September, 2022 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For September, 2022
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Crack in the Code: Cybernated Stories of Rebellion
https://mochamemoirspress.com/write-for-us/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,500 words
Deadline: September 30, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: November 30, 2022
Description: Science fiction and fantasy stories where the androids, robots, and/or cyborgs have been naughty, going off programming, cracking their internal code, etc. Give us dramatic stories, mischievous stories, stories that stun, but not offend us… where the artificial lives become alive and share their stories.

Obsolescence: A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology (Shortwave Media)
https://obsolescencebook.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–5,000 words
Deadline: September 16, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: Mid-November, 2022
Description: Submissions focused on horrifying or fantastical interactions with technology. How you incorporate the theme in your story is up to you. We want to stress the definition of “technology” ranges from modern smartphones and smart house IOT devices, back to some of humanity’s earliest inventions, like the wheel or the written word itself.


Merciless Mermaids: Tails from the Deep (ed. by Edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Allyson Longueira)
https://wordfirewestern.moksha.io/publication/merciless-mermaids-tails-from-the-deep/guidelines
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: up to 5,000 words
Open: August 31, 2022–October 7, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: December, 2022
Description: Stories about malevolent and merciless merfolk of all kinds. Give us your mermaids who fought for the wrong reasons, made tough by their circumstances or by their own choices. Show us their schemes and villainous wiles, the fairytales that end in blood. Or laughter. Tempt us with their twisted workings across time and space, colors and creeds.


Aniko Magazine (Issue 4)
https://www.anikopress.com/submit
Payment: $125 AUD flat
Story Length: up to 1,500 words (or 50 lines of poetry)
Deadline: September 15, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: The theme of Issue 4 is “Double.” Think doppelgängers, body doubles, déjà vu. What does it mean to live a double life? Explore double crosses, double standards or double-edged swords. Or name a more iconic duo - we’ll wait. Have us seeing double! To include poetry, flash fiction, short stories and creative nonfiction.


Tiny Tales (Podcast)
https://www.tinytalespodcast.com/submissions
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 500–1,200 words
Deadline: September 7, 2022
Reprints?: Yes, as long as not previously published in audio form
Response: unknown
Description: Fantastic, bizarre, and enthralling fiction stories to turn into podcast episodes.


Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
https://cosmicrootsandeldritchshores.com/submissions/
Payment: 8 cents/ word original; 2 cents/ word reprint (range for non-fiction)
Story Length: 1,000–40,000 words (focus on shorter form)
Deadline: Opens the 1^st and 2^nd day only of each month.
Reprints?: Yes
Response: abt. 2 months
Description: Well written original stories in science fiction, fantasy, myth, fairy tales, and eldritch; in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. We care about character, plot, ideas, and storytelling ability. We accept both serious and humorous work (no horror). Also interested in non-fiction.



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

Pressfuls
https://pressfuls.com/about
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–3,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: 6 weeks
Description: Original horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Crime/Mystery short stories.


Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (Small Beers Press)
https://smallbeerpress.com/about/submission-guidelines/
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: up to 6,000 words
Deadline: ongoing/ intermittent
Reprints?: No
Response: within 6 months
Description: NOTE: PAPER SUBMISSIONS ONLY (no email): Non-themed literary speculative fiction (no gore, sword and sorcery, or erotica), as well as non-fiction, poetry, and black and white art.

August, 2022 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: August, 2022

New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes

At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Apparition Lit
https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–5,000 words
Deadline: August 15-31, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: by the 15th day of the following month after submissions close
Description: Speculative fiction that meet our quarterly theme. Speculative fiction is weird, almost unclassifiable. It’s fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and literary. Send us stories with enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth. We’re looking for proactive characters and beautiful language, all wrapped up in a complete story. Month of August Theme = NOSTALGIA.


Assemble Artifacts Magazine (Assemble Media)
https://www.assemblemedia.com/artifacts
Payment: 8–10 cents a word
Story Length: “at least” 5,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Responses only for acceptance. Assume rejection if no response after 90 days.
Description: Stories of wonder and suspense that also reflect contemporary issues and incite meaningful conversation. (*NOTE: Submitters, double-check the rights that are being sold with work).


Diabolical Plots ezine
https://www.diabolicalplots.com/guidelines/
Payment: 10 cents a word
Story Length: 3,500 or less
Deadline: Open between July 24–August 1, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response Time: One month after end of submission window
Description: telepathy stories of every shape and style. Stories might be as intimate as mind-readers in love, forever seeing themselves through their lover’s eyes; or as harrowing as a telepath on the battlefield, drowned in every iota of pain, fear and grief felt for miles. They might be as bizarre as telepathy tourism from alien planets, all cognitive connoisseurs who find humans to have a particularly piquant mindset; or as familiar as a job interview, which has simply gained a new mental level to spar upon.


Dracula Beyond Stoker: Issue 2: Renfield
https://www.dbspress.com/submissions
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,500–5,000 words
Deadline: January 15, 2023
Reprints?: No
Response: Unknown, but reported as generally between 30 and 60 days.
Description: The best new fiction based on Stoker’s characters, locations, and themes. This issue: Give us your best Renfield story. Everybody’s favorite flyman is such a rich character, yet we know so little about him. Who do you think he is?


Dark Recesses Magazine
http://darkrecessespress.com/submissions/
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 500–5,000 words
Deadline: Revolving submission periods. Current widow is through August 15.
Reprints?: No
Response: Up to 12 weeks
Description: Non-themed horror/dark fiction pieces.


Borderlands, Volume 8 anthology
WEBSITE (No mention of Submissions): https://www.borderlandspress.com/
Social Media Submissions Post): https://www.facebook.com/tom.monteleone.1/posts/pfbid02UJCkwFcxiubiDxpnbGqT5hoUFchLJR4biSQ4zV3s3zgDUBw7aRhvCCarZwEnyo8el
Payment: 5–7 cents a word
Story Length: No limit. (Suggested 2,000–5,000 words)
Deadline: No deadline. “Until Filled”
Reprints?: No
Response: Up to 3 months
Description: Original, weird/ horror fiction. NOTE: Submissions are to be postal mailed in only; no email.



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

Dead & Bloated: Extreme Horror Anthology (edited by K. Trap Jones)
https://theevilcookie.com/pages/submissions
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: up to 3,000 words
Deadline: August 1–October 1, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: generally within 30 days
Description: Short stories filled with gore, splatter, and extreme horror: Water, Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk, Dark Humor.


Bourbon Penn (magazine)
https://www.bourbonpenn.com/submissions
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–7,500 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: up to 3 months
Description: Highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.

Nomination to the 2022 World Fantasy Awards!!

This week I learned that I was nominated to the 2022 World Fantasy Awards!!! To say I am insanely thrilled and honored for this recognition would be an understatement. I have long followed and admired the World Fantasy Awards and recipients, and it’s the realization of a dream to be named among such highly-esteemed peers. I’ve been named a finalist in the category of anthology for my book Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World, published last November by Dark Moon Books.

Thank you to all contributors who were a part of this creative journey. There were 63 authors involved, 2 artists, and, of course, my editing counterpart, Professor Charlatan Bardot (who also wishes to extend his gratitude).

Thank you also to the judges, readers, reviewers, and other supporters!

And congratulations also to many other friends and authors I admire who are on this year’s ballot, such as Jeffrey Ford, Eugen Bacon, Ellen Datlow, Paula Guran, Usman Mlk, Angela Slatter, Liz Hand, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and so many others!

And this coming on the back of a 2021 Bram Stoker Award in category of anthology, and I can safely say this book is still going strong! I'm so proud of it!

More here: https://locusmag.com/2022/07/2022-world-fantasy-awards-finalists/

July, 2022 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

 HWA L.A.: July, 2022

New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes

At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Cosmic Horror Monthly
https://www.cosmichorrormonthly.com/submissions/
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–6,000 words (preference of 3,000–5,000)
Deadline: Open from July 1–July 7, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, Weird stories, etc. Lovecraftian themes and mythos works are welcomed but try to avoid Lovecraft pastiche and styles mimicking that of his writer circle from the early 20th century; we are strongly favoring stories with a contemporary narrative style.


Seize The Press Magazine
https://www.seizethepress.com/submissions/
Payment: British 6 pence a word (abt. 8 cents a word US)
Story Length: up to 2,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: 30 days
Description: Dark speculative fiction and anticapitalist sci-fi, fantasy and horror pop culture analysis. Neon, dragons and gore. Bleak science fiction, dark fantasy and horror (No moralizing, No happy endings).


Alternate History (anthology from Flame Tree Publishing)
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/alternate-history-call-for-submissions-0-0
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: July 11, 2022
Reprints?: Yes (paid at 6 cents a word)
Response: generally 3 months
Description: Every angle of alternate history from ancient worlds to distant futures, world wars, steampunk and more. What if the course of history had been changed by a different decision, a different victor, a different invention? Reimagine the world around us – some examples just to give you an idea: What if the Ancient Egyptians had conquered Rome? What if World War II had been won by the loser, not the victors? What if women had ruled the world for 4,000 years not men? The options are limitless for tales of true originality and with a vivid sense of realism...


Apex Magazine
http://www.apex-magazine.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,500 words
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: One month
Description: Exceptionally well-written Science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all its sub-genres.


Little Blue Marble
https://littlebluemarble.ca/submission-guidelines
Payment: 11 cents a word (Canadian; translates to about 8 cents/word)
Story Length: up to 2,000 words (reprints allowed up to 5,000 words at <1 cent/ word)
Deadline: Intermittent (currently set to close July 31, 2022)
Reprints?: No
Response: up to 12 weeks
Description: Speculative fiction that examines humanity’s possible futures living with anthropogenic climate change. We prefer fiction with a hopeful outlook, but the occasional dystopia might fit too.


Fantasy Magazine
https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/fantasy/guidelines
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: Up to 7,500 words (preferred less than 5,000)
Deadline: Open from July 1–July 7, 2022 (open to BIPOC authors year-round)
Reprints?: No
Response: within 3 months
Description: Exceptional original fantasy and dark fantasy stories (including horror).



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

Mythulu e-magazine
https://mythulu.submittable.com/submit
Payment: 4 cents a word (up to $75)
Story Length: 500–2,800 words
Deadline: October 1, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: 90 days
Description: “Utterly unique” stories that brilliantly demonstrate the specific storycraft skill we’re teaching in each issue. Concept and clarity are more important than prose.
CURRENT THEME: Submit co-authored stories in any genre. (Also looking for non-fiction commentary and experiences with co-created projects.)


34 Orchard (ed. by Kristi Petersen Schoonover)
https://34orchard.com/guidelines
Payment: $50 flat
Story Length: 1,000–5,000 words
Deadline: July 1, 2022–July 15, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: August 31, 2022
Description: Dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad.

June, 2022 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: June, 2022
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Shakespeare Unleashed (edited by James Aquilone)
https://www.jamesaquilone.com/submissions
Payment: 6 cents a word (or $35 flat for sonnet)
Story Length: 1,500–6,000 words
Deadline: July 22, 2022–August 31, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Horror stories based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, as well as horror sonnets: Dark and scary stories — no parodies or humor pieces. Stories can be set in time periods other than the Elizabethan era, and can be updated or reimagined or merely “based on.”


Dangerous Waters: Deadly Women of the Sea (Brigids Gate Press)
https://brigidsgatepress.com/submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word (or $50 flat for poem; $50 flat for drabble)
Story Length: 500–3,500 words (poetry to 350 words; drabbles of 100 words)
Deadline: June 30, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Horror or dark fantasy stories, poems, and drabbles about malevolent mermaids, sinister sirens, scary selkies, spirits, and other deadly and dangerous women of the sea. Stories including the ocean or sea are the focus of the anthology, but we will consider stories involving rivers as well.


Vastarien: A Literary Journal (Grimscribe Press)
https://vastarien-journal.com/submission-guidelines
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: Nonfiction 2,000–7,500 words; Fiction 750–6,000 words
Deadline: June 1, 2022–June 30, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: Two months
Description: Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re interested; OR: Original fiction or poetry or art inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes.


Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
https://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/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."


Baffling Magazine (published by Neon Hemlock)
https://www.bafflingmag.com/submissions
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: under 1,200 words (preference under 500 words)
Deadline: Opens June 1, 2022–to close unknown (presume June 15, 2022, per the previous year)
Reprints?: No
Response: up to 5 months
Description: Speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. We welcome weird, slipstream, and interstitial writing.


The Deadlands (ed. E. Catherine Tobler)
https://thedeadlands.com/guidelines/#fiction
Payment: 10 cents a word (1 cent for reprints)
Story Length: up to 5,000 words (preferably 3,000–4,000 words)
Deadline: ongoing or intermittent (currently open)
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown
Description: Speculative fiction stories about death, or what death may involve. EX: A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified; stories from a worldwide perspective, different cultures, different approaches to death.



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

Night Frights, a YA horror magazine (annual) (Published by Perpetual Motion Machine/ Dark Moon Digest)
https://perpetualpublishing.com/2022/05/21/now-open-for-submissions-night-frights-a-ya-horror-magazine/
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: up to 3,500 words
Deadline: August 1, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: After September 1, 2022
Description: Stories with complex characters and new ideas. Scare us. But also, inspire young readers into a lifelong obsession with the genre.


Mythic Magazine
https://www.mythicmag.com/p/submissions.html
Payment: 1 cent a word ($25 flat for reprint)
Story Length: 2,000–5,000 words
Deadline: June 1, 2022–June 30, 2022
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown (estimated 3 months)
Description: Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. All types and sub-genres, particularly views of the future and realms of the fantastic that don't necessarily involve quasi-medieval settings.

May, 2022 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: May, 2022
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

Literally Dead (Halloween Ghost) anthology, edited by Gaby Triana)
https://www.gabytriana.com/alienheadpresssubmissions
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words
Deadline: May 31, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Short stories of classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around Halloween. Bonus points if they’re about families, siblings, longtime pals, or pets. Just creepy and dark ghosts!


Space Fantasy Magazine (Theme: "Is There Anybody Out There?")
https://spacefantasymag.com/submission-guidelines/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,250 words
Deadline: May 30, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Space fantasy flash fiction—Give us your living planets, stardust-peddling witches, and quantum ghosts. We want stories that challenge our relationship with space—past, present, and future. Show us new mythologies and undiscovered gods. Show us what emerges from a black hole when its egg finally cracks. Show us the place where science becomes magic.


Hidden Villains: Arise (anthology by Inkd Pub)
https://inkdpub.com/submissions/
Payment: between 5 and 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,000 words
Opens From: June 1, 2022–August 31, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: old, imaginative fantasy, horror, and sci-fi sculpted to thrill and entertain readers with the bizarre or delve into the shadows; looking for engaging stories with well-developed characters and deep emotion with focus on the “rising” of a villain.


Campfire Macabre: Volume 2
https://cemeterygatesmedia.com/submissions/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 500–1,500 words
Opens From: June 1, 2022–August 15, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: Unknown. Assume rejection if no response after 90 days.
Description: Flash horror fiction. SEE PUBLISHER WEBSITE. There are 5 specific themes to write toward!


Fiends in the Furrows III: Final Harvest (Published by Nosetouch Press)
https://www.nosetouchpress.com/call/
Payment: 6 cents a word
Story Length: 3,500–7,000 words
Deadline: July 31, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Folk Horror from around the world; isolation, paranoia, depravity, loss of individuality, and rustic madness, etc.


Reckoning Vol. 7 (Theme of “Ocean”)
https://reckoning.press/submit
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 20,000 words
Deadline: September 22, 2022
Reprints?: Query first
Response: 1 to 4 months
Description: Creative writing about environmental justice. Diverse fiction stories (and poetry) including a speculative element: Searingly personal, visceral, idiosyncratic understanding of the world and the people in it as it has been, as it is, as it will be, as it could be, as a consequence of humanity’s relationship with the earth.



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

Madam President (anthology, published by B Cubed Press)
https://bcubedpress.moksha.io/publication/madam-president/guidelines
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: up to 7,500 words (with a preference below 5,000)
Deadline: June 30, 2022
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Alternate History and/or Speculative Fiction: An anthology about leadership. How did having to fight for staff of power affect how is wielded.  Not just from the women who fought these battles, but for the very people engaged, one side, or another who stood for or against those principles that  made it possible for the writing on the office door to say Madam President. Looking for: Good writing, imaginative scenarios, and a good bit of humor in stories.


The Common Tongue Magazine
https://www.commontonguezine.com/guidelines-submissions/
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 500–7,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Unknown
Description: Dark fantasy magazine aiming to bring cultural and integral voices to fantasy and diversify the genre. Primarily interested in Fantasy (esp. High Fantasy) with a dark theme.