These magazines pay $50 to $600 for fiction, and a few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry; they’re open now, or will open soon. Please see the end of this list for some themed submission calls; deadlines are approaching quickly. – S. Kalekar
Hammock
The Twitter thread from the editor says, “I’ve been involved in the launch of a new literary journal focussed on writing from South Asia and beyond. This is a submission call for their first issue– short stories, narrative nonfiction and personal essays.” They accept submissions and pitches.
Deadline: 7 January 2023
Length: 1,500-6,000 words
Pay: $50-150
Details here (Twitter thread).
Wyngraf
This is a cozy fantasy magazine and they will be open for short story submissions during the first week of January. They do not accept flash fiction. They have extensive guidelines, please read these before submitting. Please do not submit before the reading period begins.
Reading period: 1-7 January 2023
Length: 3,000-8,000 words
Pay: One and a half cents per word
Details here.
Cosmic Horror Monthly
This magazine will open for a week in January. They want cosmic horror – for fiction, they want cosmic horror, Lovecraftian, and weird stories. “At this time, we are strongly favoring stories with a contemporary narrative style. Lovecraftian themes and mythos works are welcomed but try to avoid Lovecraft pastiche and styles mimicking that of his writer circle from the early 20th century.” For non-fiction, they want essays that explore the state of horror as well as the philosophies that are often found in cosmic horror, existentialism, nihilism, etc. Please do not submit any work before the reading period. January stories accepted will appear in issues July – December. Their other submission period is scheduled in July.
Reading period: 1-7 January 2023
Length: 1,000-5,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.06/word for fiction
Details here.
Bennington Review
This literary magazine is associated with Bennington College. They accept fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translations, and film/TV writing (essays, not reviews – see guidelines).
Deadline: 9 January 2023
Length: Up to 30 pages for fiction and nonfiction, 10-20 pages for film/TV writing, 3-5 poems
Pay: $120 for six pages or fewer, $250 for more than six pages of prose, $25/poem
Details here.
Solarpunk Magazine
This magazine is open for nonfiction/essay submissions on solarpunk themes. Essays are accepted year-round; fiction and poetry are open periodically. Please note, the next reading period is contingent on their Kickstarter funding; at the time of writing, it had almost funded; you can see the Kickstarter here.
Reading period: 1-14 January 2023
Length: 1,500-7,500 words for fiction; 1,000-2,000 words for essays; up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $75/essay, $40/poem
Details here.
Augur Magazine
This is a Canadian speculative fiction and poetry magazine. They also welcome translations. They’ll take submissions from all writers till 7th January, and Canadian underrepresented writers have an extended deadline, till 15th January 2023 (see guidelines).
Deadline: See above
Length: Up to 5 poems; up to 5,000 words for fiction
Pay: CAD60/poem and CAD0.11/word for prose
Details here and here.
Ghoulish Tales
This is a new horror magazine. They want ““fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.”
Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre.” They also accept non-fiction on the horror genre. The team earlier ran Dark Moon Digest, which has now been discontinued.
Deadline: 15 February 2023
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction; up to 3,000 words for non-fiction
Pay: $0.07/word (may increase, depending on Kickstarter stretch goals met)
Details here.
Epoch Magazine
This magazine is associated with Cornell University. They accept fiction, essays, poetry, and comics. Online submissions are charged, and accepted only during the months of January and August; however, they do have one fee-free submission weekend during each of these months. There is no fee for mailed submissions; for these, the submission period is September to February (see guidelines). Pay depends on funding.
Deadline: See above
Length: No length guidelines for prose; up to 5 poems
Pay: $100-500
Details here and here.
Illustrated Worlds
This is a new magazine of fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror. “Stories should contain an element of fantasy, dark fantasy, horror, whimsy, magic realism, mythology, folklore or fairy tale type inspiration.” They want fiction and art. They will also consider poetry if it is exceptional, though that is not the focus of the magazine.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.01/word for fiction, $10 for poetry
Details here.
Wyldblood Magazine
This is a speculative fiction magazine. They’re open for flash and short fiction now, and will open in January for novels and novellas. Also, “elves, goblins, dwarfs, pixies, fairies and all the other usual fantasy tropes are currently a hard sell for us. But … we’re fine with vampires and zombies (for now).” They also accept reprints. For non-fiction, send queries.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: £0.01/word, up to £75
Details here.
Some themed submission calls for fiction:
Manawaker Studios: Project Briar Rose
This is a science fiction anthology. They have extensive guidelines, including, “The book will be a sci-fi retelling of the first half of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), as it was told by the Grimm Bros.
In Galilean Space, a Spincity administrator is bringing a new Android online. It is his plan that this android, codenamed Briar Rose and in a mechanical body resembling a young woman, will succeed him one day in running the city. He invites the most accomplished AI experts from 12 of the spincity’s 13 districts to a dinner party in celebration of Briar Rose; leaving out the expert from the 13th district because she is an unpleasant person. At the dinner, the experts, all women, each approach the android in turn, and program her with a personality trait that she will need to be a good person, and eventually also a good administrator of the city. As they do this, they each tell a story about a person who succeeded, thrived, or overcame adversity due to possessing this trait. When they are finished, the 13th expert shows up uninvited, imbues the android with one unpleasant trait, and tells a story in which such a trait would be needed. There will be a bit more, but that’s the context you’ll need to submit. … I want thirteen stories from thirteen different authors, each one showcasing one of the traits imbued upon Briar Rose in the framing story. The stories should be some form of speculative fiction, but any of the sub-genres of spec fic, or even some parallel genres, are acceptable.” See guidelines for each trait they want stories for. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 31 December 2022
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.01/word
Details here.
Android Press: Best of Utopian Speculative Fiction
This is a reprint anthology of utopian speculative fiction that was previously published in 2022. Stories should not be dystopian, and should be hopeful, focus on solutions, and should be speculative.
Deadline: 31 December 2022
Length: Up to 19,000 words (reprints only)
Pay: $0.01/word
Details here.
Eerie River Publishing: Elementals Series – Air
They are reading horror stories for the last of their elemental series. The theme they’ll read during December is Air – stories can be about tornadoes, dust storms, wind power, and air-borne viruses. R-rated stories are welcome.
Deadline: 31 December 2022
Length: 1,500-7,000 words
Pay: CAD0.01/word
Details here.
DMR Books: Die by the Sword
This is a sword and sorcery anthology. “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. The stories can be set in an invented world like Zothique or Nehwon, or in the past of the real world.” Also see the list of what they’re not looking for, including urban fantasy, Tolkien-style epic/high fantasy, and YA/children’s fiction.
Deadline: 31 December 2022
Length: 4,000-8,000 words
Pay: $0.01/word
Details here.
Cutleaf: Beer
They want beer-related writing – short stories, personal essays, poems, or hybrid work. “While reviewing submissions, we delight in the unexpected. However, we’re going to resist sharing specific examples of what this might look like on the page because we want the interpretation of “beer,” and how it figures into your work, to be left up to you, the writer.”
Deadline: 31 December 2022
Length: One prose piece, up to two poems
Pay: $50-200 for poems, $100-300 for prose
Details here.
The Fairy Tale Magazine: Love
This magazine was formerly called Enchanted Conversation. They are reading fairy tales and poetry on the theme of Love for their 2023 issues; romance is preferred, but love between friends, family members, pets and their humans, etc., will be considered too. The theme doesn’t have to be a big part of the story, but it does need to be present. “We are also very open to the stories and poems focusing on seasonal holidays, like solstice celebrations, Halloween, Hanukkah, etc. However, while holiday based stories and poems are very welcome, you still need to include the theme. … Content definitely does not have to feature the traditional white, princess and prince love story. … Do bear in mind that all fairy tale related fiction and poetry needs an element of the supernatural—as well as transformation. Transformation is a huge deal for the 2023 publishing year.” Stories must be PG, though this is not a children’s magazine. The essence of classic fairy tales should be maintained. They plan to have one more reading period for 2023 issues, in May. They will publish four issues next year.
Deadline: 2 January 2023
Length: 1,000-5,000 words for fiction, up to 500 words for poetry
Pay: $50
Details here.
Kenyon Review: Luminous Gender Vessel
They want poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, hybrid/cross-genre work, art, including comics, and multimedia pieces exploring ideas and questions of gender for their guest edited folio, ‘Luminous Gender Vessel’. “We want work that tells us something about what it means to be alive in a body, that makes us feel more alive in our own. Tell us what you don’t understand, what you’re trying to figure out. Get experimental. Get speculative. Get hybrid. Get weird. Push boundaries of style and form. Because genre, like gender, is a construct. It’s rarely one thing or the other.” They pay upon publication.
Deadline: 5 January 2023
Length: Up to 6,000 words for prose; up to 3 poems
Pay: Unspecified
Details here and here.
Room Magazine: Ghosts
They publish work from people of marginalized genders only, including but not limited to women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people.
They want fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art on the ‘Ghosts’ theme; “…poems full of folklore, creative nonfiction on rattling encounters, transient fiction, and other such spirited words. Send us writing and visual art that is acutely aware of the apparitions around us. Show us the spectres, the relationships with revenants, the ancestries of time and place, the imprints, and the echoes. We want your best work in any genre, work that breaks with traditional form”.
Deadline: 5 January 2023
Length: Up to 3,500 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: CAD50/page, up to CAD150
Details here (see top right for theme details).
Alienhead Press: Literally Dead – Tales of Holiday Hauntings
This is a fiction anthology. “We’re inviting writers of dark fiction to submit short stories of classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around the winter holidays. #ownvoices, BIPOC, gender-diverse, LGBTQIA, and authors of other marginally represented groups highly encouraged to apply.” They do not want children’s or slasher stories, vampires, werewolves, zombies, extreme, or creature horror.
Deadline: 20 January 2023
Length: 2,000-4,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here.
The Saltbrush Review: Intersections
They publish fiction, creative non-fiction (including personal essays and life writing), cross-genre work and poetry on the ‘Intersections’ theme. “Submissions are open to all, but we particularly welcome work from South Australian and regional writers, emerging writers, First Nations and POC writers, the LGBTQI+ community, and writers with a disability.”
Deadline: 20 January 2023
Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: AUD100/poem or flash piece; AUD150 for short fiction and non-fiction
Details here.
Air & Nothingness Press: Gargantua
They want “stories of massive engineering megastructures that reshape stellar systems” All stories to be exactly 1,000 words. “Shellworlds, Alderson disks, Dyson spheres and swarms, O’Neill cylinders, Matrioshka brains, wormhole networks – these megastructures reshape stellar systems, are evidence of the engineering prowess of advanced civilizations, and are just darn cool concepts.
While these ideas usually fall under Hard SF, we are looking for authors to provide stories in any genre they choose. Tell us the tales of advanced civilizations, personal stories of the people who live in these spaces, the mythology that is created as these projects are born, to the time they crumble to stellar dust.”
Deadline: 31 January 2023
Length: Exactly 1,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Improbable Press: Anna Karenina Isn’t Dead
This is a fiction anthology call that is open to all writers. “You suffer. You die. You exist so the hero can have his journey. Who are you?
You’re a woman in classic literature.
Of course this isn’t the destiny of every woman, but from Anna Karenina to Jocasta to Cio-Cio-San, from Esmeralda to Aida to Mrs Rochester, death, madness, or suffering is the fate of far too many women in classic stories. Anna Karenina Isn’t Dead undoes that.
In this anthology of literary women, these women live. Do they have a happily ever after? Maybe. Do they have a happy-right-now? Oh yes. Feel free to bring your woman to the present, future, to anywhere or anywhen. How your classic heroine finds her peace is up to you.
Tell us a reimagined tale of the famous, the infamous, the barely mentioned woman in an old story, poem, or legend. Give her a better journey than the one she got. (No real life people please.)”
Deadline: 31 January 2023
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.
Sinister Smile Press: Dead Hookers in Gas Station Bathrooms
This is a road trip horror anthology. “Road trips can be memorable, the stuff of dreams. Just you and the family or loved ones out on the open road, taking in the breathtaking scenery, and experiencing adventure and mystery while exploring the world. But the thing about dreams is sometimes they quickly turn to nightmares.”
Deadline: Until filled
Length: 4,000-10,000 words
Pay: $30-50
Details here.
JayHenge Publishing: Two themes
They are open for two speculative fiction anthologies.
— The Nameless Songs of Zadok Allen & Other Things that Should Not Be: “What lurks in the deep? Who listens from the shadows? What sorts of abominable experiments are taking place at the mysterious ivy-covered university? We want your Lovecraftian tales.”
— The Black Forty: “In the 1860s, the Homestead Acts granted farmers a quarter section; a section was nominally 1 square mile containing 640 acres, a quarter section was 160 acres, and the quarter section was itself subdivided into four quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres each: two front forty and two back forty. It now refers to the most remote part of a farm, or even the most remote or inaccessible part of any place.
In The Back Forty, we are looking for your stories that explore new, lawless frontiers, backwater towns, self-appointed sheriffs, lonesome explorers, bounty hunters, and other Wild West in Outer Space kinds of themes. We are sometimes flexible on themes, so if you have something you think might fit as an edge case, don’t hesitate to give us a holler. We’ll usually have a look at most anything.”
Deadline: Until filled, for all anthologies
Length: Up to 15,000 words
Pay: $5 per 1,000 words
Details here (themes) and here (general guidelines).
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
