We’re eager to read your stories, but please be sure that your submission is suitable for our publication and meets our requirements. Thus, we ask that you review the information on the What Kinds of Stories Do We Seek page and the Submission Requirements page prior to submitting your story.
Please note we aren’t interested in reprints and do not accept multiple submissions from a single author.
Once you are satisfied that your story meets our expectations and requirements, use our Submit form send it to the editors for consideration. Use the form–we do not accept email submissions and will delete them unread.
Submitting a story means that we will gather and retain certain information about you, including your name and email address (which necessarily also includes the IP from which you submitted your story). By submitting a story, you consent to our gathering and retaining this information.
Submission Requirements
Document types: doc, docx, pdf, or rtf documents only.
Use correct manuscript format. This means 12 pt Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font, double-spaced. The first page has name, address and email address in the upper left corner and word count in the upper right corner. Reference the Shunn format at https://www.shunn.net/format/story/. NOT USING THE CORRECT FORMAT WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REJECTION.
Unless the call specifies otherwise, stories may not exceed 2500 words and must be at least 1000 words. Shorter or longer pieces will result in immediate rejection.
Include an author bio in your cover letter, including any social media links.
Include the title and a teaser.
Use correct grammar, syntax and punctuation.
English language stories only. Stories translated into English by a professional translator are also allowed.
Electronic submissions only, via the form on this website.
No multiple submissions and no simultaneous submissions. No generative AI. No reprints.
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT extreme horror, fan fiction, erotica, graphic sex, manga-type stories, overtly political pieces, or stories that are degrading to any person or persons of any type.
Submissions will be read within three months from the date submitted. You will receive an acceptance or rejection email within that time. QUERIES ABOUT YOUR STORY WILL NOT BE ANSWERED.
Due to the volume of submissions, we won’t be able to explain to you why a story won’t work for our anthology other than basic issues such as wrong manuscript format or grammar problems.
Payment will be the larger of $10 per story or 1 cent/word rounded to the nearest 100 words, up to a maximum of $25. Authors may elect instead to recieve a copy of the printed issue. Payment will be rendered via Paypal prior to publication. We cannot issue checks or pay in cash–you must be able to accept Paypal to be paid. If you cannot accept Paypal, payment will be in the form of a copy of the printed issue.
Use the form on this website to submit your stories.
Submissions are currently open. Please check our open call.
What Kinds of Fiction Do We Seek?
We are primarily interested in speculative fiction, including such genres as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and stories involving the supernatural. A hallmark of such stories is that they create a fictional world that is different in some fundamental way from the world in which we live and breathe. Neil Gaiman has said the author of speculative fiction starts by asking questions that begin with one of three phrases:
- What if…
- If only…
- If this goes on…
The range of fiction that these questions might generate is broad enough to encompass everything from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, to Harry Potter, to Star Wars, to Dracula. We’re interested in speculative fiction, yes, but speculative where the term is broadly defined. If you’re not sure, ask us.
Successful stories will be between 1000 and 2500 words and be grounded in strong characters interacting with a gritty, realistic world. We prefer stories with traditional narrative form. If you’re not sure what that means, consider this quote from Gary Kurtz: “I took a master class with Billy Wilder once and he said that in the first act of a story you put your character up in a tree and the second act you set the tree on fire and then in the third you get him down.” Do that.
We seek original fiction only. No poetry unless the call explicitly asks for it.
We like stories that grab us by the throat and make us continue reading. That means authors should immerse us in their fictional world from the first sentence and avoid things that pull us out of the here-and-now like info-dumps, head-hops, and passive writing. We prefer stories that start in media res. For more information on the kind of openings we like, see our blog.
We’re not looking for stories with violence or sex, but these are acceptable if essential to the story. However, we will not consider stories that feature incest, underage sex, non-consensual sex, or sex with animals–space aliens or other sentient creatures being excepted! We will not accept extreme horror, fan fiction, erotica, graphic sex, manga-type stories, overtly political pieces, or stories that are degrading to any person or persons of any type.
We will also give preference to local and regional authors, although we are open to authors from any location.
We welcome submissions from members of minority groups and members of under-represented communities.
