Markets with specific deadlines are listed first, with "Always Open" and "Until Filled" markets (if any) 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 guidelines on one page, so after you click through you might have to scroll a bit.
***
31 July 2018 -- Innsmouthbreathers -- Martian Migraine Press
There are folks for whom the question of whether Cthulhu has two eyes or six is a vitally important one. Individuals that believe, somehow, that a dinner of tinned spaghetti and ice cream with a reanimated H. P. Lovecraft would be the height of both culinary and intellectual pleasure. Scholars who feel that The Horror at Red Hook is a timely warning about, well, you know… those other people. Esteemed biographers of weird fiction luminaries who reveal their foaming insecurity at the changing of the guard, or the form of a literary award. Entities who dissolve with glee at the slapping of some tentacles on a meme, thus rendering it "Lovecraftian".
Yes, they're out there, in their seeming thousands, trolling social media, fawning over the dead, podcasting their paranoia. Yes, they are slouching roughly towards Arkham and Providence and fabled Y’ha-nthlei, to dwell in fossilized canon and geeky glory, forever.
INNSMOUTHBREATHERS.
Martian Migraine Press announces an open call for submissions to our latest anthology project, INNSMOUTHBREATHERS: Cautionary Fables of Mythos Fandom! We are looking for humourous stories of a certain kind of Cthulhu Mythos fan: the rabid Lovecraft worshipper, the defender of the outmoded and outclassed, the pulp reader for whom Weird Fiction peaked somewhere in the middle of the last century. (The 20th, for those keeping track of such things!) We’re looking for tales that pit Innsmouthbreathers against all manner of real and imagined horrors: shoggoths with Social Justice agendas, politically active Deep Ones, enlightened Mi-Go, and Nick Mamatas*. Make them lovable, make them loathsome, make us feel their triumphs and defeats! Put us in their basements, their garrets, their comic shops and conventions and pop-culture covens, and put us in their Cthulhu parody t-shirts while you’re at it. Mmm, is that a cotton/poly blend? Only in black, you say? SOLD.
INNSMOUTHBREATHERS will be a mostly funny book. We’re going for light-hearted ribbing here, a send-up, a roast. Stories that are outright mean and nasty won’t play well within these pages. Remember, let they who have not geeked out over Lovecraft, even a little, even once, throw the first Shining Trapezohedron into the bay! And sure, we’re asking for yuks, but please don’t feel you need to dial back the weird horror. Mix it up, thrill us, chill us, make us laugh at ourselves.
Submission period closes 31 JULY 2018. The anthology will be released in early October 2018.
SUBMITTING
Please use Standard Manuscript format when submitting. That’s double spaced, left justified, Times New Roman or Courier or something at least readable, a header on the first page (at least) with your author info and word count and… well, you know the drill. RTF or DOC files preferred, but DOCx and text files also accepted. Obviously, you could send us something that’s not in Standard Manuscript format, but it will lower your chances of it being looked at seriously.
We will look at both original work and REPRINTS.
To submit a story to INNSMOUTHBREATHERS send an e-mail (with the story file attached, not in the body of the email) to: submissions@martianmigrainepress.com, with subject line: INNSMOUTH, title of your story, and your name.
LENGTH
For short fiction, we’d like to see anything from 1,500 to 5,000 words. If your story goes over 5k, please inquire first. Honestly, we’d prefer to see shorter, punchier stories.
FLASH FICTION: got something under 1500 words? Send it in. However, the following still applies…
NO POETRY.
PAYMENT
All accepted submissions will be paid .03CAD per word, via Paypal, as well as a contributor copy (paperback) of the anthology, and copies in all electronic formats (mobi, EPUB, and PDF). Authors are also entitled to complete access to all titles in the MMP ebook catalogue.
REPLIES AND QUERIES
We will try to acknowledge receipt of your submission within a week of its arrival in our inbox. The submission period itself will close on 31 JULY 2018 and we should be responding to all submissions, yay or nay, by early August 2018. If you haven’t heard from us by 15 September 2018, please query.
* We use Mr Mamatas here as a stand-in for any writer who dares to push weird and horror fiction into new, interesting places. Sorry, Nick, but you made your bed, sir.
***
31 July 2018 -- Life After All -- Less Than Three Press
Life After All — an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/pastoral apocalyptic LGBTQIA+ romance anthology — The end of the world is a dark, bleak place. Life is full of grit, misery, and barely scraping by. But if humans excel at anything, it’s making the best of a bad situation, and the end of the world would be no different.
Less Than Three Press invites you to submit stories about life after the end of the world being far from bleak and hopeless. We want to see stories of hardened apocalypse survivors building new lives and homes with their found families; gentle robots terraforming the ruined remains of the Earth; your post-Earth space settlers slice-of-life.
THE DETAILS:
== Put SUBMISSIONS: TITLE (where TITLE is your title) in the subject line.
== Stories should be at least 8000 words and should not exceed approx 15000 words in length.
== Stories must be about a post-apocalyptic society.
== Stories must have a happily ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN) end.
== Any sub-genre is gladly accepted: sci-fi, mystery, contemporary, steampunk, etc.
== LT3 always welcomes representation of all genders and nonbinary or agender characters.
== All usual LT3 submission guidelines apply.
Life After All is a general release anthology, which means authors will receive a flat payment of $150.00 once LT3 has a signed contract. 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 — do not submit a first draft. They can be submitted in any format (doc, docx, rtf, odt, etc) preferably single spaced 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.
Questions should be directed to the anthology editor, J., at jhong.writes@gmail.com (or you can ping them on twitter @heykaunlay).
***
15 August 2018 -- A Punk Rock Future -- Zsenon Publishing
Welcome to A Punk Rock Future. Get ready for an anthology from Zsenon Publishing that will feature flash fiction as fast as a punk rock song as well as longer stories, all with a gut punch and revealing a punk rock future.
You may ask yourself: Are we already in this punk rock future or did it die in the late 1970s? Or is it still coming?
We’ll find out soon in this anthology…
So you may have thought Punk Rock was going to change the world. That Punk RULES.
Or are we still here with [pic of a The Clash album cover].
Either way, we’re looking for stories from you that will explore this future, whether it’s near or far away. We’d like to see dystopias, utopias, or something in-between; anything with a punk rock sensibility/ethos; alternative history; the promise of punk; the failure of punk; music-inspired stories; science fiction; fantasy; or horror. No matter the genre label, stories must have a speculative element. This isn’t an anthology of steampunk, solarpunk, silkpunk, ecopunk (those are all fine genres), or whatever punk. We won’t rule out stories that touch on those niches but be warned: Stories should be the real deal, punk punk.
Surprise and amaze us. A punk strain runs through SFFH so we know that great stories are out there. Want a recent fantastic example? The Big So-So by Erica Satifka. Unfortunately, you can’t get Satifka's short story online but you might pick up this issue of Interzone to see what we like. Or read Sarah Pinsker’s 2015 Nebula Award winner Our Lady of the Open Road, published in Asimov's. It, too, has the vibe we want.
In A Punk Rock Future, the shortest of these stories will be confined to the 350-500 word range, which would span about three minutes if the story is read aloud. We want stories that howl like Exene Cervenka, charge ahead like Death’s drums, and roar out on a quick, high note like a Clash solo. After all, the Ramones rarely wrote songs over three minutes—although the seminal punk band penned a couple songs over four minutes long, so we might stretch it some. These flash fictions still must be stories though, which is indeed possible to do well in 500 words. Short stories, which will make up the bulk of the anthology, will top out at 6,000 words.
Almost all of the stories will come straight outta the garage, the slush pile, which seems like the punk thing to do. A few stories may be solicited from the punkiest of punk writers.
We want diverse fiction from any and all demographics of people and about any and all demographics of people.
Some sorta kickstarter-y thing is in the plans to help pay the writers, or maybe pay ‘em more. We will pay pro rates of at least 6 cents a word.
Hey, ho. What are you waiting for? Get writing and submit starting now until the August 15, 2018 deadline. Let’s go.
IN SHORT
Genres: science fiction, fantasy, horror (all stories must have a speculative element, even the horror).
Word count: 350-6000 words.
Pay rate: 6 cents per word, professional rate as deemed by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Multiple submissions: No.
Simultaneous submissions: No.
Reprint submissions: Don’t submit reprints. In rare cases maybe, but query first and only if it’s an exceptional story.
Estimated Response Time: Fast as possible.
Estimated Publication Date: Summer 2019.
BIG NO-NO’s:
No torture, porn or tortureporn.
Stay away from the well-trodden, so:
1. No Vampires
2.No Zombies
Slush piles are overrun by zombies and vampires. Don’t submit those stories. They’ll be rejected instantaneously.
HOW WILL IT BE PUBLISHED?
The anthology will be published as a book, both paper and ebook.
We’ll be buying first worldwide print and electronic rights in English, with an exclusivity period of six months. Payment on publication.
HOW DO I SUBMIT?
Submissions to: zsenonpublishing@gmail.com.
Standard Manuscript Format please. Doc, docx or rtf.
Subject line of email should read: SUBMISSION – Your Name – Your Story Title
***
1 September 2018 -- Burnt Fur -- ed. Ken Macgregor; Blood Bound Books
Furry: 'noun informal 1. an enthusiast for animal characters with human characteristics, in particular a person who dresses up in costume as such a character or uses one as an avatar online.'
Furry can also mean actual anthropomorphic animal characters. Real animals acting like people (ie. Watership Down) or half-human/half-animal hybrids (ie. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
We’re looking for stories from the dark underbelly of Furry life. The Pooka who is not only invisible to everyone but Elwood Dowd ("Harvey"), but who is also slaughtering the neighborhood pets. The talking porcupine who uses an ancient form of acupuncture to mind-control the humans into a sex/blood cult. The couple who dress up as wolves, go to Furry cons, and actually eat people dressed as prey animals. You get the idea.
Show us the corruption of innocence. Give us fur matted with blood and semen. Make us squirm as we read. But, please, make sure you have a story to go with your gory. Please include a plot with your cum shot. If it’s all shock and no substance, we’ll likely pass.
What we’re looking for:
Genres: All sub-genres of horror accepted—extreme, bizzaro, erotic, new weird, splatterpunk—if it’s dark and it’s furry, we want it!
Stories must be previously unpublished in any form
Email: burntfursubmissions@gmail.com
Length: 1,500 words up to 7K
Multiple Submissions: No
Simultaneous Submissions: No
Payment: 3 cents/word
***
1 September 2018 -- Release the Virgins -- ed. Michael A. Ventrella
Through a kickstarter campaign, we were able to raise enough to go ahead with this project, and we have confirmations from authors David Gerrold, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Jody Lynn Nye, Allen Steele, Steve Miller, Sharon Lee, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Gail Z. Martin, Cecilia Tan, Patrick Thomas, Shariann Lewitt, Alex Shvartsman, Hildy Silverman, and Daniel M. Kimmel.
We should have room for a few extra stories as well. But only a few.
Submissions are open for short stories that include, somewhere in the story, the phrase "Release the Virgins."
The story should be no more than 5,000 words. This should be sufficient for what should most likely be a somewhat humorous tale. The payment is 5 cents a word. Do not take this as an invitation to pad your story in order to earn a few more bucks. If your story is complete at 3,000 words, then end it. A good but padded story may get rejected over a concise, fast-moving one, because we want to fit in as many stories as possible.
Unpublished authors are encouraged to submit, but will still face the same standards for submissions as the published authors. (Hint: Don’t send me a submission full of spelling and grammatical errors.)
An email proposal is required to make sure you are not duplicating an idea already reserved by one of the accepted authors. Send to michael.ventrella@gmail.com.
Once that is approved, your story should be double-spaced in rtf format with 12 point Times Roman font. There should be no spacing after the paragraphs. The first page must contain the name of the story, the word count, and your name, address, email, and phone number. Your cover letter should list any previous publications.
EDIT (ADDED A WEEK LATER):
I’m getting a lot of proposed story ideas for the anthology and if they all submit stories, I’ll have to reject a lot (or hold them in case we do a second book).
But here’s some advice:
1. Avoid unicorns. I’ve already had a bunch of proposals about unicorns and even if the submitted stories are all good, I’m not going to want to have more than one or two unicorn stories in the anthology. We want variety.
2. Be creative. If it looks like you just took a story you already had and found a way to work the phrase into the story in such a way that I could remove the phrase completely and it wouldn’t hurt the story, then I will probably not accept it. The phrase should be relevant and necessary to the story.
3. Don’t send me a proposal with spelling and grammatical errors. I mean, duh.
Thanks!
***
15 September 2018 -- Non-Themed Horror Anthologies -- Corpus Press
Corpus Press is now accepting submissions for non-themed horror anthologies with a publication target of 2019. Submissions will be accepted according to our publishing needs, regardless of author publication history, status, race, creed, gender, sexual preferences or any other identity factor. Submissions should be story-driven and appeal to a wide adult audience.
What we ARE looking for:
== Not previously published short stories of 2,500-4,500 words. We are seeking stories that can be characterized as being within the broad category of “horror” fiction.
== Successful submissions will be highly original, well written and cleanly edited.
== Stories may be frightening, thought-provoking, atmospheric, humorous and/or satirical (or any combination thereof), but MUST contain a complete tale.
What we ARE NOT looking for:
== We are not seeking “extreme horror” or “Splatterpunk” material. We discourage submissions that have a singular purpose of shocking the audience with explicit language, sexuality and/or violence. Explicit language, sexuality and violence are acceptable, however, if handled in a tasteful manner and in service to a well-plotted, engaging story.
== Abstract mood pieces, vignettes, and highly experimental approaches to literature are discouraged. We are not accepting poems.
== Stories featuring exaggerated dialects, colloquialisms or excessive references to pop culture or current fads are discouraged.
== Not seeking stories featuring vampires, werewolves or zombies.
== Epistolary fiction will not be accepted.
Document Requirements: Submissions must be in an editable format sent via the publisher’s submission portal. No PDFs or scanned documents sent as image files will be accepted. Preference is for author name, email address and word count information to be placed only at the end of the document to assist with blinded review process.
Submission window: June 1, 2018 until midnight EST September 15, 2018.
Please no multiple or simultaneous submissions. Notifications of acceptance / rejection will be sent no later than October 30, 2018, with publication target of 2019.
PLEASE NOTE THAT SUBMISSION DOES NOT GUARANTEE ACCEPTANCE.
Pay Rate: $.03 per word.
Payment will be capped at $150 USD for accepted submissions (2,500-4,500 words). Two (2) free contributor copies (paperback) will be provided upon publication, with contributors having the option to buy additional quantities at cost post-publication. Payment on publication.
Anthology target length: Approximately 250-300 pages. Title TBD.
Please note: Final contract required to be signed upon acceptance which may contain additional terms and conditions.
***
1 October 2018 -- American Psychos -- ed. Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax; Red Room Press
Note: Anthology updates will be posted in the right hand column [of the web page] (accepted authors, tentative contributors, etc.)
Red Room Press is seeking stories for a new dark crime/thriller/horror anthology, American Psychos: A Serial Killer Anthology. Inspired by the most disturbingly violent and graphic crime thriller novels of our time, including Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, Shane Steven’s By Reason of Insanity, Michael Slade’s Headhunter, our goal is to make American Psychos a brutal, suspenseful, nightmare-inducing hard ride into hell.
Stories must be about a serial killer, obviously. The story can either be based on a real serial killer or a fictional serial killer. Stories should primarily be set in the USA, but the character may travel abroad. We want stories that are brutal, graphic, disturbing and violent. The above referenced books will give you a good idea of what we are looking for. Serial killers must be human; no supernatural elements, monsters, or vampires. They can have supernatural beliefs, however, and they can be any gender or race.
Publication Date: Early 2019
Length: 3500-5500 words.
Response Time: 4-8 weeks
Payment for original stories: $100 ($150 if we meet our crowdfunding campaign goal, See sidebar for details and other anthology updates)
No unsolicited reprints or multiple submissions.
What to Send
In the body of an email:
== Author name
== Story title
== Word Count
== A brief bio
== A short description of the story.
== Attachment of entire manuscript in rtf, doc, or docx format only. Standard formatting.
We’ll send a notification within 48 hours that we received your submission. If you don’t get this, please inquire. We may not have received it.
EMAIL TO: americanpsychos@redroompress.com
***
ALWAYS OPEN -- Future Visions Anthology Series -- ed. Brian J Walton; Camton House Publishing
The Future Visions Anthologies is a science fiction anthology series, aiming to deliver excellent and diverse short story collections on a quarterly basis. In the tradition of great television anthology series such as The Twilight Zone, and Black Mirror, the Future Visions Anthologies will broadly explore all genres and traditions of science fiction and speculative fiction, seeking in each story to explore deeply themes that are relevant to a modern audience.
Themes:
What do you hope the future will bring? What are you afraid we may become? How do our visions of the future inform and give shape to the hopes and fears that we have today?
These questions are what defines anthology series like The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Rather than mandating a theme for each publication, (one publication for cyborgs, one for time travelers, etc...) I want authors to feel free to explore these larger questions using any and all of the popular science fiction tropes: new technology, exploration, nightmarish dystopians, alien species, baffling utopias, the list goes on...
Diversity:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to bring diversity to all aspects of their publications, from the stories and authors we publish, to the themes and genres we explore. All authors may apply regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation.
Terms:
The Future Visions Anthologies seeks to engage authors with fair and equitable terms through participation in the anthologies. The anthologies will be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited for an initial six-month term, during which stories will be exclusive to the anthology. After this, anthologies will continue be available as an ebook (not in KU) for an additional six-month term. During this term, partial publication rights will return to the author to publish as an ebook, except for in KU. After one year, the ebook will be unpublished, returning all rights to the author.
Payment will be based on a profit-share model with a guaranteed minimum payment of $150. Authors will receive royalties during the first six months of membership. At the end of the royalty period, if the author's royalties do not meet the minimum payment of $150 then the remaining amount will be paid. There is no cap to the amount of royalties that may be earned. Earning reports for the anthology will be provided to all participating authors to ensure complete transparency. Specific terms will be available after initial acceptance of the author's story.
Submission Guidelines:
== Authors must read and be in agreement with the above before submitting.
== There is no fee to submit.
== Submissions must be original, never before published works.
== Submissions may be set in a larger universe, but should be a complete story; do not send excerpts, parts, or volumes.
== Word Count is 2k-7k words (exceptions for up to one story per anthology can be made).
== Submissions should be written to the best of the author's ability. Professional editing is not required but may help in the consideration of your piece. Camton House Publishing will provide professional editing and proofreading, approved by the author, and a final, edited version will be submitted to the author upon publication.
== Adult language and sexual situations are permitted, but no hate speech, erotica or "X-rated" material.
== Formatting: 12pt Times New Roman font with 1.5-line spacing; 1-inch margins on all sides; no extra spaces between paragraphs; leading indentations, but no tabs.
== Include "Future Visions Short Story Submission" in the header and the following information in the body of the email:
o Author Name
o Story Title
o Word Count
o Brief Bio, written in the third person. 100-300 words.
== Submissions should be submitted in docx format as an attachment.
== Submissions should be emailed to futurevisionssubmissions@gmail.com
Submissions that do not follow the above guidelines will not be considered.
Deadlines:
Submissions are always open. Authors who have submitted will be notified within 4-6 weeks of submission regarding whether their story has been selected.
[Okay, this is different. I'll be treating this one like an "Until Filled" market, in that I'll be checking every month to make sure they're still alive. Unlike a UF, I'll keep posting this so long as it's still alive. (Unless it turns morbid or skeevy, the usual.) Note that this is a royalty split with a guaranteed minimum, which works out to pro rates up to 2500 words, and semi-pro after that. Best practice IMO is to assume that the minimum is all you'll ever get from this market; that way, so long as you do get paid, all your surprises will happy ones.
Interesting business model; it's basically a magazine that's being treated like an antho series, more or less. I'll be keeping an eye on this one, and may revisit the listing in the future.]
***
UNTIL FILLED -- Black Superheroes Do It Too! -- Black Books Publishing -- First Listed January 2018
We are currently accepting submissions for our Black Erotica/Superhero Anthology (Working Title: Black Superheroes Do It Too!). Submissions should be full stories, not just sex scenes and between 3500 and 10,000 words. Writers, feel free to query to ensure your story idea hasn't already been submitted.
This anthology pays $100US. The submission period will remain open until our goal of a 225+ page anthology has been reached.
Thoroughly edited material has the best chance of acceptance. You don't need to pay someone to edit your material, but if you're serious about your writing, we do recommend it. At a minimum, we suggest you have others read over your work for typos and grammatical errors.
All manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word and should be double spaced with an extra space between each paragraph. THIS EXTRA SPACE SHOULD BE DONE IN MICROSOFT WORD, THROUGH YOUR PARAGRAPH SETTINGS, NOT BY YOU ACTUALLY HITTING "ENTER" TWICE. There should be no indention at the start of each paragraph.
Send to: submissions@blackbookspublishing.com with "Superhero Erotica" in the subject heading.
***
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