The Rock-Horror Anthology
Screams and Wails, to be published November 2026, will be an anthology of original horror short stories with music at their still-beating heart. Think cursed instruments; songs that drive the listener mad; zombie fans; haunted studios.
What we will love: anything with music or music culture as a predominant theme, but are particularly keen on alternative rock types such as rock, indie, metal, goth, prog, dub etc. We want the mood, style and trappings of music, which means fiction, aspiration, glamour, dirt and grit, but mostly fiction.
What we don’t want: anything that will land us with a lawsuit, thank you. No real music lyrics!
Reprints: no thank you, but happy to receive first English translations of stories that have been published in other languages, or first print rights to stories that have previously only been published as audio.
English language only.
Deadline: 28th February 2026
We will be publishing stories of 2-9000 words, that will be paid at 1p a word to a maximum of £50. Longer or shorter stories may be considered but will be a harder sell.
Submission window opens 1st January 2026, closes 28th February 2026 – send to donna@theslab.press
NB:
Can I send my story to you in 2025? – No, please don’t. All emails sent before the submissions window will be deleted.
Can I send you a pitch for a story? I don’t want to waste my time writing a story you won’t like. – No, please don’t send me pitches. Write a great story and send me that during the submissions window. I will have likely have hundreds of stories to read, so if you don’t want to write it, then don’t.
What’s your stance on AI? – It reminds me of the corporate world and bosses sending out verbose newsletters about “productivity”, while the capable people spend even more time correcting everything that the giant plagiarism machine users forgot/didn’t realise they needed to edit out. Please do not use it to write your story. I don’t mind you using a spellchecker, but use your own brain to create please. Please note that this editor is also an IT Trainer and extremely au fait with the structure and tone that most AI assistants produce.
The Dark Space Novelette Anthology
Obsidian, to be published April 2026. We are looking for darker stories about exploration, isolation, and the harsh conditions of space. Think space horror, like Sunshine or Event Horizon, psychological stories, dystopian, and bleak. The crucial thing is the space setting.
What we will love: stories that focus on character.
What we don’t want: stories or pitches made with AI. Stories set on Earth.
For this anthology we want to include fewer stories, and for those stories to be longer length than usual, with a word count of 9000-25000. Bear in mind SFWA categories put stories of 7500-17499 words in the novelette category, and stories of 17500-39999 words in the novella category. we are aiming for stories to be mainly long novelettes or shorter novellas.
Stories will be paid at 1p a word to a maximum of £100.
Submission window opens 15th December 2025, closes 15th February 2026 – send to donna@theslab.press
The Slab Press 