Deadline: August 15th, 2024
Payment: $50
Theme: Urban Fantasy primarily followed by sword and sorcery, some gothic and supernatural horror will be accepted but it will be a harder sell

Dirty Magick Magazine publishes short fiction, from 2,000 to 12,500 words. We pay a single-story rate of $50 which is halfway to SFWA qualification and fully HWA eligible.

E-mail “submissions [at] dirtymagickmagazine.com” with your story attached.

We like a variety of stories but will only publish a few styles. Please read closely as these are the rules and they will not be broken.

First and foremost, we are interested in urban fantasy which we define as fantasy adventure fiction which takes place in modern settings. These places can be real or imaginary (although we prefer the former), but the story must have some combination of those typical elements: magic, other sentient races, enchanted objects, and mythical backgrounds. These all may be underground and hidden, but they must play a part in the story.

Next, we want sword and sorcery which we define as fantasy adventure fiction taking place in an ancient or alternative world where the protagonists must use their wits and weapons to survive. We contrast this with high fantasy (which we are not interested in) where quests taken on behalf of the rulers are world shaking. We are much more interested in the street level like the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales of Fritz Leiber and the Conan/Bran Mak Morn tales of Robert E. Howard.

Finally, we will consider gothic and supernatural horror. We won’t define this directly, but this is a market to submit vampire, werewolf, ghost, and cryptid fiction. Be warned, it would be best to use these creatures in one of the previously mentioned genres as that would be a quicker path to publication.

Now that we’ve established genres, here are some flavors which would be acceptable:

• Steampunk, but only if it fits the urban fantasy description
• Cyberpunk, with the same caveat
• Grimdark, but only if the violence is not too graphic
• Magical Realism, but only if there’s a compelling plot
• Mystery/Crime-this where we started and we want to keep the fantasy-crime hybrid alive

These are some elements which we always want to see:

• Humor is always welcome, especially if it is organic to the story
• Fresh takes on fantasy races, especially if you can stretch beyond Tolkien/Gygaxian stereotypes
• Good balance between plot and character-tell a strong story with believable protagonists
• Strong sense of setting-we believe where a story takes place adds meaning
• We are not afraid of unhappy endings if they are earned

What is never acceptable regardless of genre is the following:

• Racism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, and any sort of unwarranted hatred
• Abuse of minors
• Abuse of animals
• Extreme and graphic violence; some violence is to be expected, but keep it short and sharp
• Extreme and graphic language; some cursing is to be expected, but use it effectively not exploitatively

What we are not looking for:

• Poetry of any kind
• Novel excerpts
• Psychological/serial killer horror-even if this has magical elements, it’s not what we’re interested in
• Science Fiction-our name has magick in it, so we want that
• Romance-the plot should be adventure not relationship-centric
• Parody-we might publish satire if it’s very funny, but no direct parody of an existing story
• LitRPG or gamer fiction where the protagonists are trapped in a game
• Superhero fiction
• Any story using elements of established literary/media properties or any kind of fan fiction even if the characters are in public domain

Plots which are a hard sell:

• Hunters-vampire, cryptid, whatever-stalking their prey and finding them
• “Chosen one” narratives
• Court intrigue or any stories about royals
• Fabulism or re-invented fairy tales unless you have a very modern take
• “It was all a dream”
• Any surprise endings should be earned and logical
• Any story that starts with an info dump instead of in media res will have a long road

Y’know what? Send these as we might just like them:

• “X Files” or Indiana Jones rip offs
• Harry Potter inspired tales of a wizard school, but these will need a twist
• Lovecraftian horror, but don’t use established mythos

On magic and magic systems: The writer should work through some sort of system that is fairly easy to understand and explain. Long passages of explanation are boring and bring your plot to a halt. Have some logic so there’s no handwave-ium, but don’t become an essayist in the middle of a story.

Via: Dirty Magick Magazine.