Taking Submissions: Good Southern Witches

Deadline: February 28, 2021
Payment: $25 and a contributors copy
Theme: Stories about witches that take place in the Southern United States

Good Southern Witches

Curious Blue Press is a new independent publisher of fantasy and horror fiction and occult nonfiction. Curious Blue Press’s first open submission call is for its Good Southern Witches short story anthology.

Your story should be a complete and satisfying tale of magic. Light, dark, humorous, serious, all okay, just nothing too experimental, sexy, or violent. The story should take place in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, or West Virginia, OR at least prominently feature a character or characters from one of these settings. Avoid the explained supernatural: If Velma pulls off the villain’s rubber mask, there should be a real witch beneath it.

If your witch isn’t good, make sure your witch is good at it.

You and your characters may be of any race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender expression. To avoid cultural appropriation, you are encouraged to write from your own culture.

2K to 5K words. A little over, a little under is fine. Stories due February 28, 2021. New stories only, no reprints.

Payment is $25/story (upon acceptance) plus a physical copy of the anthology. The author will, of course, retain the copyright, but Curious Blue Press will require exclusivity of six months after publication date. Author will be required to sign an agreement granting Curious Blue Press the right to include story in the Good Southern Witches anthology and guaranteeing the story has not been published previously.

A word for anyone who hasn’t experienced the editing process: If your story is selected—unless you’re the reincarnation of Shirley Jackson—you will receive suggested edits via Word’s “Track Changes” function. You may reject the edits, but, if the edit is deemed essential, doing so may result in the story being cut from the collection.

Rejection sucks. I have garnered over 250 rejections myself. If your story is not chosen, you will receive a totally lame, impersonal message saying so. That doesn’t mean your story is bad. It only means it isn’t a good fit for the anthology. Please don’t hate me or send a nasty reply. Put that energy into submitting elsewhere.

If you are interested in participating, please send your submission as a Word attachment to [email protected]. Please include your name and the name of the story in the subject line. Please follow the Shunn guide for classic manuscript formatting: https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/.

Via: Curious Blue Press.