I’ve been getting a lot of hits on these posts, so 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 guildelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.
Note that Drollerie has reorganized its submission pages. I found while re-checking entries that the links from last month now take you to a general “All Our Antho Submissions” page, from which you have to click on the separate line links to the left; links from here this month go to the correct pages. Also, the Ghost Stories deadline is 31 March, where I had it as 5 March before. I don’t know whether the deadline was pushed back or whether I misread it the first time, but since the new deadline is later than the old one, no harm no foul either way.
The Baconology antho has been filled. [sad sigh]
Non-erotica/romance writers: again, half the anthos here are neither erotic nor romantic, so definitely browse.
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28 February 2010 — Quest for Atlantis — Pill Hill Press
Email submissions to: atlantis@pillhillpress.com
Please put SUBMISSION, followed by the title of the story, in the subject line of your email. Thanks!
We are looking for a good variety of unique short stories that celebrate the legend of The Lost Continent of Atlantis. Most genres, including, but not limited to, fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, mystery, romance, humor, etc., are welcome as long as they fit the theme of the anthology (Atlantis).
Stories can take place at any time (past, present, future, alternate), and should be written in the third person.
Stories should be approximately 1,000-10,000 words in length.
Payment is 1 cent per word (up to 5,000 words or a $50.00 cap), plus 1 contributor’s copy upon publication.
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28 February 2010 (Extended Deadline) — Greek Myth/Urban Fantasy — Drollerie Press
Drollerie Press is seeking short stories for an anthology retelling Greek myth re-set as urban fantasy. The stories should be between 5 and 20k in length, and should be YA friendly, that is, appropriate to a sophisticated YA reader and to adults as well. The protagonist(s), therefore, should be wrestling with issues of young adulthood, and should be between the ages of 17 and 25. This is a general fantasy anthology, so stories may contain cross-genre elements, such as love, science, or horror, but should not be specifically written to that genre. In particular, however, the stories should be creative and intelligent, and show knowledge of the source material and skill at reweaving it for a new audience. How veiled the original story remains up to the author.
Submissions for this anthology should be uploaded on our submissions page, and should contain “GREEK” in the file name.
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28 February 2010 (Extended Deadline) — Trafficking in Magic/Magicking in Traffic — Drollerie Press
Trafficking in Magic deals with the sale and transport of magical goods and services, including magical beings, artifacts, fortune telling, communing with the dead, and other spells for hire, or the sale of magical energy itself;
Magicking in Traffic deals with magic in the flow of traffic–which could be street traffic, commerce, the flow of energies, or something else entirely–whether to aid, block, or manipulate the flow of traffic, or simply to play in it.
Creative interpretations of the title(s) are also encouraged.
Contributors are encouraged to send 1 short story per anthology or up to 3 poems total. Query first if sending fiction over 12,000 words or poetry over 100 lines. Compensation is an equitable distribution of royalties based on word count. Publication will be in ebook, with trade paperback to follow if warranted by sales.
Send submissions for this anthology only to magic@drolleriepress.com.
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15 March 2010 — Barbed Wire and Bootheels — Torquere Press
Cowboys, drovers, rodeo riders, ranchhands. Three-story mini-anthology of short, sexy stories on the theme, 3-8K words, 35%/25% of cover price from publisher’s site/vendors, divided among the three authors.
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15 March 2010 — Knives — Torquere Press
Three-story mini-anthology of short, sexy stories on the theme, 3-8K words, 35%/25% of cover price from publisher’s site/vendors, divided among the three authors.
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31 March 2010 — The Way of the Wizard — Prime Books
(a) The story should be about a wizard, witch, sorcerer, sorceress, of some kind (basically, any sort of user of magic).
(b) The fact that the story has wizards in it should be vital to the story, i.e., magic should be an important factor in the resolution of the plot.
(c) The wizards should be literal, in that they do actual magic, not like a pinball wizard or something like that.
(d) I’m interested in all types of wizard tales, but am especially interested in seeing some stories that explore the idea of wizardry from a non-traditional viewpoint–i.e., something based on the Chilean Kalku or on the supernatural practices of other cultures.
(e) The story may be set in a secondary world, the real world, the present, or in a historical time period…let your imagination run wild.
Genres: Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror. Obviously wizard stories tend to be fantasy, but some sort of SFnal take on the theme would be acceptable.
Payment: 5 cents per word ($250 max), plus a pro-rata share of 50% of the anthology’s earnings and 1 contributor copy.
Word limit: 5000 words. (Stories may exceed 5000 words, but $250 is the maximum payment per story, and stories 5000 words or less are strongly preferred.)
Rights: First world English rights, non-exclusive world anthology rights, and non-exclusive audio anthology rights. See my boilerplate author-anthologist contract, which spells out the rights in detail.
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31 March 2010 — Ghost Stories — Drollerie Press
Who doesn’t love a good ghost? Drollerie Press is seeking short stories and poetry for an anthology of ghost stories. They may be set in any location and at any time. The stories should be between 5 and 20k in length, but longer or shorter may be considered. Poetry should not be longer than three pages, double-spaced.
Your story may contain cross-genre elements, such as romance, or science, but should definitely include strong horror elements. This is an anthology intended for an adult audience, but each work will be chosen based on its own merit and how well it will fit with the rest. In other words, avoid extremely violent and/or erotic or gentle and/or sweetly romantic tales.
Each author may submit up to 3 stories, but only one will be accepted per author. In this anthology, as in all Drollerie Press works, inclusive representation is important to us. Authors may be from, and stories may be set, anywhere in the world. Characters of any race, creed, or sexual orientation are encouraged.
Compensation is an equitable distribution of royalties based on word count. Publication will be in ebook, with trade paperback to follow if warranted by sales.
Submissions for this anthology may be sent by email to submissions @ drolleriepress.com and should contain “GHOST” in the subject line. Review and response will occur after submissions are closed.
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31 March 2010 — Triangulation: End of the Rainbow — PARSEC Ink
We define “short fiction” as “up to about 5,000 words or so.” If you have an awesome story that exceeds 5K then by all means send it; but be warned that we have yet to accept anything for publication much longer than 5000 words.
We dig flash; there is no minimum word count.
We have no interest in getting more specific about the term “speculative fiction.” Science fiction, horror, fantasy, magic realism, alternate history, whatever — if there’s a speculative element vital to your story, we’ll gladly give it a read.
We love creative interpretations of our theme, “End of the Rainbow”. Don’t ask us what it means — tell us what it means with a story that convinces us you’re right.
We will run mature content if we like the story. So make sure there’s an actual story in that mature content.
We will gladly consider reprints. If the story ran someplace obscure, then it’s probably new to our readers; and if it ran someplace high-profile, it’s probably really good. Either way, we win!
Compensation: We pay two cents per word (USA funds, rounded to the nearest 100 words, US$10 minimum payment) on publication and one contributor’s copy. The anthology will be published in late July of 2010. We purchase North American Serial Rights, and Electronic Rights for the PDF downloadable version; since we’re cool with reprints, we really don’t care whether we have firsties. All subsidiary rights released upon publication. Contributors will also have the option of purchasing additional copies of the anthology at-cost, exact price TBD.
How To Submit: Electronic submissions make our lives easier. Please send your story to editor@parsecink.org. Please put your subject line in the format of “SUBMISSION: Story Title” so we can tell you apart from the spam.
We’ll consider stories ONLY in the following formats:
* .odt (OpenDocument Text — format used by the OpenOffice.org suite) — preferred format
* .rtf (Rich Text Format — generic document format that most word processors can create)
* .doc or .docx (MS Word — we’re not crazy about it, but let’s face it, it’s the one most people actually use)
[This has been ruthlessly edited for space, but there's a lot more; definitely check their web page for more details.]
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1 April 2010 — Not My First Rodeo — Torquere Press
[No link -- this was announced on the Yahoo list, but isn't posted on the web site yet.]
Two guys, one girl, and a western theme. Cowgirls, cowboys, ranches and rodeos and maybe a little history. That’s the idea behind Not My First Rodeo. We want loving relationships and happy endings, though all sensual heat levels are welcome. Preferred length is 8,000 to 12,000 words. Payment is a flat fee of $75.00 for first time print and electronic rights. Deadline for submission is April 1, 2010. Please submit the story, along with a synopsis, your contact information, and author biography to submissions@torquerepress.com with “Not My First Rodeo” in the subject line.
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15 April 2010 — Cock Cage — Torquere Press
Three-story mini-anthology of short, sexy stories on the theme, 3-8K words, 35%/25% of cover price from publisher’s site/vendors, divided among the three authors.
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30 April 2010 — Steampunk Romance Anthology — Samhain Press
Welcome to the world of clockwork pendants and steam locomotives, corsets and lace, dirigibles and difference engines. Yes, we’re talking about steampunk, where fantasy, history, technology and romance mix to create a glorious genre that looks at Victorian and Edwardian Era England and the American wild west through brass goggles.
I’m open to M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof, any sexual heat level, and the romance must end happily ever after or happy for now.
The novellas must range between 25,000 to 30,000 words in length, no more, no less—please note, only manuscripts that fall in this word count will be considered for this anthology—and will be released individually as ebooks in November 2010.
To submit a manuscript for consideration, please include:
The full manuscript (of 25,000 to 30,000 words) with a comprehensive 2-5 page synopsis. Please include a letter of introduction/query letter. Full manuscripts are required for this as it is a special project.
As well, when you send your manuscript, please be sure to use the naming convention Steampunk_Title_MS and Steampunk_Title_Synopsis. This will ensure that your submission doesn’t get missed in the many submissions we receive, and makes it easy for me to find in my ebook reader.
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30 April 2010 — Music for Another World — Mark Harding
I’m looking for Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories. I am quite broad with definitions, but a fantasy story must have an element of fantasy, and a science fiction story must contain an element of science/technology and speculation about science. I like merged-genre stories, but be warned that I don’t want the anthology dominated by ’slipstream’ stories.
Story length is ideally between 2000 and 6000 words. However, I will consider stories outside of this range.
The unique points:
Music must be integral to the story: for example, the story might be about music, or the life of musicians, or the effect of a musical instrument, or perhaps a piece of music — or anything else that I haven’t thought of!
This next requirement is equally important. I’m not only looking for great characters, great plot, great entertainment and great prose, but I’m also looking for stories that are intellectually exciting. This is something Science Fiction and Fantasy is best equipped to deliver, so I am going to be explicit about wanting this in the anthology.
What I’m NOT looking for:
A story where the author has changed the lead character from a schoolteacher to a musician, or where the magical object has been changed from a cursed handbag to a cursed violin. Music MUST be integral to the story. If the musical element can obviously be exchanged for something or someone else — brilliant though the story may be — it won’t fit my anthology.
I’m also NOT looking for:
Gore-fests
Sword and Sorcery
Fan fiction
Mozart fighting zombies
Electronic submissions only. In RTF format. Email to mark.musicanthology’@'gmail.com
Payment: One free copy of the paperback plus £80 per author selected. Payment by Paypal only.
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UNTIL FILLED — MM and Menage Steampunk Antho — Phaze
Call: M/M and Menage Steampunk Anthology, Title TBA
Edited by: Leigh Ellwood
Projected release date: late 2010
Format: eBook (with possible print release)
Publisher: Phaze Books
Payment: $50 for one-time electronic and print rights, plus copies
Hey, all you steampunk enthusiasts, grab your goggles and get to writing! Phaze Books is planning an M/M (and bi-M menage) steampunk collection for eBook publication in 2010. If you have a yen for 19th century history with a touch of good humor and technological innovation (and a whole lot of manlove!), we hope you’ll send us your hottest steampunk erotic romance of 10K – 20K words. If you’re not sure about the genre, check out this Wikipedia entry for steampunk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) to get an idea of the style of stories we’re looking for. Think H.G. Wells or Wild Wild West, then turn up the steam factor with an incredible M/M or MMF/MMM match-up!
This call is open indefinitely until the spots are filled. Contributors will offer one-time electronic and print rights to their works and receive a one-time payment of $50 and contributors copies (eBook and/or print, if the book goes to print).
To submit to this anthology, please follow the Phaze Books structural guidelines at http://www.phaze.com/submissions.html and attach your RTF submission to Leigh Ellwood, c/o Phaze Books at submissions @ phaze (dot) com. Please use STEAMPUNK ANTHOLOGY is your subject header.
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UNTIL FILLED — Panverse Three — Ed. Dario Ciriello, Panverse Publishing
The anthology will be open to submissions until we have enough good stories.
Looking for pro-level novellas of between 15,000 and 40,000 words. Stories should be Science Fiction (except Military) or Fantasy (except Heroic/High/Superhero/S&S). We’ll also look at Magic Realism, Alternate History, and Slipstream (whatever that is). The story should be original and unpublished in any medium (this includes web publication).
Depth of characterization will count for a lot – however clever the idea, if we don’t care for the protagonist, we’ll bounce it. We like stories that instill wonder. Subject matter is pretty wide open. If we care, can’t put the story down, and find no big holes in the plot or worldbuilding, you’ve got a good shot.
What we don’t want:
Military SF, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Horror, RPG, superhero, or shared-universe stuff, etc. Vampires and Cthulhu-mythos stories are strongly discouraged unless you’ve done something absolutely original with either theme. No gratuitous or wildly excessive sex or violence: what this means is that sex or violence which serves the plot is okay, within limits; the same goes for language. Think R-rated rather than XXX-rated.
NOTE: there are some unusual bits in their formatting and cover letter requirements. Nothing ridiculous, but definitely click the link and read the full guidelines before submitting.
