Submission Window: March 1st – April 30th, 2024
Payment: $0.03/word
Theme: Strong, character-driven stories where your main characters struggle in some way with their ghosts—or the ghosts of others—against truths being either suppressed or exposed
Note: Open to those who identify as LGBTQ+

Will be open for short story submissions on March 1, 2024. Do not submit early!

The second of three charity anthologies loosely related to military life/service.

Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winning Editor, Vince A. Liaguno and TSP Editor-in-Chief, Sirrah Medeiros

Theme: “Truths can be hidden, pushed down, and repressed, from those around us. But the ghosts—of our past, our present, and our future—know our most intimate truths. We cannot hide from our ghosts. For Don’t Ask, Ghosts Tell, we’re looking for strong, character-driven stories where your main characters struggle in some way with their ghosts—or the ghosts of others—against truths being either suppressed or exposed. In these stories, the outcomes can be varied—truths remain hidden, or truths exposed—to whatever consequence(s) to the main character. Will your character(s) be silenced by their ghosts? Will the truth set them free—or doom them to some horrible fate? Your latitude with this basic theme is wide and interpretation is strongly encouraged.” ~ Vince A. Liaguno

Title: Don’t Ask, Ghosts Tell

Word Count: 2-5K words for short stories. Poetry will be by invitation only.

Deadline: April 30, 2024

No reprints. Simultaneous submissions are okay. Just let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere.

Author Pay: $0.03/word (USD) for short stories with potential for increase based on Kickstarter success.

Who May Submit: Open to those who identify as LGBTQ+, especially the following individuals:

• With military service (active, retired, veterans welcome).
• Wanted to join a service organization but was denied.
• Served but forced out due to sexual orientation.
• Current or former military dependents who identify as LGBTQ+.

Military life can be difficult for those who don’t fit the norm, whether actively serving or maneuvering through military life as a child or spouse. Although this anthology is not military specific, book proceeds will go to support the Modern Military Association of America. Information about the organization is at the end of this submission call.

Include a 1-2 paragraph author biography in the body of your email. Do not include it in your submission file. **If you served, and would like to share a bit about your service branch, rank, and experience please include it in your biography.

Submission Guidelines:

Use Shunn format. Follow our submission guidelines posted on our website before submitting your work.

File Title: Story Title_Your Name_DAGT

Charity Organization: Modernmilitary.org

Modern Military Association of America is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization; EIN 52-184500

From their website: “The Modern Military Association of America (MMAA) is the nation’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to advancing fairness and equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) military and veteran community. Formed through the merger of the American Military Partner Association and OutServe-SLDN, we are making a real difference in the lives of our modern military and veteran community through education, advocacy and support.”

Warmly,

Sirrah Medeiros

Editor-in-Chief

Tundra Swan Press

General Submission Guidelines

• Submit a .docx, .doc, or .rtf file in Shunn manuscript format in Times News Roman font.
• Style scene breaks with three asterisks without spaces *** and with no additional line space above or below. Don’t get fancy.
• Please utilize the paragraph formatting feature in MS Word (or other word processor) to set your first line indents. Please do not use the TAB key or spacebar to indent (it’s a nightmare for our editors and formatters).
• If you have drafted your story in your phone’s notes app or similar app, please review and edit in a word processing program following these guidelines before submitting. **Reminder, libraries are a great resource if you do not have your own computer.
• If you have additional formatting questions, let us know.
• Cover letters should include the story title, a logline, and the word count. Also, include the story’s theme or potential theme.
• Our preference is always for new material. The exception will be if an anthology submission call specifically states reprints welcome. On the off chance that we deter from this, we will post on our website and social media platforms, as necessary.
• We’ve started a Tundra Swan Press Facebook Group. Come on by and get to know our writers, readers, and fans of dark fiction.
• Author Bios: Please include around a100-word author bio (no more than 2 paragraphs) in the body of your email (not at the end of your story submission) along with your social media and website information.
• Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome! If your sub is accepted elsewhere, please send us an email to let us know and withdraw your submission. If sending multiples, please submit only ONE SUBMISSION PER EMAIL.
• We are an inclusive publisher. Please read our inclusion statement on our website if you have not yet done so. We welcome authors with diverse backgrounds, traits, and abilities. We particularly enjoy reading submissions where the author has entwined these traits, abilities, and related characteristics into the story, adding depth to characters and settings without making the traits the focus of the story itself (unless it is integral to the plot).
• The deciding elements in acceptance or rejection will be the writing quality, adherence to genre, and overall fit with other stories selected for publication.
• Last call. If you’ve followed the Shunn manuscript format and these guidelines, we’ll be much happier reading your submission. We’ve aligned our submission guidelines to standard industry practice to the best of our ability. Deviating from the guidelines would not prove beneficial for acceptance with our publishing house.

Via: Tundra Swan Press.