Tag Archives: halloween

Call For Submissions: Halloween Microfictions

Things are hopping here in Salem MA, aka the Witch City. Tourists are pouring in by the busload. I’ve seen people in fancy “Witch” hats, navigated around countless walking tours, and already notched five things off my Haunted Happenings bingo card. All of this is to say that it’s that time of year again. Pumpkin spice. Halloween decor. Scary movies. And Circlet Press Halloween Microfictions.

Circlet Press is first and foremost a publisher of literary erotica. We pride ourselves on publishing inclusive and diverse stories of a fantastical nature. We especially seek to lift up authors who come from frequently marginalized backgrounds and identities.

For our Halloween microfictions we want stories that reflect our sensibilities—literary, erotic, exploring and celebrating gender and sexuality—while also harnessing the spirit of Autumn and October and Halloween. Horror is welcome so long as it is erotic and character-driven. Let your imaginations run wild. Stories can be funny or heartbreaking, steamy or sweet, and full on Pumpkin Spice Latte or just dusted with a hint of cinnamon, metaphorically speaking.

A few things to bear in mind:

A happy ending is not necessary. HOWEVER, I will not accept any stories where one spouse kills the other.

Halloween party hookups, night club hookups, demon summoning, and horny ghosts have been done to death. If you’re going to send those PLEASE make it original.

I am 100% open to classic monsters. I love vampires and zombies and werewolves and lots of other creatures. Just make sure to give them your own unique spin if that’s what you do.

I STRONGLY encourage authors to read the works posted to our website in order to familiarize yourselves with what we publish.

REQUIREMENTS:

Stories must contain erotic elements.
Consent must be EXPLICIT.
Nothing under the age of consent.
No bestiality.
No fan fiction.

The details:

Word count limit is 1,500. No reprints. Multiple submissions are okay. Please send as a Word doc or RTF (or in the body of the email) and follow standard manuscript formatting guidelines. Look up William Shunn if you aren’t familiar with manuscript formatting.

The deadline is October 15th, 11:59 pm EST. Payment will be $5 for stories under 1,000 words and $10 for stories 1,000 words to 1,500 words. Author retains all rights. Please include a short bio with your submission. Send submissions to jwsubs13@gmail.com

2021 Halloween Microfiction Roundup

It’s a beautiful, sunny day here in Salem MA as I write this. The tourists have gone home. The locals are emerging from their homes bleary eyed and hopeful. Another wheel of the year has turned and brings with it new promise.

This year many of our stories  centered around death. Making peace with it. Saying goodbye. Eking out the very last precious moments with loved ones. If nothing else, the pandemic has taught us the importance of human connection. I do hope you will all take a moment to revisit these stories, or read them for the first time if October was too much of a whirlwind for you.

Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies by A.C. Quill
Danse Macabre / Memento Vivere by Bernie Mojzes
Desire by DJ Tyrer
The Offering by Jennifer Williams
A Little Magic In Me by Avery Vanderlyle
Eyes Wide Shut by Elvyra Venus
The Dark Room by Cecilia Tan

I’m not going to say goodbye this year. I don’t know what the future holds. Things are in flux. Change is afoot. But death is merely transformation. We’ll still be here one way or another. The Circlet Alumni are cooking something up for next year. So long as life doesn’t get in the way you’ll hear from us again.

Until then, thank you. Thank you to everyone who submitted work. Thank you to everyone who read and shared the stories here.

Have a blessed New Year and stay safe.

Halloween Microfiction: The Dark Room by Cecilia Tan

“The Dark Room”
by Cecilia Tan

I hate committees. I hate meetings. Much as I love my fellow committee members, we always get sidetracked into debating if the group should boycott Facebook (if only) or whether the endorphin high from relentless edging can lead to hallucinations (an urban myth—and don’t try Tide Pods either). But I must admit sometimes good ideas come out of collective brainstorming.

Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: The Dark Room by Cecilia Tan

Halloween Microfiction: The Offering by Jennifer Williams

“The Offering”
by Jennifer Williams

“Fuck,” I whisper.

His magic sings across my skin as my eager cunt pushes on empty air. My body is pulled taut, bound in iron round my neck, wrists, and ankles. Not that I need it. I’m exactly where I want to be. The room is dark and I imagine it is cool. I can see the shadow of damp stone walls surrounding us and I smell the must of neglect and decay.

Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: The Offering by Jennifer Williams

Halloween Microfiction: Desire by DJ Tyrer

“Desire”
by DJ Tyrer

She beckons in the mist to follow her down steps into the darkness below.

It smells musty, like earth after the rain. Not horrible.

She’s no more than shadow, but I hear movement within the vault, her dress hitting the floor.

Offers a hand with thin, sharp fingers. I take it.

We kiss. No lips touch mine, just bare teeth, fleshless cheeks.

I don’t care. The urge is too strong. We become one.

Flesh melts away. Flesh grows.

In the furnace of our climax, she is reborn and I feel my consciousness burn away to the clatter of falling bones.

DJ Tyrer is the person behind Atlantean Publishing, editor of View From Atlantis webzine, and has had flash fiction published in anthologies and magazines around the world, such as Apples, Shadows and Light (Earlyworks Press), and Journals of Horror: Found Fiction (Pleasant Storm Entertainment), issues of Sirens Call, and Tigershark, and on Cease Cows, The Flash Fiction Press, Space Squid, and Trembling With Fear.
https://djtyrer.blogspot.co.uk/

It’s Alive! Call For Submissions: Halloween Microfictions

On November 1st of last year I made a very heartfelt post surmising that the Circlet Press Halloween Microfictions had met their end. We were in the thick of the pandemic and Circlet Press had been bought out by Riverdale Avenue Books. Our understanding, at that time, was that we would eventually lose control of the website and no longer have posting access. Bye, bye, microfictions.

Life has a funny way of doing what it wants to do though. Due to circumstances out of everyone’s control we’re still here and still have posting access. So why not make the best of it?

In that spirit, I am reviving the Halloween microfictions. And since this is a bit of a resurrection I’d like to stick with that theme. Rebirth, renewal, resurrection. Pick your flavor. Or if you want to go more in the horror direction you could pick the rising/raising/reanimation of the dead. Whatever floats your boat.

Just remember the following:

Stories must contain erotic elements.
Consent must be EXPLICIT.
Nothing under the age of consent.
No bestiality.
No fan fiction.

Please familiarize yourself with our work before submitting. We prefer character driven stories. No porn without plot.

While all are welcome to submit work we STRONGLY encourage marginalized writers to submit. And, of course, we welcome (and love!) stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

Word count limit is 1,500. No reprints. Multiple submissions are okay. Please send as a Word doc or RTF (or in the body of the email) and follow standard manuscript formatting guidelines. Look up William Shunn if you aren’t familiar with manuscript formatting.

The deadline is October 6th. Payment will be $5 for stories under 1,000 words and $10 for stories 1,000 words to 1,500 words. Author retains all rights. Please include a short bio with your submission. Send submissions to jwsubs13@gmail.com

 

2020 Halloween Microfiction Roundup (And Goodbye)

And so the wheel has turned. Another year has passed and with it has come great change for many of us. I began my Circlet Press journey in 2008. It was a very dark time in my life and I needed something to hang on to. Cecilia Tan had put out a call for interns and though I was not a college student I applied anyway and she said yes. The lesson here? Don’t self reject.

In the years since, I have developed friendships that I hope last a lifetime. I have learned. I have failed. I have got up again. I’ve had the great honor of reading work from newcomers and pros alike. And the even greater honor of publishing those works.

As you may all know by now, Circlet Press has become an imprint of Riverdale Avenue Books. My future involvement is unknown and this is likely the last of the Circlet Press Halloween Microfictions. I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to Cecilia Tan for giving me a chance. Thank you to my fellow editors. I miss sitting up in that attic with you, drinking tea and laughing about love tunnels and popped blouses. And thank you to all my authors, the ones I said yes to, and even the ones I said no to. It was a privilege to read your words, to share in your fantasies, and to teach you, and learn from you. Some of you quite literally saved my life, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you in both your writing and in your lives.

Without further ado, here is a roundup of all the 2020 Halloween Microfictions. Do take a moment to treat yourself on this rainy November day, the first day of the next year of our lives. May it bring us all great pleasure and fortune.

Movie Lovers by Kaysee Renee Robichaud

Kindling by A.C. Quill

On a Wing and a Curse by Eric Del Carlo

A Little Knowledge… by Avery Vanderlyle

Mid-Autumn Incense by September Sui

Never Broken by Morrigan Blackburn

Static by Fallen Kittie

Double Feature by Tom Cardamone

From Beyond the Veil by Jena Burne