Call for Submissions

LIMINAL HORIZONS 3

Theme: Nightmare School

Educational institutions are places of great power. Young people enter with high expectations and hopes for a brighter future. Yet mishap, tragedy, accident—all of these can occur. And all Hades might break loose in their wake.

J3E Press is a publisher of horror and speculative fiction seeking submissions for our third anthology under the theme “Nightmare School.” Send us your school terrors, classroom horrors, and sci-fi field trips. We’re looking for vibrant, original narratives that take place in realized settings. Any school-based narrative at the intersection of horror and science fiction will be considered; that might also include mystery, thriller, magical realism, slipstream, the Weird, and more.



Similar works might include fiction such as The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Carrie by Stephen King, or Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card; or movies/series such as "Stranger Things", "The Faculty", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", or "Suspiria".

Submission Guidelines

  • Deadline: 18 December 2026.
  • Genre: fiction (if previously published, please note when and where).
  • Length: 4,000-8,000 words.
  • Format: all fiction should be submitted in Shunn’s manuscript format, in doc(x) or text. No PDF's, please.
  • Simultaneous submissions: allowed but notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Royalties: equal share of total author royalties for one year, based on number of submissions.
  • Rights: J3E retains exclusive English language print and ebook publication rights for one year from publication date, and non-exclusive rights for future ebook and print-on-demand sales.
  • Submission: email one story as an attachment to submissions@j3epress.com, using the subject line “Nightmare School Submission”. Include a 100-200 word summary of the story and a short, third-person bio.

We have an adult audience (R-rated adjacent); any submission deemed too graphic will be rejected.

Original works only. We do not accept AI-generated texts.

All submissions will receive a response by: 1 February 2027.