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Submit Your Stories Sunday: Wonders

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a book to help inspire your story submission.

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Cast of Wonders

Eligibility: Stories written for an audience of 12-17 years, filled with wonder and emotional resonance. High fantasy, science fiction, and horror are welcome providing they can no adult elements.

Take Note: Cast of Wonder is accepting both flash fiction and short stories during this submission window. Be aware that all submissions are anonymous and adjust your manuscript accordingly.

What makes this call stand out: Cast of Wonders offers pro rates to writers and give you the chance to hear your story read by a voice professional on their highly rated podcast

Payment: $0.06 per word, USD.

Submit by: the current submission window closes December 15th, 2018, but check their schedule in the link below for upcoming dates if you miss this one.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A Book to Inspire Your Submission:

Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: the Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction is an art-rich extravaganza for the writer’s senses. Featuring essays and contributions from Neil Gaiman, the late Ursula K. Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, Catherynne M. Valente, and many more, there is something within these pages for every writer to learn.

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My first attempt to read this book from cover to cover faltered, but keeping it on my bookshelf and dipping into chapters as I need guidance has given me much inspiration. For those who like to know exactly what they’re getting into, the chapter heading are as follows; Inspiration and the Creative Life, the Ecosystem of a Story, Beginnings and Endings, Narrative Design, Characterization, Worldbuilding, and Revision. Included are some of the wildest infographics I’ve seen yet.

This book mimics a university text, but it sets aside the dullness for feats of the imagination and pockets of real wonder. Find a copy, flip through it, and see if you don’t agree.

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In writing news, I have a flash fiction story published in the latest Fantasy Files newsletter from Engen Books. You can read it for free here.

Happy writing!

 

 

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ghosts of the apocalypse

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The ghost flames flickered over the branches, tasting the sweet sap. For half a breath we thought them safe until the phantom flames shimmered and spread their tendrils. The trees were engulfed. The flames rushed through the forest, devouring everything. When they finished with the Boreal, they started on the Amazon. Not a single dandelion was spared. Life on Earth was over.

Some say the phantom of that fire ate our souls as well, but there comes a bitter heartbreak to being forced off-world which lends itself to poetry and dark, deep thoughts of loss. We, the broken, exist to survive now. Our children will not be burdened by this darkness. For them we carry on.

 

 

 

Posted on by JenniferShelby

Submission Sundays: Gallery of Curiosities

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays! Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories and maybe inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

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The Gallery of Curiosities

Eligibility: original or reprint speculative fiction stories with a *deep breath* “anachropunkish retro-vintage element” up to 7500 words.

Caveat: editors warn that 2/3 of the stories they reject are because they are a bad fit. Familiarize yourself with their publication before submitting and get ahead of the curve!

What makes this call stand out: this market is a print-on-demand and podcast anthology Gary Buller described as “it’s like steampunk had a baby with Tales From the Crypt!” (sourced from their website).

Payment: $0.03 per word for original stories, and $0.01 per word for reprints, American funds.

Submit by: rolling submission dates, currently open for submissions until June 30th, 2018

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Good luck and happy writing!
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Submission Sundays: Tor novellas

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a new call for submissions. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

Where ever you are on your writing journey, calls can inspire creativity and lead you to new markets. If you’re starting out, getting used to submissions – and rejections – is important. Every established writer has a stack of rejections behind them. It takes guts and a willingness to fail.

Ready?

Tor Novellas

Eligibility: polished, original science fiction and fantasy novellas between 20 000 and 40 000 words.

Caveat: they are open to submissions for two weeks, May 1 to May 15th. Not ready? They plan to open again in July, so watch their site.

What makes this call stand out: Tor has published some exceptional novellas, such as Seanan McGuire’s award-winning Wayward Children series.

Submit by: May 15th.

Payment: advance (to be determined) and royalties

Click here to go to the original call.

Happy writing!

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Submission Sundays: The Never Beyond

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submission Sundays. Every week I bring you a new call for submissions, and this week it’s a brand new magazine! Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance.

Where ever you are on your writing journey, calls can inspire creativity and lead you to new markets. If you’re starting out, getting used to submissions – and rejections – is important. Every established writer has a stack of rejections behind them. It takes guts and a willingness to fail.

Ready? Allons-y!

The Never Beyond

Eligibility: accepting horror, fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism stories up to 3500 words, including flash, which have not been previously published. Query anything over 3500 words.

Caveat: you must have a PayPal account to receive payment (note: if you’re new to submissions, this isn’t unusual).

What makes this call stand out: while there are no back issues to get a feel for The Never Beyond (I love this title), there is a unique thrill to being published in the inaugural issue of a magazine which has the potential to become quite successful.

Payment: $0.01 per word (currency unknown).

Submit by: no dates given, but as this is a magazine rather than an anthology, temporary closures and re-openings should be expected.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

Happy writing!