Calls for Submissions: Ghost Stories

I don’t know what’s going on at the moment but I keep seeing calls for submissions for ghost stories. I often write in this genre but I simply don’t have enough pieces to submit to all these wonderful markets, so I thought I’d share them around!

First of all we have The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition 2013. There’s a small fee to enter this competition, just £6 or £9 depending on whether you’re entering one or two pieces, with each piece at 2000-5000 words. Closing date is 31st May so you need to get cracking. More information at the Fiction Desk website.

Next up we have Hic Dragones inviting submissions for their ‘haunted’ themed anthology. Hic Dragones are quite local to me, a creative writing and literature organisation based in Manchester. They’re looking for pieces in the 3000-7000 word range and you’ve still got plenty of time as the closing date is 31st October. They’re after edgy, dark, weird fiction. Lots of different genres mentioned on their website. Very, very interesting!

World Weaver Press are inviting submissions for their Specter Spectacular II: 13 Deathly Tales anthology. They’ve just opened to submissions and they’re looking for pieces up to 10,000 words in length, closing date 15th June. Following on from their first Specter Spectacular anthology, it looks like they’re wanting to shift away from the classic ghost story this time towards something that crosses the boundary from this world into the next. But you should visit their website to make your own interpretation of the theme.

Finally we have Tartarus Press who have announced that they are no longer accepting submissions for Strange Tales IV (to be published later this year), but they have decided to keep the submissions window open for Strange Tales V to be published in 2014. What is bound to be a beautifully produced anthology should be well worth the wait. 2,000-10,000 words. Make it contemporary, literary and ditch those clichés. More details on their website.

What I love about all of these calls for submissions is that they’re looking to explore variations of the usual genre. Fiction Desk suggest that a ghost story could mean an encounter with ‘unusual paranormal phenomena and unexplained events’. Hic Dragones invite ‘any interpretation of the theme’ and ‘any genre’ from dark fantasy to cyberpunk to slipstream. World Weaver Press want to hold onto the sensation of the classic ghost story but it looks like they’re inviting authors to experiment–an interestingly open remit on this one. Then we have Tartarus Press who don’t give much away on the initial submissions page, but who have a rep for enjoying the contemporary, literary side of supernatural fiction.

So get scribbling and get subbing!