An Anthology of Literary Horror
Kept
Some things are kept out of love. Some are kept because letting go would cost too much.
The Contest
Tell us what's being kept, and who's doing the keeping. A secret held for forty years. A person locked away where no one will look. Someone kept alive past their time. Someone kept dead.
We love humans doing terrible things to other humans, but the strange is welcome too, as long as the horror lives in the holding on.
Guest judge
Andy Davidson
Andy Davidson is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun, The Boatman’s Daughter, and The Hollow Kind. His novels have been listed among NPR’s Best Books, the New York Public Library’s Best Adult Books of the Year, and Esquire’s Best Horror of the Year. His short stories have appeared online and in print journals, as well as in numerous award-winning anthologies. Born and raised in Arkansas, Andy makes his home in Georgia, where he teaches creative writing at Middle Georgia State University. He lives with his wife, Crystal, and a bunch of cats.
What We Want
The theme is Kept. Tell it from either side of the lock. The keeper, sure it’s all being done out of love, or the kept, learning what the keeper needs from them. Either way, we want to feel the rage, the fear, the shock, all the things that make us cringe.
We’re drawn to stories where the worst things happen between people. The collector and the thing he can’t let go of. The family that closes ranks around what it’s hiding. We want the dread of watching someone hold on too tight, and the kind of fear that makes a reader recognize themselves in the one doing the keeping.
Touchstones, for the kind of work we're looking for
- William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”
- Shirley Jackson We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- John Fowles The Collector
- Andy Davidson In the Valley of the Sun
Story Format
Please include a cover letter with a little about you and the story. We will be reading these stories blind.
Do not include any identifying information on the manuscript.
- 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
- 2,000–6,000 words
- Submitted as a .docx file
If your story includes sexual assault you must include it in the content warning or your story will be automatically rejected. Your story is not judged on this, but we have readers that read stories with SA and readers that don't. Thank you for your considerate warnings.
Guidelines
Compensation
First prize $500. Second prize $200. Every other story we select receives a $100 honorarium.
Every contributor receives one paperback copy and the ebook, plus 40% off any additional copies.
Winners will be announced June 1, 2027. All submitters will receive a response by that date.
How to Submit
We use Subfolio for all submissions. Submissions are now open until March 1, 2027.
Questions about submitting? Write to us at submissions@edgeandbusby.com.
If you email a submission it will not be read.