Today, we're proudly showing off the front covers for History and Mystery, Oh My! and History and Horror, Oh My! We hope it gives you authors some inspiration and incentive for stories to submit! See our submissions page to learn themes and deadlines for each anthology.

Something else that we hope our authors will find pleasing: we cut the first two tiers of royalty rates, and will now pay 35% royalties for the first thousand books sold. This is an increase in payouts to authors, so we hope it will be a welcome change. The authors for stories in our anthologies will still  be paid pro rata, but the slice will be bigger.

This change will start with Strangely Funny II and continue with History and Mystery, Oh My! and History and Horror, Oh My!. Keep sending those stories in - we love 'em.

Our first 2014 anthology, Mardi Gras Murder, is already up at Amazon. Have no fear, authors, we have at least three more planned.
The first is Strangely Funny II, this year's collection of humorous paranormal stories. The guidelines are available on our Submissions page, and we hope to have the cover shortly.
The other two will be:

• History and Horror, Oh My!
  
• History and Mystery, Oh My!
  

We haven't set the guidelines for these yet, but one will be a collection of historical horror stories and the other will be a collection of historical mysteries.
In this case, 'historical' means your story should be set in a time at least fifty years ago. You know how they're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles playing the Ed Sullivan show? Yeah, your story should be set during that time or before.
Let us not discuss members of the MAHLLC staff who qualify as historical under these standards... please. Just warm up those keyboards!

An anthology of mystery stories set during Mardi Gras. We expect the majority of the stories to be set in New Orleans, but it is not mandatory. The holiday, its celebration, and its depredations should set the stage. Paranormal elements (e.g. Louisiana Voodoo) are acceptable if they are appropriate to the traditional Mardi Gras locations and events.

We're seeking stories that are 2000 - 8000 words in length. Query about reprints. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions. Open submission period: October 21, 2013 - January 5, 2014.

All contributors will receive a free trade paperback copy of the book, plus a $5 advance on royalties. Contributors will also be able to purchase more print copies at a 50% discount on the cover price. Please see our Guidelines and Payment page for further information on the rights we ask for and the compensation we offer.

Gwen and I will be out of pocket this weekend, because we're attending the 2013 Historical Novel Society Conference in St. Petersburg. We're looking forward to hearing authors like Anne Perry speak, but we're really looking forward to seeing friends like Beverle Graves Myers again.

Update on Strangely Funny: I have sent MOST of the acceptances and rejections. Space considerations are forcing me to choose between several good stories, and it's not easy. In some cases, I have urged the author to send the story to me again if we plan a suitable anthology.

Thanks to everyone for their support and patience. I appreciate it.

Only about a month left to submit to All Hallows' Evil!

All Hallows' Evil is an anthology of mystery stories set during Halloween, OUR "most wonderful time of the year". Paranormal elements are acceptable as long as they are in keeping with the Halloween theme and the central story is a mystery.

We're seeking stories that are 4000 - 8000 words in length. Query about reprints. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions.

The submission period ends July 15th, 2013.

Please see our Guidelines and Payment page for further information on the rights we ask for and the compensation we offer. 

Less than a month is left in the reading period for our first anthology, Strangely Funny. I've read a lot of stories during that time - enough to fill two books - and I'm pleased with the results. Most of the stories were well-written and creative.
 
Decision making has been difficult, but I've accepted several stories and rejected others. If you received a rejection from me, it's been for one of the following reasons:
 

1. You may have written well, but other, similar stories were more polished.
   
2. You wrote so cleverly, but also so cryptically, that I got a headache. Headaches are not funny.
   
3. Your story didn't fit the theme of the book at some level. Either it wasn't funny, or it wasn't paranormal in some way.
   
4. I got a bunch of stories that had the same basic storyline, and I liked someone's else's version better than yours.
   

 
I still have openings in the anthology. You have time to get a story in. If you're interested in submitting, here are some helpful things to know:
 

• I have a lot of subs about Martians/aliens visiting Earth who discover that humans are just too much for them to handle. I don't need more of them.
• I have a good number of zombie and vampire stories. I could use more werewolves. I don't have anything with mummies or Mi-Go.
• Please, please use standard double quote marks (" ") in conversations. I can do Search and Replace, but it gets annoying, even if the story is great.  :)

 
 Thanks to everyone, and keep writing!

Sarah

Here is the cover for Strangely Funny, our first anthology. We're still open for submissions, so break out the undead rubber chickens and boot your laptop!

Your story must contain paranormal elements (ghosts, psychics, vampires, etc.) and be funny. Think Addams Family, You Suck: A Love Story, or Love at First Bite.  We're looking for stories that are 2000 - 5000 words in length, but have accepted a few that are a little longer. We will also accept black and white cartoons if submitted in electronic format. 

Check our Submissions and Guidelines and Payment pages for more information. 

An anthology of mystery stories set during Halloween, aka Samhain. Paranormal elements are acceptable as long as they are in keeping with the Halloween theme and the central story is a mystery. We're seeking stories that are 4000 - 8000 words in length (firm). Query about reprints. We will accept multiple submissions, but not simultaneous submissions.

Open submission period: April 20 - July 15th, 2013.

Please see our Guidelines and Payment page for further information on the rights we ask for and the compensation we offer.

Publisher's note: Mystery and Horror is a market that welcomes LBGTQ, multiethnic,multinational, nontraditional, and unusual fiction. We are concerned with well-written stories involving well-developed characters.