We want hardcore horror stories that keep readers glued to the page. Fast-paced, edgy tales based on creative concepts and well-developed characters. Our goal is to engage our audience with a mix of extreme horror and vivid narratives that haunt readers long after finishing our books.
We’re a professional market publishing high-quality writing in the bizarro, erotica, splatterpunk, body and extreme horror genres. We accept dark fantasy and sci-fi, supernatural thrillers, neo-noir and other sub-genre mashups as well, but all manuscripts should contain strong elements of the taboo. After all, this is Redline!
We want stories that are frightening, unsettling, shocking, well-written, and imaginative. Some of the writers we like include Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, KJ Moore, John Skipp, Edward Lee, Wrath James White, Poppy Z. Brite, Clive Barker, and Kristopher Triana.
An easy way to tell if your manuscript is right for Redline, is to familiarize yourself with our publications. Before you submit, please review the following titles so you are comfortable with the content we're expecting:
WHAT WE WANT:
When emailing, please include a two-sentence description of your work, previous publishing experience (if you have any) and a short bio. Attach the manuscript as .doc or .docx file, saved as “Title_Author Last Name”.
ACQUISITION EDITORS
Please direct your emails accordingly:
John McGuiggan - JohnMRedline@gmail.com is hosting a Red Line call specifically for Rural Exploration
Hernan Salvarezza -HernanRedline@gmail.com is reading for general Red Line submissions
Rural Exploration - Submission Call
Urban exploration has had its time to shine in the past few years, but horror doesn’t only dwell in abandoned mental hospitals and condemned factory buildings.
For our next Red Line novella, we’re looking to explore those areas where cell phone signals don’t reach, where the nearest neighbor may be a few miles away, and where that scarecrow in the field just doesn’t seem to stay put.
We’re looking for rural exploration, and the horrors that lurk in the natural world around us. Be it Big Sky Country, the Green Mountains, or the otherworldly hoodoos of the desert, we want to hear about the terror that lives where the population numbers are low. Where the main mode of transportation is the tractor.
Where there’s plenty of room to breathe, but nowhere to run.
What Will Thrive on Our Land:
Original ideas and/or unique takes on existing tropes. Pagan rituals, creatures from folklore, your fellow man - let your imagination run wild through the mountains of madness. A good example of a tale we love is Clive Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities".
What We’ll Put Out to Pasture:
Retreads of The Hills Have Eyes, Off Season, Kin, etc. Anything goes with Red Line, and we want your extreme tales. Just steer clear of the backwoods cannibals stories we’ve seen and heard before unless you’re certain that you’ve got something new to add.
Subject: Rural Exploration - Story Title by Author Name
Multiple Submissions: No
Simultaneous Submissions: No
Rest of the guidelines are the same as the general Red Line call