madamE gray's Graveyard of blood

Madame Gray is excited to announce a call for graveyard-themed submissions for her new anthology, Madame Gray's Graveyard of Blood!

Open to all subgenres of horror, as long as the story takes place in, or is connected in some way to a cemetery. The more ghoulish, the better! The scarier, the merrier! And a bit of gallows humor is always welcome, but not required.

Well-written tales that are off the beaten path with a twist ending stand the best chance of getting accepted.

Compiled and edited by Gerri R. Gray (Madame Gray's Poe-Pourri of Terror, Toilet Zone 2 & 3) and published by Hellbound Books, this anthology (the fourth in the popular Madame Gray series) is open to undiscovered writers and established voices alike.

Stories must be original and previously unpublished. Multiple and simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know straight away if your story is accepted elsewhere. No poetry or flash fiction, please. Payment is $5.00 plus a free contributors copy (ebook).

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... 
* Word format saved in .doc, or .docx
* 12 pt times new roman
* Double spaced
* Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* 2.5K - 8K word count
* Write 'GRAVEYARD' along with your name and story title in the header of your email
*The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. 
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. 

 To submit, email your polished story to madame.gray@hellboundbookspublishing.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

Deadline: Aug 1st, 2023

NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY

Capped at 120K words in total.

Road Kill: Texas Horror by texas writers, vol 8

DEADLINE: MAY 1, 2023
 
HellBound Books is pleased to announce plans for the 2023 edition of Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers, Vol. 8.
   Horror author and editor Patrick C. Harrison, III will edit Vol. 8 of the series, which has featured the works of Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen Graham Jones, Robert E. Howard, O. Henry, Jeremy Hepler, Madison Estes, David Bowles and others. Harrison is looking for original horror stories 1,500-10,000 words in length.
   The stories must be written and submitted by Texas authors and must be set (based) here – hence the title. Two cents per word and contributing writers will receive one free copy and a 50% discounted wholesale price on any copies of the book that he or she purchases to carry and sell on their own. Writer stipends will look something like this: 10,000 words – $200, 7,500 words – $150, 5,000 words – $100, 2,500 words – $50, 1,500 words – $30.
   All payments will be made after official acceptance, and when acceptance is communicated, each author will need to send a short bio.
   HellBound will be requesting two-year non-exclusive rights. This means we will use your story in this anthology and we can print excerpts of it online and otherwise (for promotional purposes, etc), but two years down the road you can do with it what you like.
 
The Submission Period begins on February 1, 2023. The deadline to turn in stories is May 15, 2023, and our intent is to have the book printed and available by October 1, 2022 - in plenty of time for Halloween. Please send submissions to pc3@pc3horror.com
 
CONTACT INFORMATION
Questions / submissions: pc3@pc3horror.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

HAPPY HELLIDAYS!

We all love the holidays, be it Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Hanukkah, Eid, the Solstices, Walpurgisnacht... the list is practically endless.

We want your stories of of holidays (any holiday at all!) filled with terror and dread, blood and guts, ghosts, and demons most foul.

Curated by the inimitable Theresa Scott-Matthews.

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... 
* Word format saved in .doc, or .docx
* 12 pt times new roman
* Double spaced
* Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* 4K-10K word count
* Write 'HELLIDAYS' along with your name and story title in the header of your email
*The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. 
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. 

 To submit, email your polished story to theresa.matthews@hellboundbookspublishing.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

Deadline: 30 August 2023

NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY 

Payment - $5.00 for first rights.

Capped at 120K words in total.

The horrorzine's book of monsters

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS ANTHOLOGY

This is a heads up that on February 1, The Horror Zine will begin OPEN SUBMISSIONS of fiction for a new anthology that will be titled THE HORROR ZINE'S BOOK OF MONSTER STORIES, published by HellBound Books.
All stories must be original: never before published anywhere. Word count is between 1.9K and 5K words. Payment will be $20 per accepted story. Of course, the theme is monsters.
We would like to emphasize that story acceptance will not be easy, so please only submit your best works.

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... 
* Word format saved in .doc, or .docx
* 12 pt times new roman
* Single spaced
* 0.3" hard paragraph indents (NOT spacebar hits, please!)
* Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* 1,900 to 5,000 word count
* Write 'MONSTERS' along with your name and story title in the header of your email
*The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. 
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. 

 To submit, email your polished story to thehorrorzine@gmail.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

Deadline: until full

NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY

So, I married a narcissist

A departure of sorts for HellBound...

It's a golden opportunity to tell your tales of terror and woe at the hands of that most heinous of monsters, a narcissist - not necessarily a spouse - and deliver the most delicious revenge in the form of the written word.

Of course, names and some details may be changed to protect the innocent (and avoid lawsuits!), but we ask that you tell your true story - it's the ultimate catharsis, and will hopefully serve as a cautionary tale to others.

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... 
* Word format saved in .doc, or .docx
* 12 pt times new roman
* Double spaced
* 0.3" hard paragraph indents (NOT spacebar hits, please!)
* Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* 2.5K-6K word count (although we are incredibly flexible for awesome stories!)
* Write 'NARCISSIT' along with your name and story title in the header of your email
*The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. 
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. 

 To submit, email your polished story to submissions@hellboundbookspublishing.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

Deadline: 30 September 2023

Payment - $10.00 for first rights.

Capped at 120K words in total.

CRIMES OF HATE

CLOSED FOR SUBMISSIONS

Announcing a new anthology series curated by Bret McCormick.
Here's Bret to explain the concept and guidelines:
 
"I'm not talking about the sort of thing mass media calls 'hate crimes' -- crimes against Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Asians, (basically all non-white, non-Christian people) by white supremacist types. These should more accurately be called 'racially motivated crimes' instead of 'hate crimes.' Regardless, they're not what I'm looking for.
What the title refers to is crimes of passion, the most primitive, powerful sort of passion found within the human consciousness. This type of hate, whether it's a slow burn before action, or an entirely spontaneous explosion of violence, is what I would like to read about. The psychology of the criminal is as important or perhaps more important than the specifics of the crime in these stories. Murder is generally held to be the most extreme crime in our culture but maybe it's not. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.
The social contract all of us are operating under is one in which we sublimate the most savage impulses of the individual in return for the security and stability provided by society's collective. But what happens when the bargain isn't working out, when those deep-rooted ancient impulses take over? Paint me a picture of our darker angels at work.
For the record: I do not condone actual, real-world violence. I like to read about it and I believe it can provide a cathartic release for the aggressive, hateful impulses that are as present in my deeper mind as they are/were in Charles Manson, Hitler, Putin, (fill in the blank).
I believe in the value of collective striving and in building a stable, collaborative society in which all can expect to be well-fed, adequately housed, and treated with a nonnegotiable standard of dignity.
 
I want stories that toss norms out on their unexamined ear. Political correctness will not score points here. Aryans beating up Jews will not make the cut, but a story about a Jew going renegade on Aryans (if well-written) likely will. Likewise, a skillful story about blacks lynching a white man may find a home here. A story about a Muslim man who goes Rambo on American troops who have invaded his homeland would also receive due consideration. I am looking for memorable characters we understand and identify with despite their crimes, the grisly details of motive are important. Joe Friday does not come to the rescue in these stories.
I do not believe the human race to be the cuddly teddy bears mass media seems determined to tell us we are. Further, I do not believe adults with a taste for violent fiction should be forced to choose from the pablum available on TV and in bestselling novels. I am a staunch believer in free speech. Even ugly free speech. Consider the violence in this anthology and the motivations toward that violence to be jalapeños. If you don't like jalapeños, feel free to enjoy a bowl of oatmeal. Timid souls should direct their attention elsewhere.

Okay, now that I've got that behind me…here are the guidelines:

All submissions should follow Shunn.net manuscript format.
All submissions should be a minimum of 5,000 words.
I'm not looking for supernatural elements or typical horror tropes. Any horror here is bubbling up from a unique human consciousness and I want the author and characters to own it. Depravity is a matter of perception. Practically all of us are capable of virtually anything under the right circumstances.
Not interested in porn or fetishes. Such may be peripheral aspects but should not be a primary focus. (example: A woman (or man, or trans, etc.) who kills the men who forced her/him/them into porn performances.)
Style scores extra points in the selection process. Varying sentence structure, creating unusual and memorable characters, flipping stories into new directions, surprising the reader, all these things will be highly valued.
You won't get rich writing for the Hate Crime Anthology.
I am paying $25 for a 5,000-word story. I pay $50 for a 10,000-word story. If you want the extra $25, be sure your word count goes over 10K. 9,500 words will not do it. If I accept your story and you agree to the sale I am buying all rights in perpetuity, which means the story becomes my property.
If you are not interested in making an outright sale, do not submit.
It truly is my intent to resuscitate the gritty crime genre in a time when there is little hope of such anthologies actually seeing a profit. If you like savage noir, as I do, consider selling me a story and breathing a little life into a dying genre.
Send submissions in docx. format attached to your email. In your letter share any publication history you feel is relevant. A Bio of not more than 150 words would be helpful, though not required. All submissions go to: bretmccormickhcanthology@gmail.com
Highest regards to all of you with the intelligence, drive, and creativity to reach for a career in writing."
Bret McCormick

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

Deadline: Until Full

Jane Nightshade's Serial Encounters

Have you ever wondered about the ordinary people who came in contact with famous serial killers before everyone knew them for their depraved, murderous acts? 

What did Jeffrey Dahmer's plumber experience when he unclogged the notorious cannibal's toilet? Or how about the guy who worked in the music shop where Charles Manson had his guitars strung? The girl who waited on Ted Bundy at his favorite coffee shop? Jack the Ripper's neighborhood bartender? How about one of the kids who had John Wayne Gacey perform as a clown at their birthday party?

For this anthology, we're looking for short stories about casual encounters of fictional people with serial killers, that turned creepy or deadly. Stories can be straight crime/thriller stories or ones with a supernatural bent (haunted objects, ghosts, demons, etc.).

Characters and victims, aside from the serial killers, must be fictional—real names of victims or family members can not be used. Also, feel free to use lesser-known killers like Richard Speck or The Boston Strangler, in case the Bundy and Manson stories start piling up like the bodies of their victims...

Note: Stories should not lionize or celebrate the serial killers, or promote racism, bigotry, or depictions of violence against children.  

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines... 
* Word format saved in .doc, or .docx
* 12 pt times new roman
* Double spaced
* Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* Up to 5k word count (although we are incredibly flexible for awesome stories!)
* Write SERIAL KILLERS along with your name and story title in the header of your email
*The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. 
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email. 

 To submit, email your polished story to: jane.nightshade@hellboundbookspublishing.com

- Make sure that you check your mss for grammar and punctuation, use our guidelines to help you:
DOWNLOAD YOUR HBB GUIDE TO GRAMMAR HERE (PDF)

NO REPRINTS - ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED WORKS ONLY

Deadline: extended to October 15 2023

Payment - $5.00 for first rights.

Capped at 120K words in total.