A New Initiative Wants to Publish Horror’s Next Breakout Voice
The Black List and indie publisher Zando have launched the Evil Twin Manuscript Initiative, a joint program designed to find and publish an unpublished or self-published horror novel. The winning manuscript will receive a $25,000 publishing deal with Evil Twin, Zando’s horror-focused imprint, which launched in February 2026. Submissions close on November 20, 2026.
There is no agent required. The one firm restriction is that submitted manuscripts cannot already be under contract elsewhere – a deliberately low barrier for writers who have been sitting on something dark and finished.
What Evil Twin Is Actually Looking For
The genre parameters are wide. Initiative readers have expressed interest in “upmarket supernatural, gothic, psychological” fiction, along with “any horror sub-genre that may intersect with thriller, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy.” That language covers a substantial portion of what serious horror writers are already producing – which appears to be intentional. The call is for fresh perspectives, not the abandonment of familiar tropes.
Evil Twin launched in February 2026 with a stated commitment to publishing “hauntingly human stories” that engage with what the imprint describes as our darkest fears and deepest questions. Its debut titles are A.P. Thayer’s Tapeworm and Abe Moss’s Morsels. The imprint’s upcoming slate includes new work from James Bennett, E.J. Green, and Neil Sharpson – a small but focused list that signals the kind of literary horror the imprint is building toward.
Randy Winston, creative director of fiction at The Black List, described the appeal of the genre plainly in a press statement: “Horror novels are among the most exciting stories around. They are unsettling narratives that mirror our reality, and create emotional stakes grounded in grief, mortality, and trauma.” That framing – horror as emotional mirror rather than pure shock – aligns with where the genre has been pushing for several years, and with what the initiative appears to be rewarding.
Zando’s Larger Ambitions
Zando, founded in 2020 by Molly Stern, has built its identity around publishing “tomorrow’s cult classics.” The house operates across a range of imprints – SJP Lit and Gillian Flynn Books trade on recognizable names, while partnerships with Crooked Media and Tin House point to a broader appetite that spans politics and poetry alongside literary fiction.
Evil Twin is the house’s move into horror as a dedicated vertical. For a publisher only four years old at the time of the imprint’s launch, adding a genre-specific list with a manuscript competition suggests Stern is betting that horror readers want something the major houses aren’t consistently delivering – literary ambition with genuine genre commitment. The 2025 Bram Stoker Awards, which went to Stephen Graham Jones and Ryan Coogler, point to exactly that kind of crossover appetite in the readership.
The Competitive Landscape for Horror Writers
Horror has rarely had this kind of institutional attention from the publishing side. Competitions and open submission windows at this prize level – $25,000 for a single manuscript, no agent required – don’t appear often in any genre, and they appear even less in horror specifically. For writers who have avoided the traditional query process, or who have self-published without finding the commercial traction their work deserved, this is a different kind of door.
The submission window is long. With a close date of November 20, 2026, writers have enough runway to revise, not just submit. That timeline is generous by competition standards and probably reflects the initiative’s interest in quality over volume – though volume seems likely regardless, given the prize amount and the breadth of what qualifies.
Evil Twin’s early catalog suggests the imprint is not looking for commercially diluted horror softened for crossover audiences. Tapeworm and Morsels are not titles aimed at minimizing discomfort. That consistency between stated editorial vision and actual publishing behavior matters when evaluating whether a competition is worth a writer’s time and trust.
The initiative is, in the end, a bet – Zando and The Black List are wagering that the best horror manuscript of the next year is sitting somewhere unagented, uncontracted, and waiting. Whether the winning book becomes part of Evil Twin’s permanent identity or disappears into a quiet back catalog is the question no $25,000 deal can answer in advance.
