Little Key Press

Little Key Press

Publishing since 2019

About

Little Key Press is a PNW small press that publishes anthologies featuring established and emerging authors and the work of Elle Mitchell.Calls for future anthologies can be found here.

THE TEAM

Little Key Press can excitedly say that Laura K. Burge and Sarah Walker are now a part of the team and will be working on Clocks in 2026!

The Publisher

Elizabeth Mitchell

Elizabeth Mitchell is a disabled creative who’s lived many lives and goes by many names. Her work challenges, blends genres, explores haunted bodies, and delves into the human psyche. She’s an activist, a gamer with potato aim, and an avid reader. As a woman with several invisible illnesses, she enjoys living a semi-horizontal life with her husband and spoiled furbutts in the PNW. You can also find her writing under Elle and Buffy.

The Editors

Elizabeth Mitchell & Laura K. Burge

Laura K. Burge (she/her) is a fiction editor, writing coach, and writer. She spends her days helping authors find their ways through the weeds of the writing process - and specializes in working with and writing stories with (at least) a touch of the weird.When not immersed in stories, Laura can often be found wandering through a forest, ignoring perfectly good recipes while baking, or bowing to her cat’s every whim.Although Laura plays with stories all the time, and has been writing them since her timeline began, this is the first publication of her fiction. She is also working on a novel, which she loosely describes as fabulism in space.

behind-the-scenes

Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker is an artist, anthropologist, and writer of horror living in the Pacific Northwest. Her work appears in publications such as Audient Void, Lovecraft Ezine Press, Vastarien, and many more. She co-edited the Folk Horror anthology, A Walk in A Darker Wood with Gordon White, Phil Breach, and Duane Pesice, and A Walk in a City of Shadows: Tales of Urban Legendry, with Nora B. Peevy, Jill Hand, Gordon White, and Phil Breach.

Anthologies

Elizabeth / Elle Mitchell

Fiction

Non-Fiction

clocks

Taking submissions September 2025!

Claw Machine

When you hear of claw machines, what do you picture?In this anthology, claw machines aren’t just beacons for lost dollars and frustration, packed with cheap toys that rarely make it home with us. The claw machine is a game, a curse, a tool, even a drug-induced metaphor. It has omens of death, portals to other dimensions, plushies that aren't what they seem, eggs filled with wishful thinking, society's view on perfection, and so much more.Claw Machine is a collection of stories, with a special introduction, written by 18 established and emerging authors. Their unique speculative stories and dark fiction will grab and pull you in. Unlike the arcade game, you'll definitely walk away with something after reading these stories.

Stories by Angela Yuriko Smith, Angelique O'Rourke, Beth Cook, Curtis C. Chen, Elle Mitchell, Erik Grove, J.B. Kish, Katherine Quevedo, Laura Burge, Marianne Xenos, Mark Teppo, Pia Baur, Sarah Walker, Simone Cooper, Summer Olsson, Valerie Geary, Wes Mitchell, with an introduction by Will Errickson. | Edited by Elle Mitchell.MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Listen to the authors read their work here!

Submission call

June 2026 Anthology Theme:
CLOCKS

Submission period:
September 1–November 1, 2025 / closing when I reach 100 submissions
*One exception: there is no submission cap for Disabled writers. The deadline still applies.Genre
dark fiction, speculative fiction, near sci-fi, strange, wondrous, surprise me

What's up with that weird clockmaker down the street?
Has the clock been telling you secrets?
Is someone trapped in a clock?
Has the killer been the clock all along?I don't know, but you do.And I can't wait to read about it!

Information
—Word count: 3-5k
NOTE: It's fairly firm, but if you feel strongly that something fits, submit it. What's the worst that can happen?—I'm looking for 12 stories + 2 on a bubble as stretch goals (you'll know where you sit in this space)—You may submit up to two stories per author. They must be submitted in separate emails.—No previously published work.—The payment for each story will be $40 and a paperback contributor copy.NOTE: Like the previous Little Key Press anthology, Claw Machine, Clock will be Kickstarter funded.
—Should the Kickstarter not be successful, there is a royalty-share contingency in the contract.
—The stretch goal this time will be to add two more stories by two more authors, as I really want to uplift as many authors as I can!
The past Kickstarter for reference.—For transparency's sake, here is how I will be choosing the stories.
—The final decisions will be made no later than January 2026.

What I want + What I don't

Vibe check
—Anthologies will always be dark and speculative fiction. But dark does not mean only murder or mystery. Little darknesses hit our every day life, and those fit. That means literary fiction may find a home here along side something labeled paranormal.
—The stories can be unsettling or melancholy or beautiful or weird or filled with saudades.
—Oh, how I love an under repped character with complexity. But do your homework, your research, and search your soul before you send me your story. I will never say yes to tokens or set dressings.
—I like unlikable characters, but they need to make sense and draw me in with something other than disgust. I do not hate read.
—Don't give me manic pixie dream girls, give me pixie dreams girls who are manic. Make them three-dimensional.
—Western story structure is not the only one. You will grab my attention if you bring me something that breaks the mold.
—I'm here for unique style IF it makes sense, IF it has a purpose.
—Fuck me up, break my heart, piss me off, make me laugh, give me an emotion, and I'm more likely to give it a second read. Or maybe reach out for a future project if I love it enough but don't have the space.
*NOTE: Every dark thing needs a purpose, just like everything else on the page. Shock does not necessarily make a story sticky, but good, thoughtful moments that scare and hurt and burn and ache will.
—No high fantasy/medieval fantasy.
—No sci fi that has gone fully bee-boop or blee-blorp.
—Nothing that needs a dictionary to enjoy (that doesn't mean I don't love a good dramatic word we need to lookup, just don't beat me over the head with it).
—No erotica or extreme horror.
—Also hard pass to dubious consent, rape, sexual assault, violence towards women, bully romance, exploitation of children, visceral animal deaths or murders, or unexamined behaviors such as (but not limited to) racism, homophobia, ableism, and transphobia.—I don't love that I have to say it, but absolutely no AI stories. Human brain or bust.

Loves
—Originality
—Unusual story structure (that has a reason)
—Underrepresented characters being used in new ways
—The unexpected
—Feeling Big Things

Pet peeves
These are not hard and fast rules across the board. But they hold true more often than not.
NOTE: Having these things in your story does not mean I won't choose it. Don't self-reject—Two sentences in one without a comma.
—An aversion to the Oxford comma.
—Anything that doesn't serve the story to fit in a box.

Guidelines

How to submitIt's a three-step process that is meant to give everyone a fair shake, so please read carefully.Step 1: Write story.Make sure your story is done, polished, ready. Though it will go through a round of edits as part of the acceptance process, that is not meant to help you with story or flow. I'm looking for something ready for line edits.Step 2: Format story.* The Shunn Modern MS format.
* One exception: no identifying information should be in the document. This means your document will not start with your name and address, and it will not have your last name in the page heading.—The first read is blind. The second will be fully informed. Preference will be going to women and marginalized writers. For more information on the selection process, read this.Step 3: Prepare submission.*Title your file story title_theme (note: your name is not here, this is meant to match the email subject)
*Email your story to [email protected]
—Subject line: Story title—Submission for Current Theme
—Body of your email: address the press, have your bio, and nothing else. No information about the story, no context, no audience information or genre.
—Attach your story to the email in either .docx or .docBonus step
Add yourself to the LKP Discord server!

NOTE: I will be sending form rejections. This whole process takes a lot out of me, and that's extra energy I don't have to give. I hate that, but I'm a Disabled woman. These are passion projects—thus the very long submission windows and lead times to everything; it's as much for me as for you.
One should not kill themselves doing something they enjoy,

Contract

I believe in transparency. If you want to see what the contract says, find it here.

Contract

Read all of this, of course. But the most pertinent/perhaps different than other contracts is bolded.
If you have need for verbiage to change or are uncomfortable with someone but still get accepted, please contact me and we can discuss.

This contract (hereinafter, the “AGREEMENT”) is made between Elizabeth Mitchell of Little Key Press (hereinafter, the “PUBLISHER”) and _______________________ (hereinafter,the “AUTHOR”), in regards to the story _______________________ (hereinafter, the “STORY”) being published in Clocks (hereinafter, the “ANTHOLOGY”). In consideration of mutual promises and forbearances, the parties agree as follows:1. Grants of Rights.
(a). The AUTHOR retains all rights to the STORY not specified here.
(b). The AUTHOR grants the PUBLISHER permission to include STORY in the ANTHOLOGY, to be printed, published, distributed, and sold in print and electronic editions.
(c). The PUBLISHER will use, sell, or distribute the STORY only in the ANTHOLOGY in accordant to the AGREEMENT.
(d). The AUTHOR agrees to not publish or permit others to publish the STORY in any form prior to the ANTHOLOGY publication and for one (1) month after the publication of the ANTHOLOGY, without prior written permission of the PUBLISHER. If the STORY is selected for a “best of” publication, the PUBLISHER agrees to waive this consideration, if the AUTHOR provides prior written notice of the selection.
(e). The AUTHOR grants the PUBLISHER permission to continue to sell the ANTHOLOGY after the period of exclusivity has ended with no further compensation beyond what’s stated in the AGREEMENT.2. Authors’ Warranties and Indemnities.
(a). The AUTHOR represents and warrants that they are the sole AUTHOR of the STORY, and that no one has previously reserved the rights granted in this AGREEMENT. The AUTHOR also represents that, the STORY does not contain any libelous material, is not in violation of any rights of privacy or any other rights of third persons, does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights, was not generated in part or in full by AI, and has not been published before in any form, whether paid or unpaid, in print, electronic, or other formats not specifically enumerated here.
(b). The AUTHOR agrees to hold the PUBLISHER harmless against any claims, demands, or recovery finally sustained, by reason of any violation of copyright or other property or personal right pertaining to the representations above, plagiarism, libel, and/or invasion of privacy.3. Payments and Selling.
(a). If the Kickstarter is successful, the AUTHOR will be paid a flat fee of $40 US dollars for the STORY. If the Kickstarter is not successful, the AUTHOR will be paid through royalties of the book as follows: a 40/60 split of royalties; 40 for the PUBLISHER and 60 between all authors in the ANTHOLOGY, for a five-year period.
(i). If the Kickstarter hits its second stretch goal, the AUTHOR will be paid an additional $10 for the STORY.
(b). The AUTHOR will receive a paperback contributor copy of the ANTHOLOGY no matter the success of the Kickstarter.
(c). The AUTHOR will be able to buy paperback editions of the ANTHOLOGY at cost, including taxes and shipping, plus $3 per order, to sell on their own, with the understanding they will not undercut the PUBLISHER or fellow authors, should they be selling in the same place.
(i). The AUTHOR may buy copies of the ANTHOLOGY at any time, with the understanding the PUBLISHER requires the funds before making the purchase.
(ii). To make the purchase, visit the #buy-copies section in the Discord and follow the instructions listed in the pinned post.4. Requirements.
(a). As part of the acceptance into ANTHOLOGY, the AUTHOR must post on social media site or in their newsletter at least one time about the Kickstarter.
(b). The AUTHOR must join the Little Key Press Discord to keep up with ANTHOLOGY news or check the Little Key Press author website frequently.
(c). The AUTHOR will to abide by all deadlines.5. Waiver.
(a). Any controversy or claim arising out of this AGREEMENT or breach of said AGREEMENT may be settled between parties, should that be possible. If not, it will be settled with arbitration, and judgment may be entered in the highest court of the forum, State or Federal, having jurisdiction. Such arbitration shall be held in the state of Washington, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
(b). A waiver of any breach of this agreement or of any of the terms or conditions by either party thereto, shall not be deemed a waiver of any repetition of such breach or in any way affect any other terms or conditions hereof; no waiver shall be valid or binding unless it shall be in writing, and signed by the parties.
(c). Regardless of the place of its physical execution, this contract shall be interpreted under the laws of the State of Washington and of the United States of America.
By signing this contract, the PUBLISHER and the AUTHOR acknowledge that each party has read and understood this contract prior to execution.

How The Sausage Is Made

1. I will download the stories, without reading the bios.2. If a story speaks to me, it goes into a first round pile. If it doesn't, it's a no.3. Slush readers will also read the stories and give me their opinions.4. Once we've all gone through the submissions, I will read the bios of the first rounded stories.—Though I hope to have a mix of emerging and established authors, I want to uplift unrepresented authors of all types first and foremost.*Authors under the age of 18 will need their parents to co-sign their contracts.—Not everyone has access to college, nor can they afford to apply to writing contests, and subsequently win awards. Not everyone has the energy to write so prolifically they have dozens of published works. Not everyone has the mental stamina for rejection after rejection, so they submit less often. I understand. But none of that diminishes talent. So please, if you like what you've written, send it. Don't self-reject.5. I will read the first rounded stories once more and make a cut.—Depending on how many that is, I may need to do another round of cuts. Then perhaps another and another, until I get to a total of 12 stories + 2 on a bubble as stretch goal stories.6. I will read the final stories as a collection to make sure they flow nicely. If I have to swap something for another from a previous round, I will. It's not just one story that's important in an anthology, after all.—Transparency in these things is so important. I don't want anyone thinking that a rejection means their story is bad or trash or unworthy. It means that it didn't speak to me or fit with this collection. Nothing more.7. I'll send out acceptances and rejections. The rejections will be one form letter, because I am a fatigued person. Please do not read into the verbiage. It will not tell you whether I think your writing or story was better or worse than your peers. If you think you have a story for a future anthology, submit it! I don't want you to take a rejection letter to mean you are more or less likely to be involved in a future project.The two stories on the bubble will be made aware, so they can decide if they'd like to stay there or continue submitting elsewhere.8. Along with acceptances, I'll send out a contract.9. Once the contract is signed, I'll edit the story.10. I'll send the edited story out, with a deadline to get the edits back to me. The deadline is a little over a week.11. I take the finalized stories and put them into a collection.12. Meanwhile, I put up a Kickstarter for the anthology.—If the Kickstarter is unsuccessful, which is highly unlikely, there is a royalty contingency. That is addressed in the contract.13. After the Kickstarter dust settles, I pay you.14. I publish the book.15. We have at least one online event.16. You go forth and share with the world, resubmit your story elsewhere if you'd like, get to know other authors on the LKP Discord, and write your hearts out.17. The process begins again. And yes, you can submit again to any and all anthologies.

Authors

Little Key Press is pleased to have published so many talented voices!

Angela Yuriko Smith, president of the HWA and publisher of Space and Time magazine, is the proud recipient of multiple awards, including two Bram Stokers. As a Publishing Coach, she helps writers search less and submit more with her weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.Angelique O'Rourke is a creative professional based in Portland, OR. A lifelong Oregonian, she is a writer, actor, model, storyteller and musician. Her experience is wide-ranging, including musical theater, runway, print, film, and television.Beth Cook is a lifelong writing student, too curious to stick to any one medium, who delights in children’s novels, comics, and screenwriting. As a staff writer for Muppet fan site ToughPigs.com, she is the co-host, producer, and editor of the podcast “Fraggle Talk: Classic.” She writes in order to scream into the Void (existential), usually while trapped under a Void (feline).Curtis C. Chen — Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen (陳致宇) now writes stories near Portland, Oregon. He's the award-winning author of the bestselling KANGAROO series of funny science fiction spy thrillers and has written for the Realm original podcasts Echo Park, Ninth Step Murders, and Machina. Curtis' shorter works have appeared in Playboy Magazine; the ENNIE Award-winning Kobold Guide to Roleplaying; The Year's Best Fantasy, Volume 2; Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey; and elsewhere. His homebrew cat feeding robot was displayed in the "Worlds Beyond Here" exhibit at Seattle's Wing Luke Museum. Visit him online: https://CurtisCChen.comElizabeth Mitchell is a disabled creative who's lived many lives and goes by many names. Her work challenges, blends genres, explores haunted bodies, and delves into the human psyche. She's an activist, a gamer with potato aim, and an avid reader. As a woman with several invisible illnesses, she enjoys living a semi-horizontal life with her husband and spoiled furbutts in the PNW. You can also find her writing under Elle and Buffy. justanotherelizabeth.comErik Grove is a writer, long distance runner, workshop runner, writing teacher, and small to medium sized dog wrangler living and doing things in Portland, OR. You can find his short fiction in places like ESCAPE POD and NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE and the BUCKMAN JOURNAL. Follow him on Bluesky, https://bsky.app/profile/erikgrove.com, or check out his website www.erikgrove.com for dog glamour shots and sundry musings.J.B. Kish is a weird fiction and horror author that helps emerging writers design a strategy to reach their goals. He has been writing fiction for the last fifteen years. In that time, he has published short stories in publications like Cosmic Horror Monthly, Unsettling Reads, and Metaphorosis Magazine.  His author author milestone program has been developed based on eight years of helping clients roadmap and achieve their goals. When he’s not writing, he facilitates workshops for people looking to improve their public speaking and presentation skills.Katherine Quevedo was born and raised near Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Rhysling Award, and her short stories and poetry have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Asimov’s, Fireside Magazine, and elsewhere. Her debut fantasy novella, Thrice Petrified, is forthcoming from Of Metal and Magic Publishing.Laura K. Burge (she/her) is a fiction editor, writing coach, and writer. She spends her days helping authors find their ways through the weeds of the writing process - and specializes in working with and writing stories with (at least) a touch of the weird.When not immersed in stories, Laura can often be found wandering through a forest, ignoring perfectly good recipes while baking, or bowing to her cat’s every whim.Although Laura plays with stories all the time, and has been writing them since her timeline began, this is the first publication of her fiction. She is also working on a novel, which she loosely describes as fabulism in space.Marianne Xenos is a writer and artist living in western Massachusetts. As a member of a small cooperative art gallery in Amherst, she exhibits photography and hand-cut collages. Stories have been a central part of her visual art for decades, but she recently shifted focus to the written stories themselves. Her stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies including The Future Fire, The Amphibian, Orion's Belt, and the game anthology, Winding Paths. Marianne was a first-prize winner of the Writers of the Future contest, and the winning story was published in the Volume 39 anthology. She is currently at work on a novel set in 1983 in Boston's queer community.Mark Teppo spends most of his time in several different places in the Pacific Northwest. He’s written more novels than he has fingers and toes (including the extra ones). When he’s not writing, he’s publishing books as Underland Press. His favorite tarot card is the Moon.Pia Jee-Hae Baur is a writer born to German and Korean parents and raised in the United States. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana in Missoula. She lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.Sarah Walker is an artist, anthropologist, and writer of horror living in the Pacific Northwest. Her work appears in publications such as Audient Void, Lovecraft Ezine Press, Vastarien, and many more. She co-edited the Folk Horror anthology, A Walk in A Darker Wood with Gordon White, Phil Breach, and Duane Pesice, and A Walk in a City of Shadows: Tales of Urban Legendry, with Nora B. Peevy, Jill Hand, Gordon White, and Phil Breach.Simone Cooper is a writer, gamer, dog trainer, bird watcher, and home chef in Portland, Oregon. She grew up on a diet of 1970’s horror comics, Creature Features, and Speed Racer cartoons, and will still recklessly devour anything horror, science-fiction, or fantasy.Summer Olsson writes stories that explore female perspectives and often play on the border between reality and the supernatural. She is always interested in memory, ghosts, loneliness, and everyday magic. Her work has been published in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, and others. Two of her stories are in the anthology Art Born Words, due Spring 2025 from Demagogue Press. Besides being a writer, she works in theater and stop motion animation. She was a Second Assistant Director on the film Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio. She grew up in New Mexico and lives in Oregon.Valerie Geary is the author of the Brett Buchanan Mystery Series in addition to Everything We Lost and Crooked River, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her short stories have been published in The Rumpus, Litro, Boston Literary Magazine, the Art Born Words anthology, and more. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. She has never tried to beat a claw machine.Wes Mitchell has been cultivating his weird, odd, and wallflower side since childhood, running around his backyard woods in fantastical dreams. He enjoys exploring compelling narratives and personalities in different formats, exploring what life is and means for us all. You can find him whipping up something tasty, prepping for another meal in the garden, finding ways to game that never quite make complete sense, or enjoying a cup of tea with his lovely wife and two cats.Will Errickson Born in southern New Jersey, Will Errickson has been a fan of horror entertainment his entire life. As a teenager during the great 1980s paperback horror boom, Will discovered the writing of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, and many others. In college he worked in various bookstores which strengthened his love of vintage paperbacks and deepened his appreciation for horror.In early 2010, he began the blog Too Much Horror Fiction, devoted to collecting and reviewing the best—and worst—in paperback horror from the 1960s through the 1990s, as well as celebrating its resplendent cover art. With bestselling horror novelist Grady Hendrix in 2017, Will co-wrote PAPERBACKS FROM HELL: THE TWISTED HISTORY OF 1970s & 1980s HORROR FICTION, which went on to win the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.Today Will lives in Portland, OR, with his wife Ashley, and his ever-growing library of horror fiction paperbacks…

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Contact

For rights inquiries, email littlekeypress (at) gmail (dot) com.Little Key Press authors welcome opportunities to meet with book clubs or speak with organizations about their work—published here or otherwise. Please don't hesitate to reach out via the author’s website or email, available here.