Hatching Season is a horror anthology exploring the terror of infestation — the creeping moment when something unwanted begins to spread.
Eggs beneath the skin. Parasites in the bloodstream. Swarms in the walls. Fungal tendrils in the lungs. Creatures breeding in forgotten spaces. A mind slowly taken over.
For this anthology, we’re looking for stories that capture that unsettling sense of invasion, multiplication and loss of control.
Stories that explore infestation in any form, including but not limited to:
Original ideas are strongly encouraged. If it crawls, breeds, spreads or consumes, it may belong here.
To help shape the anthology, please avoid:
extreme sexual content
splatterpunk without story substance
fan fiction
AI-generated stories
Dark, disturbing and strange is welcome. Gratuitous shock for its own sake is less likely to be accepted.
Word Count: 2,500 – 5,000 words
Submission Deadline: 28 June, 2026
Reimbursement: This is a charity anthology raising funds for Mind.
All profits from the book will be donated to Mind, which provides vital support for people experiencing mental health challenges.
Because this is a charity project:
This project — including editorial work — is entirely volunteer-based to maximise the donation to charity. Find out more further down the page.
Please follow the formatting guidelines carefully.
Should your entry not adhere to the guidelines, your story will be automatically rejected.
Do not include your name or any identifying information in the document. Submissions will be read blind to ensure fairness.
You will be able to include your name and contact details in the submission form.
Ready to submit your story? Just complete the form and we’ll be in touch when we’ve made our selection.
The story behind the anthology.
I’ve suffered from two life-changing mental health breakdowns in my life. One a ten-minute catatonic episode, frozen in the dark. Another a phantom heart attack that turned out to be symptoms of extreme anxiety.
I consider myself lucky. Over the years I have benefited from a supportive network of family and friends, and I’ve worked with three amazing therapists on separate occasions.
Along my own mental health journey, writing has been a core part of my recovery. It has provided a mental sanctuary when things were at their toughest, and it has offered catharsis through creation during some of the hardest moments of my life. It has helped me process trauma, find hope, and communicate my story to readers around the world.
Horror has always been a genre that allows us to explore fear safely. It gives us space to confront the things that haunt us, whether those monsters are external or internal. For many readers and writers, horror is more than entertainment — it’s a way of understanding the darker corners of the human experience.
With Hatching Season, I want to bring that spirit of the horror community together to support a cause that truly matters.
All profits from this anthology will be donated to Mind, a charity dedicated to providing advice, support and advocacy for people experiencing mental health challenges.
I am not taking a penny from this project. I have kept production costs to an absolute minimum so that as much money as possible can go directly to the charity. I have already donated many hours to bringing this anthology together, and by the time it is published, I will have donated many more.
But this project is not about me.
It’s about the power of a community of writers and readers coming together to create something meaningful.
Every story submitted, every book sold and every reader who picks up this anthology will be helping support a cause that saves lives and gives people hope when they need it most.
That is something special. And for that, and for every contribution, share, and sale, I will be incredibly grateful.
— Daniel Willcocks
DRB Founder and Anthology Editor
Hatching Season builds on previous horror anthologies published by Devil’s Rock. If you’d like to see the kind of stories we publish, you can explore some of our earlier projects below.
Thank you for your interest in submitting to Devil’s Rock Publishing. We are currently closed for new submissions, however please feel free to sign up to our mailing list to get priority alerts on upcoming submissions for novels, novellas, and anthologies.