Tag: anthology

Happy new year! For any writer, sending short stories to publishers is a great way to mark the start of a fresh new year. Here are the more interesting open calls I’ve found recently:

Witch Craft
This new volume in the ‘Beyond and Within’ series is again being put together by award-winning editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. Most stories will be by invited contributors, but around four will be from open submissions.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 6 pence per word
Deadline: 19 January 2024
Find out more

Cottage Crimes
Stories submitted to this crime and mystery anthology from Unnerving must take place at a private vacation property, though pay close attention to the list of settings unwanted by the editor, such as ski chalets or timeshares.
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: 1.5 Canadian cents per word
Deadline: 14 February 2025
Find out more

Seaside Gothic
I’ve had my eye on this British zine for a while now – seaside gothic is a genre that needs to be popularised! The brief word count is a tricky restriction, though.
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: 1 pence per word
Deadline: Open 13–19 January 2025
Find out more

Carnival of Horror
This is another title that speaks for itself – the editors seek stories of abandoned amusement parks, travelling carnivals and haunted attractions.
Word count: 750–3000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 31 January 2024
Find out more

The Joining
Grotesque fun! The subtitle ‘Scenes of Wedding Terror’ tells you all you need to know about the theme, though some of the editors’ suggestions are wedding-adjacent: ‘proposals gone wrong, literal bride-zillas, unsettling in-laws, bachelor parties that end in bloodshed’.
Word count: 2500–5000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 1 March 2025
Find out more

Meetinghouse
While not an SFF, horror or mystery magazine per se, the editors at Dartmouth College are open to stories that are ‘genre-bending & genre-blending’.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: $100
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Writing the Future We Need
This anthology of SF, fantasy and horror stories has the subtitle – and the theme for your interpretation – of ‘Surviving Humanity’.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: $45
Deadline: 31 January 2025
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Phantom Worlds
This issue of The Cellar Door will feature ‘horror stories that take place when alternate realities invade our own’.
Word count: 2000–8000 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: 31 January 2025
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Space Opera Stories
Residential Aliens is lining up four anthologies each focused on a single aspect of space opera: First Contact / Alien Invasion / Generation Ship / Colony World.
Word count: 6000–8000 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: 31 January 2024
Find out more

Exquisite Death
The editors of this new zine are seeking dark fantasy and horror stories – specifically, ‘the dark, the surreal, the atmospheric and macabre’.
Word count: Up to 3000 words
Payment: None
Deadline: Ongoing
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Factor Four
This online zine publishes speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy, and also supernatural and superhero tales.
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: 11 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
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.