October, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

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

Dread Mondays (anthology, published by Whisper House)
https://stevecaponejrauthor.com/2024/08/31/call-for-submissions-for-dread-mondays-a-whisper-house-press-anthology/
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: up to 4,000 words (prefer under 3,000)
Deadline: October 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Short stories of workplace horror.


Dust & Dark (magazine)
https://www.dustanddark.com/submissions/
Payment: £0.07 (about US 9 cents a word)
Story Length: 2,000–7,000 words (prefer 3,000–5,000)
Deadline: Open between October 1–October 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: December 31, 2024
Description: Stylish, atmospheric horror fiction, and we take a broad view of what that means. We’re interested in clearly defined characters, evocative settings, tight pacing and compelling plots. But most of all, we’re looking for stories that leave a lingering sense of unease after we’ve read them. We’re much more interested in expertly rendered dread than straightforward shocks.


Confounding Cupids (anthology, edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Western Colorado University)
https://wordfirewestern.moksha.io/publication/confounding-cupids-when-love-goes-awry/guidelines
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: October 7, 2024 (*Not much time left!)
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Speculative tales of love, magic, and wonder that can devolve into chaos and confusion. Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry is your chance to take aim at your favorite romance tropes and have a fantastical time... Central to your story should be a match or matches full of paradoxes and delightful disorder.


The DARK (monthly online e-magazine)
http://thedarkmagazine.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 5 cents a word (1 cent a word for reprints)
Story Length: 2,000–6,000 words
Deadline: Continuous
Reprints?: Yes
Response: between 1 day to 1 week
Description: Unique Horror and Dark Fantasy (No graphic/ violent content); fiction that may fall out of “regular” categories (Tons of great authors publish here).


Stop Surveillance Copaganda (published through Strange Horizons online Magazine)
https://www.stopcopaganda.org/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: November 21, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Stories about surveillance tech that don’t perpetuate law enforcement propaganda; Surveillance technologies are increasingly built into our daily lives without our consent—and are championed in mass media for their power to do so-called good. The truth is, surveillance is mostly used to harm and oppress communities—misidentifying people through facial recognition, targeting families for missile strikes, criminalizing people who seek to assert their bodily autonomy, and facilitating scams and stalkers. Most “positive” uses of surveillance are straight-up copaganda. Searching for stories as alternatives that tear down the narrative that surveillance and centralized power necessarily equals safety.


Once Upon a Moonless Night (published by The Brothers Uber)
https://brothersuber.moksha.io/publication/once-upon-a-moonless-night-tales-of-betrayal-revenge-and-redemption
Payment: 5 cents a word (payment cap at $400)
Story Length: 250–15,000 words
Deadline: December 16, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Dark Tales of Betrayal, Revenge, and Redemption: Night after night the darkness beckons. You know that one day soon you’ll lose your resolve, give in, and become the darkness. There’ll be no going back once you do. These are the tales whispered in dark corners. Of good people pushed too far. Stories of revenge and redemption for past wrongdoings. Stories that excite the mind where what seems to be true isn’t always the case.



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

Trollbreath Magazine
https://magazine.trollbreath.com/submissions/
Payment: 4 cents a word (1/2 cent a word for reprints); $25 flat rate for poetry
Story Length: 1,500–7,500 words (prefer 4,000–5,000)
Deadline: Open between October 1–October 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Within 60 days
Description: Non-themed speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction; from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between.


Inner Worlds (magazine)
https://sarah-i-jackson.ghost.io/inner-worlds-zine/
Payment: £0.02 (about US 3 cents a word)
Story Length: 500–2,500 words
Deadline: Open between October 15–October 31, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown
Description: Science fiction, fantasy, or supernatural horror prose with a strong emotional or psychological focus.

Book Chain 10: Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by KC Grifant

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain10: Tracking Log for:

Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by KC Grifant:

i. Mailed from KC Grifant to Eric J. Guignard, August 22, 2024

ii. Mailed from Eric J. Guignard to Christi Nogle, September 5, 2024

iii. Given from Christi Nogle to Candice Azalea Greene at Boise Library Book Faire, October 5, 2024

iv. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: From the bowels of NYC to the farthest regions of space, Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny feature people encountering the unseen terrors hovering at the edge of everyday life. Whether it’s a glimpse of a malicious creature lurking behind your reflection or an unusual thunderstorm heralding a needy stranger, oddities loom, ready to reveal themselves.

With hints of The Twilight Zone, Creepshow, and Black Mirror, this collection of short horror stories—the cosmic, the weird, and the fantastical—will settle into the back of your head and under your skin. They will make you wonder what hidden horrors lie there, just beyond the curtain of reality.

(pub. Dragon’s Roost Press, July, 2024

Available here: https://splattertheatre.com/products/shrouded-horror-tales-of-the-uncanny

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shrouded-Horror-Uncanny-KC-Grifant/dp/1956824324/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shrouded-horror-kc-grifant/1145663047?ean=9781956824322

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211055621-shrouded-horror

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 9: His Unburned Heart by David Sandner

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain9: Tracking Log for:

His Unburned Heart by David Sandner:

i. Given from David Sandner to Eric J. Guignard at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024

ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Vanessa Lanang at The Writers Coffeehouse, Vroman's Bookstore (Pasadena), September 8, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: His Unburned Heart, tells the story of Mary Shelley's quest to retrieve her husband's heart from his publisher. History tells us that Percy Shelley was cremated, though his heart failed to burn, but the rest of the details are lost to time. Sandner has channeled Mary Shelley herself to share the story with us. That story is paired here with a second, related, piece. The Journal of Sorrow is named after Mary Shelley's personal journal, and imagines Percy Shelley's demise.

(pub. Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2023

Available here: https://rawdogscreaming.com/books/his-unburned-heart/

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unburned-Selected-Consortium-Anomalous-Phenomena/dp/1947879766

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-unburned-heart-david-sandner/1145171031?ean=9781947879768

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210335899-his-unburned-heart

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 8: Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain8: Tracking Log for:

Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth:

i. Bought on Amazon, July 28, 2024

ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Kate Maruyama at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: In a world where the dead can testify against the living, someone is getting away with murder. Because to every generation are born a select few souls with violet-colored eyes, and the ability to channel the dead. Both rare and precious—and rigidly controlled by a society that craves their services—these Violets perform a number of different duties. The most fortunate increase the world's cultural heritage by channeling the still-creative spirits of famous dead artists and musicians. The least fortunate aid the police and the law courts, catching criminals by interviewing the deceased victims of violent crime.

But now the Violets themselves have become the target of a brutal serial murderer—a murderer who had learned how to mask his or her identity even from the victims. Can the FBI, aided by a Violet so scared of death that she is afraid to live, uncover the criminal in time? Or must more of her race be dispatched to the realm that has haunted them all since childhood?

(pub. Dell Books (Penguin Random house), 2023

Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Through-Violet-Eyes-Stephen-Woodworth/dp/0553803379

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Through-Violet-Eyes-Stephen-Woodworth/dp/0553803379

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/through-violet-eyes-stephen-woodworth/1100302107

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/478628.Through_Violet_Eyes

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 7: The Evolutionist by Rena Mason

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain7: Tracking Log for:

The Evolutionist by Rena Mason:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 22, 2024

ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Jo Kaplan at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: Las Vegas suburbanite, Stacy Troy, dreams that everyone is dead. She dismembers the bodies of loved ones, stuffs them into a shopping cart, then takes them two at a time to the pile where she will burn their remains and say her last goodbyes.

Waking nightly to her own screams, Stacy is convinced she’s on the brink of a mid-life crisis and begins secretly seeing a psychiatrist. Dr. Light and his methods seem strange and unconventional, but his treatments work, and her circumstances improve. Until the nightmares return with a vengeance, taking on a life of their own.

Uncertain what to believe, Stacy carries on living the only life she remembers. Nosebleeds and head-splitting alarms only she can hear, become a regular occurrence. In physical and mental decline, the nocturnal world in her mind refuses to die. The images it reveals hold clues that lead her to a shocking discovery.

Threatening to unravel the last thread of her sanity, Stacy must make a heartrending decision... before her post-apocalyptic nightmares come true.

(pub. Encyclopocalypse Publications, 2023 <orig. Nightscape Press, 2013>)

Available here: https://www.encyclopocalypse.com/product/the-evolutionist-rena-mason/125

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Evolutionist-Rena-Mason/dp/1938644085

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-evolutionist-rena-mason/1120676038?ean=9781960721082

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17199632-the-evolutionist

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

September, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

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

Unréal (AE)
https://aescifi.ca/unreal-call-for-submissions-lappel-des-textes/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–5,000 words
Deadline: November 15, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: by January 31, 2025
Description: Stories and poems in with fantastical or speculative elements set on the island of Montréal. Submissions may be science fiction, fantasy, horror or any adjacent genre. They may be set in the distant past, the distant future, or any time in between. They may feature Montréal as we know it today or an alternate Montréal that has never been. The island or city of Montréal must, however, be an essential element of the story.


TWO SEPARATE ANTHOLOGIES from Flame Tree Publishing
Payment: 8 cents a word (6 cents/ word for reprints)
Story Length: 3,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: September 22, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: within 4 months of the submission deadline

1. Morgana le Fay: Fiction short stories about the Arthurian character, Morgana le Fay.
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/morgana-le-fay-submissions-0

2. Achilles: Fiction short stories about the Greek mythological character, Achilles.
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/achilles-submissions-call-0


The Deadlands
https://thedeadlands.com/guidelines/
Payment: 10 cents a word (1 cent for reprints)
Story Length: up to 5,000 words (preferably 3,000–4,000 words)
Deadline: Open between September 1–September 30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: Two weeks
Description: Speculative fiction stories about death, or what death may involve. EX: A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified; stories from a worldwide perspective, different cultures, different approaches to death.


You, Human, Vol. 2 (Written Backwards)
https://nettirw.com/submissions/
Payment: 10 cents a word (capped at 5,000 words, thus max of $500)
Story Length: 7,500–15,000 words
Deadline: Open between September 1–September 30, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Within three months
Description: Dark sci-fi and all blended sub-genre (horror, fantasy, etc.) novelettes regarding: What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be real? What does it mean to exist? What does it mean to be human?


Utopia SF Magazine (Flash Fiction issue)
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: November 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Up to four months
Description: See site for quarterly themes! December issue is Flash Fiction and Poetry. Mag is also interested in art and non-fiction, all science-fiction related.


Analog Science Fiction and Fact
https://www.analogsf.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines
Payment: 8–10 cents a word (9 cents a word for non-fiction)
Story Length: up to 20,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: 2–3 months
Description: Science fiction stories in which some aspect of future science or technology is so integral to the plot that, if that aspect were removed, the story would collapse.



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

Solarpunk Conflicts
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o9cXEU-IJLIq6Qpufrxl9UgbstygkycE/view
Payment: 5 cents a word (Canadian; translates to about US 3 cents/word)
Story Length: 2,500–8,500 words (also open to poetry, no longer than 2 pages)
Deadline: November 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: By January 1, 2025
Description: The conflicts related to the hopeful and optimistic nature of Solarpunk; Stories and poetry should explore a solarpunk conflict, either one manufactured entirely for the story, or one based in a real-world point of contention you feel currently divides solarpunks, or that has done so in the past. Conflicts can be as small or as grand as you would like, though the story as a whole should be legibly solarpunk and should not champion a non-solarpunk ethos.


Strange New Moons
https://frenchpresspub.blogspot.com/2024/08/open-call-strange-new-moons.html
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–5,000 words
Deadline: Open between September 1–September 30, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Werewolf stories! Looking for something wild, strange, and new!