Events

Deadline: May 1st, 2025 Payment: $1,200.00 for all accepted submissions (unclear if this is split between the authors or for each piece.) Theme: Soilpunk (sci-fi involving soil) with the theme of 'The Garden' Your fiction, our future. Tractor Beam is a new quarterly speculative and science fiction publication dedicated to soilpunk: radical visions of hopeful futures built from the ground up. Our editorial mandate is to explore audacious and provocative ideas around farming, food, earth science, and beyond, reimagining how humans can live more harmoniously with nature. For our second issue, themed “The Garden”, we’re seeking original written and graphic works set on a future Earth transformed by new approaches to soil. Literal or abstract, near term or on distant horizons: worlds can take inspiration from innovations or alternative practices in earth and material science, regenerative agriculture, food, microbiology, and more. Each story should be a visionary proposal woven into a spectacular plot. We prefer submissions under 6000 words for writing or 16 panels for graphic novellas. Pitches and pencils are welcome. Please send all submissions to [email protected]. Deadline to submit for Issue 2 is May 1st. Tractor Beam pays $1,200.00 for all accepted submissions. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us immediately if your piece was accepted elsewhere so we can withdraw it and congratulate you! Let’s bring sci-fi down to earth–literally–and sow the seeds of a better tomorrow, today. Via: Tractor Beam.

Deadline: May 1st, 2025 Payment: $5 usd Theme: Splatter Friendly Horror How the Sausage is Made! Submissions: We want solid entertaining writing. That has to be clearly stated because we are open to gore, extreme horror, splatterpunk, and horror with sexual elements to it. Sounds great? Like anything too good to be true, there is a catch. We have some hard “Nos.” Before you go off about the freedom of expression, remember, this is a web ‘zine, not a government. We donate our time to it and if we’re not getting joy from reading your story we’re not going to publish it. This website runs on our love of horror. We offer a token payment of $5 USD to support your drug habit, paid upon publication. However, you keep your rights –we don't want them. The Stuff We Don’t Want to Read: NO sex with children, NO sexualization of children, and NO child rape. If you’re writing a story about a child predator who gets what’s coming to him –great. But we don’t want to read about that predator coming on his victims. We won’t publish anything supporting a racist, transphobic, or homophobic agenda, so don’t try it. Sex and sensuality are fine, but we publish horror. We won’t publish a story that’s 90 percent lesbian vampires having explicit sex and 10 percent them ripping their victims to pieces. Go 50/50 on that and you've got our attention. High-quality gory smut is fine. Like gore, sex has to serve a purpose. If you want to write a piece about a cowboy who discovers one of the prostitutes at the local brothel has a vagina that opens to another dimension filled with blood clot monsters and he can fit his entire body into it… Sure, that’s great. If you want to...

Submission Window: May 1st-2nd, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 8¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 per line, and for reprints we pay 50¢ a line  We’re looking for poems up to 40 lines. We’ll consider longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 8¢ per word. We sponsor The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn aboutThe Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, from a minimum of 1000 words on up.   All else being equal, shorter pieces will be favored, and we have yet to find a story over about 9-10,000 words we have even...

Deadline: May 5th, 2025 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: short comedic fiction Eggplant Emoji, the comedy literary journal is currently seeking previously-unpublished comedic short fiction submissions for its fifth volume. Eggplant Emoji Volume 5 will be a print and eBook collection of hilarious short stories that are character-driven and culturally striking. We are not looking for essays; we want scenes with dialogue, and stories with a beginning, middle, and an end. For a better sense of what we’re looking for, check out previous Volumes of Eggplant Emoji, available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Submissions should be 1,000 – 8,000 word prose, with a comedic tempo of at least one witty line or funny moment per page, but ideally more than one. The intended audience will be 17+ and we encourage adult or sexual themes. Submission Guidelines: We use a blind submission process. That means your name, email address, or any other identifying information should be absent from the pages of your .doc/.docx piece. Please title your work and reference it in the body of your email. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please immediately advise us if your piece is accepted elsewhere. A maximum of 2 pieces will be accepted per person for consideration. Contributors will receive a $25 one-time payment and author copy per accepted piece. Please send submissions to [email protected] Deadline: Monday, May 5, 2025. Decisions will be rendered by Thursday, July 30, 2025. Projected release date: September 2, 2025. Read “Advice on Writing for Eggplant Emoji, and Biggest Mistakes Made by Submitters“ on Eggplant Emoji’s Substack. Via: Eggplant Emoji.

Deadline: May 7th, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word and a contributor's copy Theme: Speculative Fiction, ideally with sci-fi elements if not sci-fi itself People of the World! Planet Scumm accepts submissions from writers across the world. Our pages have hosted the imaginative work of authors from every contintent but Antartica. We want to hear from writers with as various experiences, identities, and points of view as possible. Please do not busy our big-hearted slush readers with AI-generated tripe. Stories generated in part or whole by AI are in violation of our author contract. Specs WHAT TO SUBMIT Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream Basically anything that pleases Scummy, our megaphone-toting slime buddy, will be considered for entry to the interstellar archive aboard Scummy’s saucer HOW TO SUBMIT Include submissions as a .doc or .docx attachment to [email protected] along with a brief cover letter in the email body. Please attach only your story (no images, do not put your story in the body text of the email). Stories, or collections of flash fiction, should be no more than 5,000 words in length, and submitted in standard manuscript format. Submit only ONE previously unpublished short story or flash collection. We do not accept multiple submissions from the same author in one reading period. Simultaneous submissions are okay, as long as you promptly withdraw a story accepted elsewhere. SCHEDULE, RIGHTS, AND PAYMENT Accepted authors receive 8 cents a word and one contributor copy. Our publication operates in print, e-book, and audiobook. Some accepted stories will also be published on our website. We purchase exclusive English-language print, audio, and electronic publishing rights for six months, with non-exclusive rights thereafter. Authors will receive payment within 3 months of finalizing story edits. Via:...

Submission Window: May 1st - 7th, 2025 Payment: 8 cents per word Theme: Science fiction stories under 300 words We open from the 1st-7th of each month, beginning April 2025. What we want: Anomaly is interested in science fiction stories under 300 words in length, for publication on their Patreon, with the right to collect stories into a future anthology. We're looking for dark and disruptive stories that have strong emotional resonance. We like stories that stick with us after reading, that get us thinking about the twisted use of technologies, the way the world may be, or how characters might react to an evolving technological future. What we're asking for: First rights with 90 days of exclusivity after publication, and the nonexclusive right to republish the story in a future anthology that collects Anomaly stories, with permission from the authors. Compensation: .08 per word for original fiction and an electronic copy of any future anthology. Submission Guidelines: Please attach your file to this form in .doc/.docx format. Use Times New Roman 12 point font with Shunn standard manuscript format. Stories must be 300 words or less. No simultaneous submissions. No multiple submissions. No stories written with AI. No reprints at this time. If you need any further assistance, please email us at [email protected]. SUBMIT HERE Via: Anomaly's Patreon.

Deadline: May 13th, 2025 Payment: $20 for original fiction. $10 for poetry. $5 for reprints, $5 for short articles, poems and spells on winter rites, traditions and rituals - Payment and a contributor's copy for US authors Theme: Stories of how winter relates to rest and rejuvenation and refinement of dreams involving fantasy, folklore, and magic Winter Lore Book 3: Aurora: Tales of Winter Dreams: Submission Open March 25 to May 13, 2025 Word count 2,000 to 6,000 Pay: $20 for original fiction $10 for poetry $5 for reprints $5 for short articles, poems and spells on winter rites, traditions and rituals Payment and a contributors copy Paperback for US residence Ebook for Non-US residence Please read and Follow All Guidelines Carefully or your story may be discarded without being read. Use QueryManager to submit your story. https://QueryTracker.net/query/SpecPub To submit to the query manager you need to upload your complete manuscript, .doc and .docx files, formatted in standard Shunn Format, (double spaced, times new roman ect) Have your name, word count and email at the top of the story document. Format files with the project title, story title and author name in the name. For example : Winter Dreams- Booger Nights- Jensen This is a collection of fantasy, folklore, and magic. It can be dark or light, but try to keep it within the bounds of fantasy. Stories of how winter relates to rest and rejuvenation and refinement of dreams. Stories will be about astral projection and lucid dreaming, dream spells, dream rituals, the magic of dreams, and subconscious desires and manifestations. What dreams come in the longest nights? What is imagined in the long cold months? -Stories of all faiths and spiritualities -Folklore, myth and Magic around dreaming and Winter -Stories of Winter Holidays and Traditions that tap into...

Submission Window: May 7th - 14th, 2025 Payment: 3 cents per word Theme: Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words What do we want?  Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words When do we want it?  Once per year: May 7-14 How do we want it?  Submitted via Publications | Moksha. Please do not submit fiction submissions by email. Other Stuff! Please submit your work only once, and please submit only one work per submission period. Please only resubmit works that have already been rejected if invited. Diversity is important and we wish to see that viewpoint reflected in our fiction content and submission queues. We are especially interested in hearing from those whose voices are underrepresented in the fantasy space. If comfortable, feel free to drop this information in your cover letter. We strongly favor stories that use contemporary narrative styles. Prose Poetry and other types of fiction with unique formatting/spacing are not a good match due to the print layout of the magazine. Please submit manuscripts that work in digital and print formats. If you aren’t sure how to format, check out Shunn. It’s not required to rigorously stick to formatting standards, but it helps. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please withdraw immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. We pay 3 cents (USD) per word for original fiction. We do not take unsolicited reprints. What we don’t want We do not take any work that used AI in its creation, work that uses established genre tropes in a standard way, and queries. Art OPEN What do we want?   Pieces that you feel might be fitting to appear on the cover or in the interior of the magazine When do we want it?  We take art submissions all year long. How do we want it? ...

Submission Window: April 1st - 30th, 2025 Extended Window May 1 - May 15th (Exclusively for Disabled, Neurodiverse, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, and other underrepresented voices.) Payment: $31 Theme: Halloween Death by TBR Books is a woman/disability owned indie online bookshop and indie press. We will be opening submissions for our upcoming Halloween horror anthology set to be released in August 2026! If you don't know the owner of Death by TBR Books then you may not be aware of her obsession for all things fall and Halloween. THIS anthology will be all about Halloween. This could be a nostalgic memory from your childhood or a more recent Halloween experience. We strongly encourage lovers of Halloween to apply even if you don't have prior publishing experience. From folk horror and vampires to psychological and werewolves and beyond. Think of nostalgic media that you watch every year. We want those who miss Halloween and October every year to have a way to stop and savor it every day of the month. Submissions Scary Stories to Tell in October A Halloween Horror Anthology Open call submission window: April 1st - April 30th Extended submission window: May 1st - May 15th (Exclusively for Disabled, Neurodiverse, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, and other underrepresented voices.) We are looking for 31 flash fiction/short stories so people can spend every day of October reading a very short story. Payment Royalties are $31 for the story and one electronic copy of the anthology. Word Count Between 1,000 and 3,000 words. What We Don’t Want Please do not send stories involving: - Graphic scenes of violence for the sake of violence - Stories that promote hate speech, defamation, or racial/ethnic stereotypes - Graphic scenes of sexual violence, especially those involving children - Work created by or with the assistance of AI in any...

Submission Window: April 15th - May 15th, 2025 Payment: $15.00 for short stories $5.00 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces. $5.00 for reprints Theme: SF/Fantasy stories that feature strong / complex female characters The Lorelei Signal is a quarterly SF/Fantasy electronic magazine - one that will feature strong / complex female characters. This does not mean your female character has to be the main hero or villain in the story. What it does mean is no shrinking violets, or women who serve only to get into trouble so the male hero can rescue them.Each issue I hope to publish:7 short stories, 1 flash fiction piece and 2 poemsthat meet the following guidelines:My primary guideline is simple:Write a good fantasy story with strong/complex characters.What I am NOT looking for - erotica / slash / or other such stories.Although well written love scenes that are IMPORTANT to the story will be considered on a story-by-story basis. 1) Stories should be no longer than 10,000 words.However, tell the story - if it takes more than 10,000 words to tell the story properly so be it.Just try to cut it down if possible - but remember the story is the important part. NOTE: stories in the 2500 - 5000 wd count range will have a better chance at acceptance.2) Stories must feature 3 dimensional / complex characters.3) I will accept reprints as long as it has been at least 1 year since the story was previously published,rights have reverted back and you tell me where it previously appeared.These will be limited to 2 per issue.4) Please keep the graphic gore down to a minimum(only what's needed for the story).5) Please keep the obscene language to a bare minimum(again, only what's needed for the story).6) Simultaneous Submissions will be considered IF:a) You tell me up frontb)...