(UPDATE: We’ve hit May already. Sadly, submissions are officially closed. (5/3/2022)

Today’s the day Clay Vermulm and I announce our collaboration project for all you spine tingling writers! We would love to have you work with us. Please read full details below.

Calling all horror authors! 

We are seeking to edit together a collection of short stories around the theme of supernatural/paranormal creatures and cryptids. If you have a chilling tale of other-worldly creatures, mystical beings, folklore legends, or corporeal monsters from the darker corners of the world, we want to read them! 

Give us terrifying tales of those creatures lurking in the deep dark woods, the depths of the ocean, the subterranean caves, or in our very own suburban basements. 

We encourage you to think outside the box! Though we will accept stories about yetis, vampires, werewolves, etc. We would love to see creatures that we’ve never heard of or don’t get a lot of attention in the literary and film worlds.  

What we want: 

• Cryptids/creatures of supernatural origin. We are going with the broadest spectrum of this term, so any sort of creature with a physical form can count, as long as the story is good!  
• Compelling narratives with well-developed characters. The root of horror is caring for the characters. There is no tension if we don’t care what happens to your protagonist!
• Fully edited manuscripts. Only submit stories that have been fully edited by a professional through the developmental, copy, line, and proofreading stages. If you need to find an editor, I recommend nolandedits.com and welltemperedproof.com. You can also find qualified editors at the Editorial Freelancer’s Association website efa.com.
• Reprints and Simultaneous Subs are OK. We don’t need to be the exclusive or original publishers of the story. We accept all reprints or simultaneous submissions. If you are submitting the story to multiple places, please let us know and promptly remove yourself from consideration in Bad Spirits, should you be accepted elsewhere. If you are submitting a reprint, make sure you own the rights to republish it with us before you submit it. 

What we DON’T want: 

• No graphic rape. Do not submit stories with graphic depictions of sexual violence or violence/molestation against children. If that is a theme in your story that is alluded to, that is one thing, but we don’t want to read a graphic, detailed account of such actions. Nor do we want to read a story that promotes, glorifies, or justifies such actions. 
• Gore/Shock Horror. This is not our style. In our opinion, gross is disturbing, but that doesn’t make it scary. Please do not submit stories that utilize graphic, gory violence as their chief method of terror. Again, we aren’t restricting gore from the stories, but it needs to have a purpose, and the story needs to stand without it on the merits of narrative and strong characters. 
• No Erotica.  Not that we have anything against it, this simply isn’t that sort of collection. Sex scenes are acceptable, but they shouldn’t be too graphic, and they need to be essential to the plot, as mentioned above regarding gore and shock horror.  

Semantics

• Word Count: 3,000-12,000 words. Stories under or over this word count limit will not be considered. We would love to get some longer stories in the 8,000 to 12,000 range!  
• Formatting: Send as a DocX file. It is easier for us to work with. DO NOT SEND A PDF or ANY OTHER FILE TYPE. The manuscript should be written in 12 point Times New Roman Font, double spaced, with page numbers and word count included. 
• Contact Information: Put your name, email, and social media handles at the top of the manuscript. No need to include a phone number or physical address. 
• Cover Letter: Include your cover letter in the BODY OF YOUR SUBMISSION EMAIL but don’t stress too much about it. Just introduce yourself, introduce the story, and give us an author bio.   
• Payment: We aren’t offering pay upfront upon acceptance. However, we will be splitting any profit from sales among all selected authors. If you are selected, these details will be outlined in your contract. 

Where/How to Submit: 

Submit stories to my email: clayvermulm@hotmail.com 

• Email subject lines should be formatted as follows: BADSPIRITSCOLLECTION_AUTHORNAME_STORYTITLE 
• Submit your story as a DocX file within the January 30th-April 30th deadline. 
• Be sure to follow all semantic guidelines listed above, or you will be disqualified from consideration. 
• Please allow up to six weeks from the closing of our submission deadline to hear from us. If we don’t get back to you by then, feel free to check-in. 
• Due to the volume of submissions, we cannot send personal rejections and/or feedback for every story. Please do not take offense if you receive a rejection, it is a matter of necessity for us, and it says nothing of the quality of your work, merely that it didn’t fit in this collection at this time.

Thank you for submitting to the Bad Spirits Short Story Anthology! We look forward to reading your stories.

Sincerely,

Clay and Victoria

pdf download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1glLwOXwNaGmh3pehPOFXrwaRur8UvWD8/view?usp=sharing

(UPDATE: We’ve hit May already. Sadly, submissions are officially closed. (5/3/2022)