Book Worms Horror Zine wants fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for their 12th issue; the theme is Occult Horror. “This Spooky Season, Book Worms Horror Zine is celebrating the kind of horror that truly gets under our skin: the things we’re not supposed to know.
Secret societies. Demonic cults. Government conspiracies. Forbidden rituals. A frat/sorority house with a hidden basement. A pajama party Ouija board game that goes horribly, horribly wrong. If there’s a secret—and something sinister lurking behind it—we want to hear about it.
We’re looking for stories that explore the fear of what’s hidden, what’s forbidden, and what might be waiting just beyond the veil of what we think we know.” Please note, submissions by all authors (barring those they have previously published) have to be mailed (see guidelines). Length guidelines are: up to 1,500 words, poem of 20 lines or fewer; pay is $0.08/word for fiction and non-fiction, $25 for poetry; the submission deadline is 1 October 2026 -- must be received by this date; details here.)

Deadline: October 1st, 2026