These magazines pay $50 to $600 for fiction. A few of them also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. They are open now, or will open soon. – S. Kalekar
Los Suelos, CA Anthology
Pitches are open for a shared-world interactive multimedia fiction anthology, Los Suelos, CA. the location is an imaginary remote Central Valley cattle ranching town, where something is going wrong – residents suffer from a strange disease that is eventually terminal. Other uncanny events take place in and around the town. Think in the vein of The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, or Stranger Things. Their guidelines say, “Pitches can include a title, plot points, character sketches, tone/genre ideas, or other elements. Feel free to include some sample text or an introductory paragraph of a potential piece, but try to keep each pitch under 500 words.
We are also looking for ideas for alternative or found-form pieces, such as a Community Event Calendar, an employee manual for a grain elevator operator, case files for a resident’s medical evaluation, whatever can tell a story through another medium.” They have extensive guidelines for the framework, and the kind of work they want.
Pitch deadline: 12 September 2021
Length: Pitch length – 500 words; final story length: up to 3,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Shoreline of Infinity
This is a science fiction and fantasy magazine; their guidelines say, “We are looking for an engaging science fiction or fantasy story, something that gives reality a tweak on the nose – an idea that makes us stop and think.” For 2021, their submission period has been during 11th-13th of certain months for fiction; they will read next in November. Sci-fi poetry is open year-round, and payment for that is a six-month subscription.
Reading period: 11-13 September 2021; year-round for poetry
Length: Up to 6,000 words for fiction
Pay: £10/1,000 words for fiction
Details here.
Nightmare
This award-winning magazine is open for fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submissions of horror and dark fantasy. They have a special submission window for BIPOC writers only, and another one for all writers/general submissions.
Deadline: 11 September for BIPOC-only submissions, and reading period 12-18 September 2021 for general submissions (see guidelines for time zones)
Length: Up to 7,500 words for fiction; up to 5 poems; up to 1,000 words for creative nonfiction
Pay: 8c/word for fiction, $40 for poetry
Details here (guidelines) and here (portal).
(Submissions are also open for Dose of Dread, unthemed horror stories; they have a preference for stories that induce dread, and for seasonal stories like Halloween/Fall. Pay is $10, and the deadline is 15 September 2021.)
The Overcast
This is a speculative fiction podcast. Their guidelines say, “We are interested in speculative fiction, whatever that means to you, be it Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Magical Realism, Slipstream, or an as-yet-unnamed genre. Anything that looks at the world and life from an unexpected angle.” Roughly half the stories they publish are from writers in (or connected to) the Pacific Northwest, and the rest are from around the world. Stories that run for 20-30 minutes are the best fit for them. They welcome reprints that haven’t been previously produced in an audio format. They do not publish horror. Their submission periods are September, January, and May.
Deadline: 30 September 2021
Length: 1,000-5,000 words (3,000 words is the sweet spot)
Pay: is $0.01/word, $20 for stories under 2,000 words
Details here.
Black Cat Mystery Magazine
They want contemporary and traditional mysteries, as well as thrillers and suspense stories. They are looking for “Private eye stories, cozy stories, and edgy, noir-tinged stories—all of which happen to contain a crime of some sort. We want stories with characters who feel real, in situations that are possible (and plausible),” according to their guidelines. They do not want flash fiction, poetry, routine revenge stories, stories that feature sadism for the sake of sadism, or stories that feature supernatural elements: no vampires, werewolves, ghosts, or otherworldly monsters—unless thoroughly debunked by story’s end. They particularly do not want genre fantasy, horror, science fiction, romance, or westerns, unless they feature a crime. Even then, it’ll be a hard sell.
Deadline: 30 September 2021
Length: 1,000-8,000 words (will read up to 15,000)
Pay: $0.03/word up to $250
Details here (scroll down).
Nashville Review
They publish fiction (short stories, flash pieces, novel excerpts), poetry, nonfiction (memoir excerpts, essays, imaginative meditations), translations, and comics. Their guidelines say, “From expansive to minimalist, narrative to lyric, epiphanic to subtle: if it’s a moving work of art, we want it.” They read submissions in January, May, and September; art and comics are received year-round.
Deadline: 30 September 2021
Length: Up to 8,000 words for prose; up to three poems (up to two poems in case of translation)
Pay: $25 per poem, $100 for prose and art pieces
Details here.
(The prestigious literary magazine, Kenyon Review, is also open for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; they want submissions on ‘Work’ and ‘Climate’ themes, and will also read unthemed submissions. The deadline is 30 September 2021; payment is upon publication.)
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
They publish heroic fantasy stories and poetry; “We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place.” Their submission periods are March, June, September, and December.
Deadline: 30 September 2021
Length: Soft limit up to 10,000 words for fiction, can serialize stories up to 50,000 words; up to 3 poems
Pay: $25-100 for fiction, up to $25 for poetry (more for Tolkeineque poetry)
Details here.
On Spec
This magazine does publish some work by other writers, although much of what they publish is by Canadians. They seek innovative speculative fiction and poetry. See guidelines for the kind of work they like, and the tropes they do not publish.
Deadline: 30 September 2021
Length: Up to 6,000 words for fiction, 4-100 lines for poetry
Pay: CAD100-200 for fiction, CAD100 for poetry
Details here and here.
The Future Fire
They want fiction (flash to novelette length) and poetry on the Noir theme; stories “that combine themes or aesthetic from Noir fiction and cinema with the existing goals of TFF (progressive, feminist, queer, postcolonial, inclusive, accessible, ecological and international speculative and genre fiction). … Submissions need not include science-fictional or fantastic settings, but we are mostly likely to be interested in those that play with genre and Noir aesthetic in some way, including cyberpunk.” See guidelines for the tropes they are not interested in. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 1 November 2021
Length: Fiction up to 17,500 words; up to 100 lines for poetry
Pay: $50 for fiction; $25 for flash fiction (up to 1,000 words) and poetry
Details here.
Sciencefictionery
This is a new magazine (their first issue will be published in September 2021), and they accept submissions of science fiction, SF articles, and SF poetry. Their guidelines say, “We want to offer a broad spectrum of stories from every Science Fiction subgenre. So send us your robots and space cowboys. Send us your dystopian-alien-invasion-post-apocalyptic-cyberpunk tales. We like weird. We like adventure. We LOVE SCIFI!!”
Deadline: Open now
Length: 300-5,000 words for fiction, up to 2,500 words for articles, and up to 40 lines for poetry
Pay: £0.03/word for prose; £30 for poetry
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.
