By S. Kalekar
These magazines/anthologies pay up to $800 for short fiction. Some also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. Deadlines are approaching quickly for some magazines.
Abyss & Apex
This speculative fiction magazine is open during the first week of August for fiction submissions. They’re especially interested in flash fiction (up to 1,000 words). Do not send poetry during this submission window. Also see ‘What we’re looking for’ for their editorial preferences. Work sent outside the reading period will be deleted unread.
Deadline: 7th August 2025
Length: Up to 10,000 words; query for longer
Pay: $0.08/word up to 1,000 words, flat $80 for longer
Details here.
PseudoPod
This is an audio and online magazine from the Escape Artists suite of magazines. “We’re looking for horror: dark, weird fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as vulgar shock-value pulp fiction. We don’t split hairs about genre definitions, and we do not observe any taboos about what kind of content can appear in our stories. Originality demands that you’re better off avoiding vampires, zombies, and other recognizable horror tropes unless you have put a very unique spin on them. What matters most is that the stories are dark and compelling.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 11th August 2025 (see their schedule)
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word for originals
Details here (guidelines), here (submission portal)
(Also, Cast of Wonders, Escape Artists’ young adult online and audio magazine, is open for submissions by young authors only, under 20 years of age, through August – they pay $0.08/word for original stories. See their guidelines here, schedule here, and submission portal here – see Young Author Showcase 2025.)
Air and Nothingness Press: Mmeory Anthology
This is a speculative fiction anthology. They want stories of memory manipulation; “Examples include magic spells, cyborg memory edits, very unreliable narrators, time travel gone horribly wrong.
We are open to all genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Alternate History, Steampunk, Hopepunk, Solarpunk, and beyond….”
Deadline: 15 August 2025
Length: Up to 2,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for Common Bonds 2 anthology, a speculative fiction and poetry anthology: “At the heart of this collection are the bonds that impact our lives from beginning to end: platonic relationships. Whether with family, mentors, friends, colleagues, or found family, these links pepper our lives and their importance is often overlooked. We seek to explore the powerful impact of these bonds on aromantic people through the lens of science-fiction and fantasy.” Send fiction up to 7,500 words, poems of up to 100 lines; pay is $0.08/word for fiction, $60 for poems. Their Kickstarter has been funded. The deadline is 15th August 2025. Details here.)
Nashville Review
They publish fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and translations. They have two reading periods, August and January. Fiction and poetry have a submission cap; submissions open on the first day of these months and close on the last day, or when the cap is reached, whichever is earlier.
Deadline: 31st August 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 7,000 words for fiction, up to 8,000 words for non-fiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: $25/poem, $100 for prose and art
Details here and here.
Haven Speculative
They publish speculative fiction and poetry. August 1st to 31st is their general Summer submission window (for all writers). They now have Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall submission periods; “Our submission cycle is split into four reading periods, each containing three parts: a month explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of LGBTQIA+ communities, and writers belonging to other underrepresented groups; a month open to general submissions, during which anyone may submit; and a month in which we’re closed to submissions so that we may do the difficult (and exciting!) work of choosing content for future issues.” They also publish climate crisis focused Dry and Wet issues each year; scroll down on the guidelines page for these themes.
Deadline: 31 August 2025 (for general submissions)
Length: Up to 6,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $20/poem
Details here and here.
Augur and Tales & Feathers Magazines
Augur Magazine, as well as its sibling magazine Tales & Feathers, opened on 1st August; they are reading submissions for Issue 9. Augur publishes sci-fi, fantasy, dreamy realism, and more, as well as speculative poetry; and Tales & Feathers publishes cozy and slice of life fantasy. While both magazines are open for general submissions (i.e. from all writers) till 31st August, they also have extended submission windows for marginalized creators; Augur will remain open to submissions from trans, disabled, and/or BIPOC creators and creators residing in Canada/Turtle Island until September 15th, and Tales & Feathers will remain open to submissions from all trans, disabled, and/or BIPOC creators until September 15th, 2025. Also, Augur has separate submission categories for Canadian and international writers, please be sure to submit in the correct one.
Deadline: See above
Length: Augur – up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems; Tales & Feathers – up to 2,500 words for fiction
Pay: $0.14 cents (CAD) per word for short fiction (800+ words), and a flat fee of $112.00 per flash fiction piece (800 words and under) for both magazines; CAD100 for poetry
Details here (guidelines for both magazines), here (submissions for Augur), and here (submissions for Tales & Feathers)
Orion’s Belt
This is a speculative flash fiction and poetry magazine. Their website says, “We specialize in the strange and poignant and awe-inspiring, stories that have a cosmic scale and intimate personal stakes.” They have detailed guidelines, including preferences and hard sells. They publish one story and one poem per month.
Deadline: 1 September 2024
Length: Up to 1,200 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Gotham Literature
This is a new online magazine. They want “short-form creative content that can be read by most people in under 5 minutes.
We accept submissions on an ongoing basis, and are seeking flash fiction, poetry, comics, and dialogue, although we will consider submissions that don’t fit neatly into these categories.” And, they want work that “Can be read by most people in under 5 minutes” and which “contains language and themes that will resonate with an audience that is not already familiar with literary techniques / devices (we love content that makes readers go wow, but not huh?)”. They do not want non-fiction.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 1,200 words
Pay: $10-50 for unsolicited submissions, more for commissioned work (see their rate schedule here)
Details here.
Old Moon
This is a fiction and poetry magazine. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Old Moon publishes character-focused, weird sword-and-sorcery: stories dark and tragic, set in a secondary or historical-paranormal (“our” reality, but with a twist, if you will) world, with a focus on rounded characters undergoing some sort of conflict, resolved (though not always successfully!) by the might of their main or mind.
We love stories that combine that sense of action and adventure with well-rounded characters who make us question our own realities and perceptions. We love to see the gothic, the baroque, the eldritch, and we love to see it hit with an axe.”
Deadline: Open now
Length: 1,000-10,000 words for fiction; up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $50/poem
Details here
Factor Four Magazine
“We publish flash fiction in the genres of speculative fiction, specifically science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, super hero, or any combination of these.” Submission is via a form.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 1,000 words
Pay: $0.11/word
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.