NEXT SNAFU
SUBMISSION THEME
CONTAGION
AUS 5c / WORD
SUBMISSIONS OPEN
JAN 1st 2025
CLOSE
MARCH 31st 2025
2.5K - 7.5K WORDS
SUBMISSION CALL
OPENS
1ST JANUARY 2025
CLOSED
31ST MARCH 2025
THEME
CONTAGION
WHAT WE WANT
ACTION-BASED HORROR:
Please ensure the action is central to the story, from start to finish, and don’t forget monsters! It really should be in the style of military or paramilitary action.
RANDOM THING:
Please begin your cover email with ‘Hello Geoff (I read the guidelines)’. This is for two reasons. One, I hate being called Mr Brown. Two, I wanted to make sure you are reading these guidelines.
No proper greeting, we won’t read your work. We will delete and not respond to your email.
And to say it again, full action. Nothing less. Hoo-rah!
We actively encourage submissions from all cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, and identities. Storytelling is for everyone, and we are richer for it when all voices are heard.
THEME DETAILS
SNAFU: Contagion, featuring action-filled tales of viral, fungal and bacterial horror.
Whether it be giant brutish mutations, fungal infections gone wrong, or experimental nightmarish creatures made with super soldier experiments, it always ends with people fighting to survive the horrible, seeping creations that result from contagion and infection.
Combine The Last of Us with Resident Evil, throw in some 28 Days Later and see what comes out of the mix!
Authors we love who have written in this theme are: Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Anthony J Melchiorri, Jeremy Robinson, Jonathan Maberry, Michael McBride, James Cook, John O’Brien, to name a few.
For film and TV content, we like the REC/REC2 double feature, Resident Evil, The Last of Us, Planet Terror, Doomsday, and loads of other content with creatures that want to kill the hell out of you (and have the unnatural mutations to do so).
FANTASY, HORROR
OR SCIENCE FICTION
BUT ALL MUST HAVE A MILITARY / ACTION FOCUS
SUBMISSIONS OPEN
1ST JANUARY 2025
SUBMISSIONS CLOSE
31ST MARCH 2025
ANYTHING SUBMITTED EITHER SIDE OF THIS PERIOD WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT BEING READ OR REPLIED TO.
NO SELECTIONS WILL BE MADE UNTIL AFTER THE PERIOD CLOSES.
PROJECTED PUBLICATION DATE
Q4 2025
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES WHEN SUBMITTING TO US:
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Please put your full contact details and word count top left of the first page of the manuscript.
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Standard submission format, with minimal document formatting.
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Courier, Palatino Linotype, or Times New Roman set at 12pt.
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Italics as they will appear.
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No underlining.
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Double spaced.
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Please don't use TAB or space bar to indent lines.
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DO NOT indent at all, even for first lines.
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NO SPACE between paragraphs unless a line-break is required. ONE SPACE after full stops.
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Please put full contact details on the first page of the manuscript (yes, I said this twice… it’s important).
Send your submission to Geoff Brown at editor@cohesionpress.com as an attachment (.doc/.rtf only)
In the subject line of your email, please put SNAFU: [STORY TITLE] (Replace [STORY TITLE] with your actual story title. Yes, unfortunately I do need to say this)
Example – SNAFU: Varmint Control
NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS
NO REPRINTS
Please include a brief ‘hello, this is who I am’ in your email body as a cover letter. It doesn’t have to be long, and if you’re unpublished as of yet, don’t feel you will be treated differently without a list of prior publications. Just say hello.
Blank emails with attachments will be deleted.
WHAT WE DO NOT WANT AT ALL
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RAPE AS A PLOT DEVICE/BACKSTORY
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RACISM, BIGOTRY, MISOGYNY OF ANY KIND IN THE NARRATIVE VOICE
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CHILD ABUSE/PAEDOPHILIA (CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE TO SAY THIS, BUT WE DO)
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RAPE AS A PLOT DEVICE/BACKSTORY (YES, WE HAVE TO SAY THIS TWICE)
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FANFICTION OR DERIVATIVES