Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
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Strange Pilgrims
The submissions page of this new magazine includes an enticing list of writers as influences (Gabriel García Márquez, Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ted Chiang), and it will publish ‘surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories’.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $200
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Find out more

Gilgamesh / Helen of Troy
Two more anthology calls featuring mythological characters, from the excellent Flame Tree Press…
Word count: 3000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 9 November 2025
Find out more here and here

Of Blood & Petals / The Tarot of Love
…and two more! These anthologies are part of Flame Tree’s new Romantic Fantasy series – the first themed around gardens, the second around Tarot and divination.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 10 November 2025
Find out more

Humans From Earth!!
This is a great pitch: the editors of this anthology are seeking stories in which humans are a source of terror to extraterrestrials.
Word count: 3000–7000 words
Payment: $100 AUD
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Cozy in the Apocalypse
Personally, I’ve always found apocalyptic scenarios quite comforting (fewer deadlines! no social media!) so the idea of cozy/cosy SFF and horror stories set during an apocalypse works for me.
Word count: 500–8000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Open until filled
Find out more

Drek Death and Doom
Here’s a fun mix: this publisher is putting together an anthology of folk horror stories linked to Thanksgiving.
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: 1 cent–4 cent per word
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Walpurgis Witcheries
Following on from an anthology titled Samhain Sorceries, DMR Books are now working on another volume featuring stories themed around Walpurgisnacht.
Word count: 4000–8000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Aspec Paranormal Anthology
Another very specific theme for this one: stories that centre asexual and aromantic characters in a paranormal context.
Word count: 2000–7500 words
Payment: $20 AUD
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Find out more

BAM!
The editors of this new zine are looking out for pulp fiction – think space opera, gritty crime and gunslinging westerns.
Word count: 3000–7500 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Fantabulosa!
There are plenty of exclamation marks in the publication titles this month! This new queer literary magazine will launch in February 2026, ‘showcasing tales of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical’.
Word count: 500–6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

The Lantern Keepers
Stories submitted to this anthology from Eldritch Cat Press must include characters who serve as guides, guardians, or messengers between the threshold of the living and the dead.
Word count: 1500–4500 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 1 December 2025
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.