Author: Stuart Conover

Taking Submissions: Translunar Travelers Lounge First 2025 Window (Early)

Submission Window: March 15th – 21st for POC, March 22nd – April 15th is open to all
Payment: 3 cents per word
Theme: Speculative Fiction in the science fiction or fantasy variety

We are open annually for submissions from March 15th through April 15th for our August issue, and from September 15th through October 15th for our February issue.

The first week of submissions (March 15-21 and Sept 15-21) is reserved for writers of color. The remainder of the window will be for general submissions. If you’re a writer of color who submits during that first week and you hear back from us before the general window closes, you’re welcome to send a second submission during that time.

We are not interested in machine-generated (AI/LLM) characters, plots, or text of any kind. Spellcheckers and grammar checkers that run off machine learning are absolutely fine by us (though we also don’t want you to let a machine strip out your natural writing voice in the name of someone else’s idealized grammar!)

HOW TO SUBMIT

SUBMIT YOUR STORIES HERE

WHAT TO SUBMIT

The short version:

  • We pay $0.03 per word with a minimum of $20 in exchange for first world electronic rights in English. We ask for an exclusivity period of 3 months from date of publication.
  • Maximum 5,000 words.
  • Your story must contain speculative elements: that means science fiction or fantasy.
  • We do not accept nonfiction.
  • No simultaneous submissions.
  • Only one submission per writer per open period.
  • We aim to make our final decisions within a month and a half of the close of submissions (i.e. by May 31st for the spring period, and by November 30th for the fall period). You will often receive a response much sooner. If you haven’t heard from us by that time, please query at the above address.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: Astrolabe First 2025 Window

Submission Window: March 20th – April 20th, 2025
Payment: $50 upon publication
Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection in all genres with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit

Please read below for details about our next submission window, guidelines, honorariums, and rights.

At Astrolabe, we’re looking for work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another.

And then, once we find one other, the myths we make.

We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky.

We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit.

(more…)

Writing the Future: How to Predict Emerging Trends for More Realistic Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Speculative fiction isn’t just a genre; it’s a playground for possibilities. From envisioning future technologies to exploring societal shifts, it allows authors to shape worlds that feel plausible—and sometimes prophetic. By tracking emerging trends and weaving them into your storytelling, you can create immersive worlds that resonate deeply with readers. Let’s explore how you can predict and leverage these trends for your next sci-fi or fantasy masterpiece.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: Plott Hound Magazine March 2025 Window

Submission Window: March 1st – 15th, 2025
Payment: Fiction: 8 cents per word, Poetry: $50, Non-fiction: $100
Theme: Stories with anthropomorphized animals as protagonists in any realm of speculative fiction

Submission Periods:
The publishing schedule is quarterly/seasonly. Submission calls open at the start of each season, close in the middle of the first month for reading and responses, and issues aim to be released by the end of the season.

Spring: March 1-March 15, 2025

Summer: June 1-June 15, 2025

Fall: September 1-September 15, 2025

Winter: December 1-December 15, 2025

PROSE Submission Guidelines
-Word limit for original short fiction: 1000 (minimum) – 5000 words (maximum) (sweet spot/preferred: 3000 – 4000 words)

-Maximum word limit for original flash fiction: 999 words

-Reprints: not accepted at this time (unless we meet the Kickstarter stretch goal for 2025!)

-Pay rate: 8 cents/word

-Format: Standard Manuscript Format. 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced, .doc or .docx files. Mailing address and phone number are not required on the header.

-Simultaneous submissions are allowed! Just make sure to give us a howl if your submission has been accepted elsewhere before we make a decision on it.

-Cover letter: please include author name, name of submission, word count, publishing credits (if applicable), any experience pertinent to the story. (For example, if you are a marine biologist and your story features marine animals, do mention that!) Inclusion of content warnings is optional. Do not summarize your story in the cover letter; let the submission speak for itself.

-Translations to English: allowed, welcome, and encouraged! They must be original short fiction or flash within the corresponding word limits. In the cover letter, please state that the work is translated into English from (original language), and include names of the original author and translator.

Plott Hound Magazine welcomes and encourages submissions from writers of all races, religion (creed), gender expression, sexual orientation, age, ancestry, disability, marital status, and military status.

-Stories should be submitted through Moksha (not available yet; link will be provided here when submissions open). Please do not submit through email or postal service.

POETRY Submission Guidelines

Plott Hound publishes 1-3 poems per issue. We’d love to see animal-centric speculative poems in all forms, from free verse to a sonnet to a canto in terza rima.

-Send 1-5 poems/up to 5 pages in a single document.

-Maximum submission length: please send no more than 5 pages (i.e. if you have a single 5-page poem, please send only one poem).

-Format: 12 pt serif font (Courier, Times), single space. See Shunn’s poetry manuscript format.

-Pay rate: $50

-Reprints, simultaneous submissions, and other logistics: see Prose Submission Guidelines above

What We’re Looking For:
-Stories with anthropomorphized animals as protagonists

-Animal-centric speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror)

-Underrepresented voices (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent) that engage with animal myths, tales, and futures

-Stories with uncommonly written about animals as protagonists

-Stories that dig deep into the senses and experience of animals

-Stories that explore the cultures and societies of animals, not just cultures and societies with animals. Think of rabbit language and warren infrastructure in Watership Down, or the clans and warrior code of feral cats in Warriors.

(more…)

Sobello Books March Call For Cosmic Horror Novellas from BIPOC Authors

Submission Window: March 1st – 31st, 2025
Payment: $500 advance and royalties
Theme: Cosmic horror novellas by BIPOC authors

Sobelo Books announces a cosmic horror novella call for BIPOC authors.

BIPOC is generally intended to reflect people whose ethnicities or racial groups include: Black, Indigenous or Native American, Latino/a, Asian & Pacific Islander. If your ethnicity or racial group is not the majority in the country in which this novella will be published, the United States, this means you!

(more…)

Taking Submissions: A Coup Of Owls Summer 2025 Issue (Early Listing)

Submission Window: March 1st – 7th, 2025
Payment: Drabbles and Flash – £5, Short Stories 1001 to 4000 words – £10, Short Stories 4001 to 8000 words – £15
Theme: Stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We do not have set issue themes but feel free to be inspired by the season, seasonal occasions and events.
Note: Only publishes creators from under represented and/or marginalized communities.

WE ONLY PUBLISH CREATORS FROM UNDER REPRESENTED AND/OR MARGINALISED BACKGROUNDS AND/OR COMMUNITIES

We don’t ask for any proof, we take this on trust with the expectation that anyone not from a marginalised background or underrepresented community wouldn’t take up the space of someone who is. We ask you to consider this before submitting.

QUARTERLY ONLINE ANTHOLOGY: BRIEF

We’re looking for stories you’ve poured your soul into but haven’t been able to find the right home for. We’re looking for stories that make us feel something.

Warmth, love, melancholy, rage. We want it all.

All genres, styles and themes will be considered and we especially love stories that are outside the box in their telling. Ambiguous endings? Non-linear storytelling? Antagonist’s point-of-view? A story told in just one scene? We love it all.

(more…)

Taking Submissions: The First Line – Summer 2025

Deadline: May 1st, 2025
Payment: $25.00 – $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 – $10.00 for poetry
Theme: Story must begin with: No one really knows why restoration stopped on the abandoned St. Julian hotel, where commoners and kings once came to relax in luxury.

We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we’ve notified you as to our decision (usually four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don’t want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line.

Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that’s cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions.

(more…)

The Horror of Aging: Vision Loss as Theme

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-blind-eye-6608260/

The Horror of Aging: Vision Loss as Theme

 

Aging is a universal experience, yet it is one that many fear and resist, especially as it brings with it a gradual and sometimes terrifying loss of control.

 

The physical and mental deterioration that comes with time can be a horrifying prospect, and one of the most unsettling ways this manifests is in vision loss. From the creeping frustration of blurred words on a page to the complete isolation of blindness, the loss of sight is not only a medical condition; it can also be a source of profound psychological terror.

(more…)