By S. Kalekar
These magazines pay up to $800 for fiction. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. They are open now, or will open soon for submissions.
New Session: Adaptations
New Sessions is a telenet literary magazine that is back after a hiatus. They want submissions for Issue 3. “New Session issue three will be different from issues one and two. Delivering the magazine over electronic media allows us to tell stories that more static forms cannot; it allows for a (limited) degree of interactivity, but constraints breed creativity, and New Session would like to invite you to explore that space.
We are looking for short stories, poetry, and non-fiction that contain “adaptations”, or variances. Essentially, we’re asking you to submit work that has small or large changes based on any number of conditions. For example, your story or poem can have words, pages, or sections that change based on time of day, the number of times a reader has seen your story before, or the reader’s location.
These are just examples (see guidelines for more examples), but the core of the call for proposals is this: your submission should be mutable, it should have a set number of variances, and you should tell us how those variances should be expressed.
Your submission may have one adaption or it may have many.
… please format your work to fit on an 80×24 terminal screen (that’s 80 horizontal characters and 24 vertical). We’re shooting for a length of between 5 and 10 “pages” of 80×24 text for a single reading of the story (ie, each adaptation can make it much longer), but we are quite flexible on length. Issue 3 will be released in June, in both Telnet and HTML forms.” They also encourage collaboration between writers and the developer of the New Session content management system, so they ask you to reach out (see guidelines).
Deadline: 20 April 2025
Length: See above
Pay: $50
Details here.
Taco Bell Quarterly
They have detailed guidelines, including, “Taco Bell Quarterly seeks literary/creative essays, short stories, fiction/prose, poems, comics, art, one act plays, fever dreams, multimedia, stupid status updates, criticisms, manifestos, recipes and anything else that explore any and all elements of Taco Bell. Or not. Shoehorn a chalupa in your short story. Maybe we’ll love it. … We lean towards pieces that are queer and center their pain/joy in a Taco Bell.” They’ll open for submissions on 20th April, see announcement here; submit via Submittable during the reading period. Opens on: 20 April 2025
Length: 500-2,500 words for prose, up to 4 poems
Pay: $150
Details here and here.
Mythaxis
This magazine will open for a brief period in April. “Mythaxis seeks speculative fiction (sf/f/h) of all stripes for our first three issues each year. We are also interested in submissions of crime fiction for our end-of-year “all crime” issue. All these genres are equally welcome in each submission window.” Submission is via a form which will open during the reading period. They’ve given all their reading periods on their website.
Reading period: 23 to 30 April 2025
Length: 1,000-5,000 words
Pay: €0.01/word
Details here.
Haven Speculative
They are open for speculative fiction and poetry submissions from all writers in April. They are also reading submissions for their climate crisis focused Dry (might be published in May this year; looking for content that focuses on the dry aspects of climate change—desertification and falling reservoirs, rising temperatures and endless droughts—we’ll center stories by authors directly affected by the climate crisis”) and Wet (published September; “we focus on stories of water—monsoons and the rising tides, hurricanes and the disappearing coast—we’ll center stories by authors directly affected by the climate crisis”) issues. Scroll down on the guidelines page for the themes. They are closed for non-fiction and art. Next month, they will read submissions by underrepresented writers only (see guidelines).
Deadline: 30 April 2025 for general submissions (from all writers)
Length: Up to 6,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $20/poem
Details here and here.
Randon Journal
Their guidelines say, “Radon welcomes short story and poetry submissions containing elements of anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, or science fiction.” You can read more about the genres they publish in the FAQ section, here. They accept work year-round, with cut-off dates for issues. They’re also looking for an artist in residence, to collaborate on artwork for their magazine – see their Submittable page for details.
Deadline: 30 April 2025 for the next issue (reads year-round)
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.02/word for fiction, $20/poem
Details here and here.
Foglifter
They want work from LGBTQ+ writers only – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, hybrid works, drama, and art. “Foglifter welcomes daring and thoughtful work by queer and trans writers in all forms, and we are especially interested in cross-genre, intersectional, marginal, and transgressive work. We want the pieces that challenged you as a writer, what you poured yourself into and risked the most to make. But we also want your tenderest, gentlest work, what you hold closest to your heart.” Also see their ‘Writers In Need’ funds for and by contributors, on their guidelines page.
Deadline: 1 May 2025 (for the Fall edition)
Length: Up to 7,500 words for prose, 3-5 poems, up to 20 pages of drama or hybrid works
Pay: $50
Details here and here.
Adi Magazine
Adi is a feminist literary journal of global politics. They are open now for fiction submissions. “Adi is thinking about alternative political visions for a world in desperate need of them. We want examples from outside of the mainstream, stories about practices, ideas, and movements that were/are suppressed by economic, socio-cultural, religious, or imperial (colonial) powers. We privilege perspectives from the Global South…But we are also interested in the experiences of all marginalized peoples everywhere as they have explored alternative economies, subversive strategies, and surprising solidarities.” And, stories “could be based on historical events, or could focus on imagined futures that subvert current empires.” They accept flash and short fiction as well as translations.
Deadline: 4 May 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $200 for flash, $500 for short fiction
Details here.
Planet Scumm
They publish fiction, including flash fiction, and they’re reading submissions for their Fall 2025 issue. They want sci-fi of all kinds, and speculative fiction, weird fiction, and slipstream.
Deadline: 7 May 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
The Georgia Review
They publish literary fiction, including translations. Regarding length, they say, “Although we are willing to read work of any length, we rarely publish prose works 9000 words or longer.” They also publish non-fiction and poetry. Online submissions from non-subscribers are charged, but there is no fee for mailed submissions; they’re also open for a poetry prize, which has a submission fee.
Deadline: 15 May 2025
Length: Up to 9,000 words of prose, 6-10 pages of poetry
Pay: $50/printed page of prose and $4/line of poetry, up to $800; $150 for reviews published on GR2
Details here.
Tableware Magazine
This is a new print magazine. They want “art, poetry, fiction, essays, photography, reviews. Most anything you can print on paper.”
Deadline: 15 May 2025
Length: Up to 15 pages for writing (see guidelines)
Pay: $50
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.