Literary horror. Sweetness and rot.

Honeythief is the sister imprint of Edge & Busby Press, publishing literary horror where the strange is real and the monsters are still human. Supernatural, paranormal, uncanny, folk, gothic. We're not looking for the strange as spectacle; we're looking for what it reveals in people. Everything we take holds to the Edge & Busby standard: character-driven, built at the sentence level. The honey draws you in… You know the rest.

Open Submissions

We're reading novels, novellas, and short story collections.

What We Want

We're drawn to books where the strange is real and the monsters are still human. Houses with long memories. The dead with unfinished business. Old rites still practiced at the edge of town. Possession as a family matter. Folk horror where the village is the threat and the god is only the excuse. We want the impossible written with restraint and precision, and the kind of fear that comes from watching people meet something they can't explain away.

Touchstones, for the kind of work we read in

Shirley Jackson The Haunting of Hill House
Andy Davidson The Boatman's Daughter
Silvia Moreno-Garcia Mexican Gothic
Paul Tremblay A Head Full of Ghosts
Toni Morrison Beloved

What We Don't Want

If the strange could be cut and the story would survive, it isn't the right fit. We're not the home for monster-as-spectacle, splatter, hard science fiction, epic or secondary-world fantasy, urban fantasy adventure, or romance. The supernatural shouldn't be set dressing for an action plot; it should be the thing your characters can't live around.

We are currently not accepting poetry, nonfiction, screenplays, YA, or anthologies.

Guidelines

Novels and novellas20,000 to 120,000 words

Story collections45,000 to 90,000 words total

What to sendThe complete manuscript

Submission feeFree

Simultaneous submissionsYes. If your manuscript is accepted elsewhere, withdraw it through Subfolio.

Multiple submissionsOne manuscript at a time. If we pass, you're welcome to send something else.

Previously published workOriginal, unpublished manuscripts only. Stories in a collection that first appeared in journals are fine. Note them in your cover letter.

Response timePlease allow 3–4 months. We respond to every submission.

Formatting

12pt Times New Roman
Double-spaced throughout
First line of each paragraph indented
Story title and page number in the top-right header of every page
Submitted as a .docx file
A brief cover letter in the form field that introduces you and your book

If your manuscript includes sexual assault you must include it in the content warning or it will be automatically rejected. Your manuscript is not judged on this, but we have readers that read work with SA and readers that don't. Thank you for your considerate warnings.

How to Submit

Submissions are handled through Subfolio. Subfolio offers an optional tip at checkout if you'd like to support the press. Tips are not considered in editorial decisions.

We pay advances and royalties on every book we acquire.

Questions about your submission can go to submissions@honeythiefbooks.com.

If you email a submission it will not be read.

Submit your manuscript