Category: Flash

Taking Submissions: Taco Bell Quarterly #8

Deadline: July 31st, 2025
Payment: $150
Theme: works of literature that intersect with Taco Bell

My kids make books all the time for fun. Both of them want to be writers and artists when they grow up. I feel like this is my fault. I’ve made it look too fun. They bring me their stacks of pages, begging for the stapler, as if the stapler contains magical powers, as if the act of binding together the book is what makes it real. I staple three neat clicks and I’ve made it look real. Something more real to pretend with, at least.

We are back, pretending to make our literary magazine again. We are the Taco Bell Quarterly, a Prestigious Literary Magazine that is opening for submissions on 4/20/25.

We are looking for prose, poetry, art, and beyond for our eighth issue, which will be available to read for free online, and to buy in print in the late fall. We will pay $150.

What are we looking for: works of literature that intersect with Taco Bell

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Taking Submissions: 100-Foot Crow Spring 2025 Window

Submission Window: May 15th – June 15th, 2025
Payment: $8.00 ($0.08 per word)
Theme: Scifi and/or Fantasy 100-word stories (can include horror but must have a SF or F element) that focus on the theme of ‘Train” – any meaning of the word Train is valid.

We’ll be opening again for submissions May 15 to June 15 for the theme TRAIN. We will allow one themed and one un-themed submission per writer. All submissions must be submitted via our Google form, which will be available here when we are open.

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Taking Submissions: It Takes a Village

Deadline: June 1st, 2025
Payment: $5 for poetry sets (up to 5 pages), $10 for flash fiction (up to 1000 words), $25 for fiction stories up to 5000 words, +$2/1000 words for over 5000 for fictions stories up to 10,000 words
Theme: Canadian authors telling stories about community: finding it, building it, maintaining it, being expelled from it. SF and F are called out as acceptable, no word on H so probably a hard sell

This anthology’s theme is “It Takes a Village” – I’m looking for stories about community: finding it, building it, maintaining it, being expelled from it. How do we build our villages as adults? How do we grow connections with those around us? What do we do when we’ve lost them? We’ve heard the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child” but also “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” How do we tackle these emotions as adults?

As this is a bit trickier of an anthology theme than the last one, the reading period is going to be much longer, and the final evolution of the anthology’s theme will come from what the overarching theme and tone from the submitted and accepted pieces create.
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Taking Submissions: Gen-X Flash Fiction Anthology

Deadline: July 15th, 2025
Payment: $25 usd
Theme: Scifi, speculative fiction, fantasy, not horror that showcases Gen-X

  • Theme:Gen X (Gen X characters and/or themes and/or culture should figure prominently within the story in ways that distinctly identify them as Gen X and/or that have an easily identifiable Gen X “vibe”).We’re especially interested in unique, unexpected takes on the Gen X experience from original points of view.
  • Deadline: July 15, 2025. Submissions are considered on a rolling basis, meaning that acceptance/rejection decisions are made as submissions come in. Authors can generally expect an initial response to their submission within 1-2 weeks.
  • Anthology Release Date: Late 2025-Early 2026
  • Genres and categories accepted:
    Literary, Romance, Sci-Fi & Spec Fic, Mystery, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retellings, Historical Fiction, Humor/Satire, Paranormal, Magical Realism, and others.
    No horror (spooky is okay), gratuitous violence, erotica, of use of “F-bombs,” please. No essays, CNF, poetry, or anything that isn’t fiction.
    No AI-generated or AI-assisted stories. All submissions should be original, human-created stories that have never been published or performed/read elsewhere (including, but not limited to, social media, a personal blog or website, live or recorded event, etc.).
  • Reader Demographic: YA to adult (approximately ages 14-100)
  • Word count: Between 1,500-2,000 words
  • Payment for accepted submissions: $25 USD (via PayPal) upon completion of edits.

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Taking Submissions: Short Story Substack May 2025 Window

Submission Window: May 1st – 31st, 2025
Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue
Theme: Any genre, short story

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

Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check.

Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars?

Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that.

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?
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Taking Submissions: NonBinary Review #41

Deadline: August 1st, 2025
Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $10 for poetry, $25 for artwork or $50 for cover artwork
Theme: Solarpunk
Note: Reprints Welcome

NonBinary Review is currently open for submissions on the theme of SOLARPUNK.

We want your rusting Teslas still chugging along for a hundred years. Your wooden bicycles pulling hitches rigged with wind turbines. Your crumbling brutalist towers, softened by time, now home to moss, mushrooms, and grizzly bears.

Solarpunk is not just about sustainability, it is about adaptation, resilience, and the beauty of a world where humanity and nature thrive together. If you are looking for inspiration, think Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers; Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky; or the quiet satisfaction of making coffee with a Chemex, dumping the used grounds in your compost, and watching the worms enjoy their breakfast too.

We are NOT looking for “climate change is a myth, stop worrying!” stories, sexual coming-of-age narratives, or anything that does not fit within the speculative genre.

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Ongoing Submissions: Kinpaurak Magazine

Payment: $5 per work
Theme: Fiction, poetry, artwork that deals with the Esoteric, Absurd, and Sublime (definitions below.)

THE ESOTERIC – Hidden. Occult. Secret. Mystical. Unknown.

THE ABSURD – Meaningless. Chaos. Nonsense. Ridiculous. Paradox. Existential.

THE SUBLIME – Awe. Vastness. Beauty. Terror. Overwhelming. Grandeur.

We accept all genres—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, philosophical monologues, etc. However, nothing over 2,000 words.

  • Fiction/Nonfiction: Up to 2000 words (flash, short stories, experimental prose welcome).
  • Poetry: Up to one quadrillion poems per submission (not exceeding 2000 words). Any form or style.
  • Essays: Up to 2000 words.
  • Hybrid Work: No rules, I guess. If it doesn’t fit anywhere else, send it here.
  • Visual Art: We accept a range of 2D and 3D artworks. PNG, JPG, or TIFF. Dimensions wise, preferably 8.5×11 inches (portrait) or 11×8.5 inches (landscape).
  • Auditory Art: Noise, ambient, and electronic manipulations are most wanted. WAV or MP3 (320 kbps preferred). Up to 10 minutes (shorter pieces encouraged). Accompany a description, 150–300 words, explaining the concept, technique, and relevance to Kinpaurak’s themes. Please refer to our FAQ for more information.

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Taking Submissions: Eternal Haunted Summer: Summer Solstice 2025

Submission Window: May 1st – June 1st, 2025
Payment: $5
Theme: Poetry or short fiction about the Gods and Goddesses and heroes of the world’s many Pagan/polytheist traditions that somehow features Music

Summer Solstice 2025: Music. Submission Period: 1 May through 1 June 2025. Jazz and blues. Rock and opera. Ballads and filk songs. Music has been an integral element of human creativity and culture since we first learned to carve holes into bones. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about music — in all its forms — from a Pagan/polytheist, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about the duel between Apollo and Marsyas, Bragi wooing Idun, and Pan stalking a poacher with madness-inducing pipe music. Send us short stories about a desperate musician making a crossroads deal with Dionysus, a composer praying to Hymen for inspiration, an archaeologist uncovering a temple and sacred instruments of Kothar-wa-Khasis. Send us essays about Väinämöinen as archetypal musician, Mozart’s opera Apollo et Hyacinthus, and the rise of the modern Pagan music scene.

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