OPEN SUBMISSIONS: The Sirens Call – issue 51 Halloween/Fall 2020| #Horror #eZine #OpenCall #Reprints Welcome #fiction #stories #poetry @Sirens_Call

Halloween/Fall 2020

For the 51st issue of The Sirens Call eZine, we’re looking for short stories, flash fiction, drabbles, and poetry of horror or dark fiction that are well crafted, and since this issue publishes in October – feel free to slam home a Halloween theme!

We have a few taboos listed below, other than that, as long as you write a quality piece intended for an adults audience, we’d be happy to consider it.

We also welcome reprints as long as you hold the copyright, however, no attribution is offered though you are welcome to include a credit to the original publisher in your bio.

Your piece can be scary, sullen, emotive, freaky, elegant, bizarre, have a dark-humor twist to it, or be flat out creepy as hell!

The basic rules:

• Write the piece well.
• It must be primarily horror/dark fiction oriented
• No pieces containing coronavirus/covid-19 references will be accepted.
• Don’t break our set-in-stone taboos – NO pedophilia, NO bestiality, and NO descriptive rape scenarios.

Be creative, be morbid, be vicious and show us what you’ve got. If it fits our criteria, we’ll offer it up to our readership of about 35,000!

REPRINTS ARE WELCOME!

Submission Deadline: August 31, 2020

Circulation: Approximately 35,000

Short story word count: 1,000 – 2,500 (limit of one submission per author)
Long flash fiction word count: 500 – 999 (limit of one submission per author)
Short flash fiction word count: 200 – 499 (limit of three submissions per author)
Micro fiction word count: 50 – 99 (limit of three submissions per author)
Drabbles: 100 word prose (limit of five submissions per author)
Poem length: 10 – 50 lines (limit of five subs per author)

Reprints are welcome as long as you currently hold the copyright.

Full page/single book cover ads for individual authors are available at $10 per ad.
Publisher/community/multi-book full page ads are available at $25 per ad.
Please contact Nina@SirensCallPublications.com for advertising information.

All story, flash, and poem submissions MUST be submitted to:
Submissions@SirensCallPublications.com for consideration.

Please visit our web site for further details: www.SirensCallPub.com

FREE Download: Mental Ward: Experiments | May 25 – 29 | Only on Amazon!

Free Download
May 25th – 29th on Amazon!

Mental Ward: Experiments

We’ll take fine care of your loved one – no need to worry…

A dank basement, shadow filled hallways, the deep echo of a metal latch being thrown while faint screams are heard… These are the things you might experience in a place where the unspeakable happens, where conscientious action and moral turpitude turn a blind eye in the interest of advancing one’s own personal pursuits in the most deranged and unjustifiable manner. The type of place where power corrupts, and depravity runs rampant among those imbued with it. A place where the unfortunate are abandoned to the devices of those who convince themselves their actions are in the best interest of science.

Mental Ward: Experiments is a collection of ten short stories that demonstrate the worst of humanity’s ambition in the interest of ‘civilized’ advancement. Step into a world where sanity is left behind, and horror is what the doctor ordered!

Featuring:

Anomaly, Sarah Doebereiner
Dread Pink, Guy Medley
Rorschach, L.E. White
Bell Haven, Frank Collia
Gingham Curtains and Electric Shock, Gwendolyn Kiste
Alice, Stephanie Nett
A Mutual Understanding, Nica Berry
A Taste for Lunacy, John Pham
Ambrosia, Kyle Yadlosky
No Man’s Land Dance, Vic Kerry

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

SirensCallPublications.com

FREE Download: Monster Brawl | May 20 – 24 | Only on Amazon!

Free Download
May 20th – 24th on Amazon!

Monster Brawl

It’s time to let the monsters loose!

For this book, we collected stories of monsters doing epic battle with other monsters! The beasts could be classical by design with a unique twist, or they could be spawned straight from the author’s imagination. The only rule: there must be a clear-cut winner at the end of each story; one of the creatures had to die!

Some of the stories in this collection pit a single monster against another, while others are all-out gang warfare. Some are campy, some serious, but all a fight for the ages!

It’s time to get your game face on for twelve tales worthy of the title Monster Brawl!

Featuring:

Market Forces, Ben Howels
The Imp, the Gadfly, and the Hourglass, Joshua Skye
The Matriarch, Mya Lairis
Monster Milk, Hunter Shea
To Fight by the Light of the Silvery Moon, Scott Harper
Vices, Sergio Pereira
Altered Beasts, Jennifer L. Barnes
Save It for the Cameras, T.R. North
Whoever Fights Monsters…, Patrick Loveland
Below the Surface, Chad A. Clark
The Rift Ripper, Kevin Holton
Kingdom of the Spiders, Paul M. Feeney
Cover art by NOISTROMO

 

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

SirensCallPublications.com

FREE Download: Wicked Deeds | May 15-19 | Only on Amazon!

Free Download
May 15th – 19th on Amazon!

Wicked Deeds
Witches, Warlocks, Demons and Other Evil Doers

Sometimes wicked people do wicked things simply because they can…

The twelve stories in Wicked Deeds tell tales of witches and warlocks with ill intent, devilish demons bent on destruction, and other doers of evil who make the world a terrifying place.

What is a mother to do when her daughter is gifted but lives under the thumb of her fanatical preacher husband who will brook no talk of the supernatural? What of a demon so desperate to free himself of a trap that he will force another to repeat his atrocities and condemn a young boy to his demonic fate? Or maybe the story of a crotchety old witch with a score to settle against the town she lives in is more to your liking – what evil will the seemingly harmless crony call upon when faced with an ultimatum?

If you’re looking for wicked people with supernatural abilities doing wicked things, this is the collection for you!

Featuring:

A Hundred Crimson Candles, B. David Spicer
Buyers and Cellars, Devin Darcy
Ghostville!, Darren French
The Devil’s in the Details, David O’Hanlon
Shiv, Jennifer Melzer
Puppy Farm, Josie Dorans
The Bone Thief of Belheim City, Kevin Holton
Broomstick and a Pointed Hat, Jonathan D. Nichols
Inquire Within, Mark Christopher Lane
Witches on Salem, Brian D. Mazur

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

Click here to grab your free copy on Amazon! —>>>

SirensCallPublications.com

RELEASE: The Sirens Call Issue #47 ‘Deeds Most Foul and Unnatural’ | #Horror #DarkFic #FREE #eZine @Sirens_Call

Issue 47 of our SCP eZine is out!

The Sirens Song

Sirens Call Publications is pleased to announce the release of the latest issue of

The Sirens Call

The 47th issue of The Sirens Call eZine weighs in at 184 pages featuring one hundred and twenty six pieces of dark fiction and horror from ninety six different authors and poets. Be sure to check out the twelve pieces of artwork from the mega-talented Robert Elrod, along with his essay about how much he loves monsters! And it is our absolute honor and pleasure to present an interview with this month’s featured author, Ramsey Campbell conducted by Trish Wilson! A master of the horror genre, Campbell offers an excerpt from his novel, The Influence, plus a link to the trailer for the new Netflix film based on it!

Click on the cover for your #FREE download!

Visit the web site to check out the other The Sirens Call issues!
www.sirenscallpub.com

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‘Appealing to Young Adults’ by Ela Lourenco, #author of Awakening – Book Three in the Dragon Born series. @ElaLourenco #fantasy #YA #DragonBorn

Appealing to Young Adults

by Ela Lourenco

What does ‘young adult’ mean? Some argue it’s the twelve to eighteen age group, others argue it is fourteen plus… It isn’t very well defined. In this day and age of internet access, social media etc., it has become ever harder to determine who is old enough for what. So how does one tailor a book for an indeterminate age group with varying levels of maturity and a whole host of different interests?

My daughter read the first few chapters as my ‘tester’, her only criticism being ‘is this all you’ve written?’ and ‘when will you finish the book so I can read it already?’ She then proceeded to stand over my shoulder (literally) so I would ‘crack’ on with it!

Encouraged by her obvious enjoyment of my story I realised something – I remembered that excitement and frantic frenzy born of sinking nose deep into a really good book. Realising this unlocked something inside me – writing for the YA audience was not the complex tricky minefield I had convinced myself it was – rather it was true freedom. Liberation from the constraints of adulthood and complete immersion into a world where one is no longer a child but still retains the wonder and thirst and magic of one.

Young adult to me means the ‘age of magic’ – not quite child nor fully grown, but that wonderful in-between place that bridges the ever-present awe of magic with an ability to understand the world around you. As I wrote, I remembered. I remembered ideas and thoughts long dusty in my mind – I remembered the crazy vivid imagination that had been mine before ‘I grew up’ and as I embraced my newfound ‘childhood’ Dragon Born flowed with increased pace and ease, followed by Child of Fire and then my newest release Awakening (book three of five in the series).

All YA writers will have their own views and opinions as to how to write for young adults, and there is certainly no one right answer, but for me it was returning to a time and mind-set long past which helped me to recapture that sense of awe and belief in magic – in order to write for young adults, in my mind I became one once more, and I plan on never leaving it again!

Awakenings
Book Three of the Dragon Born Series

The Royal tournament, the Karnac, is fully underway. But there is deception and betrayal at every turn. Unseen dark forces are at play, both within the school grounds and out with. Even the Gods are unable to help when a new threat looms over them all.The very existence of Azmantium depends on Lara fully becoming the Child of Fire and casting aside the Shadows lurking in every corner of her beloved planet.Can she overcome the challenges that await? Will the Shadows cover the world in darkness? Only Lara and her friends can change the fate of Azmantium.

Available on Amazon!

About the Author:

Ela Lourenco is a lover of all things fantasy, magic and mystery and loves nothing better than cooking up new tales – that is when she isn’t nose deep in a book herself! Nomadic by nature, she has now settled down in Scotland with her hubby, two daughters and two cats.

Ela also runs creative writing workshops for children and is passionate about helping those with learning difficulties to get ‘back to enjoying stories’.

Follow her on Twitter at @ElaLourenco or her Facebook page for news and updates!

 

eZine Guidelines

via eZine Guidelines

OPEN SUBMISSIONS: The Sirens Call – Issue 42 ‘The Bitter End’ | #Horror #OpenCall #ReprintsWelcome #fiction

via OPEN SUBMISSIONS: The Sirens Call – Issue 42 ‘The Bitter End’ | #Horror #OpenCall #ReprintsWelcome #fiction

Prey of the Eyeless by Lee A. Forman

via Prey of the Eyeless

Prey of the Eyeless

Great story from Lee A.Forman for Pen of the Damned.

Pen of the Damned

Beneath the stars I entered the forest, machete unsheathed. The idea of a gun rejected early in my search. It wasn’t personal enough. I wanted to sever its ability to escape and run my hand over its face—it had no eyes; I wanted to make sure it could see me. I needed it to know it was me who consigned it to death.

I pondered the irony of where the hunt would end. Years I searched to unmask the hidden wretch, my obsession. In that time I encountered many a sinful beast, but none so horrible as the eyeless thing that took my wife. Meryl’s expression held elegance even in shock, as its shiny, coal-dark arm wrapped around her throat and took her forever.

I sought out urban legends, overheard rumors in bar conversations, asked questions no sane person would dare. But none of the things I hunted turned out…

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