I’ll be speaking again at Loscon this year as a panelist!

I’ll be speaking again at Loscon this year as a panelist!

Presented by The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Loscon has been held annually since 1975.

It’s in a new location this year, but same dates, being the weekend after Thanksgiving: Friday, Nov. 28 – Sunday, Nov. 30

Held at:
Hilton Los Angeles Airport
5711 West Century Boulevard, 90045 Los Angeles

Panels I'm on:

The Blurring of Genre Lines
10:00 a.m., Saturday, November 29, 2025
Newport C room, Hilton Los Angeles Airport

The Truth About Horror
11:30 a.m., Saturday, November 29, 2025
Newport B room, Hilton Los Angeles Airport

Different Paths into Writing Careers (as moderator)
1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 29, 2025
Newport A room, Hilton Los Angeles Airport

Publishing Short Stories (as moderator)
10:00 a.m., Sunday, November 30, 2025
Catalina D room, Hilton Los Angeles Airport

Creative Hobbies For Writers (as moderator)
11:30 a.m., Sunday, November 30, 2025
Newport C room, Hilton Los Angeles Airport

More here:
https://loscon.lineupr.com/loscon-51/

November, 2025 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

 HWA L.A.: For November, 2025
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Apex Magazine
http://www.apex-magazine.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 9,000 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 7^th through last day of each month. Stories up to 1,000 words based on a theme to be announced on the 7^th day of the month.


TWO SEPARATE ANTHOLOGIES: Romantic Fantasy from Flame Tree Publishing
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/romantic-fantasy-first-submissions-0
Payment: 8 cents a word (6 cents/ word for reprints)
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: November 10, 2025
Reprints?: Yes
Response: within 4 months of the submission deadline

1. Of Blood & Petals: Tales featuring strong-willed, independent leads who are resilient, perhaps flawed or possess hidden powers, secrets or royal bloodlines. Such protagonists would not be defined solely by their love interests but grow through emotionally charged journeys. Friendships and love interests might be brooding, mysterious or dangerously alluring. Relationships might emphasize deep emotional connections, with lyrical, romantic scenes central to each character’s arc. Ideal submissions will weave emotional tension such as longing, betrayal and love into epic fantasy worlds depicting prophecies, injustice and conflict.

2. The Tarot of Love: The Lovers Tarot card can signify attraction, love, and commitment, but reversed, it may represent failure and foolishness. Which fate will it be? Since ancient times, divination has been a tool for seeking answers through mediums such as readings, tangible objects, or tapping into other realms and spirit worlds to gain guidance… in these tales of romance, will lovers meet their fated end, and will the prophecy be fulfilled?


Shotgun Honey (flash fiction)
https://shotgunhoney.com/submissions/flash-fiction/
Payment: $15 flat
Story Length: Flash fiction up to 700 words
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Non-themed crime, noir, and hard-boiled flash fiction.


DreamForge Magazine
https://dreamforgemagazine.com/for-authors/call-for-submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,000 words
Deadline: December 31, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: 6–9 weeks
Description: Positive (and “clean”) science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Hope and advancement;


Views From the Overlook (publ. Vintage Books)
https://jamieflanagan.com/guidelines-2/
Payment: $2,000 flat rate
Story Length: 3,000–5,000 words
Deadline: March 2, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Original stories set in the infamous hotel from Stephen King’s THE SHINING; stories that take place in Stephen King’s world of THE SHINING, prior to the Torrance family’s arrival at the Overlook Hotel. The anthology will be based on lore from King’s writings (follow the books; not the films). NOTE: Only “1 or 2” stories to be accepted.



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

Interzone Magazine (TTA Press)
https://interzone.press/submissions/
Payment: 1.5 euro cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–17,500 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: usually within 5 weeks
Description: Fantastika fiction: non-themed, general audience, science fiction, fantasy, and horror.


Propagule Magazine (Issue 8)
https://www.propagule.co
Payment: $5 per 1,000 words for the first 2,000 words, and $10 per 1,000 words thereafter (up to a maximum of $30)
Story Length: 1,500–10,000 words
Deadline: December 15, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Speculative, non-traditional stories, preferring science fiction and fantasy.


Horrific Scribes
https://horrificscribblings.com/submissions/
Payment: $25 flat rate
Story Length: 1,500–5,000 words
Deadline: Is open intermittently (currently open) with no listed closing date.
Reprints?: No
Response: Two weeks up to six weeks
Description: Dark, transgressive fiction, horror and horror-adjacent, e.g. dark fantasy, dark sci-fi, and surreal and experimental work with dark edges.

I'll be signing and participating in two book events this weekend!

I'll be signing and participating in two book events this weekend! Come down if you are in the area for either!

Saturday, 10/11: I'll be in Riverside at the 1st annual Riverside Book Festival, vending and signing books along with Ari Loeb, Greg McWhorter, and Blake Shimshock.

All day event, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Riverside Main Library
3900 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside

https://riversidebookfestival.org/

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Sunday, 10/12: I'll be speaking and signing books for the HWA anthology SCARING AND DARING at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Taper Auditorium along with Lisa Morton and Joe R. Lansdale!

2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Doors open 1:45 p.m.

L.A. Central Library - Taper Auditorium 630 W 5th St Los Angeles, CA 90071

https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/scaring-and-daring-author-panel

October, 2025 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For October, 2025

New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes

At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Ghoulish Tales
https://ghoulish.rip/ghoulish-tales-reopens-for-submissions-9-17-10-17-2025/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: October 17, 2025
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.”


Uncharted
https://uncharted.submittable.com/submit
Payment: $200 flat
Story Length: 1,000–5,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: Yes (but no pay)
Response: Three months
Description: Any type of genre story: Horror (falls under Thriller/Mystery), Science Fiction, Crime, Fantasy, etc. (see submission page for additional themed 1-time calls).


No Laughing Matter (Flame Tree)
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/no-laughing-matter-call-for-submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 3,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: October 20, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: within 4 months of the submission deadline
Description: Looking for fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humor, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd.


Small Wonders
https://smallwondersmag.com/submissions/
Payment: 10 cents a word (1 cent a word for reprints)
Story Length: up to 1,000 words (or 1,100 words for reprints)
Deadline: Intermittent
Reprints?: Yes
Response: Unspecified, but according to online reports up to five months
Description: Non-themed short stories relating to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.


Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/guidelines/
Payment: 8 cents/ word original; 2 cents/ word reprint (range for non-fiction)
Story Length: 1,000–10,000 words (focus on shorter form)
Deadline: Opens the 1^st and 2^nd day only of each month.
Reprints?: Yes
Response: abt. 2 months
Description: Well written original stories in science fiction, fantasy, myth, fairy tales, and eldritch; in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. We care about character, plot, ideas, and storytelling ability. We accept both serious and humorous work (no horror). Also interested in poetry and non-fiction (articles).


MetaStellar (Flash Fiction)
https://www.metastellar.com/write-for-us/flash-fiction-story-submission
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,200 words
Deadline: Open between October 1–October 31, 2025
Reprints?: Yes (unpaid) (longer word count also allowed)
Response: unknown
Description: Original speculative fiction, focusing on horror, fantasy and science fiction.



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

Humans From Earth!! (anthology)
https://daftnotions.com/humans-from-earth/
Payment: $100-$150 AUD flat rate (about $65-$100 USD). $50 AUD for reprints.
Story Length: 3,000–7,000 words
Deadline: October 31, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Science fiction horror stories in which Earthlings are the boogyman to an alien race.


Drek Death and Doom (Theme of: Thanksgiving Folk Horror)
https://drekdeathanddoom.com/submissions/
Payment: between 1–4 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–6,000 words
Deadline: October 31, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Folk Horror stories themed around Thanksgiving. Horror, thriller, splatter, extreme; it’s all good as long as there is a story.


Made in L.A. (anthology)
https://www.madeinlawriters.com/submission-guidelines/
Payment: 1 cent a word
Story Length: up to 2,500 words
Deadline: October 31, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: by December 31, 2025
Description: Stories that evoke nuanced feelings and leave a lasting impression. We want to meet vibrant characters, hear their distinct voices, and—as always—see the action unfold in a strong Los Angeles setting.

September, 2025 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For September, 2025

New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes

At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Into the Deep, Dark Woods (anthology, edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Western Colorado University)
https://wordfirewestern.moksha.io/publication/into-the-deep-dark-woods/guidelines
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: Open September 1 – October 15, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Any genre, but the setting of “deep, dark woods” must be central to the story: Stories that explore the magic and mystery of the primeval wilderness, where tangled branches create a foreboding canopy… A place of fairy tales, secrets, and monsters.


Utopia SF Magazine
https://www.utopiasciencefiction.com/submit
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,000 words for flash fiction issue (normally up to 4,000 words)
Deadline: Regularly Open. See list of THEMES and associated deadlines.
Reprints?: No
Response: Up to four months
Description: See site for quarterly themes! Fiction to be “enthralling stories set in a future we want to believe in”. Mag is also interested in poetry, non-fiction, and art, all science-fiction related.


Book Worms Horror Zine, issue: Folk Horror
https://rsaintclaire.com/2025/08/05/call-for-submissions-for-our-halloween-issue/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,500 words
Deadline: September 10, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Folk horror—that uncanny space where ancient legends, rural isolation, and old-world rituals fester just beneath the surface of pastoral charm. Remember: Folk horror is fluid—so stretch the boundaries. Invent your own cursed villages, pagan rites, or ghost-haunted fields. Just keep it eerie, keep it folkloric, and above all, make it scary.
**Note: This publisher accepts submissions ONLY via postal mail


Tractor Beam
https://www.tractorbeam.earth/about
Payment: $1,000 flat rate
Story Length: up to 6,000 words
Deadline: October 6, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Written and graphic works that have actionable soil-based technologies as their premise: Stories exploring a positive future on Earth with an emphasis on soil and agriculture in the winter, the productive role of ice and snow in the seasons, frost and permafrost, future fashion and style, entertainment and culture, the ocean and soil under water, soil as tech, soil as the origin of life and anti-apocalyptic futures, etc.


Three-Lobed Burning Eye
https://www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–7,500 words
Deadline: Open September 1 – September 1, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response Time: within two months
Description: Non-themed, original speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, and science fiction.


Night Shades (micro-fiction)
https://www.annareser.com/night-shades-mag/
Payment: $65 flat rate
Story Length: up to 500 words
Deadline: Currently open. Closes intermittently.
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Non-themed speculative fiction. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Horror.


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

Not One of Us (small print digest)
https://legacyliteraryservices.com/not-one-of-us/
Payment: 1/4 cent a word
Story Length: soft cap at 5,000 words (hard cap at 6,000 words)
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Usually within two weeks
Description: People (or things) out of place in their surroundings, outsiders, social misfits, aliens in the SF sense—anyone excluded from society for whatever the reason. Open to horror, SF, fantasy, noir, slipstream, Western, mainstream, whatever.


Polymorphic
https://polymorphicmagazine.com/submissions/
Payment: $30 CAD flat rate
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: Open September 1 – December 31, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Non-themed short horror stories and art from creators around the world, illustrated and organized by a small team of Canadian visual artists; From the grotesque to the absurd, Polymorphic highlights horrors of all kinds, building a unique experience that’s sure to leave you terrified!

Release Day for: SCARING AND DARING

Can’t believe I missed promoting this yesterday on its official release day (something I’ve been looking forward to for years!) but announcing this new book release through HarperCollins!:

SCARING AND DARING

Edited by Eric J. Guignard

In partnership with Horror Writers Association, this MG anthology takes some of the best-loved stories from classic literary canon and reimagines them with a frightful (and fun!) twist!


###

Early praise for the SCARING AND DARING:

“With supernatural creatures including dangerous fae, a werewolf, witches, and a ghost horse, there’s something here for any young reader inclined to the fantastical… Uncanny fun!" —Kirkus Reviews

“A win-win for any tween or teen bookshelf.”  —Booklist


###

Full Table of Incredible Contents includes:

• “Hook and the Hand of Fate” by Teel James Glenn and Maxwell I. Gold (from Peter Pan)

• “What We Found Beneath Mount Etna” by Lisa Morton (from Journey to the Center of the Earth)

• “Prince Badi az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan” by Tanvir Ahmed (from One Thousand and One Nights)

• “The Hound of the Basking Villas” by Kelley Armstrong (from The Hound of the Baskervilles)

• “The Lost Musketeer” by Maurice Broaddus (from The Three Musketeers)

• “The Secret (Thing in the) Garden” by Delilah S. Dawson (from The Secret Garden)

• “The Shadows in the Rock” by Joe R. Lansdale (from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

• “A Lucky Find” by Kristi Petersen Schoonover (from Moby-Dick)

• “The Boy of La Mancha Rides a Ghost Horse” by Carlos Hernandez (from Don Quixote (or, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha))

• “The Glass Slipper” by Sherrilyn Kenyon (from Cinderella)

• “Wolf in the Mirror” by Sarwat Chadda (from The Jungle Book)

• “Vessel Eaters” by Ai Jiang (from “The Ballad of Mulan”)

• “Freckle and Hide” by Jonathan Maberry (from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

• “Out on a Limb” by Nancy Holder (from Pollyanna)

• “The Gruelmaster” by Nathan Carson (from Oliver Twist)

And GORGEOUS cover art by Denis Zilber!!

***

Available for sale here:

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/scaring-and-daring?variant=43735904649250
 
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Scaring-Daring-Terrifying-Association-Anthology/dp/0063372479
 

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