Our New Duotrope Editor Interview

Interested in gleaning a bit of insight into what we’re looking for as we comb through submissions to The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award and The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition?

If so, we recommend reading our recently updated editor interview with Duotrope, one of the leading online resources for writers. Beyond that . . . read as many of our past winners and honorable mentions as you can. Read them all, in fact!

And good luck! We look forward to enjoying your work.

Contest Winners And Honorable Mentions

The image above shows the back cover of 21st Century Ghost Stories—Volume I. The book anthologizes all the winning and honorable mention stories in the Ghost Story Awards contests from 2015 to 2018. There are 29 tales in all—full-length short stories from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest, as well as short-short pieces from The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition.

Winners and honorable mentions in our currently ongoing fall 2018 Supernatural Fiction Award, as well as all future Ghost Story Awards contests through the summer of 2021, will be published as part of 21st Century Ghosts Stories—Volume II.

Our Winners In Print!

The Ghost Story Awards winners for the past three years:

“This astonishing anthology gathers award-winning work by contemporary short-fiction writers from around the English-speaking world, all of whom drew their inspiration from the supernatural. Each of these fine authors, whether from the U.K., the U.S., Ireland, Canada, Australia, or elsewhere, puts his or her own thought-provoking, 21st century spin on some aspect of the paranormal—there are ghosts, of course, but you’ll also find tales revolving around demons, zombies, spirits in the Voudou pantheon, out-of-body episodes, doppelgangers, shape-shifters, hallucinations, dreams, imaginary people, mythical beings, and Things You Just Can’t Explain. These 29 stories are chilling, or funny, or a bit of both, and they all will continue to turn in your imagination long after you’ve finished reading them.” Click here to order a copy.

Important note: 100% of sales profits will be donated toward different environmental, wildlife, and community projects undertaken by The Wildlife Trusts. (www.wildlifetrusts.org)

Starts August 1—With A Bigger Prize For Honorable Mention!

The fall Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition is now open for submissions—and we’ve got a couple of exciting pieces of news.

The first is that we’re eliminating the position of second honorable mention, with it’s $100 cash prize, and instead we’ll be awarding two honorable mentions, each of which will receive a $250 award—plus, of course, custom illustration, and both online and print publication. The cash award for the winner will remain at $1,000. [Read more…] about FALL FICTION CONTEST

Prize-Winning Ghost Stories

Happy Solstice! The Ghost Story proudly announces the winner—our first from the U.K.—and two honorable mention in the Supernatural Fiction Award competition.

To read them, head on over to our Contest Page. And don’t forget to spend a little time appreciating Andy Paciorek’s custom illustration for each piece!

In addition to being published here, the authors of all three short stories received cash awards, and their work will be included in the second volume of 21st Century Ghost Stories, our paperbound anthology due out from Wyrd Harvest Press in 2021.

We will begin accepting submissions for our fall Supernatural Fiction Award contest on August 1.

Publication Of Our Winners Approaches

Midsummer (the summer solstice) falls on June 21, and that’s when we’ll be announcing—and publishing—the winner and two honorable mentions in The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition.

In addition to being published here, the authors of all three short stories received cash awards, and their work will be included in the second volume of 21st Century Ghost Stories, our paperbound anthology due out from Wyrd Harvest Press in 2021.

We will begin accepting submissions for our fall Supernatural Fiction Award contest on August 1.

A Brief Respite

We continue working hard on our first supernatural-story anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories—Volume I, which is due out in August. The paperbound book (Wyrd Harvest Press; Durham, U.K.) will include all winning and honorable mention stories published to date in The Supernatural Fiction Award and The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition.

Our illustrator, Andy Paciorek, has created images for about one third of the 29 stories so far—and this one is one of our favorites. It illustrates “A Brief Respite,” written by English writer C.L. Dalkin, which was our 2016 Screw Turn winner. Enjoy.