Shtriga Books

Open Call for Short Stories: Slavic Supernatural, Volume 2

In the two years since our book Slavic Supernatural: An Anthology of Slavic-Inspired Speculative Fiction has been out, we got a lot of questions whether we’ll do volume 2 and when it might happen. And now we’ve decided that it’s time to do exactly that!

We are looking for original, previously unpublished short stories of Slavic fantasy and horror. Guidelines:

Length: from 1500 to 7500 words
Genre: fantasy and horror
Theme: Slavic folklore and mythology
Payment: $35 and a paperback copy of a book
Deadline: February 28th, 2026 (whenever and wherever in the world you are)
Translations & reprints: if you have a story published in your (non-English) language that you feel would be perfect for our anthology, and you have the rights to the English translation, you can submit the translated version to this call, but please note in your submission the title of the original publication, the language the story was initially written in, and the name of the translator. If the story has already been published in English, please do not submit it since we don’t accept reprints.
Formatting: standard manuscript format for short stories
How to submit: via e-mail shtrigabooks@gmail.com, with the subject: Open call for Slavic Supernatural 2
We do accept simultaneous submissions (if you’re sending the same story to us and to another call), but please let us know about it in your initial e-mail, and inform us if your work has been accepted elsewhere as soon as it happens so we can remove it from consideration. We don’t accept multiple submissions; only one story, please!

We don’t accept work created or assisted by the use of generative AI.

Expected publication date is September 2026!
Please note that Slavic Supernatural is a Slavic fantasy anthology, which means that horror also needs to be fantastical/supernatural/mythological. Genre mixes are welcome, for example, scifi horror or scifi fantasy. The main deal is that it has to be inspired by Slavic folklore and mythology, be it in the use of magical creatures, pagan gods, or rituals and traditions from Slavic cultures. From popular stuff like Baba Yaga to lesser known traditions, folk tales, or mythical creatures, we’re excited to see what you come up with!

Learn more about volume 1: Slavic Supernatural: An Anthology of Slavic-Inspired Speculative Fiction.

Let’s Get the Witch on!

The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje by Lea Katarina Gobec has hit the shelves!

This eco horror double feature extravaganza is filled with an eerie atmosphere, melancholy, a creeping sense of dread, unlimitless sadness, and insects. So, so many insects. Especially spongy moths from the main novella, who also decorate the beautiful cover, illustrated by Antonio Filipović Athan.

You can get it in both ebook and paperback, just follow this link to your preferred store.

Get The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje

Included in this edition is The Secret of Mrtvi Kal, a novelette about the price of artistry, adoration, and annihilation. Both stories show us the beauty in decay and death, and are marked with reverence for nature and its transformative force, reminding us how insignificant humans are.

Meet Lea!

Lea Katarina Gobec is a Croatian author with a degree in urban forestry who fuels her writing by a healthy dose of her favorite professional deformation—climate anxiety. Most of her work is based around horror, particularly eco horror, but she also likes to dabble in other genres.

Her short stories are featured in several issues of the speculative fiction magazine Morina kutija, FantaSTikon’s short story collection A možda je u šumi, and in the Posljednja kuća u Šenoinoj ulici anthology published by Shtriga. The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje is her debut novella.

Aside from writing, she likes to practice a lot of other creative hobbies, like drawing and sewing. She also helps out as an editor in the aforementioned Morina kutija, an online speculative fiction magazine, with which she travels to local conventions and holds various writing- and reading-related programs (i.e. designated yapping sessions).

She posts on Instagram under @carica__ficus, Tumblr under @carica-ficus, and on Substack at caricaficus.substack.com.

Praise for The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje

“I love stories about witches, things that lurk in the dark, in the woods, creepy critters… this book ticks all the boxes.”
@contessa_tamara

“Lea beautifully lures us into the story and creates the atmosphere in a way it feels like you’re really there. I don’t have a fear of bugs, but after reading this I had a feeling of something crawling all over me.”
@svemir_knjiga

“You can feel the author’s love and respect toward nature as something beyond us as humans, something holy.”
@manicteadrinker

“Lea’s words have raised the feelings of dread and repulsion in such a beautiful way that rarely any book had before, and despite loving all manner of crawly critters, even I would sometimes scratch an imaginary itch…”
@koffeinvergiftung

Read today!

A Truly Golden Cover Reveal

It’s here—the creepy cover we’ve been sitting on for longer than we’d like to admit!

Enjoy the cover of our upcoming eco-horror novella (double feature) The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje, written by Lea Katarina Gobec, lovingly illustrated by Antonio Filipović – Athan!

Are you afraid of bugs? Even when they’re as cure (and truly, truly fuzzy) like the spongy moths featured both on the cover and in the novella (extensively)? We’re not—except in eco horror stories like this one.

The book, which features a special addition with the story The Secret of Mrtvi Kal, comes out September 16th, 2025! While waiting you can:

Read on for the blurb…

“You know your grandfather was the Pannonian Witch, right?”

Stuck making cheap enchantments for her fellow villagers at the edge of the swamp and weekly card games at the local café, Gordana has one final go at changing her fate at the end of her long and miserable life.

“I hope he told you that much.”

The newcomer Monika, a city woman down on her luck, confronted with a threatening inheritance hidden deep in the entangled roots of the old oaks, might be Gordana’s last chance of turning her life around—unless the forest decides against it.

“And I hope he warned you I’m nothing like him.”

At the crossroads of wits and bad choices, nature at its best and at its deadliest, the backdrop of a secluded nature park plays out its own dark role in author Lea Katarina Gobec’s debut eco horror novella The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje.

Enjoy this perilous trip into hidden parts of modern-day Europe with a special double feature! Included in this edition is The Secret of Mrtvi Kal, a short story about the price of artistry, adoration, and annihilation.

Shtriga Wins BOLD!

Last week our co-founder Vesna had the privilege of attending the first ever Queer Beez (business & entrepreneurship) conference in Zagreb, Croatia, where 15 nominees pitched their businesses to the jury.

And we’re extremely proud to say that Shtriga won in the BOLD category!

By telling the story of Shtriga Books & Edits, but also the stories of our writers and artists, we’ve been recognized as a leader in queer-owned business & culture in Croatia, with our continuous support to writers and artists in Croatia and beyond, and our relentless pursuit of publishing more Slavic, and queer, speculative fiction worldwide.

The honor was immense and we can’t wait to share more of our authors’ stories with you!

Thank you to the Queer Beez awards organizers and members of the jury, and a huge welcome to everyone who might’ve found out about us through their work or the recent interview (in Croatian) we’ve been featured in at the Vox Feminae portal, here.

Meeting the other contestants and conference attendees was such a pleasure, and we can’t wait to learn more about where the Beez are taking us next.

Let’s Slay the Night Away With the New Shtriga Release!

Join us in celebration because our first book of 2025 is now hitting the shelves! Today is the pub day of Petra Pine’s sapphic horror comedy novella A Night to Slay For and we are ready to party hard, and slay harder.

What would you do if your perfect holiday plans for drinking your brains out while in pajamas with your closest friends in the world get crashed when strangers show up, who have apparently booked the same rental house for the same time period? Double-booking is stresfull enough, but even more so for the group of young queer women in the middle of the Croatian nowhere.

And the snow outsides piles higher and higer…

Or, in the words of Lea Katarina Gobec, the author of The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje, this novela is:

…a cocktail of sexual frustration, drug-induced anxiety, and uninvited strangers that is sure to make you blackout drunk on panic and uncertainty!

And you can get it now in both ebook and paperback! Add it on Goodreads and Storygraph.

As usual, big thanks to Antonio Filipović Athan for the amazing cover.

While you’re reading under your blanket, cozy with your fave warm drink, you can listen to this same playlist the girls are listening to while partying hard in the isolated snowed-in cabin, unaware that this New Year Eve’s party will going to be one they will never forget.

A Cover to Slay For!

Are we ready to party?

Our upcoming sapphic horror novella is ready to fill all your snowed-in dreams with some good old slashery feels! This remote-location, new adult horror marks the debut release of our new author, Petra Pine, a writer from Zagreb, Croatia.

Petra writes everything from speculative fiction to romantic comedies but her most beloved genre is horror, especially a mix of slashers and dark comedy focused on queer experience. She also likes to watch cringe horror movies, make overly hard quizzes for Croatian fandom conventions, embroider on everything she can get her hands on and read dark academia books. You can find her on IG or Bluesky at @obsessedmuch24 where she talks about books, writing and everything fandom related.

And now the cover—one more success from our continuous collab with the ingenious illustrator Antonio Filipović – Athan —which portrays our brief well: pink, pink, PINK!

A close-up, cropped night-time illustration of a young woman with bi-colored hair and a loose white shirt with the title "A Night to Slay For" written across it in bright, powerful pink, with the author name Petra Pine underneath it in white.

If you’re ready to take a trip with us to the isolated, snow-covered forest in Lika, Croatia, in our main characters’ small red Clio, you’re gonna have to wait juuuust a little while longer—the novella releases this February 27th!

Pre-order the ebook on Amazon, Kobo and everywhere else and don’t forget to add it to your StoryGraph and Goodreads TBR. Paperback info coming soon.

Get me in that car!

Read on for the blurb!

New Year’s bucket list: party hard, slay harder!

The luxurious, surprisingly affordable party cabin in the isolated, scenic Croatian countryside was all Irma and her friends had hoped for—jacuzzi and no close neighbors included. The recent grads have packed their car chock-full of good music, better booze, and plenty of brownies to guarantee a New Year’s to remember.

The arrival of a second car packed with girls ready to prove their own claim on the cabin seems like a recipe for disaster—until they realize the other group is as hyped-up for New Year’s as they are, upping Irma’s chances of getting her midnight kiss. For once in her chronically-single life, everything seems to be going well… until the snow outside starts piling up through the night, and her friends’ bodies soon follow suit.

In the blink of an eye, Irma’s New Year’s dream turns into a New Year’s nightmare. Will she live to see another (new) year?

Preorder now!

Best Indie Cover Award

We’re excited to share the news that the cover of our Slavic fantasy novel A River in the Dark, written by Igor Rendić, won Best Indie Cover in the science fiction & fantasy category in the Kobo Writing Life Indie Cover Contest 2024! This gorgeous cover is the work of the talented Korin(a) Hunjak, the illustrator, comic books artist and graphic designer who has also designed the covers for the rest of this urban fantasy trilogy.

We’re eternally grateful to everyone who voted for this cover! Thank you for supporting the hard work of illustrators and small publishers.

Korin(a) Hunjak has received several awards for their artistic work in illustration, comics and beyond, like notable national awards SFERA and Artefakt for best speculative fiction, and their works have been exhibited in notable group domestic and international art exhibitions. Their short comics have been collected and published in their solo comic anthology ’18-’22 Brodski dnevnik Korine Hunjak (2023), many of which have also been published in numerous domestic and foreign comic publications. They have illustrated various children’s books and book covers and have contributed with their illustrations and design to boardgames, mobile applications, and many other projects. In their work, they focus on humanizing narratives, experimenting with different styles, and exploring graphic drawing. For more about their art, work, awards and exhibiotions, visit korinhunjak.com and follow them on Instagram @korin.hunjak.

A River in the Dark is the thrilling conclusion to the action-packed Slavic urban fantasy trilogy A Town Called River by Igor Rendić. Join the adventure of the krsnik Paul who, with the help of his witchy friends, protects the city of Rijeka from monsters lurking in the dark. This lush fantasy trilogy inspired by Slavic folklore is filled with action, friendships, romance, slice-of-life moments, and mysteries.

Hunjak’s Cover for A River in the Dark Shortlisted on the KWL Indie Cover Contest!

You’d think Christmas came early this year if you could see the amount of glee and cheers when the news landed in our inbox that Korin(a) Hunjak’s cover for A River in the Dark—the third and final book in our Slavic urban trilogy A Town Called River, by Igor Rendić—has been selected for the shortlist in the Kobo Writing Life Indie Cover Contest in Sci-fi/Fantasy category!

The cover, which features two main plot elements from the novel—no spoilers beyond that point!—perfectly wraps the trilogy together in Hunjak’s signature texture-heavy, graphic-novel influenced style.

Korin(a) Hunjak is a visual artist focusing on illustration, comics, and design. They graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts at the University of Rijeka, where they currently work as an educator, helping shape young artists, future illustrators, designers, and comic artists. As a member of the editorial team of the art and culture magazine Strip-PREFIKS, they’re involved in diverse events organized by the Hrvatski autorski strip association (Croatian Association of Comic Authors) to promote awareness of comic culture in Croatia and beyond. In their work, they focus on humanizing narratives, experimenting with different styles, and exploring graphic drawing.

And now we need your help. If you love this cover and this series as much as we do, we’re gonna kindly ask you to use your fave finger, point it HERE, and vote for this magnificent combo. Voting is open until 11:59 EST on Monday December 16th at Kobo Writing Life Blog where you can also find all the other amazing indie covers in various categories.

We’ve been on this thrilling ride with Igor and Korin(a) since 2021 and we can’t be happier to see the final book in the trilogy featured out in the world this way.

Share the love and join our adventure that starts with A Town Called River!

Every River Reaches its End

The thrilling conclusion to the Slavic urban fantasy trilogy A Town Called River is here! Let’s celebrate together the release of A River in the Dark by Igor Rendić, a final piece to the puzzle that is the adventures of krsnik Paul and his friends. The City of Rijeka needs protecting from the enemies lurking in the night, and you want this group to be on the job!

What can you expect? Friendship, love, family, even more dreamscape shenanigans, nightmares, witches, and Slavic mythology. Because a krsnik keeps his friends close and his nightmares closer.

If you were on the fence about starting an unfinished trilogy, now is the great time to try out the first book, A Town Called River, in which Paul, after the death of his beloved grandma, inherits more than her apartement: magical powers that transform him from the regular guy to the krsnik—a magical protector known in Slavic folklore to fight monsters and keep his village safe. Or, in Paul’s case, a whole town!

And if you’re already following the krsnik Paul, ghost-seeing Katrina, the coolest witches Viki and Perdida, the healer vilenica Mara, and their mysterious knight friend, and want to read the conclusion to their story, get the book right now in ebook and paperback.

Happy reading and sweet dreams!

The publishing of A River in the Dark was funded by Rijeka City.

A Cover in the Dark

A new cover reveal and so soon after the last! The year is slowly crawling to an end, the days are getting darker, and new books are emerging out of our pub house to entertain you during the long winter months. The third book of A Town Called River by Igor Rendić is ready to wrap up this action-packed urban fantasy trilogy with a thrilling conclusion!

A River in the Dark shows us how a krsnik keeps his friends close and his nightmares closer, but while the title is dark and the book is full of nightmares, the cover is not. The beatiful golden cover was done by our talented and award-winning artist Korin(a) Hunjak, who always goes out of their way to give us absolute brilliance. As our readers deserve.

Licking his wounds from the earth-shattering battles in Seasons of the River—trying not to beat himself up over bringing his friends into harm’s way again and again—Paul, the krsnik of the City of Rijeka, will find himself up to his ears in the biggest challenge of his life, one rising from an unexpected source, all but lost to memory.

His newfound duties as the magical protector of his city take him across the forests of his ancestral region, hot on the heels of missing tourists, misfortunate hikers, and new sorts of monsters lurking in the wilderness. All the while, messages keep appearing in his dreams, with next to no way to trace their origin in the waking world.

As the pleas keep getting more urgent, and no less incomprehensible, Paul will need to step up to his inheritance once and for all, follow the traces of his family legacy, and lean on his friends to guide him places he never would have dared venture on his own—or risk losing everything he’s worked for, along with his own self.

Deep in the dark, a river flows…

The book will come out on November 27th 2024 in ebook and paperback. You can preorder the ebook! The publishing of this book is backed by City of Rijeka and we’re grateful for their support with this book and the first one in the trilogy, A Town Called River.

You can add the book on Goodreads and The Storygraph!

And if you were waiting for all books in this Slavic fantasy trilogy to be released before investing yourself with the adventures of monster-fighting krnik Paul and his witchy friends while they protect the City of Rijeka, this is the perfect opportunity to read A Town Called River and Seasons of the River.