Hollow Hills Books - Anthology Call

Hollow Hills Books has posted an anthology call for "Tales of Siblings-Not-So-Grim".  They're looking for speculative fiction stories of 8000 to 15,000 words that are lighthearted fairy tales.  Submissions open on April 1 can close on June 1, 2019.  Payment is a royalty split.  You can find the details here.  Scroll down the page.

28 Paying Markets for April

Over at the Publishing...and Other Forms of Insanity blog Erica Verrillo has posted her April listing of paying markets.  Thanks, Erica!

Denver Horror Press - Anthology Call - Colorado Writers Only

The Denver Horror Press has opened submissions for their anthology "Terror at 5280'".  They're looking for horror stories up to 5000 words related to or taking place in or around Denver, Colorado.  Stories must be written by authors living in Colorado.  Reprints are okay but preference will be given to original work.  The deadline is May 31, 2019 and payment is $25 for flash pieces up to 1000 words and 1cent a word with a maximum of $40 for shorts up to 5000 words.  If they like your story but it doesn't make the cut for the anthology they will pay $15 to publish the story on their website and in their newsletter.  You can find the details here.

Fireside Magazine - Advance Notice

Fireside Magazine will be opening for submissions on April 8 to April 12, 2019.  It is a short submission window.  They are looking for short stories under 1500 words in any genre.  Payment is 12.5cents per word.  They also have stories published online so you can get an idea of what they're looking for.  You can find the details for submitting here.  A link to their submittable page will be added when they open.

Jennifer Shelby - Market Listings

While doing a search for markets I ran across the blog of Jennifer Shelby.  Every Sunday Jennifer posts a market for speculative fiction short stories.  You can check out her blog here.

Rock and a Hard Place Magazine - New Market - Open for Submissions

Rock and a Hard Place is a new magazine looking for multi genre fiction focused on stories of desperate people forced to make difficult choices.  Seems a perfect spot for your noir fiction.  Stories should be 2000 to 5000 words and payment is $35.  You can find the details here.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores - Open for Submissions

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores is opened for science fiction and fantasy stories of 1000 words and up.  They have a preference for shorter stories.  They are only open for one week so the deadline is March 28, 2019.  Payment is 6cents a word for original work and 2cents a word for reprints.  They also are looking for poetry and non-fiction articles.  You can find the details here.

The Comedy of Rules

I just love how people set up contests.  This one for example at the very end of all the rules stated:

1.  By submitting (to contest) you agree to all the competition rules.

2.  Competition rules are subject to change.

Changing the rules mid competition and especially after the writer has paid a fee just doesn't seem fair.  And how do you agree to something you aren't aware of at the time of submitting.  Doesn't seem fair does it?

Bronzeville Books - New Website

Bronzeville Books now has a website.  You can check it out here.  And yes, they're open for submissions.

2019 Boucercon Anthology - Call for Submissions

Paula Benson the contest coordinator for the Bill Crider Short Story Award Contest has asked me to pass along the following details for the 2019 Boucercon Anthology which is separate from the contest.  Here are the details:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR 2019 BOUCHERCON ANTHOLOGY

Carol Puckett and the 2019 Bouchercon Dallas Committee along with Eric E. Campbell, Publisher of Down & Out Books, and editor/author Rick Ollerman are proud to announce a call for submissions to the 2019 Bouchercon anthology.

The anthology will honor the memory of Bill Crider. All proceeds from its sales will benefit LIFT, Literary Instruction For Texas, which works to enhance and strengthen communities by teaching adults to read.

Stories must be original works (no reprints) of less than 5,000 words. The theme is the conference slogan: Denim, Diamonds, and Death.

The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2019. Please send submissions to rick (AT) downandoutmagazine.com.

For additional information about the anthology, please contact rick (AT) downandoutmagazine.com.

The anthology will be published for distribution and signings at Bouchercon in Dallas.

A story entered in the Bill Crider Contest may be submitted to the Bouchercon anthology; however, if the story is selected and the author agrees to publication in the anthology, the story must be withdrawn from the Crider Contest because the contest rules require that submitted stories not be published before the end of Bouchercon 2019. For additional information about Crider Contest entries, please contact subs.deepintheheart (AT)gmail.com or Paula Gail Benson at pgbenson_4 (AT)msn.com.

Blood Bound Books - Anthology Call

Blood Bound Books has opened submissions for their anthology "Chew on This!".  They're looking for horror stories of 3000 to 7000 words that revolve around food.  They explain in the guidelines exactly what they're looking for and they have a list of what they don't want.  The deadline is June 30, 2019 and payment is 3cents a word.  You can find the details here.

Angie's Desk - Anthology Markets

Angie has posted her March listing of paying anthology markets.  Thanks, Angie!

Dead on the Pin by John D. MacDonald

John D. MacDonald has always been hit or miss with me.  I don't care for his Travis McGee series but I have loved and admired several of his standalone novels.  I'm not familiar with his short work but I've read that he wrote nearly 500 short stories and this morning I read "Dead on the Pin" and was just blown away.  I love when an author can keep leading you down the path where you're sure you know what's going to happen then turns the tables on you.  That is exactly what Mr. MacDonald did with lovely story about a man who loves bowling.

I read this story in the anthology "The Sport of Crime".  I looked for it online but couldn't find it.  I did find out that it's also included in one of his short story collections titled "The Good Old Stuff".  If you ever run across it, have a read, you won't regret it.

The Titles Story Cupboard

Haven't run across any open markets worth passing along in the last couple of days so I thought I'd do a story cupboard post.  I've noticed lately that a lot of poetry journals and anthologies have great titles.  And from those titles come a few story ideas that might intrigue the writer in you or maybe an anthology editor could see a great collection of short stories based on those titles.  Titles aren't copyrighted, right?

1. Roam - A free-roaming stranger hits town, travel plans gone awry, road trips.

2.  Kissing Dynamite - This one conjures up femme fatales or a mad bomber who leaves lipstick kisses as his calling card.

3.  Paper Bag - Ever wonder what a group of writers could find in a paper bag found anywhere in the world?

4.  Digitally Disturbed - Computers, telephones, so many ways to cause trouble with the click of a key.

5.  Shit & Whimsy -  Ever wonder what a whimsical shit storm of trouble would look like?

6.  Life Beyond Reason - A trip through a madman's mind, or the exploits of a person driven to the point of madness.

7.  Cat Noir - The misadventures of a black cat, or a suddenly free tiger, or perhaps a plain old alley cat who thinks he's the meanest tom in town. 

Lamplight Magazine - Open for Submissions

Lamplight Magazine opened submissions today for their next two issues.  They're looking for literary dark fiction stories up to 7000 words.  They accept both original and reprint stories.  Payment is 3cents a word with a $150 max.  The deadline is May 15, 2019.  You can find the details here.

Pro Se Productions - Open Calls

Pro Se Productions has thirty open calls listed that cover all the genres.  In order to participate you must send a two to three paragraph proposal plus a four page writing sample.  Most of the calls are asking for 8000 to 10,000 words.  Payment is a royalty split.  You can find all the details and calls here.

Translunar Travelers Lounge - New Market - Speculative Fiction

Translunar Travelers Lounge is a new online magazine looking for fun speculative fiction stories up to 5000 words for their first issue which will be published in August.  Stories can be in any genre so long as they have a speculative element.  And yes, they explain what they mean by fun stories.  Submissions open on March 15 and close April 15, 2019.  Payment is 3cents a word.  You can find the details here.

Nightscape Press - Open Calls - Advance Notice

The lovely Michael Bracken has passed along a link for a Nightscape Press anthology call.  The title is Nox Pareidolia and they're looking for stories up to 6000 words that fit the theme of ambiguous horror/weird stories.  Submissions open on April 1 and close April 30, 2019.  Payment is 6cents a word.  You can find the details  here, just scroll down the page.

They're also looking for reprints for Moksha:  Best New Weird 2018.  They want publishers to submit for this one.  There's no deadline listed nor payment information.

There's also a call for the Nightscape Press Charity Collection Line.  They want short story collections of 40,000 words or more.  Payment is an advance plus royalties with a share going to the author's charity of choice.  This one opens on May 17 and closes May 31, 2019.

Hinnom Magazine - Open for Submissions - Female Authors Only

Hinnom Magazine opened submissions today for their next issue "Retro 'Weird Tales' Edition:  Women Only".  They're looking for stories of 1000 to 6000 words using the theme of weird fiction or cosmic horror.  There are more details in the guidelines of what they're looking for.  Women authors only for this one.  The deadline is April 15, 2019 and payment is 6cents a word.  You can find the details here.

Switchblade Special Issue - Tech Noir - Open for Submissions

Switchblade Magazine opened submissions today for their special issue Tech Noir.  They're looking for cyber punk/future noir up to 5500 words.  No flash fiction for this issue so stories have to be at least 2000 words.  The deadline is May 5, 2019 and payment is $15.  You can find the details here.

Dark Moon Digest - Open for Submissions

Dark Moon Digest opened for submission of horror stories of 1500 to 7000 words.  Payment is 3cents a word and reprints pay 1cent a word.  There's no deadline listed.  You can find the details on their Submittable page.  They also have a list of what they don't want to see :)

Broken River Books - Closed

According to their website Broken River Books is permanently closed to submissions.

Corona Books UK - Anthology Call

Corona Books UK has opened submissions for their anthology "The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories".  They're looking for modern horror stories of 1000 to 8000 words.  The deadline is April 30, 2019 and payment is an advance royalty payment of 50pounds ($67).  You can find the details here.

Bronzeville Books - Anthology Call

Editor Sandra Ruttan emailed this call for submissions and asked me to pass it along:

Short Story Opportunity:

You’ve heard of illicit affairs, illicit sex, and illicit pictures. Bronzeville Books asks why our culture considers so many types of love, sex, and bodies illicit while we don’t blink at the truly forbidden – theft, murder, fraud. In Illicit, the first erotic anthology from Bronzeville Books, we’re looking for stories that showcase the beauty of love once considered forbidden alongside actual crimes and criminal behavior. If you’ve got a kinky bank robber, a queer hitman looking for more than one way to score, or a disabled private eye looking to solve a case and get some loving along the way, we want to see your story. We want people, sex, and bodies not usually seen in mainstream ideas of sex and sexy,  and we want tight, fun crime plots. Pro pay. 3,500 words or less. Sex in stories needs to be consensual, no minors, no animals. Send submissions to submissions.desk AT bronzevillebooks (dot) com with the subject line: ILLICIT SUBMISSION. See: https://www.shunn.net/format/novel.html for formatting instructions. Submissions due June 30, 2019.  

Those who would like to see our submission guidelines for novels and novellas can email submissions.desk AT bronzevillebooks (dot) com with the words 'submission info' in the subject line and they will receive an auto-reply with our guidelines.

I've requested a website url but until I get one you can find out about Bronzeville Books here.  And their Twitter account is here. 

And I was just informed that they don't have a website as yet, but they do have a Facebook page which you can find here.

Transmundane Press - Anthology Call

Transmundane Press has posted a call for an untitled Time anthology.  They're looking for stories up to 5000 words with unique takes on the subject of time.  The deadline is June 15, 2019 and payment is $5 to $20 depending on length.  You can find the details here.

Authors Publish - Market Listings for March

Authors Publish has posted a listing of 25 themed calls for March.  It appears that they're all paying.

Polis Books - Anthology Call

Polis Books has posted an anthology call for "Both Sides:  An Anthology of Border Noir".  To begin they want your story pitches of 100 words by April 1, 2019.  They're looking for noir stories of 5000 to 7000 words about life along the border.  Payment is $75.  You can find the details here.

Mystery Weekly - New Issue

The March Issue of Mystery Weekly is now available for purchase.  Check it out here.

Mad Scientist Journal - Anthology Call

The Mad Scientist Journal has posted an anthology call for "I Didn't Break the Lamp:  Historical Accounts of Imaginary Acquaintances".  They're looking for first person stories of 500 to 8000 words that focus on an imaginary acquaintance (friend or foe).  The deadline is March 31, 2019 and payment is 2cents a word.  You can find the details here.

Lowestoft Chronicle - Open for Submissions - Non-Paying

Lowestoft Chronicle is a non-paying market but I'm listing it because they publish genre fiction including mystery fiction.  They're currently open to submissions of short stories under 3000 words for issue #38.  They do give preference to humorous stories with an emphasis on travel.  The deadline is May 15, 2019.  You can find the details here.

Bill Crider Short Story Contest - Update

According to Paula Gail Benson contest co-ordinator for the Bill Crider Contest the deadline has not been extended and all submissions are due today, March 1, 2019.  Sorry for any confusion.

Flame Tree Publishing - Anthology Call

I'm posting this because Ralan.com is a very reliable market source.  According to their post Flame Tree Publishing is open for Detective Mysteries of 2000 to 4000 words today.  The deadline is March 24, 2019 and payment is 6cents a word.  I'm giving you the Ralan link because I cannot find a link to the call on Flame Tree's website.  Maybe you'll have better luck than I.

UPDATE:  And here's the url.  They just posted the guidelines today.  They're also looking for Epic Fantasy stories for another anthology.  And reprints are acceptable for both.

Mason Jar Press - Anthology Call

Mason Jar Press opened submissions today for their anthology "The Horror is Us".  They're looking for horror stories under 5000 words tht show the darkest of humanity.  This is open until filled.  Payment is $20.  You can find the details  here.