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Speculative
writers of the future
Details
L. Ron Hubbard presents
The Writers of the Future Contest
Open for submissions: 1st Quarter 2025
Oct 1-Dec 31st
Pay: see description
Word range: 17,000 max
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? No
Description
This is the most enduring and influential contest in the history of SF and Fantasy.
L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience.
No entry fee is required and entrants retain all publication rights.
Entries in the Writers of the Future Contest are adjudicated only by professional writers. Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months. From the four quarterly 1st Place winners each year, a panel of judges select one story as the grand prize winner. The writer of the grand-prize-winning story receives the L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award and an additional $5000 cash prize.
Submission Hints
Make sure your submission is anonymous! This is also a "clean" market, so no excessive violence, sex, or bad language. The story must have a strong speculative element.
I was lucky enough to interview the Coordinating Judge, Jody Lynn Nye for my podcast.
My Insights
I've entered this contest 12 times. I've received 1 R, 10 HM, and 1 SHM. If you don't have time to listen to my podcast chat with Jody, here is a piece of advice she shared.
"If you have a story in mind that you want to write that's in your heart, write it, just do it, don't wait for someone's permission. You can figure out what market it's going to go to after you finish it. If you force it into a particular genre, you may lose some of the charm and inspiration that made it work for you in your mind.
If your story is not on the paper, it doesn't matter if it was in your head. All those little details, your context and your location, all of the little things that you would put into a story, put them down so that the rest of us can enjoy them. "
Speculative
metastellar
Details
Editor Geordie Morse
Open for submissions: Oct 1 - 31
Pay:8 c a word
Word range: 1200 max
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
We’re looking for your best enthralling, imaginative, or bone-chilling original fiction stories, as long as they’re 1,200 words or fewer.
Submission Hints
Here is some advice from their website: Story is Goal, Motivation, Conflict
A story that keeps readers reading does not wander or meander page after page, chapter after chapter, along an amorphous path to an opaque conclusion. Rather, the story is focused on what the main character or characters want, why they want that thing, what they’re doing to get that thing, and what holds them back from getting the thing until they get it, give up, or die, literally or figuratively.
My Insights
Jennifer Lesh Fleck, a writing friend of mine, has made two sales here and she says, "They were both flash stories that had a whole story arc following one character within it vs. a single heightened scene or something...both were kinda morbid ideas."
Speculative
Trollbreath
Details
Editors Jeff & Jennifer Reynolds
Open for submissions: Oct 1 - 31
Pay: 4 c a word
Word range: 1500-7500 max
4000 -5000 sweet spot
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? Yes 1/2 c per word
Description
Trollbreath Magazine is a journal of speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, publishing electronic issues on a quarterly schedule. Our interests are as varied as the endless amount of genres, from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between.
Submission Hints
We have a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms, but what motivates us most are great stories by wonderful authors eager to share their visions of the past, the future, the in between, and everything that lies outside the margins. Coloring beyond the lines encouraged.
My Insights
Looking at their art, I am getting a dark, magical vibe.
Stories of Revenge and Redemption
Once Upon a moonless Night
Details
The Brothers Uber
Submissions Open: Oct 1
Editor: Jessica Springer Guernsey
Pay: 5c per word max pay $400
word range: 250-15,000
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? No
Description
It’s the fear—not of the dark—but rather what lurks in the dark.
The terror that the mind can feel, but cannot see.
The whisper on the wind, heard but not understood.
The ephemeral mist that curls around your legs and sends chills deep into your bones.
You know that you shouldn’t go out in the night, shouldn’t heed its seductive call.
Night after night the darkness beckons. You know that one day soon you’ll lose your resolve, give in, and become the darkness. There’ll be no going back once you do.
These are the tales whispered in dark corners. Of good people pushed too far. Stories of revenge and redemption for past wrongdoings. Stories that excite the mind where what seems to be true isn’t always the case.
Dark, foreboding, full of suspense, can you weave the story of what happens during the moonless night?
Submission Hints
A quote from Jessica, "We are looking for darker stories! That doesn’t mean we want only horror. Betrayal, revenge and redemption can come in all different colors. Be sure at least one of those three elements is the MAIN THEME of your story to avoid an easy rejection. I like a story with a hopeful message inthe end, but if your story doesn’t have that, it is absolutely not a deal breaker. What *is* a deal breaker is sending us a story that does not fit the theme. Always follow the guidelines, my friends! You’d be surprised how much that will put you ahead of the other submissions.
My Insights
Jessica Guernsey is an up-and-comer in the speculative world! I met her at Superstars and she is the most welcoming person on the planet. Seriously. She recently purchased a story of mine for another anthology she is editing called "Mermaidens 2: Dark Waters" and she is a joy to deal with.
Feminist Horror
Last girls club
Details
Submissions Open: Oct 1
Theme: Underground
Editor in chief: Eda Obey
Pay: $20
word range: 2500 or less
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
Whether you're hiding underground or what's underground is coming for you or both; scare the bejeezus out of us over it. Has humanity moved underground to survive nuclear winter or have the poor retreated to abandoned tunnels unable to afford housing topside anymore? Is there a revolution brewing to destroy the topsiders and emerge to claim the new unoccupied land? Or are the topsiders dropping poison smoke bombs down to kill the sub strata humans they consider to be vermin? You tell me.
Submission Hints
I want stories from the female gaze (think Aliens, Resident Evil, Hereditary, Tank Girl). I’m tired of reading what men want to do to us. I want to read what we want to do to them. Bring me smart female protagonists whose first inclinations are not to seduce the guard to get out of situations; they’ve got skills, they can get violent easily. I’m fine with them developing over the course of the story into someone like that, but please don’t revert to clichés unless you have your tongue firmly in your cheek. Please don’t use graphic rape for fridging purposes. If it’s part of a character’s backstory or development, fine, but don’t shoot the damn dog just to piss off your main character. My focus is horror, supernatural, and creeping dread. I’m not averse to extreme/slasher horror. I always love a bit of sci-fi or dystopia, but it’s not our focus, so if it’s your venue, make it scary. If you spackle a layer of women’s issues into it, even better; disenfranchisement, slut-shaming, trans violence, racism, misogyny, sex work exploitation, inequitable emotional work and housework, whatever exists in this world that pisses you off, feel free to put a metaphorical ax between its eyebrows.
My Insights
Eda Obey is one of my favorite people. She is outrageous, compelling, fierce and brilliant. She published my story "Lucy and the Cosmic Comet Ride" and I also featured one of her stories on my podcast, along with two fairly outrageous interviews.
Mystery & Speculative
black beacon
Details
Steampunk Sleuths
Open for submissions: till Oct 31
Editor: Cameron Trost
Pay:$50 US
Word range:15,000-20,000
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
NOVELETTES
Description
The genre of mystery is designed to get the cogs cranking, but let's not forget that steampunk is all about cogs too! Why not bring them together? Steampunk Sleuths will be an anthology of four novelettes (15 - 20,000 words) featuring detectives in a steampunk setting solving peculiar crimes. The only requirements for submission will be that the means of committing the crime (murder, theft, kidnapping...) must be clearly steampunk and the reader must be given the tools to crack the case before the solution is revealed. Think Agatha Christie and Jules Verne getting kinky together... um, actually, please don't. 😉
Submission Hints
We publish gripping and intriguing fiction that falls into the genres of mystery, suspense, post-apocalyptic, psychological horror, and folk horror. We like our tales quirky, atmospheric, and thought-provoking.
My Insights
I sold a story here! "Quiver" can be found in the Black Beacon Book of Horror.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8J3DP9K/
Here is an interview with Cameron Trost. He is a stickler for authors following the guidelines, and they are different than from other markets... for example, he want single curly quote marks and not double around dialogue.
Details
Editor: Cavan Terrill
Ongoing
Pay: 4 cents per word - max $400
range: 2000-15,000
Simultaneous submissions?Yes
Reprints? no
Description
Science Fiction, or Sci-Fi tinged literary fiction.
Although any science fiction subgenre is fair game, our tastes lean towards slipstream, cyberpunk, post-apocalypse, and anything with a little taste of the bizarre. FF prefers character-driven stories, and often skews towards quiet, reflective pieces. If the primary tone of your story is one of high adventure or humour, it’s probably not the right fit for FF. That said, quality always outstrips genre preference in terms of importance, so feel free to send us anything that even vaguely resembles science fiction.
Submission Hints
see description
My Experience with Them
29 Rejections for me.
It's Halloween... Of course you want to read these.
Buy direct from my Gumroad store and get the ebooks for 99c each!
Speculative
Augur
Details
Publisher: Kerry C. Byrne
Opening Oct 1st
Pay: 14 c a word
Word range: 5000 max
$112 per flash (800 words or under)
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints?no
Description
In Ancient Rome, an Augur was a religious official who looked for the will of the gods in the flight patterns of birds, and made predictions based on the stories they read there. In contemporary Toronto, Augur is a literary magazine that believes we can better engage with our pasts, presents, and futures through stories that explore what-ifs and could-bes.
We are excited by writing that is difficult to classify—whether speculative, surreal, or slightly strange. We’re interested in realist pieces that verge on the dreamlike; speculative stories that are almost realist; and, on top of that, any form of literary fantasy/science fiction/speculative fiction. Augur makes room for writing from uncommon perspectives, and brings together the often disparate realms of literary and genre fiction.
Our goal is to publish at least 75% Canadian and Indigenous content, offering new opportunities to the rich communities of speculative fiction writers in the North. And, more importantly, we’re committed to featuring intersectional narratives as represented by characters, storytelling, and, in particular, author representation.
We want the kind of liminal that pulls voices together, and honours difference as an integral part of our literary canon.
Submission Hints
Our perfect submission defies categorization—pieces that could be “too speculative” for CanLit or literary magazines or “not speculative enough” for speculative magazines. However, we also love a good genre romp, and will publish across many genres, including:
Fantasy
Science fiction (softer side)
Dystopia/utopia
Apocalypse/post-apocalypse
Slipstream
Fairytales
Fables
Fabulism
Magical realism (note: educate yourself before you claim this term)
Dreamy realism
Insight
Tales and Feathers, the sister publication is also opening. Same pay, but only up to 2500 words and they want Cozy short fantasy stories
Horror
Dust & Dark
Details
Editor: Owen Duffy
Oct 1 -31
Pay: .07 Euro per word.
Word range:2000-7000 3-5 sweet spot
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? no
only send one story in the sub window
Description
Dust & Dark is a new quarterly magazine showcasing the best in original horror fiction. We will shortly be inviting submissions for our debut issue, scheduled for release in Spring 2025 following a Kickstarter campaign early next year.
Submission Hints
We’re looking for stylish, atmospheric horror fiction, and we take a broad view of what that means. We’re interested in clearly defined characters, evocative settings, tight pacing and compelling plots. But most of all, we’re looking for stories that leave a lingering sense of unease after we’ve read them. We’re much more interested in expertly rendered dread than straightforward shocks.
We also see horror very much as part of the speculative fiction spectrum, and if your story has something to say, it’s likely to stand out in our submissions pile. Don’t just scare us: surprise us, intrigue us, open us up to new perspectives.
Insight
This is a new market! More notes from the website: We are unlikely to accept stories which rely on well-established horror tropes unless you do something genuinely original with them. We also aren’t looking for stories set in existing fictional universes, including those in the public domain (this includes stories based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft). In addition, as a print and digital magazine, we need to make efficient use of our limited page space. This means that stories based on things like internet chat logs or text message transcripts don’t really work for us.
Western
She Rode West
Details
Editor: Rachel Santino
Deadline April 1
Pay: $10 - 2500 and under $20- 2501-5000
Word range: 5000 max
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? no
Description
Saddlebag Dispatches Magazine is proud to announce an exciting opportunity for women writers to contribute to a new standalone western anthology tentatively titled *She Rode West: Tales of Courage, Dust, and Destiny*. We're seeking short fiction and creative nonfiction that celebrates the strength, resilience, and untold stories of women in the American West—whether historical or modern, fiction or creative non-fiction. This collection aims to showcase the diversity of experiences and voices of women who helped shape the frontier. We encourage submissions from both emerging and established authors who are passionate about bringing these powerful, often overlooked, narratives to life.
Submission Hints
Please send your submissions to rachelsantino@roanweatherford.com, with the subject line “She Rode West Anthology.
Insight
None, but Roan & Weatherford appears to be a very lovely press and I know a couple of authors they work with. The only information I could find for this call was on the Roan & Weatherford Facebook page.
Literary
BRICK
Details
Non-fiction only
Oct 1 - 31
Pay: $67-$720 cdn
Word range: 1000-5000
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Description
Brick prides itself on publishing the best literary non-fiction in the world, and we are eager to read your impeccable and compelling non-fiction submissions. We crave pieces with formal integrity that take creative approaches to rich ideas.
Submission Hints
They take up to a year to respond, and they reach free submittable cap early.
Insight
None. New market for me.
Literary
the deadlands
Details
Editor: Catherine Tobler
Deadline Nov 30
Pay: 10 c a word
Word range: 5000 max sweet spot 3-4k
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? yes 1c a word
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.
Insight
I'm up to 20 rejections here.
Get all three on Amazon.
Mystery
Ink'd publishing
Details
Detectives, Sleuths and Nosy Neighbors: Dying for An Answer
closes Nov 31st
Pay: $20 or royalty share D2D
Word range: 2000-8000
Simultaneous submissions? no
Reprints? No
Description
We’re searching for the murder mysteries, detectives noir, cozy, or humorous. This is our mystery anthology and if you think it comes close to the genre, give us a shot. There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. However, we’ll be impressed if you can work within Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but they won’t be the bulk of the accepted submissions. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story may rise to the top.
Submission Hints
They want Anon subs.
My Insights
I recently sold a story called "The Emotional Support Dragon" to Ink'd for their Dragon Mythicana anthology. I asked the editor which was the better option.. taking the $20 or the royalty share. I was told, "It depends on the sales of the anthology. So far, I've not seen more than the twenty pay out" I am taking the $20. NOTE they only ship author copies to the US.
Horror
RDG Books Press
Details
Untitled Horror Anthology
Editor Rod Gilley
Oct 5- Dec 30
Pay: $20
Word range: 3000-5000
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? No
Description
I couldn't find much on them. So far it looks like the Editor has self-pubbed two of his own books.
Looks like they will be buying 10 stories for this one.
This is what Rod says about himself on the website. "Hi, I'm a Horror - Fantasy writer.
I'm also a Full Service Editor at RDG BOOKS editing service.
I created RDG BOOKS PRESS to give fiction authors a new, innovative, option for publishing.
We are writers too, we know the challenges writers deal with.
'The Writer's Haven' is the thought I had in mind on day one.
As a writer, reader, customer, you will ALWAYS get a solid fair deal, and honest, professional service.
We are here for you."
Submission Hints
None.
My Insights
None
Speculative / Literary
UnrÉal
Details
AE Sci Fi
closes Nov 15th
Pay: 12c a word
Word range: 1000-5000 max
Simultaneous submissions? no
Reprints? No
Description
We are looking for stories and poems in FRENCH or ENGLISH with fantastical or speculative elements set on the island of Montréal. Submissions may be science fiction, fantasy, horror or any adjacent genre. They may be set in the distant past, the distant future, or any time in between. They may feature Montréal as we know it today or an alternate Montréal that has never been. The island or city of Montréal must, however, be an essential element of the story. We want tales that wouldn’t make sense if they were transplanted to New York or Hong Kong or Copenhagen.
Submission Hints
Use their submission platform at https://aescifi.ca/submit/
My Insights
None. But I have been to Montreal! It's a beautiful vibrant city. Cold in the winter. Close to fantastic skiing.
Speculative Fiction
translunar TravelLers lounge
Details
Editors: Aimee Ogden & Bennet North
Open Sept 21-Oct 15
Pay: 3 cents per word
Word range: up to 5,000
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? No
Description
Who doesn’t want to submit to a venue that’s looking for fun? Just the name alone of this magazine is absolutely brilliant. Translunar Travelers Lounge is published twice a year and asks for stories that explore the fun side of fantasy and science fiction.
From the website:
“Put down your bags, take a seat, and relax with our fine selection of short fiction. Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. Yes, that descriptor is highly subjective, and ultimately it comes down to the personal preferences of the editors. However, here are a few road signs to get you started on the path into our hearts."
Submission Hints
A fun story, at its core, is one that works on the premise that things aren’t all bad; that ultimately, good wins out.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that your story has to be silly or lighthearted (though it certainly can be). Joy can be made all the more powerful when juxtaposed against tragedy. In the end, though, there should be hope, and we want stories that are truly fun for as many different kinds of people as possible.
Swashbuckling adventure, deadly intrigue, and gleeful romance are some of the most obvious examples of what we’re looking for,
but we won’t say no to more subtle or complicated topics, as long as they fit under the wider “fun” umbrella.”
Sample Rejection
I've submitted here nine times. Eight rejections. Waiting on my next one for this open call...