Serious as a Heart Attack Clown Anthology

A project of Schlock! Webzine

Permanently Closed: This project is permanently closed to submissions (April 2021). We provide the following information as an archive.

About

I'm looking for Pulpy/Dark/Gritty clown tales. Think Evan Hunter, Joe Lansdale, Jim Thompson, Walter Mosley, Donald Goines, James Ellroy, Robert Bloch, and many others. You get the idea. 'The stories can be about Clowns causing trouble, Clowns misbehaving, Clowns in Danger, and so on. 'LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD!!!!. 'No Explicit Sex or Sexual violence. 'One thing that I'm asking for is that the clowns in the stories need to be actual clowns, and not, for example, just some criminals pretending to be clowns for a a few moments. The stories need at least one main figure who works as some sort of clown. There are of course always exceptions to this. For example, your story might be taking palce during Mardi Gras or Carnival. Another example maybe someone has to go undercover as a clown and need to live the clown life. 'These can be any sort of clown though. Circus, Children's parties, TV Hosts, Rodeo, etc. 'I will gladly look at horror, BUT I DON’T WANT ANY SERIAL KILLER STORIES! 'Also, I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy so I like stories with a beginning, middle, and end. I'll look at anything though. This is just what I prefer this time around. 'Be as gritty and as dark as you want. I do expect the stories to be entertaining though. Endings need not be happy ones, but I don't care all that much for despair. We have more than enough of that in the world.

Country of Publication & Year Established

United Kingdom

Established in 2021

Publication Media & Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication: One-time publication
Print Publication Print Publication: One-time publication

Fiction Closed

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

Horror Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Noir, Weird/New Weird
Mystery/Crime Subgenres: Crime, Noir

Lengths:

Flash Fiction: Up to 1,000 words.
Short Story: 1,000 - 7,500 words.
Novelette: 7,500 - 10,000 words.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Dark, Mainstream, Pulp.

Topics:

Other: See guidelines.

Payment:

No monetary payment Royalties No monetary payment. Royalties.
Note: We list broad pay categories rather than payment specifics. Check with the publisher for details.

Submissions:

Method: Electronic submissions.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Unknown.
Multiple entries: Unknown.
Media: Text.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

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Serious as a Heart Attack Clown Anthology Submission Statistics

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This listing is inactive and does not have any submission reports for the past 12 months.

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Dates

Last Updated: 22 May 2026