After the raving success that was their Green Inferno project, Tenebrous Press have decided to team up with me (Alex Woodroe, hi, how are you?) for their next caper.
What’s it gonna be?
A collection of fiction exploring the grand traditions and tropes of Gothic Horror, reimagined and contemporized for this generation and beyond.
We are seeking Women—trans, cis, femme-identifying, all are welcome—to pay tribute to our Gothic Mothers (Gothmothers?) through transgressive, shocking, emotional, weird stories.
We’re not interested in rewrites of the classics; rather, stories inspired by Gothic moods, subtexts and themes. Take your breast-beating, ghost-plagued protagonists out of the Victorian manor and inject them into outer space; the plague-soaked, paranoiac world outside your window; under the sea; into a splatterpunk meta-fiction; or better yet, surprise us!
The most important thing is for your stories to stand in that delectable meeting point between the old world Gothic doom, dread, and death; and the new world fun, creativity, and excitement.
What we’re looking for:
Fresh, modern Gothic Horrors stories between 1.000 and 15.000 words.
Keep in mind that we have limited space, so the longer the story, the stronger it would have to be in order to fit in as cornerstone content. We would likely only accept one story of max length. Cutting mercilessly will be to your own advantage.
We will consider poetry, especially if it comes with a strong horror narrative.
What we’re not looking for:
Submissions from anyone who doesn’t identify as a woman. (whereas trans women, cis women, NB Femme, and anyone who is in any way comfortable with that identifier is welcome).
Anything that isn’t horror. Sci-Fi and Fantasy angles welcome, but remember this is a Horror anthology first and foremost.
Anything that is purely traditional Gothic Horror.
Reprints. We’re only looking for first publishing rights at this time.
Don’t be racist. Don’t be sexist. There’s a difference between a character riddled with -isms, and an author riddled with them. We can tell.
Submission method
Submissions open: April 20th 2021.
Submissions close: May 15th 2021.
Final decisions will be made by mid-June.
For short stories and poetry: send your entries as a .docx to submissionswoodroe@gmail.com with the subject “SUBMISSION – TITLE – AUTHOR”. In the body of the email, include a short bio & optional cover letter if there’s anything about your relationship to your submission you’d like to share with us.
For longer stories: if you prefer, you can send a three paragraph synopsis + the first page to submissionswoodroe@gmail.com with the subject “SAMPLE – TITLE – AUTHOR”. We will judge your entry based on the sample given, and let you know whether we’d like to buy the full story. If we do, you will have one month to provide the completed product.
Multiple submissions are welcome. We also won’t stop you from simultaneously submitting the same story elsewhere, just keep in mind that keeping us in the loop is extremely important to us, to the success of this collection, and to our upcoming Kickstarter.
Accepted pieces will be edited for grammar&punctuation. Any changes beyond that will be vetted by the author first.
We’re looking for first publishing rights, as well as twelve months of exclusivity starting from the publishing date. After that, you’re welcome to reprint your story in other venues or your own collections.
Payment
Payment: USD0.04c/word (post-edit).
Accepted pieces will receive a US$25 holding fee, the rest of the fee to be distributed after the Kickstarter campaign.
Tenebrous Press will be running a Kickstarter campaign in order to fund the bells-and-whistles collection, including illustrations, beautiful cover art, hardcover copies, etc.
While authors will receive their fees regardless of the result of the campaign, we will be exceptionally grateful to authors willing to put elbow grease into promoting it on their social media, through interviews, community involvement, etc.
What’s been revving our motors lately?
We love Weird Horror, atmosphere, dread, and slimy things 365/24/7.
Variations on giallo that ditch the misogyny and find shrewder ways to capture the gonzo spirit.
The vibes of splatterpunk, Clive Barker, China Miéville, Caitlin R. Kiernan, T.E.D. Klein, and anyone rich with novelty and surprises; combined with our Gothic foremothers: Jackson, Shelley, DuMaurier.
Current and relevant themes inserted into classic genres. Retrofuturism, cli-fi, weird fiction, literary subtexts, slipstream genres, hope punk, unlikely romance, and eco-horror, just to name a few. This isn’t a requirement, just a rough idea of how much freedom you have to update Gothic Horror.
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Hello, just a quick question 🙂 The last submission call from Tenebrous Press closed a bit earlier than the deadline, by my memory. Is this call going to stay open until the deadline or close after a given number of submissions?
Thank you! Excited for this one
This call is staying open until the deadline no matter what. Though I am reading through submissions right now, I’m only doing so to keep them tidy in categories as they arrive and make it easier when the time comes. So feel free to take your time, a last minute entry has as much chance as an early one. Good luck and happy writing! 😁
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Hi. I’m a bit uncertain of the rules regarding poems. How many can we send in, and is there a minimum word count?
If you have multiple you think fit, you’re welcome to send them in. All in the same email is fine, and there’s no minimum, but we are looking for a strong horror narrative, so that’s less likely (though not impossible!) to achieve in a haiku.
Would it be ok to submit shorter stories (~500 words)?
I’ll take a look. It’ll be a (very slightly) harder sell, but it’s by no means a hard no. If they impress us, why not?
I have a question about the deadline – do submissions need to be submitted before May 15 (on May 14) of by the end of May 15 (by midnight May 15)?
Thank you!
By the end of the 15th would be great, and even if you’re a few hours late I won’t cut you off. I just need to stop the flood after the 16th, that’s all. Thanks for checking!
Thank you!
Hey Alex, I’m finished with my story, it is in its last stage of editing at the moment. I just hope the deadline isn’t closing till midnight on 15th I would appreciate if consider reading my work if I exceed the deadline by a few hours.
Thanks!
Thank you for the heads up! It doesn’t close until midnight 15th, and I’m happy to hold the door open for your story if it’s a little late.
Thank you so much!
Can we submit more than one story?
Sure thing, if you feel they fit the theme!
Hi there, can I ask, do you want our names adding to the submitted piece, or just in the email?
Many thanks
Joanne
Personally I don’t have a preference at all, since I’m not printing submissions and won’t lose them. I know many other places like the name to be in the document though, so that’s a good practice to have!
Will I make the cut if I send it right away, I have my submission attached in an email already! I am just writing the cover letter! Could send within 5 minutes!
Sorry, I was asleep! 😅 I hope you did send it. I’m just about to make a cup of tea and put up the “closed” sign any minute now.
Yes! I did get it sent! It was right after I wrote that post!