The H. P. Lovecraft Project: A Classic Horror Anthology

The contest is open to all writers, published or unpublished.

In this case, story style does matter. Your style must resemble the style of the classic horror stories of the 19th and early 20th century. Classic examples of this genre are H. P. Lovecraft, of course, but also Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H. G. Wells, etc. (Lesser known authors of this style would include Gertrude Atherton, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, M. R. James, etc.)

If you are unfamiliar with the classic or gothic horror genre, simply use your favorite search engine to find several websites which include the full text to these classic tales. (And, if you are a horror fan and have never read stories by some of the authors listed above, you don’t know what you are missing.)

Your story will be judged on originality, how well your story is written, horror factor and how closely you follow the classic horror style.

Here are the rest of the rules:

• DEADLINE: March 1, 2011.
• PRIZE MONEY & PAYMENT:

1st Place: $100 Grand Prize plus a copy of the Anthology.

2nd Place: $50 plus a copy of the Anthology.

All other stories selected for publication in the Anthology will receive $10 and a copy of the Anthology.

• ENTRY FEE: $10.00 payable via PayPal or by check or money order. (See below)
• All short stories must be submitted by the author holding the copyright. (If your short story is not copyrighted, don't worry. Copyright laws protect your work from the moment you started writing it.)
• Dark Moon Book reserves the right to publish stories selected for the Anthology in an issue of “Frightmares” as well. Authors will be contacted if selected for the Anthology or the magazine.
• Your short story must be previously unpublished in print format unless you still hold the copyright. (You must inform us if a story has previously been published and where it was published so we can verify who holds the copyright.) Online publication is okay as long as you hold the copyright and are not bound by exclusivity to any person, party or website.
• This deadline may be extended depending on quantity and quality of submissions. The number of pages in the Anthology will also be determined by these factors.
• We request First North American Serial Rights and the permission to publish the stories in either the anthology, Frightmares! or both. (Check here for more information on copyrights.)  You keep all other rights including the original copyright. Stories published in either the magazine or the anthology will carry notices which stipulate the copyright resides with the author. (NOTE: If your submission has previously appeared in another publication or anthology, we will discuss publication rights with you.)
• All submitted short stories should be a minimum of 1,500 words and should not exceed 5,000 words. This is not a strict guideline, but anything differing from these figures should be the exception rather than the rule.
• You may withdraw your short story from consideration at any point, but this request must be made in writing (e-mail acceptable). No entry fees will be refunded in this case.
• Entrants selected for publication will be contacted prior to publication with further instructions. There are some instances in which we would ask the author for a re-write if we think it would improve its chances of being published.

HOW TO ENTER:

Submit all entries via e-mail to HorrorQuarterly@gmail.com as an attachment in either Word (.doc) or rich text format. Please use “Lovecraft Project Submission” in your subject line. Stories may be submitted before payment is made, but will not officially be entered into the contest until entry fee has been received. You do not need to query.

• Include your name, address, phone number and e-mail address on the first page of your short story and in your e-mail. All subsequent pages should be numbered and include author name and title.
• Please use a serif type to format your short story. (i.e. Times Roman, Georgia, Garamond, Courier).

PAYMENT INFORMATION:

Questions? Send them to HorrorQuarterly@gmail.com

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