We're delighted to let you know this new call for submissions is open! Please read through the submission details carefully as we’ve changed some of our guidelines and it could result in your submission not being acknowledged if you do not follow them.

No Laughing Matter
A New Collection of Horror Stories

We are now open for story submissions to fill a small number of slots in a new anthology in our Beyond & Within series, to be published in the autumn of 2026. The anthology is titled NO LAUGHING MATTER, to be edited by Peter Coleborn & Mike Chinn.

We are looking for fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humour, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd. Stories that might not be out of place in Psychoville or Inside No. 9. We are not after laugh-out loud humour, gags, shaggy-dog tales, obvious gallows humour – and no puns. We are not aiming to publish a horror version of Terry Pratchett – because, as the title says, it’s no laughing matter. We are after stories in the region of 4000 words.

If you have access to The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors series (and of course you should) check out 'Some Kind of a Laugh' by Ramsey Campbell, 'Bluey' by Ray Cluley, and 'The Fairest of Them All' by Debbie Bennett to get a better idea of what might fit our theme. Just remember: it really is no laughing matter.

Happy writing!
Peter Coleborn and Mike Chinn

Peter Coleborn created the award-winning Alchemy Press in the 1990s, editing and publishing a range of anthologies, collections, novellas, novels, and non-fiction titles. He co-edited the Joel Lane tribute Something Remains and three volumes of The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors, plus the PS anthology Shadowplays with Mike Chinn. 

Mike Chinn has written fiction running from Westerns to Sword & Sorcery and Space Opera, via Horror, Pulp Adventure stories, and the occasional Sherlock Holmes pastiche. He has edited four books for The Alchemy Press (Swords Against the Millennium, and Pulp Heroes volumes one to three) and co-edited Shadowplays alongside Peter Coleborn.

Submit to: anthologies@flametreepublishing.com

Terms:

• Multiple submissions are fine but must be in separate emails.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology.
• Please only submit unpublished/original/new stories for consideration. Reprints will not be accepted for consideration.
• Stories using AI generated text will not be accepted.
• For accepted stories we pay Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates of 8 cents/6 pence per word.
• We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 4 months of the submission deadline.
• Payment for the chosen stories will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website flametreepublishing.com for details), although some may be paid earlier than that.
• Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel.

Important Notice about Submissions and Guidelines

We're always looking for better ways of working so we've tweaked our submission process to allow us to read more stories, and spend more time assessing the balance of our books.

• Submissions must use the dedicated email address.
• The subject line of the email must be the story title.
• The file with the story must be attached to the email (.docx, .doc or .rtf format).
• The name of the file must match the name in the subject line.
• If submitting more than one story, please submit one story per email.

Other useful tips for a more successful submission:

• The file name of the submission must be the story name only.
• Please just use spaces between words in the title (not _ or - ).
• If the story name starts with A or The, please use it at the beginning of the file name.
• Manuscripts must be in standard format (Times or a similar font, 12 point, 1.5 or 2 line spacing, left justified). Include title, word count, and your contact details on the first page of the manuscript. 
• Story length is most likely to be successful at 3000–4000 words, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range.
• If submitting a story that has recently been submitted to us for consideration to another anthology, please state this in the submission email.
• Deadline for submissions is 19th October 2025.

Thank you, and good luck!