March, 2021 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: March, 2021
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Fantasy Magazine
https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/fantasy/guidelines
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–7,500 words (preferred less than 5,000)
Deadline: open the first week of every month (1st–7th)
Reprints?: No
Response: within 3 months
Description: Original fantasy and dark fantasy stories (including horror).


Classic Monsters Unleashed anthology (Crystal Lake Publishing)
https://www.crystallakepub.com/authorcentral/
Payment: 7+ cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–5,000 words
Deadline: Open between April 8–May 30, 2021
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Kickstarter-funded anthology (nearly $38,000!!) of dark, scary stories featuring a classic monster or monsters (preferably pre-1960 horror movies).


Orion’s Belt (online magazine)
https://www.orions-belt.net/submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,200 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: generally within one week
Description: Bold, experimental literary science fiction and fantasy stories that blur the line between “genre” fiction and literary fiction.


Humans Are the Problem anthology (Weird Little Worlds)
https://weirdlittleworlds.com/submissions/
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–3,500 words
Deadline: Open between April 15–May 15, 2021
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: PG-13 Speculative fiction,  fantasy, horror, and all associated sub-genres, themed to monsters that must adapt to the 21^st century.


Strange Horizons
http://strangehorizons.com/submit/fiction-submission-guidelines/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 10,000 words (under 5,000 preferred)
Deadline: Open Monday and Tuesday only of every week
Reprints?: No
Response: 40 days
Description: Imaginative, good speculative fiction, broadly defined (not pure horror), particularly from diverse perspectives; Unusual yet readable styles and inventive structures and narratives.


ESCAPE ARTISTS PodCasts (4 separate markets; different editors, similar guidelines)

All:
Payment: 8 cents a word/ original; $100 flat rate for reprints
Story Length: 1,500–6,000 words (preferred 4,500 words or less)
Deadline: Intermittent (each market opens as needs)
Reprints?: Yes
Response: Up to three months

1. PodCastle (Fantasy Fiction Podcast)
http://podcastle.org/guidelines/
Description: Publishes in both text and audio. Looking for fantasy stories. We’re open to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and everything in between.

2. Cast of Wonders (Y.A. Fantasy Fiction Podcast)
http://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/schedule
Description: Stories that evoke a sense of wonder and have something unreal about them. We aim for a 12-17 age range: that means sophisticated, non-condescending stories with wide appeal, and without explicit sex, violence or pervasive obscene language. Think Harry Potter or The Hunger Games.

3. Escape Pod (Science Fiction Podcast)
http://escapepod.org/guidelines/short-fiction
Description: Our mandate is fun. We are fairly flexible on what counts as “science” (as we’ll delve into superheroes or steampunk on occasion) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre, but we are not looking for fantasy, magical realism, or more than a tinge of horror. If your story isn’t centered on science, technology, future projections, alternate history, and how any or all of these things intersect with people, we’re probably not the right market for it.

4. Pseudopod (Horror Fiction Podcast)
http://pseudopod.org/submissions
Description: Horror: dark, weird fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as vulgar shock-value pulp fiction; strong pacing, well-defined characters, engaging dialogue, and clear action.


***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick of the Month”

LampLight Magazine
http://lamplightmagazine.com/submissions/
Payment: 3 cents a word (max U.S. $150); reprints pay at 1 cent/word
Story Length: up to 7,000 words
Deadline: May 15, 2021
Reprints?: Yes
Response: up to 6 months
Description: Dark fiction in the vein of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits (literary, but creepy, weird, and/or unsettling).


Translunar Travelers Lounge
https://translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Deadline: April 15, 2021
Reprints?: No
Response: 60 days after the submission period has closed
Description: Stories that are fun and have a speculative element to them. 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.