Tag: writing

Open submission calls for writers: December 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.

Rotting Leaf
I think this will appeal to lots of you out there: this new magazine from Brief Ecology will feature ‘literary and experimental explorations of the eco-gothic, the eco-horrific, the eco-surrealist, and the eco-weird.’
Word count: Up to 1500 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 1–7 December 2025
Find out more

Adventitious
The title of this new zine means either ‘Born elsewhere, arriving uninvited’ or ‘Rooted in the wrong place, thriving anyway’. Its list of influences includes Carmen Maria Machado, which is a good sign, as the cute logo.
Word count: Up to 17,000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–5 December 2025
Find out more

Obsidian
The Slab Press are putting together an anthology of dark SF tales about the harsh conditions of space (think Sunshine and Event Horizon). Note that these will be novelettes or even novellas, rather than short stories.
Word count: 9000–25,000 words
Payment: 1p per word (up to £100)
Deadline: Open 15 December 2025 – 15 February 2026
Find out more

Summer in the City
This anthology from Ruadán Books will contain SF and dark thriller stories set in real-world cities. Note that your chances of acceptance are higher if you pick a city that’s been written about by fewer people.
Word count: 3000–7500 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: 31 January 2026
Find out more

State of Matter
This publication’s 20th issue will contain imagined folk tales that inform South Asian experiences.
Word count: 1000–15,000 words
Payment: $150 CAD
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Find out more

Tales of Steel and Sorcery
Oddity Prodigy Productions is currently putting together a volume of fantasy and pulp stories.
Word count: 2000–5000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Find out more

More Alternative Liberties
The editorial team at B Cubed are searching for political stories set in the next few years: ‘Not just in the White House, but in the day-to-day world.’ Styles suggested are ‘satire, humor, redemption, and new looks at the world’.
Word count: 1500–3000 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: 20 December 2025
Find out more

Gavagai
The editors of this new fiction-based social platform are on the lookout for horror short stories, no theme specified.
Word count: Around 2000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Plasma Pulp: Lost Worlds
Do you write pulp SF in the vein of Flash Gordon or John Carter of Mars? Sendit here, but do it fast! The deadline is very soon.
Word count: 5000–8000 words
Payment: Royalty share
Deadline: 5 December 2025
Find out more

Uncertain Stories
This magazine was founded as a home for The Fiction Desk’s ‘New Ghost Stories’ series of anthologies, which gives you an idea of the required tone. Note that there’s a £5 submission fee for this one.
Word count: 1000–15,000 words
Payment: £25 per 1000 words
Deadline: 30 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.

Open submission calls for writers: October 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.

Strange Pilgrims
The submissions page of this new magazine includes an enticing list of writers as influences (Gabriel García Márquez, Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ted Chiang), and it will publish ‘surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories’.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $200
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Find out more

Gilgamesh / Helen of Troy
Two more anthology calls featuring mythological characters, from the excellent Flame Tree Press…
Word count: 3000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 9 November 2025
Find out more here and here

Of Blood & Petals / The Tarot of Love
…and two more! These anthologies are part of Flame Tree’s new Romantic Fantasy series – the first themed around gardens, the second around Tarot and divination.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 10 November 2025
Find out more

Humans From Earth!!
This is a great pitch: the editors of this anthology are seeking stories in which humans are a source of terror to extraterrestrials.
Word count: 3000–7000 words
Payment: $100 AUD
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Cozy in the Apocalypse
Personally, I’ve always found apocalyptic scenarios quite comforting (fewer deadlines! no social media!) so the idea of cozy/cosy SFF and horror stories set during an apocalypse works for me.
Word count: 500–8000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Open until filled
Find out more

Drek Death and Doom
Here’s a fun mix: this publisher is putting together an anthology of folk horror stories linked to Thanksgiving.
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: 1 cent–4 cent per word
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Walpurgis Witcheries
Following on from an anthology titled Samhain Sorceries, DMR Books are now working on another volume featuring stories themed around Walpurgisnacht.
Word count: 4000–8000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Aspec Paranormal Anthology
Another very specific theme for this one: stories that centre asexual and aromantic characters in a paranormal context.
Word count: 2000–7500 words
Payment: $20 AUD
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Find out more

BAM!
The editors of this new zine are looking out for pulp fiction – think space opera, gritty crime and gunslinging westerns.
Word count: 3000–7500 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Fantabulosa!
There are plenty of exclamation marks in the publication titles this month! This new queer literary magazine will launch in February 2026, ‘showcasing tales of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical’.
Word count: 500–6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

The Lantern Keepers
Stories submitted to this anthology from Eldritch Cat Press must include characters who serve as guides, guardians, or messengers between the threshold of the living and the dead.
Word count: 1500–4500 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 1 December 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.

Open submission calls for writers: September 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.

Quest
In the words of its editors, ‘Quest is a new online magazine publishing literary, visual, and critical work that uses sci-fi and fantasy to reflect the world around us’ and emphasises experimentation. The first issue is themed around ‘Thresholds’.
Word count: Minimum 2000 words
Payment: $25–$100 depending on word count
Deadline: 15 September 2025
Find out more

Write Before Midnight
Previous writers for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists include Arthur C. Clarke and Albert Einstein, but don’t let that put you off. It’s now running a contest for stories featuring, for example, ‘nuclear weapons, climate change, biological and chemical weapons, artificial intelligence, killer robots, doomsday drone submarines, bioengineered zombies, the gray goo of nanotechnology gone wild…’
Word count: Up to 7000 words
Payment: $3,000 for first place, $500 for runners-up
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Find out more

Creepy
This horror podcast has produced an impressive 2000 stories already! Maybe yours would be a good fit. Single-narrator stories are preferred.
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Thalia Press
This publisher of crime and contemporary stories is putting together an anthology themed around cats, featuring both cosy (or cozy) and dark tales.
Word count: Not specified
Payment: $25
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Find out more

Trans/Port
This anthology from Lonely Cryptid Media has the subtitle Trans Speculative Fiction for a Queer, and will feature SF stories about ‘bodies changing and being changed, bodies that are permeable, bodies that resist, bodies resisted, bodies transcended, bodies that become and are becoming’.
Word count: 3000–7000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 15 September 2025
Find out more

Africanfuturism
This roundup isn’t complete without a call from the prolific Flame Tree Press. This time the editors are seeking Africanfuturism short stories. Note the subtle distinction from Afrofuturism, as these stories must be set in and about Africa.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 2 November 2025
Find out more

Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night
The editors at Death by TBR Books are on the lookout for Christmas horror stories of pretty much all subgenres.
Word count: 500–2000 words
Payment: Royalties
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Find out more

Claudine
This online microfiction zine is identified as literary, but the editors preferences include ‘myths, fairy tales, fabulism, slipstream, and haunting vibes’.
Word count: Up to 400 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

It Came From The Pulp
There isn’t much time to write one before the deadline, but have you already written a story about monsters, with retro B-movie vibes? Then send it here.
Word count: 5000–8000 words
Payment: Royalties
Deadline: 7 September 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.

Open submission calls for writers: August 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.

Bog Matter
This new SF magazine will be published in print and digital twice a year. As well as SF it welcomes all sorts: ‘horror, fantasy, magical realism, slipstream, New Weird, utopian, dystopian, satirical, cross-genre, experimental, or exuding a general air of oddness.’
Word count: Up to 3500 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: 1 September 2025 (for current issue)
Find out more

Tales of Horror
The tastes of the editors of this new horror zine lean towards classic writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Shirley Jackson and HP Lovecraft.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Cosmic Chronicles Literary Prize
Here’s a big opportunity for SF writers! This prize is run by the SETI Instituteand welcomes fiction themed around ‘Intelligence and Consciousness’. There’s no entry fee, but only writers who haven’t yet published a novel are applicable.Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: First prize $1000
Deadline: 1 September 2025
Find out more

Merganser Magazine
This well-designed SF online zine appears to be accepting submissions on an ongoing basis, and pays pro rates.
Word count: Up to 2000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

No Gods No Masters
Before submitting to this anthology from Sans Press, I’d advise reading the criteria carefully. While all genres appear to be welcome, the editors want stories that are ‘fresh and weird’ which are ‘motivated by the authentic pursuit of change’.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $200
Deadline: 31 August 2025
Find out more

Uncharted
This online zine accepts SF, fantasy and horror, but also thriller and mystery stories, which is more of a rarity.
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: $200
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Fascination
Editor Rhonda Parrish is seeking stories featuring ‘nature-fueled magic, witches and dark fae. Creepy cottages, haunted homesteads and bespelled woods.’
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: $50 CDN
Deadline: 3 September 2025
Find out more

Cliffhanger!
Another new journal inspired by classic fiction, this time pulp fiction writers such as H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Word count: 5000–6500 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Synthesized Sunsets
The upcoming issue of this online speculative fiction zine will have a solar theme. Its editor has included a list of influences, a classy collection of hard-SF and weird-fiction authors.
Word count: Up to 12,500 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: Open until full
Find out more

Humber SFF
Humber Speculative Fiction is a popular meetup in northeast UK, and now the group is putting together its first anthology. Stories should relate to the very zeitgeisty genre of solarpunk, should also be set in East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and its coastal areas, and is open to writers from those areas.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: Nominal fee
Deadline: 1 September 2025
Find out more

Deadly Duos
This imprint from Dreadstone Books is currently accepting horror stories that feature funfairs, carnivals and circuses.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Find out more

Stolen
This anthology from Easton Tales will feature stories that involve theft in a literal or figurative sense – for example, kidnapping, identities, possession, lifeforce…
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: $10 CDN
Deadline: Open until full
Find out more

Mande
If you’re a writer and bipolar, consider sending work this ‘journal of bipolar talent’
Word count: No limit
Payment: $50 per 1000 words (up to $250)
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

BloodClot!Zine
The editors of this new horror and speculative fiction online zine describe it as ‘powered by the work and voices of BIPOC horror writers, artists, and creators.’
Word count: Unspecified
Payment: None
Deadline: 20 August 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.

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 for writers: June 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.

Dracula Beyond Stoker
I’ve featured this well-established magazine in previous round-ups, but it’s worth flagging again, as the current issue will feature stories about one of the most interesting characters in Dracula: Mina Harker.
Word count: 1500–5000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

Bending the Arc
This excellent new Substack zine is dedicated to ‘thrutopian’ fiction, which the editors describe as imagining ‘ways through to a world we would be glad to leave to future generations. It tells stories about tangible change and walks us along the challenging path from now to a more hopeful, liveable tomorrow.’
Word count: Up to 2030 words
Payment: None
Deadline: Open 7–31 July 2025
Find out more

Tractor Beam
Following on from thrutopias, this online magazine specialises in ‘soilpunk’ – speculative fiction focusing on farming, food and earth science, with an emphasis on positive outcomes.
Word count: Up to 6000 words
Payment: $1200
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Enter Here
This anthology is subtitled ‘An Anthology of Portals’, and will feature speculation-fiction stories of physical or magical doorways of all descriptions, by writers who identify as marginalized.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 15 June 2025
Find out more

Anomaly
This venue publishes very short SF stories on its Patreon.
Word count: Up to 300 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Open 1–7 June 2025
Find out more

Encounters with Cryptids
Have you written a horror story involving some sort of creature not scientifically proven to exist, but which is believed to exist? Then send it here.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 3 cents per word
Deadline: 9 June 2025
Find out more

America’s Slide Toward Authoritarianism
The title makes the theme clear, but the editors of this anthology to be published by the International Human Rights Art Movement would also like submitted stories to suggest what can be done about it, which is a tricky brief.
Word count: Up to 2500 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: 1 July 2025
Find out more

Deep
This anthology from Death’s Head Press will feature tales of ‘the unexplored depths of our planet and the universe’.
Word count: 2500–10,000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 31 July 2025
Find out more

Dirty Magick
Urban fantasy was a hot buzzword a few years back, but I don’t see so many submission calls focused on the sub-genre now. But here’s one!
Word count: 2000–12,500 words
Payment: $50
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

Allegory
This well-established online magazine of SF, fantasy and horror is open for submissions for its next volume.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $15
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

The Pink Hydra
The new minizine ‘Something Old, Something New’ will appear on this venue’s Ko-fi site, and will feature stories that revolve around some aspect of ‘unreality’.
Word count: Up to 10,000 words
Payment: $10 per 5000 words
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

Cooking Up Death
A fun challenge for mystery writers! This anthology will feature cosy (or rather, ‘cozy’ with a ‘z’) mysteries in which food is used as the method of murder.
Word count: 6000–9000 words
Payment: Share of royalties
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

Kozy Krampus
It’s tough to get in a festive mindset right now, but if you can manage it, the editors at Underland Press are on the search for Christmas-themed gothic horror stories.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: Open 15–30 June 2025
Find out more

Writing contests

In addition to the usual short story open submissions, here are four writing contests which all seem worth your time:

Sustainable Story Award
This new award organised by online book reseller World of Books will celebrate the opening chapters of novels that tackle urgent environmental and social themes.
Word count: First three chapters
Payment: £15,000 first prize, £5000 runner-up prizes
Deadline: 6 July 2025
Find out more

Big Finish
Have you ever wanted to write for Doctor Who? (Of course you have. Who wouldn’t?) This year, audio publisher Big Finish’s annual Short Trip contest requires writers to conjure a story for the Thirteenth Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker.
Word count: Synopsis and first 500 words
Payment: None, but the winning story becomes an official audio release
Deadline: 12 June 2025
Find out more

The British Fantasy Society
The annual BFS short story contest is open now! It’ll be judged by Steven Poore and Pete Sutton, the editor of BFS Horizons, which will publish the winning stories.
Word count: 500–5000 words
Payment: £100 first prize, £50 runner-up prize
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Find out more

Art of the Near Future World
This new contest rewards the best flash fiction, which, in the words of its judges, relate to ‘our near future world, the world a few months to a few years away.’
Word count: Up to 1000 words
Payment: $250 first prize
Deadline: 30 June 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.

Open submission calls for writers: March 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.

Patterns
This theme might set your imagination going – can you come up with a piece of dark fiction involving patterns? Interestingly, the editors note that the pattern could relate to the structure of the piece, rather than the plot.
Word count: 2000–4000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 31 May 2025
Find out more

Creature Feature
Inky Bones Press will be putting out this anthology of horror stories featuring earthbound or alien creatures.
Word count: 1500–3500 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 30 April 2025
Find out more

Planet Scumm
This well-established zine contains SF and weird fiction and slipstream fiction of all descriptions.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 7 May 2025
Find out more

Jupiter’s Eye
This print and digital zine from Hiraeth Books features science fiction stories about the exploration and settlement of other worlds.
Word count: 1000–5000 words
Payment: $30
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Foofaraw
This anthology isn’t genre-specific, but the editors are open to SFF and horror. The main requirement is that stories relate to ‘foofaraw’, meaning ‘a great fuss or disturbance’.
Word count: 500–5000 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Find out more

Consumed
Horror stories about food – sounds fun! Examples include cannibals, zombies, cursed birthday cakes.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 30 April 2025
Find out more

Horrific Scribes
This new online archive of dark fiction will feature ‘provocative, scary, and strange’ horror stories.
Word count: 1500–5000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Bullet Points
Do you happen to write ‘speculative military fiction that is sensitive to the complexity, tragedy, and hope of warfare and violence in human (and nonhuman) society’? Then this is the place to send it.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $30
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

This Exquisite Topology
This anthology will feature SFF and horror stories, though the requirements beyond that are a little opaque: stories should be ‘cast through the lens of joy, exploring deformations and reformations of new landscapes and environments…’
Word count: 1000–6000 words
Payment: $25
Deadline: Open until filled
Find out more

Wet Screams
Though the editors’ request for ‘monstrous romance with high spice’ is slightly coy, the anthology’s explicit subtitle ‘A Monsterf*cker Anthology’ clarifies their intentions somewhat.
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: 10 Canadian cents per word
Deadline: 14 April 2025
Find out more

Jungle Scandals
This follow-up to Sword & Scandal will feature jungle tales featuring gratuitous nudity, sex, and gore.
Word count: 2000–7500 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 16 April 2025
Find out more

Sex Science Fiction
More sex-themed SFF! I’m not sure why this has turned out to be this month’s trend. This one’s for the authoritative-sounding Future of Sex website.
Word count: 800–1000 words
Payment: $70
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Supernatural Parables
This anthology, subtitled ‘Myth versus Reality’, will feature stories in which supernatural forces collide. A neat quirk is that the editors require two stories from each author, representing some sort of opposite elements.
Word count: 2000–6000 words
Payment: Royalties
Deadline: 1 April 2025
Find out more

The Gothic Gazette
This anthology from Pulp Cult will feature Gothic tales. Intriguingly, SF and fantasy stories are accepted.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: None
Deadline: 6 March 2025
Find out more

Circus of the Dead
As you might guess from the title, this anthology from Wicked Shadow Press will contain horror stories featuring a circus.
Word count: Up to 8000 words
Payment: None
Deadline: 14 March 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.

Open submission calls for writers: February 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.

Hiding Under the Leaves
This new anthology from The Slab Press will contain folk horror stories. Editor Donna Scott is on the hunt for stories featuring ‘curses and cunning folk; superstitions and the old ways; twisted rural landscapes and dark, creeping woodlands.’
Word count: 2000–9000 words
Payment: 1 pence per word
Deadline: Open 9–23 February 2025
Find out more

Remains
This came out of nowhere! Erstwhile editor of Black Static and Interzone Andy Cox has returned with a new beautifully designed magazine. The submission guidelines are vague, but dark fiction seems to be the way to impress him.
Word count: Not stated
Payment: Not stated
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Ripples in Space
Samak Press are putting together an anthology of tales of first contact between intelligent species. That could relate to encounters between humans and aliens, or between two other races.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: $20
Deadline: 28 February 2025
Find out more

Myths Reborn
This anthology from October Nights Press is subtitled ‘Modern Tales of Cryptids & Dark Folklore’. That is to say, what’s required are new approaches to old tales.
Word count: 3000–5500 words
Payment: 1 cent per word
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Find out more

Wrath Month
The editors of this anthology are seeking SFF and horror short stories that embrace punk and queer rage. In the editors’ words, feel free to ‘crash mainframes, collapse empires, and break normativity’.
Word count: Up to 6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 31 May 2025
Find out more

Modern Mummies
For clarity, we’re talking mummified corpses, not mothers. It could be a lot of fun to write a mummy story set in the modern world…
Word count: 1500–5000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: 28 February 2025
Find out more

Merganser
This new online magazine pledges to publish ‘writers and artists whose work transcends disciplines and genres’.
Word count: Up to 2000 words preferred
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Incensepunk
This new online zine is dedicated to its titular subgenre, which concerns a world (or perhaps other worlds) in which traditional faiths and churches play a major role in society.
Word count: 4000–6000 words
Payment: $100
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Elder Things Expeditions
This is the seventh volume of Hiraeth Publishing’s series of Lovecraftian anthologies. This one will feature Antarctic expeditions past, present and future, though presumably not ones that end well.
Word count: 3000–6000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word for first 3000 words, then 3 cents per word
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Find out more

Fahmidan
This magazine is open to dark fiction, whimsical fantasy, thought-provoking existentialism, hopes and dreams… pretty much everything, it seems.
Word count: 1000–2500 words
Payment: $25
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 for writers: January 2025

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
Find out more

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
Find out more

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
Find out more

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.

Open submission calls for writers: October 2024

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.

Dust & Dark
This new British magazine aims to publish ‘stylish, atmospheric horror fiction’ – that is, stories more focused on lingering dread than jump scares.
Word count: 2000–7000 words
Payment: 7p per word
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Find out more

Stop Surveillance Copaganda
The instructions on the website are a little opaque, but nevertheless this sounds like an exciting project. Stories must engage with the rise of surveillance technologies in modern life, and successful stories will appear in Strange Horizons and COMPOST Magazine.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: 21 November 2024
Find out more

Afrofuturism
The editors of this upcoming anthology from Flame Tree Press are seeking authors writing ‘from an authentic perspective of the Black experience, whether based in the diaspora or in Africa’, and engaging in technology and ‘liberated futures for Black life’.
Word count: Around 2000–4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 27 October 2024
Find out more

Dread Mondays
The editors of this anthology of workplace horror cast around references such as Office Space, American Psycho and Alien as potential influences for stories.
Word count: Up to 4000 words
Payment: 6 cents per word
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Find out more

Starship Librarians
I love the prompt for this upcoming anthology from Tyche Books: librarians of tomorrow! To clarify, the librarians don’t have to be starship-based.
Word count: Unspecified
Payment: $50 CDN
Deadline: 15 November 2024
Find out more

The Forge
This classily designed online zine publishes fiction of all genres. You’ll need to time your submission carefully, though, as the portal is only open on the first day of each month.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: $100
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Planet Black Joy
Rosarium Publishing will publish this anthology of speculative fiction by Black women and non-binary people at the end of 2025.
Word count: 3000–7000 words
Payment: 8 cents per word
Deadline: 1 January 2025
Find out more

Choices
This anthology is subtitled ‘An Anthology of Reproductive Horror’; stories must be written by people of marginalized genders and relate to ‘the horrors that occur when reproductive choices are threatened or taken away’.
Word count: Up to xx words
Payment: 8 cents (CAD) per word
Deadline: 30 November 2024
Find out more

Phano
The masthead of this new zine states it intends to ‘deliver wondrous, thought-provoking content about the future to the questioning masses’.
Word count: Up to 5000 words
Payment: 2 cents per word
Deadline: Ongoing
Find out more

Feral Lands
This first horror anthology from Samak Press will feature stories about isolation ‘set in untamed lands beyond the reach of civilization’.
Word count: 1500–7500 words
Payment: $20
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Find out more

Syncopation Literary Journal
The odd-sounding prompt ‘Must Love Music’ makes sense when you understand that this literary journal is aimed at musicians and writers inspired by music. The series of story ideas represent terrific starting points.
Word count: Up to 7500 words
Payment: No payment
Deadline: 2 November 2024
Find out more

Inanimate Things
This is the second volume of a horror series from Burial Books featuring, as you might expect, inanimate things that are somehow living. Examples provided include ‘a doll, the dead flesh of zombies, or your Ford F-150’.
Word count: 1500–6000 words
Payment: $10
Deadline: 1 December 2024
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.