Deadline: July 1st, 2025
Payment: $30 for original stories and $20 for reprints
Theme: Dark military science fiction, not on horror in the sense of blood, gore, and the like, but in the psychological and atmospheric sense
Note: Reprints Welcome

The stories in Bullet Points 11 (October 2025 release) will focus on dark military science fiction, not on horror in the sense of blood, gore, and the like, but in the psychological and atmospheric sense. Good examples would be the Alien and Predator movie franchises. This special issue will focus on creepy and strange places around the galaxy and how soldiers put in these environments have to overcome adversity to still achieve their objectives.

Submission Policies

Bullet Points publishes speculative military fiction that is sensitive to the complexity, tragedy, and hope of warfare and violence in human (and nonhuman) society. Stories must have both a speculative and a military element; if it’s not clear what this means, read the 2025 Annual Report. The editor considers fiction stories from any author. Original stories run between 100 and 5,000 words, although reprints can deviate from this guideline. Authors retain all rights not specified in the publication agreement. Payment is $30 for original stories and $20 for reprints, upon acceptance for publication, via PayPal.

Bullet Points takes nonexclusive print and electronic publishing rights. Please bear in mind that most outlets will not publish pieces that have been published in print or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after a story is published in Bullet Points it can only be marketed as a reprint. This severely limits the number of markets that will accept it, and drastically reduces the pay rate it can receive. We welcome submission of reprints for this reason. It is up to authors to decide if publishing a previously unpublished story and giving up first publication rights for a token payment is really what they want to do.

Stories appear in quarterly issues that are professionally typeset and made available in ebook and print-on-demand paperback formats. To get a sense for the content that Bullet Points publishes, download and read the first issue for free: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/w128x3xtv9. To explore any future story needs, see the Future Issues page. Bullet Points allows simultaneous submissions.

Note: Bullet Points does not publish fan fiction or erotica. Authors submitting content produced by generative artificial intelligence will be blacklisted. The online magazine also does not publish content that would be considered rated R in a movie, although this restriction is relaxed for print and digital issues. Stories accepted for publication may have to undergo editing to meet this requirement.

Submit Here

Via: Bullet Points.