November’s Notorious Open Writing Calls!

What do the top markets want? 99c - get the inside scoop.

Choose your favorite retailer.

https://books2read.com/TheGuideofallGuides

HINT! CLICK ON PICTURE TO BE TAKEN DIRECTLY TO SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR EACH MARKET.

Dream Horror

never wake

Description

The Theme: “We’re looking for scary, mind-bending stories featuring dreams, nightmares, hallucinations, messed-up psychedelic experiences, and various elements of phantasmagoria. Think sleep experiments gone awry and Freddy Krueger and ‘This is bat country!’ from FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, but maybe the bats are real and maybe they are vampires? Feel free to bring the weird, the trippy, and the surreal in large doses. Some movies we like for reference are: DREAMSCAPE, NOES series, THE CELL, COME TRUE, FROM BEYOND, ALTERED STATES, INCEPTION, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, CLIMAX, and ANNIHILATION.” “We would like to see stories with unique perspectives and from diverse voices, and encourage all writers to submit. If possible, we would like to give a new writer their first professional sale. Please let us know if this would be your first pro sale in your cover letter (and please be honest).”

Speculative Fiction

apparition lit

Horror

BOOK WORMS

Speculative Fiction

apparition lit

Speculative

grendel press

Description

We bring together lovers of the deep and dark and embrace the knowledge that to truly live, you must realize that the true monster... is often within.
What we really do?

We really love stories, and we want to make a name for ourselves so that readers know if they want to find a story about a monster that is more than a monster, or a hero that is more than a hero, we’re the place to find it.

How did you choose your name? Grendel is fascinating as a character study. The epic Beowulf is a story about Beowulf, this greater-than-life hero who boasts about saving the world all the time. It’s his ‘thang’, but who kept reading after Grendel and his mother were killed? Not many and that’s because Beowulf couldn’t be a hero without a monster to slay, but what makes these creatures monsterous? What makes Beowulf a hero?

Our Vision
We just want to shine a light in the dark and see what stares back at us… then we want to print it so you can see it too.

GrendelPress accepts short story submissions that fit into our chosen genres of Dark Fantasy, Horror, and Romance. We will develop themes for each genre as submissions accumulate.

Submission Hints

We go for stories that are dark and deep; we are looking for the stories that stick with you long after you go to sleep.
Stories with a depth of character that explore the mind as much as the monsters.
Stories that show more than tell and build suspense before shock factor.
Easily readable. It’s wonderful to craft a gorgeous story, but if people need a dictionary to understand it, we cannot accept it.

Current Themes

Paramnesia – a condition or phenomenon involving distorted memory or confusions of fact and fantasy, such as confabulation or déjà vu.

– Monsters as MCs (main characters)

– Supernatural Stories – Ghosts, Cults, Hauntings, Etc

The Devil Who Loves Me – Dark Romance – Literal devil, figurative devil, questionably the devil. Open to interpretation. Happy endings are open to interpretation, but leave gore and assault at the door

Short Story Contest

Quantum steampunk

Description

The Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub is running the contest this academic year. I’ve argued that quantum thermodynamics—my field of research—resembles the literary and artistic genre of steampunk. Steampunk stories combine Victorian settings and sensibilities with futuristic technologies, such as dirigibles and automata. Quantum technologies are cutting-edge and futuristic, whereas thermodynamics—the study of energy—developed during the 1800s. Inspired by the first steam engines, thermodynamics needs retooling for quantum settings. That retooling is quantum thermodynamics—or, if you’re feeling whimsical (as every physicist should), quantum steampunk.

In an upgrade from my high-school days, we’ll be awarding $4,500 worth of Visa gift certificates. The grand prize entails $1,500. Entries can also win in categories to be finalized during the judging process; I anticipate labels such as Quantum Technology We’d Most Like to Have, Most Badass Steampunk Hero/ine, Best Student Submission, and People’s Choice Award.

Submission Hints

Minimal knowledge of quantum theory is required; if you’ve heard of Schrödinger’s cat, superpositions, or quantum uncertainty, you can pull out your typewriter and start punching away.

Entries must satisfy two requirements: First, stories must be written in a steampunk style, including by taking place at least partially during the 1800s. Transport us to Meiji Japan; La Belle Époque in Paris; gritty, smoky Manchester; or a camp of immigrants unfurling a railroad across the American west. Feel free to set your story partially in the future; time machines are welcome.

Second, each entry must feature at least one quantum technology, real or imagined. Real and under-construction quantum technologies include quantum computers, communication networks, cryptographic systems, sensors, thermometers, and clocks. Experimentalists have realized quantum engines, batteries, refrigerators, and teleportation, too.

Surprise us with your imagined quantum technologies (and inspire our next research-grant proposals).

Various

olde wolf contest

Horror

The theatre phantasmagoria

My Insights

I submitted to their Innocence Lost theme and got back a nice, encouraging rejection. Don't we all REALLY appreciate those editors that take the time to do this for us?

Here it is..

Thank you so much for taking the time to submit to our flash fiction series, The Theatre Phantasmagoria; your patience in awaiting this response is much appreciated too. We regret to inform you that your story titled "The Wormhole to Farout" was not selected for this particular window. However, we did thoroughly enjoy reading your piece; your story was compelling and well-written, and the decision to reject any of this month's submissions has been very challenging due to the extremely high degree of quality across the board. With that said, we would be eager to read more from you in the future, and do hope that you will consider submitting to Night Terror Novels for our upcoming themes in this series, or our future open calls. We'd like to extend our sincere thanks for your interest and support in this project. We also wish you the very best of luck in finding a home for this piece, and in all your future writing endeavours wherever they take you.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

zombies need brains

Description

DRAGONESQUE: Since Grendel and McCaffrey's Pern, readers have been enthralled with the magic and mystique of dragons. But it's rare that we get to see the world through the dragon's perspective. In DRAGONESQUE, you'll experience an anthology of fantasy and science fiction stories told from, or through, or with, the dragon's point of view. High fantasy, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, magical realism, and of course science fiction...DRAGONESQUE will feature a wealth of genres that even a dragon would be tempted to horde. Edited by S.C. Butler & Joshua Palmatier, DRAGONESQUE will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.

GAME ON!: Games played in fiction often symbolize more than winning and losing. Games represent risk and reward, wealth and class, strategy and blind fortune. In science fiction and fantasy, games can be matters of cosmic importance and of literal life and death—whether the idle pastimes of Star Trek’s 3D chess, the all-consuming TTRPG of the Gamearth trilogy, a frenetic quest as in Ready Player One, the lethal reality TV shows of The Hunger Games, or choosing a new interstellar emperor as in The Player of Games. In GAME ON!, we’re looking for unique science fiction and fantasy takes on games, game playing, and games in culture. A game or games—real or imagined—should be central to the story in some fashion. Please note anything considered a ‘sport’ (i.e.: baseball, soccer, rollerball, etc.) won’t be a fit for this anthology. Games used in stories must also not infringe on real-world trademarked names or third-party copyrights. Edited by Stephen Kotowych & Tony Pi, GAME ON! will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.

ARTIFICE & CRAFT: Art is everywhere. Our drive and ability to create for the sake of creativity defines us as a species and enriches our cultures, our societies, our lives. The best of these works of art, from novels to paintings to statues to music, are imbued with a special kind of magic. But when that magic is literal—when Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray ages instead of the actual man, and Mozart's Magic Flute plays its protective song—art takes on a whole new meaning. In ARTIFICE & CRAFT, we invite writers of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other speculative fiction to spin their own tales of works of art that have been enchanted, hexed, charmed, or cursed. Edited by Edmund R. Schubert & David B. Coe, ARTIFICE & CRAFT will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.

SOLAR FLARE: Imagine a Solarpunk future where societies value cooperation over consumerism, where technology solves ecological challenges rather than creating them. SOLAR FLARE will envision a future where humanity has embraced the Earth and learned to co-exist with it, not simply on it, where sustainability is a way of life, not merely a catch phrase. Join us as these stellar authors share their visions of a hopeful tomorrow. Edited by Patricia Bray & Joshua Palmatier, SOLAR FLARE will contain approximately fourteen stories with an average length of 6,000 words each.

Submission Hints

Stories must be submitted in electronic format to the Zombies Need Brains Moksha site for the appropriate anthology at http://zombiesneedbrains.moksha.io. Please send multiple manuscripts in separately; you may submit up to three stories to each anthology, so a total of twelve stories if you submit the maximum of three stories per anthology. Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered. Please use Times New Roman font. The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, word count, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s real name. Italics and bold should be in italics and bold.

Horror for Kids

the maul

Description

This magazine was conceived on the notion that it seems, if you want to love horror, you either have to relish in the spooky time of year when even Sesame Street has a Halloween episode, or you have to pull the band-aid off and somehow get super into splatterpunk. This magazine strives to provide a place in between Stephen King and R.L. Stine. Horror that initiates the uninitiated, and gives a thrill to those looking for one. If you’re the type of person who loves horror, but only certain authors, or certain movies, if you’re someone who wants to love horror but doesn’t know where to look, try out a few stories here. Dip your toe in the lake of the thriller, we promise there’s less than a two percent chance something slimy will grab it.

Submission Hints

This is a magazine developed for people who are looking for horror, but either aren’t quite sure where to start, or haven’t found the right author. So let’s talk about how to write horror and other speculative fiction for younger readers and also writing it for those looking for something different:

It has been said that if something looks like a swamp monster, walks like a swamp monster, and sounds like a swamp monster, it is indeed a swamp monster. And good writing can be a lot like a swamp monster. You know it when you see it, and it is often just misunderstood.:

Here at The Maul, even though our target audience skews younger, we’re really just looking for great writing. Our focus is on horror but we’ll take other genres. In fact, the editors prefer stories that are a mix of genres. You’re more likely to be published if you give us fantasy or sci-fi mixed with horror. We’ll also take literary work, though please realize that, given our clientele and organizational goals, it can be a hard sell.:

We enjoy pulp fiction. That means we look for stories that pop. Exaggeration, melodrama, impossibly imaginative settings, and vivid imagery are encouraged. Bring us something that really jumps off the page. Be as over-the-top as you like. If you’re a more subtle writer, submit anyway. Sometimes one good twist or some relatable descriptions will still catch people’s eye, even the uninitiated.:

Which brings us to the main guideline – your job is to initiate the uninitiated. Which doesn’t mean you tone things down. It means you imagine the kind of story you would have wanted to read the first time you picked up a horror book (or serial). When you write for us, try to initiate the reader into a world you’ve known for years and would like others to step into it with you. Ask yourself, What do they need to know? What tropes will they instantly become aware of? What are the best things this genre has to offer? Why should they keep reading? This goes for all genres. Submit any work you feel meets this criteria.

Science Fiction

escape pod

Description

Escape Pod is a science fiction market. We are fairly flexible on what counts as science (superheroes! steampunk! space opera! time travel!) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre. We want stories that center science, technology, future projections, and/or alternate history, and how any or all of these things impact individuals and society.

Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hopepunk and optimism rather than grimdark and gloom. We love to see funny stories, which can include dark humor that doesn’t punch down, and satire that isn’t painfully bleak. Remember that the failure mode of irony is sincerity, so if you’re mocking something, be sure you’re hitting the right target.

Submission Hints

We’re not interested in stories that contain sexual assault, rape, child abuse, animal cruelty, gore, or horror. We also do not want to see stories that treat the hardships of marginalized people or groups as thought experiments. While we may have published stories with that type of content in the past, they are not currently a good fit for Escape Pod. Our primary audience is adult listeners and readers. Strong language and sexual situations are fine, but we are not an erotica market.

Horror / Dark Fiction

dark recesses press

Description

Dark Recesses Press began in 2005 with an idea and desire to create a home where there was none.

It was originally an award winning fiction magazine of dark fiction, art, and non-fiction. After 13 issues we took some time off to regroup, shift our focus, and come back to publish books exclusively – this was in 2014.

In 2017, we grew again. After the acquisition of Belfire Press, DR had taken on a wider dark fiction arena which has opened up avenues towards YA, and Poetry among others. In addition to focusing our attention on novels, collections and anthologies born in the dark corners of your mind, Dark Recesses Press has now resurrected the beloved magazine.

We are currently undergoing a growth spurt so please mind our gangly bits.

Literary

journal of compressed creative arts

Description

The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is a non-profit publisher of compressed creative arts, such as micro fiction, flash fiction, prose poetry, compressed poetry & visual arts, and whatever other forms compression might take.

The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is looking for, as you might guess, "compressed creative arts." We accept fiction and creative nonfiction, as long if they are compressed in some way. Work is published weekly, without labels, and the labels here only exist to help us determine its best readers.

Our response time is generally 1-5 days. Also, our acceptance rate is currently about 2% of submissions

Submission Hints

For all submitters, we aren't as concerned with labels—hint fiction, prose poetry, micro fiction, flash fiction, and so on—as we are with what compression means to you. In other words, what form "compression" takes in each artist's work will be up to each individual. However, we don't publish erotica or work with strong, graphic sexual content.

In short, we want to fall in love with your work. That might happen in the way we've fallen in love with work we've previously published, or it might happen in a way we have yet to experience. Maybe reading that other work will help in knowing whether you should send your work to us, but in truth, such a thing might not be discoverable.

Funniest horror story you will hear...

So this guy dated a witch and got turned into a horse. Six minutes you will thank me for.

https://readmeanightmare.buzzsprout.com

Science Fiction & Fact

SPACE FORCE

Description

Real Stories of the US Space Force will be a collection of science fiction short stories and fact articles illustrating current and future near-Earth space-related threats and dispelling misconceptions about America’s newest service branch. It will be published by Baen Books in 2023

The US Space Force has a PR problem. Several, in fact. It was not Donald Trump’s idea. It did not steal its iconography from Star Trek. It is not just a lunatic scheme to expand the military-industrial complex by sending battleships into space. Yet judging from social media, many think all these things and more.
.
Space has become critical not only to the military but to the economy and all aspects of daily life, and as we stand at the dawn of a new age of space commerce, that’s only going to intensify. Several nations have already developed capabilities to deny, degrade, and disrupt access to and utilization of space–based assets, whether to degrade US military capability or as a direct economic attack.

Like it or not, the militarization of space started long ago, threats are already up there, and wherever people and their interests go next, so too will go conflict, intrigue, heroes and villains, everything that comprises good stories.

Submission Hints

Stories that grab us from the start and stay with us for days. Scientifically plausible drama about people facing interesting challenges related to the US Space Force or more generally, the policing and defense of near-Earth space and related issues, now or in the foreseeable future (the next century or so). Stories don’t have to take place in space, involve the actual US Space Force, or be hard sci-fi, but they should help illustrate in some way how space technology shapes modern civilization in critical, often overlooked ways, how it is now or soon may come under threat, and how it might be defended now and into the future. See this page for ideas and background. Stories should be scientifically plausible. Alien contact or wildly advanced physics is a hard sell, though we may well include one or two of the most excellent. Stories can involve the military, civilian agencies, commercial interests, insurance companies, reckless endangerment, bureaucratic SNAFUs, cost overruns, inter-service rivalry, international gamesmanship, saber-rattling, pettiness, pig-headedness, micromanagement, office romance, LGTBQ+ issues, UAVs, cattle mutilation, or any point you want to make about the government, the role of the military, work-life balance, the militarization of space, the very model of a modern Major-General, or the cost of donuts in China, as long as it otherwise fits the bill.

Speculative

MIGHTY

Submission Hints

Disabled characters being empowered and living full lives while still being disabled
Stories that play around with tired clichés and tropes about disability
Humor
Stories about and by people at the intersection of disability and other identities that have been traditionally excluded from publishing. This includes but is not limited to people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, religious minorities, women, older adults.

-genre stories. Science fiction is good, but we welcome any genre of speculative fiction. Can you tell a superhero story in a fantasy or weird west setting?

Dracula Fiction

renfield

Description

Since its initial publication in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has inspired countless authors to pick up the pen and re-imagine his characters in prequels, sequels, alternate settings, and more. DBS Press is dedicated to continuing this tradition. Our flagship journal, Dracula Beyond Stoker, will present the best new fiction based on Stoker’s characters, locations and themes, and sometimes Stoker, himself. Join us as we celebrate the legacy of a legend. Issue #1 is scheduled for publication November 2022.

Genre Mash-up

tumbled Tales

Submission Hints

We’re looking for genre authors who cross boundaries. Authors whose stories twist the tropes to showcase in a cross-genre anthology of stories that entertain, but read fresh and new.
Send us the story that you can’t classify: a story that can’t be pigeon-holed into a single subgenre, or that pushes against your genre’s boundaries. We want to showcase authors who write uncommon fiction. For example:

Witches in space,
Romances that flip gender roles,
Alternate histories set in the near-future,
Medical thrillers set in the distant past,
Fairy tales that start after the ‘happily ever after,’
Something cool and exciting that we haven’t imagined!

Literary

the deadlands

Description

The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for speculative fiction that concerns itself with death–but also everything death may involve. A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified. Burials in troubled lands. A raised scythe against a clouded sky. Memento mori. The rivers of the dead. The sprawling underworlds beneath our feet.

The Deadlands would love to see stories from a worldwide perspective, different cultures, different approaches to death. We welcome stories from everyone, everywhere. Stories that feature characters impacted by someone passing away and processing the event of death, are fair game, but will likely be a hard sell. Stories about related subjects—zombies, demons, vampires, apocalypses, and the various undead—are not for us. An apocalypse may be your setting, but it isn’t your story. We are absolutely not interested in seeing weird West stories, steampunk tales, or military fiction. We are not interested in stories involving Lovecraft’s mythos. Humor will be a harder sell than heartbreaking. If your story begins with someone waking up, it is not for us.

Submission Hints

We are never far from death—Dante reminds us. It is always there, just out of sight, around the bend in the road. The faraway nearby, Rebecca Solnit says. We could step past a tree in that wild forest and be there. Where? The Deadlands.

The Deadlands is a monthly speculative fiction magazine. We publish short stories, poems, and essays about the other realms, of the ends we face here, and the beginnings we find elsewhere. It is an adventure into the unknown, to meet those who live there still, even though they may be dead. Death is a journey we all will take, but we’d like to peek at the map before we go.

We are generally open to fiction and nonfiction submissions, except for a year-end holiday closure. Poetry submissions are open the first two weeks of every month, resuming in February 2022. Explore our guidelines and read our issues to see what we’re publishing and if your work might fit.

ONGOING SUBMISSION CALLS -LISTED HERE TILL THEY CLOSE

Science Fiction

AD Astra

Description

James Gunn defines science fiction as “the literature of change” and states that it “incorporates a belief that the most important aspect of existence is a search for humanity’s origins, its purpose, and its ultimate fate.” A tall order but a worthy goal. Our editorial vision for James Gunn’s Ad Astra calls for raising our eyes above the horizon and not limiting the scope of speculative fiction. It is in this spirit that we welcome great stories that range from the near-reality to the far reaches of the what-if.

Suggestions about what we’re looking for can unnecessarily constrain writers. That said, we can offer this advice: Be sure your story actually tells a story. And be sure it requires your speculative element in order to hold together.

Beyond that, the sky (the stars, the edge of the next universe over) is the limit.

Science Fiction Flash

Nature Futures

Description

Futures is a venue for very short stories or ‘vignettes’ of between 850 and 950 words. The subject is typically near-future, hard SF, although this can be interpreted liberally. In short, what Futures is looking for is originality. To this end it is advisable to read as many previous Futures as you can, as stories that repeat themes already dealt with extensively are less likely to be considered than those that do something new and different. Futures does not consider reprints of stories previously published elsewhere.

Submission Hints

OK. Take a seat. This won’t take long. Don’t worry about the alien, he always does that when he sees strangers, it doesn’t stain. I’m afraid I can’t offer you any refreshments — the service droid blew a fuse last week and the spare part is stuck on a shuttle somewhere between here and Titan. But, as I say, this won’t take long. If you’re sure you wish to send a story to the orbiting station that is the Futures submissions hub, it’s probably easiest if I upload the instructions via the mind link. Ah. Unusual. OK. Well, in that case I will have to spell out the protocols the old-fashioned way. The very first rule is, I’m afraid, prepare to be disappointed. This is not a bad thing, but as for any science-fiction outlet, Futures can publish only a limited selection of the stories we receive, so rejection is part of the process (and it is honestly no more fun to issue a rejection than it is to receive one). The second rule is that contributions to Futures are welcome from absolutely anyone, irrespective of whether they are writing their first story, or are professional or published authors. There are, of course, some basic requirements, so here are some frequently asked questions:

SPECULATIVE & LITERARY

flash fiction online

Any Genre

substack

Description

Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful.

Maybe you... like I... am asking the question, what is Substack?

Looks like they are saying it is an email newsletter platform? But you can publish on the web with it?

this is what the web says... my brain hurts trying to figure this out...
The bread and butter of Substack is publishing. With Substack, you can quickly and easily publish posts to the web or as emails in a matter of clicks. The posts can be paywalled or published for free. You can also try out discussion threads — a feature that allows you start Twitter-style conversations among your subscribers.

I'm not sure I really understand this yet... but perhaps this call is a good way to dip our toes in?

Submission Hints

What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? shortstorystack@gmail.com What are the rules for submitting?

1. No Fees

2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form

3. Any genre

4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn."

5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers.

7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story.

What do I get for subscribing?

One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting.

Anything Else?

Yes! Analytics will be published monthly in terms of subscribers, the number of submissions, and anything else that might be relevant.

There is also the option to sign up for FREE emails. You won’t get the story, but you will get information and can follow the project.

Speculative Flash Fiction

the arcanist

Description

The Arcanist is an interesting venue for short fiction. They pay well and publish content on a bi-weekly basis (every Friday).  From the website:  “We strongly believe that fantasy and sci-fi are two of the most important genres in the literary world, helping us escape to distant lands, reflect on our shared humanity, and gaze into the future. We want to provide readers snippets of the genres they love and we want to give writers of these genres a paid place to publish their work. (That’s right, we pay you.)”  

Submission Hints

The very best SFF stories combine imaginative world-building elements with hardened, time-honored storytelling techniques, which is obviously a lot easier said than done (especially in under 1K words!).  We get a lot of stories that have a great premise or an imaginative world where we find ourselves in awe that someone actually thought them up. Then you get through the piece and there’s no character growth, no choices being made, no movement, and those are vital for a story of any genre to succeed.  A good story will have active characters, a fully constructed plot, etc. A good SFF story will have all of the elements that make a lit fiction story tick plus fantastic elements that dazzle us. It’s a delicate balance!”

My Insights

I’ve submitted 6 stories here and received my rejections in good time (less than a month). Here is the typical letter I’ve received:  “Thanks for giving us the chance to read The Foreign Student. After careful consideration, we are unfortunately going to pass at this time. If you have other works that you think might be a good fit for The Arcanist, we encourage you to submit them through our Google form. We look forward to reading more of your work in the future and hope that this piece finds a home as well.”

I have nothing here right now. Gotta find a good story for them.

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Dream of shadows

Description

Dream of Shadows comes from the city of Jack the Ripper (London, England) and wants to offer readers: honest and daring stories - stories of struggle, stories without happy endings, where the two not-so-sexy leads don't fall in love simply because they have to.”  One short story is featured on the website every month.  The website says:  “We're not too fond of science-fiction. While we will sometimes consider stories of something coming down to Earth from another planet if the focus is horror or fantasy, we're not really looking for space adventures.  We particularly like honest and daring stories with strong characters pursuing goals, although we recognize that if a story is good, it's good.  We're realists, so we don't need a happy ending. Send us those stories that other publishers rejected because they were too dark.  Having said that, we don't want stories with gratuitous and/or over-the-top sex, violence or swearing. And it should go without saying, but we won't allow discrimination either.  On a similar note, we're also not very fond of preachy stories, where one character explains to another how terrible humans are. We get it, people suck.”

Submission Hints

The editor provides extra tips of what he is looking for:  Stuff we like : • a good old tale of a character who wants something and tries to get it, meeting obstacles along the way  • prose that grabs us and moves us and makes us feel for and with the character  • supernatural elements. While we personally like a good serial killer or coming-of-age story, Dream of Shadows is all about that supernatural stuff  • Stuff we're not too fond of  • stories where the character doesn't want anything or woe-is-me stories where the character spends most of the time complaining, without doing anything to change it  • second-person narration. It just sounds too much like meditation tapes or choose-your-own-adventure games to us. Sorry  • pieces that are too experimental, like stream-of-consciousness stories or stories told from really odd points of view (like a flower or a walking stick) or stories that are basically just descriptions  • romance. We don't mind if love or a relationship is used to drive inner conflict, as long as it's not the focus of the story.”  

Horror, Wonder & The Weird

Three-lobed Burning eye

Submission Hints

“Original speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, science fiction. We’re looking for short stories from across the big classifications and those shadowy places between: magical realism, fantastique, slipstream, interstitial, and the weird tale. We will consider suspense or western, though we prefer it contain some speculative element. We like voices that are full of feeling, from literary to pulpy, with styles unique and flowing, but not too experimental. All labels aside, we want tales that expand genre, that value imagination in character, narrative, and plot. We want to see something new and different.”

Horror

Creepy Podcast

Submission Hints

WHAT WE WANT…

SINGLE NARRATOR STORIES Obviously we have a large cast, but for production sake, single narrator stories work the best (a story where only one person is speaking). We understand that when telling stories, we all tend to quote what someone else said, and that’s fine, but it has a very distinct tone. Multiple speaking roles will always be considered, but single narrator stories tend to get preferential treatment.

WHAT SCARES YOU We hear it plenty, “that wasn’t scary.” Well, then scare us. Tell us something new. Something dark and horrible. Something that we can’t say no to. The things that scare the writers tend to be the things that bleed through into the writing and make for the most compelling stories.

DIVERSITY We celebrate diversity at the Creepy podcast. BIPOC, LGBTQIA, anyone and everyone is welcome here. Just leave your hate at the door. If you have a story that is specifically for a black or female voice actor, please tell us. If your story really grabs us and there is an ethnicity not currently represented on the show, we will find someone to read the story to do it justice.

SCARE US We’ve read a lot of stories, and been a bit desensitized. Feel free to push the boundaries of gore and horror, but remember this is audio. Think about the listener when you are writing it.

Sci-fi

galaxy's edge

Submission Hints

We are a science fiction and fantasy magazine, so we would love to receive fiction from those categories as well as any sub-categories, such as space opera, steampunk, urban fantasy, africanfuturism, magical realism and so on. We do not publish straight horror stories, even if they do have a supernatural element, but if you have a dark fantasy story, or a dystopian science fiction piece, send it our way—we’d love to take a look.

Keep us from yawning: While we have all read some great vampire, werewolf or zombie stories, and we get that writers want to write towards popular trends, we are unlikely to buy a story that appears a carbon copy of something we could have read in so many other publications. Be original. Either put your own very distinct twist on a trope, catching our interest, or submit something completely unexpected.

Literary Adventure Fantasy

beneath ceaseless skies

Submission Hints

“We love traditional adventure fantasy, but we also love how the influence of literary writing on fantasy short fiction has expanded the genre, encouraging writers to use literary devices such as tight points-of-view and discontinuous narratives; to feature conflicts that are internal as well as external. We want stories that combine the best of both these styles—set in vivid fantasy or historical paranormal worlds but written with all the flair and impact of modern literary-influenced fantasy.”  To help understand what kind of world they’re looking for; here is how they describe secondary-world settings:  “We want stories set in what Tolkien called a “secondary world”: some other world that is different from our own primary world in some way. It could be different in terms of zoology (non-human creatures), ecology (climate), or physical laws (the presence of magic).  It could be set on Earth but an Earth different from our modern-day primary world in terms of time (the pre-modern historical past of our real-world Earth) or history (alternate history from our Earth’s history). It could have a “pre-tech” level of technology, or steampunk technology, or magic as technology, or anything else that’s not advanced or modern technology. However, the setting should contain some element that is in some way fantastical, and the qualities of the setting should have some bearing on the rest of the story.  We are NOT interested in urban fantasy or other types of stories set in our modern, contemporary “real world,” even if they contain fantasy elements, or in stories that move between the real world and a fantasy world.”

Sample Rejection

I just recently got a rejection from Scott H. Andrews. He is one of those rare editors who will give you comments and advice if your story is close to what he is looking for. Here is my note from my December submission:
Thanks very much for sending this story to _Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Unfortunately, it's not quite right for me. I found the description vivid, but some of the details felt to me a bit more hooky and less clear than I needed in order for me to suspend my disbelief, like "laser phone", and the characterization of Paulina felt to me more focused on familiar aesthetics that I found objectifying than I needed in order for that situation to engage me. We appreciate your interest in our magazine. Please feel free to submit other work in the future.

Science Fiction

INTERZONE DIGITAL

Mystery & Crime

Ellery Queen mystery magazine

Description

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (EQMM) has been around since 1941 and has been cited as “the finest periodical of its kind” by The Readers Encyclopedia of American Literature. They pay professional rates and have short stories from famous authors in many editions. Writers like William Faulkner, Agatha Christie, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Ruth Rendell and Peter Robinson have been featured. It is a part of the Dell Magazine family along with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.  Their website proclaims they are the “winner of more than 100 major awards, including 22 Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, EQMM is the most celebrated mystery and crime-fiction publication in the world.”

Submission Hints

“We publish every kind of mystery short story: the psychological suspense tale, the deductive puzzle, the private eye case—the gamut of crime and detection from the realistic (including the policeman's lot and stories of police procedure) to the more imaginative (including "locked rooms" and "impossible crimes"). We need hard-boiled stories as well as "cozies," but we are not interested in explicit sex or violence. We do not want true detective or crime stories. With the exception of a regular book review column and a mystery crossword, EQMM publishes only fiction. We are especially happy to review first stories by authors who have never before published fiction professionally.

My Insights

I’ve been reading Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine since the age of 9 years old and enjoy the short twisty tales. I was fortunate to have one of my first sales here. You can learn more about it in my full-length short story anthology (plus publisher insights) The Story Behind The Stories. “Three Calendars” was selected to be featured in the Department of First Stories. Janet talks about why she purchased this story, and gives general hints for writers in Episode 9 of Read Me A Nightmare.

Fantasy & Science Fiction

Clarkesworld

Submission Hints

The submission guidelines state:  “Science fiction need not be “hard” SF, but rigor is appreciated. Fantasy can be folkloric, contemporary, surreal, etc.  That said, there are some things that we’ve grown tired of and can be difficult or impossible to sell to us: (this is not a challenge)  • stories that include zombies or zombie-wannabes  • stories about sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, wicked witches, or demonic children  • stories about rapists, murderers, child abusers, or cannibals  • stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines  • stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory  • stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or . . . (insert any established political party or religion here) take over the world and either save or ruin it  • stories in which the words “thou” or “thine” appear  • stories with talking cats or swords  • stories where FTL travel or time travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies  • stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).  • stories about the stuff you just read in Scientific American or saw on the news  • stories about your RPG character’s adventures  • “funny” stories that depend on, or even include, puns  • stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange  • stories originally intended for someone’s upcoming theme anthology or issue (everyone is sending those out, wait a while)  • your trunk stories  • stories that try to include all of the above”  

Dark Fantastical Fiction

Apex Magazine

Submission Hints

Apex Magazine is an online zine of fantastical fiction. We publish short stories filled with marrow and passion, works that are twisted, strange, and beautiful. Creations where secret places and dreams are put on display. We publish in two forms: an every-other-month eBook issue and a gradual release of an entire issue online over a two-month period. Along with the genre short fiction, there are interviews with authors and nonfiction essays about current issues. Additionally, we produce a monthly podcast of narrated original short fiction.”

Science Fiction

analog science fiction & fact

Description

This is another founding magazine and big player in the science fiction world owned by Dell Magazines. Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine was originally published as Astounding Stories of Science Fiction when it launched in 1930. Analog was where Anne McCaffrey’s dragons first took flight! There were three issues from 1967 and 1968 which have the first three novellas in McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series.  Frank Herbert’s sprawling epic Dune also originally appeared in Analog. After being serialized in the magazine, Dune was rejected 23 times before it was eventually picked up by Chilton Books. Dune has been called the best-selling science fiction novel of all time.

Submission Hints

Editor Trevor Quachri says:  “Analog/Astounding is often considered the magazine where science fiction grew up. When Editor John W. Campbell took over in 1938, he brought to Astounding an unprecedented insistence on placing equal emphasis on both words of "science fiction." No longer satisfied with gadgetry and action per se, Campbell demanded that his writers try to think out how science and technology might really develop in the future – and, most importantly, how those changes would affect the lives of human beings. The new sophistication soon made Astounding the undisputed leader in the field, and Campbell began to think the old title was too "sensational" to reflect what the magazine was actually doing. He chose "Analog" in part because he thought of each story as an "analog simulation" of a possible future, and in part because of the close analogy he saw between the imagined science in the stories he was publishing and the real science being done in laboratories around the world.  Real science and technology have always been important in Analog, not only as the foundation of its fiction, but as the subject of articles about real research with big implications for the future. One story published during World War II described an atomic bomb so accurately – before Hiroshima – that FBI agents visited John Campbell to find out where the leak was. (There was no leak – just attentive, forward-thinking writers!)”  

DREAD INDUCING FICTION

THE DREAD MACHINE

Horror & Dark Fantasy

the dark magazine

Science Fiction

utopia

Submission Hints

What are we looking for? We want enthralling stories set in futures we might want to live in. Counter to the recent dystopian craze, we publish stories that shine with a more optimistic future, one we want to believe in, one we would fight for.

We're looking for

Captivating world-building
Character-rich, diverse settings
Well-written engaging plots that steer away from common tropes
Tension and conflict that leap out of the page and grab us
A good ending
Hard science fiction, stories based in explained science

Science Fiction Horror

DARK Void

Mystery & Crime

mystery magazine

Mystery & Crime

tough magazine

Submission Hints

They adamantly only take submission through Submittable and it better be in the RTF format.

Tough publishes three times per month on Mondays, for which we pay a flat rate per story, book review or essay (as of contract date January 23rd, 2021, that rate is $50) --we don't take poems--in exhange for first world serial rights to publish the submission on the website and one-time anthology rights. Query toughcrime@gmail.com for details or to pitch reviews, essays and reprints. Fiction need not be queried.

My Insights

I sent a story to them through Submittable - This One Time At Band Camp - I am trying to write more crime/mystery and hope to develop enough skill to try a novel.

When I withdrew this story to work on it a bit more the fiction editor sent me a note... "You can resubmit the story anytime you feel it is ready. "
I am always thrilled when an editor actually takes the time to send a personal note.

The Tough website also has a great list of crime publishers if you are interested in this genre.

Crime & Mystery

the dark city

Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Description

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) qualifying market based out of the United States. Founded in 1949, they produce six print issues a year. They are the original publishers of science fiction classics like Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” and Daniel Keyes’s “Flowers for Algernon”.  I’ve sent them 14 stories and received a rejection for all of them. However, five of the rejection letters included detailed reasons why C.C. Finlay did not accept them. “The Last Ride,” “Camp Napanoo,” “The Versa Vice,” “The Writing Retreat,” and “The Patron Saint of Livestock,” all came back with thoughtful notes that helped me rewrite each tale and sell them to other markets.  The new (and 10th) editor for 2021, Sheree Renee Thomas, is an award-winning Pushcart-nominated author. Her work is inspired by myth, folklore, and natural science. I've yet to get a rejection with comments, but I keep trying!

Horror, Bleak Sci-Fi, Dark Fantasy

seize the press

Description

Seize The Press is the literary melding of Ursula Le Guin, Thomas Ligotti and Rosa Luxemburg. A brand new online magazine for dark speculative fiction and anticapitalist sci-fi, fantasy and horror pop culture analysis. Neon, dragons and gore. We pay pro rates to writers and aim to build a solid community where writers are paid well for their work and readers get some top tier fiction and media criticism. And if we get to dunk on Disney in the process then that’s just the cherry in the pie.

Submission Hints

Seize The Press Magazine is looking to publish dark, transgressive speculative fiction. Bleak sci-fi, dark fantasy and horror only. We’re looking for stories that aren’t didactic or moralistic. We want stories where everything isn’t wrapped up neatly at the end. We want to promote a diverse range of voices from authors who write messy characters, so give us your problematic queers and your angry women—we want your difficult and morally questionable characters in unpleasant situations who don’t slide neatly into a narrow definition of positive representation and don’t fit the model minority mould.

My Insights

The stories are free to read on this website. And they are strange. I read "Eating Bees From The Ass of God" and "Some Seeds Only Bloom After Burning." They were both a tad disturbing and well-written. So, this market is a curiosity for me. Who doesn't like to let their inner weird rage?

I think they have recently decreased their pay--- from 6 pence to 3 pence.

I got a standard rejection from Jonny Pickering. "Thank you for submitting "Dolores and the Dark Dilemma" to Seize The Press Magazine. I appreciated the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the story is not what we're currently looking for. I'm going to pass this time, but I wish you the best of luck finding a home for the story."
But I am trying again with a story I wrote about a weird Greek festival Skirophoria. It is an actual thing where women eat cookies baked in the shapes of male genitalia.

Do you like to hear your creepy stories?

Mini radio dramas featuring strange stories followed by interviews from industry professionals! Check it out…

https://readmeanightmare.buzzsprout.com

What do the top markets want? 99c - get the inside scoop.

HINT! CLICK ON PICTURE TO BE TAKEN DIRECTLY TO SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR EACH MARKET.

Dream Horror

never wake

Details

Description

Submission Hints

Insight

Speculative Fiction

apparition lit

Details

Description

Submission Hints

Insight

Horror

BOOK WORMS

Details

Description

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Insight

Speculative Fiction

apparition lit

Details

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Insight

Speculative

grendel press

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Short Story Contest

Quantum steampunk

Description

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My Insights

Various

olde wolf contest

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My Insights

Horror

The theatre phantasmagoria

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My Insights

Science Fiction & Fantasy

zombies need brains

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Horror for Kids

the maul

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Science Fiction

escape pod

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Horror / Dark Fiction

dark recesses press

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Literary

journal of compressed creative arts

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Funniest horror story you will hear...

Science Fiction & Fact

SPACE FORCE

Description

Submission Hints

My Insights

Speculative

MIGHTY

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