Fairy love
Established in January 2021, Ghost Orchid Press is an independent publisher of horror, gothic and supernatural fiction based in Cambridgeshire. As indie publishers they are happy to take risks on ‘fresh, thought-provoking new content from new and lesser-known authors’.
This team love horror. They publish horror anthologies and novellas. Currently there is a call for a major new anthology edited by Evelyn Freeling, Les Petites Morts: An Anthology of Erotic Horror Inspired by Fairy Tales, Mythology & Folklore. She wants retellings should be about ‘sexuality, desire, and fantasies that take dark turns’. Give the editorial team ‘a good spin on the classics, but they do want to see fairy tales, mythologies, and folklore from outside the Western Euro catalogue as well.’ They expect ‘all of the hallmarks of a great horror story: rich characters, dynamic settings, tension, pacing, with well written erotic scenes that make our hearts race’. Don’t omit the ‘terrifying and horrifying’. The anthology is inclusive and M-F, F-F, M-M, threesomes, orgies, kinks, etc, are permitted.
Stories should be 1,0005,000 words, ideally 2,0004,000 and the deadline is 30 August. Submit a doc/docx attachment to: lespetitesmortssubs@ gmail.com
• The team also publish long fiction, also with a deadline of 31 August for general submissions of novellas 20,00040,000 words and novels, 40,000100,000 words ‘aimed at an adult audience’. They chiefly want horror, gothic, and dark fantasy but ‘love genre mixing, works that stray from the well-trodden path, or that offer a fresh perspective on existing tropes’. They are keen to see submissions from BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and non-Western authors, and stories with elements of the following genres, ‘horror-romance/erotic horror, historical and gothic horror, folk horror, hauntings, supernatural, and the occult’.
This is indie publishing so be prepared to work hard on the sales side. Submit by email and send the first three chapters or equivalent sample of pages, around fifty pages or 10,000 words as a doc/docx file to: submissions@ ghostorchidpress.com
Response time is ‘within sixty days’ for the anthology and novel/novella. Payment for the novel/novella is by negotiation, usually ‘a small advance plus 50% of net royalties’. Anthology payment is 6¢ per word.
Website: https://ghostorchidpress.com