For our first Halloween issue, we want HORROR flash with a biohazardous flavour and a speculative seasoning. There are many subgenres in horror storytelling, and we’d love to see a variety in this call.
Body, cosmic, gothic, paranormal, sci-fi, apocalyptic, psychological, supernatural, eco, quiet, weird, slasher….and more.
Our Guest Readers for this call are Joyce Bingham and Zoe Davis
We also want a dark biological element to this story.
Give us microbial apocalypses, deadly dinners, unexplained gross stuff, encounters with the natural or unnatural that cause change, things you shouldn’t poke or sniff, alien biomes, mutated fauna, newly zoonotic infections, sentient waste.
Immerse us in the setting, discomfort us with tension, make us ick and itch, give us a sensory onslaught, make us reach for masks and a hot shower.
“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.” – Joshua Lederberg
“Release the toxic and infectious – spreaders of misery, souls destroying souls, and poisonous liars.” – Giorge Leedy
“What you see is that the most outstanding feature of life’s history is a constant domination by bacteria.” – Stephen Jay Gould
LET THE MOVIES AND BOOKS INSPIRE YOU…
Submission Guidelines
- We ‘re looking for Flash Fiction only (no CNF or poetry) between 100 and 1000 words (excluding title)
- One submission per writer – new and unpublished stories
- All horror subgenres considered – but don’t rely on shock and excessive gore, we need Story
- Use simple formatting – 12pt, easy-to-read-font, double spaced
- No name etc. on the story doc – the filename should be the title only. We do not want to see Shunn formatting please.
- Submission is via the Google Form linked below.
- For our Ts & Cs please refer to our Submissions Page
Ready to Submit?
This link goes live on 27th September at 9am (BST)
TRASH CAT LIT 