Max Blood's Mausoleum (Gold Star Program) Gold Star

We publish quarterly issues.

We are looking for horror of any sub-genre and are not squeamish. We’ve read it all before and will read it all again, so send us something that will really set us back on our heels. Terrify us. Make us squirm. Send us the best of your worst.

We welcome art accompaniment for your stories, as these may be used in our compiled issues. Please, no AI art. We wish to feature art created by human artists. If you are the artist, let us know. However, if you are not the artist, please let us know that as well. Credit will be given where it is due. Be sure you have permission to use the art that you send to us.

We are not seeking any works that glorify prejudice of any sort. This does not mean prejudice can not exist in the space of your story, but be certain it is cast in its proper light. This includes work that is homophobia, transphobic, racist, sexist, ageist, ablist, and any other -ists you can concoct.

We also do not appreciate gore for gore’s sake. If your story features gore, please ensure that it is necessary to the story being told.

If you are truly uncertain if your story meets up to our expectations, go ahead and send it and we will get back to you.

We do not at this time consider poetry and nonfiction submissions for publication. Please do not submit these at this time.

We seek first publication rights, but all rights revert back to you three months after publication. Please wait three months from the publication date before you post or submit the story elsewhere. If you do publish the story elsewhere, we would greatly appreciate it if you would list Max Blood’s Mausoleum as the place of first publication. Also, this will allow us to celebrate your continued success in style!

Please thoroughly edit and copyedit your story before submitting to us. Substantial edits after acceptance may not be honored.

Please be certain your story is formatted with standard short story formatting with your personal details on the first page. We prefer Garamond or Alegreya, 10 pt font, but we understand some people do not have these fonts.

Stories must be at least 1,500 words long, and our loose upper limit is 8,000 words. Please, if you submit a piece longer than this, be certain every word is necessary. We will not do extensive editing on your stories for you.

Please attach the story as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf document to your email cover letter.

Keep the cover letter short and simple. Nothing fancy required here. Please include a short bio told in the third person and include your pronouns. This is handled like such: Max Blood (he/him) loves his pronouns. This bio will be used on the site in your author details.

Please be aware that, if accepted, we will request an author photo and a url to a website or profile where our readers can seek more about you. The url is not required. The author photo, however, is required.

Simultaneous submissions are encourage; however, please notify us promptly if your story is accepted elsewhere.