Events

Deadline: October 22nd, 2023 Payment: $20 AUD Theme: Apocalyptic stories featuring neurodivergent characters Note: Australian and New Zealand authors who identify as neurodivergent EMBRACE THE SILENCE: A Neurodivergent Anthology is now open for submissions. We want apocalyptic stories featuring neurodivergent characters, and we welcome submissions from all Australian and New Zealand authors who identify as neurodivergent, and will also encourage submissions from neurodivergent Indigenous and LGBTIQ authors. EMBRACE THE SILENCE will be assembled – from the cover to the footnotes – by a team of neurodiverse individuals, including the wonderful E. J. Dawson and the sleep deprived Austin P. Sheehan. The anthology will be open to all speculative fiction subgenres (an apocalypse can occur as easily in a fantasy realm as it can on a futuristic earth), and we should advise that an apocalypse need not be all doom and gloom – tales of hope, strength, and survival are encouraged. The idea behind the title EMBRACE THE SILENCE refers to characters accepting and embracing their neurodiversity, as well as adapting to a changing and challenging new world. We encourage you to be as creative as you like in your approach to the theme. Our preferred length for short stories is between 4,000 and 6,000 words, however this is just a guideline, we won’t auto-reject stories based on word count alone. Submissions will open on July 1st and close at midnight on Sunday the 22nd of October. Please only submit unpublished pieces. We will not be accepting AI-written stories. We will be paying contributors $20 each when the anthology is published. Please send you submissions to [email protected] with the story title, word count and ‘EMBRACE’ in the subject line. (Pleased to Unmeet You – 4,000 words – EMBRACE) We can’t wait to read your stories!   Via: Dead Set Press.

Free Submission Window: September 22nd - October 22nd, 2023 Payment: $50 Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection Note: This market alternates between free and pay periods, The next free window is listed above At Astrolabe, we’re looking for work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another. And then, once we find one other, the myths we make. We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky. We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit. Read about Astrolabe for details on our mission and what we’re doing with the Universe. The details Astrolabe is open for submissions year-round. We pay a $50 honorarium upon publication of one or more pieces from your submission. To help fund those payments, we alternate between free and paid submission periods throughout the year. Our free periods begin the day we publish new work—on the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice—and stay open for a month. Here are the free periods for 2023: March 20th to April 20th June 21st to July 21st September 22nd to October 22nd December 21st to Jan 21, 2024 Some additional details: We currently accept three types of work: fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. See below for genre-specific instructions. We’re not a market for lineated poetry at the moment. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work was accepted for publication elsewhere—we’ll be thrilled for your good news! No multiple submissions—and if we...