Saturday, March 2, 2024

March, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

 HWA L.A.: For March, 2024
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)


Orion’s Belt (online magazine)
https://www.orions-belt.net/submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,200 words
Opens: March 1, 2024 and closes intermittently
Reprints?: No
Response: generally within one week
Description: Bold, experimental literary science fiction and fantasy stories that blur the line between “genre” fiction and literary fiction.


Ghoulish Tales Magazine, Issue#3 (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
https://ghoulish.rip/reopened-for-short-story-submissions-ghoulish-tales/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: March 29, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.” Also open to non-fiction articles (up to 3,000 words).


Songs from the Void (publ. by Max Blood’s Mausoleum)
https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/scifi-horror-anthology-songs-from-void-oc9bj
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 3,500–12,000 words
Deadline: January 1, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: short horror tales set in the bleakness of space; sci-fi terrors, your Lovecraftian leviathans, your monsters lurking through corridors, your isolation fears. Whatever it is, if it’s in space and scary, we want to see it.


Book Worms Horror Zine, Issue #5
https://rsaintclaire.com/2024/01/30/call-for-submissions-2/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,500 words
Deadline: April 30, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Short fiction for our Rock n’ Roll Issue! From hair-raising riffs to head-banging oblivion, horror and rock n’ roll are a match made in Hell! We generally enjoy “fun”, “80s style” horror reminiscent of the zine’s old-school vibe, but we’ve also been blown away by fresh voices that take the genre in a new direction.
Note: This publisher accepts submissions ONLY via postal mail


SpeKulative Stories (anthology series)
https://www.omicronworld.com/anthology-submissions
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,500 words
Deadline: November 30, 2024, or “whenever the anthology is filled.”
Reprints?: Yes
Response: T
Description: Quality short stories or poetry in any form of speculative fiction genre: fantasy, horror, science fiction, etc. that meet the current theme. Two current themes are: Train Stories, and Aliens Among Us.


Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea (anthology, Air and Nothingness Press)
http://aanpress.com/submissions.html
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,500 words
Deadline: March 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: June 15, 2024
Description: Authors may explore any genre with their stories (yes poetry too!) and we encourage a wide variety of ideas and interpretation as to the anthology title. Stories with 1500 words should be divided as follows: long titles (minimum 250 words [though we know this might be difficult so, as long as it is an obnoxiously long title, we'll be ok]), concise narratives (minimum 250 words, maximum 800 words) and copious footnotes, endnotes, marginalia, indices and glossaries (minimum 250 words, maximum 800 words).



***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick of the Month”

FOUND #2: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories
https://twitter.com/andrewcull/status/1725801214523085039
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words
Deadline: March 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Original, found footage tales. Stories can be written in first person, third person, as a transcript, journal, radio play, poetry, as a script. Think stories that shouldn’t be read. Videos found in flooded basements. Broadcasts heard in your dreams.


Rock and a Hard Place Magazine
https://www.rockandahardplacemag.com/stones-throw-submissions
Payment: $25 flat
Story Length: 1,000–2,000 words
Opens: the first week of the month
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: A great story based on the contest theme.
APRIL SUBMISSIONS (opens March 1 - 7, 2024): stories that involve water. Lakes. Rivers. Oceans. Boats, commercial or personal.
MAY SUBMISSIONS (opens April 1 - 7, 2024): stories that feature workers and their bosses, the power imbalance between them, and the desperation or demands that can cause people on either side of that divide to make some very poor decisions.
etc., etc.

Monday, February 26, 2024

A Reminisce to My Early Writing: FRIGHTMARES: A FISTFUL OF FLASH FICTION HORROR in 2011

I was chatting with an up-and-coming writer, and my Horror Writers Association mentoree, Kristal Shanahan about how it was when I started out writing horror fiction. I randomly pulled up one of my earliest acceptances and the anthology it was published in.

A 500-word story called “$2 Bust From an Estate Sale”

Here is an archive link to the Contest I submitted it to:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110714183745/http://horrorwritingcontest.com/Frightmares%20Flash%20Fiction.htm

I submitted it 3/11/2011. It was accepted 10/4/2011 and published six weeks later on 11/22/2011 (i.e. it sat in the submission queue over four times longer than the time it raced from acceptance to publication, haha)

Unless you were one of the 5 “winners,” authors were not paid anything, which was fine with me back then.

It ended up publishing in the anthology FRIGHTMARES: A FISTFUL OF FLASH FICTION HORROR.

https://www.amazon.com/Frightmares-Fistful-Flash-Fiction-Horror/dp/0983433550/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

129 stories all crammed together in this book (I think they accepted pretty much everything!)

Anyway, the subject of my reminisce: If I look through the Table of Contents, I can say that hardly any of those authors involved are still writing/publishing genre fiction now. BUT! It is incredibly fun and significant to recognize those writers who are still working at it today, writers I’ve become friends with or whose work I admire. At time of this book’s publication in late 2011, I’d not known a single person in the Table of Contents (except James S. Dorr, who I recognized from BORDERLANDS 2 anthology). But now I look through it and exclaim: “Hey, wow, there’s:

James S. Dorr
Max Booth III
Lori Michelle
Cynthia Pelayo
Kevin David Anderson
Joe Mynhardt
Greg Chapman
Stan Swanson
and a couple others…

But again of the 129 writers, most, I believe, through lack of interest, other life obligations, perhaps death, are no longer involved in the craft (though I could be wrong, as I spent zero time actually researching unfamiliar names). 12-1/2 years later = time is fleeting, indeed!

Personally, what came of that tiny, insignificant sale for me was
1) It was a confidence booster, and
2) I became friends with the editor and publisher, Stan Swanson. The press was Dark Moon Books, and I started doing more work with them, and eventually that was where I was able to print my first anthology as editor. Later the press went out of business, and I bought it, and rebranded it to my own purposes (and released all former titles back to the authors).

Anyway, nice to reminisce on these things once in a while! 😊





Friday, February 16, 2024

Newest Podcast interview episode just went up for moi!

Newest Podcast interview episode just went up for moi! Check it out at COFFEE FUELED STORIES WITH MICHELLE SCHMER. And thanks so much to Michelle Schmer for the great time, wherein we spoke of Technical Writing, Writing organizations, and CLUE-thulhu!

https://coffeefueledstoriespodcast.buzzsprout.com/2123543/14516082-eric-j-guignard-2-time-bram-stoker-winner




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#ericjguignard #ericguignard #shortstories #booklover #bookstagram #fantasy #darkfantasy #darkfiction #anthology #horrorstories #horrorshortstories #bookworm #horrorlife #horrorcommunity #horrorfanatics #horrorlovers #horrorgeeks #promotebooks #horrorfans #readmorebooks #amreading #amreadinghorror #podcast #horrorfan #horrorlover #rockabilly #indieauthor #writer #horrorwritersconnect


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

February, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For February, 2024
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Fear of Clowns (ed. by Kenneth W. Cain)
https://kkpublish.com/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–4,000 words
Deadline: April 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: within 60 days
Description: Horror stories with a broad view relating to anything about a fear of clowns.


Haven Speculative
https://www.havenspec.com/submit/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 6,000 words
Open From: February 1–February 28, 2024
Reprints?: No (with some exceptions)
Response: within 70 days
Description: Fantasy and science fiction stories, poems, and non-fiction, for a modern audience with a sensibility for social consciousness.


Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Urban Stories
https://houseofgamut.moksha.io/publication/house-of-gamut
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: 3,000–7,500 words
Deadline: March 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: The city can be more than a setting—it can be a character, as nuanced and as fickle as a human being, with as many traits and quirks as the best mapped out characters. The City can be the ever-present and constant companion (or foe) to the protagonist and antagonist alike… an anthology that takes place in different cities around the world during the bleak—sometimes harsh—season of winter.


Apparition Lit—Flash Fiction
https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,000 words
Open From: Feb. 1Feb. 14, 2023
Reprints?: No
Response: by the 15th day of the following month after submissions close
Description: Month of February Theme = Drinks, Teas, Coffees. We’re looking for flash with a heavy addition of the speculative. Stories should have enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth: Speculative stories including ceremonies that are associated with tea in different cultures? Mexican Atole, etc.


Apex Magazine
http://www.apex-magazine.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,500 words
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: One month
Description: Exceptionally well-written science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all its sub-genres.
NOTE: ALSO Open to Flash Fiction contest, usually between the 7th through last day of each month
. Stories up to 1,000 words based on a theme to be announced on the 7th day of the month.


Beneath Ceaseless Skies
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: Up to 15,000 words
Deadline: None at present. Closes intermittently
Reprints?: No
Response: Two to seven weeks
Description: “Literary adventure fantasy”: stories with a secondary-world setting and some traditional or classic fantasy feel, but written with a literary approach. We want stories set in what Tolkien called a “secondary world”: some other world that is different from our own primary world in some way. It could be different in terms of zoology (non-human creatures), ecology (climate), or physical laws (the presence of magic). It could be set on Earth but an Earth different from our primary world in terms of time (the historical past) or history (alternate history). It could have a “pre-tech” level of technology, or steampunk technology, or magic as technology, or anything else that’s not advanced or modern technology. However, the setting should contain some element that is in some way fantastical.




***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick of the Month”

Roads Less Travelled Magazine (Midnight Street Press)
https://www.midnightstreetpress.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: £40 flat (about $50 US)
Story Length: No limit!
Deadline: March 30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: “As soon as possible”
Description: Stories that have a mix of two or more of these genres: horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and slipstream, that explore original themes or traditional themes from an original perspective.


Seize The Press Magazine
https://www.seizethepress.com/submissions/
Payment: British 3 pence a word (abt. 4 cents a word US)
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: 30 days
Description: Dark speculative fiction and anticapitalist sci-fi, fantasy and horror pop culture analysis. Neon, dragons and gore. Bleak science fiction, dark fantasy and horror (No moralizing, no happy endings).



Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Announcing my second fiction collection—A GRAVESIDE GALLERY: TALES OF GHOSTS AND DARK MATTERS

 I’ve been telling people individually, but I haven’t revealed publicly, so here goes:

I’m absolutely euphoric to announce that my second fiction collection will be published next November (2024) by Cemetery Dance!

Cemetery Dance published my first collection, and I’m so happy to repeat the process with them. Those who know me, know that I LOVE horror & dark fantasy short fiction. I read it, speak about it, edit it, mentor it, publish it, and foremost write it.

This will be a reprint collection with 19 stories I’ve published prior in such venues as Blumhouse (Random House), Cemetery Dance, Cemetery Gates, etc.

To be marketed as “themes of death and oblivion, with fantasy overtones: ghosts and quiet hauntings and things in the shadows, mixed with monsters, myth, and anthropomorphism.”

Coming from 
Cemetery Dance in Nov. 2024: A GRAVESIDE GALLERY: TALES OF GHOSTS AND DARK MATTERS

Thank you and shout-out to acquiring editor Kevin Lucia!

(and to get in the holiday spirit, my 1st collection (THAT WHICH GROWS WILD) is still selling well at CD. I have extra print copies. For $10, I'll mail them signed to anyone in the continental USA—just message me!)

(And thanks also to Norman Prentiss who got me started here!)



#ericjguignard #ericguignard #Booksofericjguignard #horror #AGravesideGallery #GravesideGallery #bookstagram #cemeterydance #cemeterydancepublications #horrorstories #horrorshortstories #shortstories #collection #darkfiction #booklover #fantasy #darkfantasy #bookworm #horrorlife #horrorcommunity #horrorfanatics #horrorlovers #horrorgeeks #promotebooks #horrorfans #readmorebooks #amreading #amreadinghorror

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

New release today by Dark Moon Books: FANTASMAGORIANA DELUXE!!!

New release today by Dark Moon Books!!

FANTASMAGORIANA DELUXE: A COMBINED EDITION OF FANTASMAGORIANA AND TALES OF THE DEAD

Edited by
Eric J. Guignard and Leslie S. Klinger

###

First published in 1812,
Fantasmagoriana has become one of the most seminal ghost-story anthologies of all time.

Originally collected as a French translation of eight German-language tales,
Fantasmagoriana famously led to the creation of such works as the horror-classic novel Frankenstein, the short story “The Vampyre” (a progenitor to the fantasy vampire genre), the novella “Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus,” the poem “Manfred,” and more.

In 1813, the anthology was partially translated into English as Tales of the Dead, excluding three of the original stories while adding in one new, and inspiring an even wider audience to delight in stories of the ghostly and macabre.

Now, for the first time, both Fantasmagoriana and Tales of the Dead have been combined into one English-language volume, in this beautifully presented showcase by Dark Moon Books! 

Also included within are:

Open yourself to Fantasmagoriana Deluxe, and to all that is weird, ghostly, and wonderous.

###

LINKS!

Publisher’s Page: http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/fantasmagoriana_deluxe.html

Amazon (paperback):
https://www.amazon.com/Fantasmagoriana-Deluxe-Combined-Tales-Dead/dp/1949491536/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195877613-fantasmagoriana-deluxe

 







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#ericjguignard #ericguignard #shortstories #booklover #bookstagram #fantasy #darkfantasy #darkfiction #anthology #horrorstories #horrorshortstories #bookworm #horrorlife #horrorcommunity #horrorfanatics #horrorlovers #horrorgeeks #promotebooks #horrorfans #readmorebooks #amreading #amreadinghorror #FantasmagorianaDeluxe #Fantasmagoriana #TalesoftheDead #Booksofericjguignard #darkmoonbooks #bestsellingbooks #LisaMorton #leslieklinger #lesliesklinger #AnnaZiegelhof