Events

Submission Window: December 21st to January 21st, 2024 Payment: $50 Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. 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. 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 don’t accept your work, please wait until our next submission period before trying again unless we specifically ask for more work. We consider only unpublished work. We ask for first North American serial rights and non-exclusive print/anthology rights. All copyrights remain yours. Read more about the rights...

Deadline: January 21st, 2024 Payment: $100 per story Theme: 500-1000 word speculative fiction stories Hello fellow writers and readers, this is Rebecca Halsey, the new publisher for Flash Fiction Online. We are coming into 2024 with a decently sized queue of literary stories and reprints. Therefore, for our January 2024 reading period, we will only be accepting original speculative fiction. We will consider fantasy, science fiction, horror, and all the fabulous cross-sub-genre goodness within that lot. As is our custom, we will be open until the 21st of the month unless the 425 submissions cap is reached. We look forward to reading your stories! SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We are looking for complete 500- to 1000-word stories with crisp prose, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and satisfying resolutions. We want stories that engage our minds and emotions. We publish across many genres, including speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary fiction. For more information on the type of stories we enjoy, please read a few issues and check out our "What We're Looking For" page. Please note, that for January 2024, we will be accepting speculative fiction stories only. SUBMISSION WINDOW: We will be open to submissions on January 1st, and until January 21st, or until our 425 submission cap is reached, whichever comes first. FORMATTING: Please format your submission in a double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman or other serif-type font (NO Courier), with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. No PDF submissions.  No Images and no graphics. ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: Do not include your name, address, email, or other identifying information on your manuscript (header, byline, file name, etc). SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: For the January 2024 reading period, we will accept simultaneous submissions. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: You may submit only one original story to the January 2024 reading period. AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: We are committed to publishing stories written and edited by humans. We reserve the right to...

Deadline: January 21st, 2024 Prizes: First place is 35 USD, for second place is 25 USD, and for third place is 15 USD, to be distributed via PayPal Theme: Hope Flash Fiction Contest: Hope Since our magazine’s founding, we have noticed a trend in our submissions of works that harken to the darkening of the spirit, the decay of our planet, and our accumulating sense of hopelessness. Can we blame them? We have felt this malaise in our own spirits. As such, we have decided to hold a flash fiction contest in the name of hope. Hope is not the lack of darkness but a defiance of it. It is the mote of light we fix our gazes on as we struggle through the twisting world of our reality and what’s within our psyches. We would like to see the kinds of stories that hook us in the gut but keep us on the reel—that keep us searching for that tiny spark of defiance. The award for first place is 35 USD, for second place is 25 USD, and for third place is 15 USD, to be distributed via PayPal. All three will be published to our website. The first place winner will be given an opportunity to discuss their work in a special feature. The deadline to submit for this special contest is January 21st, 2024. Below are the rules for qualification: Please send us your best interpretation of this theme, in the form of a work of fiction no longer than 1,000 words. Only one submission to this contest is allowed per author. All submissions should honor our magazine’s core theming. We prefer works in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, paranormalism, surrealism, and magical realism. Please include your preferred name for publication, your personal pronouns, and a short author bio...