HINT - Click on picture to be taken to submission guidelines
Speculative
air & Nothingness press
Details
Anthology: OUR DUST EARTH
Editor: Todd Saunders
Open Nov 1- Dec 31st
Pay: 8 cents per word
word range: 1,000-3,000
Simultaneous submissions?No
Reprints? No
June 1- July 31
Description
We are seeking submissions for an anthology to be titled Our Dust Earth which will collect stories that take place within the Our Dust Earth mini-RPG
link to read the mini RPG - http://aanpress.com/ODE_2025_submission.pdf
Submission Hints
We would prefer Science Fiction genre stories for this anthology, though if you are familiar with Jack Vance's Dying Earth, M. John Harrison's The Pastel City, or Matthew Hughes's Archonate Series, you may know there is a thin line between SF and Fantasy in those narratives.
Personal Insights
I've never played an RGP game in my life. (Not even D&D) But I have sold a story to Todd before for his "We are all thieves" anthology. I LOVE working with him. One of the best indie presses out there, IMO.
Learn more about him and his press by reading my interview with him.
Details
Editor: Jess Carver
Nov 1 -Jan 31
Pay: 3 cents per word
range: 5000 max
3,000 sweet spot
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? No
Description
Dark Hearts is a women-centered theme for which anyone can submit stories. The anthology will feature speculative stories and poems about women who are anti-heroes. Send us your stories about shady ladies: women and female-presenting characters breaking the rules, defying social norms, and getting up to no good!
Submission Hints
Genre: We accept science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and enjoy intelligent blends of the three. Stories and poetry outside these main genres’ will not be considered.
Editor loves: supportive female friendships. Women with a mastery of weapons or powers. Women in STEM or in disguise. Cyborgs. Hackers. Heists. Underdogs. Romance!
Sex, violence and swearing are fine, but execute thoughtfully.
We love creative interpretations of our themes, but require stories and poems to be a solid fit.
Insight
I sold a story to one of their anthologies based on a challenge my Dreamcasters worked on. "The Time Modules" is in The Seven Day Weekend.
I was at World Fantasy Con this October and I met the editor of The Seven Day Weekend! Greg Clumpner was such a great character. We were both members of a panel that discussed "Sports in Horror and Fantasy." It was SO MUCH FUN. Mainly due to him... I was terrified, but he has some mad speaking skills.
If you want to learn more about Greg...
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.
Three books. Thirteen stories in each from Angelique Fawns and the most talented guest writers she could find.
Horror
The Other Stories
Details
Upcoming Themes for Consideration
FOUND FOOTAGE- deadline -
Dec 1st
WEIRD- deadline Jan 1st, 2025
The Workplace - Feb 1st
Rot - April 1st
World Horror - May 1st
Eldritch - June 1st, 2025
Publisher/Editor: Kez
Pay: $15 GBP a story
Word range: 2,000
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? No
Description
The Other Stories podcast is a project by Hawk & Cleaver. I often listen to their creepy short stories when I am in the car.
These aren't the stories your mother used to tell you ... no, these are The Other Stories.
The Other Stories is a weekly short story podcast. A modern take on The Twilight Zone, Tales From The Crypt, or The Outer Limits. Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller, WTF stories delivered right to your podcast feed every Monday morning.
Submission Hints
"If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories!
If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week.”
They’ve even purchased one of my pieces. I wrote a piece about a woman stuck in an immersion chamber in response to a call for stories about “Silence”.
Insights
I sold one story to them many moons ago. I've yeeted more their way, but its like sending them into a deep black void. They say they get back to about your submissions, but I rarely hear a peep after I submit. Like I've had some stories out for over a year and I haven't heard back. Even with pokes. That being said, I love their podcast. The readers are great and the stories are usually pretty good.
Literary
the deadlands
Details
Editor: E. Catherine Tobler
Open November
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.
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.
Insight
I've sent in 12 stories. I've got 12 rejections. I met the publisher of this magazine at World Fantasy Con. Sean Markey was a wonderful host for our Koffeeklatsch. He has some big new projects in the works and he is doing some unique things with fiction and music... keep an eye out on his website! Meanwhile. Keep subbing your stuff about death. (Not murder stories, not gore. Contemplative stuff about the nature and meaning of death.)
Speculative
hexagon
Details
Editor: JW Stebner
Opening Nov 1st
Pay: 1c a word
Word range: 10,000max
Simultaneous submissions? No
Reprints? NO
Description
Hexagon is an online magazine created to take readers to fantastic worlds and to meet incredible characters. We specialize in the weird, the wondrous, and the whimsical!
We are looking for speculative fiction pieces that take us on journeys to other worlds or other times, where elements of the fantastic, absurd, horrifying, or humorous might exist. We are drawn to stories that explore distant futures, ancient civilizations, and everything in between. Experimental fiction is welcomed, as long as there are elements of the wondrous, the weird, or the whimsical.
Submission Hints
-We currently publish only speculative fiction. This includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, cyberpunk, sword and sorcery, magical realism, paranormal horror, dystopian epics, eldritch horror, superhero, space opera, afrofuturism, weird west, etc.
-Deeper than genre, we are looking for pieces with engaging characters, fresh conflicts, and exciting narratives, not just concept pieces. We recommend that you read some of our published work before submitting.
My Insights
I saw that Ai Jiang had a story published here. If it's good enough for Ai... https://hexagonmagazine.ca/issue-10-fall-2022/
Horror
STORIES TO TAKE TO YOUR GRAVE - HIGH SEAS
Details
Undertaker Books
Editor: D.L. Winchester
Nov 1 -30
Pay: $25
Word range:2000-4000 max
Simultaneous submissions? no
Reprints? No
Description
Undertaker Books is putting out the call for horror tales from the high seas! We’re looking for stories of pirates, sea monsters, deserted islands, the Bermuda Triangle, and anything else taking place on or in the world’s oceans. From the ice floes of the Arctic to the nuclear wasteland of Bikini Atoll, the seven seas are your canvas for amazing horror!
This collection of stories is part of our Stories to Take To Your Grave series, and we’ve made some changes to how we’re doing it. Individual stories will be released once a month, then be compiled into an anthology at the end of the year!
Submission Hints
email to submissions@undertakerbooks.com
Here are some interesting facts about the editor from his website: A former mortician, his work searches the darkness to find tales worth telling. He is the author of over three hundred obituaries, numerous short stories, the story collection Shadows of Appalachia, and the flash fiction collection A Terrible Place. In his spare time, he can be found searching for inspiration in the world around him and trying to keep his children from becoming the next generation of horror villains.
My Insights
This editor contacted me directly to post this call.
Details
Editor: Cavan Terrill
ongoing
Pay: 4 cents per word - max $400
(cdn)
range: 2000-15,000
Simultaneous submissions?Yes
Reprints? yes
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
A friend in my writing group shared this insight from a story that made it through several rounds with FF:
My story had a WOW premise rooted in SF (terminal disease patients log into some sort of software reliving their childhood dreams) and it was dual POV, present tense.
My Experience with Them
So many rejections...
Science Fiction
escape pod
Details
Escape Artist Podcasts
Open for submissions:Sept 15-May 31
Pay:8c a word
Word range: 1500-7500 sweet spot 2000-4000
Simultaneous submissions? NO
Reprints? yes
ANON submissions.
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.
My Insights
My last rejection came in 6 days. I would LOVE to break this market. I'm at 26 R's.
Literary Adventure Fantasy
beneath ceaseless skies
Details
Editor: Scott H. Andrews
Pay: 8 cents per word
Word range: under 15,000 words
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been bringing fantasy adventure stories from pre-tech worlds to readers since October, 2008. This is another SFWA-qualifying magazine with absolutely breathtaking cover art and award-winning short stories.
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.”
Personal Insights
Scott H. Andrews was at World Fantasy Con and I GOT TO MEET HIM!!! I have a to send him a new story while he still remembers me. (Hopefully I made enough of an impression.) His magazine sends out rejections with feedback. Which I love. So helpful. This is one of those markets I want to crack one day.
Speculative / Literary
bourbon Penn
Details
Opens Sept 1
Pay: 4c a word
Word range: 2000-7500 max
Simultaneous submissions? no
Reprints? No
Description
Are you a little odd?
Submission Hints
We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.
We want character. For us, stories live and die by their characters. We’re looking for fully drawn characters who surprise us with their honesty, complexity, and contradictions.
We want mysterious. We’re looking for stories that grab the reader, make them ask, “what the hell is going on?” and then deliver on the tease.
We want ideas and we want action. We love exploring big, philosophical ideas, but we revel in suspenseful plotting. If you’re adept at blending these elements, we can’t wait to read your work.
We want fresh voices and exciting prose. We want to be surprised. We want to be inspired. We want to find stories that we can’t wait to publish, promote, and evangelize.
Of course, the best way to understand what type of fiction we’re looking for is to read a couple issues.
My Insights
I LOVE the art of this magazine. No luck. Many tries.... 12 Rejections for me. Usually take a month or so to come.
I was on the WofF Podcast! Learn about my career path, horror books and short story research.
Get all three on Amazon.
Speculative
khoreo
Details
THEME - Symbiosis
Editor: Aleksandra Hill
Open
Nov 1 - 30
Pay: 10 cents per word
Word range: under 5000
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? No
Description
khōréō is a quarterly publication of stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. The speculative element should be integrated into the piece—a random mention of a ghost on page 12 of 16 isn’t going to be the right fit.
Submission Hints
khōréō is dedicated to diversity and amplifying the voices of immigrant and diaspora authors and artists. We welcome, but do not require, a brief description of the author’s/artist’s identity in their cover letter. We invite you to submit if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, transnational/transracial adoptees, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’.
Insight
They've held one story of mine that was ultimately rejected (but then picked up by App Lit.) Here it is if you want to know what got very close...
Read Soul Storm flash here
Speculative
crepuscular
Details
Editor Rebecca Treasure
Open for submissions: ongoing
Pay:10 c a word
Word range: 250 max
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
These pieces should explore “places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas between this and that, here and there, night and day, alive and dead, evil and good, feminine and masculine, up and down, real and unreal. If you're not quite sure what that means, lean into that feeling.” There will be launch stories to read over the next few months that will showcase the kind of stories Crepuscular is looking for
Submission Hints
Rebecca is the flash fiction editor for Apex magazine and this is her micro fiction brain child.
This is her hint for success:
Surprise me. One thing I noticed with the microfiction themes is that there would be a lot of
stories that were fairly similar in theme. The month the theme was VOID, for instance, I read a
lot of black hole stories. Some of them were excellent, but the winning story took the theme and
used it in an unexpected way. Crepuscular isn’t themed beyond the overarching theme of in-
betweenness, but I still want stories that make my jaw drop open, whether because the use of
language is so unique or because the story goes somewhere I wasn’t expecting or because it
touches my soul in some way. Surprise me!
My Insights
I've taken a writing flash course with Rebecca and found it wonderful and illuminating.
Speculative Fiction
The Orange & Bee
Details
Issue #4
OPEN Nov 1 - 14
Pay: 8c a word for short stories, $80 for flash
Word range: flash up to a 1000 shorts up to 4000
Simultaneous submissions? yes
Reprints? yes
Description
We are seeking original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales. We are interested in works that stretch, expand, test, subvert, and challenge the fairy-tale tradition. We are interested in works that are entertaining, but also in works that matter: that is, in works that are both pleasurable to read and thought-provoking. We are interested in works in which the relationship between the your writing and the fairy-tale tradition is complex and thoughtful. Works that—ideally, though this is a Big Ask—open up our hearts and minds, offering us a new way to think or feel about the fairy-tale tradition as well as broader themes and issues.
Submission Hints
"I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the bottles explode" (Angela Carter, ‘Notes from the front line’).
Things they don't want:
We are not seeking faithful or near-faithful retellings of traditional fairy tales or other folklore, from your own cultural tradition, or from any other.
We are not seeking ‘fakelore’ (works that are presented as if they are traditional tales when in fact they are newly created).
Insight
I subbed back in April and got my rejection in 2 days. Though I appreciated the quick response and friendly tone of the rejection letter, I always cringe a bit when an editor offers a paid critique service in the same note as a Rejection.
Horror
Shatter the sun
Details
Shatter the Sun: Queer Tales of Untold Adventures
Submissions: Nov 1- Jan 15
Pay: 8c a word
Word range: 1-4000
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
Stories of queer heroes forged and tempered in the fire, fighting dark stars and bright suns, and overthrowing tyranny in all its forms. Sword and sorcery, sweat and sandals, souls and stars.
Further vibe-check notes after getting some questions about what we are looking for: We’re probably not looking for stories set on Earth. We’re probably not looking for Indiana Jones-type stories either (though maybe a secondary-world decolonial approach would be cool?).
Submission Hints
We are looking primarily for fantasy stories on the gritty, un-epic side of things. We expect there will be a seam of the occult and cosmic horror running through the book. We’ll also probably include a couple sword and planet stories, but that won’t be the focus. We’re using the most inclusive definition of queer. Queer, trans, ace, undefinable. Throughout, we’re looking for rich, varied and nuanced understandings of gender, family and ethnicity.
My Insights
They are running a kickstarter for this and as of today (oct 28) they have raised around half of their goat of $22,942 cdn. If you want to learn more about the Kickstarter... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davering/shatter-the-sun-queer-tales-of-untold-adventure
Details
Editor: Danny Hanker
Open. Oct 1 - Jan 31
Pay: winner gets $1500, 2nd $1500, 3rd $500
word count: 4000 max
unless you are a member
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? yes 1 cent
Description
Attention story tellers, we just want good stories. No restrictions on genre. Fantasy, sci-fi, memoir, fiction/nonfiction, etc - we don't care as long as it's written and told with quality and care.
Submission Hints
To put it simply, we're looking for good stories, measured both by the quality of the writing and the skill in storytelling. Here’s what we’re NOT looking for: excessive anything. Think PG-13, R if necessary. We're not attempting to salt the earth with more cultural dogma couched as mediocre fiction, or writers who are jockeying for the title of Most Woke. There’s enough of that already out there. You want to impress us? Write a good story. You want to get published? Write a great one.
Insight
I entered this contest with my story about a cow. Didn't win. The editor reached out and asked me to feature this contest. He's been kind about promoting others. His editorial style is very bold.
Solar Punk
vivid worlds
Details
Editor Donna Scott
Submissions: Nov 24 - Dec 15
Pay: 1 p word to max 50 Pounds
Word range: 2-9000 words
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
Vivid Worlds, to be published April 2025, will be an anthology of new short science-fiction/science-fantasy stories in the growing solar punk genre. We want you to tell us of futures in which we take our custodianship of the planet we call home seriously. Hopeful stories. What innovations can we bring forward to survive and thrive? We want colour, culture, and nature at the forefront of your stories.
Submission Hints
The Slab is a brand new publishing press, specialising in quirkier sorts of books. Established in 2023 by Donna Scott.
My Insights
None - Donna is approachable though. We've had email correspondance.
Horror
Weird Horror
Details
Editor Michael Kelly
Submissions: Nov 2 - 15
Pay: 1.5c a word
Word range: 500-6000
Simultaneous submissions? Yes
Reprints? No
Description
We are a home for the strange, the macabre, the eerie, the esoteric, the fabulist, and the gothic. The darkly numinous. The odd. We are not interested in extreme horror. Do not send science fiction or fantasy.
Submission Hints
Only one sub per writer, per open period.
My Insights
5 open sub calls. 5 rejections.
“Angelique's blog is a baller resource.”
Will Sobel
Join my substack at https://angeliquemfawns.substack.com for additional calls! I will keep updating all the new amazing opportunities I find via email right to your inbox.