Easter Contest 2023

Guidelines

Theme: Rebirth
Submissions are currently
CLOSED
and will open again on 1 February 2023

What we're looking for

We're looking for original and previously unpublished fantasy and horror short fiction of maximum 1500 words, written in English. While we don't officially have a minimum word count, we have found that shorter stories must work harder to convince us.

The theme, fitting for the season, is Rebirth. Send us your stories featuring vampires, revenants, zombies or phoenixes or anything else - good or evil - that has come back from the dead.

We particularly love straightforward stories where someone is trying to get something and meets an obstacle, but we can also appreciate a story that touches us purely emotionally.

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(also check our Extra Tips section for a special advantage)

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The legal stuff

The winner of the contest will receive £300 (payment currently made only through PayPal). This is for exclusive first world electronic rights (stories published on our website and through our mailing list) and for nonexclusive reprint rights in our yearly anthology (published on Amazon as paperback and ebook). We reserve the right to archive work on our website to keep it available to our readers.

We will also mention two shortlisted stories on our website. While we might offer regular publication to shortlisted stories, this is not guaranteed.

• The contest will be judged by the editor, Filipe Lichtenheld

• All decisions are final

• No contest entry fees will be returned

• By submitting, you are agreeing to all contest rules

• Contest rules are subject to change

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How to submit

To submit your story, please fill out the form below. Please upload your story/stories in the standard manuscript format (you can download a template here) and in .doc or docx. If you submit through the form below, please make sure you get the confirmation that your form has been sent.

As we had a few questions about this, a little clarification: if you don't feel comfortable giving us your full address, we understand. Please include at least your country. This will help us with statistics. Please make sure you've included your legal name and the name under which you would like to be published.

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We charge a £6 submission fee per story.

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We accept multiple submissions.

We don't accept simultaneous submissions.

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In the event that you want to submit more than four stories or if you want to add another story later or if you have a question about the submission process, please send us a quick message via the Contact Us form first.

What happens next

We will announce a winner and two shortlisted stories on our website and our Facebook page on 1 April 2022.

We will try our best to respond faster to stories we haven't picked.

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The winning story will be published as our monthly story on the 15th of April 2022 and in our 2022 anthology.

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We will send an email to acknowledge receipt of your story within three days. If you haven't heard from us by then, please send us a quick message via the Contact Us form. Please also check your spam folder.

You can use the Contact Us form if you have any general questions about the contest as well.

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Don't forget to check the website for upcoming stories or follow us on Facebook.