24 Literary Magazines Open NOW for Poetry, Short Fiction, CNF, Speculative Fiction, Horror, and more

Here are 24 publications that are open for submissions now (no deadlines). All are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. Quite a few accept reprints.

You can find also upcoming calls for submissions with deadlines on my page: Calls for Submissions. Get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically. (I only post paying markets.)

Don't forget to check out Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

(Image: NDLA)

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Radon. Genre: Short stories and poetry containing elements of anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, and/or science fiction. Payment: 1 cent per word for original work, half a cent per word for reprints.

The Hungur Chronicles. Genre: Horror. Vampires or creatures with vampiric themes. Payment: The pay for original stories is $25.00; for reprints, $12.00. Payment for poems is $5. The pay for illustrations is $8.00. The payment for articles is $10. The pay for cover art is $25.00.

The Were-Traveler: Curst & Twysted Tarot. Genre: Short fiction. Choose an image you would like to write a story about. Payment: $10 for flash, $15 for short stories. (Open until filled.)

Fantasy Magazine. Genre: Fantasy short stories, flash fiction, poetry. Payment: 8 cents per word; $40 per poem. *Open to BIPOC authors.

Through the Gate: Fantastical poetry "We are looking for fantastical poetry of literary and emotional depth from a diversity of voices and perspectives. Our definition of fantastical is quite fluid, encompassing fantasy, magic realism, myth, folklore, surrealism and slipstream. We desire poetry that is atypically beautiful, unconventionally imaginative, and boundary-crossing. We are not interested in work that is strictly science fiction or mainstream, but poetry that blurs the lines between such genres and the fantastical is welcome." Length: Up to three poems. Payment: $20 per poem. Deadline: Open now.

Three-lobed Burning Eye. "Original speculative fiction: horror, fantasy, and science fiction. We're looking for short stories from across the big classifications and those shadowy places between: magical realism, fantastique, slipstream, interstitial, and the Weird. We will consider suspense or western, though we prefer it contain some speculative element. We like voices that are full of feeling, from literary to pulpy, with styles unique and flowing, but not too experimental. All labels aside, we want tales that expand genre, that value imagination in character, narrative, and plot. We want to see something new and different." Length: Short fiction 1000–7000 words, Flash fiction 500–1000 words, (2000–5000 preferred). Payment: $100 for short fiction, $30 for flash fiction; + 1 print annual. Deadline: Open now.

Beechwood Review publishes minimalist writing and art. "We’re partial to themes of time, nature, humanity, philosophy, chaos, reason, the ridiculous, and the whimsical. We don’t like work that drones on about fancy table fruit. Although good fruit poems have their place." Payment: $5 per poem, 1 cent/word for fiction and nonfiction, $5 for art.

The Dark The Dark publishes dark fantasy and horror. "Don’t be afraid to experiment or to deviate from the ordinary; be different—try us with fiction that may fall out of “regular” categories. However, it is also important to understand that despite the name, The Dark is not a market for graphic, violent horror." Length: 2,000 – 6,000 words. Payment: 6 cents/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words on publication for first world rights; and 1 cent/word for reprint fiction up to 6,000 words on publication for nonexclusive reprint rights. Deadline: Open now.

Madness Heart Trigger Warning Anthology. Genre: "The grossest, most violent, most genuinely upsetting stories in your arsenal." Theme: Curses. The minimum word count is 1500. Payment: $10. Opens in February 2023.

Et Sequitur. "We are open to all genres, from literary to speculative and everything in between. Our only requirement is that your submission in some way connect with the latest Et Sequitur story, be that in character (minor, major, protagonist, antagonist), setting (neighborhood, world, workplace, house -- even a certain object could work, if it's featured prominently), or theme. Be creative! Continue the story, tell a side-character's story, take the theme and twist it in a new way. In the submission form, you'll be asked to identify which element of the previous story you've chosen to incorporate in your own." Submissions for the next issue will open once the previous issue is published (expected to be the first day of every-other month). They will temporarily close when a story has been chosen for the next issue. Payment: $25.

Assemble Artifacts is looking for stories of wonder and suspense. "We prefer stories of at least 5,000 words, but are open to longer and shorter works. Please include a one to three sentence pitch of your story, and an author bio with your submission. We are open to writers of all levels of experience." Payment: 8-10 cents per word for short fiction.

Jay Henge: The Back Forty. Genre: Speculative fiction. "In The Back Forty, we are looking for your stories that explore new, lawless frontiers, backwater towns, self-appointed sheriffs, lonesome explorers, bounty hunters, and other Wild West in Outer Space kinds of themes." Payment: $5 USD per 1000 words. Length: Up to 15k words. Open until filled.

Jay Henge: Sunshine Superhighway. Genre: Speculative fiction. "Solarpunk, cyberpunk, other planets, alternate worlds that might be nearly lost through our own hubris; futuristic fantasy and speculative-fiction stories of all kinds that are hopeful and leave us with the idea that despite the doom and gloom in the universe, things can possibly work out if we strive to make life better, even if in a small way." Payment: $5 USD per 1000 words. Length: Up to 15k words. Open until filled.

Armoured Fox Press: Indecent Exposure. Genre: Fiction. “The story MUST contain erotic content centered around public locations. This can be beaches, public parks, office buildings… wherever you might attract an audience of shocked passersby doing things you shouldn’t be doing in public... and some element must be furry (anthropomorphic animals). Length: 5,00-20,000 words, Payment: 1/2 cent/word. Deadline: Open until filled.

Zooscape. Genre: Short stories. All stories must be furry. "An anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks.  We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars." Payment: 8 cents/word for original fiction. $20 for reprints. Length: Original stories up to 5,000 words. Reprints up to 10,000 words.

Bards and Sages Quarterly. Genre: All speculative genres (horror, fantasy, science fiction, slipstream, steampunk, magical realism, etc) up to 5,000 words in length. Payment: $30 for original fiction; $15 for reprints.

Goatshed Press. Genre: Short stories, flash fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. Payment: £60 for stories and essays (over 1000 words) and £25 for poems and flash fiction. They are also looking to publish longer form work in 2023, including novels, novellas, graphic novels, non fiction books and short story collections. They are happy to consider any genre except children’s fiction. 

Backyard Earth is a "round the world" series of books. The idea is that they will make five books - one for each continent (more or less). Each book will contain one story for every country on that continent.  Submissions will stay open until they have a full complement. Short fiction only. Payment: $25.

Mirror Dance. Genre: Fantasy short stories and poetry. Payment: $5. See themes.

Starry Eyed Press: 224-Verse and Galactic Treks. Genre: Space opera, 2,000 words to novel length. Payment: Royalty split. Read guidelines here.

Psychopomp. Genre: Nonfiction essays on art, short fiction, novels, movies, music, fashion, culture, entertainment, science, and more, that fall under the umbrella of goth, death, funerary, grief, loss, alternative, otherworldly themes. Payment: $50.

The International Human Rights Festival (IHRAF). Genre: Poem, short story, or essay (2500 words or less) Payment: $50.

Android Press is a small press that publishes science fiction, fantasy, and the various -punk subgenres. "We love stories that are full of hope and optimism. We also love stories that hold up a mirror to our society and force us reexamine our past and our values in order to move forward and build a better future." Payment: Royalties.