. . . . And A (Glowing) Boston Globe Review For 21st Century Ghost Stories

It’s October 1, which means that we’ve stopped taking submissions for the fall 2021 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award Competition. Everyone who submitted a story will be hearing from us over the coming weeks, and the winner, along with two honorable mention pieces, will be announced and published on Halloween—complete, of course, with a custom Andy Paciorek illustration for each.

Our next supernatural story contest, the winter 2022 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, opens to submissions on December 1. By flash fiction we mean 1,000 words or fewer—and for further information, have a look at our guidelines.

Further news: A few hours ago, our just-published anthology of competition winners and honorable mentions from the last three years, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II, received its first big review in a major newspaper, the Boston Globe. Here’s what they said:

October now, and so begins the haunted season of the year. A new anthology of ghost stories, edited by Midcoast Maine writer and editor Paul Guernsey, and including a selection of stories by authors from all over the world, traffics in the uncanny, the strange, the inexplicable. “21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II” (Wyrd Harvest) is striking for its variety of approaches to the supernatural. [Read more…] about WHEN’S OUR NEXT COMPETITION? . . .

Author, Supernatural Fiction Award Winner, And “Foremost Authority On Halloween”

Behind the scenes here at The Ghost Story—well, actually . . . working from her home in Massachusetts—Lesley Bannatyne is busy reading submissions to the fall 2021 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition in preparation for selecting a winner and two honorable mentions—all of whom, of course, will be announced on Halloween.

The autumn competition couldn’t have a finer or more appropriate judge: not only is Bannatyne a previous Supernatural Fiction Award winner for her summer 2020 piece, “Corpse Walks Into A Bar,” but her nonfiction books on Halloween have earned her the unofficial title of “world’s foremost authority” on the holiday.

Her Halloween titles include Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night (Pelican Publishing), which was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award. She edited an anthology of folklore-based literature, A Halloween Reader (also published by Pelican). [Read more…] about OUR FICTION AWARD JUDGE

The Best Of The Ghost Story—And The Best Of Ghost Stories

We are pleased to present 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II, A haunting new book from Wyrd Harvest Press. The 30 stories in the book are penned by a host of award-winning writers—all of them winners or honorable mentions in either The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest, or the Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. This volume is edited by Paul Guernsey and illustrated throughout by Andy Paciorek.  You can order a copy from Barnes & Noble, From Amazon.com—or directly from the printer. All sales profits from books bought in our online Lulu shop are charitably donated to The Wildlife Trusts environmental, conservation and education projects at the Summer and Winter Solstices.

Our Fall 2021 Contest

Now open for submissions: The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award.

Prizes: $1500 for the winner. $300 for each of two honorable mentions.

Plus, publication for all three, both online and in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume III.

Read our complete guidelines.

Our Short Story Competition Winners Feature Sex And Santería, The Devil Himself . . . And Some Cannibals With Artistic Tastes

We’ve selected three fine short stories as the winner and two honorable mentions in the Summer 2021 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition. Accompanied by original illustrations from artist Andy Paciorek, all are now available for your reading pleasure right here.

In addition, these three pieces will also be included in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II, due out from Wyrd Harvest Press (Durham, U.K.) in September. Cheers. 

 

New Stories For A Summer Chill

Our Summer 2021 Supernatural Fiction Award competition deadline has come and gone, and here at TGS, we’re reading like crazy. And on June 21, we will both announce and publish the winner and two honorable mentions.

Not only will all three stories be published, with illustrations, on our website, but they will also be included in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories—Volume II, which is due out from Wyrd Harvest Press (Durham, U.K.) early this fall.

It’s always an exciting time when we reveal the winners of one of our contests—but because the anthology only comes out every three years, this is an especially thrilling time for us.

If you submitted a story to the contest, you’ll be hearing from us soon. Everyone else . . . you’ve got some great reading coming in the near future.

Our Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition Winners

. . . And Our Full-Length Story Contest Opens

The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition was an American sweep this time around. “Straw Dogs,” by American writer Mona Susan Power, is the Screw Turn winner for 2021. Our honorable mention winners are Scott Duncan, of California, for his story, “Wake Up Gringo,” and Marie Raven, an American living in Norway, for “Here Be.”

Each year, The Screw Turn contest awards publication and cash prizes for excellence in supernatural fiction of under 1,000 words. For your reading enjoyment, all three stories are posted below, as well as on the Screw Turn Story Page.

Meanwhile, our contest for full-length supernatural short stories of up to 10,000 words, The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award, opens for submissions on February 15, with a deadline of April 30. If you’re a writer of supernatural fiction, have a look at our competition guidelines.

One of my favorite Screw Turn Flash Fiction Pieces . . .

Is Tongues, by the Irish writer Emma Murtagh. I just find it to be one of the most chilling sudden pieces we’ve ever published. Have a read . . . and don’t forget that submissions to the current Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition are due before the clock strikes 12 at the end of January 31.

Bigger Awards In Our Flash Fiction Contest

The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, for very short stories (under 1,001 words) incorporating a supernatural theme or element, comes around only once a year. But the time is now—and for our 2021 Screw Turn, we will be accepting submissions until January 31.

One extra-good piece of news for people who like to write uncanny fiction on a miniature scale: Our cash awards are bigger this year, with $1,000 for the winner, and $200 for each of two honorable mentions.

If you’re thinking about entering, have a look at our complete contest guidelines.

Good luck!

The Winners Of Our Fall Fiction Contest

The three top stories in The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition, Fall 2020 edition, have been published right here on The Ghost Story website for your reading pleasure. Have a look—and then why not visit our Facebook Page to let us know what you think.