Announcing 'May Days of Unspeakable Horror'...

Here at Dark Scribe Press, we like our horror slow and agonizing, building in momentum until the breaking point of sanity and endurance. In keeping with this predilection for simmering anticipation, we’ve decided to torture our potential readership with the May Days of Unspeakable Horror.

It’s been one of the best-kept industry secrets (even our own authors don't know who they'll be sharing the TOC with), but starting on Thursday, May 1st, we will begin unveiling the table of contents for our upcoming Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet anthology at Dark Scribe Magazine – one incredible author at a time. Each weekday, we will be posting a new TOC announcement until our entire roster of literary talent is revealed.

So get ready as we open our closet door one painstaking inch at a time to reveal the unspeakable horrors lurking within…

Important: Submissions Deadline Changed...

Please note that an important deadline for submissions has changed. Queries will still be accepted until May 15th, but the deadline for actual submissions for any greenlighted queries has been moved up from June 30th to May 30th.

We've had the good fortune of receiving some exceptional stories, and the process of putting the project together is moving ahead faster than anticipated. We would suggest having your story ready or near-ready for submission before querying.

Thank you.

The Editors

Anthology Submissions Tally: March

We've now completed our sixth month of readings. Those who submitted stories to us during the month of March will be receiving notification of our editorial decisions regarding their submissions by week's end. Here are the results of our March readings:

• Total # of queries = 28
• Total # of greenlighted queries = 25
• Total # of actual new submissions = 21
• Total # of re-submissions from previous month(s) = 0
• Total # of 2nd readings that were re-considered = 0

Disposition of submissions:

• Accepted = 4
• Rejected = 17
• Held for second reading = 0
• Revisions requested from authors = 0
  

Tips From the March Submissions...

OK. So we've realized that perhaps using plain English to get our message out there isn't necessarily the best approach. This month, consider the following mathematical equation:

No + Queer + Theme = Instant Rejection

Seriously, our guidelines are rather clear on this. And while we realize that submission guidelines get copied and posted around the Internet, we've been diligent about including a link to this blog with our response to each and every query we receive and respond to, strongly suggesting that each potential contributor give this (helpful) blog a read.

In any event, we are nearing the end of our reading period and can now point out some specifics in terms of what stories not to submit, based either on what we've already accepted or what doesn't work in terms of the direction in which the anthology is evolving:

• Coming of age stories / teenage angst / runaways
• Nothing with a gay bar setting (although we've been saying this for some time now)
• Stories involving a therapist, therapist's office, therapy of any kind
• Vampires
• Stories in which traumatic childhood events or abuse triggers the repression of memories and/or sexual orientation.
• Stories at the higher end of our word count

Conversely, there have been certain stories and story elements that we haven't seen coming across our desks that we have a strong interest in:

• Surprisingly, we haven't received one story involving an actual closet yet. Come on, people. Closets are scary places!
• We haven't accepted many stories with "traditional" horror monsters. Have a few good ghosts and an outstanding vampire on board, as well as a marvelous mummy on hold. We haven't seen hide nor hair of zombies yet, and the werewolves who've crossed our paths so far haven't made us howl at the moon. Tough sell unless done extraordinarily well, but we're still open to these.
• We've yet to find a good story involving a drag queen or transgendered character.
• Period pieces with a strong sense of time and setting.
• Stories in the 1,000 to 2,500-word count range are being given preference at this stage in the process.