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.
The Morning After
This is a great theme! The editors of this anthology want stories about what happens after a sudden transformation. ‘This could be an individual person transforming into something new or a mass change that effects humanity as a whole. How does this person or society react to no longer being human?’
Word count: 2000–10,000 words
Payment: 1 Australian cent per word
Deadline: 1 June 2025
Find out more
Solarpunk
This well-established magazine specialises in fiction in which humanity has solved modern challenges such as climate change and, generally, in which society is more positive.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–14 April 2025
Find out more
Last Girls Club
The fiction in this established PDF zine features ‘genre/gender bending powerful women facing terrors using their abilities to overcome them or succumb to them’.
Word count: Up to 2500 words
Payment: 1.5 cents per word
Deadline: 1–15 April 2025
Find out more
It Was Paradise
This special edition of Reckoning Magazine edited by Sonia Sulaiman will feature stories about war, extinction, genocide and climate crisis. Fiction by people with lived experience of war and conflict will be prioritised.
Word count: Up to 20,000 words
Payment: 15 cents per word
Deadline: 22 June 2025
Find out more
Women of the Weird West
Have you written a pulpy, weird western tale featuring a female main character? Then send it to the editors at Brigids Gate Press.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–30 April 2025
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Monstrous Angels
This anthology with the subtitle ‘An Anthology of Religious Horror’ will contain stories of literal angels from any culture.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: $20
Deadline: 25 May 2025
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Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mystery 1889 & 1890
There are several Sherlock Holmes anthologies listed on the Belanger Books website. These ones will feature stories that fill in the canonical gaps in 1889 and 1890. The process is to send a proposal to be approved before you write your story.
Word count: 5000–10,000 words
Payment: $125
Deadline: 30 April 2025 (for proposals)
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Home Constellations
Stories submitted to this anthology must be set in the future and also feature non-traditional families.
Word count: No limit specified
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 30 September 2025
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Kinpaurak
This online zine specialises in the esoteric, the absurd and the sublime, and references Dadaism and absurdist philosophy in its guidelines.
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: $5
Deadline: Ongoing
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Some Thing Out There
I’m getting Spielberg and Stranger Things vibes from this anthology, which will feature alien-encounter horror stories set in the 1980s.
Word count: 2500–7000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: 30 April 2025
Find out more
The Canadian Sepulchral
This new, terrifically titled online zine will feature horror fiction of all sorts.
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: None
Deadline: Ongoing
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Tales from the Crosstimbers
The title of this SFF magazine refers to a forest in Oklahoma, and while the editors hope local authors will send stories, submissions are open to all.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 15 April 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.
Tim Major 
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