Award-winning author and anthology editor Deborah Sheldon wants submissions for KILLER CREATURES DOWN UNDER: HORROR STORIES WITH BITE, an open-call anthology to be released by IFWG Publishing Australia in 2023.
Killer Creatures Down Under: Horror Stories with Bite will comprise stories from Australian writers obtained entirely from open callout. The stories must feature Australian animals; in other words, no cryptids, ghosts, legends or monsters. The animals can be of any type – mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, invertebrates, fish, arthropods – as long as they are real creatures that are native to Australia. While each story must be nominally “body horror”, there is no restriction on subgenre: anything from sci-fi to fantasy to gothic to action to psychological and beyond will be considered.
Submissions open: 22 April 2022
Deadline: 15 July 2022
Payment: 4c per word for original stories, 1c per word for reprints (Australian currency)
Publisher: IFWG Publishing Australia (co-published in North America through the IFWG Publishing International imprint)
Note: Open to Australian writers only (citizens, residents and ex-pats)
To be edited by award-winning author and anthology editor, Deborah Sheldon.
Stories must be between 1500 and 5000 words. Stories outside of these word counts risk being deleted unread. Reprints will be considered, but must not be available for free anywhere online. The anthology will have only a small number of reprints, regardless.
While graphic violence and swearing are acceptable, submissions must have a literary bent, i.e., a high standard of writing. For a clearer understanding of requirements, you might read Deb’s IFWG anthology, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies.
What to avoid:
- Gratuitous gore used purely for shock value.
- Cliché tropes such as: the adventures of a young boy and his dog; the main character turning out to be an animal; death of a beloved pet; dead animals coming back to life; crazy cat lady; alien disguised as an animal; villain with a fish tank; and so on.
- The submission of first drafts, often indicated by spelling and grammatical errors.
Full submission details can be found HERE.
