Marshland Horrors: The Cellar Door Issue #5
Compiled & Edited by Aric Sundquist
Short Story Submission Call: Dec 1, 2023 - Jan 31, 2024 EST (CLOSED)
Short Story Submission Call: Dec 1, 2023 - Jan 31, 2024 EST (CLOSED)
The Cellar Door is a biannual anthology of dark fiction. Each issue will contain 8 to 12 stories based around a specific theme and will include a brand new story from a featured author. The majority of the anthology will be filled from open submissions.
- Title: Marshland Horrors: The Cellar Door Issue #5
- Theme: Looking for horror/suspense stories that take place in swamps, bayous, and marshlands. Special preference for stories with backwater cults/legends, cryptid monsters, and other slimy creatures lurking just below the water.
- Type: Creature feature, serial killer, undead/zombies, voodoo/witchcraft, suspense/thriller, cosmic horror.
- Word Count: 2,000 - 10,000 words.
- Payment: $25.00 + digital & paperback copy.
- Featured Author: Scotty Milder
- Accepted Authors (so far): Ashlee Lhamon, Matt Bliss, Jennifer L. Collins, Cassandra Daucus, SR Miller, Martin Thompson, Alex Ebenstein, Mark Szasz, Richard Beauchamp.
- Cover Art: Mikio Murakami
- Rights: We are seeking first time rights for 1 year after publication. After that time all rights revert back to the author. The publication will appear in both print and digital formats.
- Reprints: None. Previously unpublished only.
- Multiple Submissions: None.
- Simultaneous Submissions: Yes, but state in your email that it is a simultaneous submission, and please email us immediately if the story is sold elsewhere. Also, be sure to follow the Manuscript Format guidelines below when submitting.
- File Format: Include your story as an attachment in MS Word, LibreOffice, or Rich Text Format.
- Manuscript Format: Use the Modern or Classic Shunn Format. Include a short bio in the body of your email. Your subject line should read, MH Submission: ("Title") by (Author's Name). For Example, MH Submission: "The Raft" by Stephen King. Attach the story as a separate document.
- Response Time: 4 weeks after submissions close, if not sooner.
- Submission Period: Dec 1, 2023 to Jan 31, 2024 EST.
- Send Submissions to: darkpenpress (at) gmail (dot) com
Influential Movies/TV: The Serpent and the Rainbow, Annihilation, Hatchet, The Skeleton Key, Rogue (2007), The Beyond, A House on the Bayou, True Detective (Season 1)
Influential writings/series: Man-Thing (Marvel comic series), Swamp Thing (DC comic series), The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft, Gone South by Robert R. McCammon, Seed by Ania Ahlborn, Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana.
Influential writings/series: Man-Thing (Marvel comic series), Swamp Thing (DC comic series), The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft, Gone South by Robert R. McCammon, Seed by Ania Ahlborn, Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana.
Note on 9-17-23: To get a good sense of what I'm looking for, read the free short story "The Bird is the Werd" by Xariffa Suarez, appearing in Negative Space 2. Good luck! A.S.
