11 Themed Calls for Short Stories

These are fiction markets paying $50 for fiction, and a few pay significantly more. Some also accept other genres, like non-fiction, poetry and scripts. Also see this link for fiction markets paying $100-500 – several deadlines are coming up. — S. Kalekar

Apparition Lit: Ambition
­­­­­This speculative fiction and poetry magazine will open a brief submission period for work on the ‘Ambition’ theme. They are looking for all kinds of speculative fiction – fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and literary.
Reading period: 15-28 February
Length: 1,000-5,000 words for fiction; up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.03/word for fiction, $15/poem
Details here.

Hashtag Queer, Vol. 3
They want work by and/or about LGBTQ+. The genres they are accepting are fiction (including flash fiction), creative non-fiction and memoir, poetry, and scripts (including plays and screenplays). They do not want erotica or work written for children. The anthology will be released in June 2019 to coincide with the Pride season.
Deadline: 28 February 2019
Length: Up to 7,500 words for prose, up to 5 pages of poetry, up to 10 pages of scripts
Pay: $5/page
Details here.

Split Lip Magazine
This is a voice-driven literary journal with a pop culture twist. They publish online monthly and in print annually. They accept fiction (flash and short stories), memoir, and poetry. February is one of the months when they accept fee-free submissions – sometimes the fee-free options are closed early due to overwhelming response. The next fee-free submission period is in April.
Deadline: 28 February 2019 (for fee-free submissions)
Length: Up to 2,500 words for fiction, up to 2,000 words for memoir, one poem
Pay: $50 for web contributions, $5/page for print
Details here.

The Cincinnati Review
This literary magazine accepts fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry, poetry translations, and art. Query for drama and reviews. They accept online submissions only, except from writers with disabilities or those who are incarcerated. They have published many promising new and emerging writers as well as Pulitzer Prize winners and Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows.
Deadline: 1 March 2019
Length: Fiction can be up to 40 pages, non-fiction up to 20 pages, and five poems
Pay: $25/page for prose in the journal, $30/page for poetry
Details here.

Vastarien: Women in Horror Month
This journal is a source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. For this issue, they want work only from writers and artists who do not identify as male. They want literary horror fiction inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes. They also want scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which they’re interested, and poetry.
Deadline: 2 March 2019
Length: 750-6,000 words for literary horror fiction, 2,000-7,500 words for articles, poetry of up to 50 lines
Pay: $0.05/word for prose, $50/poem
Details here.

Andromeda Spaceways
Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (formerly Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine) is a science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine. They say on their website, “We like to think of ourselves as “Australia’s Pulpiest SF Magazine,” and are proud to publish fiction, non-fiction and artwork from around the world.” Links to a lot of information about submissions is via their ‘Knowledge Base’ (FAQ) page.
Deadline: 31 March (they reserve the rights to vary submission period dates as it suits their publication schedule)
Length: Up to 10,000 words for fiction (20,000 word limit for Australia and New Zealand authors, and for subscribers); poems of under 2 pages; articles of at least 100 words
Pay: AUD0.01/word; minimum AUD20, maximum AUD100; AUD10 for poetry and flash fiction; AUD10 for non-fiction above 1,000 words
Details here (information about blind submissions, link to submissions portal), here (FAQ), here (genres accepted, word count), and here (payment information).

Unfit Magazine
They publish fiction: Quantum Fiction, Cyberpunk, Scientific Realism and Augmented Reality, and they want stories with metaphors and emotional ambiance and imaginative descriptive writing. Currently, they’re looking for stories about misfits and technology, and also stories about unusual creatures and odd experiences.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 500-3,000 words
Pay: $0.03/word
Details here.

James Gunn’s Ad Astra
This is a science fiction magazine, and they also publish poetry and scholarly articles. They welcome stories that range from the near-reality to the far reaches of the what-if. Their guidelines also say, “Suggestions about what we’re looking for can unnecessarily constrain writers. That said, we can offer this advice: Be sure your story actually tells a story. And be sure it requires your speculative element in order to hold together.” They are currently reading stories for Issue 7.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Most interested in stories of 2,500-5,000 words, will consider up to 7,500 words; flash stories are a hard sell
Pay: $50 for fiction, $20 per poem
Details here.

Three-Lobed Burning Eye
This speculative fiction magazine publishes horror (though not extreme horror), fantasy, and science fiction. Their guidelines say: “We’re looking for short stories from across the big classifications and those shadowy places between: magical realism, fantastique, slipstream, interstitial, Weird fiction. We will consider suspense or western, though we prefer it contain some speculative element. We like voices that are full of feeling, from literary to pulpy, with styles unique and flowing, but not too experimental.” They are not interested in fan fiction, novel excerpts, or memoir.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 500-1,000 words for flash fiction, 1,000-7,000 words for short fiction (2,000-5,000 preferred)
Pay: $100 for short fiction, $30 for flash fiction
Details here.

Aquila
They want stories and features for children aged 8-13 years, with the majority in the 9-12-year range. The stories should not have been published before in the UK. They publish work designed to appeal to bright children who are confident and independent readers.
Deadline: Rolling
Length: 1,050-1,150 words, or per instalment for stories; 800 words for features
Pay: £90 for stories, or per instalment for a two-part story; £90 for features
Details here (click on Author’s Guidelines).

The Norwegian American
This is a magazine for the Norwegian-American community. They also publish short works of fiction of any genre that have something to do with Norway, or crime/mystery stories even if they have nothing to do with Norway (bonus points if they do).
Deadline: Rolling
Length: Up to 1,500 words (under 1,000 words preferred)
Pay: $50
Details here.

 

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