New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)
The Phantom Pulse
https://www.thephantompulse.com/
Payment: 3 cents a word (reprints at 1 cent/word)
Story Length: up to 3,000 words (up
to 5,000 for reprints)
Deadline: Open between January 1 and
February 14, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: By March 31, 2026
Description: speculative fiction,
RE: the grey corners of humanity, dread that permeates the skin, and the
bizarre. Our pages are haunted by twisted longing, inevitable darkness, and
quiet obsession.
https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/nightmare/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–7,500 words (prefer
5,000 words or less)
Deadline: January 25–February
1, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: within 30 days
Description: Exceptional non-themed
horror.
Teeth (Published by Dreampunk Press)
https://www.dreampunkpress.com/blogs/news/call-for-anthology-submissions-ends-31-march-2026
Payment: $200 flat rate
Story Length: 3,000–3,500 words
Deadline: March 31, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: April, 2026
Description: Horror short stories
about Teeth. Tone of eerie, or creepy, or Gothic—NOT slasher or gory.
Strange Horizons
http://strangehorizons.com/submit/fiction-submission-guidelines/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: up to 10,000 words (under 5,000 preferred)
Deadline: Open 2 days only, between January 19 and January 21,
2026 (check specific times)
Reprints?: No
Response: Unknown. Previously at 40 days
Description: Imaginative, good speculative fiction, broadly defined,
particularly from diverse perspectives; Unusual yet readable styles and
inventive structures and narratives.
Summer in the City (Ruadán Books)
https://ruadanbooks.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: 3,000–7,500 words
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Dark, speculative short
stories that fit the theme of “Summer in the City”. i.e., an open and
far-ranging theme that must involve the setting of a city (pop. 700,000+) and
the season of Summer, and have a speculative fiction element.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SCKan8D75EUTe6zsZLMU4kUwcptSsb_Z50MjLgS7QYc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.7epn1k7z9zw3
Payment: $1,500 flat rate
Story Length: 1,500–5,000 words
Deadline: March 15, 2026
Reprints?: No
Response: April, 2026
Description: Original short fiction
that students want to read—stories that grab them from the first sentence and
refuse to let go. We are moving beyond standard "lesson texts" to
find vibrant storytelling that spans Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery,
Adventure, Love, and Contemporary Realistic Fiction.
(Note: Appears they ask for Permanent, Exclusive rights)
***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick of the Month”
https://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/roses-wildflowers-autumn-2026-submissions/
Payment: $20 flat rate
Story Length: unlisted. Assume up to
7,500.
Deadline: June 2026 (or, “until
full”)
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Alternate histories
with cats playing a major role… Asking this question: What changed because The
Cat told all? (Or didn’t.) Folk and Fairy tales re-imagined, Fantasy, Dark
Fantasy, Eerie tales, Cross-genre Noir, Climate Fiction, Science Fiction and
Space Opera, Adventure Tales, Humor, Cozy, Hope-, Solar -, Cyber -, Steam – and
Gaslight Punk … all are welcome.
https://www.justkeepupmagazine.com/submissions
Payment: $10 flat rate
Story Length: unlisted. Assume up to
7,500.
Deadline: Currently open with no end
date listed
Reprints?: No
Response: 3–4
months
Description: Short stories that are science fiction and/or
horror (preferably both) and can be of any length, although we tend to accept
shorter pieces. We also are looking for pieces that are more on the
experimental and weirder side of the horror/science fiction spectrum.
