Archive for the ‘Anthology Market Listings’ Category

Anthology Markets

Friday, May 17th, 2013

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

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30 May 2013 — Glam Rock — Storm Moon Press

Expected Release: September 27, 2013
Genres: Contemporary [Romance]
Pairings: Bisexual
HEA or HFN Ending Required? Yes

Glam rock was arguably the most visually outrageous and flamboyant embodiment of rock and pop fusion in history. From the latter half of the sixties to the early seventies, individuals were unafraid to paint bright designs on their faces, strive for sexual androgyny, and enhance their performances with unapologetic theatrics.

In our Glam Rock anthology, we’re looking for short stories that depict at least one character who is a glam rock star, be it the lead singer or part of the band. They can be male or female, but we’re looking for the gender ambiguity, androgyny, and bisexuality aspects that were so indicative of this period in rock and pop. Bring on the costumes, the bright colors, and the droves of glitter-bedecked fans! We want to see your main characters lighting up the stage and weaving a tangled web in their personal lives.

If set in the historical period, we won’t dissuade writers from capitalizing on the unprotected sex, drugs, and glamor that defined the times. We are not looking for RPF (real person fiction), so no pulling real rock stars from history. Feel free to take inspiration from the real thing, but this is your chance to get original and knock our platforms off! Make your rock stars the epitome of the glam rock era: Beautiful, tragic, and all things in excess.

Authors will receive royalties as well as an initial payment of $50 for their story. This payment is not an advance and does not have to be earned out before royalties are paid. Royalties on individual e-book releases will be 50% of cover price on direct sales through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 40% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors. In addition, authors will receive the same percentage royalty on sales of the anthology e-book divided equally among the authors, as well as 25% of cover price on direct sales of the print anthology through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 20% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors, also divided equally among all authors. All royalties will be paid quarterly.

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30 May 2013 — Horror Without Victims — ed. DF Lewis, Megazanthus Press

==Horror Stories, Weird Literature, Ghost Stories, Literary Fiction.
==Each story must either subtly or directly reflect the title of the anthology.
==Stories between 2000 and 10,000 words.
==One-off payment upon publication: 1p (£0.01) per word
==Start Date for Submissions: 1 November 2012
==End Date for Submissions: 30 May 2013

Submissions (not simultaneous or multiple) as a Word attachment to dflewis48@hotmail.com. As with some earlier Megazanthus Press publications, you may submit by anonymous email and your story will be rejected or accepted before knowing who you are. Also, you may submit non-anonymously. The accepted stories will all be published with their correct by-line. [Please expect a simple acknowledgement within a few days of your submission. Otherwise please send it again.]

Stories must be previously unpublished in any form.

As with the ‘The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies’ and ‘The First Book of Classical Horror Stories’, DF Lewis will edit, publish, design, typeset and print (via Lulu) this book. It will be distributed under an ISBN system. Please at least read the reviews of previous Megazanthus Press publications to gauge the type of fiction favoured by the editor.

I may need to keep your story for the whole reading-period but may not be able eventually to accept it depending on the timing of other acceptable stories being submitted to me over the period.

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31 May 2013 — Fearful Symmetries — ed. Ellen Datlow

Renowned editor and anthologist Ellen Datlow will be editing an unthemed, all original anthology of terror and supernatural fiction for CZP, Fearful Symmetries, scheduled to be published in Spring 2014. (The project was funded through Kickstarter by your generous donations!)

Ellen says: “This is a non-theme, all original anthology of about 125,000 words of terror and supernatural horror. I’m looking for all kinds of horror, but if you’re going to use a well-worn trope, try to do something fresh with it. If you’ve read any volumes of The Best Horror of the Year, you’ll know that my taste is pretty eclectic, that I like variety, and that while I don’t mind violence, I don’t think it should be the point of a story. I don’t want vignettes but fully formed stories that are about something. I want to be creeped out.”

Payment is 7 cents/word. Up to 10,000 words, BUT Ellen would prefer stories up to 7500 words. No reprints.

A large percentage of the stories have already been solicited, but we have a small window for open submissions, from May 1 – May 31, 2013. Please send your best work.

We are using the Moksha Submissions System. You can submit here:

http://submissions.chizinepub.com/fearful-symmetries/submit/

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31 May 2013 — Unidentified Funny Objects 2 — ed. Alex Shvartzman; UFO Publishing

Unidentified Funny Objects 2 is a 2nd annual anthology of humorous SF/F. Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick, Ken Liu, Esther Friesner, Tim Pratt, and Jody Lynn Nye are contributing stories to this volume.

LENGTH: 500-6000 words.

PAYMENT: $0.05 per word + contributor copy. Payment will be made upon acceptance. Our preferred method of payment is via PayPal, but you may request a check.

FORMAT: RTF or DOC. Standard Manuscript Format or something close to it (We won’t take points off if you prefer Courier to Times New Roman or some such). Please remove your name from the manuscript as all submissions are read “blind”. Submit to: ufoeditors @ gmail dot com

WHAT WE WANT:

We’re looking for speculative stories with a strong humor element. Think Resnick and Sheckley, Fredric Brown and Douglas Adams. We welcome quality flash fiction and non-traditional narratives. Take chances, try something new, just make sure that your story is funny.

Puns and stories that are little more than vehicles for delivering a punch line at the end aren’t likely to win us over.

Most submissions we’ve received in the past are rejected because they aren’t particularly funny. For this anthology we’re looking for humor, not just lighthearted, optimistic stories. Ask yourself if your story might make the reader laugh out loud, and submit if the answer is yes.

The best way to learn what we like is to read the first volume. You can buy it here and also read the online stories for free.

LENGTH: 500-6000 words.

PAYMENT: $0.05 per word + contributor copy. Payment will be made upon acceptance. Our preferred method of payment is via PayPal, but you may request a check.

FORMAT: RTF or DOC. Standard Manuscript Format or something close to it (We won’t take points off if you prefer Courier to Times New Roman or some such). Please remove your name from the manuscript as all submissions are read “blind”.

SEND TO: E-mail submissions as an attachment to: ufoeditors @ gmail dot com

Format the subject line as follows: Submission: by (Approx. Length)

Example: Submission: You Bet by Alex Shvartsman (2000 words)

POLICIES & RESPONSE TIME: No reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions please. Do not send us any story we already considered for UFO1. We will respond to all subs within 30 days. If you don’t hear by then please check your spam folder, then query at the same e-mail address with the word QUERY in the title of the e-mail.

If your story is rejected before May 31 you may send another, but we will only consider up to two submissions per author. (To clarify, send the second ONLY after the first one is rejected). If your second submission is rejected, we will ask you to wait until next year, when we’re reading for UFO3.

SUBMISSION WINDOW: May 1, 2013 through May 31, 2013.

RIGHTS SOUGHT: First Worldwide print and electronic English Language rights. Exclusivity for 3 months from date of release. Non-exclusive rights to keep the anthology in print across different publishing platforms afterward.

[Click through for more info on the selection process, and a FAQ.]

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1 June 2013 — Dying to Live — Diabolic Publications LLC

We will be publishing an anthology of vampire fiction Dying to Live in October 2013. Submissions are being accepted until June 1, 2013, which is a change from our original date of August. We are looking for dark vampire stories; please do not send any stories about vampires that sparkle!

== All stories must be in doc. or docx, .rtf format.
== All stories must be anywhere from 2000 to 8000 words long.
== Please use 12 point font and double space your text.
== We are looking for dark Vampires, of the old fashioned kind! Erotica is acceptable as long as the vampires drink human blood, bite, kill and so forth. We are not looking for love story type vampires. Stories that will not be accepted are stories with child rape, molestation, or pedophilia.
== Allow at least 6 weeks before inquiring if your story will be included if you have not heard from us. You will receive an email if your story has been accepted.
== NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS, NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS, NO REPRINTS!

Submissions should be sent electronically as an attachment to: submissions@diabolicpublications.com

On the subject line of the email, include your name, the title of the work you are submitting, and the anthology you are submitting for “Dying to Live”.

In the body of the email, include your contact information (Real Name or official pen name, not your online name), the word count of the work you are submitting, and a brief biography. Make certain to use an email address that you have access to all the time as correspondences from us come through email only!

We only accept electronic submissions at this time.

PAY: Made by Paypal only, if you don’t have a paypal account please get one.

Fiction: US$.03/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

Reprints: US$.01/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

RIGHTS: Exclusive First World English Rights for print and First Electronic Rights for two years from date of print publication. Rights are then no longer exclusive and revert back to the author after the two year period.

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10 June 2013 — Looking Landward — NewCon Press

NewCon Press are proud to announce our first ever ‘open submission’ anthology: Looking Landwards.

The book is being produced in collaboration with the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, which celebrates its 75th Anniversary this year. To commemorate this event, we are looking for original science fiction stories that speculate on what the future might hold for agricultural engineering, farming and food production over the next century.

Ideally stories should be of 4,500 words or less, though this limit is flexible. Payment of 1p a word (or equivalent) up to a limit of £45.00 will be made for successful submissions.

The book will be published towards the end of 2013.

Stories should be presented in standard manuscript format, with italics used for italicised words (not underlining), and double inverted commas for speech. Please submit your story as an attachment (either doc or rtf) to the following email address: flashfic@newconpress.co.uk

Submissions close at midnight on June 10th 2013.

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20 June 2013 — Neverland’s Library — ed. Rebecca Lovatt and Roger Bellini

Neverland’s Library will be an anthology focusing on the rediscovery of the fantastic; magic, dragons, the supernatural, etc. We are looking for stories which highlight finding that which was once thought lost, incorporating fantastical and/or fictitious elements. We will not restrict how the story is told. All styles, settings, and tones are welcome.

We are looking for only unpublished stories. If the story has been made available for free or payment online then please do not submit it for consideration as it will be considered ineligible under our criteria. We ask that authors limit themselves to no more than 2 submissions, with no simultaneous submissions. That means when a story is submitted to us, it should not be submitted for publication consideration anywhere else.

If you have questions regarding the eligibility of your story, please send a query email before submitting the story in question and we will get back to you promptly in response to your concern.

Submission Period

(Subject to change) Submissions will be open from March 5th 2013, until June 20th, 2013. Exact dates may vary depending on volume of entries.

Payments and Rights

Upon successful completion of the Kickstarter funding campaign, authors will receive 3c/per word. If we fail to reach our goal, all submissions will remain the property of the author and Neverland’s Library will not own any rights to the stories submitted.

If the Kickstarter funding is a success and your story is selected for inclusion in the Neverland’s Library Anthology, we will email a digital copy of the contract for the authors examination. Upon agreement of terms the editor signed contract will be mailed to the story author to be signed. After the contract is returned to us and signed by all involved parties, payment will be promptly delivered via check or PayPal, at the submitters preference.

If your submission is accepted, we will be buying First Anthology Print and First Anthology eBook Rights. These are non-exclusive licenses allowing us to use your story in this anthology only. The author will retain all other print rights, allowing them to sell their story to magazines, websites, podcasts or as individual short stories, or in a collection of their own work, or even sell to another anthology, after six months have passed since the publication of Neverland’s Library.

By submitting a story, you acknowledge that you are in fact the writer and sole owner of the work in question.

DO NOT SUBMIT WORKS IF YOU DON’T OWN THEM.

Length

We are looking for stories within 2,000 – 8,000 words. We may choose to print some shorter or longer pieces, however please try to keep within this targeted range.

Formatting

Only email submissions will be accepted. Please attach all submissions using Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), Plain Text (TXT) or Open Office (ODT) formats only. Any word processor should be able to save a file as at least one of these formats.

Please have all submissions in size 12 Times New Roman font.

How to Submit (What to include)

Please send your story to neverlandslibrary@gmail.com, using the following subject line when submitting:

[NL] STORY TITLE – Your Name

In the body of your email, please include the following:

== Title
== Real name — This is the name that will go on the contract. No pseudonyms or nicknames.
== Pen name — How you want your name to appear in print. Don’t include if you would like to use your real name.
== Word count
== Email address
== Phone number
== Short Bio — This is your chance to tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing experience.

All aforementioned items are required, please do not omit any information. Biography lengths may vary, just let us know what you think we need to know.

We will not share any of your personal information with ANYONE. Contact information will only be used to tell you whether your story was accepted, and update with progress on the Kickstarter, and when (if) the book is finished. We will always attempt to contact you via email first. Phone number will only be used if we need to get in touch with you, and email doesn’t work.

If your story is accepted we will ask you to confirm all information, and you will be given the chance to write a new short biography for publication in the book.

Please send all submissions and questions to Roger and Rebecca at NeverlandsLibrary@gmail.com. We will be happy to answer all questions.

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30 June 2013 — Strange Critters: Unusual Creatures of Appalachia — ed. Frank Larnerd, Woodland Press

Format: Trade Paperback, ebook
Payment: five cents per word (upon publication) plus contributor copy.
No reprints
Story length: Up to 2500 words
No multiple or simultaneous subs
Deadline: 12:00am Saturday, June 30th, 2013
E-mail submissions to: strangecritters@hotmail.com
RTF, DOC, or DOCX attachments only.

I am looking for horror stories featuring legendary, mythical, or imaginary creatures of Appalachia. Stories based on established local lore are preferred, but exceptions may be made for exceptionally crafted creatures. I am NOT looking for stories with zombies, vampires or other popular monsters. Submitted stories can be set in any time period, but must take place in the Appalachian region.

Although the anthology is mainly targeted for adults, we DO NOT want stories containing language or content unsuitable for children. Submissions should also avoid unflattering Appalachian stereotypes.

Accepted Manuscript Formatting:
Double-spaced.
Use Times New Roman (12).
Italicize what you want italicized.
Single space after sentence-ending punctuation.
Be sure to include your name, address, and email on your manuscript.

[Click through and check the comments for some discussion of what the editor means by "Appalachia," geographically.]

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30 June 2013 — Lost Worlds — Third Flatiron Anthologies

Give us dinosaurs, planets and pyramids, paranormal, space opera….

Third Flatiron Publishing is an e-publishing venture based in Boulder, Colorado. We are looking for submissions to our quarterly themed online anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We’re looking for tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios.

Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words.

Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today.

Click through to the “Submissions” tab for preferred formats, etc.

For each issue, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the “Shouts and Murmurs” feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

Your story must be original work, with the digital rights unencumbered. Beginning with the Summer 2013 issue, accepted stories will be paid at the flat rate of 3 cents per word (U.S.), in return for the digital rights to the story. All other rights will remain with the author. We no longer offer royalties, as we’re now into our second year.

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31 July 2013 — Long Hidden — ed. Rose Fox and Daniel José Older; Crossed Genres Publications

Below are guidelines for submitting stories to Long Hidden, and the submission form. Please read the guidelines carefully before submitting.

Direct all queries to questions@longhidden.com.

Do not send story submissions via email, and do not send queries through the submission form.

Who can submit
We welcome stories by authors from all walks of life. We especially encourage submissions from members of marginalized groups within the speculative fiction community, including (but not limited to) people of color; people who are not from or living in the U.S.A.; QUILTBAG and GSM people; people with disabilities, chronic illness, or mental illness; and atheists, agnostics, and members of religious minorities. The protagonists of your story do not have to mirror your own heritage, identities, beliefs, or experiences.

We also especially encourage short story submissions from people who don’t usually write in this format, including poets, playwrights, essayists and authors of historical fiction and historical romance.

Submission deadline and publication schedule

All submissions are due July 31, 2013. If it’s still July 31 in your time zone, you’re good. Acceptance notices will be sent by October 1. The anthology is tentatively slated for a February 2014 release.

Pay and rights

We pay USD 5¢/word for global English first publication rights in print and digital format. The author retains copyright. Payment is upon publication.

Story criteria

== Length: 3000-7000 words (FIRM)
== Your story must be set between the years 1400 and 1920 C.E., and take place primarily in our world or an alternate historical version of our world. (Travel to other worlds, other dimensions, Fairyland, the afterlife, etc. is fine but should not be the focus.)
== Your protagonists must be people who were marginalized in their time and place. By “marginalized” we mean that they belong to one or more groups of people that were categorically, systematically deprived of rights and/or economic power. Examples in most times and places include enslaved people, indigenous people, queer people, laborers, women, people with disabilities, the very young and very old, and people who do not share the local dominant religion, language, or ethnicity. Many people belong to multiple marginalized groups, and many are marginalized in some ways and privileged in others. Your story should acknowledge the complexity and intersectionality of marginalization.
== Your story must contain a significant element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or the weird, without which the story would not work or would be a substantially different story.
== All submissions must be in English.
== No reprints. No Simultaneous submissions.

We will not accept any story containing the following:

== Gratuitous or titillating depictions of violence.
== Gratuitous descriptions of bodies or body parts, or people described only in objectifying ways.
== Horror that relies on shocking or grossing out the reader.
Stories that are all about how someone non-marginalized became an enlightened champion of marginalized people.
== A protagonist from a societally or technologically powerful group who happens to be temporarily or situationally powerless (e.g. a peasant who’s really a prince, a representative of the British East India Company shipwrecked on Ceylon).
== Depictions of marginalized people as being doomed to hopeless misery.
== Depiction of any group, no matter how powerful, as universally, inherently, or irredeemably evil.

Handle with care

If you decide to incorporate one or more of the following elements, please do so with caution and awareness of the ways that they can be problematic or difficult to write about.

== Violence, particularly sexual violence. We recognize that sexual violence is frequently used as a weapon against marginalized people, so we are not issuing a blanket prohibition against it, but please consider very carefully whether you need to include it in your story; and if you decide that you do, please consider very very carefully whether your story needs to show the violent act itself.
== Consensual sexual encounters. We’re not averse to sexual or erotic content, but it needs to further the story and incorporate awareness of the ways real-world power relationships affect sexual behavior and decision-making.
== Stereotypes and clichés.
== Alternate history that drops magic powers or anachronistic technology into a historical setting.
== A protagonist who is the only marginalized person in the story.
== Revenge fantasies.
== A setting that’s already very commonly used in speculative fiction, especially one that’s often associated with stories featuring members of privileged/dominant/colonizing groups, e.g. Victorian England, the American “Wild West”.

What we do want

Your story doesn’t need to have all these elements, but we’re especially interested in stories that have at least some of them.

== Intersectionality.
== Accurate depictions of life on the margins.
== Thoughtful, sensitive incorporation of religion, superstition, and folklore.
== Depictions of historically accurate societal attitudes in the context of an authorial voice that does not condone or espouse bigotry. (For example, your female characters will probably have to deal with societal sexism, but your descriptions of them should not rely on sexist stereotypes.)
== An understanding of how economic, technological, political, and religious influences shape a time and place, especially in alternate historical settings.
== Research bibliographies and suggestions for further reading.
== Integration of friendships, family relationships, and community into the story.
== Protagonists who make conscious choices and take conscious action.
== Side characters who are real people.
== Personal triumphs and successes.
== Making us laugh, think, cheer, and weep.

How to submit

To submit a story to Long Hidden, please fill out the form below. Be sure to:

== Address your email “Dear Long Hidden editors” or “Dear Mr. Older and Ms. Fox” or “Dear Rose and Daniel”. All submissions should be addressed to both editors. See this post for why we feel the need to emphasize this.
== Include your story’s year and location at the beginning of your submission.
== Attach your story as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file, with your name, the story title, and the wordcount on the first page.

[Click through for submission form.]
[Also, see here for a more detailed discussion of what they're doing with the book, what they want, and what writers they've invited already.]

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1 August 2013 — Dying to Live — Diabolic Publications

== All stories must be in doc. or docx, .rtf format.
== All stories must be anywhere from 2000 to 8000 words long.
== Please use 12 point font and double space your text.
== We are looking for dark Vampires, of the old fashioned kind! Erotica is acceptable as long as the vampires drink human blood, bite, kill and so forth. We are not looking for love story type vampires. Stories that will not be accepted are stories with child rape, molestation, or pedophilia.
== Allow at least 6 weeks before inquiring if your story will be included if you have not heard from us. You will receive an email if your story has been accepted.
== NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS

Submissions should be sent electronically as an attachment to: submissions@diabolicpublications.com

In the subject line of the email, include your name, the title of the work you are submitting, and the edition you are submitting for “Dying to Live”.

In the body of the email, include your contact information (Real Name or official pen name, not your online name), the word count of the work you are submitting, and a brief biography. Make certain to use an email address that you have access to all the time as correspondences from us come through email only!

We only accept electronic submissions at this time.

PAY: Made by Paypal only, if you don’t have a paypal account please get one.

Fiction: US$.03/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

Reprints: US$.01/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

RIGHTS: Exclusive First World English Rights for print and First Electronic Rights for two years from date of print publication. Rights are then no longer exclusive and revert back to the author after the two year period.

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1 August 2013 — I Delight in What the Book Forbids: Stories of Gay Muslim Fantasy — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

The title refers to a line from th acclaimed Arab poet Diwan Abu Nawas and, it is our hope, to inspire both prose poems and short fiction that is both positive in its treatment of Muslim men and expands upon the rich mythology of the Arab world: jinn, the garin, rocs, and ghuls among others. Whether these gay men seek adventure, treasure, or love, the stories should be rich in their surroundings and culture (whether ancient, medieval, or contemporary). Stories should deal with gay or bisexual men and between 2,500 and 10,000 words. Pament for original fiction is 5 cents a word; reprints receive 1 cent a word. All authors receive a free copy of the book. Consider some of the stories by Alex Jeffers when looking at what I want. Submissions should be sent to sberman8@yahoo.com no later than August 1st.

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UNTIL FILLED — Membrane — Dreadful Cafe — First Listed May 2013

Unreal. Imaginative. Intense.

An escape from the safe.

These stories will propel the reader—by wormhole or peephole—through the fantastic, the criminal, and the insane.

Sometimes strange, always original, the stories we publish are of the highest production standards, from thrilling premise all the way to professional editing.

We are now soliciting query letters for Membrane, our first anthology. All genres are eligible, but preference is given to stories that cross more than one and which reflect the flavor and theme described above.

Manuscripts must be between 2,000 and 30,000 words and not previously published by anyone but the author. Self-published works are accepted and encouraged!

Please refer to our Submission Guidelines.

Upon acceptance of your completed manuscript, Dreadful Cafe pays for non-exclusive, unlimited, 5-year publishing rights on the following schedule:

Short Stories (2,000-7,000 words) — $125
Novelettes (7,001-15,000 words) — $250
Novellas (15,001-30,000 words) — $500/Negotiable

It’s your work.

We are simply paying for the rights to publish, market, and sell your completed manuscript as part of this or any other Dreadful Cafe anthology. You are encouraged to continue marketing on your own.

However, you will be unable to enter into any exclusive arrangement with other parties once you have sold rights to us. Also, note that we may give your story away for free as part of our marketing efforts, and that we may use edited excerpts from your story for the same.

This applies to both electronic and print versions, both in the US and abroad.

We may, at our discretion, hire an editor (at our expense) to work with you on your manuscript. Payment follows final completion and acceptance of the edited manuscript.

Dreadful Cafe reserves the right to reject your manuscript at any time and for any reason, including elimination from future editions of the published anthology.

No royalties or warranties are given or implied.

Estimated Publication: Pre-holiday 2013

Query Submissions Open: April 1, 2013

Query Submissions Closed: TBD

The Dreadful Cafe is committed to socially responsible publishing. All after-cost proceeds from this anthology will go to support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, because life is too short not to have fun and too precious not to do good.

We encourage you to support the many local charities in your community.

Anthology Markets

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

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5 May 2013 — Ominous Realities — ed. Jacob Sanders; Grey Matter Press

We are looking for your Speculative Horror Fiction. As long as it is dark and dreadful.

For our upcoming anthology Ominous Realities, we’re looking for the darkest voices working in the areas of Science Fiction, Science Fantasy and Speculative Horror Fiction. Whether your vision includes alien intervention, biblical apocalypse, dystopian existences or simply fantastical and frightening concepts of life current or past, we want to see what you’ve got up your sleeve.

We do not want to limit the creativity or our authors, preferring instead to let each writer’s words speak to them from the place that is most comfortable. We’re looking to include the best and brightest new voices writing in Speculative Fiction today, and Ominous Realities is intended to celebrate that creativity, without limitations.

Please review our Submissions Guidelines below, and feel free to contact us here on the site with any questions. or send a message to submissions@greymatterpress.com.

But, keep in mind we have a VERY short deadline!

Ominous Realities is a working title. Grey Matter Press reserves the right to change the title as necessary.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS
Word Count: 3,000 – 10,000 words
Deadline: May 5, 2013
Payment: $100 flat rate per each manuscript accepted into the collection
Formats: *.doc, *.docx, *.txt, *.rtf
Contact Address: submissions@greymatterpress.com

Acceptable File Formats: Grey Matter Press wants to make your submission process easy and painless. We accept manuscripts that are *.doc, *.docx, .txt or .rtf file formats. If you have any questions about the formatting of your manuscript, feel free to contact us directly at submissions@greymatterpress.com

Digital Submissions: Unfortunately, we cannot accept manuscripts of previously published pieces. Only previously unpublished work will be accepted. We will accept your submission via email at submissions@greymatterpress.com. Subject lines should contain name of Anthology and the title of the story being submitted. (ex: OMINOUS REALITIES – ‘Title of Story.’

Font Usage and General Formatting: We request that all files be submitted double-spaced, using either Arial or Times New Roman 12 point font. Page margins should be no less than .5 inch on all borders.

Distribution: Upon acceptance into our anthologies, Grey Matter Press will hold all exclusive publishing rights for the period defined within author contract (generally 12-24 months). At the end of that term, intellectual property rights will revert to the original author, with Grey Matter Press retaining distribution rights for the format(s) originally contracted.

Contributor Copies: All contributors whose work is accepted and published in the anthology will, in the case of digital publishing, receive a digital copy of the complete anthology, and in the case of paperback publishing, will receive up to two copies of the anthology.

[Click through for some clarifications in the comments.]

***

11 May 2013 — Sword and Sorceress — ed. Elizabeth Waters

Stories should be the type generally referred to as “sword and sorcery” and must have a strong female protagonist whom the reader will care about. See Sword & Sorceress 22, Sword & Sorceress 23, Sword & Sorceress 24, Sword & Sorceress 25, Sword & Sorceress 26, and Sword & Sorceress 27 (or S&S 1-20) for examples. We do not want stories with explicit sex, gratuitous violence, or profanity. We are NOT a market for poetry. We are willing to consider stories set in modern times (urban fantasy), but we won’t buy more than one or two of those for the anthology. We always want something short and funny for the last story.

No reprints. No simultaneous submissions.

With regard to multiple submissions, do not submit more than one story at a time. If we’ve rejected your first one, you may send one more, as long as it’s before the deadline. We have occasionally bought someone’s second sumbmission. We have never bought a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth submission. If you send us two stories, and we don’t hold either of them, wait until next year to try again. Please do not re-submit stories we have already rejected (including stories rejected in previous years).

If you have not previously sold to Sword & Sorceress, please read “What is a Short Story?” and “Why Did my Story Get Rejected?” before submitting to us.

Please do not explain or describe your story in the e-mail (cover letter). If your story can’t stand on its own, fix the story.

Reading period: Saturday, April 13 to Saturday, May 11, 2013.

Response time is expected to follow MZB’s traditional standards: you should hear within a week if we’re holding your story for the final line-up or rejecting it.

Deadline: May 11, 2013.

Length: up to 9,000 words, with preference given to shorter stories. The longer a story is, the better it has to be. Long stories should be submitted early in the reading period.

Formatting and Submission:

Format with one-inch margins on all four sides of page.

Please do not use a header or footer.

Your name, full mailing address, and email address must be in the upper left corner, single spaced.

Skip two lines, center the text, then put the title, with your name (or byline) on the next line. We’re not going to be as rigid as MZB was about pen names, but we expect them to be reasonable, rather than cute.

The rest of the manuscript should be single-spaced, with the first line of each paragraph indented 1/2 inch.

If you need to indicate a break, put “#” on a line by itself, centered.

Do not underline; use italics instead. Do not use bold face. We prefer Courier New font, size 12.

Word count will be determined by our word processor; that way it will be the same for everyone.

Save your document as an .rtf file (rich text format or interchange format, depending on what your computer calls it). E-mail as it as an attachment to mzbworks at yahoo dot com. The subject line should be “SS28, your last name, story title” (e.g.: SS28, Bradley, Dark Intruder) — we don’t want submissions caught in the spam filter.

Rights purchased: first rights, non-exclusive eBook and audio book rights.

Payment: 5 cents per word as an advance against a pro rata share of royalties and foreign or other sales.

***

15 May 2013 — Sword and Laser Anthology — ed. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt

SUBMISSION PERIOD
Submissions will be accepted from March 1 – May 15, 2013. We expect to make our final selections by August 15, 2013.

PAYMENT
We pay $200 (US) upon acceptance.

LENGTH
We recommend a length of 1,500 – 7,500 words. We may choose to print shorter or longer stories in some cases, but this should be your target word count.

RIGHTS
If your submission is accepted we will buy the following rights:

= World anthology rights in English and translation
= Audio and ebook anthology rights

World anthology rights and audio/ebook anthology rights are specific to anthologies. These are non-exclusive licenses allowing us to use your story in an anthology only. Specifying “in translation” allows us to request that your work be included in any potential foreign editions as well.

You retain all other print rights. So you’re free to also sell your story to magazines, or websites, or podcasts, or as an individual short story (say, on Kindle), or in a collection of your own work, or even sell it to another anthology after our book has been out for a while. It’s your story, and you keep it, we just ask that we get to be first to print it.

Additionally, we expect to release a Creative Commons edition of the book. It’s not required but if you have strong feeling about it, please let us know upfront.

FORMATTING
We only accept email submissions. You can either paste your story into the body of your email message or send an attachment. For attachments, please use Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), or Plain Text (TXT) formats only. Any word processor should be able to save a file as at least one of those formats.

HOW TO SUBMIT
Send your story to anthology at swordandlaser dot com. Please use the following subject line when submitting…

[SLANTH] STORY TITLE – Your Name

So if your name is Nick Scalzi and if your story is called “YOUNG MAN’S FIGHT” then the subject line of your email should read…

[SLANTH] YOUNG MAN’S FIGHT – Nick Scalzi

Please follow this format, so your submission does not get overlooked!

Next, in the body of your email, please include the following:

= Title: The title of your story

= Pen name: How you want your name to appear in print

= Word count: The count of the words.

= Real name: This is the name that will go on the contract. So no pseudonyms or nicknames

= Email address

= Phone number

= Short biography: This is your chance to tell us A LITTLE about yourself and your writing experience.

All of this information is REQUIRED. You cannot omit any part of this information. You can keep the bio very short of course, that’s up for interpretation but every other piece of information has to be there or your submission will be rejected.

In return we promise not to share any of your personal information with ANYBODY, and we will only use your contact information to tell you whether your story was accepted, and then once to tell you when the book is finished. We will always try to contact you via email first. We will only use the phone number if we need to get in touch with you and email doesn’t work.

If your story is accepted we’ll ask you to confirm all your information, and we’ll also give you a chance to write a new short biography for publication in the book.

Finally, we ask that each writer limit themselves to 3 submissions. We also require only previously unpublished work, and no simultaneous submissions. That means when you submit to us, you haven’t submitted the story to anyone else.

[Click through for lengthy explanations of what they are and aren't looking for.]

***

30 May 2013 — Glam Rock — Storm Moon Press

Expected Release: September 27, 2013
Genres: Contemporary [Romance]
Pairings: Bisexual
HEA or HFN Ending Required? Yes

Glam rock was arguably the most visually outrageous and flamboyant embodiment of rock and pop fusion in history. From the latter half of the sixties to the early seventies, individuals were unafraid to paint bright designs on their faces, strive for sexual androgyny, and enhance their performances with unapologetic theatrics.

In our Glam Rock anthology, we’re looking for short stories that depict at least one character who is a glam rock star, be it the lead singer or part of the band. They can be male or female, but we’re looking for the gender ambiguity, androgyny, and bisexuality aspects that were so indicative of this period in rock and pop. Bring on the costumes, the bright colors, and the droves of glitter-bedecked fans! We want to see your main characters lighting up the stage and weaving a tangled web in their personal lives.

If set in the historical period, we won’t dissuade writers from capitalizing on the unprotected sex, drugs, and glamor that defined the times. We are not looking for RPF (real person fiction), so no pulling real rock stars from history. Feel free to take inspiration from the real thing, but this is your chance to get original and knock our platforms off! Make your rock stars the epitome of the glam rock era: Beautiful, tragic, and all things in excess.

Authors will receive royalties as well as an initial payment of $50 for their story. This payment is not an advance and does not have to be earned out before royalties are paid. Royalties on individual e-book releases will be 50% of cover price on direct sales through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 40% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors. In addition, authors will receive the same percentage royalty on sales of the anthology e-book divided equally among the authors, as well as 25% of cover price on direct sales of the print anthology through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 20% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors, also divided equally among all authors. All royalties will be paid quarterly.

***

30 May 2013 — Horror Without Victims — ed. DF Lewis, Megazanthus Press

==Horror Stories, Weird Literature, Ghost Stories, Literary Fiction.
==Each story must either subtly or directly reflect the title of the anthology.
==Stories between 2000 and 10,000 words.
==One-off payment upon publication: 1p (£0.01) per word
==Start Date for Submissions: 1 November 2012
==End Date for Submissions: 30 May 2013

Submissions (not simultaneous or multiple) as a Word attachment to dflewis48@hotmail.com. As with some earlier Megazanthus Press publications, you may submit by anonymous email and your story will be rejected or accepted before knowing who you are. Also, you may submit non-anonymously. The accepted stories will all be published with their correct by-line. [Please expect a simple acknowledgement within a few days of your submission. Otherwise please send it again.]

Stories must be previously unpublished in any form.

As with the ‘The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies’ and ‘The First Book of Classical Horror Stories’, DF Lewis will edit, publish, design, typeset and print (via Lulu) this book. It will be distributed under an ISBN system. Please at least read the reviews of previous Megazanthus Press publications to gauge the type of fiction favoured by the editor.

I may need to keep your story for the whole reading-period but may not be able eventually to accept it depending on the timing of other acceptable stories being submitted to me over the period.

***

31 May 2013 — Fearful Symmetries — ed. Ellen Datlow

[Note that these are minimal guidelines, just enough to get you started writing something. I checked for the "Submission instructions" before posting this, and there's nothing further up yet. Submissions don't open until 1 May, so I assume something more specific (like where to send subs) will be posted before that. Definitely check Ms. Datlow's journal for more specific instructions before trying to send her anything.

[ETA April Post: -- still nothing. She might be holding back details until 1 May when the book opens to subs. Definitely check yourself around then, since my May post will probably be within two weeks or so of the deadline.]

This is a non-theme, all original anthology of about 125,000 words of terror and supernatural horror. I’m looking for all kinds of horror, but if you’re going to use a well worn trope, try to do something fresh with it. If you’ve read any volumes of The Best Horror of the Year, you’ll know that my taste is pretty eclectic, that I like variety, and that while I don’t mind violence, I don’t think it should be the point of a story. I don’t want vignettes but fully formed stories that are about something. I want to be creeped out.

The pay rate is 7 cents a word up to 10,000 words, but as the anthology is only 125,000 words long, I would prefer stories up to 7500 words.

The open reading period will run from May 1-May 31 2013. Submissions instructions coming soon.

***

1 June 2013 — Dying to Live — Diabolic Publications LLC

We will be publishing an anthology of vampire fiction Dying to Live in October 2013. Submissions are being accepted until June 1, 2013, which is a change from our original date of August. We are looking for dark vampire stories; please do not send any stories about vampires that sparkle!

== All stories must be in doc. or docx, .rtf format.
== All stories must be anywhere from 2000 to 8000 words long.
== Please use 12 point font and double space your text.
== We are looking for dark Vampires, of the old fashioned kind! Erotica is acceptable as long as the vampires drink human blood, bite, kill and so forth. We are not looking for love story type vampires. Stories that will not be accepted are stories with child rape, molestation, or pedophilia.
== Allow at least 6 weeks before inquiring if your story will be included if you have not heard from us. You will receive an email if your story has been accepted.
== NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS, NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS, NO REPRINTS!

Submissions should be sent electronically as an attachment to: submissions@diabolicpublications.com

On the subject line of the email, include your name, the title of the work you are submitting, and the anthology you are submitting for “Dying to Live”.

In the body of the email, include your contact information (Real Name or official pen name, not your online name), the word count of the work you are submitting, and a brief biography. Make certain to use an email address that you have access to all the time as correspondences from us come through email only!

We only accept electronic submissions at this time.

PAY: Made by Paypal only, if you don’t have a paypal account please get one.

Fiction: US$.03/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

Reprints: US$.01/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

RIGHTS: Exclusive First World English Rights for print and First Electronic Rights for two years from date of print publication. Rights are then no longer exclusive and revert back to the author after the two year period.

***

10 June 2013 — Looking Landward — http://newconpress.co.uk/anthology/looking-landwards-submissions-open/

NewCon Press are proud to announce our first ever ‘open submission’ anthology: Looking Landwards.

The book is being produced in collaboration with the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, which celebrates its 75th Anniversary this year. To commemorate this event, we are looking for original science fiction stories that speculate on what the future might hold for agricultural engineering, farming and food production over the next century.

Ideally stories should be of 4,500 words or less, though this limit is flexible. Payment of 1p a word (or equivalent) up to a limit of £45.00 will be made for successful submissions.

The book will be published towards the end of 2013.

Stories should be presented in standard manuscript format, with italics used for italicised words (not underlining), and double inverted commas for speech. Please submit your story as an attachment (either doc or rtf) to the following email address: flashfic@newconpress.co.uk

Submissions close at midnight on June 10th 2013.

***

20 June 2013 — Neverland’s Library — ed. Rebecca Lovatt and Roger Bellini

Neverland’s Library will be an anthology focusing on the rediscovery of the fantastic; magic, dragons, the supernatural, etc. We are looking for stories which highlight finding that which was once thought lost, incorporating fantastical and/or fictitious elements. We will not restrict how the story is told. All styles, settings, and tones are welcome.

We are looking for only unpublished stories. If the story has been made available for free or payment online then please do not submit it for consideration as it will be considered ineligible under our criteria. We ask that authors limit themselves to no more than 2 submissions, with no simultaneous submissions. That means when a story is submitted to us, it should not be submitted for publication consideration anywhere else.

If you have questions regarding the eligibility of your story, please send a query email before submitting the story in question and we will get back to you promptly in response to your concern.

Submission Period

(Subject to change) Submissions will be open from March 5th 2013, until June 20th, 2013. Exact dates may vary depending on volume of entries.

Payments and Rights

Upon successful completion of the Kickstarter funding campaign, authors will receive 3c/per word. If we fail to reach our goal, all submissions will remain the property of the author and Neverland’s Library will not own any rights to the stories submitted.

If the Kickstarter funding is a success and your story is selected for inclusion in the Neverland’s Library Anthology, we will email a digital copy of the contract for the authors examination. Upon agreement of terms the editor signed contract will be mailed to the story author to be signed. After the contract is returned to us and signed by all involved parties, payment will be promptly delivered via check or PayPal, at the submitters preference.

If your submission is accepted, we will be buying First Anthology Print and First Anthology eBook Rights. These are non-exclusive licenses allowing us to use your story in this anthology only. The author will retain all other print rights, allowing them to sell their story to magazines, websites, podcasts or as individual short stories, or in a collection of their own work, or even sell to another anthology, after six months have passed since the publication of Neverland’s Library.

By submitting a story, you acknowledge that you are in fact the writer and sole owner of the work in question.

DO NOT SUBMIT WORKS IF YOU DON’T OWN THEM.

Length

We are looking for stories within 2,000 – 8,000 words. We may choose to print some shorter or longer pieces, however please try to keep within this targeted range.

Formatting

Only email submissions will be accepted. Please attach all submissions using Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), Plain Text (TXT) or Open Office (ODT) formats only. Any word processor should be able to save a file as at least one of these formats.

Please have all submissions in size 12 Times New Roman font.

How to Submit (What to include)

Please send your story to neverlandslibrary@gmail.com, using the following subject line when submitting:

[NL] STORY TITLE – Your Name

In the body of your email, please include the following:

== Title
== Real name — This is the name that will go on the contract. No pseudonyms or nicknames.
== Pen name — How you want your name to appear in print. Don’t include if you would like to use your real name.
== Word count
== Email address
== Phone number
== Short Bio — This is your chance to tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing experience.

All aforementioned items are required, please do not omit any information. Biography lengths may vary, just let us know what you think we need to know.

We will not share any of your personal information with ANYONE. Contact information will only be used to tell you whether your story was accepted, and update with progress on the Kickstarter, and when (if) the book is finished. We will always attempt to contact you via email first. Phone number will only be used if we need to get in touch with you, and email doesn’t work.

If your story is accepted we will ask you to confirm all information, and you will be given the chance to write a new short biography for publication in the book.

Please send all submissions and questions to Roger and Rebecca at NeverlandsLibrary@gmail.com. We will be happy to answer all questions.

***

30 June 2013 — Strange Critters: Unusual Creatures of Appalachia — ed. Frank Larnerd, Woodland Press

Format: Trade Paperback, ebook
Payment: five cents per word (upon publication) plus contributor copy.
No reprints
Story length: Up to 2500 words
No multiple or simultaneous subs
Deadline: 12:00am Saturday, June 30th, 2013
E-mail submissions to: strangecritters@hotmail.com
RTF, DOC, or DOCX attachments only.

I am looking for horror stories featuring legendary, mythical, or imaginary creatures of Appalachia. Stories based on established local lore are preferred, but exceptions may be made for exceptionally crafted creatures. I am NOT looking for stories with zombies, vampires or other popular monsters. Submitted stories can be set in any time period, but must take place in the Appalachian region.

Although the anthology is mainly targeted for adults, we DO NOT want stories containing language or content unsuitable for children. Submissions should also avoid unflattering Appalachian stereotypes.

Accepted Manuscript Formatting:
Double-spaced.
Use Times New Roman (12).
Italicize what you want italicized.
Single space after sentence-ending punctuation.
Be sure to include your name, address, and email on your manuscript.

[Click through and check the comments for some discussion of what the editor means by "Appalachia," geographically.]

***

30 June 2013 — Lost Worlds — Third Flatiron Anthologies

Give us dinosaurs, planets and pyramids, paranormal, space opera….

Third Flatiron Publishing is an e-publishing venture based in Boulder, Colorado. We are looking for submissions to our quarterly themed online anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We’re looking for tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios.

Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words.

Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today.

Click through to the “Submissions” tab for preferred formats, etc.

For each issue, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the “Shouts and Murmurs” feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

Your story must be original work, with the digital rights unencumbered. Beginning with the Summer 2013 issue, accepted stories will be paid at the flat rate of 3 cents per word (U.S.), in return for the digital rights to the story. All other rights will remain with the author. We no longer offer royalties, as we’re now into our second year.

Anthology Markets

Friday, March 15th, 2013

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

***

31 March 2013 — Playing with Fire — Third Flatiron Anthologies

Fires and backfires from inventions (Greek fire?), culture clashes, climate change, comets and meteors, Hephaestus, and so forth.

Third Flatiron Publishing is an e-publishing venture based in Boulder, Colorado. We are looking for submissions to our quarterly themed online anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We’re looking for tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios.

Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words.

Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today.

Click through to the “Submissions” tab for preferred formats, etc.

For each issue, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the “Shouts and Murmurs” feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

Your story must be original work, with the digital rights unencumbered. Beginning with the Summer 2013 issue, accepted stories will be paid at the flat rate of 3 cents per word (U.S.), in return for the digital rights to the story. All other rights will remain with the author. We no longer offer royalties, as we’re now into our second year.

***

1 April 2013 — Darker Edge of Desire — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Gothic literature has always possessed a dark attraction ripe with the promise of the forbidden and the sensual. This theme has been successfully explored in my anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with a far gentler touch. In Darker Edge of Desire, I will take the sexualized Gothic and ratchet it up a few notches into the danger zone, opening the door into the darker side of lust and love that only the courageous dare to venture through.

I am looking for atmospheric and high quality stories with a distinct Gothic flavour that explore our more forbidden desires and contain plenty of added kink. In these tales love and lust know no boundaries, and all nature of being—from vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, ghosts, succubae and creatures we may not even have heard of—can be found. Think Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with some very sharp edges!

Submission deadline: April 1, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Darker Edge of Desire

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

***

15 April 2013 — The Future Embodied — ed. Jason Andrew and Mae Empson

The Future Embodied – An anthology of speculative stories exploring how science and technology might change our bodies and what it means to be human.

The editors are looking for character-driven, near-future stories of how the trajectory of current science and technology could impact our daily lives and choices. Social sciences and as-yet-untested or anecdotal discoveries are fair game. If an idea or discovery has the potential to impact human behavior and bodies, it could make a great story.

What Type of Stories We’re Looking For:

We are looking for stories of medical and aesthetic body modification. Consider topics like genetic engineering, prosthetics, implants, body ornamentation, surgical augmentation, and age retardation or reversal.

Surprise us. Don’t give us stories that we’ve read before.

We want this anthology to embody the wide range of human experience, voices, and bodies, and, in particular, to credibly consider our present and future demographics. You are encouraged to populate your stories of the future with the kinds of bodies that have been under-represented in speculative fiction but which should be ever more present in visions of our near future — aging bodies, obese bodies, chronically ill bodies, diverse racial and multi-racial bodies, bodies from diverse geographies…

Good Fiction Examples:

== “Faces in Revolving Souls” by Caitlin R Kiernan. This is a story that deftly balances the idea of how a science might progress AND the human feelings behind such changes and how it might change their experience of the world.

What do we want to avoid:

== This anthology specifically is concentrating on the evolution of the human body through technology. We are not looking for disembodied avatar stories.
== We enjoy historical science fiction, but this is not the anthology for it.
== We are not looking for poetry for this anthology.

Details:

Word-count: 2,000 to 5,500

Worldwide print and e-book rights (exclusive for 6 months, non-exclusive for an additional 30 months). Exceptions will be made for stories accepted for “Best Of” anthologies.

The Future Embodied will be available in both print and e-book formats.

Submissions open March 1, 2013, and will close at 11:59 PST on April 15, 2013.

You may submit at: future.embodied.anthology@gmail.com (Do not submit before March 1st 2013 or your submission will be deleted)

Queries and questions may be sent to future.embodied.anthology@gmail.com. (You may send queries and questions anytime.)

All responses will be accepted or rejected by July 15th, 2013. Please do not query about submitted stories before then.

No multiple or simultaneous submissions. Our word count limits are hard for open submissions.

Please use standard format guidelines. If it is difficult to read, we will reject your story. Your story must include your name, address, telephone number, email address, and approximate word count on the first page.

Your cover letter should include your complete contact information, story title, approximate word count, and a short bio.

Payment:

3 cents per word, paid within 90 days after publication. Plus contributor copy of print and e-book.

***

11 May 2013 — Sword and Sorceress — ed. Elizabeth Waters

Stories should be the type generally referred to as “sword and sorcery” and must have a strong female protagonist whom the reader will care about. See Sword & Sorceress 22, Sword & Sorceress 23, Sword & Sorceress 24, Sword & Sorceress 25, Sword & Sorceress 26, and Sword & Sorceress 27 (or S&S 1-20) for examples. We do not want stories with explicit sex, gratuitous violence, or profanity. We are NOT a market for poetry. We are willing to consider stories set in modern times (urban fantasy), but we won’t buy more than one or two of those for the anthology. We always want something short and funny for the last story.

No reprints. No simultaneous submissions.

With regard to multiple submissions, do not submit more than one story at a time. If we’ve rejected your first one, you may send one more, as long as it’s before the deadline. We have occasionally bought someone’s second sumbmission. We have never bought a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth submission. If you send us two stories, and we don’t hold either of them, wait until next year to try again. Please do not re-submit stories we have already rejected (including stories rejected in previous years).

If you have not previously sold to Sword & Sorceress, please read “What is a Short Story?” and “Why Did my Story Get Rejected?” before submitting to us.

Please do not explain or describe your story in the e-mail (cover letter). If your story can’t stand on its own, fix the story.

Reading period: Saturday, April 13 to Saturday, May 11, 2013. Stories received before or after this period will be deleted unread.

Response time is expected to follow MZB’s traditional standards: you should hear within a week if we’re holding your story for the final line-up or rejecting it.

Deadline: May 11, 2013.

Length: up to 9,000 words, with preference given to shorter stories. The longer a story is, the better it has to be. Long stories should be submitted early in the reading period.

Formatting and Submission:

Format with one-inch margins on all four sides of page.

Please do not use a header or footer.

Your name, full mailing address, and email address must be in the upper left corner, single spaced.

Skip two lines, center the text, then put the title, with your name (or byline) on the next line. We’re not going to be as rigid as MZB was about pen names, but we expect them to be reasonable, rather than cute.

The rest of the manuscript should be single-spaced, with the first line of each paragraph indented 1/2 inch.

If you need to indicate a break, put “#” on a line by itself, centered.

Do not underline; use italics instead. Do not use bold face. We prefer Courier New font, size 12.

Word count will be determined by our word processor; that way it will be the same for everyone.

Save your document as an .rtf file (rich text format or interchange format, depending on what your computer calls it). E-mail as it as an attachment to mzbworks at yahoo dot com. The subject line should be “SS28, your last name, story title” (e.g.: SS28, Bradley, Dark Intruder) — we don’t want submissions caught in the spam filter.

Rights purchased: first rights, non-exclusive eBook and audio book rights.

Payment: 5 cents per word as an advance against a pro rata share of royalties and foreign or other sales.

***

15 May 2013 — Sword and Laser Anthology — ed. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt

SUBMISSION PERIOD
Submissions will be accepted from March 1 – May 15, 2013. We expect to make our final selections by August 15, 2013.

PAYMENT
We pay $200 (US) upon acceptance.

LENGTH
We recommend a length of 1,500 – 7,500 words. We may choose to print shorter or longer stories in some cases, but this should be your target word count.

RIGHTS
If your submission is accepted we will buy the following rights:

= World anthology rights in English and translation
= Audio and ebook anthology rights

World anthology rights and audio/ebook anthology rights are specific to anthologies. These are non-exclusive licenses allowing us to use your story in an anthology only. Specifying “in translation” allows us to request that your work be included in any potential foreign editions as well.

You retain all other print rights. So you’re free to also sell your story to magazines, or websites, or podcasts, or as an individual short story (say, on Kindle), or in a collection of your own work, or even sell it to another anthology after our book has been out for a while. It’s your story, and you keep it, we just ask that we get to be first to print it.

Additionally, we expect to release a Creative Commons edition of the book. It’s not required but if you have strong feeling about it, please let us know upfront.

FORMATTING
We only accept email submissions. You can either paste your story into the body of your email message or send an attachment. For attachments, please use Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text Format (RTF), or Plain Text (TXT) formats only. Any word processor should be able to save a file as at least one of those formats.

HOW TO SUBMIT
Send your story to anthology at swordandlaser dot com. Please use the following subject line when submitting…

[SLANTH] STORY TITLE – Your Name

So if your name is Nick Scalzi and if your story is called “YOUNG MAN’S FIGHT” then the subject line of your email should read…

[SLANTH] YOUNG MAN’S FIGHT – Nick Scalzi

Please follow this format, so your submission does not get overlooked!

Next, in the body of your email, please include the following:

= Title: The title of your story

= Pen name: How you want your name to appear in print

= Word count: The count of the words.

= Real name: This is the name that will go on the contract. So no pseudonyms or nicknames

= Email address

= Phone number

= Short biography: This is your chance to tell us A LITTLE about yourself and your writing experience.

All of this information is REQUIRED. You cannot omit any part of this information. You can keep the bio very short of course, that’s up for interpretation but every other piece of information has to be there or your submission will be rejected.

In return we promise not to share any of your personal information with ANYBODY, and we will only use your contact information to tell you whether your story was accepted, and then once to tell you when the book is finished. We will always try to contact you via email first. We will only use the phone number if we need to get in touch with you and email doesn’t work.

If your story is accepted we’ll ask you to confirm all your information, and we’ll also give you a chance to write a new short biography for publication in the book.

Finally, we ask that each writer limit themselves to 3 submissions. We also require only previously unpublished work, and no simultaneous submissions. That means when you submit to us, you haven’t submitted the story to anyone else.

[Click through for lengthy explanations of what they are and aren't looking for.]

***

30 May 2013 — Glam Rock — Storm Moon Press

Expected Release: September 27, 2013
Genres: Contemporary [Romance]
Pairings: Bisexual
HEA or HFN Ending Required? Yes

Glam rock was arguably the most visually outrageous and flamboyant embodiment of rock and pop fusion in history. From the latter half of the sixties to the early seventies, individuals were unafraid to paint bright designs on their faces, strive for sexual androgyny, and enhance their performances with unapologetic theatrics.

In our Glam Rock anthology, we’re looking for short stories that depict at least one character who is a glam rock star, be it the lead singer or part of the band. They can be male or female, but we’re looking for the gender ambiguity, androgyny, and bisexuality aspects that were so indicative of this period in rock and pop. Bring on the costumes, the bright colors, and the droves of glitter-bedecked fans! We want to see your main characters lighting up the stage and weaving a tangled web in their personal lives.

If set in the historical period, we won’t dissuade writers from capitalizing on the unprotected sex, drugs, and glamor that defined the times. We are not looking for RPF (real person fiction), so no pulling real rock stars from history. Feel free to take inspiration from the real thing, but this is your chance to get original and knock our platforms off! Make your rock stars the epitome of the glam rock era: Beautiful, tragic, and all things in excess.

Authors will receive royalties as well as an initial payment of $50 for their story. This payment is not an advance and does not have to be earned out before royalties are paid. Royalties on individual e-book releases will be 50% of cover price on direct sales through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 40% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors. In addition, authors will receive the same percentage royalty on sales of the anthology e-book divided equally among the authors, as well as 25% of cover price on direct sales of the print anthology through Storm Moon Press’ e-store, and 20% of cover price minus distribution costs for sales through third party vendors, also divided equally among all authors. All royalties will be paid quarterly.

***

30 May 2013 — Horror Without Victims — ed. DF Lewis, Megazanthus Press

==Horror Stories, Weird Literature, Ghost Stories, Literary Fiction.
==Each story must either subtly or directly reflect the title of the anthology.
==Stories between 2000 and 10,000 words.
==One-off payment upon publication: 1p (£0.01) per word
==Start Date for Submissions: 1 November 2012
==End Date for Submissions: 30 May 2013

Submissions (not simultaneous or multiple) as a Word attachment to dflewis48@hotmail.com. As with some earlier Megazanthus Press publications, you may submit by anonymous email and your story will be rejected or accepted before knowing who you are. Also, you may submit non-anonymously. The accepted stories will all be published with their correct by-line. [Please expect a simple acknowledgement within a few days of your submission. Otherwise please send it again.]

Stories must be previously unpublished in any form.

As with the ‘The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies’ and ‘The First Book of Classical Horror Stories’, DF Lewis will edit, publish, design, typeset and print (via Lulu) this book. It will be distributed under an ISBN system. Please at least read the reviews of previous Megazanthus Press publications to gauge the type of fiction favoured by the editor.

I may need to keep your story for the whole reading-period but may not be able eventually to accept it depending on the timing of other acceptable stories being submitted to me over the period.

***

31 May 2013 — Fearful Symmetries — ed. Ellen Datlow

[Note that these are minimal guidelines, just enough to get you started writing something. I checked for the "Submission instructions" before posting this, and there's nothing further up yet. Submissions don't open until 1 May, so I assume something more specific (like where to send subs) will be posted before that. Definitely check Ms. Datlow's journal for more specific instructions before trying to send her anything.]

This is a non-theme, all original anthology of about 125,000 words of terror and supernatural horror. I’m looking for all kinds of horror, but if you’re going to use a well worn trope, try to do something fresh with it. If you’ve read any volumes of The Best Horror of the Year, you’ll know that my taste is pretty eclectic, that I like variety, and that while I don’t mind violence, I don’t think it should be the point of a story. I don’t want vignettes but fully formed stories that are about something. I want to be creeped out.

The pay rate is 7 cents a word up to 10,000 words, but as the anthology is only 125,000 words long, I would prefer stories up to 7500 words.

The open reading period will run from May 1-May 31 2013. Submissions instructions coming soon.

***

1 June 2013 — Dying to Live — Diabolic Publications LLC

We will be publishing an anthology of vampire fiction Dying to Live in October 2013. Submissions are being accepted until June 1, 2013, which is a change from our original date of August. We are looking for dark vampire stories; please do not send any stories about vampires that sparkle!

== All stories must be in doc. or docx, .rtf format.
== All stories must be anywhere from 2000 to 8000 words long.
== Please use 12 point font and double space your text.
== We are looking for dark Vampires, of the old fashioned kind! Erotica is acceptable as long as the vampires drink human blood, bite, kill and so forth. We are not looking for love story type vampires. Stories that will not be accepted are stories with child rape, molestation, or pedophilia.
== Allow at least 6 weeks before inquiring if your story will be included if you have not heard from us. You will receive an email if your story has been accepted.
== NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS, NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS, NO REPRINTS!

Submissions should be sent electronically as an attachment to: submissions@diabolicpublications.com

On the subject line of the email, include your name, the title of the work you are submitting, and the anthology you are submitting for “Dying to Live”.

In the body of the email, include your contact information (Real Name or official pen name, not your online name), the word count of the work you are submitting, and a brief biography. Make certain to use an email address that you have access to all the time as correspondences from us come through email only!

We only accept electronic submissions at this time.

PAY: Made by Paypal only, if you don’t have a paypal account please get one.

Fiction: US$.03/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

Reprints: US$.01/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears when edition is published as a paper copy.

RIGHTS: Exclusive First World English Rights for print and First Electronic Rights for two years from date of print publication. Rights are then no longer exclusive and revert back to the author after the two year period.

Anthology Markets

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

***

1 March 2013 — Handsome Devil — ed. Steve Berman; Prime Books

Incubi. They seduce women (and some men) with their devilish ways. Infernal Casanovas and fiendish Romeos. This anthology will feature supernatural tales of lotharios that entice, arouse, and often destroy their prey. Tales do not have to be horror–dark fantasy is fine but please no paranormal romance (no vampires!). Seeking stories no less than 3,000 words in length, no more than 12,000. Payment for original fiction is at least 3 cents a word. Reprints at least 1 cent a word.

***

15 March 2013 — Love, Lust and Zombies — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Let’s face it: zombies are hot, and baby, they’re getting hotter. Although not the most traditional of sex symbols, zombies are truly coming into their own, even landing on the silver screen in romantic roles, not to mention ambling and shambling across the pages of novels and television screens. Gone are those one-dimensional gut-munching characters from George Romero’s grim and gruesome flick Night of the Living Dead. Zombies now have a lot more to offer, and thank heavens we non-zombies are finally beginning to recognise this.

From the bestselling novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the hit TV series The Walking Dead, zombies are infiltrating and enriching our daily lives. So isn’t it about time they had their more…err… romantic and sexy sides showcased? It’s my goal as editor of Love, Lust and Zombies to help make this happen. And here’s how you can help.

I want you to write some fun and steamy stories featuring sexy zombie characters and send them over for me to chew on (in a literary sense, that is). Can zombies be sexy? Why the hell not? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. So can you do it without grossing us out too much or being too gory? Sure you can. And you know you want to!

Submission deadline:

Mar 15, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Love, Lust and Zombies

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

***

31 March 2013 — Playing with Fire — Third Flatiron Anthologies

Fires and backfires from inventions (Greek fire?), culture clashes, climate change, comets and meteors, Hephaestus, and so forth.

Third Flatiron Publishing is an e-publishing venture based in Boulder, Colorado. We are looking for submissions to our quarterly themed online anthologies. Our focus is on science fiction and fantasy and anthropological fiction. We’re looking for tightly plotted tales in out-of-the-ordinary scenarios.

Please send us short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome. Stories should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words.

Role models for the type of fiction we want include Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons, Connie Willis, Vernor Vinge, and Ken Kesey. We want to showcase some of the best new shorts available today.

Click through to the “Submissions” tab for preferred formats, etc.

For each issue, we will also accept a few very short humor pieces on the order of the “Shouts and Murmurs” feature in The New Yorker Magazine (600 words or so). These can be written from a first-person perspective or can be mini-essays that tell people what they ought to do, how to do something better, or explain why something is like it is, humorously. An SF/Fantasy bent is preferred.

Your story must be original work, with the digital rights unencumbered. Beginning with the Summer 2013 issue, accepted stories will be paid at the flat rate of 3 cents per word (U.S.), in return for the digital rights to the story. All other rights will remain with the author. We no longer offer royalties, as we’re now into our second year.

***

1 April 2013 — Darker Edge of Desire — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Gothic literature has always possessed a dark attraction ripe with the promise of the forbidden and the sensual. This theme has been successfully explored in my anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with a far gentler touch. In Darker Edge of Desire, I will take the sexualized Gothic and ratchet it up a few notches into the danger zone, opening the door into the darker side of lust and love that only the courageous dare to venture through.

I am looking for atmospheric and high quality stories with a distinct Gothic flavour that explore our more forbidden desires and contain plenty of added kink. In these tales love and lust know no boundaries, and all nature of being—from vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, ghosts, succubae and creatures we may not even have heard of—can be found. Think Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with some very sharp edges!

Submission deadline: April 1, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Darker Edge of Desire

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

Anthology Markets

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

***

[UPDATED 1/22] 15 March 2013 — Love, Lust and Zombies — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Let’s face it: zombies are hot, and baby, they’re getting hotter. Although not the most traditional of sex symbols, zombies are truly coming into their own, even landing on the silver screen in romantic roles, not to mention ambling and shambling across the pages of novels and television screens. Gone are those one-dimensional gut-munching characters from George Romero’s grim and gruesome flick Night of the Living Dead. Zombies now have a lot more to offer, and thank heavens we non-zombies are finally beginning to recognise this.

From the bestselling novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the hit TV series The Walking Dead, zombies are infiltrating and enriching our daily lives. So isn’t it about time they had their more…err… romantic and sexy sides showcased? It’s my goal as editor of Love, Lust and Zombies to help make this happen. And here’s how you can help.

I want you to write some fun and steamy stories featuring sexy zombie characters and send them over for me to chew on (in a literary sense, that is). Can zombies be sexy? Why the hell not? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. So can you do it without grossing us out too much or being too gory? Sure you can. And you know you want to!

Submission deadline:

Feb 10, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Love, Lust and Zombies

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

***

15 February 2013 — Sword and Mythos — Innsmouth Free Press

Sword and Mythos is an anthology paying professional rates (5 cents per word) looking for short fiction of up to 5,000 words which combines the pulp genres of Cthulhu Mythos and sword and sorcery.

WHAT WE WANT

Sword and Mythos. This includes any element of the Cthulhu Mythos (creatures such as shoggoths, characters like the King in Yellow, locations like Leng) combined with sword and sorcery (heroic fantasy). Stories can be told from the viewpoint of sorcerers or other non-traditional heroic characters, although fighters with brawn and brains will also be accepted.

We are looking for a variety of settings and characters (Yes, we are GLBT-friendly). Although much sword and sorcery has utilized a proto-European setting, we’d like to see stories that take place in settings inspired by Middle Eastern, African, Asian, Prehispanic, and other cultures. We will accept secondary world stories and stories set in historical settings with magical elements. For example, Robert E. Howard set his Mythos-inspired “Worms of the Earth” in real-life Great Britain.

We might also consider some sword and planet stories. But no copyrighted characters, please. We can’t afford the lawsuits.

There are many famous sword and sorcery male characters, but we’d also like to see women hacking tentacles. Or summoning Mythos creatures.

Overall, we want to be surprised and inspired to read beyond the first page.

Scenarios which might be fun:
== A Mayan warrior faces Cthulhu’s own daughter, Cthylla.
== A crafty thief steals more than she bargained for when she takes a statuette from a Tamil temple.
== A Kurdish mercenary is hired to rescue the son of a rich merchant from the clutches of a sorcerer in medieval Cairo.
== An acolyte of Dagon grows tired of his job and seeks new thrills.
== The sacrificial virgin procured for a certain ceremony proves to be adept at survival.
== A Maori warrior in the South Pacific fights thawed-out shoggoths from sunken R’lyeh.
== A Wampanoag builds a stone circle to unspeakable entities, in order to beat back European settlers.
== A Malian warrior teams up with a shaman in Timbuktu to fight a Black Pharoah from Egypt.
== In the late Parthian Empire, a pahlavan warrior and a Zoroastrian priestess investigate an alchemist who is raising the dead.
== Pearl divers hire samurai to fight an undersea race of carnivorous creatures.

PAYMENT

Sword and Mythos pays 5 cents per word. We are asking for First English Anthology Rights. Because we are a very small press, we don’t pay royalties. We do, however, offer to buy the stories on a non-exclusive basis.

Each contributor will receive two physical copies of the anthology and an e-book copy. More copies can be purchased at a discounted rate.

Story length is up to 5,000 words.

Reprints will be considered. Flat fee of $50 paid for reprints.

SUBMITTING

== E-mail us at innsmouthfp AT gmail.com. Subject line: Sword, [Title of your Story, Author's Name].
== Do not send more than one short story.
== Include a cover letter with the story word count, salient writing credits and any reprint information (if applicable). Yes, we do read cover letters, so include the information.
== Attach story as an RTF or Word document. Use standard manuscript format. Italics as italics, bold as bold. No fancy fonts.
== Stories can be sent in English, French, or Spanish.
== Submissions are accepted from January 15 to February 15, 2013. Do not send anything before or after that date. If you do, we will ignore it.
== Final story selection will take place in the spring of 2013. Check back for updates.

[Click through for more info.]

***

1 March 2013 — Handsome Devil — ed. Steve Berman; Prime Books

Incubi. They seduce women (and some men) with their devilish ways. Infernal Casanovas and fiendish Romeos. This anthology will feature supernatural tales of lotharios that entice, arouse, and often destroy their prey. Tales do not have to be horror–dark fantasy is fine but please no paranormal romance (no vampires!). Seeking stories no less than 3,000 words in length, no more than 12,000. Payment for original fiction is at least 3 cents a word. Reprints at least 1 cent a word.

***

1 April 2013 — Darker Edge of Desire — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Gothic literature has always possessed a dark attraction ripe with the promise of the forbidden and the sensual. This theme has been successfully explored in my anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with a far gentler touch. In Darker Edge of Desire, I will take the sexualized Gothic and ratchet it up a few notches into the danger zone, opening the door into the darker side of lust and love that only the courageous dare to venture through.

I am looking for atmospheric and high quality stories with a distinct Gothic flavour that explore our more forbidden desires and contain plenty of added kink. In these tales love and lust know no boundaries, and all nature of being—from vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, ghosts, succubae and creatures we may not even have heard of—can be found. Think Red Velvet and Absinthe, but with some very sharp edges!

Submission deadline: April 1, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Darker Edge of Desire

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

Anthology Markets

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

Note that per editor Steve Berman the deadline for Queering Edgar Allan Poe has slipped from 31 October to 31 December, so if you were working on something for that book and missed the cut-off, you still have some time.

***

31 December 2012 — Where Thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

The canon of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the foremost writers of dark and atmospheric fiction and poetry, offers readers haunted shores teeming with various erudite men brooding in the waning light over their feelings for unobtainable women. Yet, whether the tales or verses are grotesque or sinister, Poe’s narrators are Outsiders, dealing with emotions that so many queer individuals feel: isolation and abandonment as well as loneliness and lost love. Editor Steve Berman wants to breach the chasm and offer an anthology that replaces the heteronormative aspects of Poe’s work and life with a different range of identities.

Regardless whether you make Roderick seduce the unnamed narrator visiting Usher, or have a woman fall under Ligeia’s sway, the story should be dark as well as fantastical. Stories that involve Poe the author are also acceptable.

Think both Gothic and gay. Obviously, dependent on the time period, the term homosexual might not be apt. Sexual identity is partly labeling, partly sexual experience, and partly attraction. But do not think of this as a romance or erotica anthology; first and foremost, these are stories that should be at home in Weird Tales as much as Strange Horizons.

Fiction or prose, the rate of pay is 5 cents a word for original material. Reprints must query and the pay will be significantly less. Any length for poetry but fiction should be at least 1,500 words and no more than 12,000. Payment is upon release in the spring of 2013 from Lethe Press, a publisher around for over a decade–and who has released the last two winners of the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction.

Please send all submissions to sberman8 at yahoo dot com as RTF files.

***

31 December 2012 — Suffered from the Night: Queering Stoker’s Dracula — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

Who is one of the most filmed, most admired characters in English Literature? Yes, Sherlock Holmes. And Lethe Press did release an anthology of queer-themed Holmesian fiction, A STUDY IN LAVENDER. Well, we’re taking on the next such character in a forthcoming anthology.

I want to see historical fiction that expand both major and minor characters from Stoker’s novel. What really happened to Van Helsing’s wife? Did Renfield like to nibble on waifs as much as flies? And so forth. I don’t want characters from the endless cinematic versions. Use Stoker as your Bible, the events of the novel as if they happened.

Stories can range from 2,000 to 10,000 words. No reprints please. No erotica please. I advise you to email me with the scenario you are writing about so I don’t have to read twenty Seward tales. As of now, no stories about the sailors aboard the Demeter or tales about Dracula’s “brides” — they have already been done for the book. Deadline is December 31st. Payment is 5 cents a word for original fiction.

***

31 December 2012 — Shades of Blue & Gray: Civil War Ghost Stories — ed. Steve Berman; Prime Books

Never before had some much blood been shed on American soil as the period between 1861 and 1865. I’m seeking ghost stories, tales of those that died during the conflict, though the story itself may take place decades after the war. Seeking stories no less than 3,000 words in length, no more than 15,000. Deadline is December 31st. Payment for original fiction is at least 3 cents a word. Reprints at least 1 cent a word.

***

1 January 2013 — Night Terrors III — Blood Bound Books

As with all great trilogies, the third one always changes something we thought we knew. And now it’s up to you to help us forge this new direction.

While this third installment will continue to plague readers with restless nights and sweat-soaked sheets, we’re now offering 5 cents a word for your best nightmare-inducing tales.

As always, this anthology is open to the wide gamut of horror and all its subcategories. Remember, evil has no boundaries and neither do we! Science fiction and dark fantasy will also be considered as long as stories contain strong elements of horror. Third person stories are strongly preferred, but we’ll read first person as long as they are extremely well done or the POV is integral to the plot.

Stories may take place in any setting or time period, as long as it’s well written, powerful, and original. Most importantly, scare us. We want to be haunted by your story long after we put it down. Gore and sex are acceptable, as long as it serves a purpose.

If you want to see the type of material we prefer, check out Night Terrors II on Kindle.

== Stories can range from 750-5000 words.
== Previously unpublished stories only.
== No Multiple submissions

Stories must be formatted in the following manner:

== 12 point font
== Times New Roman or Courier New
== Double-Spaced
== Contact information in the upper left(name, address, phone number, email)
== Word Count Upper Right
== 1 Space after a punctuation
== Underline everything you would like to italicize at publication.
== Submissions should be sent as attachment in .Doc or .Docx

Submission Dates: November 1st to January 1st. Selections will not be made until after the submission period closes.

Payment: All stories will receive 5¢/word

Send submissions to submissions@bloodboundbooks.net. Subject should read: Night Terrors III: story title/author last name

***

1 January 2013 — Zombies: Shambling Through History — ed. Steve Berman; Prime Books

Now this anthology is a memento mori for zombie fans. Starting in the B.C.E., follow zombie attacks through history. What happened to the colonists at Roanoke? Who prowled the burning streets of Rome while Nero fiddled?

All the stories should be historically true in terms of setting and demeanor (but you can change events as needed, as in one story I bought, Oscar Wilde is an action her in 1900). I am currently not seeking any story that takes place after the 1800s. All zombies must be the carnivorous kind. No Voudo zombies please–these are undead slaves and not predators. In fact, I am seeing too many tales with necromancy as the source of the zombies; needless to say, it’s tiring. Be inventive. Word length is flexible (I am accepting some short short stories to be the “connective tissue” between main tales). Payment for original is at leats 3 cents a word; payment for reprints at least 1 cent a word. All stories are due Jan 1st.

[Note from a later journal post:]

So I’m still open to reading new stories for the zombie chronology anthology I’m editing for Prime Books. Deadline is January 1st. I’m no longer interested in tales that take place after 1800.

I would really love to read a story where Archimede’s heat ray or claw was designed to kill zombies. Or that was the rationale behind Zhuge Liang’s primitive land mine.

Or perhaps something with the fallen Colossus of Rhodes – imagine a broken gigantic body that is infested with zombies. Symbolic?

Or in Antigone, Polyneices rises from the dead as a zombie because of necromancy.

I want Antiquity. I want Dark Ages.

***

15 January 2013 — Black Apples — Belladonna Publishing

Black Apples is an anthology of gothic fairytales starring the classic fairytale princess -– but her ending is maybe not so happy, her quest is perhaps more grim and the darkness of the tale might just come from within…

The Princess might be someone we know, but she can also be a princess we’ve never heard of before. She may come from ancient times, or far into the future. She can be the heroine, or we might not see her on the pages at all –- but the story must somehow evolve around the fairytale princess and/or her role as such – and have a dark twist… We’re looking for the beautiful, sensuous and sinister.

Find fairytale inspiration our blog. Tags: Fairytale Friday and Black Apples.

What we want: Originality is treasured, so is strong storytelling, clever plot and a polished manuscript.

Don’t be afraid to experiment –- we do like the strange.

Read more about what we want here.

What we do not want: Straight forward retelling of fairytales, pointless gore or splatter horror, plotless porn (sex is ok – but all in good taste) or poetry.

Submissions: We will accept submissions until January 15th 2013, e-mail submissions only.

Submission should have a standard manuscript formatting and be attached as .doc, .rtf or .pdf.

A few words about you in the body of the e-mail would be nice.

You will hear back from us within 8 weeks.

Length: 3,000–10,000 words.

Language: We will read submissions in English, Norwegian and Swedish.

Rights: We buy First Worldwide English language rights, First Worldwide Swedish language rights and First Worldwide Norwegian language rights.

Publishing details: Print and e-book

Publishing date: 2013

Payment: $120 upon publication and royalties on e-book sales.

Multiple submissions: Yes.

Simultaneous submissions: Yes.

Reprints: No

Send your submission to: submissions@belladonnapublishing.com

Subject line: Submission, Black Apples: name of your story.

Important: If your story does not have a princess or princess-like character, or does not relate to princesses or/and their role in any kind of way, it is not for Black Apples.

Please name your file author’s last name and story title. Example: meyer twilight.doc/rtf/pdf.

We’re looking forward to your submission!

***

10 February 2013 — Love, Lust and Zombies — ed. Mitzi Szereto, Cleis Press

A trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, USA

Publication date: Autumn 2013

Let’s face it: zombies are hot, and baby, they’re getting hotter. Although not the most traditional of sex symbols, zombies are truly coming into their own, even landing on the silver screen in romantic roles, not to mention ambling and shambling across the pages of novels and television screens. Gone are those one-dimensional gut-munching characters from George Romero’s grim and gruesome flick Night of the Living Dead. Zombies now have a lot more to offer, and thank heavens we non-zombies are finally beginning to recognise this.

From the bestselling novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the hit TV series The Walking Dead, zombies are infiltrating and enriching our daily lives. So isn’t it about time they had their more…err… romantic and sexy sides showcased? It’s my goal as editor of Love, Lust and Zombies to help make this happen. And here’s how you can help.

I want you to write some fun and steamy stories featuring sexy zombie characters and send them over for me to chew on (in a literary sense, that is). Can zombies be sexy? Why the hell not? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. So can you do it without grossing us out too much or being too gory? Sure you can. And you know you want to!

Submission deadline:

Feb 10, 2013

(I’ll be selecting stories on a rolling basis, therefore earlier submissions are strongly encouraged, though I’ll still consider stories that make it in by the deadline).

Word count:

3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Submission requirements:

Stories should be formatted as follows: double-spaced Arial 12-point black font Word or RTF document. Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Do not add extra lines between paragraphs or any other irregular spacing. American spelling and punctuation only (i.e. quote marks, etc.). Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), postal address, and a fifty-word maximum author bio written in the third person. Contract is for one-time, non-exclusive anthology rights with one year’s exclusivity from date of publication. (This may be waived if your story is selected for a “Best Of” collection). No simultaneous submissions please.

In the subject line of your email, please state: Love, Lust and Zombies

Send to: submissions @ mitziszereto.com

I look forward to reading your work!

Travelling — No Anthologies This Month

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

Greetings from the South Pacific and all that. [wave]

For anyone looking for the Anthology Listing, I’m afraid I’m skipping this month. I’m on a cruise ship a couple of days out from Tahiti; internet is unreliable, and when it works it costs thirty-eight cents per minute. I usually do several hours of research online before I post the month’s listing, and much as I love you all, I’m not willing to spend a hundred bucks or more to do it. :/ When I get home, I’ll have one (1) day to wash every garment I own before getting back on a plane to go to my mom’s for Thanksgiving, at which point I’ll be doing family stuff. I think November’s going to be a wash for the listing. Everyone keep writing, and I’ll see you in December.

I’ve been having a great time, doing lots of reading and lots of writing, and am sitting here with a truly spectacular sunburn, courtesy of Bora Bora. :) We went on a 4WD tour around the island and up three mountains. It was truly awesome, but the truck had no roof (which was one of the awesome parts, actually) and I got sizzled like whoa. My face has been peeling off my skull in small, dried-up bits, and the peeling part is working its way onto my scalp. I expect to have what’ll look like an absolutely terminal case of dandruff by tomorrow at the latest. [rueful smile]

Tahiti’s awesome; see it if you can. Bora Bora was particularly beautiful, and had great weather, sunburn notwithstanding. Samoa is lovely and has incredibly nice people, but the missionaries did a number on them like whoa, to the point where it’s rather horrifying. (Samoa is very Christian, to the point where you’re required to go to church on Sundays, and when one of the people on our tour asked the guide on American Samoa about their religious beliefs before the missionaries, she smiled and said, “We had no beliefs.” O_O Note that American Samoa was the less uptight of the two stops; Apia was more conservative on the surface, but nobody asked any of the locals there within my hearing about their traditional beliefs. Now I kind of wish I had, for comparison. I’d like to think this one guide is just particularly well brainwashed, and not representative.)

Hawaii is… well, it’s the US, and there you go. It’s worth visiting, definitely, but don’t expect it to feel terribly different, if you’re an American. The Polynesian Cultural Center that everyone raves about is very expensive and very plasticly Disneyfied. Oh, and no one grows sugar cane commercially on Hawaii anymore, something I didn’t know. The last crop was harvested in December of… either 2008 or 2010, I forget now, but just a few years ago.

We have our share of idiots on board, including one gentleman who was on a tour with us who seems to think all brown people speak Spanish. [headdesk] I’ve been wishing I could confiscate people’s citizenship for a while now, because nobody who goes out to foreign countries representing the USA should be allowed to be that obnoxiously ignorant. Every cruise seems to have at least a handful of them, and it’s damned embarassing.

I meant to do a stop-by-stop commentary, but that probably won’t happen at this point. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer. I’m having a great time (and losing lots of weight, yay! being one of the few people on the planet who loses weight on cruises) but am looking forward to being back in my own bed.

Oh, and the internet on this ship has some kind of nanny software installed. :( Early on I was bounced off of several of the sites in my RSS reader because of “adult” content, and I’ve been pretty much ignoring the whole thing since. I’m not sure how tight it’s set, and trying to read something means it’s marked as “read” in my feed reader; I already have to just remember (with my awful memory) that I need to back up on a few blogs and comics, and I’d just as soon not mess up any more feeds, so I have 1000+ posts piled up with more coming in all the time. I’ll try to get through them all, at least eyeballing post titles to see what’s interesting, but if I haven’t commented on your blog in a few weeks, that’s why. [sigh] It’s going to be a busy holiday season.

I hope everyone’s been doing well, and writing well, and that everyone’s safe and unflooded and not blown over. {{{}}}

Oh, and Washington now has gay marriage! :D Washington’s voters rock; I’m very proud of the state I live in. I wish the rest of the country would get with the 21st century.

Missing you all,

Angie

Anthology Markets

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

***

31 October 2012 — Queering Edgar Allan Poe — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

The canon of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the foremost writers of dark and atmospheric fiction and poetry, offers readers haunted shores teeming with various erudite men brooding in the waning light over their feelings for unobtainable women. Yet, whether the tales or verses are grotesque or sinister, Poe’s narrators are Outsiders, dealing with emotions that so many queer individuals feel: isolation and abandonment as well as loneliness and lost love. Editor Steve Berman wants to breach the chasm and offer an anthology that replaces the heteronormative aspects of Poe’s work and life with a different range of identities.

Regardless whether you make Roderick seduce the unnamed narrator visiting Usher, or have a woman fall under Ligeia’s sway, the story should be dark as well as fantastical. Stories that involve Poe the author are also acceptable.

Think both Gothic and gay. Obviously, dependent on the time period, the term homosexual might not be apt. Sexual identity is partly labeling, partly sexual experience, and partly attraction. But do not think of this as a romance or erotica anthology; first and foremost, these are stories that should be at home in Weird Tales as much as Strange Horizons.

Fiction or prose, the rate of pay is 5 cents a word for original material. Reprints must query and the pay will be significantly less. Any length for poetry but fiction should be at least 1,500 words and no more than 12,000. Payment is upon release in the spring of 2013 from Lethe Press, a publisher around for over a decade–and who has released the last two winners of the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction.

Please send all submissions to sberman8 at yahoo dot com as RTF files.

***

31 October 2012 — Horror World Anthology of Short Fiction – Volume 1 — ed. Christopher Jones and Nanci Kalanta, Horror World

Horror World is excited to announce that we are now accepting submissions for the Horror World Anthology of Short Fiction – Volume 1 to be published in e-book format at the end of 2012. Trade PB to follow in 2013 (provided the world doesn’t end).

The following are the guidelines for submission.

*Manuscripts should be 500 to 5000 words in length. Exceptions will be made either over or under the word limit based on quality. Poetry will be considered.

*Manuscripts should be single spaced with breaks instead of indentations to denote new paragraphs. Please use size 12 Times New Roman font. Manuscripts should be submitted in DOC or DOCX formats.

*We accept electronic submissions only through the following email address: submissions@horrorworld.org. Please allow up to 3 months for a response.

*No multiple submissions. Please wait until you receive an acceptance or rejection before sending another story.

*We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere.

*Payment: Horror World pays 2 cents per word for First Worldwide Electronic and Print Rights. Payment is made upon publication.

*We will be accepting submissions until October 31, 2012

*Any type of horror-related story is acceptable but we are looking for stories that are scary and original or stories that bring a fresh perspective to a familiar trope.

***

30 November 2012 — Urban Green Man — Hades Publications

We are now accepting short story submissions for the Urban Green Man anthology until November 30, 2012 at midnight. Please be sure to read these guidelines carefully and consider exploring our History of the Green Man page before sending us your work.

For this anthology we seek fantastic stories involving the mythology of the Green Man in any form (which includes the Green Woman). While the mythology is predominantly European, the setting is not limited to that region. Also, stories MUST be fantastical, ripe with the magic of the archetype. We want urban fantasy or contemporary fantasy; no science fiction or steampunk please. And while Jack in the Green, the horned god, and many other myths in conjunction with the Green Man are acceptable, the closer you are to using pure Green Man mythology the better.
Word count limit is 5,000 words, with shorter stories preferred; poems will also be considered. We are looking for new stories at this time, and would prefer only one submission per author.

All stories must be in English using standard submission format, and submitted to submissions@urbangreenman.com as a .rtf attachment. Please put SUBMISSION/NAME/TITLE in the subject line of your email, and include a short bio in the body of the email. We cannot be held responsible for submissions lost in transit.
The pay rate for stories is 3.5 cents/word, and $20 for each poem.
Hades Publications buys exclusive world rights for paper and electronic publishing for a period of one year after the date of publication. Contributors retain the right to market their individual entries outside the anthology after this period. Exceptions will be considered for ‘best of’ anthologies.

***

14 December 2012 — Clockwork Phoenix 4 — ed. Mike Allen, Mythic Delirium Books

CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 4 is the next volume in the anthology series edited by Mike Allen, scheduled to be published by Mythic Delirium Books in July 2013. It is open to the full range of the speculative and fantastic genres.

Editor Mike Allen says CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 4, like its predecessors, “is a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren’t afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques. But experimentation is not a requirement: the stories in the anthology must be more than gimmicks, and should appeal to genuine emotions, suspense, fear, sorrow, delight, wonder. I will value a story that makes me laugh in its quirky way more than a story that tries to dazzle me with a hollow exercise in wordplay.

“The stories should contain elements of the fantastic, be it science fiction, fantasy, horror or some combination thereof. A straight psychological horror story is unlikely to make the cut unless it’s truly scary and truly bizarre. The same applies to a straight adventure fantasy or unremarkable space opera — bring something new and genuine to the equation, whether it’s a touch of literary erudition, playful whimsy, extravagant style, or mind-blowing philosophical speculation and insight. Though stories can be set in this world, settings at least a hair or more askew are preferred. I hope to see prose that is poetic but not opaque. I hope to see stories that will lead the reader into unfamiliar territory, there to find shock and delight.

“Over the course of reading for the first volume, I developed some criteria for stories that aren’t likely to interest me (though exceptions are always possible). These include straightfoward retellings of well-known fairy tales; stories in which a Machine Discovers Its Humanity; stories that aim to prove Christianity/Religion Is Bad; stories about a Privileged Schmuck who comes to understand Oppression Is Bad; stories whose entire plot can be described as X Commits a Murder; stories of wish-fulfillment with little complication — i.e.: character longs for something; character is granted that something; end of story.

“My aim with the CLOCKWORK PHOENIX books is, somewhat selfishishly, to create books that satisfy my own tastes as a reader. And as a reader, I enjoy stories that experiment, that push the envelope, that dazzle with their daring, but I’m often personally frustrated when an experimental story ends without feeling complete, without leaving an emotional crater for me to remember it by. At the same time, I find myself increasingly bored with the traditional, conventionally-plotted and plainly-written Good Story Competently Told. For better or for worse, I envision the CLOCKWORK PHOENIX books as places where these two schools of story telling can mingle and achieve Happy Medium; where there is significance to both the tale that’s told and the style of the telling.

“For the second and third volumes, I received few stories with the rococo sf elements I enjoy seeing. I hope more people will try their hand at them this time around.”

RIGHTS PURCHASED: First English Language Rights, print and electronic. We will ask writers not to allow reprints for a year after publication, with exemptions made for “Best of the Year” anthologies. We do not ask for audio rights.

PAYMENT: $0.05 per word on return of counter-signed contract as an advance against royalties, then an evenly divided share of royalties after earnout, plus one print contributor copy and electronic copies in preferred formats.

WORD LENGTH: Stories should be no longer than 10,000 words; stories under 5,000 words STRONGLY PREFERRED.

READING PERIOD: Oct. 1-Dec. 14, 2012.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Submissions are electronic only. Please submit your story via e-mail, as an RTF or DOC file attachment. (Please do not send DOCX files; we can’t read them.) Your e-mail subject line should say “Submission: Story Title”. Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email. It should have your name, address, e-mail address, title of story, number of words, and brief biographical information in case we don’t know you, with most recent publishing credits, if applicable. We are open to new writers and seasoned veterans alike. We do not accept reprints.

WILL MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS BE ALLOWED? Yes.

WILL SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS BE ALLOWED? No. “No one is going to get a formal acceptance from me until after the reading period ends. If you can’t wait that long to find out what I think, then please don’t waste my time or Inbox space.”

EDITORIAL ADDRESS: clockworkphoenix@gmail.com

For further updates, check Mike Allen’s WordPress blog, DESCENT INTO LIGHT, and/or his LiveJournal, THE PLASTEEL SPIDER FACTORY.

***

21 December 2012 — Dark Visions — Grey Matter Press

Dark Visions is an upcoming anthology that will focus on the darker side of the street.

For this collection of short stories, we’re looking for work that fits comfortably into the Dark Horror and Dark Fantasy genres, but that is a ‘cut above.’ If you’re an author whose subject matter is complex, disturbing, visceral, or brooding and thought provoking, then you’ll want it included in Dark Visions.

As with each of our upcoming anthologies, it isn’t our intention to limit the creativity or our authors by establishing specific themes for each of the collections. Preferring instead to let each writer’s words speak for themselves in an effort to uncover the best and brightest new voices working in the field today. Dark Visions is intended to celebrate this creativity, without limitations.

If you feel your work contains the tension, pacing and great themes that are necessary to terrify a reader, leaving them breathless yet clamoring for more, we want to hear from you. Please review our Submissions Guidelines below, and contact us with any questions.

Dark Visions is a working title. Grey Matter Press reserves the right to change the title as necessary.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

Word Count: 3,000 – 10,000 words
Payment: Flat Fee of $100 for each Accepted Manuscript
Formats: *.doc, *.docx, *.txt, *.rtf
Contact Address: submissions@greymatterpress.com

Acceptable File Formats: Grey Matter Press wants to make your submission process easy and painless. We accept manuscripts that are *.doc, *.docx or .txt file formats. If you have any questions about the formatting of your manuscript, feel free to contact us directly at submissions@greymatterpress.com

Digital Submissions: Unfortunately, we cannot accept manuscripts of previously published pieces. Only previously unpublished work will be accepted. We will accept your submission via email at submissions@greymatterpress.com. Subject lines should contain name of Anthology and the title of the story being submitted. (ex: SPLATTERLANDS – ‘Title of Story.’

Font Usage and General Formatting: We request that all files be submitted double-spaced, using either Arial or Times New Roman 12 point font. Page margins should be no less than .5 inch on all borders.

Distribution: Upon acceptance into our anthologies, Grey Matter Press will hold all exclusive publishing rights for the period defined within author contract (generally 12-24 months). At the end of that term, intellectual property rights will revert to the original author, with Grey Matter Press retaining distribution rights for the format(s) originally contracted.

Contributor Copies: All contributors whose work is accepted and published in the anthology will, in the case of digital publishing, receive a digital copy of the complete anthology, and in the case of paperback publishing, will we able to purchase up to 5 copies of the anthology at cost.

***

21 December 2012 — Splatterlands — Grey Matter Press

The Splatterpunk Revolution is alive and well at Grey Matter Press.

For our upcoming anthology Splatterlands, we are looking for the loudest voices working in the genre of Splatterpunk fiction today. If you consider your work to be “hyperintensive horror without limitation,” then Splatterlands may be for you. If you were weaned on fiction from the masters of Splatter, such as Clive Barker, Joe Lansdale, Poppy Z. Brite, Robert McCammon and more, we definitely want to hear from you.

As with each of our upcoming anthologies, it isn’t our intention to limit the creativity or our authors by establishing specific themes for each of the collections. Preferring instead to let each writer’s words speak for themselves in an effort to uncover the best and brightest new voices working in the field today. Splatterlands is intended to celebrate this creativity, without limitations.

If you feel your work can help us bring Splatterpunk back, we want to hear from you. Please review our Submissions Guidelines below, and contact us with any questions.

Splatterlands is a working title. Grey Matter Press reserves the right to change the title as necessary.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

Word Count: 3,000 – 10,000 words
Payment: Flat Fee of $100 for each Accepted Manuscript
Formats: *.doc, *.docx, *.txt, *.rtf
Contact Address: submissions@greymatterpress.com

Acceptable File Formats: Grey Matter Press wants to make your submission process easy and painless. We accept manuscripts that are *.doc, *.docx or .txt file formats. If you have any questions about the formatting of your manuscript, feel free to contact us directly at submissions@greymatterpress.com

Digital Submissions: Unfortunately, we cannot accept manuscripts of previously published pieces. Only previously unpublished work will be accepted. We will accept your submission via email at submissions@greymatterpress.com. Subject lines should contain name of Anthology and the title of the story being submitted. (ex: SPLATTERLANDS – ‘Title of Story.’

Font Usage and General Formatting: We request that all files be submitted double-spaced, using either Arial or Times New Roman 12 point font. Page margins should be no less than .5 inch on all borders.

Distribution: Upon acceptance into our anthologies, Grey Matter Press will hold all exclusive publishing rights for the period defined within author contract (generally 12-24 months). At the end of that term, intellectual property rights will revert to the original author, with Grey Matter Press retaining distribution rights for the format(s) originally contracted.

Contributor Copies: All contributors whose work is accepted and published in the anthology will, in the case of digital publishing, receive a digital copy of the complete anthology, and in the case of paperback publishing, will we able to purchase up to 5 copies of the anthology at cost.

Anthology Markets

Friday, September 21st, 2012

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

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30 September 2012 — Rocking Hard — Less Than Three Press

Everybody loves a rockstar. The music, the look, the life—it’s loud and glamorous and wild. From the badboy who can’t stay out of trouble to fresh-faced newbies still getting used to the stage to the softrock boys who actually play nice. Then there are all the people behind the scenes who keep the rockers on stage: the agents, producers, techs, songwriters, etc. who help bring the music to life. And the fans, who turn the volume up, beg for the encores, and keep the music playing. Less Than Three Press is seeking stories about the bad boys and girls who make the music and make us want to turn it up and put it on repeat. Got a story for us?

==Stories should be at least 10,000 words. Anything less is too short to run as a serial, as we post them in 5,000 word sections. They should not exceed approx 50,000 words in length, as we do not like a single story to run for too long.
==Stories must be m/m or f/f romance (threesomes, etc. are acceptable, but all parties must be the same gender).
==Stories must have a happily ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN) end.
==All usual LT3 submission guidelines apply.
==This collection is centered around the theme of rockstars. All stories must have a strong tie to this theme. Any sub-genre is gladly accepted: sci-fi, mystery, contemporary, steampunk, etc.

Rocking Hard will run as one of LT3′s serial anthologies. Stories will run one by one on a biweekly basis, to be compiled into a single anthology at the end of the series. Current examples of serial anthologies are Bad Moon Rising and Something Happened on the Way to Heaven. They’re an extremely popular aspect of our serial stories, as readers like the shorter stories mixed in with some of our longer running works.

Payment will be $200 on acceptance of the story and 5% of gross subscription sales while your story is in the serial rotation. Authors will receive one copy each of the ebook formats LT3 produces and two copies of the paperback compilation.

Stories should be complete before submitting, and as edited as possible. They can be submitted in any format (doc, docx, rtf, odt, etc), preferably single spaced with a space between paragraphs, in an easy to read font (Times, Calibri, Arial) with no special formatting (no elaborate section separation, special fonts, etc). Additional formatting guidelines can be found here.

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30 September 2012 — Dead North — ed. Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Exile Editions

Silvia Moreno-Garcia will be editing Dead North, an anthology of zombie stories set in Canada, for Canadian publisher Exile Editions. The editor is interested in stories from 2,000 to 10,000 words. Stories must be set in Canada (Chinatown in Vancouver, the oil patches in Alberta, the vast territory of Nunavut, etc.) . The setting must be an important element, not just a throwaway reference you make on page one and forget on page three. Setting could be past, present or future. You do not need to be Canadian to submit, but Canadian writers are strongly encouraged to submit due to the nature of the anthology.

What is a zombie?

Romero-like or in the vein of Herbert West, created by magic or voodoo, fast or slow, smart or dumb, rotting or perfectly healthy, we are defining a zombie as a reanimated corpse.

What do we want to see?

Smart, quirky and unique takes on zombies. Silvia loves stories with strong heroes, non-linear plots and multicultural characters. Yes, we want to know if the Inuit would cope with the zombie apocalypse with no major issues or if Chinese-Canadians have a secret recipe to deal with zombie disasters.

Was the wendigo really a zombie? Was the Great Fire of 1886 started by zombie hunters? Would zombies freeze in the Manitoba winter? Would a hockey stick make a good defensive weapon against the undead? You tell us.

You do not need to be Canadian to submit, but Canadian writers are strongly encouraged to submit due to the nature of the anthology. Canadian writers, Aboriginal writers, culturally diverse writers, new generation writers, Francophone writers and female writers are strongly encouraged to submit. For a definition of any of these terms please see below.

== Canadian permanent residents, Canadian citizens, Canadians living abroad must indicate their status in their cover letter. International writers: nationality not required, but it is nice to know for my stats sheet.
== Please indicate if you consider yourself any of the following in the cover letter: Aboriginal writer, culturally diverse writer, Francophone writer, new generation writer.
== No multiple submissions (don’t send two/three stories at the same time). Stories must not have been submitted elsewhere for publication consideration: this means no simultaneous subs (exception: stories may be simultaneously submitted to a contest sponsored by Exile Editions and this anthology). Will try to respond quickly.
== 2,000 to 10,000 words.
== Yes to reprints. Indicate if it is a reprint and publishing history. Flat payment of $40 (CAD) for reprints.
== Send as .doc, .docx or .rtf with indented paragraphs, italics in italics and bold in bold (no underlining). Full contact info and word count on the first page. Please include a cover letter (name, story title and word count, contact info, notable credits, if any) in the body of the e-mail.
== Submissions in English only. Stories translated into English are fine.
== Please do not send poetry, plays, novels. Short stories only.

All acceptances or rejections will be sent before December 31 2012. Do not query before that. Payment is 2 cents (CAD) per word and two contributor copies. Release date for the anthology is Fall 2013.

Send all submissions to silmorenogarciaATgmail.com; no paper subs . Subject line: Submission: Dead North: Story Title Last Name.

Look for periodic submissions updates and tips at Silvia’s blog, silviamoreno-garcia.com.

[Click through for more info, including a list of zombie stories the editor likes, and a list of definitions for the types of writers who are particularly encouraged to submit.]

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30 September 2012 (or until filled) — Once Upon an Apocalypse — ed. Rachel Kenley and Scott T. Goudsward, Chaosium

Over the river and through the woods does not always lead to grandma’s house or happy endings – especially if grandma’s house is infested with zombies… or if grandma is really a Lovecraftian being in disguise. Once Upon an Apocalypse is a two volume post apocalyptic anthology laden with the undead and otherwordly mythos crossing into the realm of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other timeless stories. Editors Rachel Kenley and Scott T. Goudsward and publisher Chaosium are currently open to submissions for these two books of mixed up retold fairy tales.

What are we looking for?

For both volumes we want stories with strong narrative lines, stronger characters and a clear blending of the theme and the fairy tales. For Volume One imagine Cinderella arriving at the ball and discovering it filled with zombies. Or how different the story would be if it were Snow White and the Seven Zombies. Give us new horrors with Alice in Zombieland, and a Prince who climbs Rapunzel’s hair to get away from and find a way to defeat – you guessed it – zombies. In Volume Two we want a strong dose of Lovecraft thrown in. What happens to the townspeople in The Boy who Cried Cthulhu? Pinocchio is going to have a much harder time getting out of the Old One than the whale; a wolf would have been preferable to Little Red Riding Hood and the Byahkee and the Little Mermaid has so much more to worry about then her legs and a missing voice when she faces a Deep One.

Once you choose a story to change it’s your call how far you will take it. Make the apocalypse clear and give some meaning as to why the dead are meandering through the streets and munching on the breathing or why the Elder God has paid the town a visit. Plague, prestilence, bio warfare, meteor shower, tail of a comet… be creative.

Because we don’t want duplicates of themes, you will be able to follow the progress of the anthologies on our blog (http://onceuponanapocalypse.com) or facebook page (www.facebook.com/OnceUponAnApocalypse) where we’ll keep a current list of themes/tales accepted. For example, if we get a Sleeping Beauty story and it’s awesome, that will be it for the book. Stories should be 2K – 4K in length (please query for stories under or over our limit. We will consider them if they are of exceptional merit). The only true way to have similar stories is A Snow White and the Seven Zombies in one and Snow White Star Vampire Slayer in the other.

What aren’t we looking for?

We all know these are dark fiction anthologies, but gore for the sake of gore is un-needed. This is not splatterpunk or extreme horror. Sex? If the story calls for it fine but keep it to an R rating (maybe even PG-13). We don’t to hear about insertions and spurting fluids, unless is blood from a bite wound or a gun shot. Try to keep the violence towards animals at a minimum. In some mythos, zombies chew on animals and that’s fine, but we don’t want redneck zombies killing all of Bo-Peep’s sheep for a pie. Finally, though we shouldn’t have to mention it (but we will given the theme) – go easy on the child-related violence, please. And no kids and sex – that’s just skeevy.

Readingperiod – now through July 31, 2012 – or until filled.

Pay rates – Pays $.03 per word, no royalties and 3 free books and additional copies at 50% off cover.

Email subs to: ouaastories@ gmail.com

Format:

Stories should be an attachment to your cover letter email, NOT copied and pasted into the body of the email. The cover letter should include a single paragraph synopsis of the story and your publishing history. The submission should be in RTF or DOC format (no DOCX). Left aligned, 1/2” indentation for paragraphs, single spaced. Double space between scenes and use five stars (*****) for breaks in the story. Contact info should be on the first page of the story with word count.

Please do not query for your story until we’ve had it for at least 12 weeks. Publication is expected for the first half of 2013. No reprints and no simultaneous submissions. If we turn you down feel free to try again with a new story but give it a few days between submissions.

And please when submitting please be specific which book you are submitting to. We’re reading for both simultaneously. Subject line of the email should be Name, Story Name, Which book.

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1 October 2012 — Atomic Age Cthulu — ed. Glynn Owen Barass and Brian M. Sammons, Chaosium

A 1950’s Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos anthology has been green lit by Chaosium to correspond with their release of the ATOMIC AGE CTHULHU book for their RPG. This will have a very short and hard deadline of October 1st. We do this because the plan is to have this book come out around the same time as the AAC RPG book. This will make for good cross promotion and hopefully make both books sell better. This means that you will have to do a story for us fast, which means perhaps bumping it up past some of your other writing duties. So if you’re down for that, and we hope you are, welcome to our nuclear family of crazed cultists.

So why bring Lovecraftian horror to the 1950’s? Because few other points in history seem so tailor-made for the paranoia and fear that is so important to the Cthulhu Mythos. While many places in the world were still recovering and rebuilding from the Second World War, this was a good time for America in many ways. The economy and industry was roaring, the nation was filled with pride over a hard won victory, the middle class exploded and it seemed like everyone could own their own home, car, or perhaps even one of those new amazing televisions. Very few other decades are remembered more fondly, and viewed through thicker rose-colored glasses, than the 1950’s is for Americans. It was a time of innocence where the music, movies, cars, and everything was just so much better than anything before or since. And yet, all that was largely a façade. Just below the shiny surface of “everything is great” was the festering fear that wrapped its clammy tentacles around everyone regardless of race, sex, or age.

Never before in history did the world face a global threat as it did in the shadow of the A-bombs, and later the even more devastating H-bombs. Educational films were made to show how to survive a nuclear blast, and at the movie theatres the classic monsters of the 30s and 40s were replaced by the horrors spawned from that atom. Children were instructed to crawl under their school desks if “The Bomb” was dropped, as if an inch of wood would make any difference, and many regular families either had new bomb shelters dug into their back yards, or converted existing basements or storm cellars for a more grim purpose.

Then there were the unseen dangers, the enemies that were everywhere, even in our midst. There were the usual cultural threats, exemplified in this decade by devilish rock n’ roll, morally corrupt books like Lolita, and Catcher in the Rye, disgusting nudie magazines like Playboy, and then there were the sinister comic books that were corrupting the minds of the youngest readers. But books and movies were one thing, the threat of a very real unknown army of people, striving to overthrow the entire government and strip away all personal freedom, was quite another. This cabal of evildoers were everywhere, could be anyone including your neighbours, friends, and maybe even your family members. Of course I’m talking about the dreaded Red Menace, the godless communists. Those dastardly Reds had to be stopped by any means necessary, lest the good people of America lose everything.

So you have everyone thinking that everything is A-OK, but in reality you’ve got a global threat that could change the world as we know it, one that can’t be fought against and if ever unleashed, just barely survived. There’s an insidious corruption growing, spreading, influencing the young and easily lead. Not to mention a cult of secretive people working in the shadows to their own nefarious ends. Yep, sounds like Lovecraft to us.

We want stories that blend the happy world of ‘Leave it to Beaver’ and ‘Father Knows Best’ with the cold dread of cosmic horror. Thankfully the 1950’s has much to offer an author to play with. The ever present threat of nuclear annihilation, the spreading red menace that can be anywhere and anyone, the McCarthy witch hunt to combat that menace, the division of Europe and the Iron Curtain, China becoming communist, the birth of the Cold War, a very hot war in Korea, the beginning of the space race, UFO hysteria, rock n’ roll, television, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency (the ‘comic books are evil’ crowd), sci-fi movies, drive ins, the growth of the suburbs, an American nightmare that would be the influence for some of horror’s greatest books and movies for years to come (Ed Gein), greasers, beatniks, hotrods, vets home from the most devastating war in history, Nazis in South America, man mastering (or attempting to) new scientific marvels, and so much more. So go wild, explore, for you non-US authors out there, feel free to set stories in your home countries and show what it was like over there during this decade, and how life there becomes influenced and corrupted by Lovecraftian horrors. Just remember, every story must be set between 1950 and 1959. You can mention past events, like World War II, but the majority of your story must be set in the 1950s.

Now for the technical stuff.

Submissions close: Midnight 1st October 2012

Word Limit: 3000 – 7000 words FIRM.

Pay Rate: 3 cents per word, 3 complementary contributor copies, and the option to purchase more at a 50% discount.

Format: Standard Manuscript Format, an example of proper formatting can be found here: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

In the subject line include the name of the anthology, your full name and story title.

We do not accept reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions.

Submit in either .RTF or .DOC format (no docx) to Brian M. Sammons bmanrun@hotmail.com and Glynn Owen Barrass batglynn@hotmail.com

Response: after deadline, do not query before.

Any submission not adhering to these guidelines will be unread.

So in closing, welcome, please get started as soon as possible (remember that deadline) and thanks so much for submitting something to us. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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31 October 2012 — Queering Edgar Allan Poe — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

The canon of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the foremost writers of dark and atmospheric fiction and poetry, offers readers haunted shores teeming with various erudite men brooding in the waning light over their feelings for unobtainable women. Yet, whether the tales or verses are grotesque or sinister, Poe’s narrators are Outsiders, dealing with emotions that so many queer individuals feel: isolation and abandonment as well as loneliness and lost love. Editor Steve Berman wants to breach the chasm and offer an anthology that replaces the heteronormative aspects of Poe’s work and life with a different range of identities.

Regardless whether you make Roderick seduce the unnamed narrator visiting Usher, or have a woman fall under Ligeia’s sway, the story should be dark as well as fantastical. Stories that involve Poe the author are also acceptable.

Think both Gothic and gay. Obviously, dependent on the time period, the term homosexual might not be apt. Sexual identity is partly labeling, partly sexual experience, and partly attraction. But do not think of this as a romance or erotica anthology; first and foremost, these are stories that should be at home in Weird Tales as much as Strange Horizons.

Fiction or prose, the rate of pay is 5 cents a word for original material. Reprints must query and the pay will be significantly less. Any length for poetry but fiction should be at least 1,500 words and no more than 12,000. Payment is upon release in the spring of 2013 from Lethe Press, a publisher around for over a decade–and who has released the last two winners of the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction.

Please send all submissions to sberman8 at yahoo dot com as RTF files.

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30 November 2012 — Urban Green Man — Hades Publications

We are now accepting short story submissions for the Urban Green Man anthology until November 30, 2012 at midnight. Please be sure to read these guidelines carefully and consider exploring our History of the Green Man page before sending us your work.

For this anthology we seek fantastic stories involving the mythology of the Green Man in any form (which includes the Green Woman). While the mythology is predominantly European, the setting is not limited to that region. Also, stories MUST be fantastical, ripe with the magic of the archetype. We want urban fantasy or contemporary fantasy; no science fiction or steampunk please. And while Jack in the Green, the horned god, and many other myths in conjunction with the Green Man are acceptable, the closer you are to using pure Green Man mythology the better.
Word count limit is 5,000 words, with shorter stories preferred; poems will also be considered. We are looking for new stories at this time, and would prefer only one submission per author.

All stories must be in English using standard submission format, and submitted to submissions@urbangreenman.com as a .rtf attachment. Please put SUBMISSION/NAME/TITLE in the subject line of your email, and include a short bio in the body of the email. We cannot be held responsible for submissions lost in transit.
The pay rate for stories is 3.5 cents/word, and $20 for each poem.
Hades Publications buys exclusive world rights for paper and electronic publishing for a period of one year after the date of publication. Contributors retain the right to market their individual entries outside the anthology after this period. Exceptions will be considered for ‘best of’ anthologies.

Anthology Markets

Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

If you’ve just wandered in off the internet, hi and welcome. :) I do these posts every month, so if this post isn’t dated in the same month you’re in, click here to make sure you’re seeing the most recent one.

Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, “Until Filled” markets (if there are any — none this month) are at the bottom. There are usually more details on the original site; always click through and read the full guidelines before submitting. Note that some publishers list multiple antho guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.

Note that the deadline for Once Upon an Apocalypse has been extended.

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31 August 2012 — UFO — Unidentified Funny Objects — ed. Alex Shvartsman, UFO Publishing

UFO Publishing is soliciting short story submissions for “Unidentified Funny Objects” — An Anthology of Humorous Science Fiction & Fantasy.

We’re looking for speculative stories with a strong humor element. Think Resnick and Sheckley, Fredric Brown and Douglas Adams. We welcome quality flash fiction and non-traditional narratives. Take chances, try something new, just make sure that your story is funny.

Puns and stories that are little more than vehicles for delivering a punch line at the end aren’t likely to win us over.

LENGTH: 500-4000 words.

PAYMENT: $0.05 per word + contributor copy. Payment will be made upon acceptance. Our preferred method of payment is via PayPal, but you may request a check.

FORMAT: RTF or DOC. Standard Manuscript Format or something close to it (We won’t take points off if you prefer Courier to Times New Roman or some such).

SEND TO: E-mail submissions as an attachment to: ufopublishing@gmail.com

Format the subject line as follows: Submission: Story Title by Awesome Author

POLICIES & RESPONSE TIME: No reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions please. We will respond to all subs within 30 days. If you don’t hear by then please check your spam folder, then query at the same e-mail address with the word QUERY in the title of the e-mail.

SUBMISSION WINDOW: July 1, 2012 through August 31, 2012.

RIGHTS SOUGHT: First Worldwide print and electronic English Language rights. Exclusivity for 6 months from date of release. Non-exclusive rights to keep the anthology in print across different publishing platforms afterward.

[Click through for extensive notes on the editorial staff, their selection process, a FAQ, and links to some humorous stories the editor likes. Note, however, that the third story repeatedly hauls you off to some ad-type page after about a minute, nowhere near enough time to read the story. The first two are worth reading, though, and #1 made me snicker. :) ]

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1 September 2012 — Ink — Torquere Press

Do you love the idea of a man with tattoos? We do too — all that lovely skin with just the right mark on the shoulder, or over the heart. Maybe your hero is decorated all over, or maybe he’s about to take the plunge for the first time. Maybe he’s the one who puts ink to skin, or perhaps he loves the man who does.

That’s the concept behind Ink, a new male/male anthology from Torquere Press. We?re looking for sexy, romantic male/male stories about men and ink, whether they have tattoos themselves, or love a man who does.

Stories can be from any sub-genre, but they should be fully realized with strong characters and a happy ever after, or at least happy for now, endings. They should be between 5000 and 12000 words long, and should be submitted in full and include a synopsis and author biography in the cover letter. Please put your name or pseudonym in the manuscript as well as in your submission email.

Send submissions to submissions@torquerepress.com with Ink in the subject line. Payment is a $50.00 flat fee for first time electronic and print rights for three years, and a print copy of the book. No reprints, please.Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2012 for a December 2012 publication.

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1 September 2012 — [YA Anthology] — Chamberton Publishing

Young adults deal with many issues – peer pressure, bullying, self esteem, just to name a few. For this anthology we are looking for stories that inspire hope, feature main characters that overcome great odds/obstacles, or leave the reader inspired. We are open to any genre as long as it is intended for the YA audience and meets the guidelines mentioned below. The common thread tying these stories together are the themes of hope and encouragement.

== Short Story word count between 500 words and 7,000 words
== No sex scenes
== Previously published stories are accepted as long as you have the rights to them.

Please include the following with your submission:

*Author name
*A short author bio (for the website)
*Word count
*Title of the story
*Your email address
*Your story

If your story is accepted for one of our anthologies you will be notified by email. Upon notification you will then receive a submission/publishing agreement. If you agree to the terms sign the agreement and return it to Chamberton Publishing. Once we have the signed agreement, the payment for your story will be made.

Other information:

== You keep the copyright to your story.
== You can republish it at any time.
== You give Chamberton Publishing the right to publish in the anthology in ebook and/or print.
== Your name will appear in the anthology and on the Chamberton Publishing website.
== You will be paid for your story.

Short story payment is per word count as follows:

500 to 2500 words – $50
2501 to 5000 words – $75
5001 to 7000 words – $100

To submit your story send in an attachment by email to readmynovel [at] gmail [dot] com

*Chamberton Publishing does not accept, nor will we consider, manuscripts with demonic, witchcraft, or occult themes, nor do we accept erotica.

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14 September 2012 — We See a Different Frontier — ed. Fabio Fernandes, The Future Fire

We are seeking submissions for a colonialism-themed anthology of new stories told from the perspective of the colonized, titled We See a Different Frontier, to be guest edited by Fábio Fernandes and published by The Future Fire.

It is impossible to consider the history, politics or culture of the modern world without taking into account our colonial past. Most violent conflicts and financial inequalities in some sense result from the social-political-economic matrix imposed by European powers since the seventeenth century—even powerful countries such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have to be viewed through the filter of our history to fully appreciate their current circumstances. The same is true of art and literature, including science fiction; as Rochita Roenen-Luiz eloquently explained, “it is impossible to discuss non-Western SF without considering the effects of colonialism.” Cultural imperialism erases many native traditions and literatures, exoticizes colonized and other non-European countries and peoples, and drowns native voices in the clamour of Western stories set in their world. Utopian themes like “The Final Frontier”, “Discovering New Worlds” and “Settling the Stars” appeal to a colonial romanticism, especially recalling the American West. But what is romantic and exciting to the privileged, white, anglophone reader is a reminder of exploitation, slavery, rape, genocide and other crimes of colonialism to the rest of the world.

We See a Different Frontier will publish new speculative fiction stories in which the viewpoint is that of the colonized, not the invader. We want to see stories that remind us that neither readers nor writers are a homogeneous club of white, male, Christian, hetero, cis, monoglot anglophone, able-bodied Westerners. We want the cultures, languages and literatures of colonized peoples and recombocultural individuals to be heard, not to show the White Man learning the error of his ways, or Anglos defending the world from colonizing extraterrestrials. We want stories that neither exoticize nor culturally appropriate the non-western settings and characters in them.

We See a Different Frontier will pay US$0.05 per word, with a minimum payment of $50, plus the possibility of royalties if sales are good enough. We are looking for stories between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length; we are willing to be flexible about this wordcount, but the further a story falls outside this range, the harder a sell it will be. Please do not submit stories that are also under consideration elsewhere. Query before sending more than one story to us. We are unlikely to be interested in reprints unless they were published in an obscure market unlikely to be known to our audience, but in any case please query before sending a reprint, explaining when and where the story has appeared before.

Please send submissions as an attachment (.doc[x], .rtf or .odt) to differentfrontier@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is midnight GMT, September 14, 2012.

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20 September 2012 — Halloween Sip Extravaganza — Torquere Press

Halloween this year falls on a regular release day, so we want to have a Halloween Sip Extravaganza on October 31st.

I will need your Halloween stories in by September 20th, please. The more the merrier.

Sips are no less than 3000 words, and no more than 9999 words (If you go higher, it’s a novella instead of a Sip and you should submit it as such).

The theme of Halloween is extremely wide open — it can be paranormal or fantasy/urban fantasy, it can be contemporary focused on October 31, call it Halloween or Samhain. Demons, angels, vampires, elves, werewolves, shifters of all kinds, fairies, whatever otherworldly creature you can think of — they’re all welcome here.

As long as there is some element to tie your story to the general theme of Halloween it fits.

So please, send me your Halloween sips to our usual submission address (submissions @ torquerepress.com) with Halloween Sip in the subject line before September 20.

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30 September 2012 — Rocking Hard — Less Than Three Press

Everybody loves a rockstar. The music, the look, the life—it’s loud and glamorous and wild. From the badboy who can’t stay out of trouble to fresh-faced newbies still getting used to the stage to the softrock boys who actually play nice. Then there are all the people behind the scenes who keep the rockers on stage: the agents, producers, techs, songwriters, etc. who help bring the music to life. And the fans, who turn the volume up, beg for the encores, and keep the music playing. Less Than Three Press is seeking stories about the bad boys and girls who make the music and make us want to turn it up and put it on repeat. Got a story for us?

==Stories should be at least 10,000 words. Anything less is too short to run as a serial, as we post them in 5,000 word sections. They should not exceed approx 50,000 words in length, as we do not like a single story to run for too long.
==Stories must be m/m or f/f romance (threesomes, etc. are acceptable, but all parties must be the same gender).
==Stories must have a happily ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN) end.
==All usual LT3 submission guidelines apply.
==This collection is centered around the theme of rockstars. All stories must have a strong tie to this theme. Any sub-genre is gladly accepted: sci-fi, mystery, contemporary, steampunk, etc.

Rocking Hard will run as one of LT3′s serial anthologies. Stories will run one by one on a biweekly basis, to be compiled into a single anthology at the end of the series. Current examples of serial anthologies are Bad Moon Rising and Something Happened on the Way to Heaven. They’re an extremely popular aspect of our serial stories, as readers like the shorter stories mixed in with some of our longer running works.

Payment will be $200 on acceptance of the story and 5% of gross subscription sales while your story is in the serial rotation. Authors will receive one copy each of the ebook formats LT3 produces and two copies of the paperback compilation.

Stories should be complete before submitting, and as edited as possible. They can be submitted in any format (doc, docx, rtf, odt, etc), preferably single spaced with a space between paragraphs, in an easy to read font (Times, Calibri, Arial) with no special formatting (no elaborate section separation, special fonts, etc). Additional formatting guidelines can be found here.

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30 September 2012 — Dead North — ed. Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Exile Editions

Silvia Moreno-Garcia will be editing Dead North, an anthology of zombie stories set in Canada, for Canadian publisher Exile Editions. The editor is interested in stories from 2,000 to 10,000 words. Stories must be set in Canada (Chinatown in Vancouver, the oil patches in Alberta, the vast territory of Nunavut, etc.) . The setting must be an important element, not just a throwaway reference you make on page one and forget on page three. Setting could be past, present or future. You do not need to be Canadian to submit, but Canadian writers are strongly encouraged to submit due to the nature of the anthology.

What is a zombie?

Romero-like or in the vein of Herbert West, created by magic or voodoo, fast or slow, smart or dumb, rotting or perfectly healthy, we are defining a zombie as a reanimated corpse.

What do we want to see?

Smart, quirky and unique takes on zombies. Silvia loves stories with strong heroes, non-linear plots and multicultural characters. Yes, we want to know if the Inuit would cope with the zombie apocalypse with no major issues or if Chinese-Canadians have a secret recipe to deal with zombie disasters.

Was the wendigo really a zombie? Was the Great Fire of 1886 started by zombie hunters? Would zombies freeze in the Manitoba winter? Would a hockey stick make a good defensive weapon against the undead? You tell us.

You do not need to be Canadian to submit, but Canadian writers are strongly encouraged to submit due to the nature of the anthology. Canadian writers, Aboriginal writers, culturally diverse writers, new generation writers, Francophone writers and female writers are strongly encouraged to submit. For a definition of any of these terms please see below.

== Canadian permanent residents, Canadian citizens, Canadians living abroad must indicate their status in their cover letter. International writers: nationality not required, but it is nice to know for my stats sheet.
== Please indicate if you consider yourself any of the following in the cover letter: Aboriginal writer, culturally diverse writer, Francophone writer, new generation writer.
== No multiple submissions (don’t send two/three stories at the same time). Stories must not have been submitted elsewhere for publication consideration: this means no simultaneous subs (exception: stories may be simultaneously submitted to a contest sponsored by Exile Editions and this anthology). Will try to respond quickly.
== 2,000 to 10,000 words.
== Yes to reprints. Indicate if it is a reprint and publishing history. Flat payment of $40 (CAD) for reprints.
== Send as .doc, .docx or .rtf with indented paragraphs, italics in italics and bold in bold (no underlining). Full contact info and word count on the first page. Please include a cover letter (name, story title and word count, contact info, notable credits, if any) in the body of the e-mail.
== Submissions in English only. Stories translated into English are fine.
== Please do not send poetry, plays, novels. Short stories only.

All acceptances or rejections will be sent before December 31 2012. Do not query before that. Payment is 2 cents (CAD) per word and two contributor copies. Release date for the anthology is Fall 2013.

Send all submissions to silmorenogarciaATgmail.com; no paper subs . Subject line: Submission: Dead North: Story Title Last Name.

Look for periodic submissions updates and tips at Silvia’s blog, silviamoreno-garcia.com.

[Click through for more info, including a list of zombie stories the editor likes, and a list of definitions for the types of writers who are particularly encouraged to submit.]

***

30 September 2012 (or until filled) — Once Upon an Apocalypse — ed. Rachel Kenley and Scott T. Goudsward, Chaosium

Over the river and through the woods does not always lead to grandma’s house or happy endings – especially if grandma’s house is infested with zombies… or if grandma is really a Lovecraftian being in disguise. Once Upon an Apocalypse is a two volume post apocalyptic anthology laden with the undead and otherwordly mythos crossing into the realm of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other timeless stories. Editors Rachel Kenley and Scott T. Goudsward and publisher Chaosium are currently open to submissions for these two books of mixed up retold fairy tales.

What are we looking for?

For both volumes we want stories with strong narrative lines, stronger characters and a clear blending of the theme and the fairy tales. For Volume One imagine Cinderella arriving at the ball and discovering it filled with zombies. Or how different the story would be if it were Snow White and the Seven Zombies. Give us new horrors with Alice in Zombieland, and a Prince who climbs Rapunzel’s hair to get away from and find a way to defeat – you guessed it – zombies. In Volume Two we want a strong dose of Lovecraft thrown in. What happens to the townspeople in The Boy who Cried Cthulhu? Pinocchio is going to have a much harder time getting out of the Old One than the whale; a wolf would have been preferable to Little Red Riding Hood and the Byahkee and the Little Mermaid has so much more to worry about then her legs and a missing voice when she faces a Deep One.

Once you choose a story to change it’s your call how far you will take it. Make the apocalypse clear and give some meaning as to why the dead are meandering through the streets and munching on the breathing or why the Elder God has paid the town a visit. Plague, prestilence, bio warfare, meteor shower, tail of a comet… be creative.

Because we don’t want duplicates of themes, you will be able to follow the progress of the anthologies on our blog (http://onceuponanapocalypse.com) or facebook page (www.facebook.com/OnceUponAnApocalypse) where we’ll keep a current list of themes/tales accepted. For example, if we get a Sleeping Beauty story and it’s awesome, that will be it for the book. Stories should be 2K – 4K in length (please query for stories under or over our limit. We will consider them if they are of exceptional merit). The only true way to have similar stories is A Snow White and the Seven Zombies in one and Snow White Star Vampire Slayer in the other.

What aren’t we looking for?

We all know these are dark fiction anthologies, but gore for the sake of gore is un-needed. This is not splatterpunk or extreme horror. Sex? If the story calls for it fine but keep it to an R rating (maybe even PG-13). We don’t to hear about insertions and spurting fluids, unless is blood from a bite wound or a gun shot. Try to keep the violence towards animals at a minimum. In some mythos, zombies chew on animals and that’s fine, but we don’t want redneck zombies killing all of Bo-Peep’s sheep for a pie. Finally, though we shouldn’t have to mention it (but we will given the theme) – go easy on the child-related violence, please. And no kids and sex – that’s just skeevy.

Readingperiod – now through July 31, 2012 – or until filled.

Pay rates – Pays $.03 per word, no royalties and 3 free books and additional copies at 50% off cover.

Email subs to: ouaastories@ gmail.com

Format:

Stories should be an attachment to your cover letter email, NOT copied and pasted into the body of the email. The cover letter should include a single paragraph synopsis of the story and your publishing history. The submission should be in RTF or DOC format (no DOCX). Left aligned, 1/2” indentation for paragraphs, single spaced. Double space between scenes and use five stars (*****) for breaks in the story. Contact info should be on the first page of the story with word count.

Please do not query for your story until we’ve had it for at least 12 weeks. Publication is expected for the first half of 2013. No reprints and no simultaneous submissions. If we turn you down feel free to try again with a new story but give it a few days between submissions.

And please when submitting please be specific which book you are submitting to. We’re reading for both simultaneously. Subject line of the email should be Name, Story Name, Which book.

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1 October 2012 — Atomic Age Cthulu — ed. Glynn Owen Barass and Brian M. Sammons, Chaosium

A 1950’s Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos anthology has been green lit by Chaosium to correspond with their release of the ATOMIC AGE CTHULHU book for their RPG. This will have a very short and hard deadline of October 1st. We do this because the plan is to have this book come out around the same time as the AAC RPG book. This will make for good cross promotion and hopefully make both books sell better. This means that you will have to do a story for us fast, which means perhaps bumping it up past some of your other writing duties. So if you’re down for that, and we hope you are, welcome to our nuclear family of crazed cultists.

So why bring Lovecraftian horror to the 1950’s? Because few other points in history seem so tailor-made for the paranoia and fear that is so important to the Cthulhu Mythos. While many places in the world were still recovering and rebuilding from the Second World War, this was a good time for America in many ways. The economy and industry was roaring, the nation was filled with pride over a hard won victory, the middle class exploded and it seemed like everyone could own their own home, car, or perhaps even one of those new amazing televisions. Very few other decades are remembered more fondly, and viewed through thicker rose-colored glasses, than the 1950’s is for Americans. It was a time of innocence where the music, movies, cars, and everything was just so much better than anything before or since. And yet, all that was largely a façade. Just below the shiny surface of “everything is great” was the festering fear that wrapped its clammy tentacles around everyone regardless of race, sex, or age.

Never before in history did the world face a global threat as it did in the shadow of the A-bombs, and later the even more devastating H-bombs. Educational films were made to show how to survive a nuclear blast, and at the movie theatres the classic monsters of the 30s and 40s were replaced by the horrors spawned from that atom. Children were instructed to crawl under their school desks if “The Bomb” was dropped, as if an inch of wood would make any difference, and many regular families either had new bomb shelters dug into their back yards, or converted existing basements or storm cellars for a more grim purpose.

Then there were the unseen dangers, the enemies that were everywhere, even in our midst. There were the usual cultural threats, exemplified in this decade by devilish rock n’ roll, morally corrupt books like Lolita, and Catcher in the Rye, disgusting nudie magazines like Playboy, and then there were the sinister comic books that were corrupting the minds of the youngest readers. But books and movies were one thing, the threat of a very real unknown army of people, striving to overthrow the entire government and strip away all personal freedom, was quite another. This cabal of evildoers were everywhere, could be anyone including your neighbours, friends, and maybe even your family members. Of course I’m talking about the dreaded Red Menace, the godless communists. Those dastardly Reds had to be stopped by any means necessary, lest the good people of America lose everything.

So you have everyone thinking that everything is A-OK, but in reality you’ve got a global threat that could change the world as we know it, one that can’t be fought against and if ever unleashed, just barely survived. There’s an insidious corruption growing, spreading, influencing the young and easily lead. Not to mention a cult of secretive people working in the shadows to their own nefarious ends. Yep, sounds like Lovecraft to us.

We want stories that blend the happy world of ‘Leave it to Beaver’ and ‘Father Knows Best’ with the cold dread of cosmic horror. Thankfully the 1950’s has much to offer an author to play with. The ever present threat of nuclear annihilation, the spreading red menace that can be anywhere and anyone, the McCarthy witch hunt to combat that menace, the division of Europe and the Iron Curtain, China becoming communist, the birth of the Cold War, a very hot war in Korea, the beginning of the space race, UFO hysteria, rock n’ roll, television, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency (the ‘comic books are evil’ crowd), sci-fi movies, drive ins, the growth of the suburbs, an American nightmare that would be the influence for some of horror’s greatest books and movies for years to come (Ed Gein), greasers, beatniks, hotrods, vets home from the most devastating war in history, Nazis in South America, man mastering (or attempting to) new scientific marvels, and so much more. So go wild, explore, for you non-US authors out there, feel free to set stories in your home countries and show what it was like over there during this decade, and how life there becomes influenced and corrupted by Lovecraftian horrors. Just remember, every story must be set between 1950 and 1959. You can mention past events, like World War II, but the majority of your story must be set in the 1950s.

Now for the technical stuff.

Submissions close: Midnight 1st October 2012

Word Limit: 3000 – 7000 words FIRM.

Pay Rate: 3 cents per word, 3 complementary contributor copies, and the option to purchase more at a 50% discount.

Format: Standard Manuscript Format, an example of proper formatting can be found here: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

In the subject line include the name of the anthology, your full name and story title.

We do not accept reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions.

Submit in either .RTF or .DOC format (no docx) to Brian M. Sammons bmanrun@hotmail.com and Glynn Owen Barrass batglynn@hotmail.com

Response: after deadline, do not query before.

Any submission not adhering to these guidelines will be unread.

So in closing, welcome, please get started as soon as possible (remember that deadline) and thanks so much for submitting something to us. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

***

31 October 2012 — Queering Edgar Allan Poe — ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press

The canon of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the foremost writers of dark and atmospheric fiction and poetry, offers readers haunted shores teeming with various erudite men brooding in the waning light over their feelings for unobtainable women. Yet, whether the tales or verses are grotesque or sinister, Poe’s narrators are Outsiders, dealing with emotions that so many queer individuals feel: isolation and abandonment as well as loneliness and lost love. Editor Steve Berman wants to breach the chasm and offer an anthology that replaces the heteronormative aspects of Poe’s work and life with a different range of identities.

Regardless whether you make Roderick seduce the unnamed narrator visiting Usher, or have a woman fall under Ligeia’s sway, the story should be dark as well as fantastical. Stories that involve Poe the author are also acceptable.

Think both Gothic and gay. Obviously, dependent on the time period, the term homosexual might not be apt. Sexual identity is partly labeling, partly sexual experience, and partly attraction. But do not think of this as a romance or erotica anthology; first and foremost, these are stories that should be at home in Weird Tales as much as Strange Horizons.

Fiction or prose, the rate of pay is 5 cents a word for original material. Reprints must query and the pay will be significantly less. Any length for poetry but fiction should be at least 1,500 words and no more than 12,000. Payment is upon release in the spring of 2013 from Lethe Press, a publisher around for over a decade–and who has released the last two winners of the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction.

Please send all submissions to sberman8 at yahoo dot com as RTF files.