Submission Guidelines for POCKET FULL OF POSIES

POCKET FULL OF POSIES

Anthology of Horror Stories featuring Dead Children

Wicked Shadow Press invites horror fiction submissions for publication in its anthology "POCKET FULL OF POSIES" (Expected release: August 2025). The submission deadline is July 10, 2025.

The title, as you might have guessed, draws from the eerie lullaby that once masked the horrors of plague and death. “Ring Around the Rosie” isn’t all innocence and skipping games. It’s rot disguised as rhyme. Pocket Full of Posies hopes to lean into this duality: sweetness laced with sickness, childhood tinged with the macabre.

We’re looking for fiction that grips, unsettles, and lingers, whether that’s through psychological horror, supernatural whispers, grief-soaked gothic or something we’ve never seen before. The only requirement? A dead child (or children) must play a central role in the tale. Interpret that as literally or creatively as you dare.

Feel free to come up with your own storyline or get started with one of our WRITING PROMPTS:

1) An amateur photographer buys a vintage camera which comes with a glitch. Every photograph has a faint shadow of a small boy lurking in the background.

2) Kids at school claim Missy's experiments on animals, others claim Missy is a teen witch. Some claim Missy died years ago, and was resurrected after death by his mad scinentist of a father.

3) William is a disgraced doctor, and the only job he can find is at an old orpganage where children live in an unknown fear are are dying, one by one.

4) A disillusioned soldier in World War II defects from the horrors of war, only to find himself stuck in an eerie village with no grown-ups, and no discernible exit points.

5) Penelope, the night warden at the hospital with the tendency to sleep at work, begins to have spooky, lifelife dreams about the hospital nursery and an unnatural baby.

6) After 12-year-old Teesta dies of the mysterious disease killing children in her town, her spirit must find the cause of the illness or the cure before it can infect her best friend Naina.

All Horror Subgenres Welcome.

THEME: The story MUST feature the ghost of child/children in a prominent manner.

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WE ARE ACCEPTING 

Short Stories: (between 1500-8000 words) Please send no more than ONE fiction

Flash Fiction: (between 100-1500 words) Please send no more than TWO flash fictions

We are considering TRANSLATED WORKS as well. Submission of translated works must be accompanied by a statement declaring that the translator has obtained the author’s permission and their publisher’s, if required.

Simultaneous Submissions are welcome but the author must inform us by e-mail as soon as the submitted piece is accepted elsewhere. Pieces cannot be withdrawn once Wicked Shadow Press informs the author of its acceptance for publication.

We consider reprints but generally do not publish them unless they are exceptional. Please mention in the mail body in case your submission is a reprint.

At present, we are unable to pay our contributors. Each contributor shall receive a COMPLIMENTARY DIGITAL COPY of the anthology as soon as it publishes.

Manuscripts should directly be sent to WickedShadowAnthology@gmail.com

Please write Submission for POCKET FULL OF POSIES in the subject line of your submission email.

Please submit your files in the following formats: .doc /.docx /.txt. DO NOT submit PDFs. 

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Wicked Shadow Press uses non exclusive rights to publish in its anthologies. Authors are free to republish their work anywhere else once it has been published.

Please submit only original pieces. Wicked Shadow Press or the editor/s of the anthology shall not be responsible for any disputes arising due to plagiarism or copyright infringement.

Each piece MUST be attached with a short bio of the author, preferably within 100 words, and if possible, a photograph of the author to go along with publication. 

NOTE: We typically reply within a month after receiving submissions. However, replies can be delayed under unforeseen circumstances.