These are avenues which accept short horror fiction, and all are open now for submissions. Some accept only horror, while others accept other fiction genres as well. A few also accept non-fiction and poetry. Many of them pay writers. Some calls are themed. Here they are, in no particular order.
Apex Magazine
This is a popular magazine of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and works published here have been nominated for/won major awards. They are open now for submissions, and they pay professional SFWA rates. Send stories of up to 7,500 words. Pay is $0.08/word, and an additional $0.01/word if the story is podcast. Details here.
Oscillate Wildly Press: The Asylum Diaries
This is an Australian press and they publish The Asylum Diaries magazine triennially. They want body horror fiction and poetry for The Asylum Diaries: Autopsy, and cosmic horror fiction for The Asylum Diaries: Akhram (for the latter, stories have to be structured on Lovecraft’s writing style – see guidelines). Stories should be up to 7,500 words, and pay AUD15. Submissions are generally open year-round. Details here.
Red Cape Publishing: A-Z of Horror
They are (and will be) reading for horror fiction anthologies. Until 30th September, they’re reading on the G is for Genie theme (“Think about wishes gone wrong, a disobedient genie, or even from the perspective of a disgruntled Djinn.”); and from 1st October to 15th November 2020, on the H is for Hell theme (“experiences of Hell, whether that be a literal interpretation of fire and brimstone or a hellish situation.”). See guidelines for other forthcoming themes. Stories have to be 4,000-8,000 words, and pay is £10. Details here.
The Dark Sire
This is an online literary journal for short fiction, poetry, and art. They want work by authors and artists who delve into the mystery, psychosis, suspense, and looming darkness of the fantasy, gothic, horror, and psychological realms. Suitable subject matter may include, but is not limited to, vampires, monsters, old castles, dragons, magic, mental illness, hell, disease, or decay of society. For horror their guidelines say, “Blood, violence, and adult language is permitted, as is monsters, devils, angels, and killers. Slasher friendly. Influence includes Shelley and King.” For psychological work their guidelines say, “Special intetest in psychological horror tales with deep, inner character development. Influence includes Dostoevsky.” Read their guidelines carefully – they require both, an online form submission and an emailed query letter. Details here and here.
Black Poppy Review
This literary arts journal publishes flash fiction, of up to 750 words. They also publish mini-chapbooks (closed now) and poetry; work “of a darker nature. All is not as it seems at Black Poppy. … Find the key. Unlock the creaky gate on rusted hinges. Explore the dilapidated, mossy grounds. Discover hidden paths and nooks which lead to words that linger and haunt–poems of abandonment, discovery, enchantment, flora & fauna, ghosts, isolation, memories, nature, weathering, wonder, and the otherwise forgotten.” They are partial to poems about ancient gardens, abandoned manors, and dark forests. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. Details here.
Dread Imaginings
This is a new online fiction magazine. The editor wants stories of up to 4,000 words “that present your protagonist’s encounter with the horrific, disturbing, uncanny, weird, macabre, and/or grotesque.” Also, creature-features are welcome, but your own monsters will probably be an easier sell than vampires, zombies, werewolves, et. al. See guidelines for the kind of work the editor is looking for. Pay is $0.01/word. Details here.
96th of October
This is a new quarterly magazine (their first issue was in Summer 2020) and they read horror, as well as science fiction and fantasy. They also accept poetry and artwork. Fiction should be 1,000-10,000 words. Details here.
The Arcanist
This magazine publishes flash fiction — science fiction and fantasy only (and their sub-genres, including horror), and essays. They love humorous works, horrifying works, and timely works. They do not want excessive gore (also see other hard sells and what they do not want). Stories should be up to 1,000 words, and pay is $50 for fiction. Details here.
War Monkey Publications: From the Yonder Volume 2
This is a horror, short story collection of regional legends and tall tales from around the world. Stories (1,000-7,500 words) must be based upon a regional/cultural legend or tall tale from any location or culture in the world. “Regional” can be a specific place (Loch Ness) or a larger region (Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest). Inclusion of elements of other genres is welcome, so long as, overall, the story is an horror story. Ghosts, hauntings, alien abductions, monsters, demons, spirits, witches, etc, all are acceptable, as long as the subject is based on an actual legend or tall tale. They are reading submissions until 15 October 2020. Details here.
Perpetual Motion Publishing Newsletter
They want horror flash fiction to publish in their newsletter. Accepted pieces will also be published in a future issue of Dark Moon Digest. Fiction reminiscent of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, Tales from the Crypt, and Tales from the Darkside. Their guidelines say, “We want stories with complex characters and ideas spun in ways nobody’s ever conceived. Make our brains hurt. Make our hearts explode with love and terror. Make us fear.” Stories should be up to 1,500 words, and pay $25. Details here.
Hypnos Magazine
This is a magazine of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They are looking for original, thought-provoking weird fiction, and they prefer longer, more complex work to flash fiction. Their guidelines also say, “we do not automatically reject submissions because of violent, obscene, or otherwise offensive content. We are not, by any means, seeking such works, but we do not reject submissions simply because some readers might, theoretically, find them upsetting.” They read work of up to 10,000 words, and pay $0.01/word. They read submissions year round. Details here.
Corpus Press: In Darkness, Delight – Fear the Future
For this anthology their guidelines say, “We seek truly terrifying stories that deal with futuristic themes, set in the near future or far. Tales can be Earth-based or extraterrestrial, perhaps featuring technological or social upheavals that have frightful implications for individuals or society at large; as examples, the ongoing erosion of privacy and enduring nature of online activity, artificial human enhancement via DNA manipulation or implants, impact of emerging technologies on developing children, and so on. … Post-apocalyptic stories will not be accepted. Rather, we desire fiction that occurs during periods preceding any total collapse, be they stable or unstable times. The horrors that await us in utopian futures may be far more chilling and fascinating than those endemic to dystopias, and therein lies our primary interest.” They prefer stories of 2,500-4,500 words, but will accept up to 7,500 words. Pay is $0.03/word, capped at $150. The deadline is 15 November 2020. Details here.
Black Hare Press: Various anthologies
They are publishing various anthologies with different deadlines, and some of these accept horror. The themes include Play (horror toys), and Haunt. See guidelines for further information. Details here.
Sliced Up Press: Slashertorte – An Anthology of Cake Horror
They want short stories involving cake for their debut horror anthology. “Delicious as cake might be, we want you to bring out the darker side of baked goods and give us something scary, disturbing or just plain wrong”, according to their guidelines. Stories should be up to 2,000 words, and pay is $0.01/word. The deadline is 1 November 2020, or until filled. Details here.
Menacing Hedge
This quarterly magazine publishes short stories, poetry and art that gives them a “strange tingly rushing feeling.” Their guidelines say, “Genres that tickle our fancy are horror, slipstream, magical realism, and science fiction, with styles that lean toward humorous, absurdism, experimental, literary, bizarro, quirky and surreal.” See guidelines for editors’ preferences, and the kind of work they do not want. Details here.
LOM Media: Nightmares & Phantasms Podcast
This is a podcast of scary stories and horrifying true tales. Stories should be 1,000-6,000 words. Payment is $5. Details here.
The NoSleep Podcast
They want horror stories for their podcast, written from a first-person perspective. Stories should provide good audio cues and make good use of dialogue. They would like to see more script submissions – formats written as an audio drama starring two or more characters, with more being preferred. Dramas should ideally last 20-40 minutes. Their flash fiction submissions are closed right now, but the other categories are open. Short fiction should be 1,200-2,500 words, and regular submissions, at least 2,500 words. Pay is $100 for short fiction, and $125 for regular submissions.
Details here.
The Wicked Library
This is a horror anthology podcast. They want horror fiction of 3,500-5,000 words, and they’re accepting submissions for Season 10 now. Their guidelines say, “We really enjoy first person stories, and we are interested in seeing more stories in “radio-play” scrip format, but we love traditional short story tales too. Stories should focus on character and creating a feeling of fear and unease.. … We do feature a large variety of horror from traditional ghost stories to modern horror and a lot of things in between.” Details here.
The Dark Magazine
They publish horror and dark fantasy, though not graphic, violent horror. The editors ask writers to try them with fiction that falls out of regular categories and welcome experimental works. They also accept some reprints. Stories should be 2,000-6,000 words, and pay is $0.06/word. Details here.
Sci-Fi Lampoon
They publish fantasy, sci-fi, and horror themed humor. They want flash and short fiction (up to 7,500 words), as well as high-res art, lampoon classifieds and ads – “Humor. Satire. Spoof. It can be a humorous take on space operas, a satire of apocalyptic disasters, a spoof of heroic fantasies, fake ads & letters to the editor or a love advice column for human/alien couples.” Details here.
Year’s Best Hardcore Horror
This is a reprint market. They want hardcore horror stories that were published in 2020. Stories should be up to 6,000 words. Pay is $0.01/word, capped at $60, and the deadline is 31 December 2020. Details here.
Coffin Bell
This quarterly magazine publishes dark literature – literary horror. They publish fiction (up to 7,500 words), poetry, creative non-fiction, essays, short works of criticism, and artwork. They read year-round. Details here.
SBI Press: The Book of Nightmares – A Gothic Anthology for Kids
This is an anthology for writers and artists aged up to 12 years. Their guidelines say, “This is your chance to tell the world about that creepy dream you keep having, or the scariest thing that haunted your nights when you were younger. Express yourself. Be you. No matter how weird, or silly, or scary that may be.” The text should be 250-1,000 words, but this is a flexible guideline. There is no deadline mentioned. Details here. (Also see guidelines for art samples, scripts, and completed graphic novels/comics for SBI Press.)
Cemetery Gates Media: Five themes
They are looking for 500-1,000 word horror flash fiction for a “pocket-sized” anthology, and the theme of the anthology is horror subgenre medley. Writers can choose a theme to write and submit a story for: Cemetery Chillers, Spook Houses, Supernatural Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods. Writers can submit one story for each theme, of 500 to 1,000 words. The deadline is 26 December 2020, or until filled. Pay is $0.08/word. Details here.
Tales from the Moonlit Path: Halloween
This is a magazine of dark, eerie, speculative stories. They also publish poetry and non-fiction. Horror is not a necessary element, although fiction should contain some aspect of the weak, frail, changeable human condition. They’re reading on the Halloween theme, and the deadline for is 8 October 2020. Stories should be up to 2,000 words, and pay $10. Details here.
MetaStellar
This is a new magazine and they are accepting submissions of fantasy, horror, and science fiction of up to 7,500 words. They also accept fiction reprints, as well as reviews and essays, though it is unclear whether they pay for these. Pay is $0.08/word for original fiction. Details here.
Author Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.
