Do you adore the dark, mysterious world of fungi?
Are you drawn to what lives in the dim, dark regions under the forest’s leaves?
Do you flip for spores?
If the answer to all of the above is a resounding, “YES! Let me at those macabre mycelia!” then read on!
More Stories We Tell After Midnight
Stories We Tell After Midnight has been our anchor anthology series since Crone Girls Press first launched in 2019. For our fourth volume, we decided to do something different. While we will continue with our quiet horror, terror-in-the-night vibes found in our previous volumes, Volume 4 will be an anthology of horror inspired by mushrooms, fungus, spores, and all the dark things that rot under the soil.
In addition to a themed volume, Dark Spores: SWTAM 4 features a slate of invited authors and a crowdfunding campaign that will allow us to pay our authors an HWA pro rate of $0.05/word. As such we are offering a slate of fun opportunities to get involved with not only the funding of the anthology, but being a part of the process of getting one of our projects out in the world.
Will there be an open call?
Yes! Although we love our invited guests, part of our vision for Crone Girls Press was to always keep a space to publish new and new-to-us authors. The open call for Dark Spores will be contingent on the funding of the Kickstarter, so if you would like to help us keep that space open, please follow, back, and share!
Once funded, we will publish more detailed submission guidelines, but here is the short version of what we’ll be looking for:
- Co-Editors will be Carol Gyzander and Rachel A. Brune
- Stories will fit the mushroom horror theme and be 1,000 to 3,000 words (firm.) Although we have invited poets, we are not looking for poetry in the open call.
- No reprints or multiple submissions. Simultaneous submissions are, as always, accepted.
- Pay will be $0.05/word contingent on the Kickstarter funding.
- Submission link will be posted on our Submissions page when the open call is ready. If you are unfamiliar with our style or would like information about further guidelines, that is a good page to check out!
What if we just want to hang out with you awesome horror people?
Hey! No problem! We have a very cool opportunity coming up just for that reason.
If you would like to join us to hang out with your Crone Girls Press team, some of the invited authors, and learn about mushrooms, mushroom cocktails, and sign up for some very cool door prizes (if we do say so ourselves), then head on over to the Kickstarter and sign up at any one of our varied backer levels.
Prior to the party, Rachel will send out a link to the Zoom meeting where you can join us for a night of fun(gus) and revelry!
Hope to see you there!
cronegirlspress.com 