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.
Non-erotica/romance writers: check out Fear of the Dark, Ladies of Trade Town (despite the title), Extreme Zombie Anthology, Times of Trouble, Panverse, and Horror Library.
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1 June 2010 — Working Stiffs — Amber Allure
Series Type: Gay (M/M) — Blue-Collar Love Affairs
Novella Length: 18,000 to 39,999 words
Heat Level: 3+ (Love scenes should be extremely explicit and contain graphic language. Stories may also contain sexual situations or storylines that push the envelope — heavy bondage, spanking, as well as menage, domination and submission, multiple sexual partners, etc.)
Specific Guidelines: Each novella for this “picture/series” should feature at least one blue-collar hero (regardless of industry), who’s a hard-working laborer considered “good with his hands” both at work and at play, and tell the tale of his love affair with a man of his own social class/standing (or maybe not�that’s entirely up to you). Although stories should have a contemporary setting only, they may also be sub-categorized as romantic comedy, suspense or thriller, action and adventure, as well as BDSM. But once again, please keep in mind that at least one of your heroes must be “blue-collar” worker, just the sort of hero depicted in the above photograph. Moreover, all stories should have a “happily ever after” ending, or at least what is considered a “happily for now” conclusion.
Email Address: After preparing your documents according to the “General Submission/Formatting Info” listed above, please submit the full manuscript, synopsis, and query letter to: submissions_workingstiffs@amberquill.com
[Heavily edited for space -- definitely click through for specific guidelines, and take note of the peculiarities in manuscript formatting.]
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1 June 2010 — Fear of the Dark — Horror Bound Magazine Publications
Horror Bound Magazine Publications seeks short stories for an upcoming anthology entitled Fear of the Dark (Temporary Title). The point of the stories should be to investigate the human fear of the unknown, the dark, and the common themes found in nightmares.
Reading Period: We will read stories starting March 5th to June 1st 2010 (or until the anthology is filled). Those who we offer a contract will be contacted shortly thereafter.
Payment: Payment will be $0.01/word CAD, based on the final, edited word count from Microsoft Word rounded to the nearest hundred words, plus one contributor’s copy.
All submissions should include an author bio and a short synopsis. We want to know why your short story fits our theme.
Submission guidelines: Stories should be 1500-5500 words, standard format, with the author’s name, email address, and word count in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Stories should be sent as email attachments in Microsoft Word to submissions@horrorbound.com.
We request first print rights and all electronic rights.
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9 June 2010 — The Ladies of Trade Town — Norilana Books
The stories selected for this anthology will build on that varied background to tell well-crafted tales of the women and men — and other sentient beings — who “ply the trade” in a variety of times and settings. I’m looking for original science fiction, fantasy, and related genre short stories that entertain and play to the imagination of the reader. Show me something I haven’t seen, read, or written. (For examples of that last, see “Lady Blaze” in Roby James’s Warrior Wisewoman 2 and the title cut of the filk CD that gives this volume its name.) Humor, characters of all orientations and gender-identities, and new writers all welcome.
Despite the theme, I am *not* looking for porn, erotica, or gore-soaked horror. Absolutely no child abuse, incest, or non-consensual situations. Also not looking for poetry, fanfic or proselytizing either for or against the theme.
STORY LENGTH: between 3,000 – 10,000 words. Mostly looking for stories in the 5,000 – 6,000 word range, but I’d like to have a few stories on the upper and lower ends in the mix. The upper limit is firm for unsolicited stories.
RIGHTS PURCHASED: First English Language Rights and non-exclusive electronic rights. The anthology will be published by Norilana Books as a trade paperback edition in April 2011, to be followed by an electronic edition to be produced later.
PAYMENT: $0.02 a word on acceptance of completed anthology manuscript by the Publisher, as an advance against pro-rata share of the royalties after earnout, plus one contributor copy.
READING PERIOD: Opens January 5, 2010, closes June 9, 2010. Manuscripts received before or after this period will be discarded unread, unless prior arrangements have been made otherwise.
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15 June 2010 — Mine — Ed. Shawn Clements, Torquere Press
Sometimes there can be no question about it: you’re owned. And that possessive little growl from your own personal vampire or werewolf is the sexiest thing on the planet. “Mine” is a paranormal e-anthology about this most exclusive of bonds, edited by Shawn Clements. We’re looking for m/m stories that sizzle, 3,000 to 8,000 words. Payment is a flat fee of $35.00 for first-time electronic rights. No reprints, please. Deadline for submission is June 15, 2010, with publication projected for October. Please submit the story, along with a synopsis, your contact information, and author biography, to submissions@torquerepress.com with “Mine” in the subject line.
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1 July 2010 — Taken — Torquere Press
Fangs. Claws. Ghostly shadows in the night. Taken is about the mysterious compulsion of the paranormal as it plays out in a m/m/f menage. An unearthly white lady who bewitches two handsome knights? A hapless mortal who finds himself the captive of the Faerie king and queen? Whatever the situation, you can guarantee the characters will be taken with each other. 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 July 1, 2010. Please submit the story, along with a synopsis, your contact information, and author biography to submissions@torquerepress.com with Taken in the subject line.
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1 July 2010 — Hot Summer Daze — Amber Allure
Series Type: Gay (M/M) — Summertime Love Affairs
Novella Length: 18,000 to 39,999 words
Heat Level: 3+ (Love scenes should be extremely explicit and contain graphic language. Stories may also contain sexual situations or storylines that push the envelope — heavy bondage, spanking, as well as menage, domination and submission, multiple sexual partners, etc.)
Specific Guidelines: Each novella for this “picture/series” should tell the story of a hot and steamy summer affair. Whether your heroes meet at some exotic resort, on a luxury cruise, or even while hanging out at their neighborhood pool, a red-hot romance should develop between them and turn their lives upside down. Although stories should have a contemporary setting only, they may also be sub-categorized as romantic comedy, suspense or thriller, action and adventure, as well as BDSM. All stories should have a “happily ever after” ending, or at least what is considered a “happily for now” conclusion, so show us how the summers will sizzle once your heroes get together and realize what they have is a whole lot more than just a meaningless fling.
Email Address: After preparing your documents according to the “General Submission/Formatting Info” listed above, please submit the full manuscript, synopsis, and query letter to: submissions_workingstiffs@amberquill.com
[Heavily edited for space -- definitely click through for specific guidelines, and take note of the peculiarities in manuscript formatting.]
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1 July 2010 — Extreme Zombie Anthology — Comet Press
Comet Press is seeking novelette/novella length stories for a extreme zombie themed anthology to be published in August 2010 (trade paperback). We are looking for the most gruesome, twisted, disturbing, zombie stories imaginable.
Reading period: From February 1, 2010–July 1, 2010 (or until filled).
Word length: 15,000–30,000 words.
Multiple submissions: Up to two stories per author can be submitted. Please send as separate emails.
Payment: 1/2 cent per word, $150 max, plus contributor copy. Payment will be made upon publication.
Reprints: No reprints.
Response Time: 4–6 weeks. Rejections will be sent as soon as possible. Stories that make the first cut will be kept until the end of the reading period. Authors will be notified right away if their story makes the first cut, then the final stories will be selected at the end of the reading period.
We will send a confirmation that we received your story within 2 days. If you do not get this confirmation, please feel free to inquire or resubmit.
Attach the entire manuscript to email as an .rtf attachment.
In the body of the email please include: your name, pen name if any, address and email address, and brief bio. Include a brief blurb summing up the story and word count. Attache the story in a standard formatted .rtf document double spaced, standard font and size. First line of paragraphs indented, no extra spaces between paragraphs, except for scene breaks. Italics should be italized, bold in bold. Put “ZOMBIE SUBMISSION: TITLE OF YOUR STORY” in the subject of the email. Email to: contact@cometpress.us
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1 July 2010 — Paranormal Month: Halloween Novelettes and Novellas — Torquere Press
Novelettes (Single Shots) 10-20K words, Novellas (Highballs) 20-40K words, on a Halloween theme. Send your submissions to submissions@torquere.com with “Halloween” and the name of the line in the subject line.
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4 July 2010 — Times of Trouble — Ed. Lane Adamson, Permuted Press
Time travel. It’s the ultimate impossible dream: the ability to step through a doorway into tomorrow or yesterday, seeing all the unknown wonders of the future—or correcting the awful mistakes of the past. It can’t happen, of course. Oh, but what if?… And what if something went terribly, irreparably wrong? Times of Trouble, a new anthology of original speculative fiction from Permuted Press, is looking for grim, gritty stories about the unhappy unintended consequences of mucking about with the delicate fabric of reality. That doesn’t mean there’s no room for any note of hope, or the occasional happy ending—in fact, accomplishing such a feat effectively just might greatly enhance the author’s chance of inclusion in this anthology—but the emphasis here is decidedly on the dark downside of time travel.
Times of Trouble most emphatically does not want to see any stories of clichéd wish fulfillment—don’t bother submitting any stories in which Hitler is fortuitously killed prior to World War II—or those using time travel as a convenient plot device to place the protagonist “elsewhen” simply for the sake of a rousing adventure. (The Editor has nothing whatsoever against a good romp with Tyrannosaurs, but the place for such is not here.) Time travel must be integral to development of the story. Unless crucial to the plot, it is not necessary to expound at length on the actual mechanism of time travel. The “how” should be far less important than “what happens next?”
Examples of the sort of stories that will succeed in this anthology are “—All You Zombies—” by Robert A. Heinlein, “A Sound of Thunder,” by Ray Bradbury (oh, look—you can use dinosaurs, if you do it right), and the classic Star Trek™ episode, “The City on the Edge of Forever.”
Submissions open April 04, 2010 and close July 04, 2010, for stories of 3000 to 7500 words, and should be emailed to timetraveler at permutedpress dot com, attached as a .doc (preferred) or .rtf file in Standard Manuscript Format (as described—with many worthwhile pointers—at either http://www.sfwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Mssprep.pdf or http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html, both of which are fine examples for the writer). Submissions that fail to at least make an attempt to follow formatting guidelines will be rejected unread (but may be resubmitted in proper format).
Multiple submissions are not permitted, but authors whose attempts are rejected are not prohibited from making another effort. Simultaneous submissions are strongly frowned upon.
Payment will be US $.01/word for first worldwide print and eBook rights, payable on finalization by the Editor of the completed Table of Contents and issuance of a contract by the Publisher.
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15 July 2010 — Healing Hearts: Charity Sip Blitz — Torquere Press
Doctors Without Borders is our chosen beneficiary for Healing Hearts, the Charity Sip Blitz 2010, and now we need writers to bring life to the project. We’re looking for m/m stories with a medical, healing twist–and an international flavor is encouraged! All heat levels are welcome, and happy endings are strongly preferred.
Manuscripts should be original works of 3,000 to 8,000 words; no reprints, please. Authors will sign a one-year agreement to donate all royalties to Doctors Without Borders, with the understanding that Torquere Press will match all donations 100%. Deadline for submission is July 15, 2010. Please submit your story, along with a synopsis, your contact information, and author biography, to submissions@torquerepress.com with Charity Sip in the subject line.
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1 August 2010 — Paranormal Month: Halloween Shorts — Torquere Press
Short Stories (Sips) 3-8K words, on a Halloween theme. Send your submissions to submissions@torquere.com with “Halloween” and the name of the line in the subject line.
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UNTIL FILLED — MM and Menage Steampunk Antho — Ed. Leigh Ellwood, 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 17,500 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.]
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UNTIL FILLED — Horror Library, Vol. 5 — Cutting Block Press
Cutting Block Press is pleased to announce an open submissions period for the 4th Volume of its Horror Anthology Series, +Horror Library+, to be published in trade paperback during 2009.
We’re looking for the highest quality examples of all forms of Dark Fiction, running the gamut from traditional horror, supernatural, speculative, psychological thriller, dark satire, including every point between and especially beyond. No Fantasy or Sci-fi unless the horror elements are dominant. Read +Horror Library+ Volumes 1-3 to see what’s already pleased us. Special consideration will be given those pieces that we find profoundly disturbing, though blood and violence on their own won’t cut it. While we will consider tales of vampires, ghosts and zombies, we tend to roll our eyes at ordinary ones. They’re just too plentiful. Your best bet is to surprise us with something that is different, while well conceived and tightly executed.
Guidelines: Stories will range between 1,000 and 6,000 words, though we’ll look at longer works of exceptional merit. In that case, query before submission. Buying 1st worldwide anthology rights. No reprints. Paying 1.5 cents per word, plus one contributors copy. For established authors, rates may be negotiable. Response time: six months or sooner. Deadline: We will accept submissions until filled. All Queries to horrorlibrarysubs@yahoo.com.
Manuscript format: 12 point courier font, standard margins, left side of header: name, contact info, right side of header: word count, top of first page: title, author
Variances from traditional manuscript format: single space, NO INDENTS, ONE EXTRA space between paragraphs, use bold, italics and underline as they are to appear in story
Subject box: Short Story submission – title of story
Attach story in MS Word Document or RTF (only). Please paste your cover letter in the body of the e-mail. Send submissions to horrorlibrarysubs@yahoo.com.
[See the web page for a special offer on copies of Horror Library Vol. 1 for writers doing market research.]
