Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
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Tea or Coffee, Stars, and Gravity
This submission call from Air and Nothingness Press couldn’t be neater or clearer: stories must involve i) tea or coffee, ii) stars and iii) gravity.
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2026 
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Teeth
DreamPunk Press are working on an anthology of eerie, creepy or Gothic horror themed around teeth.
Word count: 3000–3500 words
Payment: $200
Deadline: 31 March 2026
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Rage, Well Spoken
Dismantling Press is looking for stories by women that confront, interrogate, or give voice to their rage. The editors note that ‘stories may be personal narratives, essays, hybrid, or experimental’.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: 4 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2026
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Surveillance
This anthology from Cursed Morsels will feature weird fiction with a surveillance theme.
Word count: Up to 4000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2026
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What Elegant Stars
This subtitle of this anthology from Neon Hemlock Press provides a neat summary of the type of fiction required: ‘Queer Tales of Impossible Style’.
Word count: Up to 6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 15 April 2026
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Pathways to Imagination – Whispers Made Flesh
The editors of this new anthology are seeking fantastical or horrific stories in which ‘desire, fear, memory, grief, or belief crosses a threshold and takes shape’.
Word count: Up to 7000 words
Payment: Up to $45 depending on word count
Deadline: Ongoing
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Folded Space
This SF podcast seeks space opera stories in the vein of Iain M Banks, Ann Leckie and Alastair Reynolds.
Word count: 3000–7000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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Reckoning
Have you written a speculative piece that’s a difficult sell because it’s partway between short story and novel length? Then you might want to send it to Reckoning, which is now accepting novellas.
Word count: 17,500–40,000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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Best Noir Sci-Fi-Horror
Despite the confusing title, this anthology will feature original stories rather than reprints, though I do appreciate the specificity of the theme.
Word count: 1500–6000 words
Payment: 4 cents per word
Deadline: 4 April 2026
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Ghosts of Gravelly Hill
The excellent Floodgate Press is on the lookout for stories with a tangible link to the British West Midlands, and specifically the Gravelly Hill Interchange. The title suggests spookiness is encouraged.
Word count: Up to 2500 words
Payment: None
Deadline: 31 March 2026 
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Darker Stars
Do you write SF horror micro-fiction? You can submit five exactly 100-word ‘drabbles’ at a time to this venue.
Word count: 500 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: Unspecified
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Pulp Literature
This magazine publishes ‘any genre or between-genre’ fiction.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: 3–8 cents per word, depending on word count
Deadline: 31 March 2026   
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Evil Easter
In April, Flash Phantoms will present Easter-themed stories of 100 words.
Word count: 100 words
Payment: None
Deadline: 29 March 2026
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Witches Save the World
This anthology of ‘outsider witch tales’ from Eternal Haunted Summer has the subtitle ‘Hags, Harridans, and Hexes Gone Right’.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: Royalty share
Deadline: 31 March 2026
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Creepy
This horror podcast is searching for new stories, particularly those with female protagonists. They’re also working on a theme entitled ‘Creepaway Camp’.
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Open until filled
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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.