Deadline: August 6th, 2021
Payment: $0.01 per word for each accepted short story, $10 for each accepted flash piece.
Theme: All forms of dark speculative fiction, see below

Starward Shadows Quarterly is an online dark speculative fiction magazine seeking stories between 500 and 8,000 words. We’re interested in exploring the wicked, strange places that walk the line between reality and nightmare—the alien, the absurd, and above all else, the weird.

Short fiction, flash, and artwork submissions are currently OPEN!

Genres We Accept:

Cosmic Horror, Sword and Sorcery, Sword and Planet, High/Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Lovecraftian/Cthulhu Mythos inspired tales, Gothic Horror, Space Opera, Dark Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, New Weird, Grimdark, Slipstream, and Cyberpunk. However, feel free to send us anything that falls under the incredibly broad umbrella of “speculative fiction.”

Inspirational authors:

H. P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Michael Moorcock, J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Ruocchio, Tamsyn Muir, Robert E. Howard

Things we love:

Monsters, vampires, aliens, psychological horror, first-person unreliable narrators, eloquence, themes of neurodivergence, angst done right (think “Interview with the Vampire), death cults, weird religious undertones, wraiths, trickster kings, black metal, stories where the bad guys win, character-driven narratives, and stories that take place somewhere strange and far away where humanity isn’t even mentioned at all.

Anything with a Dark Souls, Morrowind, or Oblivion vibe will have us foaming at the mouth. Also, one of the editors has also had a lifelong, questionable obsession with A Clockwork Orange and those old Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comics . . .

Things we hate:

Post-apocalyptic settings, dystopian fiction, parodies, rock-hard SF, zombies, mermaids, sirens, pandemic stories (we lived it and we’re sick of it), and political and/or moral soapboxes. If you’re going to send us anything falling into these categories, you’d better have completely and utterly reinvented it for it not to get auto-rejected.

Absolutely no animal harm or abuse. Sending a story with animal harm will earn you an instant, eternal blacklist. If you want to convey that your protagonist or character is a psycho/sociopath, there are more creative ways.

How to Submit:

We’re currently accepting submissions in the following categories:

• Flash Fiction: 500 to 1,500 words
• Short Fiction: 1,500 to 8,000 words
• Artwork

In the future, we may accept other works such as poetry, novellas, and short story collections, so feel free to check back regularly.

General Guidelines for All Submissions:

First, please go over these general rules for all submissions, regardless of what you plan on sending us:

• Submissions should be sent in Standard Manuscript Format to [email protected]

• All stories should be attached to the email in .doc, .docx or .rtf format. Please don’t paste your submission into the body of the email. We would appreciate it if you stuck to readable, tried-and-true fonts as well.

• All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter detailing the story’s title, genre, and word count, along with a very brief description of the plot. Please include your name, publication credits, and any professional memberships, awards, and noteworthy accomplishments as well.

• Upon acceptance, all authors will be asked to provide a short author bio.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine: They always should be. But please have the decency to notify us right away if your story is accepted elsewhere.

• Starward Shadows Quarterly is a paying market. Please visit the individual sections for each category for more details. All authors will also receive a digital copy of the issue in the format of their choice.

• We aim to reply to all submissions within 60 days. If you haven’t heard from us within this timeframe, feel free to query. If for some extraordinary/unusual reason we want to consider your story for longer than the standard two month period, we’ll let you know.

• We’re especially interested in stories by neurodivergent and disabled authors at this time. So if your story is #ownvoices, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Guidelines for Short Fiction (1,500 – 8,000 words)

Here at Starward Shadows, we’re seeking original, unpublished stories between 1,500 and 8,000 words for our quarterly issues.

We’re currently reading submissions for our flagship issue, which will be released during the Fall of 2021.

Submissions close on August 6th 2021 at 11:59 PM EST. Anything submitted after will be deleted unread.

Please follow this format for the title of your email: [FICTION: Story Title – Genre – Word Count] 

All submissions should be sent to [email protected]

Authors will be compensated a semi-pro rate of $0.01 per word for each accepted short story.

Guidelines for Flash Fiction (500 – 1,500 words)

The editors are seeking unpublished flash fiction pieces between 500 and 1,500 words to appear in our monthly newsletters, as well as our quarterly issues. Each accepted piece will first be sent out in the newsletter, and then showcased in our Flash Menagerie on the website indefinitely.

You may submit up to (3) flash pieces for consideration at a time. Please consolidate them into one email if possible.

Please follow this format for the title of your email: [FLASH: Story Title(s) – Genre – Word Count] 

All submissions should be sent to [email protected]

Authors will be compensated $10 for each accepted flash piece. 

Art Submissions:

From time to time, we’ll commission original cover art for our issues, as well as interior art to accompany our stories. Some pieces will also be selected for an art feature on our site. We may consider purchasing art you’ve already created, as long as it’s original and unpublished. If you’re interested in working with us, send your portfolio link to [email protected]. If you don’t have an online portfolio, feel free to send .jpg or .png email attachments of your work instead.

Payment will be negotiated for each individual piece.

For more information, see our Artwork page.

Via: Starward Shadows Quarterly.