Events

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

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

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

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

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