VAMPIRES! Short Story Contest

Dark Moon Digest Is looking for quality vampire short stories for future issues.

The contest is open to all writers, published or unpublished.

The story style does not matter. It can be anything from a slasher type story (although we have to admit right up front, those are not our favorites) to a humorous tale or anything in between. But most importantly, it must be an entertaining horror short story and it must be about vampires. We must want to turn that page to see what happens next in the story and how things end. Oh, and don’t forget scary. That is, perhaps, the most important consideration.

Of course, what we would really like to see is a unique spin on your vampire story. Think of a different viewpoint. Think it’s all been done before? Well, think again. When other writers read your story, they should say “why didn’t I think of that”?

Here are the rest of the rules:

DEADLINE: January 1, 2011.

PRIZE MONEY & PAYMENT:

1st Place: $50 Grand Prize plus a copy of the issue of Dark Moon Digest in which your story appears.

2nd Place: $25 plus a copy of the issue of Dark Moon Digest in which your story appears.

3rd Place: $10 plus a copy of the issue of Dark Moon Digest  in which your story appears.

Other stories selected for publication will receive a copy of the issue in which the story appears.

ENTRY FEE: $5.00 payable via PayPal or by check or money order. (See below)

• All vampire 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. Check here for more information on copyrights.)
• Your vampire submission must be previously unpublished in print format unless you still hold the copyright.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.
• By submitting your vampire short fiction work to this contest, you are giving us First North American Serial Rights and the permission to possibly publish the work in our annual anthology. (Dark Moon Books plans to publish a yearly anthology which will contain the best stories published in Dark Moon Digest.) 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 submissions 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.
• This deadline may be extended depending on quantity and quality of submissions.
• 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 might ask the author for a re-write (with suggestions) if we think it would improve the story and 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 “Vampire Story 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. No queries are required.

• 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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