Events

Submission Window: March 1st -March 15th, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word for fiction, $50 for poetry, $100 for non-fiction essays Theme: Animal-centric speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror) Submission Periods: The publishing schedule is quarterly/seasonly. Submission calls open at the start of each season, close in the middle of the first month for reading and responses, and issues aim to be released by the end of the season. Spring: March 1-March 15, 2025 Summer: June 1-June 15, 2025 Fall: September 1-September 15, 2025 Winter: December 1-December 15, 2025 PROSE Submission Guidelines -Word limit for original short fiction: 1000 (minimum) – 5000 words (maximum) (sweet spot/preferred: 3000 – 4000 words) -Maximum word limit for original flash fiction: 999 words -Reprints: not accepted at this time (unless we meet the Kickstarter stretch goal for 2025!) -Pay rate: 8 cents/word -Format: Standard Manuscript Format. 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced, .doc or .docx files. Mailing address and phone number are not required on the header. -Simultaneous submissions are allowed! Just make sure to give us a howl if your submission has been accepted elsewhere before we make a decision on it. -Cover letter: please include author name, name of submission, word count, publishing credits (if applicable), any experience pertinent to the story. (For example, if you are a marine biologist and your story features marine animals, do mention that!) Inclusion of content warnings is optional. Do not summarize your story in the cover letter; let the submission speak for itself. -Translations to English: allowed, welcome, and encouraged! They must be original short fiction or flash within the corresponding word limits. In the cover letter, please state that the work is translated into English from (original language), and include names of the original author and translator. –Plott Hound Magazine welcomes and encourages submissions from writers of all races, religion (creed),...

Submission Window: March 1st - 15th, 2025 Payment: Fiction: 8 cents per word, Poetry: $50, Non-fiction: $100 Theme: Stories with anthropomorphized animals as protagonists in any realm of speculative fiction Submission Periods: The publishing schedule is quarterly/seasonly. Submission calls open at the start of each season, close in the middle of the first month for reading and responses, and issues aim to be released by the end of the season. Spring: March 1-March 15, 2025 Summer: June 1-June 15, 2025 Fall: September 1-September 15, 2025 Winter: December 1-December 15, 2025 PROSE Submission Guidelines -Word limit for original short fiction: 1000 (minimum) – 5000 words (maximum) (sweet spot/preferred: 3000 – 4000 words) -Maximum word limit for original flash fiction: 999 words -Reprints: not accepted at this time (unless we meet the Kickstarter stretch goal for 2025!) -Pay rate: 8 cents/word -Format: Standard Manuscript Format. 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced, .doc or .docx files. Mailing address and phone number are not required on the header. -Simultaneous submissions are allowed! Just make sure to give us a howl if your submission has been accepted elsewhere before we make a decision on it. -Cover letter: please include author name, name of submission, word count, publishing credits (if applicable), any experience pertinent to the story. (For example, if you are a marine biologist and your story features marine animals, do mention that!) Inclusion of content warnings is optional. Do not summarize your story in the cover letter; let the submission speak for itself. -Translations to English: allowed, welcome, and encouraged! They must be original short fiction or flash within the corresponding word limits. In the cover letter, please state that the work is translated into English from (original language), and include names of the original author and translator. –Plott Hound Magazine welcomes and encourages submissions from writers of all races, religion...

Deadline: March 16th, 2025 Payment: Contributors copy and $50 Theme: Short story by Oregon or Washington writers, that takes place in one or both of those states, that has the reader go on a 'quest' Demagogue Press is OPEN for submissions from Oregon and Washington based writers for a new anthology! ROLL THE DICE, CHASE THE GOOSE, FACE DEATH, & UNLOCK THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST! Demagogue Press is thrilled to announce an all-new playable reading experience— let’s call it an anthology+— that will take readers on a journey through Oregon and Washington. Inspired by the Royal Game of the Goose, we are now open to submissions for original works from Oregon and Washington based writers that include a quest or chase element and prominently feature iconic (or soon to be iconic!) locations throughout the urban, wild, and lost places in our backyards. We have an editorial preference for works in a “spooky speculative” vein including fantasy and light horror. See below for more details!   OKAY- BUT WHAT DOES “PLAYABLE READING EXPERIENCE MEAN???” This is a book that plays like a game and a game that reads like a book! Like Demagogue Press’s previous publication, Winding Paths, we’ll be offering multiple ways for readers to experience stories and interact with our locations. The cover, for example, will be a functional game board for our custom-made Pacific Northwest-flavored interpretation of the Royal Game of the Goose with spaces correlating to YOUR work and there will be short activities and mini-games inspired by the anthology theme and stories interspersed throughout. Contributors are responsible for writing great stories that can stand-alone. We’ll do the rest! WHAT IS AN “ICONIC” OREGON OR WASHINGTON LOCATION? You tell us! We have some ideas but we’re open to seeing what you pitch. Some particularly iconic locations will have...

Deadline: March 16th, 2025 Payment: KES 1 per word Theme: Speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy or horror written by African writers Will This Be A Problem?: The Magazine is open for submissions until March 16th 2025. While we occasionally put out submission calls for specific projects, such as our anthologies and magazines, which may have different qualifiers, below are the general submission guidelines. Please read them twice over before submitting! FICTION SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Your story can be speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy or horror. Genre-mashing is completely fine, however your work must contain strong elements of one of these genres. We strongly encourage character-driven narratives and rich worldbuilding tied together with heavy African influences. We only accept submissions from African writers who are 18 years and above. We define an African writer as:- someone born in Africa, someone whose parents (at least one) are African, a Black person in the African diaspora. We particularly welcome submissions from women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people living with disabilities, and members from other underrepresented and marginalised communities.  We only care about the quality of the writing, storytelling ability, plot and ideas, not whether you are new or established. Only send us work you are proud of; if you don’t like it, our readers won’t. If you’re not sure if your story is suitable, don’t query; please just submit it and let our editors decide. Most publications encourage potential readers to read their previous works to get a sense of what they like. Will This Be A Problem? encourages potential writers to peruse our back issues to find what we haven’t featured and introduce us to concepts and worlds we’ve never seen before. Our preferred length is between 2500 and 5500 words. However, this is just a baseline; if the story is strong enough, it can be longer or shorter. Flash fiction...

Deadline: March 17th, 2025 Payment: $5 USD per 1000 words (half a cent a word,) Theme: Speculative fiction stories that meld the mechanical with the mystical, where devices not only drive the narrative but are imbued with a spark of the extraordinary. Note: The anthologies from this press pay below what we like to share with authors but they always have such creative ideas that I'll let some slip through. Are you an architect of the arcane, a fabricator of futuristic fables, or a sorcerer of the silicon? We are seeking speculative fiction stories that meld the mechanical with the mystical, where devices not only drive the narrative but are imbued with a spark of the extraordinary. We want tales that push the boundaries of imagination, where gizmos and gadgets transcend their wires and circuits to become entities of enchantment and wonder. Send us your stories of large or small enchanted engines, digital divinations, and the magical machinations that lie in the overlap between the rigor of technology and the realm of spellcraft. Deadline: 17th of March, 2025. ** Please put the anthology you're submitting to, and the word count of the story in the subject line of the email.** Payment for accepted stories will be $5 USD per 1000 words for all current anthologies. Payments occur via PayPal, so please have a PayPal account into which we can pay you. We will also provide you with a digital copy (epub and pdf) of the finished manuscript. (Paperback and hard cover editions will be available via Amazon.) We're looking for speculative fiction across all anthologies (unless otherwise specified). That includes everything from high fantasy to hard scifi and anything in between. We do accept reprints, simultaneous submissions, and multiple submissions, though these will slow down our response time. Story lengths should be...

Deadline: March 17th, 2025 Payment: $0.01 (USD) per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Speculative ecofiction that was originally published in 2024 We’ve received more than 150 stories nominated by publishers, editors, and authors so far, and the range of stories, ideas, and perspectives has been so wonderful to read. As this is our first year of the anthology and our launch happened so quickly, we’ve decided to extend the submissions window out to Monday, March 17, to ensure that everyone publishing ecofiction gets a chance to submit. The full submission guidelines are below. ECO24: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction, edited by Marissa van Uden, showcases some of the most vivid, thought-provoking, and emotionally affecting ecofiction published in the previous calendar year. Speculative ecofiction is defined as stories that explore our place in the natural world and our relationships to non-human life (e.g. focused on themes related to ecology, nature, the environment, climate, conservation, wildlife and animal rights) and which also fall into speculative genres such as science fiction, fantasy, Weird fiction, New Weird, anthropomorphic fantasy, magical realism. Ecofiction engages with some of the most urgent issues facing us today and also looks ahead to the possibilities of the future. Even when dealing with dark or tragic themes, ecofiction stories are expressions of our human connection to the most beautiful planet we know, and to all of earthlife. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Please note this anthology is for previously published stories only. Editors and Publishers are encouraged to send their best works of ecofiction published in 2024. If not all of the stories in a magazine or anthology are eligible, please indicate which stories you are nominating. Authors may nominate their own works, but please check with your publisher first to see if they have already submitted your piece. Eligibility Criteria: The story...

Deadline: March 19th, 2025 Payment: 1 cent per word for original fiction, flat $20 for reprints Theme: A speculative anthology of hopeful stories that somehow include feathers. Note: Reprints Welcome “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – Emily Dickinson Concept: A speculative anthology of hopeful stories – with feathers! They can be stories about birds, other creatures, aliens, constructs, humans, etc., but with some kind of feather element – whether natural or artificial. The stories don’t have to be happy or even upbeat, but they do have to have an important element of hopefulness. All stories should be vegan* or you should be willing to make it vegan on request. Length: Stories should be between 1,000 and 8,000 words in length. If you have a very strong case for a story that’s slightly longer, contact me before submitting. Pay: Original stories will be paid at a rate of $.01/word. Reprints will be paid a flat rate of $20/story. The anthology will likely tend toward originals. Payment on acceptance. Format: submit stories as attachments in DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT format using standard manuscript format. Submission documents should include your name and e-mail address. Submission process: send stories to <submissions at metaphorosis.com> with the subject line SUBMISSION: The Thing with Feathers () (or click the button below). Submissions will be acknowledged within a day or two and processed as they are received. The call will be open until either Spring 2025 or enough stories have been accepted. So, you’re better off submitting early, but have time to write and perfect your story first. Feedback: if you want brief, blunt feedback, please say so in your cover letter and I will provide it where I have time and feel...

Deadline: March 20th, 2025 Payment: Prose—$25/published piece, Poetry—$10/published piece Theme: Joy! For this period, we would like to see more works focusing on joy, particularly POC and/or queer joy. This is also an act of protest. If submitting a work on this theme, please be a part of the community you are representing. Theme for this submission period—Joy! For this period, we would like to see more works focusing on joy, particularly POC and/or queer joy. This is also an act of protest. If submitting a work on this theme, please be a part of the community you are representing. (Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable to hire guest sensitivity editors. We will still be accepting other works of resistance.) We are looking for works of protest that challenge our current status quo. This can be fictional prose of any genre, poetry, or nonfiction essays. To be clear, the ideology of the work should oppose right-wing ideology, Nazism, Authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, etc. or uplift voices of dissent or marginalized voices. Our current pay rates are as follows: Prose—$25/published piece Poetry—$10/published piece Prose Fiction No gratuitous sex/violence. Any genre (including horror). 1,500–15,000 words One manuscript is one submission. Please format manuscripts with 12–18pt font, preferably Times New Roman, New Courier, or Garamond. Otherwise, please use a standard manuscript format (Examples at shunn.net/format/story/.) Please submit in .doc or .docx formats (Word) or in .odt format (LibreOffice.) Essay Same as with fiction, but if you need to cite any sources, we prefer submissions to use author-date citations with a bibliography at the end. Please see https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html We pay $25/accepted prose piece. Poetry Please limit poetry to a maximum of five poems in a single submission. We pay $10/accepted poem. Please submit in .doc, .docx, .odt (LibreOffice), or .pdf formats. Other Guidelines: Please include a...

Deadline: March 21st, 2025 Payment: $0.10 per word and 5 contributors copies Themes: Liminal Workplaces, Endlings, Strange Entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, Inside Thoughts, Sexy Ghosts, & for the bonus issue: Family Legends ZINE SUBMISSION CALL (OPEN TO ALL WRITERS MARCH 7TH THROUGH 21ST) This March, we’ll be accepting submissions both for our third zine bundle and a special zine to go with the release of D. Matthew Urban’s horror/Weird fiction collection Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces. See details for the submission call below. Zine Themes Issue #11: Liminal Workplaces (Weird fiction, nonfiction, and poetry). 500 words max. Issue #12: Endlings (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about the last living individual of a species). 500 words max. Issue #13: Strange Entries in the Guinness Book of World Records. 500 words max. Issue #14: Inside Thoughts (horror and Weird fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about the “inside thoughts” we experience during times of apocalyptic capitalism and fascism, thoughts too taboo or dangerous to share out loud or online). 500 words max. Issue #15: Sexy Ghosts (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry). 500 words max. Special Issue for Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces: Family Legends (horror/Weird fiction and nonfiction). 500 words max. This special zine will be co-edited by D. Matthew Urban. Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions Policy Simultaneous submissions are fine. Just let me know if your collection is accepted elsewhere. You may send in one submission per zine theme. For instance, a writer could submit to both the “sexy ghosts” and “family legends” zine. Feel free to include all submissions in the same email, or if it’s more convenient for you, separate emails. Format Use standard manuscript format. Send a doc/docx attachment. Do not copy-paste your manuscript into the body of the email or submit it in any other format. I won’t read it if you do. Please send...

Deadline: March 23rd, 2025 Payment: Royalties Theme: Noir! Not SF, not Horror, but classic Noir Moggie Noir - Dames, Derringers, & Detectives Edited by Rita Beeman Fabulous tails. Do it again. Remember—Noir! Not SF, not Horror, but classic Noir. Here’s your homework. Opens: 01/18/25 Closes: 03/23/25 Contracts: 04/05/25 Publication: 05/02/25 Guidelines for all our anthologies (psst! this is important!): 5,000 to 8,000 words. Length and genre are negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept and is entertaining. Any submission must be in Times New Roman (preferred, but you can use Georgian or other readable font), 12PT, double-spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email on it. Name the file as -—. Send it in a .docx format as an attachment—no links. Refer to the submission guideline graphic below for how to format your story—It has all the information you need! Feel free to download it for reference. Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication; after one year, the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all the authors. We’re all in this together. This is why our anthologies are limited to ten stories. IMPORTANT: PLEASE do NOT submit stories until the date the call opens. We don’t want to hang on to your piece for longer than necessary. You might find another market for it, or it decides to grow into a novel, or...so go ahead and write it, but tuck it away, and revisit it before submitting. Raconteur Press uses Pubshare (pubshare.com) to distribute payments...