Tag Archives: Pantheon Magazine

Good Luck at Fiction: Submission Roundup for March 2018

Welcome back for this month’s Submission Roundup! A ton of very cool submission calls are open at the moment, so if you’re seeking a home for a story or essay, then perhaps you’ll be in luck!

As always, the usual disclaimer: I’m not a representative for any of these markets; I’m just spreading the word! If you do have questions, please direct them to the editors of the respective publications. And with that, onward with this month’s Submission Roundup!

Submission RoundupEnchanted Conversation Magazine
Payment: $20/flat for fiction; $10/flat for poetry
Length: 700 to 2,000 words for fiction; any length for poetry
Deadline: March 20th, 2018
What They Want: Open to fairy tales, folklore, and myths that center on stories about animals.
Find the details here.

Timeless Tales
Payment: $20/flat for fiction or poetry
Length: Up to 2,000 words (under 1,500 preferred)
Deadline: Open to submissions from March 12th to March 22nd, 2018.
What They Want: For the 5th anniversary issue, Timeless Tales is seeking stories that are retellings of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.
Find the details here.

Pantheon Magazine
Payment: .06/word for original fiction; .03/word for reprints
Length: up to 2,000 words (though preferably under 1,000 words)
Deadline: March 31st, 2018
What They Want: Dark fantasy, magic realism, and horror stories that incorporate the gorgon legend.
Find the details here.

The Internet is Where the Robots Live Now anthology
Payment: .06/word
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Deadline: April 1st, 2018
What They Want: Open to speculative short stories about robots, AI, and the internet, specifically fiction that is bittersweet, fantastic, and/or optimistic.
Find the details here.

New Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Payment: .07/word
Length: 500 to 1,500 words
Deadline: April 1st, 2018
What They Want: Open to HWA members only, this anthology is seeking original fiction inspired by Alvin Schwartz’s classic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.
Find the details here.

Haunted Are These Houses, an anthology from Unnerving Magazine
Payment: .01/fiction; .12/line for poetry
Length: 400 to 6,000 words for fiction; up to 500 lines for poetry
Deadline: April 28th, 2018
What They Want: Open to Gothic fiction and poetry.
Find the details here.

Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror
Payment: .01/word
Length: 5,000-10,000 words
Deadline: May 1st, 2018
What They Want: Open to folk horror, which includes but is not limited to tales of the occult, paganism, ritualism, and the surreal.
Find the details here.

Join the Smuggler Army at Book Smugglers
Payment: $80/essay
Length: 400 word minimum
Deadline: Ongoing
What They Want: Open to nonfiction essays about speculative media, including literature, film, television, and more. Please pitch your piece via the website; do not simply submit a finished essay.
Find the details here.

Happy reading!

A Brand New Writing Start: Submission Roundup for January 2018

Welcome back for our first Submission Roundup in 2018! Lots of amazing submission calls this month, so if you’ve got a story seeking a home, perhaps one of these will be the perfect fit!

As always, I’m not a representative for any of these markets; I’m merely spreading the word! That means if you have questions, please direct them to the respective publications.

And with that, onward with this month’s Submission Roundup!

Submission Roundup

Enchanted Conversation
Payment: $30/flat for fiction; $10/flat for poetry
Length: 700-2,500 words for fiction; no word limit for poetry
Deadline: January 20th, 2018
What They Want: February’s theme is Un reve d’amour (A Dream of Love). Submissions should focus on love in a fairy tale or folkloric setting. Re-tellings or original stories welcome, as are experimental or traditional approaches.
Find the details here.

FIYAH
Payment: $150/flat for short fiction; $300/flat for novelettes; $50/flat for poetry
Length: 2,000 to 7,000 words for short fiction; up to 15,000 words for novelettes
Deadline: January 31st, 2018
What They Want: Open to speculative fiction from authors from the African continent and diaspora. The upcoming issue’s theme is Big Mama Nature, and stories should focus on nature/climate fiction.
Find the details here.

Apex Publications
Payment: Advance and standard royalty terms
Length: 30,000-40,000 words for novellas; up to 120,000 words for novels
Deadline: January 31st, 2018
What They Want: Open to novella and novel submissions. Genre should be dark science fiction, dark fantasy, or horror.
Find the details here.

Nightscript
Payment: $20/flat
Length: 2,000-7,000 words
Deadline: January 31st, 2018
What They Want: Open to strange tales in the vein of Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, Robert Aickman, Arthur Machen, and more.
Find the details here.

Unnerving
Payment: .01/word
Length: 400-4,000 words (under 2,000 words preferred)
Deadline: February 15th, 2018
What They Want: Open to horror fiction as well as dark science fiction, dark fantasy, thriller and crime fiction.
Find the details here.

Pantheon Magazine
Payment: .06/word for original fiction; .03/word for reprints
Length: up to 2,000 words with a preference for stories around 1,000 words
Deadline: March 31st, 2018
What They Want: Pantheon Magazine has just opened up submissions for their Gorgon issue. Open to weird, dark fiction, slipstream, magic realism, and horror based on the theme.
Find the details here.

Kaleidotrope
Payment: .01/word for fiction and nonfiction; $5/flat for poetry
Length: No specific word count, though fiction will sell best if it falls between 250 to 10,000 words
Deadline: April 1st, 2018
What They Want: Kaleidotrope has just opened again to submissions. The editor is seeking well-written speculative fiction and poetry.
Find the details here.

Happy submitting!

Monstrous Nature: The Story Behind “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar”

Welcome back, and happy Ides of March! Today, I’m thrilled to announce the debut of “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar,” my new dark fantasy story that appears in the Gaia: Shadow & Breath, Volume III anthology. *cue fireworks & stabbing Caesar in the back!*

Gaia: Shadow and BreathSeriously, though, this is quite an exciting release all the way around. First off, this anthology is from Pantheon Magazine, and I adore working with editors Matt Garcia and Sarah Read. They are such fantastic people, and I’m so incredibly honored to have another story in a Pantheon publication after last year’s gorgeous “Hestia” issue. As if that wasn’t enough, the table of contents for this anthology is wonderful; it’s always such a treat to be published alongside the supremely talented Rose Blackthorn and other great authors like H.L. Fullerton, David Tallerman, Tim Major, and Sandi Leibowitz. As usual, the anthology’s interior illustrations from Luke Spooner at Carrion House are simply divine. And just take a gander to your left at that gorgeous cover from Verboten Valley Art! *swoons*

Since the Gaia: Shadow & Breath series focuses on nature-themed horror and dark fantasy tales, this call was exactly up my alley. Here in southwestern Pennsylvania, living amidst the ravages of nature on our former horse farm provides endless amounts of strange inspiration. How could it not when you hear coyote howls at midnight and routinely discover inexplicable animal bones spread about the earth, all beneath a canopy of green? And that’s what my Gaia tale is all about: a foreboding forest and the things who dwell in its shadows.

Against this ominously gorgeous background, “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar” focuses on Dani, a young girl who is navigating life in her dying village while coping with the unwanted attentions of a monster. The story follows her from the age of six up through adulthood. Somewhere along the line in my short fiction, I realized how much I enjoy tracking characters over many years as they grow up in tenuous worlds. This is true of “All the Red Apples Have Withered to Gray,” which follows the nameless protagonist over fifteen years at her family’s bewitched orchard. Likewise, in “Ten Things to Know About Ten Questions,” the two main “deviants” start out the story in middle school and end up in their senior year of high school before it’s over. It’s always a challenge to condense such a long period of time into the compact form of short fiction, but when it comes to writing, I love nothing more than pushing myself to—and sometimes past—the breaking point with ideas. So with “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar,” I once again focused on the protagonist’s coming-of-age, all while exploring what consorting with a monster would mean to her as a child and how that meaning would change as she grew older.

Green with Scales, Gray with Tar As I mentioned above, I’ve been looking quite forward to this release. I am so proud of this story, and as we bid farewell to 2016 last December, I knew this was one of only a few tales on tap for the New Year that would be forthcoming in magazines and anthologies. When it comes to writing, 2017 is already shaping up to be an entirely different kind of year for me. “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar” is only my third story released so far in 2017. Not too shabby certainly, but not the whiplash speeds I’ve released work in the past. Now of course, my short fiction will be getting its biggest boost yet next month when my debut collection, And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, hits shelves. With five brand-new stories featured in the table of contents, original short fiction won’t be in short supply (consider yourself warned!). But again, “Green with Scales, Gray with Tar” is particularly special in my little writer heart, and I’m so happy to finally see it released to the wilds of the publishing world.

So if all this talk of monsters has piqued your interest, then please head on over to Amazon and pick up a copy of Gaia: Shadow & Breath, Volume III. All proceeds benefit The Nature Conservancy. Because who’s going to protect the glorious monsters of the forest if we don’t?

Happy reading!

‘Tis the Season for Prose: Submission Roundup for December 2016

Welcome back to this month’s Submission Roundup! As the end of the year draws near, December is a fabulous month for submission calls, and I’m so excited to be spotlighting a few of the very coolest places out there for you speculative-loving writers!

A couple disclaimers: as always, I am not a representative for any of these publications. I am merely spreading the word! If you have any specific questions about these anthologies and magazines, please refer your inquiries directly to the editors of said publications.

Secondly, a quick note: starting in 2017, the Submission Roundup will move from the first Friday of the month to the first Monday of the month. Likewise, author interviews will also move to Mondays starting in the new year. FYI!

Now onward with this month’s Submission Roundup!

Submission RoundupBracken Magazine
Payment: .02/word for fiction
Length: up to 2,500 words
Deadline: Ongoing
What They Want: Bracken is currently seeking short fiction and artwork inspired by wood-based myths and magic realism.
Find the details here.

Mithila Review
Payment: $50/flat for original fiction; $10/flat for flash, poetry, and nonfiction
Length: up to 2,500 words for poetry, essays, and flash; 4,000-8,000 words for short fiction
Deadline: Ongoing
What They Want: Open to a wide variety of speculative fiction and poetry from around the world, in particular stories that explore marginal experiences.
Find the details here.

Black Girl Magic Lit Mag
Payment: $50/flat for short stories; $25/flat for nonfiction
Length: 1,000-6,000 words
Deadline: December 15th, 2016
What They Want: Black Girl Magic is open to fiction about and by black women. The editors will also consider work from diverse authors and allies, provided the story features a black female main character. The January 2017 issue is themed around science fiction.
Find the details here.

Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana Del Rey and Sylvia Plath
Payment: $40/flat
Length: 3,000-5,000 words
Deadline: December 30th, 2016
What They Want: This anthology focuses on the nexus of two iconic women: Sylvia Plath and Lana Del Rey. Submitted work can choose one or both women as inspiration. Stories do not necessarily need a speculative element, although dreamlike and surrealistic stories are welcome, provided the plot is still logically cohesive.
Find the details here.

Book Smugglers, Gods and Monsters
Payment: .06/word (maximum $500)
Length: 1,500-17,500 words
Deadline: December 31st, 2016
What They Want: The current theme is Gods and Monsters. Writers are encouraged to play with this theme any way they choose, including gods without monsters, vice versa, or a combination of gods and monsters.
Find the details here.

Pantheon Magazine, Janus Issue
Payment: .01/word for original fiction; $5/flat for poetry
Length: up to 7,500 words
Deadline: December 31st, 2016
What They Want: The forthcoming issue from Pantheon Magazine focuses on Janus, the god of time and transitions. All stories should focus on some form of change. Pantheon Magazine accepts original fiction, reprints, and poetry.
Find the details here.

Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, Volume 2
Payment: .01/word
Length: Short stories & novelettes
Deadline: December 31st, 2016
What They Want: Comet Press is seeking reprints from 2016 that fall within the extreme horror genre.
Find the details here.

Wild Musette
Payment: $50 for short stories; $15 for poetry and flash fiction
Length: 1,000-7,500 words for short stories; up to 1,000 words for poetry and flash fiction
Deadline: January 2nd, 2017
What They Want: Open to speculative fiction and poetry that focuses on themes of music and dance, character-driven fantasy, nature-based fiction, and the human condition at large.
Find the details here.

Happy Submitting!

Pantheon of Fiction: Interview with Sarah Read

Welcome back for this week’s author interview! Today, I’m thrilled to spotlight writer and editor Sarah Read. Sarah serves as the editor of the acclaimed Pantheon Magazine. As a fiction writer, her work has appeared in Black Static, Stupefying Stories, and is forthcoming from the highly anticipated Gamut.

Recently, Sarah and I discussed her inspiration as a writer as well as what lies ahead for her career.

A couple icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

Sarah ReadI decided to become a writer when I was in 6th grade, thanks to my teacher Mr. Evans. I wrote my first poem in his class and he used to let me write during recess. He’d even help me submit my work to magazines. I’m pretty sure the postage for my submissions came out of his pocket. He’d commiserate with my rejections and encourage me to keep trying. I even wrote my first ghost story in his class! He didn’t like that one as much, but he never said it–I could just tell by his eyebrows. I wish I could thank him and tell him the whole ghost story thing worked out.

My favorite authors are Stephen Graham Jones, Helen Marshall, Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Anne Rice, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Margaret Atwood, Ray Bradbury, Umberto Eco, Paul Tremblay, Peter S. Beagle, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and lots more. The list grows every year.

You serve as the editor at Pantheon Magazine. How did you become involved with editing, and how has your work as an editor shaped your writing? Also, what advice can you offer writers who are interested in submitting to the magazine?

I’ve been interested in editing ever since my high school lit mag and newspaper days. After college, I spent six years as a magazine editor for a large publisher. Matt Garcia, the publisher of Pantheon, asked me to read slush for him after he’d published a few of my stories–I enjoyed that way more than I think you’re supposed to. People say it’s torture, but I love it. (I actually still read a lot of the slush. Shhh, I can’t help it.) After a while, he promoted me to fiction editor, and then he decided to step more into the background and let me have control over all the red buttons. We still work together quite closely on the magazine, and he oversees the website and production side of things.

Editing helps me analyze a story without getting lost in it–but I still want to get lost in it. It’s much harder with my own work, of course, but I can switch off the writerly part of my brain and view things through an analytical lens. Getting the edit-y part of my brain to shut up is another matter. I have a lot of trunk stories because of it.

As for advice, definitely pay attention to the issue theme. I hate it when I read a lovely story that has nothing to do with that issue and I have to reject it even though I enjoyed it. We ask for an explanation of how the story relates to the theme–even if the tie is loose, if we love the story and there’s a logical argument, we’ll probably take it. Also, we’re on a budget. There’s a set word count limit for each issue, so if your story is over 7k words, it’s probably going to have to be AMAZING to get in. We’re happy to read longer stories (and we’ve taken quite a few), but nine out of ten stories I read that are over 7k words are 4-5k stories with too much fluff.

The theme of Pantheon is Greek myth-themed fiction. When did you first become interested in mythology, and do you have a favorite god or goddess?

I’ve always been obsessed with myth–not just Greek myths, but all kinds. I’d like to someday take the magazine’s themes to other cultures, too. The Greek myths are a blast, and there’s a deity for nearly everything, but it feels too narrow. There are a lot of fun themes out there to play with. I love the idea that humans can explore their curiosity through creative storytelling. Myths hold a special kind of truth that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with reality. I like contemporary stories that have that same touch of truth about them–that feel like they’re tied in to something much bigger than what’s on the page.

I’ve never been religious at all, but I’ll refrain from picking a favorite. That NEVER ends well.

You have previously discussed your love of journals and fountain pens. How do you feel the act of handwriting your fiction affects your work as an author? Also, do you remember your very first writing journal and pen?

Pantheon Magazine Hestia IssueMmmm yes, I LOVE pens and ink and paper. I’m honestly not sure if I love them because I love writing, or if I love hand writing because I get to use my pens. I may never know, but it doesn’t matter. My relationship with technology has never been very good, so the reliability of analog tools is also a bit of a necessity. I have my laptop and Google Drive and flash drives and external hard drives…but it’s good to have that hard copy there on the shelf. My first drafts are slower, yes, but I edit as I type the draft in, so by the time I have a copy to send to beta readers, it’s often the third draft. Plus, I can have a pen and notebook in my pocket always and everywhere. I get a lot of my writing done in stolen moments between things.

I do actually remember my first journal. It was white with wee blue flowers on it. I think I was in first or second grade–it had a padlock that I had to break myself because I lost the key. I mostly wrote about how irritating my brother was. It still exists, somewhere.

Your incredibly creepy horror story, “Magnifying Glass,” appeared last year in the esteemed Black Static. What was the inspiration behind this piece?

That story was written from a prompt given to me in one of my writing group’s WAR battles. The prompt was a character finding (in a very unlikely place) an old envelope that’s addressed to them. The hand prints were inspired by an actual hand print on a window in my old house. I could never wipe it off. It was a deliciously frightening five seconds until I remembered it was a double-pane window–the print was between the layers. And it made me think of how my grandmother never wiped our hand prints off her storm door after we visited, because she liked to see that piece of us still there even when we were far away. Sometimes we’d come at Christmas and see our sticky fourth-of-July hand prints on the glass and hold our hands up to them to see how much we’d grown. And then of course I wondered when the hand print got between my windows–and how much has that person grown? It’s a very old house–what if the person is dead–what if they still come back to their hand print inside the glass? Wonder why they haven’t grown? Probably too many of my stories are born out of my mind wandering while I do housework.

What upcoming projects are you working on?

I’m reaching the end of a manuscript revision for a revise and resubmit request from an agent. I haven’t been writing much short fiction because I’ve been buried in that. I’m hoping to resubmit in the next month or so. Scary! I’ve got a few short stories in the works, though, for some fun projects I’ve been invited to. Matt Garcia and I are also collaborating on a novella. It’s just a skeletal armature so far, but we’ll break out the papier-mache soon.

Where would you like to see your writing career in five years?

Gosh, three years ago I’d be excited just to think I’d have anything published at all. I’d like for my novel to see the light of day before the next five years is up. And I’d like to crack one of my white whale markets (Shimmer or Nightmare especially).

I’ve really enjoyed working freelance since my youngest was born. I’d like to move more in the direction of editing people’s novels and less toward writing marketing copy for big tech companies.

Big thanks to Sarah Read for being part of this week’s author interview series! Find her online at Twitter, Instagram, and her author site.

Happy reading!