Our contests have been running since 2015. Our next contest is The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, for sudden stories of 1,000 words or fewer. You’ll find our guidelines here.
Happy writing, happy reading.
As we’ve done every spring and fall since 2015, The Ghost Story is running a competition for full-length short stories on a supernatural or magic realism theme—and we are now accepting submissions. The deadline is September 30 at 11:59 PM ET—less than three weeks from this posting.
The winner receives $1,500 plus publication, and we also publish two honorable mention pieces, the authors of which each get a $300 cash award.
If you’re thinking of entering, please read the complete guidelines. The guidelines page also includes a link to our electronic submissions system.
And, if you’d like to read some of our past winners and honorable mentions, they’re all available for your reading pleasure here.
Cheers — The Editor
Directly below, you’ll find three chilling tales for a hot summer: the winner and two honorable mentions in our biannual short-short (under 1,000 words) story contest. Enjoy! Our next contest, The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award, for full-length short stories, is coming right up, opening to submissions on August 1, with a deadline of September 30, and all winning stories published on Halloween. If you’re a writer and that’s of interest to you, have a look at our contest guidelines.
WINNER, Summer 2024
The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition
Honey, don’t pull those straps. You’re not gonna get out, I promise you. Gonna tell you what’s going on, if you let me. But if it comes up again—never take a drink you didn’t see someone make. Anything could be in there.
Now, let’s catch you up. I’ve always been able to do a little . . . trick. I call it “pulling,” I don’t know if it has a real name. I don’t know if anyone else can do it. I can pull hurts out of people. They still remember what happened, but the sting is gone. It’s the difference between a wound and a scar. Here, think of something bad that happened. I know you don’t want to, but do it. I’m gonna touch your hand now.
Oh, that was nasty. I’m sorry that happened to you. But think about it again. Doesn’t hurt, right? Like it happened in a book. Just a fact, not a fear. That’s locked away somewhere in me, balled up tight like a seed. [continue reading…]
Volume II of our print anthology, “21st Century Ghost Stories,” has just been published. It contains all of our Summer 2018 to Summer 2021 winning and honorable mention stories from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest and The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition—30 fine supernatural short stories in all!
