The Cellar Door - Issue #5: Marshland Horrors
Compiled & Edited by Aric Sundquist
Short Story Submission Call: Dec 1, 2023 - Jan 31, 2024
Short Story Submission Call: Dec 1, 2023 - Jan 31, 2024
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 (80%) will be filled from the open submissions.
- Title: The Cellar Door - Issue #5: Marshland Horrors
- 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):
- 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 and will eventually be reissued in The Cellar Door Compendium.
- 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 Previously unpublished only.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 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.
- Send Submissions to: darkpenpress (at) gmail (dot) com
Influential Movies/TV: The Serpent and the Rainbow, Pumpkinhead, Annihilation, Hatchet, The Skeleton Key, Rogue (2007), The Beyond, A House on the Bayou, True Detective (Season 1), more coming soon...
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, The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson, more coming soon...
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, The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson, more coming soon...