Deadline: February 28th, 2020
Payment: A contributors copy and: £50 for original work, £20 for reprints.
Theme: An upcoming mass extinction.
Note: Reprints Welcome

The next Midnight Street Anthology (#4) will be published in the New Year.

The submissions window will close on 28th February 2020.

WHAT I WANT:

The world is in a mess. It seems that from a human perspective, we’re pretty well screwed. Is that TRUE? Maybe the generation that comes after ours will be able to save the planet for human habitation. Who knows? It seems that this generation has pretty well messed up everything that would ensure the long-term survival of humanity. Why is that? Greed, political imperatives, narrow- minded thinking, poverty, ignorance. There are many reasons.

It remains true that we are experiencing very strange days. There’s a mass extinction happening and it may well include our species.

What do you think? Can you come up with an original story that reflects this approaching catastrophe?

I’m looking for stories – sci-fi, horror, slipstream, weird – that reflect the strange times we are living in and that sum up the precariousness of modern existence.

WHAT I DON’T WANT:

Badly written and constructed stories. To me, spelling and grammar are important. That doesn’t mean you can’t push the boundaries, but remember that you have to know the rules before you can break them.

Slasherfests that rely on violence and cliché to propel the stories.

Poor, badly constructed characterisation whose only function is to drive the plot towards an unconvincing, or contrived conclusion.

Waffle that bears no relationship to the plot, but only serves to slow down or unnecessarily bulk out the story.

Excessive strong language that does not help to shape characters or events. If it’s necessary & appropriate: no problem.

RESEARCH:

As part of your research, read anthologies and collections I have published in the past. Go to: Midnight Street Anthologies for more information. For magazines, ‘Black Static’ is certainly worth reading.

Before submission, consider the work of writers that bring something memorable and exceptional to their work, such as:

Joel Lane

Ramsey Campbell

Stephen King (especially for character development)

Ralph Robert Moore

Nina Allan

Gary Couzens

Simon Clark

Allen Ashley

Lynda E Rucker

This is not an exhaustive list.

CONDITIONS:

The deadline is currently the end of February 2020 but may be extended if I require more submissions.

I’m looking for stories of between 2000 to 8000 words. Word limits outside of this will be considered if the work is, in my opinion, exceptional.

Please do not send simultaneous submissions. Send one story at a time.

No multiple submissions, please.

Payment for First British print and electronic anthology rights will be £50 for original, previously unpublished stories, payable upon first publication.

If you want to send me a reprint, that’s fine, but I prefer unpublished work and will give preference to these submissions. Please state when and where the story was previously published. I’ll pay £20 upon publication for the reprint rights – print and electronic.

All successful contributors will also receive a contributor’s print copy of the book.

Send as Word or RTF attachments or in the body of the e-mail to this e-mail address only:

Submissions should only be sent to the following email address:

[email protected]

Please title the submission as follows:

STRANGE DAYS SUBMISSION + story title.

No postal submissions, please.

Include name, address, e-mail address, phone number and number of words at the top of the manuscript.  

Include a short introductory message.

I will acknowledge receipt by e-mail and aim to give a decision within two weeks of the date received, or an update on the progress of your submission.

Please do not query progress until after this, if you have not heard from me.

I regret that, because of time constraints, I am unable to provide feedback to authors of stories that are not accepted, but reasons for non-acceptance could be as described above, or because stories are similar to ones I’ve already accepted, or are outside of the word limit, or have not been submitted in accordance with the above guidelines.

Upon acceptance, I will require a short biography to include and if possible, a photograph of the author to include in the anthology. Do not send these until I have confirmed acceptance.

Good luck and I look forward to reading your submissions.

Trevor Denyer

Editor & Publisher

Midnight Street Press

December 2019

Via: Midnight Street Press.