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Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: New stories: $50 for 2.5-5k words, $75 for 5-10K words; $100 for 10-15K; Reprints accepted at half the new story rate Theme: Near future hopepunk Note: Reprints Welcome Open for Submissions: November 1st 2022 – February 28th, 2023 Story Length: 2.5-15K Genre: Near future hopepunk Characters: All welcomed. Diversity (race, sexuality, gender, ability) welcomed Payment: One-time flat fee. New stories: $50 for 2.5-5k words, $75 for 5-10K words; $100 for 10-15K; Reprints accepted at half the new story rate Include: Word file (.doc or .docx, see below), short submission letter with story title, word count, problem addressed in the story, solution/adaptation, and if this is a reprint. Submit to: Editor J. Scott Coatsworth, [email protected] Other Submission Notes: One story per author, please, no simultaneous submissions. Submit Your Story The way we do things now as a society is unsustainable. Garbage is piling up in our landfills and oceans, income inequality is getting worse, and our governments are often paralyzed when it comes to seeking solutions. For the third anthology in the Writers Save the World series, “Transform the World,” we’re focusing on new ways of living and of structuring societies. Stories should be near future (in the next 100 years or so) science fiction with a hopeful tone. Stories do not need to be hard sci fi, but the chosen solution/adaptation should be plausible, given what we know about human nature and society today. That said, we have accepted a few whimsical stories that tickled our fancy in the past. Diversity (race, gender, orientation, ability, mental spectrum etc) encouraged. Submit Your Story Examples: A new colony on Mars is run entirely on a barter/exchange system, with expansion credits for hard work that allow the recipients to start sub colonies of their own. A new city is built on the ocean, where people live in a sustainable way with...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: $5 Theme: Burn This F*cker Down A Literary Journal with Some Art and Analysis Thrown in for Good Measure As Quarter Press continues to grow, we’re adding another coin to our pocketful of change. We want to offer a space for shorter works to mingle with art and other bits of nonsense, so we bring you The Quarter(ly): It just makes cents. Issues are themed; however, we consider all interpretations. "~ Burn This F*cker Down - Feb. 28 - What needs to be destroyed? Why? Send us your destructive works that hope to bring in the new and build something better." Stories and / or Poems For Stories: We’re open to micro works all the way up to 10,000 words. Just keep two things in mind: We want to be engaged and the submission must be completed (no pitches, please!) We Want: Works with fantastical elements: scary, happy, creepy, heartbreaking, bizarre, hilarious, whatever. While you can see our “Loves” lower on the page, we’re pretty open to anything that’s worth picking up. We (Probably) Won’t: Pick up works not tied to or containing fantastical elements. It’s kinda our thing. (However, some themes may lean more heavily on a specific genre or reality. Interpret accordingly.) Where to Tread Lightly: We’re pretty open-minded and okay with just about anything, but there better be a reason for it to be in the work. The darker, more explicit you go, the more we’ll really need to see its necessity to the work. We don’t want shock / horror / violence for its own sake. Definitely Will Not Publish: Any work that is hateful towards any race, creed, religion, gender, or identity. This aims to be an inclusive space. Other Good Things to Know Your work must be ORIGINAL. Excluding...

Submission Window: January 1st, 2023 to February 28th, 2023 Payment: Contributors copy and $20 USD for original stories and $5 for reprints Theme: Folk Horror, Psychological Horror, Gothic Horror, Weird Fiction / Lovecraftian, Post-Apocalyptic Note: Reprints Welcome Our next submissions window will be for "The Black Beacon Book of Horror". The submissions window will be from the 1st of January to the 28th of February, 2023. Patreon patrons are invited to submit effective immediately.   Oh, the horror! But what kind of horror do we want? We want your very best horror stories in keeping with the themes and styles that make Black Beacon Books stand out from the pack. If you don't know what that means, you probably haven't read any of our previous titles...we strongly suggest you do so. In short, our passion is for great plots, evocative settings, suspense and atmosphere, and clever twists. We want that creeping feeling of unease that grows to a spine-chilling climax. In terms of horror subgenres, these are what are most likely to tickle our fancies: - Folk Horror (Black Beacon Books is based in Brittany and your editor loves all things Celtic and mystical, so folk horror from all around the world is likely to attract his attention) - Psychological Horror (We are the monsters)   - Gothic Horror (Can you channel Shelley, Poe, Stoker, Gaskell or Le Fanu?) - Weird Fiction / Lovecraftian (But it had better be original) - Post-Apocalyptic (Make us fear the future)   We regularly post news on our Facebook page. You can also get a feel for what we like by buying our previously published titles. Publishing quality fiction is an expensive passion, so the more we sell, the more we can publish. It's that simple. Our cherished Patreon patrons also provide us with the means to keep producing quality books. # Rates: We...

Submission Window: February 1st, 2023 - February 28th, 2023. Payment: $0.03 per word Theme: Story that takes place at the beginning of the apocalypse in a short period of time, see below for specifics At the moment the earth ended, a little over eight billion human souls clung to its surface. That’s eight billion stories. Nobody knows how many remain. But if you’re reading this, you are one of them. Good job! We want that story. It doesn’t matter how this thing started, what caused it, or where it came from. That’s not what we’re after. We want the experiences, the points of view, the wild, weird, disgusting, disturbing, beautiful, heartbreaking things that happened at the very beginning of the end of the world. Guidelines: This is an open submission call for a fiction anthology. Open call submission window open February 1, 2023 - February 28, 2023. Extended submission window exclusively for writers from marginalized communities March 1, 2023 - March 7, 2023. The anthology will be a mix of solicited stories and stories selected from the open call submission period. What are we looking for? Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 1500 and 4000 words (firm limit) that deal with a fictional apocalypse. The story must take place within a short period of time (less than a day) at the beginning of a fictional apocalypse. The story shouldn’t be the inception point or the origin of the apocalyptic event. It shouldn’t even be about the event itself. Rather, it should be about when it all started for the POV character(s). Make it personal. Make it weird. Make it disturbing. Make it beautiful. We’re gonna get a lot of zombies, so points for originality. This anthology is open to all writers, but we strongly encourage writers from the LGBTQIA+, BIPOC,...

Submission Window: January 17th - February 28th, 2023 Payment: $10 Theme: Dark genre-bending works in the realms of horror, sci-fi, the weird, the macabre, fantasy, and magical realism. WHAT WE LOOK FOR: We are most interested in dark genre-bending works in the realms of horror, sci-fi, the weird, the macabre, fantasy, and magical realism. We want stories that grab us by the throat and ask questions about what it means to be human. Make us feel something long after we are done reading. The Editor is particularly fond of stories in the vein of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Creep Show. When it comes to literary inspiration, think of Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, and Mary Shelley. The Editor also enjoys almost anything produced by A24. Think of Pyre as a bonfire — a place of storytelling and sacrifice. Take a seat near the fire and listen or spin a yarn of your own. Here at Pyre, we worship at the altar of storytelling done well. We love genre work that tells us something about the human condition. Pyre is personally funded and maintained by the Editor. he asks you are patient with him as he gets back to submissions. PYRE WILL CONSIDER MATERIAL BY ANY WRITER AND ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN AMPLIFYING UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES.  SUBMISSION PERIODS: Pyre Magazine is a biannual publication. Issues are released Spring/Summer & Fall/Winter. Our submission periods are as follows: SUMMER/SPRING ISSUE (CURRENT ISSUE) SUBMISSIONS OPEN: JAN 17 - FEB 28 ISSUE RELEASE: APRIL WINTER/FALL ISSUE SUBMISSIONS OPEN: AUG 17 - SEP 18 ISSUE RELEASE: NOV 16 FICTION GUIDELINES:  Submissions of fiction should be no longer than 3,500 words Please submit only one piece per submission period. Send submissions as attachments to: [email protected] with the subject line: fiction submission_yourname. Please include your name (or pen name), the title of the story,...

Submission Window: January 1st - February 28th, 20-23 Payment: 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $50 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We purchase book reviews for $50. We purchase art for $80. Theme: Science Fiction and fantasy Reading past issues is the best way to know if your submission is a good fit for NewMyths.com. We like to balance each quarterly issue between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works. Our readers are not fixated on a single style or tone or genre, but prefer a quality sample of the field. Think tapas or dim sum. Submission Period New Myths considers submissions between January 1-February 28 and June 1-July 31. Artwork, requests for book reviews, and other correspondence can be submitted at any time. Payment Payment is upon publication. NewMyths.com currently pays 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $50 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We purchase book reviews for $50. We purchase art for $80. Rights NewMyths.com acquires first publication rights only (we are not interested in stories that have already been published elsewhere). Authors retain their copyright on all works after first publication on the NewMyths.com website. By submitting content to NewMyths.com you agree that, should the content be accepted, you grant NewMyths.com a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right and license to digitally archive and display the content (aka Digital Archive Rights). In the case that we later desire to include your content in any other format (e.g. print, anthology, etc.), those rights will be separately negotiated at that time. Simultaneous Submissions: No problem. We ask that you please indicate in your submission that your story is a simultaneous submission, and notify us as soon as possible...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: 3¢ per word for fiction, 25 cents per line for poetry Theme: Outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror that takes a look at a world where everything is automated and a labor force no longer exists Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend – Call for Submissions and Guidelines Beginning December 1, 2022, the annual Triangulation anthology will accept submissions for its 20th collection in the series, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Automation simplifies our lives, to the point where a production facility is so automated it makes no sense wasting energy to run lights. These “dark factories” are currently present in the auto industry, the electronics industry, and even the robotics industry itself. What does the world look like when jobs are automated to the point that the labor force is non-existent? We’re looking for outstanding fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, and speculative horror—from both new and established writers. Editors: Storm Walden, Co-editor, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Greg Clumpner, Co-editor, Triangulation: Seven-Day Weekend. Humanity craves efficiency, subconsciously forming habits to make each portion of our day more comfortable, allowing us the time and ability to expand our horizons. From Neanderthals learning migration patterns for hunting food to coding scripts to streamline processes to the dream of roads filled with fully autonomous vehicles, we push boundaries to make our lives easier. What happens when our lives become as easy as they can be? What are the sustainability implications? How does excess free time affect our social structure? What personal habits develop when we’ve already made our work lives as efficient as possible? Are we going to rise above working long hours in drudgery? Will a seven-day weekend be hopeful, lightening the communal load for all to experience joy and freedom every day? What is the cost of that freedom? Will automation take over...

Submission Window: February 15th - 28th, 2023 Payment: $0.05 per word for fiction, $50 per poem Theme: Symmetry As of November 2022, we are no longer accept submissions via email, we’re now using Moksha to manage submissions. Any submissions sent via email will be deleted unread. Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year. We publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October. We also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme. Read our submission guidelines and submit your work through our Moksha portal. Payment Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.05 per word, minimum of $50.00 dollars for short stories and a flat fee of $50 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year. Equity Initiative As Apparition Lit works to create a more equitable publishing community, we recognize that our open submission period is concurrent with some other really great literary magazines where marginalized writers also like to submit. Voices should be heard and we want to help increase that opportunity. Our submission window will remain open for an additional week each quarter for writers who identify as BIPOC and self-identify in their cover letter.  We will also accept simultaneous submissions from writers who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+. Please just note how you identify in your cover letter, that it is a simultaneous submission, and see further details in the menu below on how to submit for each category. Past Contributors Once you are published by Apparition Lit, you join our tiny but mighty...

Submission Window: January 31st - February 28th, 2023 Payment: Negotiated; expect a royalty, potentially an advance. Theme: All forms of speculative fiction Weird Little Worlds Press is pleased to announce that we will be opening to unsolicited submissions starting January 31, 2023. Our press is focused on speculative genre fiction that includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and adventure. We are also looking to publish nonfiction adventure novels that include true stories of survival, high-stakes or dangerous careers, or incredible events featuring real-life heroes. The press was started in 2020 by Michael Cluff and Willow Dawn Becker. Even though Michael had to step away from the company in 2021 because of time constraints, Willow has continued to lead the company to ever-expanding heights. The press’s first anthology, Humans are the Problem: A Monster’s Anthology, was recently featured in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 14, and Gemma Files’ story “Poor Butcher Bird,” was included. In 2021, WLW Press released Mother: Tales of Love and Terror, an anthology of horror that is eligible for Bram Stoker Award® consideration, as well as Leto’s Children, a science fiction horror novel. WLW Press has a goal to publish at least four full-length novels in 2023. The open submissions period, which will last until midnight on February 28th, will give authors of all experience levels the same opportunity for having their work read. The WLW Press submission process is an anonymous process, so talent, execution, and concept becomes the focus of our reading, not the author’s name or following. LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE. SHARE YOUR STORY. There is nothing as powerful and awesome as a great story told well. We are looking for the most exciting, fantastic, and awe-inspiring tales to add to our publishing library. If you have something wonderful that illuminates, surprises, and scares us, we want...

Submission Window: February 1st - 28th, 2023 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and...

Submission Window: February 1st - 28th, 2023 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? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: $100 and a contributors copy Theme: Anything story 'from that future' that includes bitcoin Konsensus Network is accepting story submissions for the world’s first bitcoin short-fiction anthology, 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain The book will contain 21 short fiction stories from various authors, one of whom could be you! We want to present a broad spectrum of possible worlds all told through the lens of bitcoin. Stories must be fiction and must feature bitcoin in a meaningful way. The book will feature work from some of the most prominent voices in the bitcoin community in addition to emerging short-fiction authors. Primarily, our editors are looking for gripping, human-interest stories with emotional impact. They want strong characters, high stakes, and moments of epiphany and change. The idea is not to predict the future of bitcoin, but to expose the situations it may uncover. We are keen to publish a variety of visions, not just sci-fi dystopias and stories of crime and fraud. Send your story Writers should submit stories between 1,500-3,000 words before the deadline of 28th February 2023. If selected as one of the 21 stories to feature, authors will receive $100 in exchange for Global, unlimited publishing rights.* Yes, you can get paid in sats. You will also naturally get a copy of the book, fresh off the press. Please send submissions in English as a document (odt or doc preferred) to [email protected] along with a 50-word author biography. We only accept one submission per author, so please send us the best one! The small print We don’t want to limit your creativity, but there are some important guidelines that all submissions must follow. Submissions should not feature any other kinds of “blockchain technology”, “Web3” platforms, “cryptocurrencies” or “NFTs”. The accuracy of bitcoin terminology, ethos and technology...

Submission Window: February 1st-28th, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word, Reprints at 1 cent per word Theme: Stories that deal with death and what comes from death (see below) The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for fiction that concerns itself with death—but also everything death may involve. A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified. Burials in troubled lands. A raised scythe against a clouded sky. Memento mori. The rivers of the dead. The sprawling underworlds beneath our feet. The Deadlands would love to see stories from a worldwide perspective, different cultures, different approaches to death. We welcome stories from everyone, everywhere. We are particularly interested in works by writers from historically marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds. Stories that feature characters impacted by someone passing away and processing the event of death are fair game, but will likely be a hard sell unless they also do something else. Stories about related subjects—zombies, demons, vampires, apocalypses, and the various undead—are not for us. An apocalypse may be your setting, but it isn’t your story. We are absolutely not interested in seeing weird West stories, steampunk tales, or military fiction. We are not interested in stories involving Lovecraft’s mythos. Humor will be a harder sell than heartbreaking. If your story begins with someone waking up, it is not for us. Explore some influences we’re drawing from. The Deadlands accepts stories up to 5000 words. There is no minimum length. Stories should be original and unpublished (this includes your blog, your website, your newsletter, your Patreon). The sweet spot for length is probably around 3-4k. Please do not submit reprints and originals at the same time....

Deadline: February 28th 2022 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Beyond the Veil NOTE: The magazine also runs a monthly contest with a $3000 prize, though the contest is only open to members who pay the $10/month fee How do you feel as you lift the wedding veil? As you lay the burial shroud? When you stand at life’s final doorway, will you look back and say you tried to reveal truth, or to conceal it? Veils obscure what’s right in front of our eyes. The great wizard is only a man behind the curtain. It’s smoke and mirrors—and there’s always another secret. Try to read between the lines and glean the truth wrapped in lies. Disguises, double-meanings, and false trails. Even the sun hides behind the moon. Be wary of peering too closely at the darkness, where unseen creatures shift in the night. But light blinds as easily as shadows, so hold your lantern high and hope the lighthouse pierces the fog. Still, veils keep us safe. Sane. Just ask anyone who’s glimpsed the future and seen their death. Is reality that brittle? But hush now, the masked performers are waiting backstage. The curtain rises, our story begins. All new writers can submit work to the magazine. It’s free. We don’t believe publications should charge authors to be published. However, we have a specific submission process you must adhere to in order to have your work considered. Our submissions window opens on the first and closes at midnight on the final day of each month. Each issue of the magazine is themed according to our monthly prompt. The prompts are designed to inspire ideas but leave room for you to tell the story you want to tell. You can always write in any genre. This month’s prompt can be viewed...

Deadline: February 28th, 2023 Payment: €20 Theme: horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica that grapple with the topic of Endings Note: Reprints Welcome Submissions are open from February 01-28 2023 for TOWER VOL. 1: END. We accept all genres and encourage submissions of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and erotica. For VOL. 1: END we’re looking for work that grapples with endings, death, dissolution and finality; sudden, brutal endings; torturously slow breakdowns; how do things come to an end and who gets to decide? Some inspirations: The desperation for an ending to the tortures of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s No End Will Be Found The cyclical violence in “Herbert White” by Frank Bidart The clash between audience and artist’s expectations of an ending in ABC’s LOST The desperate battle against a prophesied ending in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth The incomprehensible disappearance and abrupt end of an internet friendship in Lol Cuthbert’s “This journal has been deleted and purged” How we go on after the end of the world in Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt, Kentaro Miura’s Berserk and Torrey Peters’ Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones The role of geography and place in predetermining a life as in Cherie Priest’s Those Who Went Remain There Still The endless scroll of Tiktok PAYMENT Payment is €20 per contributor paid via PayPal or Revolut. Co-authored pieces count as one contributor. Issues will be hosted at readtower.itch.io and available for PWYC down to free. REPRINTS We are open to reprints and encourage submissions of self-published materials (EG. an illustration or comic posted to Twitter, a short story published on itch.io). SIMULTANEOUS / MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS We’re totally fine with simultaneous submissions, just email us withdrawing your piece if it’s accepted elsewhere. Please only submit once per category, making a different submission for each category. We encourage submissions of related works (EG. a story and accompanying illustration). FORMATTING We love pieces with unusual formats, specific layouts or mixed media, for example, “The Pipeline” by...