By S. Kalekar
These magazines pay $50 to $500 for short fiction; one of the publishers pays more for longer stories. Some also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. A few outlets have a submission cap, usually reached early during their submission periods.
The Fabulist Flash
They’re open on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of every month for flash fiction submissions. For June, they’re open on the 3rd and 4th. “We define speculative and fantastical fiction expansively; surprise us! We do love science fiction, fantasy, intelligent horror, speculative fiction, literary fabulism, magic realism, mythic/folkloric works, near-future speculations, solarpunk/cli-fi, hopepunk, and genre subversions (crime, mystery, romance, westerns, thrillers, sea adventures, gothic, and quasi-realist works) that are anchored by some element of the fantastic.” Please see their short fiction archive to get a sense of the kind of work they’re looking for.
Reading period: 3rd and 4th June 2025 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 1,000 words
Pay: $100
Details here.
Strange Horizons
This speculative fiction publisher will open for novelette submissions of 10,000-18,000 words on 4th June. They usually pay $0.10/word, see their general fiction guidelines are here. Submission is via Submittable; their submission portal will open when the reading period begins, and close when the submission cap is reached.
Opens on: 4 June 2025
Length: 10,000-18,000 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.
The Storms
The Storms, by Storm Shelter, is an Ireland-based print magazine accepts prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, as well as visual art. They also accept translations. They’re reading submissions for their 5th issue.
Deadline: 8 June 2025 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 1,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: €50/poem, €60/short story
Details here.
Matter Press: The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
They publish fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as fiction and creative non-fiction prose poetry, as long as it is compressed in some way.
Deadline: 15 June 2025
Length: Up to 600 words
Pay: $50
Details here and here.
(And, Thread, an alternative magazine from ChillSubs hosted entirely on social media, publishes micro fiction and poetry. They’re accepting submissions on the Numerical theme. Send works of up to 500 characters via an Instagram direct message, or reply to their submission call on Threads. They pay $85, the deadline is 13 June 2025; details here and here.)
Midnight & Indigo
They publish works by Black women writers only – literary as well as speculative fiction, as well as narrative & personal essays. They have detailed guidelines for each section, please read them carefully.
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Length: 1,500-7,000 words for fiction, 2,000-7,000 words for speculative fiction, at least 1,200 words for essays
Pay: $0.07/word for fiction, $150 for essays
Details here and here.
Dirty Magick Magazine
They publish fiction – urban fantasy, sword and sorcery (not high fantasy), as well as gothic and supernatural horror. Please read their guidelines to see how they define these genres, and also see the sub-genres they are interested in.
Deadline: 30 June 2025
Length: 2,000-12,500 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for Encounters With Cryptids Anthology; they want horror stories about cryptids. Pay is $0.03/word for stories of 2,000-4,000 words, deadline 9 June 2025; details here.)
The Paris Review
They accept submissions of prose in February, June, and October and poetry in January, April, July, and October. Submissions open at the beginning of the submission months, and are accepted via Submittable until they reach capacity. They also accept submissions by mail during their submission months. They are open for fiction and creative nonfiction only during the June reading period (see Submittable); they also accept translations. They pay, though payment is unspecified. Do not send poetry.
Deadline: 30 June 2025 for fiction and creative non-fiction (see guidelines)
Length: Unspecified
Pay: Unspecified
Details here.
One Story
This print magazine publishes one story (literary fiction) per issue. Regarding reprints, they say, if a story has been published in printoutside of North America, it will be considered. Apart from cash payment, they also give 25 contributor copies. They opened on 2nd June, and will stay open until their submission cap is reached.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 3,000-8,000 words
Pay: $500
Details here and here.
Fusion Fragment
This Canadian magazine accepts science fiction or SF-tinged literary fiction. “Although any science fiction subgenre is fair game, our tastes lean towards slipstream, cyberpunk, post-apocalypse, and anything with a little taste of the bizarre. FF prefers character-driven stories, and often skews towards quiet, reflective pieces. If the primary tone of your story is one of high adventure or humour, it’s probably not the right fit for FF. That said, quality always outstrips genre preference in terms of importance, so feel free to send us anything that even vaguely resembles science fiction.” They also publish one reprint story per issue.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 2,000-15,000 words
Pay: CAD0.04/word, up to CAD400
Details here.
Quills & Tales
This is a new online fantasy magazine for emerging writers, and they plan to debut in July 2025. They accept most flavors of fantasy, including dark fantasy, fairytale retellings, sword & sorcery, weird, whimsical, or lyrical tales, and light horror or gothic elements. They accept flash and short fiction currently. Also, according to their guidelines (which you can download from the submission form), they can take slightly longer stories, but pay will be capped at 5,000 words.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 500-1,000 words for flash, 2,000-5,000 words for short fiction
Pay: €0.01/word
Details here, here, and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.