Sirens Call Publications - Anthology Call

Sirens Call Publications has reopened their anthology "Mental Ward: Experiments" for submissions.  They need stories of 4000 to 8000 words that include an unsanctioned experiment that takes place in an asylum.  Characters must be people or patients from the asylum.  The deadline is November 30 and payment is royalties.  You can find the call here (it's easier to read) with links to their submission page.

Word Branch Publishing - Charity Anthology Call

Word Branch Publishing has issued a call for their second Sci-fi charity anthology.  They are looking for stories up to 12,000 words.  The deadline is September 1.  Writers receive one copy of the anthology and all proceeds go to charity.  You can find the details here.

Best Private Eye Novel Competition - Reminder

The deadline for The Best Private Eye Novel Competition sponsored by Minotaur Press and the PWA is July 1, just two days away for those interested.  There's no fee to enter.  You'll find three other crime novel competitions open as you scroll down the page.  You can find all the details here.

Curve Magazine - Anthology Call

Curve Magazine has posted an anthology call for Christmas stories.  Stories should be 4000 to 8000 words and must include at least one lesbian character.  The deadline is July 31 and payment is $40.  All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to LGBT charities.  You can find all the details here.

The First Line - Open for Submissions

The First Line is open for submissions to their Fall issue.  The first line that you must use to begin your story is "Fifty miles west of Bloomington lies Hillsboro, a monument to middle-class malaise.".  Stories should be 300 to 5000 words in any genre.  The deadline is August 1 and payment is $25 to $50.  You can find all the details here.

The Only Rx Press - Anthology Call

The Only Rx Press is a new publisher with an anthology call that will be of interest to you crime writers out there.  "Walk Hand in Hand into Extinction: Stories Inspired by True Detective" is looking for short stories of 1000 to 3000 words related to or inspired by the series True Detective.  They do not want Fan Fiction but rather noir or Southern Gothic in the vein of the series.  The deadline is October 1.  There's no mention of payment but according to their about page they pay royalties.  You can check out the details here.

Wayward Ink Publishing - Anthology Call

Wayward Ink Publishing is a fairly new publisher who has issued an anthology call for "Stranded".  They're looking for M/M romance stories in any genre using the theme of standed.  Stories should be 3000 to 15,000 words and the deadline is July 31.  Payment is $50 to $80 depending on length.  You can find the details here.

Pulp Modern - New Issue

Pulp Modern #7 is now available for purchase in paperback here.  You'll find a line up of the authors here.

Strange Musings Press - Anthology Call

Strange Musings Press has posted an anthology call for "Alternate Hilarities 3:  Hysterical Realms".  They're looking for stories with fantasy elements mixed with humor.  They need flash of 500 to 1500 words with payment being 1/2cent a word plus royalties and shorts of 1501 to 6000 words with payment being 1cent a word plus royalties.  The deadline is July 31.  You can find all the details here.   

Anthology Call - Alternate Sherlocks

Author Michael A. Ventrella has posted an anthology call for "Alternate Sherlocks".  He needs a short synopsis of your story and a bio by July 12 to put together a proposal for his agent.  You can find all the details here.

The 2014 Macavity Award Nominees

And the 2014 Macavity Awards have been announced - you can check them out here.  Here's the short story category with some very familiar names included ( I'm looking at Art Taylor and Travis Richardson).

 Best Mystery Short Story:
• “The Terminal,” by Reed Farrel Coleman (from Kwik Krimes, edited by Otto Penzler; Thomas & Mercer)
• “The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository,” by John Connolly (Bibliomysteries: Short Tales about Deadly Books, edited by Otto Penzler; Bookspan)
• “The Dragon’s Tail,” by Martin Limon (from Nightmare Range: The Collected Sueno and Bascom Short Stories; Soho Books)
• “The Hindi Houdini,” by Gigi Pandian (from Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press)
• “Incident on the 405,” by Travis Richardson (from The Malfeasance Occasional: Girl Trouble, edited by Clare Toohey; Macmillan)
• “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013)

Congrats to all the nominees!!

“The Terminal” by Reed Farrel Coleman (Kwik Krimes, edited by Otto Penzler; Thomas & Mercer)
“The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” by John Connolly (Bibliomysteries: Short Tales about Deadly Books, edited by Otto Penzler; Bookspan)
“The Dragon’s Tail” by Martin Limon (Nightmare Range: The Collected Sueno and Bascom Short Stories, Soho Books)
“The Hindi Houdini” by Gigi Pandian (Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press)
“Incident on the 405” by Travis Richardson (The Malfeasance Occasional: Girl Trouble, edited by Clare Toohey; Macmillan)
 “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013) - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2014/06/macavity-award-nominations-2014.html#sthash.R9jWkaE6.dpuf

“The Terminal” by Reed Farrel Coleman (Kwik Krimes, edited by Otto Penzler; Thomas & Mercer)
“The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” by John Connolly (Bibliomysteries: Short Tales about Deadly Books, edited by Otto Penzler; Bookspan)
“The Dragon’s Tail” by Martin Limon (Nightmare Range: The Collected Sueno and Bascom Short Stories, Soho Books)
“The Hindi Houdini” by Gigi Pandian (Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press)
“Incident on the 405” by Travis Richardson (The Malfeasance Occasional: Girl Trouble, edited by Clare Toohey; Macmillan)
 “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013) - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2014/06/macavity-award-nominations-2014.html#sthash.R9jWkaE6.dpuf

Dark Opus Press - Anthology Call

Dark Opus Press has posted a call for their fourth anthology titled "All That's Left of Yesterday".  They're looking for dark apocalyptic stories of 2000 to 5000 words.  No Zombies!  The submission period is July 1 to July 31 and payment is 1cent a word.  You can find the details here.  I do believe there is a mistake in the guidelines as it asks for a Grimm title to be added to your submission line which I think was for their last anthology "Tell Me a Fable".

Muzzleland Press - Anthology Call

Muzzleland Press is a brand new press and they've posted an anthology call for "Spooklights".  They want literary horror and supernatural tales of 1000 to 5000 words.  The deadline is July 6 and payment is 10 contributor copies.  You can find the details here.

Grey Matter Press - Flash Masters Flash Fiction Contest

Grey Matter Press has opened up their site for a horror flash fiction contest called Flash Masters.  Each month they will post a prompt and you post your story in the comments section.  There will be public voting and prizes are books.  The first prompt went up today and you have exactly 200 words to scare the bejeezus out of the readers.  The story must be posted by Thursday, June 26.  And the prompt consists of using the following five words in your story - Devour, Moist, Cushion, Yesterday, and Overturned.  All the details are here.

On Writing

James Scott Bell has a wonderful post up at the Kill Zone blog called "Write As if It Were Impossible to Fail".  Fun stuff with a great lesson.

Freelance Writing - Call for Articles

Freelancewriting.com has posted a call for non-fiction articles with topics that help writers.  The articles should be 800 to 1400 words and payment is $25.  Articles will be posted online.  You can find all the details here.

Mainly Murder Press - Open for Mystery Novel Submissions

Mainly Murder Press has opened up for novel submissions.  They're looking for mystery novels with an emphasis on New England based stories by New England writers.  You can check out the details here.

Exhibit A Books - Closed

And the bad news just keeps coming - Angry Robot Books has dropped its crime imprint Exhibit A Books.  You can read about their decision here.

UPDATE:  Erin Mitchell has more about this over at the Dead Guy blog.  She brings up some interesting points about the closing.

Summer Crime Poetry Contest - No Fees

The Five-Two editor, Gerald So, has announced a Summer Crime Poetry Contest.  He's looking for poems that combine the themes of summer and crime.  There's no fees and the winning poems are published at The Five-Two.  You'll find the guidelines here.

Strange Constellations - New Market

Strange Constellations is an online webzine that is looking for speculative fiction stories of 3000 to 7500 words for their first issue.  Payment is $15.  You can find the details here.

The Fog Horn - Closing Up Shop

Last year I posted about a new market called The Fog Horn which was paying $1000 per story.  They launched and published six issues but now have announced that they're closing up shop.  You can find out why here.  Sad to see such a great market go.

Thanks to Albert Tucher for the information!!

Red Flags in the Breeze

I hate when a submission call raises red flags.  I ran across a call for an anthology titled "Twice Upon a Time" which was looking for retold fairy tales with a spin that they be written in a variety of sub-genres.  Sounded good.  Scrolling down through the guidelines I discovered that when the call was first posted they were paying a $50 advance but now were only paying royalties because they got too many submissions!!!

Okay, so do the first people who were accepted still get that advance or are they screwed?  Can they withdraw their stories?  Or are they stuck with a basically non-paying market?

The second red flag was raised when I noticed that this was some guy who had decided to turn his blog into a press and had a fundraiser going on Fundme.  He's half way through and has only raised 9% of the $5000 he's looking for.  This doesn't bode well for the press if he's depending on that money to publish the anthology.  And there's no mention if the project will go forward if the funding doesn't come through.

The third red flag waved at me in the form of empty squares on the blog that read "Buy this advertisement space".  Now, I know that other publishers run ads on their websites, but in the drop-menus there are also various places where he's asking for donations.  What bothers me about all this is the fact that he's jumping into business without any funding, so how is he going to pay his authors?

Now, maybe he'll make a go of this enterprise, but you need to ask yourself as a writer if you want to be part of his experiment.  I've linked to the anthology call so you can check it out and decide for yourself what you want to do, just proceed with caution.

Beating Windward Press - Creative Non-fiction Anthology Call

Beating Windward Press has issued a call for a creative non-fiction anthology titled "The Things They Did for Money".  They need non-fiction stories up to 5000 words that answers these questions - "What is the oddest job you've ever taken to support yourself while working on your art?  Or taken just for the experience?"  Payment is 1cent a word and the deadline is July 31.  You can find the details here.

Vineyard Press - Non-fiction Anthology Call - Men Only

Vineyard Press has issued a call for a non-fiction anthology titled "Passions of a Man".  They're looking for stories of any length that are "true stories by a man about something that happened to him, that could only happen to a man and that shows who men are".  Stories can be reprints.  Payment is a copy of the anthology plus negotiated payment.  You can find the details here.

On Writing - Story Trumps Structure by Steven James

There's an interesting piece about writing without a outline over at the Strand website - "Story Trumps Structure" by Steven James.

SQ Mag - No Fee Contest

SQ Mag has posted the details for their 6th Story Quest Contest.  The theme for this one is "Punkin' the Train".  They want stories up to 3000 words "that involves trains in a meaningful significant way, crafted in the one of the punk sub genres".  The reading period is August 1 to October 31.  All selected stories will be published and receive a contract and $15 plus the top three winners will receive $100, $50, and $25.  Submissions are through Submittable.  You can check out all the details here.

New Lit Salon Press - Anthology Call

New Lit Salon Pres has posted an anthology call for "Startling Sci-Fi".  They want literary stories of 1000 to 3000 words that embrace the genre of science fiction and take a step beyond.  The deadline is August 31 and submissions are through Submittable.  This is a non-paying market.  You can find the details here.

Luna Station Quarterly - Open for Submissions - Women Only

Luna Station Quarterly has opened for submissions to their December issue.  They're looking for speculative fiction stories of 500 to 7000 words.  The deadline is August 15.  Payment is $5.  This market is only open for women writers.  You can find the details here.

Schoolbooks & Sorcery - YA Anthology Call

Schoolbooks and Sorcery will be a YA Urban Fantasy anthology.  They are looking for stories of 2000 to 7000 words that mix high school with magic.  The deadline is August 15.  Payment is 2cents a word and more if their Kickstarter is successful.  You can find all the details here.

Hat tip to the Paperback Writer blog!

Angie's Desk - Anthology Calls

Angie has posted her June list of anthology calls.  Thanks, Angie!!

Yellow Mama - New Issue

The June issue of Yellow Mama has gone live.  Check it out here.

The Nine Mile Walk by Harry Kemelman

Sometimes you read a story and wonder where it's going, but you keep reading because the conversation between the characters just pulls you in and you want to know where it's going to end.  "The Nine Mile Walk" by Harry Kemelman is just such a story.  It was his first published story and is considered a classic. 

I loved how this conversation between two men trying to outsmart each other wound up solving a mystery.  What truly saddens me is the fact that in today's market this story would probably get rejected.

Grievous Angel - New Flash Market

The Urban Fantalist website has opened up a flash fiction site called Grievous Angel.  They're looking for flash fiction of 250 to 750 words in the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.  Payment is 6cents a word.  You can find all the details here.  They also publish poetry.

Panverse Publishing - Anthology Call

Panverse Publishing has an open anthology call for "Panverse 4".  This will be a collection of novellas (17,500 to 40,000 words) in the genres of sci-fi, alternate history, or fantasy with a sci-fi foundation.  The deadline is September 30 and payment is $200.  You can find the details here.  They're also open for novel submissions.

?!?

Wow!  I thought I'd seen everything when it came to publishers but this one really threw me,

"NOTE: Imagine asking for payment information at the very beginning of a job interview. Bad form? Yes. Now imagine doing the same prior to submitting a query or book proposal and before having either accepted. Bad form? Yes, with a very high probability of excluding the inquiring party from future consideration. Good form? Follow the above guidelines, down to submitting in PDF format. If your manuscript is accepted you will be given a detailed publishing contract, which speaks clearly to your remuneration."

I wonder if they ask their plumber how much he's going to charge before he does a job for them or if they just pay whatever they feel like and hope the plumber doesn't rip the toilet out of the wall.  Why should a writer submit to an anthology call without knowing up front what the payment is?

Macabre Maine - Anthology Call

Macabre Maine seems to be a new press with one anthology call for "Haunted Maine".  Stories should be 1000 to 5000 words.  They want spine-chilling stories with a connection to Maine either by story or author.  There's no deadline listed and there's no payment.  You can check out the details here.

Eldritch Press - Anthology Calls

Eldritch Press is a new market with two anthology calls posted.  The first is "Our World of Horror" which is looking for stories up to 5000 words with horror set in the modern world as the theme.  This is open until filled and payment is 5cents a word.  The second is "Steampunk Horror:  The Lost Worlds" which is looking for stories up to 5000 words set in a post-apocalyptic world that is rebuilding with steam power.  The deadline is November 30 and payment is 5cents a word.  You can find the calls here.

Under their submission guidelines you'll find that they're also looking for stories to post online and payment for these is 3cents a word.

How True?

There's a very interesting piece up at The Guardian that asks the question "How True Can Crime Fiction Be?"  The essay is written by Steve Mosby.

As writers we use so many parts of the real world that spins around us it's good to stop and wonder if we're being responsible to those people whose lives have been affected by the tragedies we see and read about.

Crossed Genres - Call for Submissions

For the month of June Crossed Genres Magazine is open to submissions for their October issue.  The theme is "Robots, Androids, and Cyborgs".  Stories should be 1000 to 6000 words and payment is 6cents a word.  You can find all the details and the submission form here.

Sky Warrior Books - Anthology Calls

Sky Warrior Books has posted three anthology calls each with a different deadline.  All of them need stories up to 6000 words and payment is a royalty split.  The titles are "First Contact Cafe", "No Horns on the Helmet", and "The Dragon Hoard".  You can find the details for all three here.

This Patchwork Flesh: QUILTBAG Horror - Anthology Call

I mentioned this anthology quite a while ago but thought I'd post a reminder that submissions opened on June 1 and run through Aug 31.  The anthology will contain 90% Canadian authors but there are a few slots open for international writers.  You have up to 8000 words and payment is 5cents a word CAD.  You can find the details here.

Flash Fiction Online - Open for Submissions

Flash Fiction Online is open for submissions and they've just bumped their payment up to $60 for flash stories of 500 to 1000 words in any genre.  You can find the details here.  Submissions are through Submittable.

Storytelling Cliches

Not sure if I posted this one before but it's well worth another look.  Over at LitReactor Rob Hart has put together a list of 10 storytelling cliches that writers need to stop using.  And yes, I've been guilty of several.

Thanks to Michael Bracken for passing along the link!!

All Due Respect - Open for Submissions

All Due Respect is looking for crime stories of 2000 words and up (no maximum word count) for their next issue.  Payment is $25.  You can find all the details here.

Grand Mal Press - Open for Novel Submissions

Grand Mal Press has opened for novels of 70,000 to 90,000 words in the genres of Horror, Sci-fi, Detective/Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, and Genre Related Humor.  Payment is an advance plus royalties.  You can check out the details here.

Leap Books - Call for YA Novellas

Leap Books has started a new line called Shine to publish YA enovellas of 15,000 to 20,000 words.  They are open to all genres but have a preference for contemporary, thrillers, paranormal, and mystery.  I couldn't find any payment notes so you'll have to query.  I've linked to their blog because that had the most information including the editor's name.  From there you can click on their website to check them out further. 

The Joys of Doing a Google Search

Do you ever Google your character names?  I usually do if it sounds too familiar.  I've found that some of my names belong to sports people or characters from other books which means having to make a change.  Today I was working on a bit of fairytale flash and chose the name Scarlett Rose.  It seemed a bit familiar so I turned to Google hoping that I hadn't "borrowed" a fairytale name.

Surprise!  Scarlett Rose was the name of a porn star who sells sex toys.  Oh yeah, definitely need to change that one.

What have you found on Google that made you change a character's name or even perhaps your entire story?

Grimdark Magazine - New Market

Grimdark is a new Australian magazine getting set to launch their first issue.  They're looking for dark stories with a medieval fantasy or sci-fi setting.  Stories should be 1500 to 4000 words in length.  Payment is 5cents AUD a word.  You can find all the details here. 

Gutter Books - Anthology Call

Gutter Books and Dana C. Kabel have posted a call for submissions for the anthology "Dana C. Kabel's Kannibal Cookbook".  They're looking for stories of 2000 to 3000 words that revolve around cannibalism.  The deadline is September 28.  They've already got some big names involved like Lawrence Block, Dave Zeltserman, Jason Starr, and Stuart Neville.  You can find all the details here.  There's no mention of payment so that's something you'll have to query if you decide to submit.

On Being Organized

One of the things I admire about Michael Bracken is how organized he is.  I remember him telling once that he keeps track of anthologies by putting each call in a loose-leaf binder in order of due dates.  Simple, but an effective way of keeping track of when a submission is due.  The other day he posted on his blog a simple way of knowing exactly what to work on when you sit down to write - lists.  Check it out here.

Pink Narcissus Press - Anthology Call

Pink Narcissus Press has posted a call for stories to their newest anthology project "(Gender) Queered Space".  They're looking for speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) stories of 2000 to 10,000 words that focuses on characters that don't fit a gender mold.  The deadline is September 26 and payment is in royalties.  You can find the details here, just scroll down the page.

Fireside Magazine - Open for Submissions

Print magazine Fireside has opened for submissions until June 30.  They're open to all genres so long as you tell a great story.  They need flash to 1000 words and shorts of 1000 to 4000 words.  Payment is 12.5cents a word.  You can find all the details here.

Tiny Owl Workshop - Call for Submissions

Australian publisher Tiny Owl Workshop has come up with an interesting project called "The Lane of Unusual Traders".  This is a world building project and all the details you need to get started are on the site.  To build this world they need flash fiction up to 500 words and shorts of 1500 to 3000 words in any genre.  The deadline for flash is July 31 and payment is $60AUD for shorts the deadline is August 31 and payment is $300 AUD.  You can find all the details here.

Hat tip to the literarium blog!

Science Fiction Trails - Call for Submissions

Science Fiction Trails opened for submissions today.  They're looking for weird westerns of 1000 to 7000 words set in the old west.  Payment is $20.  You can find the details here.  This is an annual print magazine.

Genius Loci - Anthology Call - Deadline Today

This just popped up on Duotrope and the deadline is today June 1.  Not sure how it slipped under the radar because it's quite a good market IF they have a successful fund raiser.  The anthology is "Genius Loci" with the theme "Spirit of Place".  They're looking for stories of "fantasy and horror in real world settings" and with "place as a person" (think Hill House).  They need flash of 500 to 1000 words with a flat payment of $50.  and shorts of 1000 to 4000 words with a payment of 7cents a word.  You can find the details here.  Hopefully some of you will have something in your files or can pull a flash piece out of your hat in a few hours time :)