Submission Window: July 1st to July 15th, 2022
Payment: $40
Theme: Sword and Planet fiction.

While the magazine is still in limbo, Broadswords and Blasters is making a return… in the form of an anthology! They’re going with a very underutilized area of science fiction these days and one that might be fun to write for. If you love pulpy sci-fi mixed with a dash of fantasy, this might be just the anthology that you’ll want to be submitting to (or picking up when it goes on sale!)

1. What we’re looking for: Sword and Planet fiction. Think John Carter (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Flash Gordon (especially the comic strip, the early serials, and the movie – not so much the attempted reboots), and Leigh Brackett (Eric John Stark). Need more examples? Check here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_planet.
2. Word count is 5,000 to 10,000. This is for a one-off themed anthology, so no serials. Stories should be self-contained, with a readily identifiable beginning, middle, and end. Don’t send us a chapter of your novel unless it can completely stand on its own.
3. Payment is $40 flat plus an electronic comp copy, regardless of word length. If we manage to secure additional funding, the first thing we’ll be doing is upping the pay rate for contributors. Payment will be made through PayPal, no exceptions.
4. Submissions will open 12:01 AM EDT (GMT -4) July 1, 2022 and close July 15, 2022 at 11:59 PM EDT (GMT -4). Anything outside of that time frame will go unloved, unread and rejected.
5. Our goal is to have read every submission and sent final acceptances/rejections within sixty days after the submission window closes.
6. The plan is to have the finished anthology up for sale in time for the Christmas holiday season 2022. Maybe even by Black Friday if we really get into the groove.
7. A few more details:
   a. Make your story action loaded. There are times and places for philosophical discourses, where the conflict can be solved with a conversation or the push of a button – this is neither.
   b. If you want a sense of what the editors’ are looking for in a story, it would behoove you to read the following:
   i. https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/what-i-look-for-in-a-story/
   ii. https://broadswordsandblasters.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/so-you-got-rejected-by-broadswords-and-blasters/
8. We strongly prefer clear descriptions. While we appreciate poetic prose, the reader has to be able to understand what is happening.
9. No multiple submissions.
10. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Just let us know as soon as possible if another venue snags your story.
11. No reprints.
12. For rating guidelines (language, descriptions) we are looking at a hard R-rating (USA rating scale) as the maximum we will publish. That is to say, we don’t shy away from cursing, gore, or sex, but such content needs to serve the story, not be there for the sake of being there.
13. Please submit stories in either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. Use standard submission format. http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html.
14. We claim world first exclusive rights for print and digital, with the exclusive period lasting for 1 year (365 days) after date of first publication.
15. We claim nonexclusive rights after that time to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, and sell stories, in electronic or physical form, as part of the anthology. (This is to keep the listings up at Amazon and other stores who sell the anthology.)

Via: Broadswords and Blasters.