In the past these spotlight writers have included Gary Braunbeck, Graham Masterton, Angeline Hawkes, and Jack Ketchum. The October 2007 issue included Joe R. Lansdale, P.D. Cacek, and Mort Castle.

What you need to know...

Fiction Guidelines
Novella Guidelines
Non-Fiction Guidelines
Poetry Guidelines
Quarterly Poetry Contest
Advertising Information

Fiction Guidelines:

Guidelines: Fiction that runs 500—3,500 words. Paranormal, supernatural, contemporary fantasy, new fabulist, magic realism, shock suspense, sci-horror, character oriented: We like Colin and F. Paul Wilson, J.N. and Jack Williamson, Stephen King and Joe Hill, and of course, Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, and Richard Matheson, who taught so much to so many of us. If your subjects and verbs are not only not in agreement but cannot tolerate each other, if your spelling is remarkably creative, and you have a decorative approach to comma and apostrophe usage, we’re not the right market for you’re kreashuns’. (Get it? Sic! Huh?) We’ve recently accepted stories by Stephen Graham Jones, John Everson, Wayne Allen Sallee, Stephen Mark Rainey, Richard Payne, Bruce Holland Rogers, and Joel Arnold, all of whom write good stories. If you do, too, then let DOORWAYS have a look.

Payment: Payment is a free copy of magazine and five cents per word; payable upon publication.

Send to: doorwaysmag@yahoo.com

Notes: We will stay open for submission until we become overwhelmed. No reprints.

Novella Guidelines:

Guidelines: We’re looking for 15 to 20K of superbly crafted otherness fiction. The work might be labeled horror, fantasy, modern or post-modern, slipstream or experimental—we leave categorizing to others but it must be successful storytelling. We don’t want to see experiments that shouldn’t have left the lab, insulin-required fantasy with elves, orcs, or ickies, or horror-fantasy about “they hunt the night” or scatological succubi. We love Thomas Ligotti but have no desire to see Ligotti imitations. We admire Joe Lansdale, Master of Western Weird, James Ellroy’s and his Heart of Noir, Peter Straub, Horror’s own William Styron, and so many more, but if you’re doing copycat appropriations of their style and themes, no thanks. We want memorable fiction. Think the old masters: Sturgeon, Beaumont, Matheson, and current writers, Gary Braunbeck, Norman Partridge, Stephen King, Sara Langan.

Give us 250-300 words—your pitch. (Yeah, we know it’s difficult, but we can boil down the NEW TESTAMENT to Jesus Saves.) If you’ve got meaningful credits, tell us about them. We’ll proceed from there.

Payment: $200.00 and 5 free copies

Send to: doorwaysnovellas@yahoo.com

Notes: We will publish 2 to 3 a year, the first batch starting in 2009. These will be published as limited editions: 100 copies printed. All novellas will have some art done for the interior. If you’ve seen the art in Doorways magazine, that’s the quality of work you can expect to see. Editors: Mort Castle and Brian Yount.

Non-Fiction Guidelines:

Guidelines: Articles must be no more than 1,500 words and must be based on the paranormal or have supernatural elements, which could include myths and/or legends. Put the title of your piece and non-fiction in the subject line. Format Requirements: Double-spaced, 12 point font, Courier or Times New Roman, etc.

Payment: Payment is five cents per word; payable upon publication.

Send to: doorwaysmag@yahoo.com

Notes: Reading period is now. Response time is one month.

Poetry Guidelines:

Guidelines: Starting in Feb. 2008 I will be reading for issues 9-12 of Doorways Magazine—issues 4-8 are already full except for the quarterly contest (see contest guidelines below). Doorways is a “Journal of Horror and The Paranormal” so please keep that in mind when submitting poetry. Horror poetry should lean more toward the supernatural. Possible subjects: death, ghosts, UFOs, séance, tarot, psi, numerology, EVPs, distant viewing, secret societies, cryptozoology, fairies, angels—basically anything that fits under the broad “paranormal” heading. When using tropes, please be original. Science fiction and surrealism are acceptable as long as the poem is horrific or paranormal in nature. Doorways is open to any length poem, but would prefer under 30 lines. Please paste poem in the body of the email and also include as a .doc or .rtf attachment. Send as many submissions as you like but please send each one as a separate email. I will respond within a week to let you know that your submission has arrived. I will strive to let everyone know if their poem is accepted or not and which issue it will be appearing in if accepted by May 1st 2008.

Payment: Payment is $0.50 a line and 1 contributor’s copy.

Send to: DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com
Subject line should read: “DW SUB: Poem Title/Last Name”

Notes: Submission period will be Feb. 1st - March 15th. Please do not send submissions outside of these dates.We will only be accepting 2 or 3 poems per issue and this is a quarterly, so send only your best work.

Quarterly Poetry Contest:

Guidelines: Follow poetry guidelines above. Submission period for the contest will be April 1st – May 15th.

Payment/Prize: Contest winner will be published in the October 2008 issue (issue #8), will receive $0.50 a line, 1 contributor’s copy, and prizes yet to be determined.

Send to: DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com
Subject line for contest should read: “DW CONTEST 2008: Poem Title”
Send queries to: DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com
With “DW: Query” in the subject line. Address to Stephen M. Wilson.

Advertising Information:

You'd like to place some advertising in Doorways? Awesome!
Here's what you'll need to know before you decide what kind of ad you'd like to show the world:

Backcover Full Page, Color - $200.00
Inside Front/Back, Full Page, B/W - $125.00
Full Page B/W - $75.00
Half Page B/W - $50.00
Quarter Page B/W - $25.00

Send queries to: doorwaysmag@yahoo.com Brian will be happy to discuss your options with you.