Okay, so Surreal Grotesque has five issues under their belt and issue six will be out later this month. For November and December, they are doing a cyberpunk issue and an apocalypse issue so if you don’t know what cyberpunk is, research it first. As far as apocalypse stories, anything end of the world oriented but please no zombie apocalypse stories unless the twist is amazing. After this year the magazine will be going bimonthly so the editor can give lots of attention to each issue.
Here are the preliminary Submission Guidelines:
As always we are open to horror of any kind, the theme is mostly for a particular section of the magazine and influences the art. I like the art and the stories to work together thematically to create an atmosphere for the stories. I like everything from flash fiction to longer pieces, 500-2500 words, anything over that would have to be exceptional or I could run it in segments between issues. Most readers want something that is raw, powerful and hits them in the gut. Surreal Grotesque isn’t like most horror magazines, I don’t want just plain monsters, although they can be fun sometimes. I think character driven pieces that focus on a psychological angle, not to say that each story has to be a metaphor for something but I would like to care about the main character before you decapitate them. When I do put creatures in my own fiction, I like to make them as bizarre as possible, that is where the surreal angle comes in. Strange and bizarre are our staple. Intestinal parasites that have a psychic link with the narrator or a serial killer who can change genders, give us something unique. Oh and I don’t have limitations on cussing or sexuality, of course this doesn’t mean I want every other word to be fuck or that I want to hear about your rape fantasies but I will never censor people for these reasons. I think too many horror mags have a conservative attitude these days and I believe that sexuality and the death urge are closely linked and the core of good horror fiction. Please read past issues to get a feel for our magazine and what we like.
Email All Submissions To: [email protected]. Please put SURREAL SUB in the heading. Please use New Times Roman, 12pt and in a doc or docx format please. And always put your name on the story. You wouldn’t believe how many stories I get where people don’t put their name on a story, I get a lot of stories and can’t be going back and forth to check who sent me what. In the future, I will just reject those stories, also people who put hard indents. Also I don’t need page numbering or anything fancy because I have to save the stories as plain text in order to lay them out in pdf format in Adobe Acrobat. Thank you for understanding.
If you want to, add a brief bio to your work.
For Writing Only: For published pieces we ask for First Print and/or Electronic Publishing Rights. Bear in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been published in print, eBook, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint which may reduce any pay rate you receive for it in the future. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work in print and/or eBook formats and/or on the web, giving up your First Publishing Rights is what you want to do. All we ask is that we have exclusive rights to it for a period of three months, after which you are free to try and publish it elsewhere.
For the rest of the guidelines: Surreal Grotesque
