Call for Fiction

Call for short stories, novellas, and novelettes.

Seeking good writing in any genre.

Please email your story as a word or text document or in the body of an email to editor@wapshottpress.com. MS Word, RTF, or Text.

I’ll read stories of any length. Longer stories, novellas and novels will be serialized over several issues. I’ll publish whenever I have a good issue to publish.

I like well-written stories, of course, with good plots and characters goes a long way with me. There can be sex and sexuality between consenting adults (human or humanoid) in your story, but if it’s a lot of sex, I might ask to transfer your story to Erotique, our sister publication.

At the moment, I’m the only editor, so here’s what I would not like to have submitted and won’t publish:

Anything that will get me sued, arrested, or lynched. I’m pretty sure you realize that that means anything illegal, plagiarized, hateful, or scarier than even I can deal with. Also, song titles are okay, but no song lyrics. The RIAA has gone insane, better to stay out of their way at all times. As editor, I handle the blowback, so I make the final call on what I feel I can legally, morally, and have the guts to, publish. Oh, and no furries, thank you. I’m sure you understand.

There’s no money, but you do get a copy of the issue and discounted extra copies. You also keep all your rights to your work. I only have permission to publish on a story by story basis.

I look forward to reading your stories. Send ’em on in!

Ginger Mayerson
Editor, Storylandia, The Wapshott Journal of Fiction
www.WapshottPress.org/Storylandia-issn-1947-5349/
The Wapshott Press, publisher of Storylandia, is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Tax deductible donations can be made here: https://www.paypal.me/TheWapshottPress and thank you so much for your support!

See Storylandia website for a more updated list. February 20, 2017

The world’s first supervillain confesses his biography. more

Freddie Babington has solved two mysteries. When he travels to Norfolk in the autumn of 1923 to attend the wedding of Amelia Marsh and Evelyn Tollarhithe, he doesn’t anticipate a third murder investigation. Then, on the evening before the wedding, a friend of the groom is found stabbed under circumstances that look compromising for Evelyn. Freddie agrees to take the case for Amelia’s sake. As Freddie digs deeper behind the friendship between Evelyn and Toby Glovins, and uncovers old family secrets, he learns that the question of who murdered Toby is more complicated than it first appears. And so, he discovers, are his feelings for the disappointed bride. more

L’Amande et La Fleur tells the story of the rushed adolescence and young love of an orphaned French artist, Julian, who travels to China to rid himself of the stultifying effects of the politics, bigotry, and seemingly endless prosperity in early 20th Century Parisian upper-crust culture. It is near the Yangtze River where he meets Solomon Garcon, an African-American draft-dodger who has seen the horrid effects of war. The story presents the two in monologue—from morning to night, against a background of mountains—caught in the gusts of memory that rise up within them. Despite their different stations, the two suffer identically from the insecurity of measuring themselves against a world undreamt-of by any other mind and the fear that one has accidentally outdone the other. The result becomes sunk in the unreality of the labyrinthine self that exists not to comment on the passing people and events but to celebrate the connection between the various fractals of our lives. Equal part philosophical quest and brutally detailed introspection, L’Amande bends the infinite involutions of self-consciousness without sacrificing a plot that highlights adult relationships and themes of loss, love, and problems of a changing world. more

Storylandia 17 features eight tales of dark fantasy, horror and the surreal by American writer Arthur Davis. “The Man From Lahr” is a tale of magical realism as a New York psychiatrist is visited after-hours in his office by a mysterious stranger who has traveled from Eastern Europe with an unlikely tale, and an even more improbable truth. “Dining With The Devil” holds us transfixed as the incarnation of evil reveals the ancient promise on which he has come to collect, and the extraordinary dish on which he has travel so far to feast. A foggy, chilly night on a dangerous road is the setting for “Cara’s Curve,” a narrative of regrets, doubts, confessions and the discovery of a dead man whose reach quickly claims an innocent soul. “A Sly And Knowing Grin,” interweaves the macabre with science fiction as strangers in a bookstore are presented with a horror that tests their fears and overwhelms their ability to cope. In a time-honored misadventure of the mind, “The Unwelcome Guest,” spins a fishing tale of horror that blurs the boundaries between reason and magical realism in a cross between Rieux’s rat-obsessed isolation in Camus’s “The Plague” and Samsa’s transformation in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis.” Shrouded in sheets of black gossamer, “Dionaea Muscipula’s” dead bodies lie in the street of a deserted town in Maine in this surreal puzzle warning that death “be not the noble path of wise and aged men.” “I Have Become The Leopard” takes the reader on a haunting journey through the mind, heart and soul of a leopard, exposing instincts and consciousness that drives Africa’s most solitary big cat. In a direct-address monologue, “The Cracked Goblet’s” narrator leads his friend through the English countryside in search of an abandoned mansion in this intellectual thriller with the troubling neurosis of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and the unfathomable paranoia of “The Twilight Zone.” more

Wilfrid Babington-Loewes has disappeared, and no one in the quiet village of Abbotshill can say what’s happened to him. He’s quarreled with nearly every member of his family, including his cousin Freddie. Has he simply left in fit of pique? Has he gone to visit that girl his mother doesn’t approve of? Or is something more sinister going on? more

Storylandia 15 features five tales of dark fantasy and horror by British writer Julie Travis. “From the Bones,” two ancient corpses are discovered on the wild moors of Devon and Cornwall. For one amateur archaeologist they reveal more about the past—and the landscape—than she’d ever imagined. “Grave Goods,” Edward Dobbs’ excuse for drinking and gambling his family’s money away was, to quote an old saying, ‘you can’t take it with you when you go. His son Eddy is offered a diabolical opportunity to disprove the adage. In “Scar Tissue,” everyone’s life leaves marks on them, physically or emotionally, but Marie was different. No scars, just flawless flesh, a life untainted by injury. “Theophany” shows us a hellish underworld that re-emerges to stalk present-day London, aided by a man with his own, deviant agenda. “Widdershins” brings us a girl who defies folklore and walks counter-clockwise around a church, an act that has repercussions for the rest of her life. more

Stuck in the city of Dead End, where ambitions go to wither, Rodney Bauman has resigned himself to a life of covering school board budgets and antique store openings. However, led by his own aspirations and the occasional religious vision, Rodney has found the key to realizing his dreams: covering a culture war that he secretly launches himself. At first Rodney finds both notoriety and a Stoic boyfriend, but when his cause accidentally attracts a genuine cultural terrorist named Joy, Rodney succeeds far more than he ever expected… more

Three on the Bank is a novella that begins from the perspective of Sam, the sole survivor of a bus accident on his wedding day, and follows him as he descends from his life as a successful lawyer into a world of drugs, alcohol, and night-dwellers. There he meets Marissa, a single mother and fellow bartender, who recognizes him as the man they found along the river. When Sam does not show up to work one day, Marissa finds him passed out in his apartment and brings him home, then introduces him to her precocious seven year old son, Joey. Although Sam is afraid to be close to a child again after his pregnant wife’s death, eventually Joey’s caring nature and Marissa’s patience help him overcome his fear. more

Join us in Issue 12 of Storylandia, the Wapshott Journal of Fiction, where we are delighted to ponder nature vs. nurture and how much do genes make the girl in “Celebrity Sperm Bank,” by Paullette Gaudet, a romp across the river in “Prince Charming Rides in from Brooklyn on a Bike,” by Sarah Rasher, a 1920s mystery in “The Family Jewels,” by Kathryn L. Ramage, a horse racing incident in “The Glint,” by Patrick Satcher, and a terrifying tale, “The Ferocious Night,” by Julie Travis. more

It’s 1986 and there’s trouble in Macarthur Park, and Mabel Hackenbush, better known as Dr. Hackenbush of Dr. Hackenbush and her Orchestra, is up to her neck in it. She’s trying to help out her friends Anna Kodaly and Ross, and winds up in the middle of a mystery in the elderly Westlake section of Los Angeles. Oh, and during all this she and the band and are playing gigs wherever and whenever. more

Storylandia, The Wapshott Journal of Fiction, Issue 10. “How difficult can investigating a murder be?” Frederick Babington wonders as he embarks on his first case. He’s read dozens of mystery novels while recovering from his wounds in the Great War, but never thought he’d become a detective himself—until his favorite cousin Kellynch Marsh is suspected of murdering Bertie Marsh. As he attempts to clear Kell of suspicion, Freddie soon discovers that the problem is more complicated than he first imagined. Other members of the Marsh family also have reasons for wanting Bertie dead, and some of them are very dear to him too. more

She is called Rose, and she works in a House of Pretty Ladies. This is not me, I am not here, she tells herself when she is with clients. But the night after the city falls victim to a conquering empire, she encounters a young prince whose sadness makes it impossible for her to keep her own griefs forgotten. Spring comes, and Rose becomes more restless. The conquerors start home but the prince lingers, and she wonders if he will ask her to go back with him. She does not know if she loves him, or if that even matters. For the first time in the years since she fled to Madame’s House, Rose considers what she wants and whether it might be possible to hope again. It would mean becoming open as a child: it would mean believing that there could be comfort and solace, relief and love. A novella and anti-fairy tale with a medieval setting, Rose explores themes of love and loss, healing and the fragility of hope. more

Innocently attending a misguided Los Angeles art scene fundraiser, Mabel Hackenbush, frontwoman and singer for Dr. Hackenbush and Her Orchestra, finds herself, as in “Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Clue,” up to her ukuele-playing neck in trouble in this murder mystery set in the Los Angeles art and music scene of the 1980s. As the fake masterpieces start piling up, so do the bodies of friend and foe alike. Alternately dodging and charming a set of villains, some from central casting, and ranging from silly to terrifying, and with the assistance of her friends, rivals and people who annoy her, Dr. Hackenbush reluctantly unravels a mystery she never wanted, but can’t walk away from once her extended family is in danger. more

Welcome to Storylandia, issue 7 of the Wapshott Journal of Fiction. In these pages a sin eater faces an unspeakable horror, a brilliant scientist is studied as she studies the universe, a murder weapon speaks, and the Red Planet has a noir side. It is with the greatest pleasure the Wapshott Press presents new fiction by Julie Travis, Rohan Roberts, David Neilsen, and Irene Turner all wrapped up in a stunning cover image by Seth Anderson. more

Storylandia, Issue 6: the Romance Issue! Join us inside for a charming tour of love in all its rangy splendor. Paullette Gaudet’s “Deepest Crease Visible” bares exactly how much a modern woman really does count on the clothes making the man. Tom Sheehan spins a sweet tale of love, destiny, and a roadside diner rendezvous in “Amie and Sherry and the Twilight Diner.” The serene husband and wife in V. Ulea’s story are “Expecting a Star” in a universe filled with wonder. As told by J.J. Steinfeld, love will find a way while “The Furtive Men Perform Nightly at the Wretched Street Bar.” Teenagers, too, will find a way, even though they’ll do everything in their power not to in Dustin Grayson’s “Best Head Ever.” And Chris Castle will bring together two lonely people to share a moment in “The Mall in Rainbows.” These six stories, all so different, all share the same profound belief in love, that there’s enough love for everyone, and many different ways of finding and being in love. Enjoy. more

In Storylandia 5, you’ll find five tales of strange and unnerving events that will thrill and delight you. Theresa Hinkle shows us a glass wall stretching for miles, a perfect plane, where a man, covered in dirt from his journey, stands stricken, staring into its surface. Kyle Hemmings’ Mr. BubbleHead considered distance and velocity and time to be subsets of Fate and all of it could victimize the pedestrian, either perfect in their A.D.D. spaces or luckless as grapefruits. Paullette Gaudet’s Carole Linnaeker might be invisible as she watches the next free teller beckon the person standing behind her to his window. When Carole feebly raised a hand to protest, the teller looked right through her. Nightmares don’t always end upon waking in Joh Michael Emory’s story wherein the dream leaves one befuddled and in some confusion whilst realities adjust accordingly, and usually, but not always, find their respective corners. And Brodie Stevens, who lived a life composed around two central themes, drinking and writing, the only things he did well, until he found himself between lines and inspiration, as told in a charming tale by William Akin. more

We are pleased to present an assortment of stories in Storylandia Four that take look into the human, and not so human heart. In “Three Days Standard Bereavement,” by Michelle Brooks, a woman wonders about her closest friendships. Kathryn L. Ramage brings us into a woodland fantasy with her alluring character, Heorrot. In “Ashes,” Megan Feldman brings together two people who really need each other, if only for an afternoon. We visit terror in Theresa Hinkle’s “Of the Night.” And in “All the Lonely People,” Fred Skolnik lets us know a solitary woman’s true loneliness. more

Dead Girl, Live Boy is an unflinching view of a haunted family landscape scattered with undetonated landmines that threaten the characters’ fragile existences. Set in a crumbling Detroit as the millennium approaches, Dead Girl, Live Boy calls to mind the works of Hubert Selby Jr. and an urban Tennessee Williams. Brooks creates a darkly comic and claustrophobic world that warrants attention. Both despairing and hopeful, her novella succeeds as both a survivor’s story and a cautionary tale. more

Storylandia, Issue 2: Adventure and the Heart! Kellie R. England explores love and science in “Poetry and Red Phosphorus.” Adam Bourke’s “Assassin” muses on change in the lands of Pyrrhus where even the twelve gods keep the world in balance, but even they cannot stop the change. Does Christopher Husmann’s daring hero have any problem waltzing in and simply plucking something up for his own benefit, something that is clearly not his in any way, shape or form? Well, find out, in “Escaping the Apoidians Hivault.” A woman’s mind drifts back to a time when the women in her family were still alive. Although she did not always get along with them, she misses their faces, their voices, their smiles, in the tale “Kiva,” by Cinsearae S. A young boy finds his heart only to have it broken in “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” by Mylochka. more

Storylandia, Issue 1: And we’re off! Kelly S. Taylor blasts off with a space-age western hero named Kittycat Riley. The notable figure, dressed in bright red and black robes, with long silver-white hair might not be not quite a prince, but Kathryn L. Ramage spins us a royal tale about him. Lene Taylor doesn’t waste a syllable rocking us with “More Minimalist Fiction.” In “Road Kill,” by Lee Balan, her hero, Frank had never been to a rave. It wasn’t what he anticipated. He expected to see lots of young adults and teens, dazed and drunk. And gets way more than he bargained for. In a kinder, gentler vein, Colleen Wylie tells of us Sunday mornings that have been a lot more interesting since the charming couple matured their relationship into a post-physical, economic and nutritional co-dependency. And we continue into the interpersonal zone when, for reasons that he never found worth the investigation, Mike could not bring himself to take down the picture of Morgan that stood on the nightstand, in Chad Denton’s “I.” Anne Valente’s Johnson watches the ball glide through the air, he thought strangely of the national recession, the stock markets plummeting, and he did not know why, as he watches the ball hit the rim, ricocheting like a bullet from a tin can, and bounce back to Henry’s feet. Which is all the more reason to keep your eye on the ball and “Practice.” And we get a trip down memory lane with the man who was President of the United States of America and yet he couldn’t weasel out of that one. It was just like Elvis. Elvis may have been King, but he had been reduced to removing his OWN TEETH FILLINGS just for a little codeine. So, everybody, “Don’t Stop Thinkin’ About Tomorrow,” and read Kitty Johnson’s story that will make you long for Hillary Rodham’s husband all over again. more

The Wapshott Press, publisher of Storylandia, is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Tax deductible donations can be made here: https://www.paypal.me/TheWapshottPress and thank you so much for your support!