Category: Magazine

Taking Submissions: Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine 2025 First Window

Submission Window: June 15th – September 15th, 2025
Payment: $10
Theme: Stories that constitutes the ever-moving edge of its kind, as a place between light and dark, consciousness and un, today and tomorrow; work exhibiting the strange, the bizarre, that which is not of the world we know, but more of a twilight realm or even altogether alien place.

Submission window: We are always open for submissions of art, animation, and music! We are currently closed for fiction and poetry submissions.

We are open for fiction and poetry submissions from 15 June to 15 September and from 15 December to 15 March each year.

Please note we have added some limits to submissions (as of 12 Dec 23)! Read on below for more info.

In general …

I would love to see submissions representing not only multiple cultures but subcultures, exploring issues of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and many things I haven’t thought of. Does this mean you have to represent everybody and everything in 1000 words? Of course not. But be aware that we are creating a magazine that overall reaches and represents the true diversity of the world we live in.

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Taking Submissions: The Orange & Bee July 2025 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – 14th, 2025
Payment: Poetry: $50 per poem, Flash: $80, Short fiction/non-fiction: $0.08 per word
Theme: Original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales (though we also sometimes dabble in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends)

“No matter what you write, you actually can’t help retelling a fairy tale somewhere along the way.” ~Catherynne M. Valente

2025 submission windows

NB: Please note that all dates/times are AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

  • 9:00 am 1 January to midnight 14 January
  • 9:00 am 1 July to midnight 14 July
  • 9:00 am 1 October to midnight 14 October

We do not accept multiple submissions (one piece per submission window, please!), simultaneous submissions, or previously published work (reprints).

Submitting your work

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Taking Submissions: The Quiet Ones 2025 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – August 1st, 2025
Payment: $25
Theme: Quiet Horror and Intimate-Scale Dystopian Fiction

Accepting:

  • Short Stories up to 3000 Words

  • Flash and Micro Fiction up to 1200 Words

  • Fiction-in-Verse up to 1200 Words

Author Compensation: $25.00 (USD) per piece

Rights: We request first worldwide and digital rights for four months following publication. Thereafter all rights revert to the author. All copyright remains with the author.

Genre: Quiet Horror and Intimate-Scale Dystopian Fiction (see our updated FAQ page for more on how we define Quiet Horror and Intimate Dystopia).

Call Status: CLOSED

Publication: Digital Format (PDF)

Submission Period: July 01, 2025 – August 01, 2025

Decisions By: September 15, 2025

Release Date: October 30, 2025

Submission Process: During our open submission period, a form will be available at the bottom of this page through which you can submit your work. Continue below to read submission rules and guidelines.

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Taking Submissions: Fraidy Cat Quarterly Volume 7

Submission Window: July 1st – 7th, 2025
Payment: Flash (400-1500 word) $10, Shorts (1,501-8,000) $20, Black and white Artwork: $10
Theme: Rage

We are pro-simultaneous submissions for all categories. Get your work out there with publications you love, and withdraw at any time for any reason.

We try to respond as quickly as possible, but we do have lives, a family, and jobs outside of Fraidy Cat. We appreciate your understanding as we give our time, attention, and grace to all aspects to the best of our abilities.

Fraidy Cat Press is proud to present Fraidy Cat Quarterly, published four times annually in print and ebook formats.

Volume 7: Rage

  • General submissions: July 1,2025 – July 7, 2025
  • Extended window for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and Palestinian authors: July 1, 2025 – July 14, 2025
  • Publishing in September 2025

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Taking Submissions: Brink Literary Magazine July 2025 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – 31st, 2025
Payment: Poem (per poem): $25, Work (less than 1500 words): $50, Art (1-3 Images) : $50, Art (4+ Images): $100, Work (more than 1501 words): $100
Theme: Hybrid fiction with the theme of Obsession

Brink has two reading periods per year: January and July.

July 1 – 31 we will open for submissions engaging the theme of Obsession.

Through Submittable, we accept a variety of creative work from Nonfiction to Fiction, from Poetry to Translation. But our hearts beat strongest for hybrid work.

We are interested in work that presses boundaries by using more than one medium to tell a story; work that looks and feels different on the page. Additionally, we look for submissions that engage the issue’s theme and the notion of being on the brink.
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Taking Submissions: Thema: Today’s Onerous Task

Deadline: November 1st, 2025
Payment: Short story, $25; nonfiction/essay, $25, short-short piece under 1000 words, $10; poem, $10; artwork/photography, $25 for cover, $10 for interior page display.
Theme: Today’s Onerous Task

The premise (target theme) must be an integral part of the story, not necessarily the central theme but not merely incidental. NOTE: Stories longer than 20 double-spaced typewritten pages will not be considered. Indicate premise (target theme) on title page. Be sure to Indicate target theme in cover letter or on first page of manuscript. Include self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with each submission. Rejected manuscripts unaccompanied by an SASE will not be returned. Response time: 3 months after premise deadline. NO READER’S FEE.

Theme and deadline: Today’s Onerous Task (November 1, 2025)

ALL SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, POEMS, PHOTOGRAPHS and ART MUST RELATE TO ONE OF THE PREMISES SPECIFIED ABOVE.
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Taking Submissions: SmokeLong – Dark Fantasy and Psychological Thriller Call

Deadline: August 15th, 2025
Payment: $300
Theme: Dark Fantasy prose that explores our darkest fears

Beginning May 11th, SmokeLong will be searching for prose that is troubling, that explores our darkest fears. We’re not quite sure we’re ready for this to be honest, but that’s part of the appeal. We are looking for literary prose. We do not want to weather gratuitous violence or cruelty, but we do–or at least we think we do–want to feel fright, unease, a racing heart. If you are a writer of stories that do this, this call is for you. Think Shirley Jackson.

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Taking Submissions: Slugger Summer 2025 Window

Submission Window: June 15th – July 15th, 2025
Payment: $25
Theme: All subgenres of horror (dark fantasy, sci-fi, noir all accepted as long as horror plays a central role).

SLUGGER is the creative effort of two horror writer pals.

Send us: 

  • In general, we are open to all subgenres of horror (dark fantasy, sci-fi, noir all accepted as long as horror plays a central role).
  • Body horror tickles our fancy the most if we had to pick a subgenre, but SLUGGER will be open to all horror stories.
  • We love subversive and transgressive fiction. Anything that fits the punk ethos is likely to get our attention.
  • Stories can be speculative or not.
  • Our guidelines may change over time, but we are open to the full spectrum of genre to literary fiction, conventional storytelling to experimental, and plot driven to vibes only.

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