Tag: Flame Tree Press

Open submission calls for writers: July 2025

Here’s this month’s list of the most interesting open submissions calls for writers I’ve found!
Sign up for my email newsletter if you want advance notice of open calls like these.

Mmeory
I love this sound of this new anthology from air and nothingness press, with its theme of memory manipulation, which allows for my favourite trope: unreliable narrators.
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 7 July – 15 August 2025
Find out more

Romantic Fantasy
Flame Tree Publishing are delving into this popular subgenre with two new anthologies titled A Breath of Time and Of Love & Dragons.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 20 July 2025
Find out more

Unseen Agreements
This anthology from Beaches and Trails will contain SF stories about ‘hidden bargains, mysterious contracts, and eerie agreements’.
Word count: 3000–5000 words
Payment: $50 (Canadian)
Deadline: 15 August 2025
Find out more

Common Bonds
This second volume in the series will feature aromantic SF stories – that is, stories focused on platonic relationships.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 15 August 2025
Find out more

Posthuman Press
This publisher’s upcoming anthology on the theme of ‘Neurodiversity and the More-Than-Human’ will feature some speculative fiction alongside academic works.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $50 (Australian)
Deadline: 31 August 2025
Find out more

Diabolical Plots
This long-running submissions listing site also publishes science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction, and pays very well!
Word count: Up to 3500 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: Open 7–21 July 2025
Find out more

EnDROIDS
This short story contest is run by Engineering Data Structure Organoids, and stories should relate to the theme of DNA data storage. Thankfully, there are explanatory videos on the submissions page.
Word count: 2000–3000 words
Payment: Prizes of £750/£500/£250
Deadline: 15 July 2025
Find out more

Slugger
This new webzine specialises in body horror, and seeks ‘stories that hit you in the mouth’.
Word count: 1000–4000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 15 July 2025
Find out more

Quills & Tales
The publishers of this new fantasy zine are seeking ‘high fantasy, cozy fables, dark folklore, or wild sub genre mashups’.
Word count: 500–1000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Carnyx Press
The first anthology from this new publisher dedicated to the work of authors from the north of England will be on the theme of folklore.
Word count: 2000–10,000 words
Payment: £20
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Find out more

Myths, Gods and Immortals
Two more submission calls from the excellent Flame Tree series, this time seeking stories featuring either Odysseus or the Valkyries.
Word count: 3000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 24 August 2025
Find out more here and here

Horrific Scribes
This magazine from Horrific Scribblings features dark fiction of all descriptions.
Word count: 1500–5000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Penumbric
The editors of this well-established PDF zine are on the lookout for edgy SF.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: Open 15 July 2025, closes after 200 submissions
Find out more

Cemetery Songs
Here’s a fun prompt: horror stories submitted to this anthology must feature a cat, a cemetery and a song.
Word count: 1500–4500 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 1 September 2025
Find out more

Weird West
The Editors at Shacklebound Books are looking for stories mashing up the western genre with speculative or horror elements.
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 31 July 2025
Find out more

Keyed
This very specialised anthology from Iron Faerie will be a tribute to Buffy actress Michelle Trachtenberg.
Word count: 2500–7000 words
Payment: Royalties
Deadline: 3 August 2025
Find out more

The Daily Tomorrow
Stories accepted by this publication are sent out to its subscribers in 500-word serialised segments.
Word count: 2100–3500 words
Payment: None
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Bullet Points
A witty title for a magazine of dark military SF!
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $30
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.

Open submission calls: July 2023

Here are the most interesting open submissions calls for SFF writers I’ve found this month – and there are some very exciting ones included. If you’d like advance notice of calls for submissions, sign up for my monthly email newsletter.

Image from The Off-Season submissions page

The Off-Season
Oh, this sounds good. Editor Marissa Van Uden is seeking ‘new weird’ stories featuring ‘ocean-loving cults, crumbling seaside mansions, empty resort towns’ and more. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to write something for this call, but I’d certainly like to read the finished anthology.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: Open 31 July – 6 August 2023 for marginalized voices; 7 August – 28 August 2023 for all submitters
Find out more

Beyond and Within
This is a terrific opportunity for any horror writers out there. Prolific editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane have teamed with Flame Tree Press for a folk horror anthology, and while most of the stories are by invited authors, four slots have been reserved for open submissions. But you’ll need to work fast!
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 6 August 2023
Find out more

More Fey
A new anthology from Lethe Press, with stories featuring queer/LGBT speculative elements about ‘the strangeness of the fey folk and their interactions with mortals’. Note the distinction between fairy tales and tales with fairies before submitting!
Word count: 2500–10,000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 1 September
Find out more

Hidden Villains: Betrayed
The Inkd Publishing editors seek dark fantasy, horror or SF stories. Elements of betrayal, cheating, deception etc are vital.
Word count: 2000–8000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 31 August 2023
Find out more

Shoreline of Infinity
A one-off flash fiction contest from the excellent Scottish SF magazine. The theme is ‘Close to the Edge’, to be interpreted as you see fit.
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: £50 for the winning story, plus 1-year digital subscription to Shoreline of Infinity
Deadline: 3 September 2023
Find out more

Why Didn’t You Just Leave
An anthology of horror fiction from editors Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios, who are seeking complex answers to the quite sensible question asked in the anthology title.
Word count: 500–5000 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: 1–31 August 2023
Find out more

Tales to Terrify
This podcast features horror and dark fantasy stories, and are welcome to the definitions of horror being stretched.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Lucent Dreaming
The editors of this magazine for emerging authors are particularly looking for ‘beautiful, strange and surreal work’, which seems both an interesting mix and a laudable ambition. Interested writers are asked to buy a copy of the magazine before submitting.
Word count: 400–3999 words
Payment: £100
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Shub-Niggurath’s Sweater
This anthology from Underland Press will feature ‘cozy cosmic horror’. I bet you can have some fun with that prompt!
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 11 August 2023
Find out more

TSS Publishing
The editors of this online zine state a preference for literary fiction, but note ‘we are open to other genres and styles as long as the characters are convincing and the plot compelling’.
Word count: Up to 3000 words
Payment: £15
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

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Open submission calls: March 2022

1 Comment

Buster Keaton typing

Since I started out writing a decade ago, I’ve treated the submission (and rejection!) process for short stories as an important part of the gig. I still find myself scouring submissions calls almost daily, even though I respond to fewer of them each year (mainly because I’m writing fewer short stories and more novels). I thought I’d turn this habitual activity into something useful, and post the most interesting submission calls here. Good idea? Yes, I think so.

I should make clear that I’m not directly affiliated with any of these venues. These are simply the opportunities that have caught my eye.

Lightspeed
Currently open to SF/fantasy flash fiction
Word count: up to 1500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 1 May 2022 at the earliest
https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/lightspeed

Flame Tree Press: Shared Stories anthology
Speculative, fantastic or folkloric stories ‘inspired by stories of the first peoples in Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas’ by writers with appropriate heritage
Word count: Ideally 2000–4000 words
Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints
Deadline: 11 April 2022
http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/first-peoples-call-for-submissions-0

Weird Horror Magazine
Weird horror, obviously
Word count: 500–6000 words
Payment: 1.5 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2022
https://undertowpublications.com/weird-horror-magazine

The following calls aren’t open yet, but I figured that mentioning them now will give you a chance to write something to fit the requirements:

Shoreline of Infinity
Science fiction fairy tales for themed issue guest-edited by Teika Bellamy
Word count: up to 6000 words
Payment: £40 per 1000 words
Deadline: Open 4–14 April 2022
https://www.shorelineofinfinity.com/upcoming-submissions-call-science-fictional-fairy-tales/

Seaside Gothic
‘Seaside gothic literature’
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: 1 pence per word
Deadline: Open 11–17 April 2022
https://seasidegothic.com/submissions/

Uncanny
SF/F novellas (‘We want intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs’)
Word count: 17,500–40,000 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–15 May 2022
https://uncannymagazine.com/submissions/