By S. Kalekar

These magazines and anthologies pay for fiction. Some of the calls are themed. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry.

Flash Fiction Online
They opened for all genres and topics of flash fiction on 1^st October, and will remain open until a submission cap is reached. That said, there are a few topics they have seen too much of / do not want to see in the current reading period (Families ; Memory / mind-alteration; Tooth fairies & other teeth things; Magical markets and stores; Violent scenes, especially guns), and a few that they do want to see, including, but not limited to, Colleagues, friendships, mentorships, situationships; Human vs nature in unique settings; Stories dealing with land use, food security, agrarian-adjacent, solarpunk that isn’t corporatized or pro-capitalist; Adventures & questing; Historical fiction with immersive details; and Horror. They will remain open until they hit their submission cap.
Reading period: 1^st October – Until filled
Length: 500-800 words
Pay: $100
Details here.

Solarpunk Magazine
This is a magazine of solarpunk fiction. “Our fiction editors are interested in works that stir readers with themes of defiance, change, and achievement. This effect isn’t likely to come via high concept utopias alone, but rather, from vibrant characters whose struggles affect the reader. Speculative elements should be apparent but not dominating; our disbelief suspended not by necessity, but immersion. Any genre of science fiction, interstitial fiction, magic realism, or fantasy has potential as a solarpunk forum—we welcome robots and elves with equal excitement.” Non-fiction is open on an ongoing basis.
Reading period: 1^st to 14^th October 2025 for fiction and poetry, non-fiction open on an ongoing basis
Length: 1,500-7,500 words for fiction, 1 poem of up to 3 pages, 1,000-2,000 words for non-fiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction; $40/poem; $75/essay or article
Details here and here.

Mud Season Review
Mud Season Review publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. They opened on 1^st October and will stay open for fee-free submissions until the deadline, or until the cap is reached, whichever is earlier. They pay $50 for work that appears In their issues and for artists whose images are paired with writing, and for poets whose work appears in The Take: Mud Season Review, they pay $15.
Reading period: 1^st to 31^st October 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 3,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: $50 ($15 for The Take: Mud Season Review)
Details here and here.
(And, The Paris Review also soon opens for prose and poetry, as well as translations. Their Submittable openedd on 1^st October, and will stay open until a cap is reached; they will also accept submissions by mail, postmarked till 31^st October 2025. Details here.)

Planet Scumm
They are accepting flash and short fiction submissions for Issue 19. They want “Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain
Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream”
They do mention their response time has slowed.
Deadline: 13 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.

Translunar Travelers Lounge
They want fun speculative fiction; stories must have elements of science fiction or fantasy. “A fun story, at its core, is one that works on the premise that things aren’t all bad; that ultimately, good wins out. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your story has to be silly or lighthearted (though it certainly can be). Joy can be made all the more powerful when juxtaposed against tragedy. In the end, though, there should be hope, and we want stories that are truly fun for as many different kinds of people as possible.
Swashbuckling adventure, deadly intrigue, and gleeful romance are some of the most obvious examples of what we’re looking for, but we won’t say no to more subtle or complicated topics, as long as they fit under the wider “fun” umbrella.”
Deadline: 15 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.03/word
Details here.

The Fiddlehead
This well-regarded Canadian magazine is open to international submissions of fiction, non-fiction and poetry during this reading period. The general (unthemed) reading period ends on October 15^th, and they are also reading for a themed call, Disability: The Revolution, until end-November. For the themed call, they want to hear from disabled writers. “Revolution: from the old French revolution, originally referring to the motion of the stars. Later versions of the word in the 15th century played on this sense of cyclical revolving — in the changing of the seasons, but also — crucially — the revolving of the wheel.
What does revolution look like from a disability standpoint? How do we remember that disabled writers just taking up space is revolutionary? How do we, as disabled writers, consider that question of the wheel and its many manifestations — literal, temporal, and symbolic? How do we celebrate it, remake, and open ourselves to the revolution, ongoing and future, that must usher in a more accessible world?  
For our Summer 2026 issue, The Fiddlehead seeks work from disabled writers on the theme of revolution. You can interpret the theme as broadly as you like.” They want submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and pitches for reviews for the Disability call. Also see the BlueSky call / thread about this themed call here.
Their Submittable is open for several categories, please be sure to submit to the correct one.
Deadline: 15 October for unthemed submissions, 30 November 2025 for themed
Length: Up to 6,000 words for prose, up to 6 poems
Pay: CAD65/page
Details here and here, submit here.

Into the Deep, Dark Woods Anthology
This is a fiction and poetry anthology. “Into the Deep, Dark Woods is an anthology exploring the magic and mystery of the primeval wilderness, where tangled branches create a foreboding canopy. Think of the creatures that inhabit the forest and the people who stumble upon them. Behind a towering hickory could be a fairy circle, a dragon’s lair, or a druid’s cairn. The deep, dark woods lurk everywhere—on an alien planet, in the wilderness of a virtual world, or even in your own backyard.
Your story might be about a desperate lost hiker who bargains with a forest creature to find the way home; revolutionaries who combat AI-powered logging machines; a bamboo forest with wish-granting pandas who have a twisted sense of humor; someone hiding from a deadly stalker; or a wood fairy and human whose ill-fated romance might just work out after all.” Accepted genres are fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, mystery, humor, and romance. “The setting of “deep, dark woods” must be central to the story. Diverse cultures and non-traditional legends and persons welcomed.” Stories must be PG-13.
Deadline: 15 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here.

Flame Tree: No Laughing Matter Anthology
This is Flame Tree’s latest anthology call, part of their Beyond & Within series. “We are looking for fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humour, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd. Stories that might not be out of place in Psychoville or Inside No. 9. We are not after laugh-out loud humour, gags, shaggy-dog tales, obvious gallows humour – and no puns. We are not aiming to publish a horror version of Terry Pratchett – because, as the title says, it’s no laughing matter. We are after stories in the region of 4000 words.” They do not want reprints for this anthology.
Deadline: 20 October 2025
Length: 3,000-4,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
(Flame Tree is also open for other anthology calls: Wars in the Stars, deadline 1^st October; Africanfuturism, deadline 2^nd November; Gilgamesh, deadline 9^th November; and Helen of Troy, deadline 9^th November 2025. They announce all their calls here.) 

DMR Books: Walpurgis Witcheries Anthology
Walpurgis Witcheries is a fiction anthology, a companion to their Samhain Sorceries anthology. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Like Samhain, Walpurgisnacht is a time when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. Witches gather at Mount Brocken to celebrate the coming of the spring and to ward off evil spirits. A perfect backdrop for sword-and-sorcery tales!
For clarification, sword-and-sorcery is a genre that combines swashbuckling adventure with supernatural elements (usually of a horrific nature) in a pre-industrial setting. Some of the best-known characters of the genre are Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric, and Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. … Due to the specific theme of the anthology, stories submitted for Walpurgis Witcheries must be set in Central Europe, and Walpurgis must be integral to the plot.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: 4,000-8,000 words
Pay: $0,01/word, up to $80
Details here.

Faun By Moonlight
This is a new magazine and they will publish their first issue in November. They want literary fiction. “We look for stories that feature complex characters, trust the intelligence of their readers, and defy easy categorization. Unmarketable is our specialty.” (See ‘What works are you looking for?’ in their FAQ.)
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 10,000 words
Pay: $20 for stories up to 5,000 words, $50 for longer
Details here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.