Anthology Guidelines

NECROTIC TISSUE will be accepting submissions for MALPRACTICE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF BEDSIDE TERROR. 

To many of us, a hospital may be one of the most frightening scenarios there are. It can leave you completely vulnerable and places your livelihood in the hands of complete strangers. It’s the perfect formula for horrific tales. All that’s missing is YOU; the ideal catalyst. We are seeking stories from 2000 to 4000 words in length. The pay rate will be 1 cent a word and one contributor’s copy. 

Stories must have some connection with Bloom Memorial Hospital. The Hospital can be located anywhere for your tale. Indeed, Bloom Memorial exists as a complete hospital in many towns, but you can also get to it through any hospital or clinic in the world.
All genres will be considered as long as the finished product scares the surgical scrubs right off of us. Think Dr. Mengele meets Bedlam hospital and make it that much worse. All necrotic Tissues content guidelines apply with exception of word count. The word count is limited to stories between 2,000 and 4,000 words. We will also take a select few 100-word stories for a flat fee of $10 and one contributor copy.

Our reading time will be July 1st until September 30th, or until filled. The anticipated publication date will be late 2008 or early 2009. 

Please provide a cover letter with name, address, email and published credits (if any). If this information is missing, your submission will be unread and deleted. Send all submissions to: anthology@necrotictissue.com. All submissions should be in proper manuscript format and pasted into the body of your email.

      
                   
   

EZine Guidelines

We are into horror, both speculative and psychological. We assume all stories submitted are fictional, so if they aren’t, don’t ever tell us. Any cross over genres with a strong horror element will be considered. Dark humor, that is done well, (how is that for subjective?) is always appreciated.

…dark is not enough.

What the heck does that mean? Well, besides sounding cool, it means that there are plenty of dark, edgy stories out there, but we require more. It's a short way to say first, the story has to be plenty dark to even be considered, and second it has to knock our socks off.

To get your story accepted, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Stories should be well crafted, have merit and make an impact.
  • 1st person will be considered, but are less preferred.
  • We will not take any stories that deal with the abuse, torture or rape of children or women. Also, stories that depict woman as helpless or powerless victims stand little chance.
  • We don't like memoir or journals, it would have to be incredible to be accepted.
  • No deus ex machina, that is rank amateur and you can do better.
  • If you have THE best serial killer story ever, maybe. Gore for gore’s sake is not our thing, but this is an ezine for adults, so if it is intrinsic to the story, do it well. Slasher stories where only the virgins live is not ok, sex is a necessary evil.

The first few issue had themes, mostly because we got a lot of great stories with the same theme without even requesting it. Going forward, we will not intentionally seek themes for our submission periods.

There are two story lengths that we except. The first is the most simple, and ranges in length from 101 and 5,000. Do not query for longer works. A stand-alone Chapter of a larger work may be considered if it’s 5,000 words or less.

The second length is The 100 word story. 100 words precisely, not 99 or less and not 101. For purpose of word count, the 100 word story includes the title and the body of the story. The writer's name and even the word "by" which usually appears after the writer's name is not included. Don't trust any word processing word count tool, you should manually count.

Previously we had a pay scale ranging from $15 to $25 dollars. The Staph of Necrotic Tissue strives to support new writers. The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has three levels of membership, two for writers and one for no writers. The entry level for new writers, is called "Affiliate", and requires the sale of one horror story of at least 500 words for a payment of at least $25 (please go to the HWA website for more details).

In recognition of this, all stories will receive a flat fee of $25.