Terrors and Tales
Call For Submissions For Our July 2025 Installment
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – JULY 2025 ISSUE: Terrors and Tales
The blood still hasn’t dried from our April launch, and already the beast wants to feed again.
We’re now open for submissions for the second issue of Terrors and Tales, dropping this July from PD’s Alternative Fiction. We’re looking for bold, bizarre, blood-stained voices—short stories that crackle with pulp energy, menace, mystery, or mayhem. Horror, sci-fi, fantasy—we want it all. Keep your stories lean and mean (3,000 words or less), but don’t hold back on style, suspense, or strangeness.
We’re also accepting poetry of any length. No theme restrictions. If it haunts, hypnotizes, or hits like a spell—send it.
Need a spark to get your gears grinding? We’ve included six optional writing prompts below to fire up your imagination, from summer camp horror to sun-scorched sci-fi. Use them, bend them, or completely ignore them. Just bring the heat.
Whether you’re a seasoned author or a first-time scribbler of the weird and uncanny, this is your invitation to step into the shadows with us.
Deadline: July 1, 2025
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Word Limit: Up to 3,000 words for short stories (no limit for poems)
Submit To: Email your submission to PD Alleva. In the subject line write: Terrors and Tales Submission and include the title of your work and the word count. Paste your submission into the body of your email. No word documents or pdfs please and no attachments.
Dare to write something unforgettable. Let’s make this summer one hell of a page-turner.
HORROR PROMPTS
"Camp Vulture Lake"
In 1977, a group of teenage counselors return to reopen a summer camp that’s been shuttered for decades. But something in the lake never left. Locals say it feeds when the temperature hits triple digits—and the forecast is looking deadly. Sunburns, s’mores, and something slithering under the dock."Hot Asphalt, Cold Graves"
During a record-breaking heatwave in Las Vegas, bodies begin surfacing in the desert—perfectly preserved, dressed in 1940s fashion, and each clutching a playing card. A sun-baked crime reporter with a bad liver and worse instincts starts connecting the dots… and the trail leads to a long-demolished casino that only appears in the dead of night.
SCI-FI PROMPTS
"Heatwave Protocol"
July 4th, 2042. The nation’s weather-control satellite malfunctions, plunging the East Coast into an unrelenting heat dome. A rogue climatologist discovers the system has been hijacked—but not by humans. The invaders aren’t coming. They’re already here… and they’re terraforming the planet for their comfort."The Last Beach on Earth"
In a radiation-scorched future, Earth has only one habitable coastline left—a tropical paradise strictly reserved for the ultra-elite. A genetically modified lifeguard stumbles across a buried relic in the sand: a message in a bottle… with coordinates to a second beach no one knows about. And someone’s willing to kill to keep it that way.
FANTASY PROMPTS
"The Sorcerer’s Summer Games"
Once a century, the warring kingdoms of Karkaan call a ceasefire to host the Summer Games: a gladiatorial-style tournament where magic, steel, and dirty tricks reign supreme. This year, a drunken stablehand with a mysterious brand on his back enters the arena on a dare… and the gods take notice."The Mirage Pact"
Every solstice, a hidden desert oasis appears for one night only. Legend says a traveler can trade a memory for a miracle—if they survive the trial of the three suns. When a cursed princess and a runaway assassin meet at the oasis, they realize they’re bound by the same bargain… and someone is lying about the price.
Loved the April issue. So, that link for emailing submissions doesn't work (at least for me), for some reason. Alternative?