Welcome to Bellflower, a sleepy (fictional) Nevada town where nothing much happens. Well, except for the influx of tourists asking about Area 51, which lies to the southwest, and the annual UFO festival, which happens every August. For years, man watched the skies. In Bellflower…the skies watched back.

We're looking for submissions that take place during or around this festival, a town-wide event where locals dress up, set up telescopes, take tourists on shady desert tours, and stay up all hours of the night, hoping for a glimpse of something from the great beyond.

All stories should take place in the 1980s. So keep this in mind with the technology you feature. The stories should lean more into the horror genre but can be horror/sci-fi. They should include an alien encounter of some kind and mention the annual UFO festival in Bellflower, but they don’t have to take place at the UFO festival. Anywhere in the general vicinity (see map) is acceptable as long as it ties back to Bellflower somehow. For example, it could be a family road trip to Vegas along the Extraterrestrial Hwy and one of their stops is Bellflower, etc. Some other examples could include but are not limited to:

1. a slumber party
2. kids in a treehouse
3. mysterious rock falls from sky
4. weird goo in water
5. flashing lights in the sky
6. getting lost in the nature reserve after hours and experiencing something weird
7. encounters with the eccentric “townspeople” of Bellflower themselves
8. Military run-ins

You name it. Think outside the box.

There will be several rounds of editing and this phase is important. Submitters must be committed to help in the editing process.

Make sure that you upload your document as a WORD document (.doc or .docx). No other submission types will be read.

Please do NOT predominantly reference any other alien work. It is not the time to show off your Aliens or Tommyknockers knowledge. Keep your work original.

Get ready for the most explosive sale of the year! This July 4th, Sherwood Mall is bursting with unbeatable deals and patriotic flair! Dive into our red, white, and blue extravaganza and enjoy sizzling discounts storewide! From sizzling summer fashions to must-have electronics, every store is joining the celebration with deals you won't believe. Don't miss out on the chance to save big while enjoying festive entertainment, dazzling decorations, and a fireworks display that will light up your night. Head to Sherwood Mall for the ultimate holiday shopping experience-where the only thing more exciting than the deals are the surprises that await!

Write a short story that takes place within one store at Sherwood Mall, which is located in an undisclosed West Coast, USA city.

Multiple submissions are allowed; however, only one submission can be picked per submitter. Therefore, if you submit two stories and both would be accepted, we will only choose the better of the two, not both.

It must take place during the July 4th weekend in 1986. Your story should be self-contained (you cannot do anything in your story that would affect the entire mall -- i.e., your store cannot burn down!). You should pick a store location on the directory. Please make sure to reference the different areas (A-H) but do not take that as a free pass to reference all the different areas of the mall within your story. In the submission form, you will find a larger version of all the different areas with numbers to be able to pinpoint exactly where your story takes place. You should pick an area even if your story never mentions it explicitly.

Your story should NOT reference real people as characters (passing references are okay, such as mentioning a band or artist in a record store but they shouldn't be characters in your story. Also keep in mind that lyrics are copyrighted and cannot be included). It also should not reference any other horror mall works (including but not limited to books, movies, etc.). Please do not submit any stories related to time-traveling.

Do not use real store names as your store. You can reference other real stores but those should not be actual locations of the story.

Stories should stay within the mall. They can start or end outside of the mall location but the bulk of the story should be located at the store within the mall.

For those who have written stories for Terrorcore Publishing before, your story cannot include any references to your previous story or to any other story in the previous two Doors of Darkness volumes.

Keep in mind that while we are excited to see which type of story you select, the book will have a variety of stores. Therefore, the more unique, the better. We will not be picking multiple furniture stores or multiple pet stores or multiple food court eateries. The best in those areas will get picked. If during your writing you are curious how many stories have been submitted with your type of store in mind, please email us or send us a message on Instagram and we can let you know. If we notice that a lot of submissions are all in the same type of store, we will make Instagram stories about it.

Mall Description: White tile floor, white brick walls, and pink, blue, and purple neon lights that zig-zag across the ceiling. Inconsistencies between the décor of the mall will be fixed during the editing phase. Individual stories' stores can have any design they like but keep in mind that this is the 80s and keep in mind the size of your store based on the directory.

Phases: There will be several steps in the editing processes and submitters must be present and responsive. If you do not respond within a timely manner and miss deadlines, your story could be removed and replaced. It is important to communicate if you cannot meet a deadline. We are anticipating the following phases: Submission, Selection, Editing, Proofing, Publishing.

During the Submission Phase, October 2024-January 31st 2025, submitters will work on their story and submit.

During the Selection Phase, a team of people at Terrorcore Publishing will read through all the submissions and choose which stories are to be included. This phase is projected to take from February 2025-March 2025.

During the Editing Phase, March 2025-April 2025, submitters will be asked to proof their story. You will also be asked to weave some sort of subtle element from the rest of the stories to help the book feel like a real mall (this should not be done ahead of time).

During the Proofing Phase, May 2025, we will finalize all the edits and proof copies will arrive at Terrorcore Publishing to be looked over.

During the Publishing Phase, Terrorcore Publishing will market the book. As this is an indie publisher, we also ask that the submitters help to promote the book on their platforms. This phase is tentatively set for late June/July 2025. There will be lead-up marketing starting in May 2025, as well.