Submissions wanted (SF horror stories) | $100-$150 AUD per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: HUMANS FROM EARTH

Deadline: 31 October 2025

Humans From Earth! An anthology of science fiction horror stories in which Earthlings are the boogyman…

Edited by Chuck McKenzie

NOW SEEKING SUBMISSIONS!

No matter how advanced or powerful, not a single known civilisation in the galaxy has ever managed to completely cast off the shackles of fear. There always remain the mundane anxieties over politics and taxes, the rational dread of war and predation. And then there are terrors drawn from dark myths and lore: tales of haunted starfields and abandoned colonies; race-memories of mysterious ruins and forgotten races; whispers of entities hoped long extinct.

But there will always be those who scoff, who investigate…who discover far too late that there are horrors not to be dismissed, doors to remain sealed, beings who must never be mentioned aloud lest doing so summon them back to our thriving utopias and bright spaceports.

And of all such legendary beings, the darkest and most terrifying are…

Humans from Earth!

GENERAL INFO

• Theme: SF/Horror, stories in which humans are a source of genuine horror/terror to extraterrestrials (aliens).

• Planned anthology length: 80,000 words approx.

• Individual Story length: 3K words minimum, 7K words maximum (Query longer or shorter works before submitting).

• Original stories preferred; please query for previously published works.

• No simultaneous submissions or A.I. generated / assisted work.

• Payment: $100 AUD for original stories between 3K-5K words; $150 AUD for original stories between 5K-7K words (stories longer than 7K words will receive the maximum payment of $150 AUD). $50 AUD for reprints.

• Payment for successful submissions will be via PayPal within a month of publication of the anthology. Contributing authors will each also receive a complimentary paperback and electronic copy of the anthology.

• Legal: For original Work, Daft Notions purchases First World English rights. All rights revert to the authors six months after publication of the anthology. For reprints, Daft Notions purchases Non-Exclusive Reprint rights, so previously published works may be sold elsewhere at any time.

WHAT WE WANT

• Stories must involve aliens and humans/aspects of human existence, and aim to be genuinely unsettling to the (human) reader despite revolving around aliens fearing humans; thus alien characters must be relatable to readers, even if depicted as unsympathetic and/or inhuman.

• Human characters should not feature supernatural characteristics (lycanthropy, vampirism, etc). Stories featuring human ghosts (supernatural, technological, or other), or in which aliens believe humans to be supernatural, will be considered.

• Stories can be set anywhere or anywhen, and may utilise any subgenre or trope of science fiction and horror (again, barring ‘supernatural humans’), so long as the central theme of the anthology is the focus.

WHAT WE DON’T WANT (UNLESS YOU CAN MAKE IT GENUINELY SCARY)

• Basic role-reversal stories (e.g. alien gets abducted and probed by humans, alien hunter finds itself hunted by humans, etc.)

• Stories that are comical or ironic rather than frightening (e.g. ‘We discovered that humans DIE every night…THEN COME BACK TO LIFE!!!’)

WHAT WE DON’T WANT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

• Stories that involve existing characters or franchises (e.g. Alien, Predator, etc.)

SUBMISSIONS

• Submission window opens October 1st, 2025, and closes October 31st.

• Submissions to be sent via the form at the following link, with all requested information suppled: https://form.jotform.com/252131052040032

• Please submit manuscript in Word or RTF formats only. File name should be ‘STORY NAME’ followed by ‘Author Name’.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

• Set the margins for your manuscript to 2.5cm.

• Align text to the left.

• Use 12 point Times New Roman or Courier fonts.

• Double quotes for dialogue.

• Indent each paragraph by 1.25cm.

• Lines double spacedwith no extra spaces between paragraphs.

• Indicate scene breaks with a centred hash mark (#).

• Include a top header with your name, a key word from your story title, and page number in the top right hand corner, beginning on page 2.

• Don’t underline text;use italics to emphasise or italicise words.

• On the first page of the manuscript include your legal name, email address at the upper left.

• Word count in the upper right of the first page.

• Title and author name halfway down the first page. Begin your story a few lines below.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Submissions: Via the webform

Website: https://daftnotions.com

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