Tuesday, July 30, 2024

August, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

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


Little Red Flags: Stories of Cults, Cons, and Control
https://darkmattermagazine.shop/pages/little-red-flags-submission-guidelines
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–4,000 words (hard range)
Deadline: Open between August 1–August 16, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: 45–60 days from date of submission
Description: Fiction stories of fanaticism, fundamentalism, extremism, and control. We want to read about cons people pull off that make our jaws drop. The horrors hiding just beyond the edges of our better judgment.


Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines/
Payment: 5-8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,500
–8,000 words soft range (additionally, ‘Minute Mysteries’ of as little as 250 words)
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Three months
Description: (No Horror, but Mystery and Crime) Every kind of mystery short story: the psychological suspense tale, the deductive puzzle, the private eye case—the gamut of crime and detection from the realistic (including the policeman's lot and stories of police procedure) to the more imaginative (including “locked rooms” and “impossible crimes”). We need hard-boiled stories as well as “cozies.”


Calliope Interactive
https://calliopeinteractive.com/open-call
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 100–1,000 (flash) or 2,000–4,000 words (short story)
Deadline: ongoing/intermittent (?)
Reprints?: No
Response: estimated within 2 months
Description: Unthemed genre fiction; anything to do with high fantasy, operatic sci-fi, heart-stopping action, that’s our jam.


This Way Lies Madness (Flame Tree Publishing, edited by Lee Murray and Dave Jeffery)
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/this-way-lies-madness-submissions-call-0
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: October 13, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description:
In the tradition of Poe’s “A Tell-tale Heart” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, This Way Lies Madness (publishing September 2025) will bring together a twisted tangle of dark stories featuring monstrous manifestations of trauma and guilt, paranoia and persecution, anxiety, addiction, and crippling terror. In these pages, readers should expect to find madness in all its forms, without the tired stigmatizing tropes.


Asimov’s Science Fiction (magazine)
http://www.asimovs.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines
Payment: 8+ cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–20,000 words (generally less than 7,500 words)
Deadline: Continually open
Reprints?: No
Response: Five weeks
Description: Character-oriented Science Fiction stories that is serious, thoughtful, yet accessible (occasional humor), including borderline fantasy, slipstream, and surreal fiction (and some poetry).


Story Unlikely
https://www.storyunlikely.com/#submit
Payment: 8 cents a word (up to $200 cap; no longer minimum “pro” pay after 4,000 words)
Story Length: up to 10,000 words
Deadline: September 29, 2024
Reprints?: Yes (paid at 1 cent/ word up to $75)
Response: 90 days
Description: Good stories that elicit emotion. Any genre. NOTE: Submissions require (free) subscription to monthly e-mag publication.



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

Dirty Magick Magazine
https://www.dirtymagickmagazine.com/submissions.html
Payment: $50 flat
Story Length: 2,000–12,500 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Not stated by the publisher, but The Grinder indicates less than 15 days.
Description: Original tales of fantasy, horror, sword & sorcery, Gothic, Magic, etc.; good balance between plot and character; tell a strong story with believable protagonists, strong setting, and fresh ideas.


Error Code (Riverfolk Publishing)
https://www.riverfolkbooks.com/rabid-otter-horror
Payment: $100 flat
Story Length: 6,000–10,000 words
Deadline: September 30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown
Description: Technology-based horror short stories (“Man-made horrors beyond our comprehension!”)

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Book Chain 3: The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain3/ 3b: Tracking Log for:

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 got a new copy and created for this Book chain a "start-over" as BookChain3b:

i. Bought again on Amazon, July 28, 2024



ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to David Sandner 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:Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere.

That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy...or the feelings that someone—or something—is stalking them. Whether it's a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.

As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains... and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.

Effortlessly combining the supernatural and the historical, The Hunger is an eerie, thrilling look at the volatility of human nature, pushed to its breaking point…”

(pub. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018)


Available here: 
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-hunger-alma-katsu/12277542?ean=9780735212534


And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735212538

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hunger-alma-katsu/1126551874

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30285766-the-hunger


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AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

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



Thursday, July 25, 2024

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




Monday, July 1, 2024

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 1st and 2nd 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.