By S. Kalekar
These fiction magazines and anthologies pay for fiction. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. They are open now, or will soon open for submissions.
Blue Cubicle Press: Workers Write! Tales from the Concourse
“Issue 22 of Workers Write! will be Tales from the Concourse and contain stories and poems from airport and airline workers’ points of view.
We’re looking for fiction and poetry about the people who work in airports and for airlines, such as passenger service agents, ramp agents, TSA agents, airport engineers, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots, and so on.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 31 December 2025, or until filled
Length: 500-5,000 words
Pay: $10-50
Details here.
EVENT Magazine
They are open for fiction and poetry from Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) writers through end-December, or until they hit their submission cap, whichever is earlier. For fiction, “We look for compelling characters and voice, fresh plots, and narratives that move us.” For poetry, “We look for arresting imagery, polished language, emotional impact, and lyricism without pretension.” In January, they will open submissions for Canadian writers only. Event Magazine is affiliated with Douglas College in New Westminster, B.C., Canada.
Deadline: 31 December 2025, or until filled (BIPOC authors only)
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 8 poems
Pay: $35/page for prose, $40/page for poetry, up to $500
Details here and here.
Utopia Science Fiction: Weird Science Fiction
They publish utopian science fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. Their upcoming theme is Weird Science Fiction – “Send us your strange, outlandish, outside-the-box stories and poems!”
Deadline: 1 January 2026
Length: 100-4,000 words preferred for fiction, up to 6,000 words for nonfiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $30 for nonfiction, $30 per poem
Details here.
The Matchstick
The Matchstick is Amnesty Canada’s arts & human rights magazine. They want submissions from across Canada, of literary (poetry, prose and vignettes, short stories, short dramas, essays) and visual arts, short films, music and more from young activists up to the age of 25 only. They will consider “all work connected to justice, human rights advocacy, and the power of activism. We especially encourage submissions that align with the following Human Rights Campaigns: Indigenous Rights, Refugee Rights, Women’s Human Rights Defenders, Indigenous Water and Land Defenders, Climate Justice, Anti-Black Racism and Corporate Accountability.”
Deadline (extended): 4th January 2026 (see here)
Length: Unspecified
Pay: CAD100
Details here and here.
Cosmic Horror Monthly
This magazine will open submissions for a week in January. They publish weird and cosmic fiction. “We strongly favor stories that use contemporary narrative styles.” And, “We are especially interested in hearing from those whose voices are underrepresented in the cosmic/weird.” Their submission portal will open during the reading period.
Reading period: 1st to 7th January 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.03/word
Details here.
Headland
This literary journal accepts submissions from Aorta New Zealand and around the world. They publish fiction and creative non-fiction only. They are accepting submissions for Issue 25.
They also say, “For issue 25, we invite all submitting authors to include (in your email) up to 300 words on what Headland journal means to you. … What you write will not have any influence on our consideration of your work for issue 25, but it may be published as part of a special blog later in 2026. With permission, we may also use your statement as part of a future funding application.”
Deadline: 9 January 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $75
Details here.
34 Orchard
This magazine will open briefly for fiction submissions in January. They say, “we like dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad.” Work sent outside of the reading period will be deleted unread.
Reading period: 1st to 10th January 2026
Length: 1,000 to 6,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
Flame Tree Anthology: Black Horror, Then & Next
They will accept two horror fiction submissions from this open call for the anthology, which is part of their Beyond & Within series and complement their Gothic Fantasy-series titles Black Sci-Fi, Afrofuturism and the upcoming Africanfuturism. “Black Horror, Then & Next: Short Stories (title TBC)will be a landmark anthology surveying the evolution of Black (American) literary horror while boldly imagining its future. We seek stories that recognize the legacy of Black horror, its literary milestones, cultural roots, and innovative voices, while pushing the genre into new, daring territory. We welcome submissions from Black authors who are engaged with the genre’s history and also eager to reimagine it. … We are especially excited by fiction that:
• Embraces the power of horror to unsettle, illuminate, or transform
• Draws from Black American cultural histories, mythologies, or lived experiences or forges new ones
• Experiments with form, perspective, or speculative possibility
• Surprises us with fresh nightmares, folklore, or futures
• Honors the past while writing fearlessly toward tomorrow”
They only want original stories, not reprints, for this anthology.
Deadline: 14 January 2026
Length: 2,000-4,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Three-Lobed Burning Eye
They publish speculative fiction: including horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction. They want works “across the speculative genres, including all the shadows between and fluid mixtures thereof. We like narrative voices that are full of feeling, from literary to pulpy, with styles unique and flowing, but not too experimental. All labels aside, we want tales that value imagination in character, narrative, and plot.” Their submission portal will open during the reading period.
Reading period: 1st to 16th January 2026
Length: 500-7,499 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Astrolabe
They accept fiction, non-fiction, and art. They want “work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another. And then, once we find one other, the myths we make. We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky. We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit.” And, “We’ll happily consider fiction and CNF in all prose forms—prose poetry, micro, flash, and beyond”. Do not send lineated poetry. They open for submissions on 21st December 2025 and close on 21st January 2026, or when they hit their submission cap, whichever is earlier. Do not send work outside of the reading period.
Reading period: See above
Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose
Pay: $50
Details here.
Ruadán Books: Summer in the City Anthology
Ruadán Books is an independent publisher of dark thrillers and speculative fiction. They are open for their Summer in the City fiction anthology. They want “dark speculative fiction stories set in summertime cities that are as much characters in your narratives as the people are. These cities should exist (or have existed) in our world”. Also, “How do you determine if a city has been spoken for? We don’t. We tried that with WITC and it became a logistical nightmare. Understand that we are looking for cities world-wide and that your story should make a reader feel like they have been there. Rich descriptions and even a sentient setting will be looked at favorably. Understand that if we receive 19 stories about “New York” your chance of acceptance is markedly lower than if you send us a story about San Paulo, Lahore or Kinshasa.”
Deadline: 31st January 2026
Length: 3,000-7,500 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here and here.
The Ranger’s Almanac
They accept “stories, poetry, artwork, photographs, and music for consideration in a (US) Forest and Park Service-specific literary journal” from rangers and creators across the US. Submissions must be related to, or inspired by, a national/state forest or park and must be PG-13.
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Length: Stories of 500 to 10,000 words
Pay: $5 for poems, photos, and reprints; $10 for music and original audio pieces; $25 for artwork; $5 per 500 words for stories
Details here and here.
Synthesized Sunsets
Synthesized Sunsets is “a magazine and podcast about speculative fiction, romantic art, and the evolution of popular culture. Every few months, the magazine will rebrand to reflect a new “season”, complete with an aesthetic theme.” You can read about them here. They have detailed guidelines, including, “We are only accepting speculative fiction at this time; that is, stories where some novel idea of “what could be” or “what could have been” is central. We will also be prioritizing stories that are on-theme, although this is not strictly a requirement. This season’s theme is mist.”
“We are looking for speculative fiction stories that preferably relate to this issue’s mist theme. By speculative fiction, we mean stories have some novel speculative idea about possible futures or alternate pasts. This idea may be scientific or technological, but it could also be philosophical, sociological, mythological, etc. While we hope to publish primarily sci-fi and fantasy, our definition will include works not normally considered within those genres. At the same time, just because a story has sci-fi aesthetics (e.g. spaceships and aliens) does not mean it is speculative fiction.”
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 12,500 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
Ashton House Publishing: Ashton House Magazine
This is a new quarterly magazine. They want literary genre fiction and poetry. “From tales of horror and suspense to crime mysteries, sports yarns, otherworldly adventures and nearly everything in between, we have something for everyone inside of our pages! We strive to continue America’s “pulp fiction” tradition by featuring both new and established authors whose work reaches beyond the grip of time.”
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 2 poems
Pay: $0.06/word for fiction, $40/poem
Details here.
Cleveland Review of Books
They accept pitches and submissions of critical essays / reviews from writers in Cleveland and Ohio, as well as the Rust Belt and greater Midwest, but a regional connection is not a requirement. They also accept fiction submissions. “Lorain beams across us and the lake, readying us to send new signals outward.
Looking for work from Clevelanders and those in Lorain, and from anywhere in the world that has been touched by the ricochet of these beams, and from anyone who has risked, in many forms, and has taken a formal risk.”
Deadline: Ongoing
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction
Pay: $50 for online, $100 for print, for fiction; $100-200 for critical prose
Details here (scroll down).
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.