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Submission Window: April 1st - 15th, 2025 Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.015 USD per word/$37.50 USD max, Poems-less than 200 words $10, Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.015 USD per word/$15 USD max Theme: A pro-feminist story with the idea of "For Your Own Good" The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. This season's theme is For Your Own Good. This phrase should make your skin crawl. Anything done for your own good means your self autonomy has been compromised. Is it the government The church? Your family? What have they done or taken away. Make us wince in sympathy. No more than two fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($37.50 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.015 USD per word upon acceptance ($15 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 USD upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to [email protected] The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. Please check on the website for the theme in detail. Submissions will be accepted from Jan 1-15, April 1-15, July 1-15, Oct...

Deadline: April 15th, 2025 Payment: $10 per story or 1 cent/word rounded to the nearest 100 words, up to a maximum of $25. Theme: Speculative Fiction up to 2500 words We are current open to submissions. We will be open for admissions for the Summer, 2025 issue until April 15, 2025. Please do not query prior to March 3. Our general guidlines for submission remain unchanged. Our primary mission is to provide readers with speculative fiction, broadly defined. We like character-driven stories that take us to the boundary where imagination and reality collide. If in doubt, please submit your story. We will enjoy reading it, even if it doesn’t quite fit with our mission. We prefer stories between 1000 and 2500 words. If your story is longer than 2500 words, please do not use the submission form on this website. Instead, use the separate query submission form. We welcome submissions from under-represented groups who bring their lived experience to their fiction. We also welcome submissions from first-time, unpublished authors. We welcome submissions from any location. However, our mission includes providing a market for authors from the region of the Crosstimbers Forest–which includes Oklahoma and surrounding states–so we especially encourage authors from this region to submit. Please do not send mulitiple submissions, simultaneous submissions, or previously published stories. If considered for publication, we will ask authors to disclose the extent, if any, to which they have used generative AI in their stories. Payment will be the larger of $10 per story or 1 cent/word rounded to the nearest 100 words, up to a maximum of $50. Payment will be rendered via Paypal at the time of publication. We cannot issue checks or pay in cash–you must be able to accept Paypal to be paid. If you cannot accept Paypal, payment will be in the form of a copy...

Deadline: April 15th, 2025 Payment: 2 cents per word Theme: Anything witch-related! Modern day, fairy-tale, and anywhere inbetween! Graveside Press’s next themed anthology will be WITCHCRAFT! Open for Submissions: March 1, 2025 through April 15, 2025 Expected Publication: December 2025 What Are We Looking For? WITCHES! Obviously. Whether you’re going with modern-day witchcraft practices or the fairy-tale evil witch, we’re ready for you. Submissions Requirements Your story: should be approximately 2,000 – 6,000 words in length. central focus: witchcraft of some sort. any character involved in adult activities must be 18+. NO: non-consensual, rape, or other sexual assault STANDARD PAY RATES Standalone works (novels, novellas, short stories "Tiny Terrors") - 50% royalties of net earnings paid quarterly Anthology submissions - 2¢ per word to be paid 90 business days after publication Illustrations - $75 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES When submitting, please do not send your manuscript already formatted as a book with fancy chapter headers, fonts, margins, etc. We would greatly appreciate if you can follow the formatting guidelines below: file type: *.doc or *.docx Font: Any legible serif, e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond Include author information at the top of page 1 (see sample below) Use formatted indents and not tabs to begin each paragraph Use hard returns to start new paragraphs Use page breaks to begin chapters on a new page If you would like an example of what a properly formatted manuscript looks like or need help with any of the above, check here. When in doubt, just remember we want your MS as clean and readable as possible! Via: Graveside Press.

Submission Window: March 17th - April 16th, 2025 Payment: 1 cent per word Theme: NSFW jungle adventure Jungle Scandals is the second entry in The Scandal Anthology Series and the follow-up to the smash hit Sword & Scandal. But where Sword & Scandal featured NSFW heroic fantasy, Jungle Scandals is all about NSFW jungle adventure. That’s right! This time around, we're touring the jungles of the world, taking stops in Africa, Indonesia, and the Amazon, and we'll be taking our inspiration from the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jospeh Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, and H. Rider Haggard. But, while those writers all had more or less Victorian sensibilities, we'll be filling the pages of our book with more gratuitous nudity, sex, and gore than you can possibly imagine! Some today find the old writers problematic. We think they're not nearly problematic enough! These stories will retain the sense of fun and wonder from the jungle adventures of old. But they will be absolutely insane with all the sex! If you read Sword & Scandal, then you know we don't hold anything back. We are looking for experimental stories that take big risks. Unlike other publishers who tend to play it safe with their selections, we are seeking the wild, strange, and outrageous. So, if you have an off-beat or off-the-wall jungle adventure rattling around in your head, but which you’ve been afraid to write because you don't think you can place it, now is the time! We believe that literature should be dangerous, and we want to provide you with a safe space to write unsafe fiction. Humor is also a big part of what we do. We are actively looking for stories that incorporate a similar sense of humor as ours: dry, sardonic, and satirical. But any type of humor is...

Submission Window: April 2nd - 16th, 2025 Payment: $15.00 CAD and a contributors copy Theme: Ghosts in Canada Note: Canadian authors only Submissions open April 02 - 16 Canadians! We want your strange, unsettling, spooky tales featuring a ghost of one kind or another  - open to your interpretation. From the Atlantic to the Pacific and anywhere in between...from our southern border up to the Arctic Ocean - from coast, to coast to coast, bring us your ghosts.   Original stories only - written by you, not previously published. Set in Canada, written by Canadian authors. 500 - 1500 words. (The submission portal will show 2 categories: flash fiction 500-1000 words, and short stories 1000-1500 words)   Please only submit one story Simultaneous submissions are fine, please withdraw your story if accepted elsewhere.     NO AI: we do not want to publish work written in whole, in part, or assisted by artificial intelligence. We want to publish your words, not machine-genterated words, which, by the way, are taken from other authors' work - that is how these 'programs' are trained. So no, no thank you. Even though we are fans of a wide range of dark fiction and horror, this is not the place for extreme horror, ultra-violence or erotica. We also will not publish work that contains animal cruelty, child abuse, sexual assault, graphic or explicit sexual content, extreme horror, anything pro-ageism, pro-bigotry, hatred or prejudice toward any group or demographic, or country.   COMPENSATION: $15.00 (fifteen) CAD + print copy Payment is in Canadian dollars, paid via eTransfer. Contributors will also receive a print copy, understanding that final page count will determine if this will be a Zine; low-fi, saddle-stitched (stapled), or a perfect bound thin book. In either case, the size is planned to be 5.5" x 8.5".   RIGHTS: If your story is selected,...

Submission Window: March 20th - April 20th, 2025 Payment: $50 upon publication Theme: Stories about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection in all genres with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit Please read below for details about our next submission window, guidelines, honorariums, and rights. 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 We pay a $50 honorarium upon publication of one or more pieces from your submission. We open for submissions on the day we publish new work and remain open for a month, or until we reach 150 submissions. Here are our next open submission periods: Here are the next free periods: March 20 - April 20, 2025 June 20 - July 20, 2025 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...

Submission Window: February 1st - April 30th, 2025 Payment: $20 Theme: Speculative fiction that takes place in the Shenandoah Valley (defined as the Virginia counties of Augusta, Clarke, Frederick, Page, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren; the West Virginia counties of Berkeley and Jefferson; the independent cities of Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester; The Shenandoah National Park; The George Washington National Forest.) What We Want: Shenandoah Valley Fantastic seeks strange and wondrous speculative fiction that transforms our beloved region into a realm of mystery, magic, and the unexpected. From witches haunting Winchester’s historic alleys to spectral happenings on the Field of Lost Shoes, we invite you to re-imagine the Valley’s rich landscapes and legends. Envision Shenandoah National Park as a forbidden, fey-infused forest, where wayward travelers encounter creatures older than the hills. What if Duke Dog Alley were a portal to another world? Suppose Cooter’s become a crossroad for supernatural beings—a place where ghosts and wanderers alike grab a bite before moving on to unknown realms. Picture the storied halls of Washington & Lee as a secret training ground for the next generation of spellcasters, with campus traditions hiding dark rites and hidden powers. Let your imagination run wild with stories that blend the supernatural with our natural splendor. We welcome tales of magic and mystery, terror and transformation—grounded in the historic sites, natural wonders, and quirky landmarks that make the Shenandoah Valley unforgettable. If your story will make readers see the Valley in a new, eerie light, we want to read it. What We Don’t Want:Your trunk stories with a couple of references to the Valley bolted on. Requirements: Stories must contain a speculative element (Fantasy, Horror or Science Fiction) and take place in Shenandoah Valley, defined as the Virginia counties of Augusta, Clarke, Frederick, Page, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren;...

Submission Window: April 1st - 30th, 2025 Payment: Stories: 10¢ per word, Poems: $50, Drabbles: $50 Theme: Weird westerns that are pulpy, unexpected, character-driven stories written by women Women of the Weird West Publisher: Brigids Gate Press Editor: KC Grifant Release Date: Planned for June 16 th , 2026 What We Are Seeking Traditionally, women authors have been vastly underrepresented in westerns and weird westerns, so this anthology will highlight diverse women-identifying authors and non-binary authors and their speculative western short stories. We are looking for original Weird West stories. These should be generally set in what approximates the “Old West” location and timeframe (North America circa late 1800s) and should have a strong speculative element, such as horror, fantasy and/or sci-fi. We are most interested in pulpy, unexpected, character-driven stories and are open to some weird westerns set outside the typical historical time period and setting (e.g., space westerns) as long as there are strong Old West aesthetics and inspiration. The goal of this anthology is to showcase a diverse group of Old West stories beyond the typical archetypes. We strongly encourage women, women-identifying and nonbinary writers of all backgrounds to submit regardless of writing experience. We are interested in showcasing emerging writers as well as established writers for this anthology. Potential Inspirations/vibes Prey, The Warrior (TV series), The Harder They Fall, Godless, Power of the Dog, The Winds, The Quick and the Dead, Back to the Future 3, Dead in the West, Jonah Hex, The Dark Tower, Deadlands, The Good, The Bad & the Uncanny: Tales of a Very Weird West Submission Window April 1, 2025 through April 30, 2025 Word Count Stories: Up to 5,000 words. No minimum length. 2,000 words is an ideal target. Poems: Up to 32 lines Drabbles: 100 words Compensation Stories: 10¢ per...

Deadline: April 30th, 2025 Payment: Stories with 5000 to 7999 words will earn $5. Stories with 8000 to 12000 words will earn $10. Theme: Stories that revolve around food being central to the plot Based on the interest we have had in our previous speculative-fiction anthologies, the team here at PurpleToga want to start something different this time around. Food and meals are central to all cultures. So, this time we are looking for stories where food is a central or pivotal element to the plot. Is it the Last Supper? Court intrigue using poison? This means that all of the stories must have a meal or dish as part of their central theme, and as usual we prefer stories that fall under the speculative fiction umbrella. Think of how food has been a big part of literature. Where would Snow White be without the apple (or Adam and Eve)? In movies like Thor: The Dark World you have Dr. Strange offered tea and Thor responded he doesn’t drink it and got a big (self-refilling) mug of beer. Where would Star Trek: The Next Generation be without “Earl Grey, hot”? Think of all the meals in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, or how Rincewind fantasizes about potatoes. How much Turkish Delight was a factor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. These are the kinds of food connections that we are looking for. A recipe for the key element (or one of the dishes if it is a meal – failing that the full menu) would be appreciated. The submission deadlines is 30 April 2025 (to be published around the US Thanksgiving 2025) Subscribe here to learn about future submission calls. Submission Guidelines There is a preferred length is between 5,000 to 12,000 words. Other lengths considered at publisher’s discretion....

Deadline: April 30th, 2025 Payment: $10.00 USD and a contributor copy Theme: Superhero stories featuring heroic feats of derring-do in the face of immeasurable evil Oddity Prodigy Productions is proud to announce that we are open for submissions on our latest anthology: Where Legends Walk! These superhero stories will be an exciting tribute to extraordinary feats in the day-to-day. There is a planned Kickstarter to cover publishing costs. Publishing date and distribution is as yet undecided. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2025. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Look to the skies! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to leave the bonds of earth and soar through the clouds? Do you have a tale of glory, justice and honor waiting to be unleashed? In our follow up to the Utopian world of Bright Mirror, Oddity Prodigy is proud to announce our newest project, Where Legends Walk, An Anthology of Superhero Stories. We are looking for your best stories featuring heroic feats of derring-do in the face of immeasurable evil. So channel your inner hero, lace up your boots, and join us in the fight for justice. If you need direction or inspiration, we recommend delving into the world of comics of all genres. We will be looking at the full range of stories, from Golden Age of mystery men such as the Justice Society of America, Silver Age of heroes like the Fantastic Four, the Bronze Age wonders like the New Gods, the grime and grit of the Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, all the way through to the Modern Age.  WHAT WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR We aren’t looking for fan fiction, stories using existing properties, extreme violence, brutality, or parody. Some sexual content is ok, but nothing too graphic or excessive. We will NOT consider stories that...