Into The Darkness was a magazine started by David G. Barnett in the mid-90s and focused on modern adult horror fiction by new authors, many of which are now respected names in the horror fiction world: Edward Lee, Charlee Jacob, John Everson, Gerard Houarner, DF Lewis and dozens more. After only five issues Necro moved into books and stopped publishing the magazine. Well, now Necro wants to bring it back. Okay, not the magazine, but the spirit of it in the form of an all-new anthology series.
Into The Darkness Anthology is looking for dark, brutal, unrelenting horror fiction from new and established authors alike. One of the things we always loved with the magazine was finding new voices in modern horror and we want to start doing that again.
Here’s some things they’re looking for:
- Solid story and interesting characters are the two most important elements.
- Modern voice. Nothing old fashioned. No traditional ghost stories. They’re not looking for writers trying to channel Lovecraft or Poe.
- New monsters. If you’re going to create a monster then explain the monster. Don’t just throw it in at the end. The monster is probably a hell of a lot more interesting than anything else. Same goes for killers and psychos.
- If you’re going to give them a vampire, zombie or other traditional monster please do something new and interesting with it.
- Violence, sex, profanity and gore are all fine as long as they are integral to the story. If you’re just trying an experiment in writing only grossout they don’t want it. After 20 years we’ve seen it and it’s boring. And don’t try and shock them by using the word cunt 50 times in your story. That’s just sad.
- Humor is always good.
- Urban fantasy is a favorite genre of theirs.
- Angels, demons, heaven and hell are all topics of interest for them.
Editor: C. Dennis Moore & David G. Barnett
Word Count: 1500-10,000
Publisher: Necro Publications
Publish Date: Late 2012/Early 2013
Format: Trade Paperback and eBook for International distribution
Reading Period: From March 19, 2012 – July 31, 2012.
Rights: First print and electronic Exclusive Worldwide English Language Anthology Rights for a period of one year.
Payment: $.02/word. Two copies of the trade paperback. Payment upon publication.
Submission Specifications:
- Email submissions ONLY to: [email protected]
- Submissions should be in standard manuscript format and attached as either an MS Word document or an RTF file.
- All submissions MUST have your name, address, email and phone number.
- Check here for proper manuscript formatting: Format
- Email subject line: ITD – Story Title – Author
- No reprints
- Multiple submissions: up to two stories per author can be submitted but send as separate emails.
- No simultaneous submissions.
- Response time of 1-2 months.
- And for f**ksake, please have some sort of grasp of spelling, grammar and punctuation. No manuscript is perfect, but seriously, don’t waste their time if you can barely spell your name or speak English. This has happened.
