We are currently accepting submissions for our Red Line imprint. Please read all the guidelines below before submitting.
Pleas Do Not Submit Prior to Dec. 1st
Red Line: Fast Reads. Insane Content
We crave 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 Red Line!
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 Red Line, is to familiarize yourself with our publications. Before you submit, please review issues 1, 2, & 3 & the D.O.A. series, so you are comfortable with the content we're expecting.
In addition to the details below, editor John McGuiggan is holding a special "rural exploration" call for Red Line. Click here for more details.
Formatting & Guidelines
● Novellas under 50K words
● Previously unpublished in any medium
● Bizarro, Erotica, Neo-Noir, Body, Extreme, Rural Exploration, & all dark sub-genres that push the boundaries of traditional horror
● We will also consider short stories (500 - 3,000 words) for website-only publication
● Open from Dec. 1st - March 31st 2020
● Times New Roman, 12 pt. font double spaced
● Attached as a .doc or .docx – saved as “Title_Author Last Name”
● Please alert us if it is a simultaneous submission
● 50% Royalties
Acquisition Editors
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”.
Please direct your emails accordingly:
John McGuiggan
is reading for Rural Exploration Red Line submissions - listed below
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Hernan Salvarezza
is reading for general Red Line submissions
Follow him on Twitter @Hsalvarezza
"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.
● Email 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
● Email: