These magazines pay up to about $700 for short stories, and one magazine pays more for longer work. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. They are open now, or will open soon for submissions. – S. Kalekar
Flash Fiction Online
For January, their guidelines say, “We are coming into 2024 with a decently sized queue of literary stories and reprints. Therefore, for our January 2024 reading period, we will only be accepting original speculative fiction. We will consider fantasy, science fiction, horror, and all the fabulous cross-sub-genre goodness within that lot. As is our custom, we will be open until the 21st of the month unless the 425 submissions cap is reached.” They open on the 1st of every month and close on the 21st or when their submission cap is reached, whichever is earlier.
Deadline: 21 January 2024, or until filled
Length: 500-1,000 words
Pay: $80
Details here and here.
Fusion Fragment
This Canadian magazine will open for submissions toward the end of January and usually, they have only a brief submission period. They accept 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 also publish one reprint story per issue.
Opens on: 29 January 2024
Length: 2,000-15,000 words
Pay: CAD0.04/word, up to CAD400
Details here.
Event
This Canadian magazine accepts fee-free submissions of fiction and poetry until end-month during their reading period, or until they reach a submission cap, whichever is earlier. For fiction, they want “compelling characters, plots that surprise us, narratives that move us, stories that have something new to say.” They accept non-fiction via a contest, for which there is a submission fee. They accept queries for reviews.
Deadline: 31 January 2024, or until filled, for fiction and poetry
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 8 poems
Pay: $40/page for poetry and $35/page for fiction, up to $500
Details here and here.
The Forge
They accept a limited number of fee-free submissions of fiction and non-fiction. They re-open on the 1st of next month once they hit a submission cap (see guidelines).
Deadline: 31 January 2024, or until filled
Length: Prefer up to 3,000, accepts up to 5,000 words
Pay: $100
Details here.
Split Lip Magazine
Split Lip Magazine is a voice-driven literary journal with a pop culture twist. They publish online monthly and in print annually – memoir, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and art, as well as interviews and reviews (for interviews and reviews, query first via webform – see guidelines). Fee-free submissions for all writers are open during certain months, including January; these can close earlier by category, if their Submittable cap is reached. Fee-free submissions for Black writers are open till mid-June.
Deadline: 31 January 2024, or until filled, for general fee-free submissions
Length: Up to 3,000 words for fiction; up to 2,000 words for memoir; one poem
Pay is $75 for web contributions, $5/page for print, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews for their web issues
Details here and here.
FIYAH
They publish speculative fiction by Black writers of the African Diaspora only. They also publish poetry, non-fiction, and art.
Deadline: 31 January 2024
Length: 2,000-15,000 words for fiction, up to 1,000 words for poetry
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, and $50/poem
Details here.
Haven Speculative
They publish science fiction and fantasy – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and art. The publish climate-crisis focused work twice a year, in their Dry (published in March) and Wet (published in September) issues. They have extensive guidelines, including on the special issues. They accept submissions through the year; every alternate month, they accept submissions only from underrepresented writers. Through January, they’re reading submissions from underrepresented writers only; during February, they will accept submissions from all writers.
Deadline: 31 January 2024 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 6,000 words for fiction, up to 1,000 words for nonfiction; and up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for prose, $20 for poetry
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.
Deadline: 31 January 2024
Length: Up to 9,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
(And Flame Tree Publishing has extended the deadline for its three anthologies in the Myths, Gods & Immortals series; the themes are Odin, Anansi, and Medusa. They’ll pay $0.08/word for stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and will also accept reprints. The deadline is now 4th February 2024.)
Alpennia: Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast
This is a fiction podcast series on lesbian-relevant themes, and it is open for all writers. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Stories must be set in an actual historic culture–i.e., a specific time and place in history–and the plot and characters should be firmly rooted in that time and place. (No time-travel or past memories, please.) Stories may include fantastic elements that are appropriate to the historic setting. …Stories must be set before 1900. We’d love to see stories that reach beyond the popular settings of 19th century America and England unless you do something new and interesting in them. … Romance is optional, and romance stories should have some other significant plot element in addition to the romance.” They also say, “We will be publishing four stories. (If we get some really great flash fiction, there’s the possibility of doubling up if the total meets the word count limit.)”
Deadline: 31 January 2024
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Sci Phi Journal
This award-winning journal wants Campbellian hard science fiction, fictional nonfiction, and speculative philosophy, and have detailed guidelines for each. They also accept translations.
Deadline: 4 February 2023
Length: Up to 2,000 words
Pay: €0.03/word; €0.01/word for translations
Details here and here.
Toronto Journal
This journal publishes in print and sound. You can read about them here. They accept short stories from anywhere in the world, and non-fiction pieces about local history (Toronto, the GTA, or surrounding areas – see guidelines). They are reading now for their Summer issue.
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
The Threepenny Review
This respected quarterly journal is now open for submissions. They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and submissions for their ‘Table Talk’ column.
Deadline: 15 April 2024
Length: Up to 4,000 words for stories or memoirs, 1,200-2,500 for critical articles, up to 1,000 words for Table Talk, up to 100 lines for poems
Pay: $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
