Sunday, January 14, 2024

2024 Bloody Parchment short story competition open for submissions


With the release of the SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment: Weeping Walls and Other Stories, we are pleased to announce that 2024's short story competition is now officially open for submissions. We will consider dark short fiction in the following genres: horror, fantasy, science fiction, and weird. Word count is 1,000 to 5,000 words, and payment is $25 per story. African authors, whether resident in Africa or residing elsewhere but who are in possession of a passport to an African country, are eligible, as are foreign nationals in Africa in possession of a permanent residency permit. Entries close on October 31, 2024.



Submission Guidelines

You are an African author residing in an African country or abroad, with a passport to an African country. Or you are a foreign national living permanently in an African country with a permanent residence permit.

We have a strictly 'no AI' policy. Generative AI or AI-assisted writing is disqualified.

Please use standard manuscript formatting (Times New Roman is fine) and supply your submission as an MS Word document.

We will not consider stories that include gratuitous violence, animal cruelty, racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTI messaging or stories that have an overt ideological agenda (in other words, propaganda or didactic narratives).

Email entries to nerinedorman@gmail.com with "Submission: Bloody Parchment 2024" in the subject line. Please include your name, nationality, and country of residence in your query.

For further information, email nerinedorman@gmail.com

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Winners of the 2018 short story competition

Better late than never, SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment is proud to (finally) announce the winners of the 2018 short story competition. We were able to secure the opinions of such literary luminaries as Efemia Chela, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Toby Bennett, Mame Bougouma Diene, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Ivor W Hartmann, and Hannah Onoguwe, who helped decide which stories made the final pick.

So, without further ado, first place goes to Stuart Olver, for his short story "At the Mountain's Dying", with joint second place going to Eamonn Naidoo for his short story "The Moth" and Stephen McQuiggan for his short story "Gant's Shortcut".

Our finalists, who have made the cut for the anthology include (in no particular order) Mike Sharlow, Dave de Burgh, Edward Ahern, Janice Gardiner-Atkinson, Mark Towse, Sergio Pereira, SJ Lucas, and Vanessa Buys.

Congratulations! 

Thursday, June 21, 2018

2018 Competition now open

With the current issue of Bloody Parchment available on a Kindle near you, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2018 competition is now open. We continue to seek the freshest, most disturbing and disconcerting new voices in SFF, with emphasis on tales that wander into the darker side of the storytelling spectrum (SF, fantasy, GrimDark, horror…you get the picture). While this is chiefly an African short story competition, and is focused on the development of up-and-coming voices of African writers, we are open to international entries. There is no entry fee. 

Our categories for this year include flash fiction (up to 1000 words); short fiction (up to 4 000 words); and novellas (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). A winner and two runners-up will be picked among the finalists, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced at the final selection.

First prize is a full assessment and round of developmental edits for a novel-length work or short story anthology. Runners-up to receive a full, developmental edit for a short story or novella other than their submission. The aim of Bloody Parchment remains the upliftment and development of new authors and the promotion of science fiction, fantasy and horror in Africa.

What we're looking for: The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories or novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. So, yes, if you've written a GrimDark tale in a gloomy secondary world, we're interested. Hell, we'll even look at your vampires and zombies, so long as they don't sparkle and do something a little different from shambling about aimlessly, dropping limbs. Cleverly executed alien invasions have legs. That being said, if the story's impact relies purely on gratuitous violence and rape in order to deliver its punch, rather don't waste our time and yours. Also, for the love of dog, make sure your story falls within the required word count – at least a quarter of our submissions are rejected each year because of this. While we won't reject a well-written submission that's a few hundred words over out of hand (there is wiggle room), don't expect us to read short stories that are way off the mark. Multiple entries are allowed, but chances are good that if both your stories make it to the final round, we will use our discretion to select the one that is the best possible fit for the anthology.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at nerinedorman@gmail.com

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2018 

To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to nerinedorman@gmail.com with "Bloody Parchment 2018" in the subject line of the email. Please include your name, contact details and a short bio so we have an idea of who we're dealing with. Standard manuscript formatting is absolutely fine (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing). Please follow this naming convention for your MS: BP2018_[first initial followed by surname] – So if your name is Penny Green, your entry will be titled BP2018_PGreen. If you have more than one entry, number them, so if author Penny has a second MS to submit, it will be named BP2018_PGreen2. Documents that do not follow our submissions guidelines will be deleted unread.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

WINNERS of the 2017 short story competition

It’s with the greatest pleasure that we announce the winner, runners-up and finalists of the 2017 SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment short story competition. As always, there were many wonderful stories shortlisted, and our judges had their work cut out for them. So, a big thank you to our judges Blaize Kaye, Diane Awerbuck, Masha du Toit, Louis Greenberg, Tammy February and Efemia Chela.

Our winner for the 2017 competition is Pravasan Pillay, for his short story “The Boy Racer”. Our runners-up are Mlilo Mpondo and Ajibola Ogundiran. Huge congratulations are in order! Our finalists, who will also be included in the anthology, include AJ Flowers, Toby Bennett, Susan Rabe, Domenico Pisanti, Calvin Demmer, Hayden Robinson, Manu Herbstein, Marcelle van Niekerk, Gina Kukard and Elaine Dodge.

Do pick up our most recent anthology for 13 dark SFF and horror tales to chill and thrill you.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

2017 BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITION OPEN

With the current issue of Bloody Parchment available on a Kindle near you, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2017 competition is now open. We continue to seek the freshest, disturbing and disconcerting new voices in SFF, with emphasis on tales that wander into the darker side of the storytelling spectrum. While this is chiefly an African short story competition, and is focused on the development of up-and-coming voices, we are open to international entries. There is no entry fee.

Our categories for this year include flash fiction (up to 1000 words); short fiction (up to 4 000 words); and novellas (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). A winner and two runners-up will be picked among the finalists, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced at the final selection.

First prize is a full assessment and round of developmental edits for a novel-length work or short story anthology. Runners-up to receive a full, developmental edit for a short story or novella other than their submission. The aim of Bloody Parchment remains the upliftment and development of new authors and the promotion of science fiction, fantasy and horror in Africa.

What we're looking for: The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories or novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. So, yes, if you've written a GrimDark tale in a gloomy secondary world, we're interested. Hell, we'll even look at your vampires, so long as they don't sparkle. Cleverly executed alien invasions have legs. That being said, if the story's impact relies purely on gratuitous violence and rape for its punch, rather don't waste our time and yours. Also, for the love of dog, make sure your story falls within the required word count – at least a quarter of our submissions are rejected each year because they do not adhere to the word counts. While we won't reject a well-written submission that's a few hundred words over (there is wiggle room), don't expect us to read short stories that are way off the mark in terms of word count. Multiple entries are allowed, but chances are good that if both your stories make it to the final round, we will use our discretion to select the one that is the best possible fit for the anthology.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at nerinedorman@gmail.com CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2017 To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to nerinedorman@gmail.com with "Bloody Parchment 2017" in the subject line. Standard manuscript formatting is absolutely fine (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing).

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

WINNERS: 2016 SA HORRORFEST BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITION

It is with great pride that I bring you the final round-up for the 2016 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition.

Taking first place, we have Blaize Kaye, with "Remains of an Old World".

Runners-up are Brett Rex Bruton, with "The Out of Place"; and Lester Walbrugh, with "For Better or Wors".

Our finalists, who have the option of going into the anthology, as well as receiving some extremely useful editor notes to help improve their story-telling overall, with guidance from an editor, include Aito Osemegbe Joseph, Shaun van Rensburg, Erhu Amreyan, Jessica Liebenberg, Toby Bennett, Stephen Embleton, Livingston Edwards, William Burger, Mignotte Mekuria, and Janine Milne.

A very big congratulations to all of you!

We would like to thank this year's judges: Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Diane Awerbuck, Efemia Chela, Lauren Smith and Sarah Lotz, who had the difficult task of evaluating the short list.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

BLOODY PARCHMENT 2016 shortlist

We have our shortlisted stories gone through for judging. A huge thank you this year to our judges: Sarah Lotz, Diane Awerbuck, Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Lauren Smith and Efemia Chela. I'm hoping to rustle up their answers by mid-May, in which we will announce our finalists, runners-up and winner.

Our shortlisted authors are: 
Aito Osemegbe Joseph
Alexander Clark
Shaun van Rensburg
Erhu Amreyan
Jessica Liebenberg
Dhee Sylvester
Stephen Embleton
Toby Bennett
Kingsley Okpii
Blaize Kaye
Livingston Edwards
Brett Rex Bruton
William Burger
Lester Walbrugh
Mignotte Mekuria
Janine Milne

A huge congratulations, folks, and I wish you all the best!
Our next anthology releases soon; we'll keep you posted.