HWA L.A.: For January, 2025
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)
Witch Craft: A New Collection of Folk Tales and Horror Stories
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/witch-craft-submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words
Deadline: January 19, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: by May 19, 2025
Description: We expect the stories
to deal with what it means to be ‘witch’, and the rediscovery and reclaiming of
that power, its links to nature – and the exploration of whether a witch is
drawn to 'good' or 'bad', and why. Stories should be in the horror and folk horror
veins, and we’d like to see as wide a range as possible – the history, stigma
and varying interpretations from around the world that feed into this concept
should yield some exciting results.
https://www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–7,500 words
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response Time: within two months
Description: Non-themed, original
speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, and science fiction.
Flash Fiction Online
https://ffo.submittable.com/submit
Payment: $100 flat
Story Length: 500 to 1,000 words
Deadline: Open from the 1st
to 21st of each month (or until reaching the cap of 1,000 submissions)
(only)
Reprints?: Yes (payment at 2 cents/ word)
Response: Within eight weeks
Description: A very short but complete story of flash fiction. Strong,
interesting characters.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: Up to 15,000 words
Deadline: None at present. Closes intermittently
Reprints?: No
Response: Two to seven weeks
Description: “Literary adventure fantasy”: stories with a
secondary-world setting and some traditional or classic fantasy feel, but
written with a literary approach. We want stories set in what Tolkien called a
“secondary world”: some other world that is different from our own primary
world in some way. It could be different in terms of zoology (non-human
creatures), ecology (climate), or physical laws (the presence of magic). It
could be set on Earth but an Earth different from our primary world in terms of
time (the historical past) or history (alternate history). It could have a
“pre-tech” level of technology, or steampunk technology, or magic as
technology, or anything else that’s not advanced or modern technology. However,
the setting should contain some element that is in some way fantastical.
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines/
Payment: 5-8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,500–8,000 words soft
range (additionally, ‘Minute Mysteries’ of as little as 250 words)
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Three months
Description: (No Horror, but Mystery and Crime) Every kind of mystery
short story: the psychological suspense tale, the deductive puzzle, the private
eye case—the gamut of crime and detection from the realistic (including the
policeman's lot and stories of police procedure) to the more imaginative
(including “locked rooms” and “impossible crimes”). We need hard-boiled stories
as well as “cozies.”
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”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xVEpj9Mg2JebvkDObUIeVYc9VC-vxlVyxrSn-pqGJ-M/edit?tab=t.0
Payment: 2 cents a word
Story Length: 2,500–5,000
words
Deadline: Open between January 1 and
March 1, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: by May 1, 2025
Description: Horror
stories relating to weddings: stories submitted to The Joining need not
concern only the event itself. They might take place at any time, so long as
nuptials are central to the narrative. Imagine it: proposals gone wrong,
literal bride-zillas, unsettling in-laws, bachelor parties that end in
bloodshed—and of course, trips to destination weddings held just north of Hell
itself…
https://scythianwolf.com/#open-calls
Payment: $75 flat
Story Length: 5,000–10,000
words
Deadline: Open between January 1 and
February 28, 2025
Reprints?: No
Response: by April 30, 2025
Description: Horror
stories that deal with science during the scientific revolution and must be
historically accurate as well aside from the speculative element(s) (Set in the
era of years between 1500–1700).
