It’s that time again… Here are some of the most tantalising open submission calls I’ve spotted this month. If you decide to go after any of these opportunities, good luck!

Science Fiction Debuts Prize
I normally post only about short story submissions, but this is a terrific opportunity for any up-and-coming SF novelists. To coincide with its forthcoming Science Fiction exhibition, the Science Museum has partnered with Hodder & Stoughton to launch a new writing prize for unpublished writers who aren’t yet represented by a literary agent.
Word count: Submit 10,000 words of a novel, plus synopsis
Payment: First prize is £4000, plus a full critique of your work, plus a Hodderscape mentoring programme, plus introduction to three agents. Other prizes for runners up.
Deadline: Open 4 June–30 September 2022
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/science-fiction-debuts-writing-prize

Dracula Beyond Stoker
New journal entirely dedicated to Dracula-themed fiction. The first issue will (naturally enough) be themed around the character of Dracula himself, with the second issue revolving around Renfield.
Word count: 1500–5000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 15 June 2022 (for first issue)
www.dbspress.com/submissions

Campfire Macabre: Volume 2
Cemetery Gates Media seeks flash horror fiction for the second volume in its Campfire Macabre series. Stories must match one theme from the following: ‘When We Were Getting High’, ‘My Last Trick ‘r Treat’, ‘Body Grotesquerie’, ‘Ominous Visitors From Deep Space’ or ‘Out in the Fields, Forests, and Lakes’.
Word count: 500–1500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1 June–15 August 2022
cemeterygatesmedia.com/submissions/

The Dread Machine
This newish magazine seeks futuristic dark fiction, speculative fiction, cyberpunk, slipstream, and science fiction.
Word count: Up to 5,500 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: No deadline
www.thedreadmachine.com/submit/

The Consultations of Sherlock Holmes
Belanger Books is putting together an anthology of traditional Sherlock Holmes stories that demonstrate Holmes’s skills as “consulting detective” – that is, stories in which he solves the case without leaving Baker Street.
Word count: 5,000–10,000 words
Payment: $100 or $50 plus a percentage of the Kickstarter project profits (whichever is greater)
Deadline: 15 September 2022
horrortree.com/taking-submissions-the-consultations-of-sherlock-holmes/