Dark Moments

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Theme: September 2026 - Awful Births

Give us stories where beginnings are twisted, unnatural, or horrifying—children born with dark secrets, creatures emerging where life shouldn’t, or rebirths that shatter reality. 

Explore pregnancies steeped in dread, deliveries cursed or possessed, and awakenings that bring terror instead of hope. Show us the grotesque, the uncanny, and the painfully unexpected, where the first cries are screams, and the world itself recoils. 

We want narratives that turn the miracle of life into a nightmare, haunting both body and mind.

This theme will be open for submissions from 1st SEPTEMBER 2026 and will close midnight 30th SEPTEMBER 2026 (last place on Earth). Submissions received outside of this timeframe will not be read.

You must include the theme in your email subject (as shown above). Reading will start once the submission period has closed.

The BEST 12 drabbles will be chosen for publication in OCTOBER 2026.

• Word count : EXACTLY 100 words, excluding title and pen name
• Author eligibility : Open to all.
• Reprints : Not allowed
• Simultaneous Submissions : Not allowed. Please do not submit your story to other publishers while it's under our consideration. As a small team, we focus our efforts on pieces with a genuine chance of publication, and we appreciate your respect for our time and process.
• Multiple Submissions : One per pen name, per theme. If you send more than one, we will reject them all, unread.
• Publication : Online in Dark Moments.  May be included in a single anthology in print and digital formats at a later date (but within one year of initial publication)
• Author compensation : 0.04 USD per word via PayPal

Submit to : darkmoments@BlackHarePress.com

Don't forget to check out our Submission Guidelines.