July 31 submissions deadline for Main Street Rag anthologies on ghosts, suspense, time and dogs

July 31 is the deadline for submissions to Main Street Rag’s four (count them, four) anthologies. And, this year, there are prizes! For each anthology there will be a $100 award for best short fiction (2,000 words or more); $50 for best flash fiction, $50 for best poem and $50 for best creative nonfiction story.

The themes for the anthologies are Ghosts, Suspense, Time and Dogs. Below are the descriptions (from the Main Street Rag website) of what the editors are seeking.

GHOSTS will be edited by Jane King Andrews.

We all have them. The dead won’t stay still. The departed won’t shut up. Do you see dead people? What do they want? Do you hear your name called when no one is there?
Poltergeists may throw plates or slam doors, but hauntings can include anything that makes the hair on your arms stand up. We’re looking for poems, stories and essays to make us believe in spooks. Submit writing that scares the hell out of us, moves us, or even makes us laugh. Coming back from the dead; it’s not easy. Why do they do it? Think about the last time you were afraid to look behind you. What was there? Submissions need to be sent to ghosts@mainstreetrag.com by July 31.

SUSPENSE will be edited by David Bell and Molly McCaffrey.

Shouldn’t all writing hold us in suspense? Shouldn’t we be dying to turn the pages if only to fulfill that most basic question: What happens next? For that reason, we’re looking for stories, poems and nonfiction essays that are page-turners, the kind of writing that makes the reader’s heart catch in her throat and causes her fingers sweat as she turns the pages. But we’re not looking for cheap thrills here. We’re not interested in blood and guts. We’re interested in stories of psychological suspense, stories that explore the working of the human mind and heart much more than the workings of a gun or knife And we’re not looking for straight detective stories either. We’re less interested in who done it and more interested in why. Think Hitchcock. Think Patricia Highsmith. And keep those pages turning. Submissions should be sent to suspense@mainstreetrag.com by July 31.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME.” (Editor to be announced)

When you hear that phrase, what comes to your mind? A parent or a spouse, arms crossed, foot tapping, watching as someone sneaks in at night? Or do you see a calendar, its days or weeks flapping? Maybe you see time extended into an imagined future, something yet to be understood or experienced. Birthdays. Monday Night Football. The arrival of hormones or their subsequent departure. Eyes opening wife to the world for the first time, or wrinkles causing those eyes to disappear in a smile. Parallels in reality and in the universe. Do deadlines make you crazy? Do you see time with hour and minute hands on a white face or bright green digital numbers, a colon beating between like a heart? Send us short stories, creative nonfiction, or poetry that will have us thinking about time in all of its metamorphoses and metaphors. Whether you hear time in the pacing of feet, the passing of minutes, the snapping of a voice or tendons, or the noontime chime of Big Ben or a FitBit reminder to move, stretch, bend, write about it. Submissions should be sent to AboutTime@mainstreetrag.com by July 31.

The fourth anthology will be about DOGS.

Lassie or Old Yeller, White Fang or Cujo, those canine creatures we call dogs hold a special place in the hearts and psyches of human beings everywhere. Here’s an opportunity for writers to explore those feelings. It does have to be a “Peta” moment, though those would be welcome as well. What we’re looking for are poems, short stories, and nonfiction essays where a dog is a featured “player” and important facet to the narrative. Engage our hearts and minds with the page-turner dog lit you submit. Submissions should be sent to dogs@maindstreetrag.com by July 31.

For rules and guidelines, see: mainstreetrag.com.