Anthology Submissions



DARK LANE DIGEST #2 - SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN

Submissions are now OPEN for Dark Lane Digest # 2

For this issue, we are especially looking for stories with a watery theme.



GUIDELINES 

UNLIKE OUR ANTHOLOGIES, DARK LANE DIGEST WILL CONTAIN ONLY SIX STORIES. 

WE WANT YOUR WEIRD. 
What we’re looking for:
Well-written stories: dark, weird, strange, magical.

Our tastes lean more towards literary 'dark' fiction, but we're not against reading something frivolous and fun if done well.

Some writers we enjoy: Angela Carter, Ray Bradbury, Mervyn Peake, Kevin Barry, Jeffrey Ford, Flannery O'Connor,  Robert Aickman, Laird Barron, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Truman Capote, Rebecca Lloyd, Vladamir Nabokov, T.C. Boyle, Andre Dubus, and Margaret Atwood.

Stories don't have to be genre, but must have a touch of ‘the weird’ – how you interpret that is up to you - and can include elements of the following: surrealism, horror, humour, sci-fi, fantasy, sex and romance, magic realism, mystery, fairy and folk tale.  We want a mix of stories that will appeal to readers who don’t necessarily read genre fiction.  We want stories that have an emotional depth, that remind us how full of wonder life can be (although that doesn’t mean they have to be uplifting).

What we’re not looking for, and what we've seen too much off:
Pulpy-type stories, blood and gore, hard science fiction, familiar tropes (vampires, werewolves, serial killers, zombies, etc) unless given a new interesting slant, stories about cannibalism, re-written fairy tales, D&D type fantasy, fan fiction, murdered girlfriend/dead girl stories (or stories where woman are only there to be victims), superheroes, stories were the primary objective is to scare or repulse the reader, stories with no plot or point.

If would be a great help if you could try and avoid the following: Indenting your paragraphs manually, (this creates so much work for us that it may be the sole cause of rejection).  Using single quotation marks for dialogue i.e. 'Hello?'.  Please use double quotes - "Hello?" 

We at Dark Lane Books believe in being inclusive rather than exclusive, so welcome submissions from everyone and anyone regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin, and sexual preference.  The only thing we're interested in is your story.

Word count: 2000 - 7,000 words (query for longer pieces). 

Deadline: Until full.
Payment: One contributor's copy (paperback).
To be published Autumn 2024
No wacky fonts please.  Double or 1.5 spacing.  Make it readable.
Submit as a Word or RTF file to darklanebooks@gmail.com with the header: Anthology Submission,(TITLE),(YOUR SURNAME).  Eg: Anthology Submission, Great Story, Smith.

Reprints: query first.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS.  ONE SUBMISSION PER READING PERIOD PLEASE.  MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE DELETED UNREAD. 

Artists:
We're also looking for artist interested in providing black and white illustrations to go with some of the stories.  Send examples of your work to us at the email above.