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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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31 December 2013 -- Take the Heat -- ed. Skye Warren
Theme: Criminals, illegal activity
Word Count: 4,000 – 6,000
Payment: $100
The ultimate bad boys, criminals have the power to capture our attention and waken our darkest desires. Celebrate the illicit in short story format for this taboo contemporary anthology. Put your own spin on the following scenarios or surprise readers with a new one:
- A jaded cop arrests a street walker only to find himself seduced
- A CEO catches a thief in the act—and exacts his own punishment
- A cold assassin finds one target he can’t bring himself to terminate
- An escaped fugitive takes a hostage who just might save him
- A new arrival at the prison stirs up lust in a long-term inmate
Make it sexy and shocking, erotic and thoughtful. A strong plot and well-crafted writing are musts. Twists and mindfucks appreciated. Angst welcome. Romantic elements nice to have. Any variation of genders, pairings, and sex practices accepted, but please refrain from submitting incest, bestiality, or rape as titillation, and all characters should be over eighteen.
The anthology will receive marketing support, including print advertising, review exposure, and event placement. A one-time payment of $100 will be made for each accepted story. Preferred word count 4,000 to 6,000 words. Contract is for 3 years exclusive rights and non-exclusive rights thereafter.
Accepted stories will be professionally edited, but please ensure that your submission is complete and polished. Include the title, your name, pen name, mailing address, email address, and bio on the first page of your manuscript. Format the document in Times New Roman font, 12 point, double spaced, black font, in doc or rtf format.
Submissions are due December 31, 2013. Send your story to skye@skyewarren.com with subject line TAKE THE HEAT.
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31 December 2013 -- Kaleidoscope -- ed. Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios; Twelfth Planet Press
Kaleidoscope is an anthology of contemporary YA science fiction and fantasy with a focus on diverse perspectives. Alisa Krasnostein (founder of Twelfth Planet Press, and winner of the World Fantasy Award in 2011) and Julia Rios (fiction editor at Strange Horizons, and host of the Outer Alliance Podcast) are co-editing this project, which we hope to fill with a variety of exciting tales, happy and sad, adventurous and meditative. We’re not simply looking for cookie-cutter vampire or urban fantasy stories, but for things that transport us and subvert our expectations.
Stories submitted for this anthology should be between 2,500 and 10,000 words and should feature:
*Protagonists who are characters of color, disabled, neurodiverse, mentally ill, QUILTBAG, people with non-western cultural backgrounds, or otherwise diverse (not the typical straight, white, cisgender, able-bodied, western characters).
*Contemporary settings: modern day Earth life should be part of the story. It’s okay if there is a portal to a fantasy world, but we want characters to have some grounding in this world, too.
*Science fiction or fantasy elements: While we want the setting to be contemporary, we do want each story to have a speculative element (magic, the supernatural, genetic mutations, tech that doesn’t exist yet, etc.).
*Teen protagonists, because this is a YA anthology, after all! Mature themes and content are okay, but we’re not looking for erotica or extreme violence.
Payment will be 5 cents per word (USD) to be paid on publication in late 2014. We’re asking for First World Publication Rights, with an exclusivity period of 12 months (with the exception of Year’s Best reprints).
All submissions must reach us by the 31st of December in order to be considered for the anthology.
Send your submission as an RTF or Doc file to kaleidoscope@twelfthplanetpress.com with “Kaleidoscope Submission: [your story title]” in the subject line. Please no simultaneous or multiple submissions (that is to say, please send us only one story at a time, and please don’t send that story to any other markets until you have heard back from us). We expect to make our decisions in early 2014.
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1 January 2014 -- Daughters of Frankenstein -- ed. Steve Berman; Lethe Press
Lethe Press is seeking short stories and novellettes for its forthcoming anthology, Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists! We're looking for more cinematic-style "mad science"--over-the-top vs. textbook--so everything from alchemy to steampunk to cloning in tanks is fine. The protagonist must be lesbian and her sexuality cannot be a stigma. While the mad scientist need not be the protagonist, she must be a three-dimensional character and her interest in (mad) science should have a natural rationale as in real life (though her desired ends to whatever experiment takes place as one of the story arcs need not be natural at all!). Our preference is stories that take place in 19th and 20th centuries, but we are open to other time periods and contemporary tales.
This book would be shelved in SF/Fantasy. So this is not an erotica anthology. Elements of romance are fine and welcome as long as they are natural to the story.
Original stories should be 2,500 to 12,500 words. Payment is 5 cents a word upon publication, which will be in the fall of 2014. Deadline for all submissions is January 31st, 2014. Submissions must be sent as rtf files to lethepress@aol.com with the subject line DAUGHTERS OF FRANKENSTEIN. Feel free to query us.
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31 January 2014 -- Death's Realm -- Grey Matter Press
What happens after death?
That’s the question Grey Matter Press would like you to answer.
For our next anthology–working title Death’s Realm -– we’re looking for dark, horrifying tales exploring themes from "the great beyond."
We do not want to limit your creativity with a narrowly themed collection, so Death’s Realm will include works of truly terrifying dark fiction that investigate the concepts of hauntings, spirits, life after death, ghostly encounters and just about any other subject that pertains to the afterlife and the horrifying things that might reside just beyond the veil. Be prepared to scare the hell out of us.
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.
We thank you for your interest in considering Grey Matter Press as a potential home for your work.
*"Death’s Realm" 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: January 31, 2014
Payment: $100 flat rate per each manuscript accepted into the anthology
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. (Published work includes work that have appeared online in magazines, journals and/or personal websites.) 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: DEATH’S REALM – ‘Title of Story.’
Font Usage and General Formatting: We request that all files be submitted double-spaced, using either Arial or Times New Roman 11 point font. Page margins should be no less than .5 inch on all borders. If using headers/footers, please employ standard Word header/footer tools rather than manually inserting such into the body of your Word document.
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). Copyright remains that of the author. 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.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at submissions@greymatterpress.com.
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UNTIL FILLED -- Thresholds -- Dreadful Cafe ** First Posted December 2013
We cross boundaries every day - the door to a room, a crack in a sidewalk, the border of a city.
The stories in Thresholds will take the reader to another time, into the dark, into the arms of a lover, to another world, or to the dark recesses of the mind.
Are you ready?
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 (fiction) and samples (art) for Thresholds, our second anthology of art and fiction. All genres are eligible, but preference is given to works that cross more than one and which reflect the flavor and theme described above.
For FICTION:
Manuscripts must be between 1,000 and 25,000 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 (1,000-7,000 words) — $125
== Novelettes (7,001-13,000 words) — $250
== Novellas (13,001-25,000 words) — Negotiable
Estimated Publication: Late Spring/Early Summer 2014
[Click through for more info.]
