Doors of Darkness II: Trick or Treat

Deadline: April 1st, 2024 at 11:59pm CST



Length: 2,000-6,000 words

Format: Must be submitted as a Google Doc file which must have terrorcorepublishing@gmail.com as an owner with editing turned on. You will provide the shareable link in the form upon submission. Use only one tab and do not use spaces to start a new paragraph. Do not write "The End" at the end of the story. In the header, please include the following: 1) your name, 2) the title of the story, and 3) the word count of the story. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will not be read. The title of your story cannot include "Doors of Darkness" in it or the house number.

Eligibility: If you were published in the first volume of Doors of Darkness, please note that this is not a continuation of what happened on Fern Street. There should be absolutely no connections to characters from that volume. 

Compensation: Selected authors will receive (1) contributor mass market paperback copy of the anthology as well as a one-time payment of $10. The $10 may be used in order to purchase additional author copies to be shipped at the same time as the complimentary contributor copy. The $10 will buy up to an additional 2 copies of the book. Please refer to the chart below:
 Printed Copies Compensation
1 Copy $10
2 Copies $5
3 Copies $0

For additional author copies beyond the compensation value, you will arrange with Caleb Pecue to order copies at the printing cost plus shipping. Payment will ideal go through PayPal but other options may be available.

International Submissions: While Terrorcore Publishing loves receiving submissions from international writers, the truth is that is very costly to ship items across the world. At this time, we ask that if you are international (outside of the U.S.A.) that you provide the difference. Terrorcore will pay at most $10 to ship the contributor copy and anything in excess will need to be covered by the author. In lieu of shipping the item, international writers can receive $15 (which is the standard commission + the cost of the one copy you would have received). 

Rights: The author will retain all rights to their story. It can be published elsewhere in full. The publisher will not keep said rights nor prevent the author from selling their story elsewhere. However, it is important to note that after the author is selected if they choose to publish it elsewhere they need to ensure with that publisher that they aren't getting sole rights to the story and that Terrorcore will have the right to continue to publish it in this anthology, as well as future "best of" anthologies, if any come about.

Style: Set in the 1980s or has a 1980s vibe.

Genre: Horror. Any kind. It can be paranormal, slasher, psychological, mystery, thriller, etc. There is no such thing as TOO FAR for this anthology.   

Prompt: The kiddos are ready for their night of mischief and mayhem as the evening of Trick 'r Treating gets started. Write a horror story that takes place on Halloween night and centers around a child/children visiting the neighborhood's houses. The horror element can be from either angle: either there is something spooky going on in the house or with the child/children. 

Setting: The neighborhood is to be kept vague but will be somewhat North Eastern USA. You should NOT name the neighborhood and any reference should be to "the Neighborhood". You will need to pick a house number from the map below. If your story is tied precisely to that location/number then that should be indicated in the submission form as there may be a need to move stories around in the editing phase and the preference is to give it to the story that needs it more.

Map: Your story must take place at a location on the map. As such, you are allowed to make references to other locations and houses on the map, but those items are subject to change within the editing phase. You should keep references to neighbors to a minimum as those too will need to be cohesive with the other short stories. If you are using the address in a sentence, please abbreviate Street to "St." and if you're just vaguely referring to the street, then spell it out.

For example: "I live at 13 Pike St." vs "Do you want to go to Pike Street?" 

This year, the horrific street will pay homage to Christopher Pike and the horror stories he has created. Therefore, we will welcome Trick or Treaters to Pike Street.

 

PHASES

Selection Phase: Stories are estimated to be selected by May 15th, 2024. This timeline may change depending on the number of submissions received. 

Editing Phase: Selected stories must agree that they will be able to participate in an editing phase where a small reference to a neighbor and/or neighborhood will be weaved in. This is done to make the stories feel as if they exist in the same space, which we believe is what makes the Doors of Darkness anthologies unique and special. The editing phase is estimated to occur during May-July 2024.

Proofing Phase: Proofs will be done in July 2024. 

Preorder Phase: Preorders will go live in August 2024. 

Publication Phase: The tentative publication date is Tuesday, October 1st, 2024. Link to form if the submission box below is not working. A valid Google Account will be required! If you do not have any way to use Google, please reach out on Instagram and we can discuss another option.