10 Themed Calls for Short Stories ($100+)

These markets pay $100 for fiction, and some pay significantly more. A few are also open for other genres like non-fiction, poetry, translations, graphic fiction, and reviews. Also see this list of other fiction markets – deadlines are coming quickly. — S. Kalekar

Margery de Brus: Today, Tomorrow, Always anthology
­­­­­For this anthology, they want stories that address contemporary issues. Their guidelines say, “We’re looking for works that tell a compelling story and elicit a strong emotional response from readers. While literary basics like imagery and symbolism are important, we’re more concerned with the content of the story. Can you entertain us AND tell us something profound? Do the characters speak to us? Do we recognize them?”
Deadline: 28 February 2019
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: $100
Details here.

Copper Nickel
­­­­­This literary journal is housed in the University of Denver, Colorado. They publish poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and writing in translation with a particular – but not exclusive – interest in work that considers sociohistorical context. Contributors to the magazine have received numerous honors for their work, including the Nobel, and prestigious fellowships, while others have published their first works here. They publish work by both US-based and overseas writers, though for the latter, payments are subject to a 30% tax which is withheld at the front end.
Deadline: 1 March 2019
Length: No length guidelines for fiction and non-fiction; 4-6 poems
Pay: $30/page; $500 each in Editors’ Prizes for a poetry and a prose submission in each issue
Details here.

Podcastle
­­­­­They publish fantasy short fiction on their website and as a podcast. They are open to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy. Fantastical or non-real content should be meaningful to the story.
Deadline: 15 March 2019
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word for original; $100 for reprints, $20 for flash fiction reprints
Details here.

The People’s Preservatory
­­­­­Earlier called The Cockroach Conservatory, this Weird genre magazine publishes fiction and poetry. They want Weird, funny, horror, fantasy, genre, and literary work.
Deadline: 15 March 2019
Length: Up to 3,000 words for stories, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $1/line of poetry
Details here.

Kaleidotrope
­­­­­This magazine leans very heavily towards the speculative – science fiction, fantasy, and horror. However, they “like an eclectic mix and are therefore interested to read compelling work that blurs these lines, falls outside of neat genre categories”, according to their guidelines. “In the end, what we want is interesting, sometimes unconventional work, well-written stories and poems that surprise and amuse us, shock and disturb us, that tell us things we didn’t know or reveal old truths in brand new ways.” They also publish poetry, and sometimes, non-fiction – essays, memoirs, and thoughtful criticism.
Deadline: 31 March 2019
Length: No maximum word limit for fiction, though anything above 10,000 words will be a tougher sell
Pay: $0.01/word for prose, $5/poem
Details here.

Epoch Magazine
­­­­­This literary magazine is edited by faculty at Cornell University. They publish fiction, poetry, essays, cartoons, screenplays, graphic art, and graphic fiction. They only accept mailed submissions. The deadline is for unsolicited submissions; they read work submitted by literary agencies year-round.
Deadline: 15 April 2019
Length: No guidelines for prose; up to 5 poems
Pay: Up to $150 for stories, more for long stories and novellas, and those submitted by literary agencies; $50/poem
Details here.

B Cubed Press: Tales from the Space Force
­­­­­This is an anthology around the Space Force. Their guidelines say, “Now that America has an official Space Force, we need to incorporate it into literature.

What to do we want?  Camp? Satire? Bug Eyed Monsters? All good. We’ll do serious stories, too.  Mostly we want good stories. And if I am to confess, we want campy stories. We want the golden age of pulp to live again. … Ask yourself, what would an American Space Force do? Will there be a space wall around the International Space Station? Will NASA and the Space Force get along?” Political bents are allowed, and they also accept poetry. Also check out their other themed calls: Alternative Bedtime Reading for Progressive Parents, and Alternative Apocalypses.
Deadline: 15 April 2019
Length: 500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.02/word and royalties; for flash pieces and poetry, an option of a flat $25 fee
Details here.

The Georgia Review
­­­­­This literary magazine publishes fiction, non-fiction, reviews (including book briefs and essay-reviews) and poetry. There is no set word limit for prose, they have published work of less than one page in length to more than 60. They charge a fee for using Submittable, though current subscribers and past contributors can submit on it for free. There is no fee for mailed submissions.
Deadline: 15 May 2019
Length: No length prescribed for fiction and non-fiction; up to 5 poems
Pay: $50/page for prose, $4/line for poetry; $50 for book briefs
Details here.

Factor Four Magazine
­­­­­This is a quarterly speculative flash fiction magazine that was launched in April 2018. They want stories that focus on four speculative fiction genres, or which are a combination of any of these: science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, and super hero.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 1,500 words; under 1,000 words preferred
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.

The Dark
­­­­­This online magazine publishes horror and dark fantasy. Their guidelines say, “Don’t be afraid to experiment or to deviate from the ordinary; be different – try us with fiction that may fall out of “regular” categories.” This is, however, not a market for graphic, violent horror. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: Rolling
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here.

 

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