By S. Kalekar
These magazines pay up to approximately $1,450 for short stories. They are open now, or will open soon for submissions. Some also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry.
Goblins & Galaxies
This magazine, established in 2025, will open for their brief annual reading period soon. They want sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories. Their submission portal will open during the reading period. They accept artwork year-round.
Reading period: 7th to 14th May 2026
Length: up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here
Three-Lobed Burning Eye
They publish speculative fiction: including horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction. They want works “across the speculative genres, including all the shadows between and fluid mixtures thereof. We like narrative voices that are full of feeling, from literary to pulpy, with styles unique and flowing, but not too experimental. All labels aside, we want tales that value imagination in character, narrative, and plot.”
Deadline: 15th May 2026
Length: 500-7,499 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Tableware Magazine
This print magazine wants “art, poetry, fiction, essays, photography, reviews. Most anything you can print on paper.”
Deadline: 15 May 2026
Length: Up to 15 pages for writing (see guidelines)
Pay: $50
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for Griffith Review; the theme is Out of Office. They want fiction and nonfiction only. They accept work mostly from Australian writers, and also some work from overseas writers. They pay AUD0.75/word for prose up to 4,000 words; the deadline is 17 May 2026, 11:59 pm AEST; details here and here)
Utopia Science Fiction
They want science fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for their next issue, to be published in August 2026. There is no theme.
Deadline: 17 May 2026
Length: 100-4,000 words for fiction (query first for longer), up to 5 short or 1 long poem, up to 6,000 words for nonfiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $25 for poetry, $30 for nonfiction
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for Longer Worlds, an anthology for science fiction and fantasy novelettes and novellas, between 7,500 and 25,000 words; they pay $50, and the deadline is 15th May 2026; details here.)
Bourbon Penn
This is a speculative fiction magazine. “We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.
We want character. For us, stories live and die by their characters. We’re looking for fully drawn characters who surprise us with their honesty, complexity, and contradictions.
We want mysterious. We’re looking for stories that grab the reader, make them ask, “what the hell is going on?” and then deliver on the tease.
We want ideas and we want action. We love exploring big, philosophical ideas, but we revel in suspenseful plotting. If you’re adept at blending these elements, we can’t wait to read your work.
We want fresh voices and exciting prose. We want to be surprised. We want to be inspired. We want to find stories that we can’t wait to publish, promote, and evangelize.” They are temporarily closing for submissions starting 20th May.
Deadline: 19 May 2026
Length: 2,000-7,500 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here and here.
The Stinging Fly
This Ireland-based journal will “next open for submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry from the 6th to the 20th of May 2026. This will be for our Winter 2026-27 issue.” They also accept translations. They also have a submission FAQ page. Submission is via Submittable for general prose and poetry; a link to their Submittable will appear on their page during the reading period. They also have a featured poet section for published Ireland-based poets working on a first poetry collection – see guidelines.
Submission period: See above
Length: One prose piece; up to three poems
Pay: Fiction and non-fiction: €50 per magazine page, with a minimum/maximum payment of €375/€1250; Flash fiction/shorter essays (1 – 2 pages): €175; Poetry: €50 per magazine page, but with a minimum payment of €80 per poem; Featured poet: €600; cover art, €500.
Details here.
(And, the submission period for cover artwork is extended to 11th May; artists must live in Ireland; details here, here, and here.)
The Bombay Literary Magazine
They accept fiction, graphic fiction, translated fiction, poetry, translated poetry, and essays (see guidelines). They opened on 1st May, and have a submission cap for each category, so submissions will close when they hit those caps. Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 31 May 2026, or until filled
Length: 2,000-5,000 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: INR5,000
Details here.
Haven Speculative
They publish speculative fiction and poetry, and in May, they will accept submissions from all writers. They 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 May 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $20/poem
Details here and here
Baltimore Review
They publish fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Some editor preferences are in the bios on their Staff page, and some guidelines are on their Submittable page. They are also open for contest submissions in all three genre categories, for which there is a submission fee.
Deadline: 31 May 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: $50 (via a gift certificate or PayPal, if preferred)
Details here and here.
Apex Magazine
This is a digital dark science fiction and fantasy magazine publishing short fiction, essays, and interviews. They also accept non-fiction pitches (not submissions). They’re open during certain months this year, including May, for short fiction.
Deadline: 31 May 2026
Length: Up to 9,000 words for short fiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction; additional $0.01/word if story is podcast
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.