These magazines and anthologies pay for speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and their varied sub-genres. They pay up to $1,000 for short fiction. Many of them are open now, or are opening soon, or have announced when they will open next for submissions. They’re not listed in any particular order.
Though all the magazines publish some form of speculative fiction, their tastes vary widely; please read the magazine wherever possible to get a feel for it, to see if your work is a good fit. – S. Kalekar
Galaxy’s Edge: A Call of the Ocean
A Call of the Ocean is an anthology from Galaxy’s Edge magazine; they want “short stories about creatures and myths that live in the oceans and surrounding seas. Whether the stories are about mermaids, or selkies, or other magical beings existing in our world or on another, we’re primarily looking for fantasy or urban fantasy fiction. We will accept stories that have a hint of darkness or a science fiction element as long as the core substance of the story is fantastical. The editor will be very interested in stories that derive out of myths from diverse locations around the world, wanting to build an anthology of unique voices.” They also accept translations (see guidelines). Please read the manuscript formatting guidelines carefully. Pay is $0.07/word for stories up to 4,000 words; please see their note about contributor copies. The deadline is 1 October 2024. Details here and here.
Speculative City: Superstition
This magazine “embraces the motivations of speculative fiction and integrates them into a focus of setting: the city. Cities instinctively draw individuals aspiring to create communities. Speculative City endeavors to elevate the voices of these communities through literary works that explore the potentials of their lived experience through the frame of science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism.” They want stories on the Superstition theme. Pay is $20-55 for stories up to 5,500 words. The deadline is 20 October 2024. Details here and here.
Strange Horizons
This magazine will open for general speculative fiction submissions on 1st October 2024; in the past, they have stayed open until their submission quota was met. They also accept poetry and non-fiction, both of which are open for submissions now. They pay $0.10/word for stories up to 10,000 words (but prefer stories under 5,000 words), $20-75 for non-fiction, and $50/poem. Their Moksha submission system for fiction will open during the submission period. Details here and here.
(Also see Samovar, their sibling magazine for translated speculative fiction.
And, submissions are open now for the Stop Surveillance Copaganda, a collaborative project; 5 selected stories will be published in a special issue of Strange Horizons and in COMPOST Magazine. Pay is $0.10/word for stories up to 5,000 words, and the deadline is 21 November 2024. Also, the author of one short story will be provided a flight to and from Taipei, hotel accommodation, a stipend, and a ticket to access the RightsCon venue and platform, and a chance to participate.)
Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores
They will open soon for their regular submission window. They accept fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. For fiction, they want science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form. They accept both serious and humorous work. Also see guidelines for the kind of work they’re looking for, hard sells, and what they do not want. They also accept reprints. Their submission period is the 1st-2nd of every month (see guidelines). They accept anywhere from 1,000 words and up for fiction (see guidelines), and poetry up to 40 lines. Their submission period is usually the 1st and 2nd of every month. They pay $0.08/word for fiction, $0.02-0.08/word for non-fiction, and $1/line for poetry.
Details here.
Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry
This is a fantasy, science fiction, humor, and romance fiction anthology, and stories should be PG-13. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Love is in the air…or is it? Sometimes Cupid’s arrow finds the wrong target, or the right target at the wrong time.Those stupid Cupids can sure make a mess of things!
Freefall into a world where love, magic, and wonder can devolve into chaos and confusion. Confounding Cupids: When Love Goes Awry is your chance to take aim at your favorite romance tropes and have a fantastical time. Look past Cupid’s bow, and show us the beautiful chaos of love. Confound your Cupids with unexpected results, hilarious mistakes, and terrifying consequences. … Central to your story should be a match or matches full of paradoxes and delightful disorder. And please note, we aren’t expecting all stories to have an actual Cupid, so get creative and have fun with it!” And, “A happily-ever-after ending is encouraged but not mandatory. Diverse cultures, LGBTQ+, and non-traditional relationships are welcomed.” Pay is $0.06/word for stories up to 5,000 words. The deadline is 7 October 2024. Details here.
Trollbreath Magazine
This is a new “journal of speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, publishing electronic issues on a quarterly schedule. Our interests are as varied as the endless amount of genres, from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between. We have a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms, but what motivates us most are great stories by wonderful authors eager to share their visions of the past, the future, the in between, and everything that lies outside the margins. Coloring beyond the lines encouraged.” They also accept fiction reprints, poetry submissions, and queries (not submissions) of non-fiction. Length guidelines are 1,500-7,500 words for fiction (prefer 4,000-5,000 words), and up to 3 poems; pay is $0.04/word for original fiction, $40 for non-fiction, and $25 for poetry. Their next submission period for fiction and poetry is 1st to 31st October, when they will read for March and June issues of the following year. They accept non-fiction queries year-round. Details here.
Small Wonders
They want speculative flash fiction (including reprints), and poetry. “We’re looking for speculative fiction with elements not of this world: fantasy, science fiction, horror. Our very favorite stories are those that don’t rely on a twist or gotcha ending. We love stories with big feelings, and don’t necessarily mind set pieces with very little plot.” They also accept artwork. They want up to 1,000 words for original flash fiction, up to 1,100 words for reprints, and pay $0.10/word for original fiction, and $60 for poetry. They were open to submissions at the time of writing. Details here.
Written Backward: You, Human, Vol. 2
You, Human is a dark sci-fi and all blended sub-genres (horror, fantasy, etc.) anthology by Written Backward publishing. “What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be real? What does it mean to exist? What does it mean to be human? Once again, Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics will be re-evaluated and revised to help define humanity, this time by novelettes (7,500 – 15,000 words max).
Three Laws of Humanity:
1. A human being may not injure another human being or, through inaction, allow another human being to come to harm.
2. A human being must obey the orders given it by other human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
3. A human being must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws.” Pay is $0.10/word capped at $500 for stories of 7,500-15,000 words, and the deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here.
Bourbon Penn
“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.” Pay is $0.04/word for stories of 2,000 – 7,500 words. Details here and here.
The Orange & Bee
This is an Australian Substack-based magazine; they want works “that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, including fairy tales, fables, myths, and legends.” They accept fiction – “The Orange and Bee celebrates all styles and genres when it comes to fairy tales. We are seeking stories that stretch between the shadows, and we are as likely to accept a reimagining of a familiar fairy tale as a unique creation waiting to be added to the rich tradition of the continually evolving literary canon.” They also accept poetry and nonfiction. Length guidelines are: up to 1,000 words for flash fiction; 1,000-4,000 words for short fiction and nonfiction; prefer up to 50 lines for poetry. Pay is $80 for flash fiction; $0.08/word for short stories and nonfiction; and $50 for poetry. Their next submission window is 1st to 14th November 2024; they list all the submission windows for the year on their website. Details here.
Phano
This is a new magazine of science (no fantasy) and literary fiction, and they will begin reading submissions for their first issue on 1st October 2024. They want stories that provoke a sense of wonder, touch an emotional core, and more (see guidelines). They also accept non-fiction. They want works of 1,000-5,000 words, and pay $0.02/word. Their Moksha submission system will be active during the submission period. Details here.
Solarpunk Magazine
They want “hopeful short stories and poetry that strive for a utopian ideal, that are set in futures where communities are optimistically struggling to solve or adapt to climate change, to create or maintain a world in which humanity, technology, and nature coexist in harmony rather than in conflict. We also publish solarpunk art as well as nonfiction that explores real world, contemporary topics and their intersection with the solarpunk movement for a better future.” Also, “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.” The kind of work they want is described on their Moksha submission page, as well as the guidelines page. Non-fiction is open on an ongoing basis. Pay is $0.08/word for fiction up to 7,500 words (shorter preferred – see guidelines), $40/poem, and $75/essay or article. Their next fiction submission window is 1st to 14th October 2024. Details here and here.
Sentinel Creatives: Leviathan – An Anthology of Industrial Horror
This is a fiction anthology. They have detailed guidelines, including, “We’re looking for original weird tales set in the Victorian period that explore the human (and inhuman) experience through the lens of horror. … There is a tendency to view the Victorian Age as beginning and ending with the reign of British monarch Queen Victoria (1837-1901), but this is so strict as to be crude. Rather, the period will be what is referred to as The Long Nineteenth Century (1789-1914), which begins with the French Revolution and ends just short of World War I. This expanded timeframe serves to foreground the transformations that took place within British society and brings those changes into stark relief.
This period usually takes England as its geographical norm, and often a particular city: London. But for the purposes of this anthology, the region will also include Scotland, Ireland, Wales, as well as India and the furthest reaches of the British Empire. … Show us primitive science, at once enlightened and profane, the obscure craft of learned mutilators who frighten all, even the dead.” They pay $125-200 for stories of 3,000 – 6,000 words, and the deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here.
Escape Artists Magazines
They have speculative fiction podcasts focusing on various genres; Cast of Wonders, which publishes young adult (YA) speculative fiction will open during 1st to 14th October 2024, see schedule; PodCastle, which publishes a wide range of fantasy stories – “from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and everything in between”, will open during 1st to 30th November 2024, see their schedule; EscapePod publishes science fiction, see their schedule; PseudoPod publishes horror, see their schedule; and CatsCast publishes fun speculative cat stories, and opens occasionally for submissions, see their submission portal. These magazines only accept submissions via their submission portals, which open during the reading period, and pay $0.08/word for original fiction. All the Escape Artists magazines also accept reprints.
Flame Tree Publishing Anthologies
They have periodic announcements for speculative fiction anthologies on their blog. Currently, they are open for two speculative fiction anthologies:
— This Way Lies Madness — which “will bring together a twisted tangle of dark stories featuring monstrous manifestations of trauma and guilt, paranoia and persecution, anxiety, addiction, and crippling terror,” and “Each selected story will be accompanied by a c. 300-word introduction by the author on their reflections / personal experience that inspired the story. Once selected, authors will be contacted to supply this additional text.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories of 2,000-4,000 words, and the deadline is 13 October 2024.
— Afrofuturism – “Authors must be writing from an authentic perspective of the Black experience, whether based in the diaspora or in Africa” for this call; they pay $0.08/word for stories of 2,000-4,000 words, and the deadline is 27 October 2024.
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.” They pay $0.03/word for stories up to 5,000 words. The deadline is 15 October 2024. Details here.
DreamForge Anvil: Each and Other
DreamForge is a speculative fiction magazine. They want works on the theme “Each and Other. Reverse the trend that seeks to separate us with memes of Them and Other, Stranger and Outsider… We are, all of us, bound across time and space by our shared humanity.” They have detailed guidelines on the theme, see here. And, “While we’re really excited to see story submissions following our theme; please don’t self-edit your submission. If you have a great SF or Fantasy piece, especially one with a positive, humanistic vibe, send it along.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 7,000 words, and the deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here, here, and here.
Fusion Fragment
This Canadian magazine accepts science fiction or SF-tinged literary fiction. “Although any science fiction subgenre is fair game, our tastes lean towards slipstream, cyberpunk, post-apocalypse, and anything with a little taste of the bizarre. FF prefers character-driven stories, and often skews towards quiet, reflective pieces. If the primary tone of your story is one of high adventure or humour, it’s probably not the right fit for FF. That said, quality always outstrips genre preference in terms of importance, so feel free to send us anything that even vaguely resembles science fiction.” They are currently closed to reprints. Pay is CAD0.04/word for originals, up to CAD400 for stories of 2,000-15,000 words. Details here.
Zooscape
This magazine publishes furry fantasy fiction. “All stories must be furry. That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks. We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 10,000 words. They also accept reprints. They are scheduled to reopen for submissions on 1 January 2025. Details here.
The Dark
They want dark fantasy and horror stories. “Don’t be afraid to experiment or to deviate from the ordinary; be different—try us with fiction that may fall out of “regular” categories.” Pay is $0.05/word for stories up to 6,000 words. They also accept reprints. Details here.
Inkd Publishing: Hidden Villains – Criminals
This is a speculative fiction anthology “with a bass beat of a hidden villain and a tale involving the criminal. You could be chasing them down, victimized by them, or be the criminal; however you want to include them. … There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story as long as the genre falls within Speculative Fiction, including Sci-Fi or Fantasy. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story will rise to the top.” Please see the note on their submission form about overseas author copies. Pay is $0.01-0.02/word + royalty share for stories of 2,000-7,000 words, and the deadline is 30 September 2024; details here (scroll down) and here.
(Inkd Publishing is also open for another mystery and speculative fiction anthology, Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors: Dying for an Answer, the deadline for which is end-November; pay is royalty share, or $20; see here and here.)
Factor Four Magazine
They want flash speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, super hero, or any combination of these, of up to 1,000 words. Pay is $0.11/word. They also accept artwork. Details here.
Uncanny
This award-winning speculative fiction magazine opens occasional submission periods for fiction, from flash to novella length. They pay $0.10/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $100 for non-fiction. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.
Farenheit Books Anthologies
Farenheit Books is part of Omicron World Entertainment. They’re open for fiction and poetry for two themed anthologies in their Spekulative Stories anthology series; Train Tales, and Aliens Among Us. A train or space alien should be such an integral part of the work, that the story or poem would collapse if the element were taken away. They accept all genres (please see guidelines). They also accept reprints. Send up to 7,500 words for fiction, and up to 50 lines for poetry. Pay is $0.10/word for fiction, $2/line for poetry. The deadline is 30 November 2024, or until filled. Details here.
New Myths
They publish speculative fiction of every kind, and they like each issue to have a balance of works: science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science fiction, and longer and shorter works. They also publish reviews. They accept stories up to 10,000 words, and pay $0.03/word for fiction. Their reading periods are January-February and June-July. Details here.
French Press Publishing: Strange New Moons
For this fiction anthology, they want “your werewolf stories. Desperately. Werewolves all day and all night. Werewolves forever and ever, a million years, nothing but werewolves, super fuzzy bang bang. With one small caveat: Make ‘em different.
Yeah. It’s not that werewolfism is inherently a bad theme, it’s that it’s been done to death. That’s the little torn cuticle driving most editors to decline anything having to do with our favorite loathsome lycanthropes. So, give us something wild, strange, and new!” Pay is $0.03/word for stories of 2,000-5,000 words, and the deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here.
Etherea Magazine
They publish fantasy and science fiction, from flash to novelette length. Although they are not too interested in horror or grimdark in general, for flash, they will accept horror submissions also, provided it has an element of the supernatural. Also, “We are an Australian publication, and have dedicated ourselves to publishing a minimum of 25% Australian content.” Pay is AUD25 for flash fiction, AUD100 for short fiction, and AUD200 for novelettes. They were open at the time of writing; submission is via a form. Details here.
StarShipSofa
They publish science fiction. “From the soft, social science fiction to the weird pulpy stuff to the vigorous hard SF and YA adventure. We welcome all sub-genres and all variety of punks in all their colours. From high-octane action to quiet philosophical stories, we’re after it all. Science fiction is a rich and diverse genre, push its boundaries as far as you can go.
We welcome translations and are very interested in stories that take place/written by authors outside the US/Anglo-sphere, as well as alternative movements and styles. These include (but not limited to) “non-Western” science fiction, Chinese SF, Soviet speculative fiction, Afro-futurism, etc. The exception is that the SF element must be the backbone of the story.” And, “Paid story length runs from 3,000 words up to 7,000 words. Most of the stories we accept are between 3500 and 5000 words.” Do not send fantasy or supernatural horror. They pay $50. Details here.
Mysterion
They want science fiction, fantasy and horror stories that engage meaningfully with Christian themes, characters or cosmology. The stories need not teach a moral, or be close to an approved theological position, or be pro-Christian. They are especially interested in stories that show Christians from cultures beyond those of the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. (You can read more about what they’re looking for here.) They also accept translations and reprints. They have two annual reading periods for fiction, January and July. Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 9,000 words. Details here.
Flash Fiction Online
They publish flash fiction of 500-1,000 words across genres, including speculative. Pay is $100 for original stories. They will open on 1st October 2024 for original flash stories; they do not want reprints during this submission window. They’ll close when they reach their submission cap. Details here.
Nature: Futures
Nature is a weekly international journal publishing research in all fields of science and technology. They also publish flash science fiction – “Futures is the award-winning science-fiction section of Nature and it accepts unsolicited articles. Each Futures piece should be an entirely fictional, self-contained story of around 850–950 words in length, and the genre should, broadly speaking, be ‘hard’ (that is, ‘scientific’) SF rather than, say, outright fantasy, slipstream or horror.” They pay £85. See here (scroll down to Futures) and here.
Infinite Worlds and Infinite Horrors Magazines
Infinite Worlds publishes science fiction, and Infinite Horror publishes horror fiction. Both magazines pay $0.08/word for stories of 1,500-5,000 words. Both magazines read submissions on an ongoing basis. Details here.
Riverfolk Publishing: Technology-based horror
They want technology-based horror fiction, and pay $100 for stories of 6,000-10,000 words. The deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here.
Baubles From Bones
This is a new magazine; they have published two issues so far. Their fiction guidelines say, “We accept fiction that broadly falls in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. We’re open to most subgenres and themes but have a particular fondness for compelling adventures, folk-retellings, stories of hope in the dark, emotional healing, love of all sorts, environmentalism, and the humanity (or lack of it) among the fantastical and speculative. Good characters pump the hearts of our favorite stories, and we live for lushly-built worlds, though magical realism can be just as inspiring as a dyson sphere or floating castle.” They also accept poetry (up to 40 lines) & prose (up to 600 words) on the above themes. Submission is via a form, which is active during their submission periods. They pay $0.01/word for stories of 1,000-8,000 words, and $6 for poems. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.
Whisper House Press: Dread Mondays
This is a workplace horror anthology. Pay is $0.06/word for stories up to 4,000 words (prefer up to 3,000 words). The general submission deadline for all writers is 31 October 2024; the extended deadline for historically marginalized groups is 30 November 2024. Details here.
Tyche Books: Starship Librarians
This is a fiction anthology. “Badgered and beleaguered, the front line of the culture wars, enduring book bans, budget cuts, and ruthless political theatre, it’s a tough time to be a Librarian. … We are looking for stories about the librarians of tomorrow. Whether essential crew in the grand exploration of the space, defenders of knowledge in bleak radioactive tomorrows, or idealists in the halls of Neo-Alexandria, we want to check out your stories.
A bold Commander, brilliant science officers, resourceful engineers, but no starship crew is complete without a librarian!” Please note, they want Canadian spelling. Pay is CAD50. The deadline is 15 November 2024. Details here.
Black Beacon Books: Steampunk Sleuths
This is a fiction anthology. “The genre of mystery is designed to get the cogs cranking, but let’s not forget that steampunk is all about cogs too! Why not bring them together? Steampunk Sleuths will be an anthology of four novelettes (15 – 20,000 words) featuring detectives in a steampunk setting solving peculiar crimes. The only requirements for submission will be that the means of committing the crime (murder, theft, kidnapping…) must be clearly steampunk and the reader must be given the tools to crack the case before the solution is revealed.” Pay is $50, and the deadline is 31 October 2024. Details here.
Hearth Stories
This is a new speculative fiction magazine; they’ve published two issues so far. They want “speculative fiction slice-of-life stories with a focus on connection, family, relationships, comfort, and the natural world.
We accept works from 1,000 words up to 10,000. However, the ideal length may be something in the 1,500-3,500 word range. We do not currently accept poetry, non-fiction, or non-speculative work (there needs to be a fantasy or science fiction element present in the work).” Pay is $0.01/word. The deadline is 30 September 2024. Details here.
Cirsova
Their tagline is, ‘Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense’. They have detailed guidelines about the kind of stories they want; apart from Weird Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror, some of the sub-genres are Monstergirls, Raygun Romance, Radium Adventures, Sword & Planet, Space Cops, Lost World, Pre-Historic/Antiquity, Occult Detective/Mystery, Mad Science, and Picaresque Adventure. They pay $0.0125 (one and a quarter cents) per word for stories of 2,000-7,500 words (can take longer – see guidelines). Their reading periods are usually very brief. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.
InterZone
Their guidelines say, “Interzone is always open to unsolicited submissions of fantastika of between 2,000 and 17,500 words”. They pay (EUR) 1.5¢ per word. Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
