Celebrate the new year with this bumper list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found recently!

And a reminder: sign up for my email newsletter if you want advance notice of open calls like these.

CatsCast
Who knew that the excellent audio fiction company Escape Artists has a cat-themed podcast? Pretty savvy, given how much the internet loves cats. Personally, I’m a dog person, if anything.
Word count: Up to 6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–11 February 2024
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Winter in the City
This anthology from the newly revived House of Gamut is subtitled ‘A Collection of Dark Urban Stories’, which is clear enough. One caveat, though: the city in your story should be real and identifiable, regardless of the fantastical approach you take.
Word count: 3000–7500 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2024
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The Devil You Know Best
Have you or do you fancy writing a story featuring Devil? If so, then this third volume of the anthology series from Critical Blast is the place to send it.
Word count: 2000–10,000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 31 January 2024
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Leadership Gone Right
This anthology from Farthest Star Publishing will feature science-fictional and fantastical tales which, in the editors’ words, ‘transport us to new realms where leadership shines brilliantly or takes a haunting turn’.
Word count: 1000–8000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 25 January 2024
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Triangulation
This series has been around for a long while and is very well-respected. The theme for the 21^st is an interesting one: hospitium, which the editors describe as ‘a Greco-Roman concept of hospitality, where both the guest and host have an obligation to treat the other with kindness and respect, regardless of external quarrels’.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 29 February 2024
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Egaeus Press Gothic anthology
Egaeus produce some of the most gorgeous anthologies around, and this is a rare opportunity to submit a story. Their forthcoming anthology is as-yet unnamed, but will feature stories in the Gothic tradition (though not necessarily period pieces).
Word count: Up to 12,000 words
Payment: 80 pence per 100 words
Deadline: 31 April 2024
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Luna Station Quarterly
The editors are looking for speculative fiction written by women-identified authors. Their list of preferences is detailed, and I particularly like ‘Stories that explore the nooks and crannies of an original world’ and ‘Big events from the everyman perspective’.
Word count: 500 to 7000 words
Payment: $5
Deadline: 15 February 2024 for current issue
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Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea
This anthology from Air and Nothingness Press will have a very odd structure, but promises to be an interesting read. It’s due to feature stories with long titles (minimum 250 words), concise narratives (maximum 600 words) and copious footnotes, endnotes, marginalia, indices and glossaries. I think it sounds brilliant.
Word count: 1500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1 February–31 March 2024
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The Lost Poetry Club
It’s a bit of a misleading title, as this ‘audible zine’ actually focuses on short fiction rather than poetry. All the same, it sounds great, covering SF, slipstream, weird fiction, folk-tales, fantasy, surrealism among other genres. The prompt for the first edition is ‘The Chronicle’.
Word count: 1800–3000 words
Payment: 1.5 pence per word
Deadline: 29 Feb 2024
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Story Unlikely
This publication doesn’t specialise in a particular genre, but the editors do say: ‘We like stories that cross genres, experiment, and push the boundaries of literature.’ There’s also a short story contest which is open until the end of January – see here.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Opens 2 February 2024
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Augur Magazine
This magazine attempts to fill a particular niche that I find very appealing – its website states: ‘Our perfect submission defies categorization—pieces that could be “too speculative” for CanLit or literary magazines or “not speculative enough” for speculative magazines.’
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 11 cents (CAD) per word
Deadline: 31 January 2024
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Haven Speculative
The editors of this online SF magazine state: ‘We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we’ve finished. We’re more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and emotional depth.’
Word count: Up to 6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–28 February 2024
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Heathen
This new magazine specialising in horror and dark fantasy fiction will be published in both text and audio format, with the best stories published in a print annual each year.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 31 January 2024 for the first issue
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The Lorelei Signal
This new quarterly magazine will feature stories involving strong or complex female characters.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: $15
Deadline: No deadline
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Xanax Hamster
No, I don’t understand the title either. But it’s looking for horror flash fiction.
Word count: Up to 1500 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: Open 3–4 February 2024
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Mystery Magazine
The editors of this Canadian magazine are always on the lookout for mystery stories.
Word count: 1000–7500 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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Bigfoot Country
Here’s another fun prompt: Celticfrog Publishing is looking for stories about Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti.
Word count: Up to 4000 words
Payment: $100 CAD
Deadline: 1 February 2024
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Crepuscular
The editors of this online mag seek micro-fiction ‘exploring places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas between this and that, here and there, night and day, alive and dead, evil and good, feminine and masculine, up and down, real and unreal. If you’re not quite sure what that means, lean into that feeling.’
Word count: Up to 250 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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Puzzling
Another publisher seeking mystery stories! However, the editors of this anthology are specifically looking for mystery stories with a speculative element.
Word count: 3000–6000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 31 January 2024
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BFS Horizons
I really should have flagged this sooner given that I was once co-editor of this publication – but the excellent fiction anthology of the British Fantasy Society is now a paying market.
Word count: 500–5000 words
Payment: £20
Deadline: Ongoing
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Kaiju
In the words of the editors, this anthology from Broken Sleep Books ‘will explore the many and varied ways that monsters inspire, thrill, and frighten us’. But we’re talking really big monsters, mind you.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: No payment, with royalties going to charity
Deadline: 31 January 2024
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The Cellar Door
Stories are currently being considered for the fourth and fifth issues of this new magazine of dark fiction, with themes ‘After Tomorrow’ (i.e. post-apocalypse) and ‘Marshland Horrors’.
Word count: 2000–10,000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 31 January 2024
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Good luck if you submit a story to any of these venues! And remember, you can sign up for my email newsletter for monthly open submission calls direct to your inbox.

Image from Wikimedia Commons.