A house lies still in darkness. A forest holds its breath. An abandoned cabin slumbers. The quiet is unnerving. Unnatural. It must be filled—but at what cost?

For this pop-up sub call, we’re doing something a little more cursed. First, we need writers to create settings. Let’s call these writers Architects. Next, we need another round of writers to haunt the hell out of these settings. These writers will be called Haunters.

Architects: Create a setting to later be filled with ghosts and ghouls. Your setting should be submitted as a piece that could more or less stand alone, as Haunters will be using the actual lines you submit and not just your idea. With that said, keep it mostly descriptive. We’re not looking for stories at this point, but sensory-rich backdrops that may or may not be inherently spooky.

Haunters: Submit a request to “haunt” the sets designed by the Architects. We’ll pair you with a setting to wreak havoc on! For fiction, this will likely mean adding in narrative elements that transform the setting into a story. For poetry, the options are limitless. (Beware: you might even receive an Icebreakers editor’s setting to haunt.)

RULES AND GUIDELINES

• This is a quick turnaround time—we’re looking to publish by October 31st! Don’t overthink this one. Just have fun with it.

• We’re accepting poetry and microfiction for this call.

• Final submissions should be 300 words max. There are no strict word count limits for the Architects phase, but try to keep it below 150 to give the next writer plenty of haunting space.

• One creator can submit as both an Architect and a Haunter (for different pieces).

• Think of this as an exquisite corpse in that you’re adding to the work that came before your own (so aim to keep all or most of the architect’s work as you found it). However, tense changes / minor creative liberties are at your discretion!

• If your piece has been selected as an Architect or if you have been selected to later haunt a piece, yay, congrats! Please note that this does not guarantee publication until you are notified that the entire piece has been accepted for publication.

• If we select your piece for publication, we’ll notify both the Architect and the Haunter to get a thumbs up before publishing (this is especially important for Architects, so they can see what was done with their setting). We might also suggest some light edits.

• As always, we love nostalgia. Don’t be afraid to recreate your childhood home, and throw a possessed Nintendo in there.

DEADLINES AND DATES

Deadline for Architects: October 7th, midnight EDT

Deadline for Haunters: October 21st, midnight EDT

Publication date: October 31st (Halloween!)