Phantom Worlds: The Cellar Door Issue #6
Compiled & Edited by Aric Sundquist
Short Story Submission Call: (Open Until Filled)
Short Story Submission Call: (Open Until Filled)
The Cellar Door is a micro 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: Phantom Worlds: The Cellar Door Issue #6
- Theme: The Upside Down of Stranger Things. The Otherworld of Silent Hill. The Labyrinth of Hellraiser. Looking for horror stories featuring nightmarish dreamscapes and alternate realities merging with our own.
- Word Count: 2,000 - 6,000 words.
- Payment: $50.00 + digital & paperback copy.
- Featured Author: TBA
- Accepted Authors (so far): Richard Beauchamp, Kristin Kirby, Scotty Milder, S.R. Miller, Teagan Olivia King, William R.D. Wood.
- 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 Previously unpublished only.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. Please do not send any stories written with A.I. assisted content.
- 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, PW Submission: ("Title") by (Author's Name). For Example, PW Submission: "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" by Stephen King. Attach the story as a separate document.
- Response Time: 2 - 3 weeks
- Submission Period: Open until filled (looking for 3 - 5 more stories)
- Send Submissions to: darkpenpress (at) gmail (dot) com
Influential Movies: In the Mouth of Madness, Annihilation, Silent Hill, The Endless, As Above So Below, Waxwork 1 & 2, Triangle, Nightbreed, Hellraiser, Event Horizon, Vivarium, Coherence, Us.
Influential TV shows: Fringe, The O.A., Stranger Things, Outer Range, Dark, Riget (aka: The Kingdom).
Influential writings: The Mist by Stephen King, Strange Highways (novella) by Dean Koontz, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.
Influential TV shows: Fringe, The O.A., Stranger Things, Outer Range, Dark, Riget (aka: The Kingdom).
Influential writings: The Mist by Stephen King, Strange Highways (novella) by Dean Koontz, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.
Editor's note 4-15-25: I received 478 stories from the original submission call--the most I've ever received for a single issue of The Cellar Door. Out of those stories, I accepted only three, with two more acceptances from private invitation. A majority of the submitted stories just didn't fit the theme.... or they weren't horror. Submission tip: Feel free to submit stories about monsters invading from other realities (or even dreams), but... perhaps show how the otherworldly environment becomes the main enemy. Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation is a great example of this.
