Events

Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: Pure science fiction stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words What we Want: Good science fiction stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words for our upcoming anthology. No fantasy or horror. We will read any science fiction stories. What we Don’t Want: We don’t want porn. No poetry. We don’t want pure romance stories, but of course you can have romance in the story (You know what we mean). If you don’t have a clue then just send it anyway, I reckon. Payment: Royalties are $10 for the story and one free copy of the anthology when it’s printed. Deadline: August 1, 2025. Rules and Guidelines: Story submissions must be under 8,000 words or we will not read it. Also, only one submission per author. If we want more than one submission from you, we will reach out to you and ask. How to Submit: Email submissions to [email protected] with a story attached in Microsoft Word. We will try to reply to your submission within 4 to 6 weeks. Please put EXACTLY the following in the subject line: ATTN: SCIENCE. Via: Howdy Dude Paperbacks.

Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $10 for poetry, $25 for artwork or $50 for cover artwork Theme: Solarpunk Note: Reprints Welcome NonBinary Review is currently open for submissions on the theme of SOLARPUNK. We want your rusting Teslas still chugging along for a hundred years. Your wooden bicycles pulling hitches rigged with wind turbines. Your crumbling brutalist towers, softened by time, now home to moss, mushrooms, and grizzly bears. Solarpunk is not just about sustainability, it is about adaptation, resilience, and the beauty of a world where humanity and nature thrive together. If you are looking for inspiration, think Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers; Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky; or the quiet satisfaction of making coffee with a Chemex, dumping the used grounds in your compost, and watching the worms enjoy their breakfast too. We are NOT looking for “climate change is a myth, stop worrying!” stories, sexual coming-of-age narratives, or anything that does not fit within the speculative genre. IMPORTANT NOTICE Zoetic Press does not accept AI generated content. If our editors judge that your content is AI-generated, it will be declined. All submissions must have a clear relationship to our theme, and be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or they will be rejected. NonBinary Review  pays 1¢ per word for prose with a limit of 3000 words. If your work was accepted for Issue #39: Mistaken Identity or is accepted Issue #40: Epiphany, we're sorry, but we cannot accept your work at this time (see our general guidelines.) Zoetic Press publishes the best in speculative lit - experimental, interstitial, luminous. We welcome submissions from EVERYONE. The only requirement is that they be in English, or translated into English (we love a translation). If your writing is outstanding, no matter who you are, we...

Deadline: August 1st, 2025 Payment: $35 Theme: Shared Universe set on the Starship Blunder, most genres welcome, you DO need to read the guidelines for details and characters Galactic Misadventure Continues! Freshly promoted Commander Sarah Hawkins has been assigned to the brand-new Starship Wonder. The rest of her crew, however, have taken to calling their recently acquired vessel Starship Blunder. No new parts were fabricated specifically for the Wonder—it was assembled using extra pieces, cast-off parts, and old components removed from other, nicer crafts. The Conglomeracy hopes the spiffy name of the untested starship will inspire the crew to achieve something, anything. It doesn’t work. Just like its predecessor, the Starship Wonder struggles even to take off, let alone complete a mission. Can the crew find it in themselves to at least successfully deliver an unimportant package, or will the namesake “Blunder” stick with them forever? Although the original vessel Starship Blunder blew up in fantastical fashion at the end of the first anthology, the characters you know and love are back at it again! As soon as the Starship Wonder goes on her inaugural mission, it becomes clear to her crew that there’s nothing wonderful about the new starship. They immediately start referring to their new ship as Starship Blunder as they wonder, did the Conglomeracy commission a new starship because the fleet needed another vessel, or because they just wanted somewhere to stuff the misfit crew away from the more elite spacecraft? Whatever the reason, Commander Sarah Hawkins, Mechanic Xylo, Daycare Teacher Luna Knight, and Chef Bluebottle make the best of a less-than-stellar situation as they embark on another year of missions and misfortune. Submission Guidelines WHAT WE WANT: Theme: This is a shared universe anthology. Stories should be set in the Starship Blunder universe. Embrace humor, delve into deeper themes, or spin a romantic tale under the stars. Include some diverse characters...

Submission Window: May 1st - August 29th, 2025 Payment: $15.00 plus equal share of 50% of the anthology’s royalties. Theme: Action/adventure mixed with any drama, can't use a physical key, the why of the search should be the most important part This will be mostly action/adventure, but can be placed in any time period, on other planets or any type of setting. All genres accepted and may contain humor, drama, romance, etc. Diverse characters welcome, human or otherwise. The catch – no traditional keys accepted. If the characters don’t find the key, that’s okay. Example – on a certain TV show, characters were searching for forgiveness and the key to enter was tears of regret. Another film had a key as part of a puzzle box which opened several artifacts. Please think outside the box when writing these stories. The Why of the search is the most important point. ALL writers are encouraged to submit. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro with years of credits, a beginner just starting out, or a teenager – please feel free to send the editor a story. In your cover email, please tell the editor a bit about yourself and a quick one-line synopsis of the story. Include genre. If experimental, please explain the type or how so the editor doesn’t edit out the form or reject it out of hand. In the Subject line please put Submission: Search Any Key - Title of story and author name. ​ Word Count: 1000 - 7000 words. Query for anything outside of those lengths before submitting. ​ Attach as a .rtf, .doc or .docx file. Anything else will be returned for reformatting. Send to: [email protected] Submissions Open:  May 1, 2025 (DO NOT SUBMIT PRIOR TO THIS DATE) Submissions Close:  Aug 29, 2025 Release Date: Early 2026 Payment:...

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $15 Theme: Road trip terror Are you brave enough to take a ride on the Hellbound Highway? HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips, which will be curated and edited by the double-trouble partnership of veteran horror writers Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward. We want road trips, sure, but also airplane journeys, ship crossings, railroad passages, heck even cattle drives–as long as it’s a trip and it’s B-A-D. What if a family like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Vacation were zombies? What if a weary business traveler waits for the red-eye in an airport that is literally a portal to hell? What if the night manager of the local Greyhound bus station was a vampire who feeds off of the poor and desperate? What if a crook on the lam checks into a cheap motel and discovers that the usual cockroaches are mutants with deadly powers? What if someone stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, and slowly realized that they were the special on next day’s menu? These are the types of scenarios we are looking for, so let your creepiest imaginings run wild. Scary horror, psychological horror, or comedy horror are all welcome–it just has to be GOOD. PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 3K - 6K word count * Write 'HIGHWAY' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to...

Art by Anwen O'Driscoll Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $0.08 CAD per word Theme: Fantasy short stories OTHER: the 2025 fantasy short story anthology (Book 2 of the Other Anthology series) We are seeking short stories by international writers. The story can be visually evocative or character/narrative focused as long as it leaves the reader thinking about the story long after closing the book. We don’t want a lesson, we want an experience that makes us come alive. To get a better idea of what we’re looking for, read Other: the 2024 speculative fiction anthology. GENRE: Speculative Fiction. Give us stories of wonder. Humour is fine as long as it’s not about the mic drop. No erotica, gore, or excessive violence. 🚫 Send us your best work, fully edited. Only one story per author will be accepted. No retellings; we want original stories created by humans. No reprints. 🚫 SUBMISSION: 🚫No multiple or simultaneous submissions. If you’ve been rejected, read our free checklist before submitting again. 🚫No reprints. 🚫No flash fiction. Stories should be 2500 – 3500 words. 🚫We do not accept submissions written whole or in part by AI. Submission Format: Use the Google Form with your story attached as a doc, docx or rtf. Format your manuscript using William Shunn’s Modern Manuscript Format (https://www.shunn.net/format/story/) and use Times New Roman to save our eyes. PAYMENT: One-time payment of $0.08 CAD per word to be paid on publication date. STATUS: Open 2025 February 1 to August 31 Writers will be notified after submissions close and after final decisions have been made. SUBMIT: Google Form Via: Bannister Press.

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $15 Theme: Road Trip Terror Are you brave enough to take a ride on the Hellbound Highway? HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips, which will be curated and edited by the double-trouble partnership of veteran horror writers Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward. We want road trips, sure, but also airplane journeys, ship crossings, railroad passages, heck even cattle drives–as long as it’s a trip and it’s B-A-D. What if a family like the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Vacation were zombies? What if a weary business traveler waits for the red-eye in an airport that is literally a portal to hell? What if the night manager of the local Greyhound bus station was a vampire who feeds off of the poor and desperate? What if a crook on the lam checks into a cheap motel and discovers that the usual cockroaches are mutants with deadly powers? What if someone stopped at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, and slowly realized that they were the special on next day’s menu? These are the types of scenarios we are looking for, so let your creepiest imaginings run wild. Scary horror, psychological horror, or comedy horror are all welcome–it just has to be GOOD. PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines...  * Word format saved in .doc, or .docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs! * 3K - 6K word count * Write 'HIGHWAY' along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter. * The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.doc or .docx) documents are to be attached to...

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: Royalties Theme: A 1980s band that end up in a fantasy kingdom (a few specific details to include below.) Announcing the latest open call by Ps and Qs Publishing! Elven Rock of Ages   What I'm Looking For:    Rift is tired of ruling his Elven Kingdom. He's been maintaining peace for a thousand years. His son is ready to take over and his daughter is leading his armies. He has nothing to do except sit in his court and pretend to be entertained. Enter a 1980s band that managed to stumble into his kingdom. Finally, something new. Deciding that playing rock music is how he wants to spend his time, he and three of his most trusted guards head out into the world. They take on the names,    Rift - singer Belanger - bass  Draye - guitar  Todd - drummer (Someone has to have a normal human name.)  1988 - Band Name Don't worry about writing the origin story. I have that one in hand. Together they travel around, entertaining the crowds and fighting all the possible supernatural creatures in their way. This could be anything from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror. No overly graphic scenes or swearing, please.  Absolutely no song lyrics, although song titles are acceptable. No AI may be used. Story length will be between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Dates: Open immediately with the final entry being accepted Aug 31st, 2025. The contracts will be sent out Sept 30th, 2025. The anthology will be published Oct 31th. If there are enough awesome stories for more anthologies, you will be informed as to which one you will be included in and when it will be published.  Payment: Payment will be done through Pubshare and will be royalty based.  Rights: I will require the...

Deadline: August 31st, 2025 Payment: $50 AUD Theme: Neurodiversity and the More-Than-Human Our second anthology will gather a wide range of creative responses on the theme of Neurodiversity and the More-Than-Human. We want to foster neurodivergent situated knowledge that is not limited to the traditional academic essay: engage in autotheory, autoethnography, creative essay, poetry, short story, speculative sci-fi, visual art, and more. While the close bond between neurodivergent humans and other living beings are often put forward, little thematic focus has been placed on the intersection of neurodiversity and the more-than-human in academic and creative writing. This anthology seeks to fill this gap and foster a more-than-human turn in neurodiversity with an emphasis on creative responses. With this turn in mind, Ombre Tarragnat has formulated the concept of ethodiversity, which refers to the different ways we exist in the world as animals. It includes our behaviours, but also our affects, personalities, orientations, etc. It encompasses neurodiversity but isn’t reduced to it. Ethodivergence is a way of being and behaving that is different from the majority in one’s species or milieu, or from the behavioural norms imposed on us by humanist principles. As a framework, ethodiversity can help us map the intersection of neurodiversity and animality. See more here. We invite our writers to be as creative and experimental as they can in whatever style or mode they choose, and to think beyond the boundaries of established genres. Hybridity and experiments with form, as well as artistic enhancement with visual components, are encouraged. For organisational reasons, the anthology will be in English. However, we invite authors to develop their writing projects in their native or preferred language and then proceed to submit an English translation. If you are unable to translate your work into English, then we will also accept submissions in Spanish,...

Deadline: September 29th, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word, 2 cents per word for reprints Theme: Action/adventure, general, fiction/narrative nonfiction, humor/comedy/satire, speculate (fantasy, sci fi, horror, magic realism, cyberpunk), memoir, western, romance, alternate history, suspense/thriller, mystery/crime, literary, and any cross/hybrid genres. Note: Reprints Welcome Submissions to our magazine run annually from February 2nd through September 29th Why submit to us? - WE PAY WRITERS FAIRLY. It’s hard work writing good stories, and you deserve to get paid. Or maybe you don’t and you’re just duping us? Regardless, we pay 8 cents a word (with a $500 cap), and 2 cents a word for reprints. - NO SUBMISSION FEES. Nobody's getting rich off $3 per submission, but paying money just for the privilege of receiving a form letter rejection is the worst. (Costs of running an E-zine aside) We’re going to go ahead and coin a phrase right here and now - ‘Write privilege’, get it? Of course, you do. - GET YOUR WORK IN FRONT OF A LARGE AND GROWING AUDIENCE. Our aim is fixed on telling good stories, period, and because of that we have built a massive readership from all over the globe. Want to get your stories out to more than just dear old nana? Then you've come to the right place. - REASONABLE TURN-AROUND TIME. If you haven't heard from us within 90 days, then your story was rejected. Rejections stink - we get it - but its better than forever waiting and wondering. - WORKABILITY. Is that the right term? Well, we're going with it. Unlike large publishers who view authors as just a number, we actually work with you to help present the story in its best possible light. We do, however, expect reciprocity; Story Unlikely is comprised of volunteers who are by nature team players. If you're an inflexible my way or the highway type - or...