Black Beacon Books will be open to submissions for two anthologies later this year, Lighthouses 2 and Tales from the Ruins 2, and the talented Greg Chapman will be making his mark once again by providing the cover art.
Check the submissions page for the full guidelines, and if you haven't read the first volumes, we highly recommend doing so. We'll be on the hunt for original and exciting mysteries, thrillers, and horror tales that fit the theme of each anthology. Get writing!
The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2
Submissions Window: November 1st to December 31st, 2025
Payment: $30 USD for original stories and $10 USD for reprints
Length: 3000 to 9000 words
Halloween 2026 will be spookier than ever with the second volume of The Black Beacon Books of Horror... but we need your help!
Send us your scary stories this November and December. If you're not sure what we want, simply grab a copy of the first volume.
Follow the guidelines to have your story considered. Full details on the submissions page.
Edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost
Halloween.
So much more than costumes and candy, it’s the time when the veil between our world and the other side is at its thinnest. The hour when dark forces come into the light in search of innocent souls. A time of blood and evil.
Australian Shadows Award-winning and multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author and artist Greg Chapman, and acclaimed author Cameron Trost, are seeking new original Halloween tales for this anthology, planned for release in October 2025.
We want memorable, character-driven stories set on, or near, the last night of October. Give us ghosts, serial killers, rituals and monsters, heroes and villains, but most of all give us the true dark side of Halloween - and make it terrifying.
Payment is $50 AUD for stories up to 5,000 words. Contributors will also receive a complimentary print and digital copy.
The anthology will feature original cover art and internal illustrations by co-editor Greg Chapman.
The submissions window opens March 1st and closes midnight May 31st. Send all submissions to samhainscreams@hotmail.com Story submissions should follow the Shunn format.
Welcome to 2024! Black Beacon Books has another big year planned in terms of publications and submissions windows. First up, let's announce two anthologies that will be open for submissions. This year, we're getting more mysterious than ever!
Steampunk Sleuths
Deadline: October 31st, 2024
The genre of mystery is designed to get the cogs cranking, but let's not forget that steampunk is all about cogs too! Why not bring them together? Steampunk Sleuths will be an anthology of four novelettes (15 - 20,000 words) featuring detectives in a steampunk setting solving peculiar crimes. The only requirements for submission will be that the means of committing the crime (murder, theft, kidnapping...) must be clearly steampunk and the reader must be given the tools to crack the case before the solution is revealed. Think Agatha Christie and Jules Verne getting kinky together... um, actually, please don't. ;)
* Previously unpublished only
* Double the standard rate for this one: $50 USD
The Third Black Beacon Book of Mystery
Deadline: Extended Deadline September 30th, 2024
WINDOW CLOSED
You've all read the first two volumes, right? The idea of this anthology series is to make each volume more gripping, more memorable, and more mysterious than the last. We're looking for short stories with an unforgettable protagonist and a clever puzzle to solve. Standard anthology conditions apply as per the Submissions Page
Our next submissions window will be for The Black Beacon Book of
Ghost Stories from Halloween to Christmas Eve, 2023. We'll be looking
for atmospheric ghost stories that give the reader a chill. Those familiar with our anthologies (this should mean you!) will know that we prefer subtlety over overstatement and creepiness over shock. We want the slow turn of the screw, perhaps with a twist at the end. If you make the editor shiver or shed a tear, you're in with a shot.
Black Beacon Books is accepting submissions for our post-apocalyptic anthology, Tales from the Ruins.
Please read the specific guidelines below and refer to our submissions page for general guidelines.
a) We're looking for post-apocalyptic tales with a focus on the struggle of one character, couple, or a small group to survive in a ruined world. We want action and atmosphere, but most of all, we want to feel for the protagonists. Preferred length between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
Black Beacon Books is accepting submissions for our Hitchcockian anthology.
Please read the specific guidelines below and refer to our submissions page for general guidelines.
a) We're looking for suspense stories directly inspired by a Hitchcock film. The story doesn't have to be set in the 50s or 60s but it must convey the atmosphere and tension that make his films so memorable. Preferred length between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
