June issue open for submissions.

Submissions now closed.

From now until Sunday 12th May we are open for submissions!

This year's cycle of themes kicked off with maps, and what an inspiring theme that turned out to be (do check out the eighteen excellent stories that made the cut). Following the picturesque path we find our next theme... We're looking for 100 word stories with a focus on pictures (be that paintings, drawings or photos).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I dispute that - I've seen the pictures our authors can paint with only a hundred words.

It could be the famous fashion photographer, hanging a photo in his private gallery, smiling as the supermodel's soul pounds at the glass with tiny fists, walking away to the rising murmur of hundreds of tiny fists. The painter whose alien landscapes are so evocative that viewers swear they see the twisted trees and lurid rivers moving, who paints strange ragged toothy creatures into his latest work; creatures that emerge from the canvas after dark. Three spurned friends lighting candles, drinking wine and incinerating photos of their exes, waking the next day to hear that those same exes burned to death in the night. The portrait artist who never seems to age while his subjects waste away within months of sitting for him. The magic pencil that grants its user whatever superpower they can sketch themselves having. The huge portrait of a kingdom's founder, hung behind the throne, his benevolent smile shifting unpleasantly as his voice compels each new king who sits upon the throne, making his reign truly unending.

Pictures must be central to the story in some way, it is not enough to simply mention one in the background. The picture can be of any kind - a painting, a drawing, a photo. It could be shot on the most expensive camera and displayed on an ultra HD screen the size of a house, or it can be a child's crayon drawing on the kitchen floor. Let your imagination loose.

We primarily accept genre fiction - horror, sci-fi, fantasy, a little crime and surrealism - but if a story stands out, if it gets our attention and excites us, then we're going to jump on it.

The story must be 100 words exactly, it must have a single word title and that title cannot be 'picture' or any variation thereof (in this case that includes photo, drawing, painting etc. too). For full details check out our guidelines here.

Imagine.

Create.

Have fun!