Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
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Bad Romance
This 23^rd Triangulation anthology from Parsec Ink will feature stories themed around failed romances (or as they’re described on the website: ‘trashfire, toxic relationships’) that have a speculative element.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 31 January 2026
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Screams and Wails
The Slab Press are putting together an anthology of rock horror stories. As in rock music, not geology or rock climbing. Editor Donna Scott provides examples: ‘Think cursed instruments; songs that drive the listener mad; zombie fans; haunted studios.’
Word count: 2000–9000 words
Payment: 1p per word
Deadline: 28 February 2026
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The Phantom Pulse
This new online publication will showcase SF, fantasy and weird fiction, and from the description it sounds as though its editors are drawn to darker themes.
Word count: Up to 3000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 14 February 2026
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Otherside
This is another brand-new online zine, which describes itself as ‘a quarterly queer-led literary magazine of speculative fiction, poetry, and art by 2SLGBTQIA+ authors and artists’.
Word count: 500–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 14 January 2026
Find out more

Kitchen Work
A non-SFF venue, but certainly genre-specialist! What’s needed here are stories about ‘markets, cafes, remote picnics, tiny kitchens, and big dinner tables in your favorite location’.
Word count: Up to 3000 words
Payment: 20 cents per word
Deadline: Unspecified
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Bending the Arc
This excellent online SF venue publishes thrutopian writing, which imagines ways through to a world we would be glad to leave to future generations.
Word count: Up to 2030 words
Payment: None
Deadline: Open 12 January–1 February 2026
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Night Shades
This online zine publishes four speculative stories each month. Its editors are vague about when the current open submissions period will end, so act soon!
Word count: Up to 500 words
Payment: $65
Deadline: Unknown
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Black Horror, Then & Next
No open submissions roundup is complete without a listing from Flame Tree Publishing. Their new anthology within the Beyond & Within series will be edited by Maurice Broaddus and Dr. Chesya Burke, and will feature stories from Black authors.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 14 January 2026
Find out more

Tales to Terrify
This long-running horror podcast is hosting a submissions period linked to Women in Horror Month. Specifically, they want fiction from unpublished women and women-identifying horror writers.
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 31 January 2026
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Tales from the Moonlit Path
The editors of this online publication state: ‘We are interested in character-driven stories more so than plot-driven, and we prefer dark fiction that makes us think, makes us feel, wraps us in its well-spun dream.’
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 1 February 2026
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Your Body is a Fever Dream
This cosmic-horror-body-horror anthology from Tenebrous Press is open to trans and gender nonconforming writers.
Word count: Up to 4000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 10 January 2026
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Slavic Supernatural
The editors at Croatian publisher Shtriga are in the process of compiling a second volume of Slavic fantasy and horror.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: $35
Deadline: 28 February 2026
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34 Orchard
This venue showcases ‘dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth.’ Its editors also state: ‘we’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad’.
Word count: 1000–6000 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: 10 January 2026
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.