DARK LANE DIGEST #3 - SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED
Submissions are now CLOSED for Dark Lane Digest # 3
Submissions are now CLOSED for Dark Lane Digest # 3
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, Tim Winton, Andre Dubus, and Margaret Atwood.
For a further insight into the kind of stories we like, go here.
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.
WE DOT NOT CONSIDER AI ASSISTED WORK TO BE REAL WRITING AND THEREFORE DO NOT ACCEPT IT. PLEASE DO NOT SEND MANUSCRIPTS THAT HAVE BEEN IN ANY WAY AI ASSISTED AS THEY WILL BE REJECTED.
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 Spring 2025
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.
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.
