These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; they are a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all of them are open through the month.
Uncanny
This science fiction and fantasy magazine is open for a week in May for short fiction submissions, and for a fortnight for novella submissions. “We want intricate, experimental stories … with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs.”
Deadline: 7 May for short fiction, 15 May 2023 for novellas
Length: 750-10,000 words for short fiction, 17,500-40,000 words for novellas
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here and here.
Old Pal
They accept poetry, fiction, criticism, excerpts, audio, mixed media, and various mediums of art.
Deadline: 20 May 2023
Length: up to 10 pages of poetry, up to 15 pages of prose
Pay: $50
Details here.
Escape Pod
This is the science fiction online magazine and podcast. “We are fairly flexible on what counts as science (superheroes! steampunk! space opera! time travel!) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre. We want stories that center science, technology, future projections, and/or alternate history, and how any or all of these things impact individuals and society.
Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hopepunk and optimism rather than grimdark and gloom.” They have extensive guidelines. They also accept reprints. Escape Pod is from the Escape Artists suite of magazines (see links on the top of the page for their other magazines, and see individual schedules for open and forthcoming submission periods).
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: 1,500-6,000 words for short fiction, longer for reprints
Pay: $0.08/word for original stories, $100 for reprints
Details here (guidelines overview), here (detailed guidelines), here (submission portal), and here (schedule).
Reader Beware
They are reading submissions for their third issue. Their guidelines say, “we want to see pulp horror of all kinds – think Friday the Thirteenth, Psycho Goreman, and Glorious. Think Junji Ito, Grady Hendrix, and Eric LaRocca. We want your creepy gorefests! Don’t be afraid to get explicit with it, just don’t send us anything too mean-spirited. Gore is great, peril and torment are great–continuing the horror tradition of fetishistically brutalizing women is not.” They also accept poetry and comics.
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 3 pages for poetry
Pay: $0.01/word for fiction, $0.05/line for poetry, $5/page for comics
Details here.
Contemporary Verse 2
This is a quarterly literary journal that publishes poetry and critical writing about poetry, including interviews, articles, essays, and reviews.
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: Varies
Pay: $30 per poem, $40-150 for prose
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
