Leisure Books, Rue Morgue magazine, and ChiZine are joining forces to present “Fresh Blood”, a writing contest for unpublished horror authors. The winner will receive a contract for publication in Leisure’s 2011 lineup, as well as a contract from ChiZine Publications for a limited-edition hardcover release, also in 2011.
They’re looking for “finished horror novel manuscripts, either supernatural or non-supernatural, of 80,000-90,000 words. A panel of experts, including Leisure Executive Editor Don D’Auria and editors at ChiZine, will judge entries. The finalists will be announced in November 2009.”
Following that announcement, from December 2009 through July 2010, monthly competitions in categories such as “Best Summary”, “Best First Line”, “Best Title”, and “Most Frightening Scene” will run on ChiZine.com. Readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites, and after each deadline, entries with the fewest votes will be eliminated.
The winner will be announced in August 2010. Entries should be sent to submissions at dorchesterpub dot com by 30 September 2009. “Fresh Blood” must appear in the subject line of the email.
For full entry details, see Dorchester’s web site or ChiZine’s web site.
Leisure Books is an imprint of Dorchester Publishing and publishes two horror titles every month. Rue Morgue magazine publishes interviews, news, films, books, games, music, comic books, art and culture related to the genres of horror, suspense, and dark science fiction. ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words publishes subtle, surreal, disturbing, disquieting dark fiction.