NFB Partners with
Haunt Coffee, LLC, for a New Short Story Contest!
This contest is regional and is open to writers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Delaware, and Maryland. Winners of this contest will be published in an upcoming anthology to be released in fall 2026. Please see below for the prompt and rules for submission.
Haunt Coffee, LLC, is a paranormal-themed cafe and bookstore located in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania. They serve specialty coffee and spooky drinks as well as baked goods. They are the favorite coffee destination of many of the valley’s horror and paranormal authors. To find out more about Haunt Coffee, follow their Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Some places serve more than coffee.
A quiet café tucked down a dark and narrow side street. A late-night tea shop where the lights never seem to go out and the backroom is always reserved. A barista who can deliver a look into your future along with your drink order. Somewhere between the steam rising from a mug and the hush of whispered conversations, the ordinary world slips just a little… and something paranormal seeps in.
In these stories, the familiar comfort of a coffee shop (or its offerings) intersects with the paranormal. Your story might feature ghosts lingering over espresso, witches meeting over herbal blends, cryptids hiding in the corner booth, psychic visions in latte foam, or something stranger still.
Cozy, eerie, romantic, mysterious, humorous, or thrilling—any paranormal subgenre is welcome.
Rules
Deadline to submit: Monday, August 17, 2026
No prior publishing experience necessary. However, submit as close to ready-to-pub as possible. If chosen for publication, edits will be performed as needed, but please don’t submit your first draft.
Open to writers 18 and older located in the following states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Delaware, and Maryland.
Specs
Word Count: 3k to 8k
Target audience: age 18+
What we’re looking for: Ghost stories/hauntings; shapeshifter fiction; urban fantasy; paranormal romance; witchcraft/occult; paranormal mystery/cozy; supernatural thriller; portal fiction; psychic phenomenon; dark fantasy/gothic; monster, cryptid, or alien fiction.
Submission fee: $10 per story
You CAN submit more than one story, but only one may appear in the anthology.
All who submit will receive professional feedback. This may include line-level comments within the manuscript and/or written critique via email.
Stories written using AI or suspected of being written using AI will be rejected. Winning stories later found to be written by generative-AI will not be included in the published anthology or will be pulled from future printings of the anthology.
If chosen for publication, contributors will be asked to be an active participant in the book’s promotion via social media. Existing social media accounts should be public, or contributors should be willing to create a bookish page before publication to assist in getting the word out about our book! Preferred platform is Instagram. Assistance will be provided, if needed.
Why am I paying a fee?
This is a super-small press, and your fee will go toward the publication and marketing of these anthologies. To show my appreciation, you will receive professional feedback on your submission, even if you are not selected for the anthology.
Other FAQs (Updated 4/23/2026)