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Deadline: January 31st, 2021 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Speculative Fiction of all types What we Publish: Original fiction and poetry, all of which must be broadly “speculative fiction” (science fiction, fantasy, alt-history, magical realism, slipstream, or in some other way altered reality). Length: 12,000 words or less preferred, but you may submit stories up to 20,000 words. 30 lines or fewer for poetry. Rights Purchased: First worldwide English-language rights. Payment: $0.10/word up to 3,000 words for fiction. $300 flat rate above that. $10/poem flat rate for poetry. Simultaneous Submissions: Accepted. Please let us know immediately if your work sells elsewhere. Multiple Submissions: Accepted on a trial basis. Please do not dump your entire trunk on us or this will change. For fiction, please submit each story separately. For poetry, please submit up to 10 poems in a single file. If you receive a rejection during a submission window, you may submit again with another story or another batch of poems. Reprints: By solicitation only. Query if your work was previously published but obscurely enough that you think it should not count. Translations: Accepted for first worldwide English publication. Response Time: We strive to respond to all submissions in less than 90 days. Query Address: departuremirror gmail Submission Portal: Moksha Departure Mirror Quarterly stories are: Current. Astute readers should be able to see how your story addresses the world we live in right now. Well written. Accessible to a mainstream American audience. Diverse. We mean this not only in terms of the types of stories we publish, but also in terms of the types of authors we publish. Writers from historically underrepresented and oppressed groups are especially encouraged to submit. We particularly like stories that take the outsider’s perspective. Anti-violence. We do not publish anything that promotes or glorifies violence, including threats of violence and coercion. (Minimum necessary force in self-defense can be acceptable if...

Deadline: January 31st, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Note: You must identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. khōréō is a quarterly publication of stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. We’re especially interested in writing and art that explore some aspect of migration, whether explicitly (themes of immigration, colonialism, etc.), metaphorically, or with a sly nod and a wink. Most importantly, we’re a new magazine and we’re still finding our identity: therefore, please don’t self-reject because you’re not sure if your work is a good fit. We won’t know until we see it, so please give us a chance to look! See submission requirements & how to submit at the following pages: Fiction Non-fiction Art Voice actors Who can submit? khōréō is dedicated to diversity and amplifying the voices of immigrant and diaspora authors and artists. We welcome, but do not require, a brief description of the author’s/artist’s identity in their cover letter. We invite you to submit if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage...

Deadline: January 31st, 2021 Payment: 3 (Euro) cents per word for original fiction and 1 (Euro) cent per word for translations of fiction into English. Themes: End(ing)s of the Universe – from Entropy to Eschatology. OR Comparative Alien Sociology and Xeno-anthropology. Note: My apologies on the short window, I was just notified of this one. **** Happy New Year! Sci Phi Journal is open for submissions from 1 to 31 January 2021. PLEASE NOTE that this is a THEMATIC call for submissions. We primarily* invite short fiction (the 2000-word hard limit continues to apply) on the follow subjects: End(ing)s of the Universe – from Entropy to Eschatology. Comparative Alien Sociology and Xeno-anthropology. (*We’ll read stories that are not directly focused on these topics but ‘speak to them’. If your piece has no relation to either theme whatsoever, though, it is unlikely to be accepted.) For reference, we encourage you to check out our 2020 thematic issue on Immortality. **** There are plenty of amazing print and online journals out there for ‘character-driven’ fiction, and we encourage you to read them. SPJ is not one of them, though. Hence, we are not interested in stories predominantly about the sentiments and subjective experiences of fictional people. We want hard SF that zooms out of the personal and lifts off into the structural, the systemic, the epic. We yearn for carefully crafted philosophical speculation that puzzles over the questions of the future and alternate pasts. And we have a soft spot for stories created as ‘artifacts’ (fictional, ‘in-universe’ non-fiction). So here are SPJ‘s quests: – Campbellian hard SF. Reaching back to the roots of classic sci-fi, these rigorous tales take themselves seriously and push the boundaries of our scientific imagination, scaling from the nano to the meta. The cast, if any, is functional and disposable. It’s the sociological, technological and indeed cosmic developments that...

Deadline: February 1st, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word for prose, and a flat fee of $10 for poetry Theme: The Apocalyps NonBinary Review is a quarterly digital literary journal that joins poetry, fiction, essays, and art around each issue's theme. We invite  authors to explore each theme in any way that speaks to them: re-write a  familiar story from a new point of view, mash genres together, give us a personal essay about some aspect of our theme that has haunted you all  your life. We also invite art that will accompany the literature. All submissions must have a clear and obvious relationship to our theme. Submissions with no clear relationship to the theme will be rejected. We are open to submissions which relate to the idea of APOCALYPSE.   What we don't want: mushroom clouds, zombies, dystopian futures, or anything else we've already seen in countless books, movies, and television shows. PROSE, WHICH INCLUDES FICTION, CREATIVE NON-FICTION, AND FLASH NonBinary Review accepts fiction and creative non-fiction of up to 3,000  words in length, although shorter is probably better. Fiction should be double spaced, 12-point type, in Times New Roman in a  Word document or text file. We do not accept .pdfs. Authors may submit up to 5 pieces of flash fiction, no more than 1000  words each, in this category. Please upload each piece as a separate document on this submission. Flash (fiction or CNF) is the ONLY category where multiple pieces related to the same theme may be selected for  publication. POETRY NonBinary Review accepts poetry of up to 3 pages in length. Poetry should be single spaced, 12-point type, in Times New Roman in a Word document or text file. We do not accept .pdfs. You may submit up to five files with this submission, but each poem must be...

Deadline: February 1st, 2021 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "Darryl slid three quarters into the vending machine and weighed his options." We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually three to four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in...

Deadline: February 1st, 2021 Payment: $100 plus a one-year subscription to the magazine Theme: Stars Note: My apologies for the short notice, I was just informed this was open. Sexy Fantastic Magazine features the absolute highest quality of fiction, comics, book and movie reviews, articles, photos of sexy fantastic heroines, and other cultural delights by top professionals and award-winning authors and artists. We are currently accepting prose fiction submissions for issue 3. CURRENT ISSUE GUIDELINES The theme of Issue 3 (March) is Stars. We are currently looking for stories that loosely relate to that theme. What We Want The absolute best literature possible in the field of fantastic stories. The greatest emphasis of this magazine is the quality of writing. Whether an orthodox narrative tale, a dreamlike vignette, or a poetical prose scene, a story should be comprehensible on some level, stay truthful to the literary world that the author has created, and be pleasing or satisfying. Any type of story with fantastic elements is acceptable, such as a metaphysical or surreal modern tale, magic realism, a dark fantasy thriller, science fiction satire, historical legend, an imaginary world fantasy adventure, etc. The fantastic element may be blatant or only perceived or hinted at. We hope for stories that are either fantastic with at least a hint of eroticism or erotic stories that have at least a hint of the fantastic. In terms of quality and style, some examples would be stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Fritz Leiber, Catherine Lucille Moore, Gore Vidal, Lawrence Durrell, John Fowles, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, Jody Scott, Robert Heinlein, Carlos Fuentes, Anne Rice, Robert Aickman, Jack Vance, Conrad Aiken, Italo Calvino, Giovanni Boccaccio, Chaucer, Voltaire and Shirley Jackson. Comics would be work by creators such Moebius, Manara, or Esteban Maroto.  In TV or...

Deadline: February 7th, 2021 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories. All types of fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome. Fantasy is a digital short fiction magazine edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg. Instructions for submitting to Fantasy Magazine follow. Please read everything on this page and read the magazine before submitting. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Submission Periods: Fantasy is open to submissions the first week of every month (1st-7th). Please do not query about submitting outside our open submission periods. Anonymous Submissions: Fantasy only accepts anonymous submissions. Do not include your name, address, phone number, or other similar identifiers on the manuscript. All original short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry submissions will be read anonymously on first read: moving out of slush depends on the merits of the story alone. Please make sure the title is on the manuscript. Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions: We do not accept simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. Please do not submit more than one set of poems at a time, more than one piece of flash fiction at a time, or more than one story at a time. You may, however, submit a single entry in each category at the same time: you can submit one batch of poems, one flash fiction piece, and one short story all at the same (or overlapping) time, and each category will be considered a separate submission. If we are already considering work in any given category, please wait until you have received an acceptance or rejection before submitting again in that same category. Instructions: All fiction must be submitted through our Moksha online submission system. Please do not email your submissions. If one of the Submission Type options is grayed out, that means we are currently closed to that Submission Type. Questions/Problems: Email [email protected] for all submission-related inquiries, or if you have any trouble using our online submission system. Please...

Deadline: February 8th, 2021 Payment: $5 Theme: Newly Discovered Creatures If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. (Vol 66.) Newly Discovered Creatures; deadline 8th February !!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!! SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward. Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982) It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Title your email with the following syntax: SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT (e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982). Failure to...

Deadline: February 13th, 2021. Payment: $6.00 CAD or a contributor's copy Theme: A WIDE range of speculative fiction What we do want: (from About page) – The range of story types sought is broad: classic, gothic, supernatural, quiet, and psychological horror, near-future dystopian tales, other speculative fiction, realistic terror (extreme weather, danger in nature, being lost – to name a few), dark folklore and fairytale, dark fantasy, dark literary fiction, and more. What we don’t want: Do not send material that is offensive, promotes or describes hate, torture, or abuse, is excessively gory or violent; no slasher. No religious, sexual, explicitly adult situations, or politics. No space opera. No fan fiction. No ‘formula’ stories. No media tie-ins. For more insight into what Frost Zone Zine is looking for, read this interview with the editor. Please read this page thoroughly. There are updates applicable to issue #3 submissions. Near the bottom of this page is a link to more helpful information which should be read before submitting your work. PLEASE ONLY SEND SUBMISSIONS DURING OPEN SUBMISSION WINDOWS. Any submissions sent at other times will be deleted, unread. Submission Guidelines: Submissions open Jan03 – Feb13, 2021 Fiction: Original, unpublished Short Stories: 600 – 3000 words preferred – longer work may be considered – as long as there is a reason for the length (no filler, extraneous words, tangents…etc). Keep in mind that only one or two longer pieces will be published per issue, and the maximum considered word count is 5000. Longer pieces, if accepted, will have a preview shown on the website, with the full story published in the eBook and print issues. Previews-only may be shown online of any fiction or poetry – with full versions published in eBook and Print issues. Please send one or two stories for consideration. Send in the plain text...

Deadline: February 14th, 2021 Payment: £50.00 plus a contributor's copy Theme: SF from residents living in the UK or British ex-pats Best of British Science Fiction 2020 is now open to submissions. Series editor Donna Scott is seeking the very best short stories written by British authors that were first published during 2020. For our purposes, 'British' means authors who are resident in the UK or British ex-pats who currently live elsewhere. Please bear in mind that this is a reprint market and we are not interested in original stories in this instance; nor do we wish to see self-published stories. Also, we are looking specifically for Science Fiction with this one; fantasy and other flavours of genre will not be considered. There is no specific limit on a story's length, though anything over 10,000 words will be a tough sell. This is a paying market, with successful authors receiving payment of 1p a word up to a maximum of £50.00 plus a contributor's copy of each edition of the book. Submissions will close on February 14th 2021. Submissions should be sent to: [email protected] Send us your very best. We look forward to seeing your work, and Good Luck! Via: Newcon Press.