Grimscribe Press

Submission Guidelines

WE WANT:

• In honor of Black History Month (February) and Women's History Month (March), we will accept submissions from BIPOC artists/authors and/or artists/authors who identify as women. We also welcome submissions from enby and gender fluid authors and artists. All other submissions will be ignored.  We will open for general submissions in June.

• Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly  and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors  (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re  interested. As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewellyn, S. P. Miskowski, Junji Ito, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D.  Klein, Kelly Link, Helen Marshall, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Gwendolyn Kiste, Laird Barron, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Nicole Cushing, Victor LaValle, and many more have produced work that we would love to see subjected to intelligent critical analysis and discussion.

• Literary Horror Fiction from 750 to 6,000 words. We are looking for original work inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes.

• Poetry at a length of no more than 50 lines, dealing with subjects and themes that fall within our area of interest. Up to five poems per submission.

• Artwork that similarly addresses our subject matter. Portfolios welcome.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT: Vastarien believes in promoting a range of excellent writing and artwork from authors of diverse backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations. We encourage submissions from authors and artists traditionally underrepresented in horror and pieces that reflect these varying perspectives.

LENGTH: See the specific guidelines above for length requirements for different types of submissions. Additionally, in no case will a submission over 7,500 words be considered for publication without prior approval. Words subject to inclusion in the overall word count shall include the body of the submission and any explanatory  footnotes; citations shall not be included in the overall word count. Up to five poems per submission period. Art portfolios welcome.

PAYMENT AND RIGHTS: We pay 5 cents ($.05) per word  for nonfiction and prose fiction. Poetry pays $50 flat per poem. Payment for artwork is $50 per piece. We purchase first serial and electronic rights. Upon publication, rights revert to the author, but we retain the right to continue selling back issues of the journal and the right to archive contributors’ work online.

INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS: Vastarien welcomes submissions from authors outside the United States.

HOW TO SUBMIT: Submission is via Submittable only:

ACCEPTABLE FILE TYPES: DOC, DOCx, and RTF

RESPONSE TIME: If you have waited longer than 60 days, feel free to query us at vastarien@zoho.com with QUERY plus the title of your submitted work in the subject line.

VASTARIEN DOES NOT ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING:

• Multiple submissions (art submissions may include a portfolio and up to five poems per submission period are welcome)
• Unsolicited reprints (defined as essays, articles, stories, or poems  that have already appeared anywhere online or in any other published form)