Submission Window: July 1st-31st, 2022
Payment: 0.01 USD per word for Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Book Reviews. 5.00 USD per Poem.
Theme: Short stories of any genre as long as they are dark, sinister, or eerie in tone.

Submission Period: JULY 1, 2022 – JULY 31, 2022

Any stories submitted BEFORE or AFTER the submission window (without prior consent from someone on the Aphotic Realm Team) will be deleted unread.

Submissions

Fiction

We will accept unpublished short stories of any genre as long as they are dark, sinister, or eerie in tone. No gratuitous sex or violence for the sake of shock—the use must be integral to the story. Stories must contain a minimum of 1,000 words and not surpass 5,000 words. 

Please submit all stories to [email protected]. In the subject line please write, “MAGAZINE FICTION: Title of your story”. In the body of the email, please include a 50-100 word bio about yourself and your contact information. All stories must be submitted as a .DOC or .DOCX file. All other file types will be deleted without being read.

All stories must be formatted properly in the William Shunn format.

• 12pt Times New Roman font
• Double-spaced 
• Do not use TAB for indents (Please… We beg of you)

No multiple submissions.

Simultaneous submissions are okay but please inform us as soon as possible if your story is picked up elsewhere.

Poetry

We will accept unpublished Poetry. It should be macabre; grotesquely fantastical. Horror meshed with sci-fi sensibilities, supernatural, gothic, fantasy heavy on imagery, theme, but no gratuitous sex for the sake of shock. Anything deemed dark and full of dimension. Form can be any kind, but if sending rhyming poetry, be sure to follow the rules for any structure chosen. No more than 60 lines, but longer poems will be considered if they warrant a second look.

Please submit all Poems to [email protected]. In the subject line please write, “MAGAZINE POEM(S): Your name”.  In the body of the email, please include a 50-100 word bio about yourself and your contact information. All Poems must be submitted as a .DOC or .DOCX file. All other file types will be deleted without being read.

You may submit up to five poems for consideration. Please make sure they are all in a single document.

Simultaneous submissions are okay but please inform us as soon as possible if your story is picked up elsewhere.

Non-Fiction

Please email us a pitch of your article before you write it. Please send all article pitches to [email protected]. In the subject line please write, “MAGAZINE N-F: “Title of the piece.” We are looking for anything related to genre fiction (leaning horror), interviews, or in the realm of craft related topics (writing, art, filmmaking, etc.). Including a link to a sample of your writing will work in your favor.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews should be at least 200 words and not exceed 1,000 words. Please make sure that the book review you send us falls in line with our style. We publish Strange and Sinister fiction—it is very unlikely that we will publish your review of romance or YA fiction.

Please send all book review submissions to [email protected]. Please write, “BOOK REVIEW: Title of book” in the subject line of the email. In the body of the email, please provide us with your name (people do forget this), a short synopsis of the book (not exceeding 50 words), along with links to where we can find/purchase the book. Simply submitting an already published review from Goodreads, Amazon, or a blog will not be accepted. 

Comics

Comics should not exceed 6 pages. The comics can be in black and white or color, but we do not accept works-in-progress or pages that are penciled and not inked. Not all comics have or need dialogue, but we are not accepting comics that intend to be lettered and are not. To put it simply, all submissions must be COMPLETED.

In addition to short comics, we also accept comic strips. These too, must be completed.

Please send all comic submissions to [email protected]. Please write, “COMIC : Title” in the subject line of the email. In the body of the email, please provide the names of the creators (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letter, etc.), as well as a brief description of the comic.

Comics should be sent as a .PDF file. Any attachment of a different file type will be deleted and unread.

Please keep in mind that all comics that are accepted for the print of the magazine will have to be sized to 8.5” x 11” (while retaining proper dimensions).

You must own all the rights to all work you send.

Compensation

0.01 USD per word for Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Book Reviews.

5.00 USD per Poem.

5.00 USD per Comic Page.

Every contributor will also receive a digital copy of the magazine. Monetary payments will be sent via PayPal within two weeks after the official publication date. 

Rights

Aphotic Realm will claim first-world electronic and print rights with a 3-month exclusivity period starting on the date of official publication. 

 

We look forward to seeing your submissions!

 

-Stay Strange

The Aphotic Realm Team

Via: Aphotic Raelm.