STRANGE AMERICANA

 Dark Tales of the Frontier &

the Uncanny American West

Priority Reading Period: June 1 – June 30
Submission Window: July 1 – August 15, 2026
Genres: Weird West, Western gothic, uncanny Americana, regional folklore, true-story hauntings, crime legends

 

Priority Submissions (June)

Writers who submit during the Priority Reading Period receive:

• Priority consideration

• A 75–150 word editorial note

• A guaranteed 3-week response time

Notes highlight strengths and areas of potential; they are not full critiques.

 

Prizes

Grand Prize — $150

One piece from any category wins:

• $150 cash prize

• Lead placement in the anthology

• Author spotlight in the introduction

• Automatic nomination to Best Small Fictions, Pushcart, and other annual anthologies (when eligible)

Category Winners — $25 each

One winner from each category receives $25 and highlighted placement.

Honorable Mentions

Publication + recognition in contributor notes.

 

Categories

Omens (Haiku / 5–7–5)

Three haiku max. Brief, unsettling flashes drawn from real folklore, ghost signs, strange weather, or American omens.

Lore Fragments (<750 words)

Short pieces rooted in true stories, local myths, small-town hauntings, crime legends, historical oddities, and uncanny Americana.

Frontier Narratives (750–3,000 words)

Fully shaped stories of frontier hauntings, unsolved violence, regional folklore, river myths, mining-town spirits, roadside encounters, or American gothic history.

Triptych (Optional)

Three linked accounts of the same haunting, crime, disappearance, or regional legend — up to 5,000 total words.

 

What We Want

Dust, shadow, folklore, frontier hauntings, small-town myths, unsolved crimes, ghost roads, strange disappearances, river specters, and Americana gone beautifully wrong.
We want pieces rooted in place, history, and truth-adjacent strangeness — stories that feel like they could have happened, or still might.

This is our annual Halloween showcase: atmospheric, uncanny, regionally grounded.

 

Cultural Integrity

Stories involving Indigenous characters, knowledge, or historical contexts must be written by Indigenous authors from their own cultures.

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How to submit:

Click the “Submit” button below to get to the Duosuma submission portal. Please send us your work as a Word document or PDF via the submission form linked below. This link will take you to our submission portal on Duosoma.