Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments

Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments: Bewitching Stories of "Hysterical" Women

Set for release in September 2026, Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments: Bewitching Stories of "Hysterical" Women is an anthology dedicated to witchy love stories coedited by M.B. Thurman, author of The Summoned Series, and Contrarian Publishing’s Jamie Ryu.

Women have historically been labelled hysterical. Crazy. Witches. But despite the trials, there is still nothing quite like the gut-wrenching pains and inimitable joys of being a woman.

As women across the world continue to fight for their basic rights, we want to celebrate the love, the rage, and the empowerment that comes from being a woman. More than ever, uplifting stories of feminine power is of the utmost importance.

As a result, Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments will, in part, be a fundraiser for the Joyful Heart Foundation—a non-profit organization that supports victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse—as well as Planned Parenthood—a non-profit that provides sexual health care in the United States and globally—after publication.

We're excited to be launching our Kickstarter with 3 amazing authors! Authors Dawn Chen, Lily Meade, and M.B. Thurman will have brand new short stories featured in Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments!

Curses, Charms & Other Enchantments will be released in paperback and ebook format on September 22, 2026.

For those interested, Contrarian Publishing is open to submissions—both agented and unagented—from all writers from now until December 31, 2025. Writers from all backgrounds are heartily encouraged to submit. We're looking for stories of feminine love, rage, and empowerment.

We are looking for 9 original, previously unpublished short-form fictional works between 3,000 and 10,000 words for consideration in the anthology. If your submission is a bit under or a bit over the word count, please still submit! The word count is a guideline, not a requirement. We will also consider illustrated story submissions as as long as they are not in color.

If our crowdfunding goals are met, we may consider publishing additional stories in the anthology as well!

We are compensating selected authors from the open submission pool $50 - $100 depending on the word count of the submission. There is also opportunity for additional compensation for the work down the line!

Submit now!

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If you're comfortable disclosing, please tell us if you share identities with any of the characters in your submission. We will not share this information publicly without consent.

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By checking this box, you confirm that you are submitting original work that has not been previously published. Contrarian Publishing affirms that submissions will not be shared or utilized for any purpose other than to review for consideration for publication in Curses, Charms & OTher Enchantments without consent from the author.

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