Dark Helix Press is OPEN to submissions for our latest anthology!
Submission Call for a short story fiction – Once Upon Our Time: Fairy Tale Retellings (tentative title)
We’re seeking short stories (1,500–5,000 words) that breathe new life into classic fairy tales. Retellings can be dark, hopeful, subversive, futuristic, or culturally reimagined—whatever sparks your creativity. Whether your story is set in a dystopian city, a forgotten village, or an alien world, we want to see how you reinterpret the old tales for a modern audience.
Stories must clearly draw inspiration from an existing fairy tale, folklore, or myth. At the end of your story, please include a brief note (1–3 sentences) naming the original source material and, if possible, a link or reference where readers can explore the original tale.
Noun: fairytale – a children’s story about magical and imaginary beings and lands. Retelling of stories from all over the world welcomed!
Deadline: May 31, 2026, midnight EST
Word Count: 1,500–5,000 words
Genres: All speculative genres welcome (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc.)
Payment: $20 Cdn per story
Formatting & How to Submit: See below for more details.
We welcome diverse voices, cultures, and interpretations. Surprise us. Twist the tale. Make it yours.
Editors’ Bios
JF Garrard – JF Garrard is an award winning speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher. She is the President of Dark Helix Press, host of The Artsy Raven podcast, serves as President for the Canadian Authors Association’s Toronto branch, and Deputy Editor for Ricepaper Magazine. Her portfolio of books and short fiction is listed on jfgarrard.com and you can find her on Twitter @jfgarrard, Instagram @jfgarrard, Facebook @JFGarrardauthor.
Jen Frankel – Jen Frankel is the author of several novels, a short fiction collection, and two books of poetry among other work. She hosts writers’ open mics and is a print-on-demand publishing guru. https://www.jenfrankel.com/
What We Are Looking For
For fiction submissions, we prefer complete stories – with a beginning, middle and end. No excerpts will be accepted.
Note that we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence or pointless foul language; any edgy content should be necessary and appropriate to the plot and characters.
Editor’s notes: Note 1 on AI
Old general editor’s notes on previous submissions to our Trump specfic anthology and why pieces were rejected. These notes were written up ages ago, but the same team is working on this anthology, so the notes still hold: Note 1, Note 2, Note 3, Note 4. As time goes on, if the editors are not too busy, they will provide new notes related to this submission call.
AI Note
We do not want AI generated pieces of writing.
Use of AI for research, plotting or outlining is acceptable, but the piece should be written by a human.
What We’re Buying
Dark Helix Press wants first worldwide publication rights, print rights, electronic rights, reprint rights, audio rights, and digital archival rights.
Rights revert back to the author a year after publication and author retains all other rights. Any story submitted must be your own unpublished original creation. If you have already published it on a blog or website accessible to the general public, it is considered published, please do not submit.
Multiple Submissions & Simultaneous Submissions
You may have up to three submissions, but please submit one story per Google form. Note that we are very short staffed and we may not respond to your submission unless it is accepted.
If you wish to withdraw, please send us an email and we will discard your submission.
Formatting Guidelines
- Submit all manuscripts in Word format – if submitted in the body of an email, it will not be read
- Top right hand corner, please provide:
- legal name,
- pen name if any in brackets,
- mailing address,
- email address,
- and word count.
- Title should be in Times New Roman, 16-point, bold
- Manuscript should be single spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font
- In between paragraphs, double space
- Indicate the end of manuscript with three stars (***), then two spaces afterwards include a bio of 100 words which may include a maximum of 2 links to website, blog or social media profiles, etc.
Submitting Guidelines
Please follow this Google form link to upload your submission: Google Form link
Contact for Questions
If there are any questions, please email darkhelixpress at gmail.com.
Compensation
We believe it is important to be paid for your work, although our rates are token amounts because our publishing house is not big enough to receive grants. Projects are created for the love of writing and stretching our imagination.
The compensation amounts will be paid via PayPal, with the option to donate it back to offset production and marketing costs of the books. The playing field is a tough one these days with lots of free writing available to readers and the advancement of AI.
By publishing through Dark Helix Press, we will be listing your author bio along with your website/social media links on the project page.
During marketing campaigns for the book, we may post your name and story/poem title in advertisements to attract readers. Feel free to contribute by letting readers know about the book or your story/poem via social media (we will re-tweet/share your posts if you let us know about them) or guide us to potential reviewers that may help elevate book success.
The more well known the anthology is, the brighter the spotlight will shine on your writing! We believe collaboration is the key in all projects.
Privacy Policy
During the submission process, we collect some personal information, including your email address and physical or snail mail address; we will never send you anything without your permission, nor will we publish or distribute that information to any third party. This information is kept on file for tax purposes only.
Dark Helix Press 