I'll be at Comic-Con San Diego this weekend!

I'll be at Comic-Con San Diego this weekend!!!

Who else will be there? Come by and say "hi"!

Here's my schedule:

• Panelist on “How To Use Hypnotic Language For Dynamic Storytelling”

Friday, July 26
6 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
San Diego ComicCon Room 11

• Panelist on “Uncanny Frontiers: A Guide to the Weird West”
Saturday, 7/27
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Omni San Diego Hotel, Omni Grand Ballroom DE, 4th Floor

• Signing Books!
Saturday, 7/27
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
SAILS Pavillion (#AA09)

• HWA Writers’ Meet-up (open to all!)
Saturday, 7/27
5:00 p.m. - onward
Hilton Bayfront Odysea (outside area)

#SDCC #sdcc2024 #comiccon #comiccon2024

July, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

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

Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight 4
https://cronegirlspress.com/submissions/
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: up to 3,000 words
Deadline: July 15, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Horror stories about Mushrooms, Spores, Fungus, and all that rots in the dark.


Future of Sex
https://futureofsex.net/sex-science-fiction-writers/
Payment: $70 flat
Story Length: 800–1,000 words
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Erotic speculative fiction stories exploring the unknown and often controversial topics, such as the intersection of technology with sexuality. This is not a call for explicit erotica meant to arousal but for artful speculation and storytelling about what the future of sexuality and technology may hold (i.e. sensual instead of overtly sexual).


Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology
https://essentialdreams.press/submissions/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–5,000 words
Deadline: Open between July 23–July 29, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Within 2 months
Description: Short fiction stories celebrating Lee’s influence in speculative fiction. Open to any speculative sub-genre.


Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/
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).


Small Wonders
https://smallwondersmag.com/submissions/#submit
Payment: 1 cent a word (minimum $10)
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.


Book Worms Horror Zine, Issue #6: Witches
https://rsaintclaire.com/category/call-for-submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,500 words
Deadline: September 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Short fiction for our Halloween issue about Witches! 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. Also interested in poetry and non-fiction (articles) at different rates.
Note: This publisher accepts submissions ONLY via postal mail



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

Chthonic Matter Quarterly
https://chthonicmatter.wordpress.com/chthonicmatter/
Payment: $10 per 1,000 words
Story Length: 2,000–6,000 words
Deadline: July 15, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Within 2 months
Description: An offering of tales from the dark side. Its contents range in tone from the quiet horror of Shirley Jackson to the bleak stylings of Thomas Ligotti—and everything in between; i.e. literary, dark weird fiction (and horror).


Flunk Magazine (*brand new market)
https://www.flunkmagazine.com/call-for-short-story-submissions
Payment: $50 flat
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Non-themed short stories relating to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Book Chain 2: Truck Stop by John Penney

 BookChain2: Tracking Log for:

Truck Stop by John Penney:

i. Bought from John Penney at Festival of Books, April 23, 2023

ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Craig DiLouie, June 2, 2024

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

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: “On a lonely stretch of highway in the Utah mountains, Cedar Mountain Truck Stop awaits the unsuspecting traveler. Over the years, it has been the setting of unspeakable acts of horror that have gone undiscovered. It is the hunting ground for a serial killer who disposes the bodies in the junkyard behind the rambling, rundown complex. But the long dead victims are not going quietly-- Their spirits haunt the dingy hallways, sleeping rooms, gift shop and repair garage, seeking out someone who can solve their horrific deaths. Seeking someone who is a sensitive that can hear their cries for vengeance…”

Available here: https://www.encyclopocalypse.com/product/truck-stop/10?si=true

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Truck-Stop-John-Penney/dp/B08KBH229C

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63012445-truck-stop

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

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

Book Chain 1: The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree

BookChain1: Tracking Log for:

The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree:

i. Given from Josh Rountree to Kasey Lansdale, July, 2023 (no picture)

ii. Given from Kasey Lansdale to Eric J. Guignard, March 28, 2024 (*although the book was given to me in March, the pic was pic taken May 31)

iii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to S. Faxon, May 31, 2024

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

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: “As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way. Josh Rountree’s strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic.”

Available here: https://tachyonpublications.com/product/the-legend-of-charlie-fish/

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Charlie-Fish-Josh-Rountree/dp/1616963948

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-legend-of-charlie-fish-josh-rountree/1142206168

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/63250262-the-legend-of-charlie-fish

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

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

 

BOOK CHAIN!

I’m starting a book chain primarily for horror-centric authors, but—of course—welcome to any direction book tastes and genres should turn.

Here’s how it works:

1. I, or anyone else who wishes to start their own chain, obtains a book.

2. Read and enjoy it!

3. Give the book (for free) to someone else (either in person or via postal mail) and—this is the fun part—mark on the inside cover the date and to whom the book is being gifted into a log. I created a log template print-out (download here) that individuals can print and glue inside the book, OR you can just write the info directly on the inside cover.

4. Take a picture of the book as it's given to (or with) the next book-chain reader AND take a picture of the log, AND post to social media with the tag #BookChain.

5. Tag me on social media that you completed step #4 and I will then also purchase a book from that last person (you) who gifted the #bookchain book (i.e. participating and furthering the book chain) and I'll start a NEW chain for the book title of your choice!

How long will each chain last? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine!

#BookChain

***

BookChain1

The first #bookchain! The idea came to me when Kasey Lansdale gave me a copy of The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree while we were panelists together at WonderCon 2024. Kasey said that Josh had given the copy to her, and she'd enjoyed it, and now was gifting it to me, and I thought, "I've got to keep this going!"

So I read it, enjoyed it also, and brought it to StokerCon 2024 (San Diego) and gave it to author Sarah S. Faxon.

In sum, the chain goes like this:

The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree:

i. Given from Josh Rountree to Kasey Lansdale, July, 2023 (no picture)

ii. Given from Kasey Lansdale to Eric J. Guignard, March 28, 2024 (*although the book was given to me in March, the pic was pic taken May 31)

iii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to S. Faxon, May 31, 2024

iv. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain2

Truck Stop by John Penney:

i. Bought from John Penney at Festival of Books, April 23, 2023

ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Craig DiLouie, June 2, 2024

iii. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain3

The Hunger by Alma Katsu:

i. Bought on Amazon, February 2, 2024

* I brought this book to StokerCon 2024 and set it down on a table, and it then vanished. Guessing someone "really" wanted to read it! I presume this particular Book Chain to be dead, but I did affix the log inside the cover, so perhaps someone will realize they have this copy, and come upon this Book Chain promo idea, and then set the book onto its rightful course!

Otherwise, I'll probably just get another copy and start this one over at another time...

ii. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain4

Exploring Dark Short Fiction #1: A Primer to Steve Rasnic Tem, edited by Eric J. Guignard, with fiction written by Steve Rasnic Tem:

i. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Rena Mason, June 2, 2024

ii. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain5

I'm starting this new book chain early before Sarah has passed the copy from BookChain1 to anyone, simply for appreciation of her being in the first round!

Tiny Dreadfuls: Horrors, Oddities, and Tales of the Dark by Sarah S. Faxon:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 24, 2024

ii. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain6

I'm starting this new book chain early before Craig has passed the copy from BookChain2 to anyone, simply for appreciation of him being in the first round!

How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 22, 2024

ii. (where to next?!) ...

***

BookChain7

I'm starting this new book chain early before Rena has passed the copy from BookChain4 to anyone, simply for appreciation of her being in the first round!

The Evolutionist by Rena Mason:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 22, 2024

ii. (where to next?!) ...

***

#BookChain #ericjguignard #booklover #bookworm #bookcommunity #horrorcommunity #horrorlovers #promotebooks #readmorebooks #amreading 

Looking for info on Indian author S. Mukerji

It’s seemingly a rather meager pool, but I’m going to dive as deep as I can into the life and work of Indian author S. Mukerji, author of INDIAN GHOST STORIES (1914). If anyone happens to have insights into this (possible pseudonym) author who appears to have only written between 1913–1921, please do contact me.

April, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

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

Solarpunk Magazine
https://solarpunkmagazine.com/submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 500–7,500 words (a preference between 1,500–3,000)
Open From: April 1, 2024–April 14, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Generally within 60 days
Description: Stories that strive for a utopian ideal, that are set in futures where communities are optimistically struggling to solve or adapt to climate change, to create or maintain a world in which humanity, technology, and nature coexist in harmony rather than in conflict, etc. Also open to poetry and non-fiction.


Cursed Cooking: A Horror Community Cookbook and Food Horror Anthology
https://www.cateyepress.com/submissions
Payment: 5 cents a word (1 cent/word for reprints)
Story Length: up to 4,000 words
Deadline: April 30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown
Description: cookbook and food horror anthology, featuring both real-world recipes and food horror fiction; tales of haunted hamburgers, killer chocolate chip cookies, monstrous manicotti, world-ending wontons, and everything in between. Cook up a story filled with genetically modified grossness, fast-food freakiness, or homemade horrors. Get creative. Get hungry. Think outside the pizza box. But also, send us the recipes that you love, recipes that make your mouth water and have people screaming for seconds (and thirds and fourths).


Offshoots: Humanity Twigged (Third Flatiron)
https://thirdflatiron.com/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–3,000 words
Open From: April 1, 2024–April 21, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: by June 15, 2024
Description: SF, fantasy, positive futures: The dictionary defines “twig” as a shoot branching off a tree, the result or descendant of something, or a style of fashion. How will humanity cultivate the strongest branches from among myriad potential futures? Please give us your science fictional and fantasy speculations. Possible subjects might include: bioengineering, space exploration, future societies, magical futurism, and extrapolation of trends (think Asimov’s Foundation or Loki’s Sacred Timeline). Stories about effects of AI and virtual reality are fine, but they must be written by people. Flash humor is welcome.


Reckoning Vol. 9
https://reckoning.press/reckoning-9-submission-call/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 20,000 words
Deadline: September 22, 2024
Reprints?: Query first
Response: 1 to 6 months
Description: Creative writing about environmental justice and social activism; any aspect of environmental justice, from food sovereignty to ocean plastics to industrial cleanup to Indigenous rights, we want to see it. Diverse fiction stories (and poetry) including a speculative element: Searingly personal, visceral, idiosyncratic understanding of the world and the people in it as it has been, as it is, as it will be, as it could be.


Dracula Beyond Stoker: Issue 5: Lucy’s Suitors - Quincey, Jack, and/or Arthur
https://www.dbspress.com/submissions
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–5,000 words
Open From: May 1, 2024–June 15, 2024
Reprints?: Yes (if older than 10 years) (and paid flat rate of $55)
Response: Unknown, but reported as generally between 30 and 60 days.
Description: The best new fiction based on Stoker’s characters, locations, and themes. This issue: Let’s read some stories of these men - together, individually, in combination - before, during, and after the events of the novel?


Flash Fiction Online
https://ffo.submittable.com/submit
Payment: $100 flat
Story Length: 500 to 1,000 words
Deadline: Open from the 1st to 21st of each month (or until reaching the cap of 1,000 submissions) (only)
Reprints?: Yes (payment at 2 cents/ word)
Response: Within eight weeks
Description: A very short but complete story of flash fiction. Strong, interesting characters: APRIL’s SUBMISSION IS FOR SPECIAL ISSUE OF WEIRD HORROR. Stories that engage with the unexplained and the unexpected, often through an esoteric lens of mysticism and metaphysics.



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

Costs of Living (published by Whisper House Press)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N0nLj70ZKbZLiucLZyvC5ojpjhnE3JC43fip_nNZhSg/edit
Payment: $25 flat
Story Length: 500–4,000 words
Deadline: unclear (until full)
Reprints?: No
Response: 45 days
Description: carefully constructed Horror stories with a focus on the oft-unclear distinction between a scary-enough reality and our less-or-more-frightening imagination, both in personal and social realms.


Children of the Blind Owl (Sentinel Creatives)
https://mailchi.mp/2ece83d25ded/children-of-the-blind-owl-submissions-page
Payment: $150 - $250 flat
Story Length: 3,000–6,000 words
Deadline: August 31, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Original weird tales and essays set in the Middle East that explore the human (and inhuman) experience through the lens of weird fiction and horror.

Fun experience yesterday doing my first Table Read

Fun experience yesterday in doing a Table Read for my friend Tim Chizmar’s upcoming movie, NAKED ALIEN MASSACRE (of which the plot is exactly as the title implies).

I’ve never done a Table Read before, in which actors and supporters get together and read the script as a dramatic presentation, in order to feel for pacing and problematic elements, or other chances for script improvement.

I read aloud for the better part of two hours, and my voice was worn for it afterward, but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment (which reminded me of reading books out loud to my son every night for bedtime). I never knew this was something to put on my bucket list, but now it’s marked off.

Plus, simultaneously, Tim had a documentary crew there filming the process for a segment about the journey of indie filmmakers, and I got tossed an interview for that.

Anyway, really cool to be part of someone’s dream project!

I'll be speaking and signing books at WonderCon this year

Shout out to those who will be at WonderCon this year! I’ll be speaking on the panel “What’s New in the Weird West”.

This Sat., March 30, 6:30 p.m., Room 208

Paneling with John Palisano, Kasey Lansdale, Shane Hawk, Richard Carter, Ross Fisher-Davis, and MODERATED by KC Grifant.

https://wondercon2024.sched.com/event/1azkW?iframe=no

And if that’s not enough… I’ll have an author signing slot also!

“Western & Horror Book Signing”

Sat., March 30, 5:30 p.m., in the special autographs signing area (corner of main vendor floor).

Signing with: KC Grifant, John Palisano, and Shane Hawk.

https://wondercon2024.sched.com/event/1azql?iframe=no

Come say howdy, buckaroo!

#WonderCon #Wondercon2024 #WeirdWest #ericjguignard #ericguignard

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.

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! 😊

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

***

#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

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. 1–Feb. 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 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.


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).