Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
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Trollbreath
This new magazine will feature ‘dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between’ (quite a complex calculation, that ‘in between’ part). Its name and title font are very much in its favour.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: 4 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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The Orange & Bee
This new zine specialises in fairy tales, either reimagining existing ones or ‘unique creation[s] waiting to be added to the rich tradition of the continually evolving literary canon.’
Word count: Up to 4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Imagine 2200
This is a short story contest rather than a magazine, with the subtitle Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Judges Omar El Akkad and Annalee Newitz will assess stories of any genre ‘imagining futures of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope’. Unlike many contests of this sort, it’s free to enter.
Word count: 2500–5000 words
Payment: $3000 first prize, with 12 winners in total
Deadline: 24 June 2024
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Little Guts
This anthology from Little Ghosts Books will feature ‘gross, goopy horror’ that ‘evoke fun and disgust’, which is… possible… I suppose. Unusually, they request pitches rather than completed stories.
Word count: 2000–5000 words
Payment: 12 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Rhapsody of the Spheres
This anthology from Third Flatiron will feature hopepunk speculative fiction stories – that is, SF stories that the editors feel ‘would make us happy right now’.
Word count: 1500–3000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 19 May – 1 June 2024
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Terrific Tomorrows
Positive SF seems to be more and more popular. The editors of this anthology are seeking family-friendly SF stories ‘with positive visions of the future, stories that leave the reader excited about the possibilities ahead.’
Word count: Up to 3000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Witchcraft in Your Lips
This anthology from Lethe Press will contain only three or four novellas, all themed around ‘lesbian-themed folk magic and witchcraft’.
Word count: 20,000–30,000 words
Payment: $750
Deadline: Not stated
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Skull and Laurel
Tenebrous Press has an excellent track record in publishing New Weird fiction. Now it’s publishing a magazine along similar lines. They’d like to see stories that are ‘dark and Weird with a capital W’.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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The Robots Were Right
This anthology from Weird Little Worlds is subtitled Tales of Unstoppable Technology. The editors are looking for stories that wouldn’t be out of place on Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone.
Word count: 500–5000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Arkham Institutions
Do you write Lovecraftian cosmic horror? If so, this upcoming anthology from Dragon’s Roost Press should be of interest. The angle is that stories should be based around aspects of government and business in Lovecraft’s fictional town of Arkham.
Word count: 3000–5000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 30 June 2024
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Other
This anthology from Bannister Press will exclusively feature fantasy fiction by writers who identify as women, and the focus will be on ‘what it means to be on the outside looking in, or comfortably or uncomfortably out of step with the world(s) at large.’
Word count: Up to 3500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 1 June 2024
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Shivering Timbers!
Fun! Pirate-themed horror! Though it wouldn’t necessarily be fun to meet a zombie pirate. Most likely it would be fairly traumatic.
Word count: 2000–7000 words
Payment: £20
Deadline: 1 June 2024
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Bite / Soul / Howl
Graveside Press is putting together three anthologies. Bite is for vampire stories, Soul for ghostliness and Howl will contain werewolves and shape-changers. There’s also an unthemed horror magazine, Tiny Terrors.
Word count: 2000–6000 words (2000–12,000 words for Tiny Terrors)
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Circe / Anansi
The next two titles in the Myths, Gods & Immortals series from the excellent Flame Tree Publishing will feature stories about Circe and Anansi, respectively.
Word count: 3000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 23 June 2024
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Heartlines
This is interestingly different: a magazine themed around ‘long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial.’ It sounds like all SFF subgenres are welcome… but it’s only open to writers with a link to Canada.
Word count: 1000–3500 words
Payment: 8 cents (CAD) per word
Deadline: 31 May 2024
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Weird Wide Web
Another contest, and despite the title the judges will accept horror, SF and fantasy – and reprints are welcomed.
Word count: 1000–4000 words
Payment: $75 first prize
Deadline: 1 June 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.