High-rise horror anthology submission info
SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR STORIES! I WILL BE GOING THROUGH SUBS OVER THE COMING WEEKS.
ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY
This high-rise horror anthology idea is one I came up with all the way back in early 2022 and, after several attempts at trying to find a partner/pub and way to make it work, I finally said "screw it, I'm gonna do it myself"! This anthology was inspired by one of my favorite niche sub-genres in horror, apartments, and the feelings, cultures, and architectural styles that are synonymous with apartment living. (Think Silent Hill 4: The Room, #Alive, Sweet Home, High-Rise by J. G. Ballard and the Aspicio Omnian ARG). In my adult life, I've always lived in apartments, so I often notice how lonely it feels despite the close proximity of my neighbors, and how you never quite know what's happening on the other side of those walls. It makes you wonder, doesn't it?
This anthology is a multi-horror sub-genre experiment focused on the strange sensation that so many people living in one place can experience such vastly different things. With the goal of writing about deeply personal terrors taking place in the various apartments in the high-rise, each author is free to be as morbid, as wild, as wicked, as disturbing, and horrific as they please! Do you like body horror? Write about a resident being consumed by the walls of the unit. Do you like supernatural stories? Write about the strange scratching your resident hears in the walls. Do you like psychological horror? Write about your resident's slow descent to madness after their doorknob vanishes. The possibilities are literally endless!
About the complex: The high-rise is a 10 story complex in the middle of a vast, open field surrounded by nothingness. It's a state of the art, luxury complex with several amenities to enrich your experience, and each unit comes with a scenic view, brand new appliances, high-speed internet, spacious bedrooms, and walk-in closets. No two units have the same layout, so your new home will be just as unique as you are! With a massive pool, large gym, clean dog park, private parking garage, and luxury rooftop bar, the complex is the perfect place to call home. The rent is reasonable (only costing you your soul) and the lease lasts a lifetime, so we hope to see you on our tenant list soon!
This anthology is a multi-horror sub-genre experiment focused on the strange sensation that so many people living in one place can experience such vastly different things. With the goal of writing about deeply personal terrors taking place in the various apartments in the high-rise, each author is free to be as morbid, as wild, as wicked, as disturbing, and horrific as they please! Do you like body horror? Write about a resident being consumed by the walls of the unit. Do you like supernatural stories? Write about the strange scratching your resident hears in the walls. Do you like psychological horror? Write about your resident's slow descent to madness after their doorknob vanishes. The possibilities are literally endless!
About the complex: The high-rise is a 10 story complex in the middle of a vast, open field surrounded by nothingness. It's a state of the art, luxury complex with several amenities to enrich your experience, and each unit comes with a scenic view, brand new appliances, high-speed internet, spacious bedrooms, and walk-in closets. No two units have the same layout, so your new home will be just as unique as you are! With a massive pool, large gym, clean dog park, private parking garage, and luxury rooftop bar, the complex is the perfect place to call home. The rent is reasonable (only costing you your soul) and the lease lasts a lifetime, so we hope to see you on our tenant list soon!
Things to know!
- Any and all authors are welcome to submit! BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ writers are highly encouraged to send something in. Never subbed to an anthology before? Send something in! Never dabbled in horror? We want to read your take on it! Does your country have interesting rules or layouts to their apartments? Tell us about it!
- The complex and its apartments are literally up to interpretation, you can do with it as you please and are not restricted to any actual architecture, structural limitations, or layouts that makes sense! It is set in modern times for context on what kind verbiage, fashion, tech, etc. you should use.
- This will be a paid anthology! I'm hoping to up the payment more, but for now I can promise a $5 flash/$10 short story and poetry and, of course, a free copy of the anthology. If I'm able to get some extra cash by the time acceptances roll out, I hope to bump it up!
- This will be a digital only anthology. This is done for several reasons. First, it means I can pay more authors/accept more stories! If I also did a print edition, it would be more costly than I can manage and I wouldn't be able to pay my contributors fairly. Second, it means I can get WEIRD with it! I have plans to make this a colorful and design-forward anthology, with unique front doors for each contributor, and more fun layout features that would be restricted and costly if I tried to do print. It's also more eco-friendly, and you all know I'm a big eco-focused individual.
- Inspiration and themes to help you get in the mood (the golden texts are links so you can head straight to the media to get an idea): Hotel California, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Sweet Home (webtoon), #Alive (great Korean zombie film on Netflix, it's so fun!), the Aspicio Omnian ARG, any purgatory-centered story. This anthology is heavily inspired by themes of purgatory/hell/the underworld, claustrophobia, and being trapped and consumed by your horrors. It's very Hotel California in the sense of "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave".
- All submissions are required to take place in a unit. Amenities such as the swimming pool, the dog park, the car park, etc. are reserved for invited authors.
- You are encouraged to be weird with it! Is part of your story backwards, like a message on a mirror? Do you want to tell your story through a chat log, epistolary style? Does something spooky happen in the fridge and you want it to be covered with creepy kiddo drawings? DO IT! I want creativity, I want immersion, so don't be afraid to get experimental! AND send in some stuff that you'd like included! Have your kids draw weird things, send in family photos I can blur the faces on, send me artsy photos of the dark corners of YOUR apartment!
Submission guidelines
- Submissions only accepted between January 15th and March 15th.
- Submissions need to be in PDF format (I use a Mac and work in Pages so Word docs don't load properly, this helps me ensure I can read your story how it's meant to be read).
- If you also send in images like drawings, family photos, pics of your own apartment, PLEASE make sure they're titled High-Rise Horror - Your Name.
- Stories must be no more than 4,000 words - I will accept both short stories and flash (under 1,000 words) pieces!
- Poems must not be more than 50 lines!
- Stories must be as edited/polished as possible, double-spaced in size 12 format.
- Stories must be emailed with the following subject line: APARTMENT SUBMISSION - STORY NAME - AUTHOR NAME - and sent to [email protected]
- Please include a short bio, no more than 100 words, your social links/website, and the type of story - Flash, Short, Poem.
- Also please include your top pick for your apartment number! And a back-up just in case we need it, the high-rise is ten floors tall so try and keep that in mind while picking a number, but you aren't super restricted as to what you want so long as it's under 1099, the complex has an expansive floor plan. Try not to use super obvious or meme-numbers like 1, 666, 420, 69, etc. This isn't a comedy anthology.
- Any genre of horror is accepted: Epistolary, psychological, romance, body, paranormal, 2nd POV, slasher, gooey, eco, cosmic, etc.
- The only rules I really have are no excessive gore (blood and viscera is fine, but make it matter and part of the story, I am NOT a goop-horror gal so those will be tough sells) and no explicit horrorotica, I want this to be an approachable anthology so try and keep it R-rated, not M if that makes sense.
- Be creative! Throw in some unique things like missing cat posters or graffiti on the walls, things that are visually appealing that can be used in the anthology! I'm planning on getting crazy with the format and design so the more references and Easter eggs I can play with, the better!
- STORIES MUST BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WORK!
- Obviously no AI-generated stories, I WILL stalk your socials to check and see if you use/rely on those programs and I will not associate myself or my publishing brand with stories as such.
- No stories featuring any hate-speech, bigotry, sexism, homophobia, SA, child-related stuff, all of the typical "why did you think this was a good idea?" content.
- No reprints, simultaneous subs are totally fine (you go get 'em!) just let me know if you get picked up elsewhere!
- You can send in the following: ONE short story, TWO flash fiction pieces, or TWO poems (if you have one flash and one poem, that's fine, too).
- We are asking for exclusive, first publishing rights for SIX MONTHS. You retain all rights to your story, characters, etc.
All images are either property of Alycia Lynn Davidson/A.L. Davidson or the respected publisher, or have been found via Google or Canva and are stock photos free to use for the public. If any of these images are infringing on copyright or belong to you and you would like them removed, please message me on my contact page and I'll get it rectified ASAP!