Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
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Once Upon a Future Time
This is the fourth volume in this anthology series that specialises in fairy tales retold in science-fiction contexts.
Word count: 250–15,000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 29 February 2024
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Laughs in Space
New publisher Slab Press and editor of the Best of British SF series Donna Scott are seeking humorous SF stories for this anthology.  Many of the references mentioned on the website are British: Douglas Adams, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who.
Word count: 2000–9000 words
Payment: £10 per 500 words, up to £55
Deadline: Open 1 March – 7 April 2024
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What Was Found Too
Andy Cull and Gabino Inglesias are seeking stories for the second volume of their found-footage horror series of anthologies.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2024
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Max Blood’s Mausoleum
This new online zine will feature all types of horror stories, and its editors are keen to stress they’re not squeamish and hope to be truly terrified.
Word count: 1500–8000 words
Payment: $30
Deadline: Ongoing
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Fear of Clowns
Editor Kenneth W. Cain is on the lookout for stories about (or which will inspire) coulrophobia for this anthology from Kangas Kahn Publishing.
Word count: 1000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 1 April 2024
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Dark Tales from the Tarot
Each month, publisher Spindle House is open to horror flash stories inspired by the tarot deck. February’s prompt is the Ace of Wands.
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 15 February 2024 (then open 1–15 of each month, with new prompts)
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Strange Locations: An Anthology of Dark Travel Guides
This month, Apex Magazine’s monthly flash fiction contest is open to ‘speculative microfiction in the form of tourist brochures, travel blogs, and travel guides to the strangest, darkest places you can imagine.’
Word count: Up to 250 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 15 February 2024
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Roads Less Travelled
The stories featured in this new magazine from Midnight Street Press will be ‘horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi and slipstream, that explore original themes or traditional themes from an original perspective.’
Word count: No word limit
Payment: £40
Deadline: 29 March 2024
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Baubles From Bones
It’s encouraging to see new SFF online zines pop up. This one aims to feature ‘compelling adventures, folk-retellings, stories of hope in the dark, emotional healing, love of all sorts, environmentalism, and the humanity (or lack of it) among the fantastical and speculative’.
Word count: 1000–10,000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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Potter’s Field
This eighth volume of the print anthology series from Hiraeth Publishing seeks ‘tales from the graveyard’ – meaning horror stories themed around literal graveyards, though not necessarily conventional ones.
Word count: 2000–8000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 31 March 2024
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Riddlebird
The remit of this new online and print literary zine are broad, but the stated reference points are interesting: George Saunders, Souvankham Thammavongsa, E. C. Osondu.
Word count: Up to 650–5000 words
Payment: $100
Deadline: Ongoing
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Epic Echoes
This newish PDF zine features ‘punchy, genre-oriented’ stories.
Word count: 1000–3000 words
Payment: ‘minimal payment’
Deadline: 29 February 2024
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Anvil
Submissions for the fifth issue of this new magazine are now open. A wide variety of genres are accepted, from SFF to westerns.
Word count: 2000–8000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 29 February 2024
Find out more

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.