanced civilizations, and are just darn cool concepts. While these ideas usually fall under Hard SF, we are looking for authors to provide stories in any genre they choose. Tell us the tales of advanced civilizations, personal stories of the people who live in these spaces, the mythology that is created as these projects are born, to the time they crumble to stellar dust. All stories are requested to be EXACTLY 1000 words in length. The title is not part of this word count. We will use MSWord as the word count application. How to submit: Email your submission to [email protected] (Submissions open December 1st, 2022 and close January 31st, 2023). These are firm dates. Compensation: Our pay rate is 8 cents a word. Anthology authors will receive one print copy of the anthology, plus wholesale pricing for additional print copies (40% off the retail price). Rights: AaNPress purchases Worldwide First English print rights, exclusive for 1 year from publication, and non-exclusive after. Submissions: New authors are as welcome as established writers. We especially encourage WOC/POC authors. AaNPress does not accept reprints or multiple submissions. Simultaneous submissions are ok but please let us know promptly if the submission is accepted elsewhere. We will...

Deadline: January 31st, 2023 Payment: 5 cents per word Theme: horror/dark fiction Breakdown of content:   8 fiction pieces (approximate word lengths) – 1x 5000, 1x 3000, 1x 2500, 2x 1500, 3x 500 3-5 non-fiction pieces – 1 article, 1-2 briefs, 1-2 interviews and/or review – Fiction:   We are looking for horror/dark fiction pieces between 500-5000 words firm. Genre mashing is absolutely allowed. We do not accept stories that involve the sexual abuse/exploitation of minors direct or implied. Common sense when submitting please. We are not looking for pure shock value. All components of your story should have merit. Gore for gore’s sake is not what we are looking for. While not a requirement, we strongly suggest you pick up a copy of the digital magazine to help better understand the types of work we’re looking for.   Our pay rates 5 cents per word All payments are made in US funds via PayPal.   We accept submissions during the following reading periods , with an expected response time of up to 16 weeks. This way we are able to accommodate all the submissions we receive. If you have not heard back from us after 16 weeks, please feel free to send us an update query.   WINTER ISSUE: August 01 – October 31   SPRING ISSUE: November 01 – January 31   SUMMER ISSUE: February 01 – April 30   FALL ISSUE: May 01 – July 31 All submissions must be sent via e-mail to: [email protected] as an attached word document or .rtf with the word “Fiction Submission – STORY TITLE” in the subject line. In the body of the email include a word count. A short bio is welcome, but not mandatory. Please also include if you wish your story considered for both the quarterly print and the website publication. Note compensation rates are different for website so be certain.  ...

Submission Window: January 1st, 2023 - February 1st, 2023 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD max Theme: Active Shooter Last Girls Club Spring Issue Theme is Active Shooter. Think of the new training videos/protocols for students and teachers, office spaces, public spaces, the sense of inevitability of every news cycle including a shooting. Embrace the the sense of resigned acceptance of terrorism. Welcome to the future. No whining allowed. Please go to our website www.lastgirlsclub.com to get a feel for what we print. No more than two fiction or flash fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($25 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($10 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] Via: Last Girls Club Duotrope.

Deadline: February 1st, 2023 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "I am the second Mrs. Roberts." We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written...

Submission Window: January 1st - February 1st, 2023 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD max Theme: Active Shooter Last Girls Club Spring Issue Theme is Active Shooter. Think of the new training videos/protocols for students and teachers, office spaces, public spaces, the sense of inevitability of every news cycle including a shooting. Embrace the the sense of resigned acceptance of terrorism. Welcome to the future. No whining allowed. Please go to our website www.lastgirlsclub.com to get a feel for what we print. No more than two fiction or flash fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($25 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($10 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. Please check on the website for the theme in detail. Submissions will be accepted from Jan 1-Feb 1, April 1-May 1, July 1-Aug 1, Oct 1-Nov 1. Final notifications will be Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, Nov 15. Authors must be 18+. Submissions from underage authors will not be considered....

Deadline: February 1st, 2023 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: Horror stories that must be cannabis related in some way 420 Horror: You guessed it. We want horror short stories between 1000 and 5000 words in length (can go over a little bit, we aren’t too particular. Just not shorter than 1000 words). The stories must be cannabis related in some way. It could be a group of stoners getting lost in the woods that find a witch house…with a bong in it. How about a group of humans partying on April 20th in the year 2560 A.D. Use your imagination folks. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $10 along with a paperback & digital copy of the anthology once it is completed. Rights: First Print and Electronic Publication rights, the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print and digital book, and a one-year (12 month) period of exclusivity from the date of publication. We also ask permission to potentially include accepted stories in any future anthologies but will provide full payment and digital copy in compensation. All other rights remain entirely with the author. OTHER STUFF: No poetry or reprints. No novel extracts. Authors are welcome to submit more than one story for the anthology (no more than two per author though) but please submit them in separate emails. Submission Deadline: February 1, 2023. Expected Publication Date: October 2023. Email submissions to [email protected] with story either: 1) attached in Microsoft Word Format; or 2) with the entire story pasted inside the body of the email. Either one is fine. We try to reply and let you know if we are not using your submission within 3-4 weeks…but if you do not hear from us by the submission date (check your Spam folder) then we did not...

Deadline: February 1st, 2023 Payment: Fiction: 1 cent per word, Poetry: $10 per poem, Art: $25 flat fee, Cover art: $50 Theme: Food NonBinary Review is open for submissions on the theme of "food." Food touches every single person on the planet, and can be one of the most fraught relationships a person can have. We're not looking for recipes, or stories in which food is incidental. We want to read about how food joins people, divides people, shapes those with too much and those with not enough. Who grows food? Who hauls it around? Who cooks it? How is working professionally with food different than cooking at home? There are so many aspects of this necessity of life, and we want to hear them - especially the unexpected, the complicated, the life-changing. All submissions must have a clear relationship to our theme, and be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or they will be rejected. NonBinary Review  pays 1¢ per word for prose with a limit of 3000 words. Zoetic Press publishes the best in new lit - experimental, interstitial, luminous. We welcome submissions from EVERYONE. The only requirement is that they be in English, or translated into English (we love a translation). If your writing is outstanding, no matter who you are, we have a place for it. NonBinary Review, our award-winning themed lit journal is published quarterly. Each issue revolves around a specific theme, but we're asking contributors to go beyond the old familiar media tropes. We're looking for work we can read with our whole body - work that gives us goosebumps, makes us see the world differently, has the tang of authenticity, makes us sit up and listen, and smells like....something. This analogy got out of hand. What we're saying is that we're not looking for re-hashes of...

Submission Window: February 1st-2nd, 2023 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...

Deadline: February 3rd, 2023 Payment: $25 or royalty share Theme: Water-related horror stories Skywatcher Press launched the themed anthology series, UNLEASHED featuring top notch fiction by new and established authors.  ​ We are seek stories across the wide possibilities of the horror landscape. Our goal is to terrify readers, make their skin crawl, and keep them on the edge of their seats.    Stories can be up to 10,000 words, and we will make exceptions for longer.  Once selected, pay will be $25 per story or royalty share. This is determined by volume. We are eagerly awaiting your most twisted, nightmarish creations!  2023 Spring Release! Seeking themes around water-related horror stories. Submission DEADLINE is February 3, 2023 HOW TO SUBMIT For consideration, please send submissions in .doc format to [email protected] All submissions must be original works of fiction, and we are seeking First Print Rights. If you have any doubt about professional manuscript formatting, here is a handy dandy guide to manuscript formatting: How to Properly Format Your Manuscript Via: Skywatch Press.

Deadline: February 7th, 2023 Payment: $10 Theme: Horror stories from authors living in Alabama Upon all scribes of the darkness, the terrifying eye of PsychoToxin Press is upon thee! Specifically, to those residing in the dark depths of... Alabama! Yes, all macabre scribes that dwell in the state of Alabama, us freaks beseech thee. Bring us your offerings for our fourth issue of “Eidolotry digital”! We seek to have all testaments collected no later than February 7th when the sun dies and the moon reigns supreme. For your offering, accepted authors will of course be compensated $10.00 and a complimentary copy of the E-zine to spread the terrifying Gospels within upon the world! We seek first world electronic and print rights for a short time of three months after publication, after which all rights return to the author, with the request that we are credited as first appearance if published elsewhere. Our requirements are simple: — stories must be a gospel of horror (in other words, must be horror genre) — as stated in the beginning , ONLY scribes residing in Alabama are eligible for this issue — all stories must be no less than 1500 words and no MORE than 6,000 words (sweet spot being between 3 and 5,000) — NO reprints! Again, as stated above , we seek first rights only for 3 months. — no excessive violence or sex. Elements of these are of course fine, but preferably in moderation. We’re here for thrills and chills, not necessarily guys and/or adult situations. When ready, produce thy unrighteous offerings to [email protected] with the subject as “EIDOLOTRY SUBMISSION — — . Along with your story, please provide a short bio that may or may not include previous publication history. The date is set. The sands of time ebb away... and us freaks cannot...

Deadline: February 1st, 2023 (BIPOC-only extension until February, 8th 2023) Payment: $0.01/word and 50% of the royalties divided between authors for short stories, $20 for 'Between the Shelves', Artwork: $20 per page Theme: Unthemed speculative found-fiction A home for the strange, the uncanny, and the odd. Open Submissions Query for Serializing Audio/video Finished chapbooks/booklets Pieces you would like us to help promote Closed Submissions Issue #1 (Closed Dec 1, 2021) Issue #2 (Closed June 15, 2022) Issue #3 (Unthemed, open Dec 1 2022-Feb 1 2023, BIPOC-only extension until Feb 8 2023) Rules We’ll be open Dec 1-Feb 1 2022 for unthemed submissions, with a BIPOC specific extension for a week after (until Feb 8th). You don’t need to declare your ethnicity or anything on your cover letter, just mention that you are applying for the extension. Submissions are anonymous, so the extension is done on the honor system to an extent. We do find out your identity eventually to respond, obviously. If you submit to us last window (thank you!), you’ll probably be good just looking at the bolded pieces, as those have changed. All submissions must be found-fiction. Not sure what we’re looking for? The best way will be to look at the stories on our website, or buy an 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? If you read all of this and still have questions, please refer to our FAQ, or query! Alright, let’s dive in! Main Zine Fiction: We read blind. While there are no penalties for having identifying information on your document, we will ask you to remove...

Deadline: February 12th, 2023 Payment: $300 Theme: Recommended Reading, a magazine by Electric Literature, publishes one story a week, each chosen by today’s best authors and editors. Recommended Reading only considers previously unpublished fiction, including publication on your personal website. Submissions will be open Monday, February 1 (12:00am PST) to Sunday, February 12 (11:59pm PST), or until 1,500 submissions are received. Before submitting, please take some time to read Recommended Reading, especially those recommended by Electric Literature, in which we showcase original fiction. Recommended Reading publishes fiction ranging in length from 2,000 to 10,000 words, and pays each contributor $300. We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your story is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw it immediately through the Submittable system. We can only consider one story by an author at any given time. Response time is three to eight months. Recommended Reading General Fiction Submissions—opens Wednesday, February 1 2022 (12:00am PST) through Sunday, February 12 (11:59pm PST), or until 1,500 submissions are received Recommended Reading publishes fiction between 2,000 and 10,000 words. (For fiction shorter than 2,000 words, check for open submission periods to The Commuter.) Simultaneous submissions are accepted but please notify us immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere. Response time is six to eight months. Upon acceptance, we can offer authors $300 for publishing rights. During the general submissions periods, writers may submit one piece per period. (This does not apply to year-round submitting members. For more information on member submissions, please refer to the welcome email you received when you signed up as a member or reach out to [email protected].) Writers with a submission pending with The Commuter can still submit to Recommended Reading. For candid advice from our editors on how to polish your first pages and revise your work, check out our "Submission Roulette II" event and our video "How to Get Published in Recommended Reading." Via: Electric...

Deadline: February 15th, 2023 Payment: 7c per word (possibly 10c, depending on crowdfunding) Theme: Fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky. Greetings, ghouls! Nothing like a Saturday night to announce a brand-new horror magazine, right? As many of you already know, a few months ago we decided to discontinue the long-running Dark Moon Digest after publishing its final, 48th issue. It was a good run and we are immensely proud of the work we accomplished with the digest. But now it is time to move forward. Which brings us to Ghoulish Tales, our latest experiment with short horror fiction. Behold, Betty Rocksteady’s cover art for issue 1! Cover art by Betty Rocksteady   The art is finished, but the inside of the issue remains to be determined. That’s where you come in! What we are after: short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.” Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre. We want to have a perverted little smile across our face while reading. Make us slobber like idiots. Turn us into the Sickos.jpeg meme. We are also interested in non-fiction about the horror genre. Payment for both short stories and essays will be 7c per word. However, payment may increase to 10c per word if we hit a certain stretch goal on a Kickstarter we plan to launch on January 5th. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when it goes live. GUIDELINES: Deadline: February 15, 2023 (11:59 PM CST) Word count: 5,000 max (short stories); 3,000 max (non-fiction) Payment: 7c per word (possibly 10c, depending on crowdfunding) Simultaneous Submissions: Yes Multiple Submissions: No Reprints: No How to submit: Send all stories...

Deadline: February 15th, 2023 Payment: Word count-based royalty split for 4k+ word stories. Theme: Epic fantasy that includes a dragon Title: A Thunder of Dragons Opens: 15 Oct 2022 Closes: 15 Feb 2023 11:59 pm EST Theme: Epic fantasy tales of any kind, as long as they involve a dragon--rescuing princesses from their clutches, searching for their treasures, capturing one to grant a wish, stopping one from attacking the local village--anything goes! Word Limit: 500-6k words, excluding title Author Eligibility: Open to All Reprints: Not allowed Simultaneous Submissions: Not allowed Multiple Submissions: Max of 2 (two) acceptance per author Author Compensation: One (1) digital copy and word count based royalty split for 4k+. 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: February 16th, 2023 Payment: $20 in Canadian Theme: Science Fiction or Fantasy stories involving: Autonomy We are currently open for science-fiction/fantasy submissions. Upcoming We are accepting submissions for our upcoming Funemployment Quarterly ‘Winter Volume‘ of short fiction. The prompt for the upcoming anthology is: Autonomy. The submission deadline for the upcoming anthology is 11:59PM, Pacific Standard Time, on February 16th, 2023. Here are our rules/guidelines for submissions: Length should be one thousand to five thousand words. Broad canvas to paint on! We only accept previously unpublished stories, in English. All stories should be original. No fan fiction or tales set in existing fictional landscapes. Taste is subjective and the complete discretion of the editors. We’re very open-minded people, but nothing that’s going to require a scouring with brain bleach, please. Nothing that glorifies sexual assault, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, vortexes, any of that. There’s a difference between themes and glorification. You know what we’re talking about, cut it out. If you disagree, alt-f4, thx. Payment and Rights Accepted works shall be paid $20 in Canadian currency, through Paypal. If required, other payment methods can likely be arranged, just let us know. If accepted for publication, we purchase exclusive rights for first publication for both the internet and the anthology. These rights exist for 365 days from first publication (either on the site or in the magazine), after which all rights revert back to the author. Published work will be retained in the archives of Funemployment Press on a non-exclusive basis for as long as the lead editor sees fit. Funemployment Press reserves the right to potentially select certain works published in this publication for inclusion in a hypothetical future “best of” anthology. All authors with their works selected would be notified in advance of such selection for additional publication, and would be given the option...

Submission Window: February 17th - 19th, 2023 Payment: contributors copy and 5 cents per word Theme: Small-town Lovecraftian horror This a very short window for a limited number of story slots available in the forthcoming Shadows Over Main Street Volume 3 anthology of small-town Lovecraftian horror. The ideal length for submissions is 1,500 – 4,000 words. No reprints, please. One-time payment for your story is 5 cents per word. Includes contributor copies and author-discounted copies upon request. Standard (Shunn) or similar formatting on all submissions, submitted as a Word or RTF file. Send your email submission to [email protected] NO SOONER than February 17 and NO LATER than February 19. Submissions received outside of this two-day window will be deleted unread The Shadows Over Main Street anthology series features stories inspired by the idea of small-town America (or elsewhere) pitted against unfathomable cosmic horrors from beyond time and space. We especially welcome stories that challenge Lovecraft's insular and racist worldview rather than traffic in it or celebrate it. If it smacks of antiquated, discriminatory propaganda, the story will be rejected immediately... no further discussion on the matter. Volume 3 is to be the final book in the series, so extra points for stories that are apocalyptic in theme. See the book’s description below: This is the end… …but it’s also just another Friday night in small-town America. High school football teams vie for glory atop green fields while eldritch rot burbles underneath. Mom-and-pop shops shutter their storefronts while moms and dads lock their front doors… unaware that the real threats aren’t of this Earth and already surround them, waiting until the stars are right. The sun is about to set on Main Street once and for all. In Shadows Over Main Street Volume 3, Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward bring...

Deadline: February 20th 2023 Payment: Contributors Copy Theme: Resolutions Strange stories of a New Year, New You. Twisted tales of renewal, rebirth, revival. Resolutions taken too far, or maybe not far enough. Give us your strange and magical creations. Submissions window: January 20th 2023 - February 20th 2023 What We Accept Short stories Please only submit one piece if submitting a short story Short stories should be between 1000-5000 words Flash fiction Please submit no more than three pieces if submitting flash fiction We would prefer flash fiction to be no more than 750 words, but please do not exceed 1000 words Poetry Please submit no more than three pieces if submitting poetry Poetry should be no longer than two pages Visual art Please submit no more than three pieces if submitting visual art Our audience is middle grade (8-12) and young adult (12-18). We want to publish works of the spooky, the dark, the peculiar, the strange, the magical. give us romance, horror, mystery, adventure. any and all genres are accepted. We want all of it. Submitting Email your submission to [email protected]. Include the name of the submission call, the title of your work, and your name or pen name in the subject line (example: ISSUE FOUR: RESOLUTIONS: TITLE - AUTHOR NAME). In the body of your email, give us a short premise for your piece in no more than three words (example: YA | ROMANCE | DEATH), the word count of your piece (if a short story or flash fiction) and a short bio no more than 150 words about yourself. Please ensure that you put the audience (middle grade or young adult) in your submission email so that we can properly sort it when responding and deciding! IMPORTANT: submit the work itself as an attachment, do not...

Deadline: February 21st, 2023 Payment: 6 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Speculative Fiction, details below NOW READING FOR ISSUE #17 SUBMISSIONS CLOSE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST Planet Scumm accepts submissions from writers across the world. (Our HQ is a roving meteor-sized space station—Earth’s borders mean nothing to us. We want to hear from writers of every race, nationality, and gender identity. WHAT TO SUBMIT Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream Basically anything that pleases Scummy, our megaphone-toting slime buddy, will be considered for entry to the interstellar archive aboard Scummy’s saucer HOW TO SUBMIT Include submissions as a .doc or .docx attachment to [email protected] along with a brief cover letter in the email body. Please attach only your story (no images, do not put your story in the body text of the email). Stories, or collections of flash fiction, should be no more than 5,000 words in length, and submitted in standard manuscript format. Submit only one previously unpublished short story or flash collection. We do not accept multiple submissions from the same author in one reading period. Simultaneous submissions are okay, as long as you promptly withdraw a story accepted elsewhere. SCHEDULE, RIGHTS, AND PAYMENT Accepted authors receive 6 cents a word and one contributor copy. Our publication operates in print, e-book, and audiobook. Some accepted stories will also be published on our website. We purchase exclusive English language print, audio, and electronic publishing rights for six months, with non-exclusive rights thereafter. Authors will receive payment within 3 months of signing their contract. Via: Planet Scumm.

Deadline: February 25th, 2023 Payment: $20 for every story published Theme: Art, speculative fiction, and non-fiction from artists and writers from Africa and the African Diaspora. Submission to Omenana Magazine is open until February 25 2023. Please send us your speculative fiction! WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: We want art, fiction, and non-fiction from artists and writers from Africa and the African Diaspora. If you are unsure whether that includes you, please read this definition by the African Speculative Fiction Society about who is African for clarity. Fiction and art must be speculative (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror or Magical Realism) and must involve characters, settings or themes directly related to the African continent. All stories and art must be in English (translations welcome), must be original works (no fan fiction, sorry), and previously unpublished. We are very much interested in works that explore alternative futures for Africa and people of African descent. We would also like to see explorations of the past as well as new interpretations of myths, folklore and magic. Above all, we are looking for original ideas and excellent writing. Non-fiction can be essays or reviews but must deal with our interest in African speculative fiction. We do not accept poetry, drama or film scripts. We no longer accept simultaneous submissions. OUR REQUIREMENTS: All work must be submitted by e-mail to [email protected] as a single attachment in one of the following file formats: .doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt. Include a cover letter in the body of your e-mail providing your contact details (name – not the pseudonym you write under – address, email and phone number), a brief publication history, a bio of no more than 100 words and a profile photo. Both fiction and non-fiction should please follow this Standard Manuscript Format. Short fiction should be no more than 5,000 words. Creative non-fiction and essays should be no more than 3,000 words. Flash fiction pieces...

Deadline: February 27th, 2023 Payment: $0.01 CAD per word Theme: Thrillers, that can have horror, see details below for full guidelines Engen Books Ltd. and Quadrangle are proud to be teaming up again after the positive reception to 'Acceptance: Stories at the Centre of Us!' Over the last six years, the Engen's has become one of the preeminent publishers of fiction anthologies in Atlantic Canada. We have been home to some amazing established talent and helped some new authors break through that have gone on to dominate their fields, becoming bestsellers in their own genres. The From the Rock series is going strong, and we're happy that our Quadrangle partnership is growing as well! Quadrangle’s mission is to create a community centre for 2SLGBTQAI+ individuals and organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador, a space that is a resource for building community resilience and connection, and that provides supports for existing initiatives of our 2SLGBTQAI+ community. As a registered charity, both working toward having a community centre, and taking up projects like this one contribute to Quad’s vision of contributing to sustainable, positive, community connections. All profits from this collection will go towards that goal. We are currently accepting submissions for the second anthology in our partnership series with Quadrangle. This collection will feature strong fiction by and about members of the 2SLBGTQIA+ community. We decided to pick a different genre and group under the 2SLGBTQIA+ banner with each collection to focus on, and to choose each pairing at random! The dice decided upon BISEXUAL THRILLER for this year's combination! ​ When is the deadline? February 27th, 2023. Expected for publication in Fall of 2023 What is a Thriller? It's a very broad term for a genre that gets your blood pumping, and is largely action-oriented. Action movies fall under thriller, as...

Submission Window: February 1st - 28th, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: New stories: $50 for 2.5-5k words, $75 for 5-10K words; $100 for 10-15K; Reprints accepted at half the new story rate Theme: Near future hopepunk Note: Reprints Welcome Open for Submissions: November 1st 2022 – February 28th, 2023 Story Length: 2.5-15K Genre: Near future hopepunk Characters: All welcomed. Diversity (race, sexuality, gender, ability) welcomed Payment: One-time flat fee. New stories: $50 for 2.5-5k words, $75 for 5-10K words; $100 for 10-15K; Reprints accepted at half the new story rate Include: Word file (.doc or .docx, see below), short submission letter with story title, word count, problem addressed in the story, solution/adaptation, and if this is a reprint. Submit to: Editor J. Scott Coatsworth, [email protected] Other Submission Notes: One story per author, please, no simultaneous submissions. Submit Your Story The way we do things now as a society is unsustainable. Garbage is piling up in our landfills and oceans, income inequality is getting worse, and our governments are often paralyzed when it comes to seeking solutions. For the third anthology in the Writers Save the World series, “Transform the World,” we’re focusing on new ways of living and of structuring societies. Stories should be near future (in the next 100 years or so) science fiction with a hopeful tone. Stories do not need to be hard sci fi, but the chosen solution/adaptation should be plausible, given what we know about human nature and society today. That said, we have accepted a few whimsical stories that tickled our fancy in the past. Diversity (race, gender, orientation, ability, mental spectrum etc) encouraged. Submit Your Story Examples: A new colony on Mars is run entirely on a barter/exchange system, with expansion credits for hard work that allow the recipients to start sub colonies of their own. A new city is built on the ocean, where people live in a sustainable way with...

Submission Window: February 1st - 28th, 2023 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: $100 and a contributors copy Theme: Anything story 'from that future' that includes bitcoin Konsensus Network is accepting story submissions for the world’s first bitcoin short-fiction anthology, 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain The book will contain 21 short fiction stories from various authors, one of whom could be you! We want to present a broad spectrum of possible worlds all told through the lens of bitcoin. Stories must be fiction and must feature bitcoin in a meaningful way. The book will feature work from some of the most prominent voices in the bitcoin community in addition to emerging short-fiction authors. Primarily, our editors are looking for gripping, human-interest stories with emotional impact. They want strong characters, high stakes, and moments of epiphany and change. The idea is not to predict the future of bitcoin, but to expose the situations it may uncover. We are keen to publish a variety of visions, not just sci-fi dystopias and stories of crime and fraud. Send your story Writers should submit stories between 1,500-3,000 words before the deadline of 28th February 2023. If selected as one of the 21 stories to feature, authors will receive $100 in exchange for Global, unlimited publishing rights.* Yes, you can get paid in sats. You will also naturally get a copy of the book, fresh off the press. Please send submissions in English as a document (odt or doc preferred) to [email protected] along with a 50-word author biography. We only accept one submission per author, so please send us the best one! The small print We don’t want to limit your creativity, but there are some important guidelines that all submissions must follow. Submissions should not feature any other kinds of “blockchain technology”, “Web3” platforms, “cryptocurrencies” or “NFTs”. The accuracy of bitcoin terminology, ethos and technology...

Submission Window: February 1st-28th, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word, Reprints at 1 cent per word Theme: Stories that deal with death and what comes from death (see below) The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for fiction that concerns itself with death—but also everything death may involve. A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified. Burials in troubled lands. A raised scythe against a clouded sky. Memento mori. The rivers of the dead. The sprawling underworlds beneath our feet. The Deadlands would love to see stories from a worldwide perspective, different cultures, different approaches to death. We welcome stories from everyone, everywhere. We are particularly interested in works by writers from historically marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds. Stories that feature characters impacted by someone passing away and processing the event of death are fair game, but will likely be a hard sell unless they also do something else. Stories about related subjects—zombies, demons, vampires, apocalypses, and the various undead—are not for us. An apocalypse may be your setting, but it isn’t your story. We are absolutely not interested in seeing weird West stories, steampunk tales, or military fiction. We are not interested in stories involving Lovecraft’s mythos. Humor will be a harder sell than heartbreaking. If your story begins with someone waking up, it is not for us. Explore some influences we’re drawing from. The Deadlands accepts stories up to 5000 words. There is no minimum length. Stories should be original and unpublished (this includes your blog, your website, your newsletter, your Patreon). The sweet spot for length is probably around 3-4k. Please do not submit reprints and originals at the same time....

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: €20 Theme: horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica that grapple with the topic of Endings Note: Reprints Welcome Submissions are open from February 01-28 2023 for TOWER VOL. 1: END. We accept all genres and encourage submissions of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica. For VOL. 1: END we’re looking for work that grapples with endings, death, dissolution and finality; sudden, brutal endings; torturously slow breakdowns; how do things come to an end and who gets to decide? Some inspirations: The desperation for an ending to the tortures of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s No End Will Be Found The cyclical violence in “Herbert White” by Frank Bidart The clash between audience and artist’s expectations of an ending in ABC’s LOST The desperate battle against a prophesied ending in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth The incomprehensible disappearance and abrupt end of an internet friendship in Lol Cuthbert’s “This journal has been deleted and purged” How we go on after the end of the world in Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt, Kentaro Miura’s Berserk and Torrey Peters’ Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones The role of geography and place in predetermining a life as in Cherie Priest’s Those Who Went Remain There Still The endless scroll of Tiktok PAYMENT Payment is €20 per contributor paid via PayPal or Revolut. Co-authored pieces count as one contributor. Issues will be hosted at readtower.itch.io and available for PWYC down to free. REPRINTS We are open to reprints and encourage submissions of self-published materials (EG. an illustration or comic posted to Twitter, a short story published on itch.io). SIMULTANEOUS / MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS We’re totally fine with simultaneous submissions, just email us withdrawing your piece if it’s accepted elsewhere. Please only submit once per category, making a different submission for each category. We encourage submissions of related works (EG. a story and accompanying illustration). FORMATTING We love pieces with unusual formats, specific layouts or mixed media, for example, “The Pipeline” by...

Deadline: February 28th 2022 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Beyond the Veil NOTE: The magazine also runs a monthly contest with a $3000 prize, though the contest is only open to members who pay the $10/month fee How do you feel as you lift the wedding veil? As you lay the burial shroud? When you stand at life’s final doorway, will you look back and say you tried to reveal truth, or to conceal it? Veils obscure what’s right in front of our eyes. The great wizard is only a man behind the curtain. It’s smoke and mirrors—and there’s always another secret. Try to read between the lines and glean the truth wrapped in lies. Disguises, double-meanings, and false trails. Even the sun hides behind the moon. Be wary of peering too closely at the darkness, where unseen creatures shift in the night. But light blinds as easily as shadows, so hold your lantern high and hope the lighthouse pierces the fog. Still, veils keep us safe. Sane. Just ask anyone who’s glimpsed the future and seen their death. Is reality that brittle? But hush now, the masked performers are waiting backstage. The curtain rises, our story begins. 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. You can always write in any genre. This month’s prompt can be viewed...

Submission Window: January 31st - February 28th, 2023 Payment: Negotiated; expect a royalty, potentially an advance. Theme: All forms of speculative fiction Weird Little Worlds Press is pleased to announce that we will be opening to unsolicited submissions starting January 31, 2023. Our press is focused on speculative genre fiction that includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and adventure. We are also looking to publish nonfiction adventure novels that include true stories of survival, high-stakes or dangerous careers, or incredible events featuring real-life heroes. The press was started in 2020 by Michael Cluff and Willow Dawn Becker. Even though Michael had to step away from the company in 2021 because of time constraints, Willow has continued to lead the company to ever-expanding heights. The press’s first anthology, Humans are the Problem: A Monster’s Anthology, was recently featured in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 14, and Gemma Files’ story “Poor Butcher Bird,” was included. In 2021, WLW Press released Mother: Tales of Love and Terror, an anthology of horror that is eligible for Bram Stoker Award® consideration, as well as Leto’s Children, a science fiction horror novel. WLW Press has a goal to publish at least four full-length novels in 2023. The open submissions period, which will last until midnight on February 28th, will give authors of all experience levels the same opportunity for having their work read. The WLW Press submission process is an anonymous process, so talent, execution, and concept becomes the focus of our reading, not the author’s name or following. LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE. SHARE YOUR STORY. There is nothing as powerful and awesome as a great story told well. We are looking for the most exciting, fantastic, and awe-inspiring tales to add to our publishing library. If you have something wonderful that illuminates, surprises, and scares us, we want...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: 3¢ per word for fiction, 25 cents per line for poetry Theme: Outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror that takes a look at a world where everything is automated and a labor force no longer exists Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend – Call for Submissions and Guidelines Beginning December 1, 2022, the annual Triangulation anthology will accept submissions for its 20th collection in the series, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Automation simplifies our lives, to the point where a production facility is so automated it makes no sense wasting energy to run lights. These “dark factories” are currently present in the auto industry, the electronics industry, and even the robotics industry itself. What does the world look like when jobs are automated to the point that the labor force is non-existent? We’re looking for outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror—from both new and established writers. Editors: Storm Walden, Co-editor, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Greg Clumpner, Co-editor, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Humanity craves efficiency, subconsciously forming habits to make each portion of our day more comfortable, allowing us the time and ability to expand our horizons. From Neanderthals learning migration patterns for hunting food to coding scripts to streamline processes to the dream of roads filled with fully autonomous vehicles, we push boundaries to make our lives easier. What happens when our lives become as easy as they can be? What are the sustainability implications? How does excess free time affect our social structure? What personal habits develop when we’ve already made our work lives as efficient as possible? Are we going to rise above working long hours in drudgery? Will a seven-day weekend be hopeful, lightening the communal load for all to experience joy and freedom every day? What is the cost of that freedom? Will automation take over...

Submission Window: February 15th - 28th, 2023 Payment: $0.05 per word for fiction, $50 per poem Theme: Symmetry As of November 2022, we are no longer accept submissions via email, we’re now using Moksha to manage submissions. Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread. Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year. We publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October. We also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme. Read our submission guidelines and submit your work through our Moksha portal. Payment Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.05 per word, minimum of $50.00 dollars for short stories and a flat fee of $50 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year. Equity Initiative As Apparition Lit works to create a more equitable publishing community, we recognize that our open submission period is concurrent with some other really great literary magazines where marginalized writers also like to submit. Voices should be heard and we want to help increase that opportunity. Our submission window will remain open for an additional week each quarter for writers who identify as BIPOC and self-identify in their cover letter.  We will also accept simultaneous submissions from writers who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+. Please just note how you identify in your cover letter, that it is a simultaneous submission, and see further details in the menu below on how to submit for each category. Past Contributors Once you are published by Apparition Lit, you join our tiny but mighty...

Submission Window: January 1st - February 28th, 20-23 Payment: 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $50 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We purchase book reviews for $50. We purchase art for $80. Theme: Science Fiction and fantasy Reading past issues is the best way to know if your submission is a good fit for NewMyths.com. We like to balance each quarterly issue between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works. Our readers are not fixated on a single style or tone or genre, but prefer a quality sample of the field. Think tapas or dim sum. Submission Period New Myths considers submissions between January 1-February 28 and June 1-July 31. Artwork, requests for book reviews, and other correspondence can be submitted at any time. Payment Payment is upon publication. NewMyths.com currently pays 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $50 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We purchase book reviews for $50. We purchase art for $80. Rights NewMyths.com acquires first publication rights only (we are not interested in stories that have already been published elsewhere). Authors retain their copyright on all works after first publication on the NewMyths.com website. By submitting content to NewMyths.com you agree that, should the content be accepted, you grant NewMyths.com a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right and license to digitally archive and display the content (aka Digital Archive Rights). In the case that we later desire to include your content in any other format (e.g. print, anthology, etc.), those rights will be separately negotiated at that time. Simultaneous Submissions: No problem. We ask that you please indicate in your submission that your story is a simultaneous submission, and notify us as soon as possible...

Submission Window: January 17th - February 28th, 2023 Payment: $10 Theme: Dark genre-bending works in the realms of horror, sci-fi, the weird, the macabre, fantasy, and magical realism. WHAT WE LOOK FOR: We are most interested in dark genre-bending works in the realms of horror, sci-fi, the weird, the macabre, fantasy, and magical realism. We want stories that grab us by the throat and ask questions about what it means to be human. Make us feel something long after we are done reading. The Editor is particularly fond of stories in the vein of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Creep Show. When it comes to literary inspiration, think of Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, and Mary Shelley. The Editor also enjoys almost anything produced by A24. Think of Pyre as a bonfire — a place of storytelling and sacrifice. Take a seat near the fire and listen or spin a yarn of your own. Here at Pyre, we worship at the altar of storytelling done well. We love genre work that tells us something about the human condition. Pyre is personally funded and maintained by the Editor. he asks you are patient with him as he gets back to submissions. PYRE WILL CONSIDER MATERIAL BY ANY WRITER AND ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN AMPLIFYING UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES.  SUBMISSION PERIODS: Pyre Magazine is a biannual publication. Issues are released Spring/Summer & Fall/Winter. Our submission periods are as follows: SUMMER/SPRING ISSUE (CURRENT ISSUE) SUBMISSIONS OPEN: JAN 17 - FEB 28 ISSUE RELEASE: APRIL WINTER/FALL ISSUE SUBMISSIONS OPEN: AUG 17 - SEP 18 ISSUE RELEASE: NOV 16 FICTION GUIDELINES:  Submissions of fiction should be no longer than 3,500 words Please submit only one piece per submission period. Send submissions as attachments to: [email protected] with the subject line: fiction submission_yourname. Please include your name (or pen name), the title of the story,...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: $5 Theme: Burn This F*cker Down 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. Issues are themed; however, we consider all interpretations. "~ Burn This F*cker Down - Feb. 28 - What needs to be destroyed? Why? Send us your destructive works that hope to bring in the new and build something better." 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!) We Want: Works with fantastical elements: scary, happy, creepy, heartbreaking, bizarre, hilarious, whatever. While you can see our “Loves” lower on the page, we’re pretty open to anything that’s worth picking up. We (Probably) Won’t: Pick up works not tied to or containing fantastical elements. It’s kinda our thing. (However, some themes may lean more heavily on a specific genre or reality. Interpret accordingly.) Where to Tread Lightly: We’re pretty open-minded and okay with just about anything, but there better be a reason for it to be in the work. The darker, more explicit you go, the more we’ll really need to see its necessity to the work. We don’t want shock / horror / violence for its own sake. Definitely Will Not Publish: Any work that is hateful towards any race, creed, religion, gender, or identity. This aims to be an inclusive space. Other Good Things to Know Your work must be ORIGINAL. Excluding...

Submission Window: January 1st, 2023 to February 28th, 2023 Payment: Contributors copy and $20 USD for original stories and $5 for reprints Theme: Folk Horror, Psychological Horror, Gothic Horror, Weird Fiction / Lovecraftian, Post-Apocalyptic Note: Reprints Welcome Our next submissions window will be for "The Black Beacon Book of Horror". The submissions window will be from the 1st of January to the 28th of February, 2023. Patreon patrons are invited to submit effective immediately.   Oh, the horror! But what kind of horror do we want? We want your very best horror stories in keeping with the themes and styles that make Black Beacon Books stand out from the pack. If you don't know what that means, you probably haven't read any of our previous titles...we strongly suggest you do so. In short, our passion is for great plots, evocative settings, suspense and atmosphere, and clever twists. We want that creeping feeling of unease that grows to a spine-chilling climax. In terms of horror subgenres, these are what are most likely to tickle our fancies: - Folk Horror (Black Beacon Books is based in Brittany and your editor loves all things Celtic and mystical, so folk horror from all around the world is likely to attract his attention) - Psychological Horror (We are the monsters)   - Gothic Horror (Can you channel Shelley, Poe, Stoker, Gaskell or Le Fanu?) - Weird Fiction / Lovecraftian (But it had better be original) - Post-Apocalyptic (Make us fear the future)   We regularly post news on our Facebook page. You can also get a feel for what we like by buying our previously published titles. Publishing quality fiction is an expensive passion, so the more we sell, the more we can publish. It's that simple. Our cherished Patreon patrons also provide us with the means to keep producing quality books. # Rates: We...

Submission Window: February 1st, 2023 - February 28th, 2023. Payment: $0.03 per word Theme: Story that takes place at the beginning of the apocalypse in a short period of time, see below for specifics At the moment the earth ended, a little over eight billion human souls clung to its surface. That’s eight billion stories. Nobody knows how many remain. But if you’re reading this, you are one of them. Good job! We want that story. It doesn’t matter how this thing started, what caused it, or where it came from. That’s not what we’re after. We want the experiences, the points of view, the wild, weird, disgusting, disturbing, beautiful, heartbreaking things that happened at the very beginning of the end of the world. Guidelines: This is an open submission call for a fiction anthology. Open call submission window open February 1, 2023 - February 28, 2023. Extended submission window exclusively for writers from marginalized communities March 1, 2023 - March 7, 2023. The anthology will be a mix of solicited stories and stories selected from the open call submission period. What are we looking for? Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 1500 and 4000 words (firm limit) that deal with a fictional apocalypse. The story must take place within a short period of time (less than a day) at the beginning of a fictional apocalypse. The story shouldn’t be the inception point or the origin of the apocalyptic event. It shouldn’t even be about the event itself. Rather, it should be about when it all started for the POV character(s). Make it personal. Make it weird. Make it disturbing. Make it beautiful. We’re gonna get a lot of zombies, so points for originality. This anthology is open to all writers, but we strongly encourage writers from the LGBTQIA+, BIPOC,...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalty split on 2000-7000 word stories, half split for flash fiction under that Theme: Spoopy (spooky but mostly fun) stories you can share with grandma and the kids We are looking for spoopy (spooky but mostly fun) stories you can share with grandma and the kids. (Doesn’t have to be Halloween themed, but the Halloween holiday is the general aim of this anthology.) Submissions open now until March 1st, 2023. Anthology expected to be published in or around October, 2023. **If you don’t have the patience to wait a year for your story to be published, DON’T SUBMIT.** **If you are not willing to obtain a Draft2Digital account in order to receive royalty shares as payment, then DON’T SUBMIT.** For this anthology, please no horror or anything more than kissing or implied sex. Please keep content and language limited to the equivalent of a “PG” rated movie. We want to be able to share this with our mothers and children. There are no genre restrictions on this anthology, as long as the story fits the theme. Please remember, Knight Writing Press will not accept a story that glorifies, supports, encourages, or gratuitously includes hate, hate crimes, rape, sex, sex crimes, or any other forms of inhumanity. Please make sure you read and follow all submission guidelines and look over the sample contract before you submit. The sample contract will not exactly match what you will receive, should your story be accepted, but it will give you a good idea of what to expect. In the text of your query letter, include confirmation that you understand we are using Draft2Digital and that you must have an account there in order to receive royalties for your story. Failure to do this may result in an immediate rejection for failing to follow submission...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 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: March 1st, 2023 Prizes: $50 to the and $10 to honorable mentions Theme: Poetry with a theme of: Seasick the theme for this year's contest is seasick. with global greenhouse gas emissions climbing, we want poetry that examines the way human activity is affecting the ocean. we want your drowning islands, your melting glaciers, your bleached coral. we want your hurricanes, your flooding, your erosion. we want your seasick. ​ contest submissions will remain open from november 1 to march 1. winners will receive a $50 prize and publication. honorable mentions will also be published and receive a $10 prize. all decisions will be announced in early april and made by our editing staff. to get a feel for what we publish, we'd encourage you to scroll through our archives. do beware that our publishing software doesn't handle formatting very well, so think twice before you submit a work heavily dependent on visual presentation. for an example of what the display would look like, we'd encourage you to look at the page of "ghost ship" by charlotte oliver. (thetiderises.org/read/ghost-ship) reprints are welcome, as long as you own the right to do so. simultaneous submissions are allowed as well, and if you need to withdraw your piece for any reason, please email us immediately. there is no entry fee, but we accept a maximum of three submissions per poet. you can always submit any of your other ocean poems to the regular literary magazine as you wait to hear back from us. ​ if you do not receive a response from us by april 20, please notify us via email: [email protected] Submission link is at the bottom fo the page:   submitters should know... we will not publish hate speech of any kind, and we reserve the right to rescind an acceptance if we...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalties Theme: Dark, scary, terrible Halloween stories We want your dark, scary, terrible Halloween stories guaranteed to make the reader afraid to answer the door because those just might not be Trick-or Treaters giggling out there… (Doesn’t have to be Halloween themed, but the Halloween holiday is the general aim of this anthology.) Submissions open now until March 1st, 2023. Anthology expected to be published in or around October, 2023. **If you don’t have the patience to wait a year for your story to be published, DON’T SUBMIT.** **If you are not willing to obtain a Draft2Digital account in order to receive royalty shares as payment, then DON’T SUBMIT.** For this anthology, please no “extreme” horror or “graphic” sex. Please keep content and language limited to the equivalent of a “PG-13” rated movie. While we do want this to be a horror anthology, we are not interested in the extremes of the genre. We are interested in thrills and chills horror not shock value/gross out horror. Please remember, Knight Writing Press will not accept a story that glorifies, supports, encourages, or gratuitously includes hate, hate crimes, rape, sex, sex crimes, or any other forms of inhumanity. Please make sure you read and follow all submission guidelines and look over the sample contract before you submit. The sample contract will not exactly match what you will receive should your story be accepted, but it will give you a good idea of what to expect. In the text of your query letter, include confirmation that you understand we are using Draft2Digital and that you must have an account there in order to receive royalties for your story. Failure to do this may result in an immediate rejection for failing to follow submission guidelines. No reprints. (The reason for this is explained on...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: £100 per article, interview or short story and £50 for poetry and rituals Theme: The Vampire We are open to non-fiction pitches and short fiction and poetry submissions for issue 6 until 1 March 2023. The theme is THE VAMPIRE. “Vampires are so nearly human that they are excellent to think with.” –Professor Nick Groom, author of The Vampire: A New History Vampires charm and terrify us. We fear them, envy them, and pity them, eternal witnesses to the passage of time, conquerors of impermanence, and creatures of the night. The vampire is a symbol of the shadow side, of the old world meeting modernity, and of the 19th-century preoccupation with mesmerism and blood; the vampire eludes, too, to the pitfalls of aestheticism, for behind this creature’s seductive glamour lies a ruthless – often narcissistic and nihilistic – consumer. Of course, the vampire also has roots in older, Eastern European folk beliefs, such as the Romanian strigoi – which had much in common with the witch of the witch trials – and this supernatural being converges with many other cultural beliefs around the undead. The modern vampire continues to haunt our collective imagination, from Count Dracula and Carmilla to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and True Blood, exposing our basest impulses and thoughts, and forcing us to confront the personal and collective shadow. Why does this monster appear to us in dreams and sleep paralysis? Why are we scared of – and fascinated by – the liminal space between life and death? What even is death? What is it to live forever? And what does the vampire’s infinite quest for blood tell us of our own lives? Are we, too, a little vampiric? How can we fend off the vampires exterior and interior to ourselves? We...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: short story, $25; short-short piece (up to 1000 words), $10; poem, $10, artwork, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display. Theme: Help from a Stranger 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...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: 5 contributors' copies and $30 Theme: Horror that includes Vampires, Werewolves, or Both Campfire Publishing is excited to announce that we are currently accepting submisisons for “After Dark” Volume One, our first collection of horror stories! Please read below to ensure that your story will be a good fit, and feel free to reach out to us–via the form located on our main page or by sending an email to [email protected]–if you have any questions. “After Dark” Volume One is the first volume in a horror collection dedicated to vampires and werewolves. Campfire Publishing aspires to publish multiple volumes in the “After Dark” collection along with collections specific to a variety of themes in the horror genre. What are we looking for? We are looking for WELL-EDITED stories in the range of 20,000-35,000 words that insert themselves in the world of vampires, werewolves, or BOTH! Campfire Publishing is keeping its eye out for a wide range of chilling voices that offer unique perspectives into these spooky characters. We want twists and turns, thrills and chills; make us want to sleep with the lights turned on at night. Show us excitement, culture, and blood-curdling screams! What are we NOT looking for? We don’t want works that promote hate speech; and while a romantic note or two is fine and dandy in our humble opinions, we are not looking to publish erotica. Last but absolutely not least, check your glittery creatures at the door. We don’t want vampires who sparkle and shine or werewolves that get all up in their feels about fluffy bunnies. General Submission Guidelines: Genre: Horror Characters: Vampires, Werewolves, Both Word Count: 20,000-35,000 words Submission File Format: Please Label Your Files “After_Dark” “last name” (example: After_Dark_Smith) Formatting: 12-point font, Arial, Courier (New), Times New Roman File Type: .doc .docx .pdf **.txt files...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: $.08 per word Theme: Halloween Kangas Kahn Publishing is seeking unpublished Halloween short stories for an upcoming anthology to be released in September of 2023. We're looking to put together the best Halloween anthology in existence, and that's a tall order because there are a lot of great ones out there. That's why we've hired one of the best to edit it: Kenneth W. Cain. This is an open-themed anthology, but Halloween must be central to the story. Length: 2,000-5,000 words. Make them seep with the Halloween spirit, no matter what month we're reading it. We put out a book called Halloween: The Greatest Holiday of All, so you know we're fanatical when it comes to All Hallows' Eve. We will accept up to three submissions per author. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please let us know if it’s sold elsewhere. If a story is accepted or rejected, notification will be within sixty days of submission. If it's in consideration then it could be as late as April 1st, 2023. Please attach your story and email it to [email protected] with the subject "Halloween Anthology Submission". In the body of the email, please give us a short bio with credits, if any. Not having credits doesn't mean anything to us; the story is what counts. Make sure your story is in proper format(Shunn)--you can find details here: https://www.shunn.net/format/ We're buying global first print and digital publication rights for one year exclusively from the date of print(Sept 2023). After that, all rights revert to the author, and we maintain non-exclusive rights to keep the book in print. Note: This anthology will be approximately 60/40 invitation/open-submission. We expect to have some big names in this anthology, so competition will be fierce. Via: Kangas Kahn Publishing.

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: Fiction: 10¢/word USD, Poetry: $50 per poem, Non-Fiction: $50 for a column, $40 for a reprinted essay, $150 for an original essay, $45 to an interviewer, and $45 to an interviewee, $20 to a roundtable moderator, and $20 to each other contributor Theme: Stories that fit in wuxia and xianxia fiction Imagine yourself as a sword fighter, a vigilante hero and upholder of justice. Imagine you are a xia in the world of jianghu—whether a solitary traveller on a mission, an outlaw on the run, or a member of a powerful sect or dying clan. Or imagine you are a Daoist cultivator, soaring across the sky atop swords and clouds, with a story that stretches across realms and even lifetimes. Welcome to the Wuxia & Xianxia Special, fellow walkers of the jianghu. Many of us have become fans of wuxia and xianxia fiction ever since we first encountered eminent wuxia and xianxia authors like Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Huan Zhu Lou Zhu. Others among us fell in love with these genres through films from the Shaw Brothers Studio, Pili puppet shows, drama adaptations, RPGs, manhua, and other kinds of popular media. Over the past decade, there has also been a new and revived interest in the xianxia genre with the rise of web novels, and more recently, through the lens of danmei, as shown by the popularity of dramas like The Untamed. For this special issue, we are interested in: Traditional and new approaches to wuxia and xianxia fiction Stories full of action, conflict, drama, and intrigue Rich, diverse, colourful, and nuanced worldbuilding, whether featuring the jianghu, a xianxia world, the imperial court, or other kinds of setting Unique approaches to classic wuxia themes like honour, free love, good versus evil, and individual choice versus...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalties through Draft2Digital Theme: Winter Holiday stories of warmth, good cheer, love, and miracles We are looking for Winter Holiday stories of warmth, good cheer, love, and miracles. Please no “dark” stories for this anthology. (Send your darker winter or holiday stories to Particular Passages: Closed For The Season.) Submissions open now until March 1st, 2023. Anthology expected to be published in or around December, 2023. **If you don’t have the patience to wait a year for your story to be published, DON’T SUBMIT.** * *If you are not willing to obtain a Draft2Digital account in order to receive royalty shares as payment, then DON’T SUBMIT.** For this anthology, please no horror or anything more than kissing or implied sex. Please keep content and language limited to the equivalent of a “PG” rated movie. We want to be able to share this with our mothers and children. There are no genre restrictions on this anthology, as long as the story fits the theme. Please remember, Knight Writing Press will not accept a story that glorifies, supports, encourages, or gratuitously includes hate, hate crimes, rape, sex, sex crimes, or any other forms of inhumanity. Please make sure you read and follow all submission guidelines and look over the sample contract before you submit. The sample contract will not exactly match what you will receive, should your story be accepted, but it will give you a good idea of what to expect. In the text of your query letter, include confirmation that you understand we are using Draft2Digital and that you must have an account there in order to receive royalties for your story. Failure to do this may result in an immediate rejection for failing to follow submission guidelines. No reprints. (The reason for this is explained on the Upcoming and Open...

Deadline: March 1st, 2023 Payment: Royalties Theme: PG-13, stories of long winter nights, pale winter suns, and people with cold hands and colder hearts. The winter can be long, cold, and hard. Even the holidays can be terrible. Send us your stories of long winter nights, pale winter suns, and people with cold hands and colder hearts. Submissions open now until March 1st, 2023. Anthology expected to be published in or around January, 2024. **If you don’t have the patience to wait a year for your story to be published, DON’T SUBMIT.** **If you are not willing to obtain a Draft2Digital account in order to receive royalty shares as payment, then DON’T SUBMIT.** For this anthology, please no extreme horror or graphic sex. Though we want dark stories and even horror,  we are not interested in the extremes of the genre. Please keep content and language limited to the equivalent of a “PG-13” rated movie. There are no genre restrictions on this anthology, as long as the story fits the theme. Please remember, Knight Writing Press will not accept a story that glorifies, supports, encourages, or gratuitously includes hate, hate crimes, rape, sex, sex crimes, or any other forms of inhumanity. Please make sure you read and follow all submission guidelines and look over the sample contract before you submit. The sample contract will not exactly match what you will receive, should your story be accepted, but it will give you a good idea of what to expect. In the text of your query letter, include confirmation that you understand we are using Draft2Digital and that you must have an account there in order to receive royalties for your story. Failure to do this may result in an immediate rejection for failing to follow submission guidelines. No reprints. (The reason for this is explained on...

Submission Window: March 1st - 3rd, 2023 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,...