These magazines accept fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are a mix of literary and genre outlets. Not all of them are open through the month.
Shortwave Publishing: Shortwave Magazine
They publish short horror, dark fantasy, and sci-fi fiction. There is no specific theme for this call. Their guidelines say, “If you browse the fiction section of our magazine, you will get a pretty good idea of what we like: psychological horror, creature features and slashers, quiet or cozy horror, sci-fi featuring retro tech, sci-fi set in the distant future, supernatural, and other weird dark fantasy.” Work sent outside the reading period will not be read.
Reading period: 9-15 September 2023
Length: 1,000-4,000 words (can submit up to 6,000 words, payment capped at 4,000 words)
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.
Shoreline of Infinity
They accept science fiction stories. They will open for a brief period in September.
Reading period: 21-24 September 2023
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: £20/1,000 words
Details here.
The Ex-Puritan
This Canadian magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, experimental/hybrid work, interviews, reviews, and poetry. They accept a limited number of fee-free submissions every month. (They also have fee-based submissions and contests.)
Deadline: 25 September 2023, or until filled, for the next issue; reads year-round
Length: Up to 10,000 words for fiction, up to 4 poems; various for nonfiction (see guidelines)
Pay: CAD200 per essay; CAD150 for fiction; CAD100 per interview or review; CAD35 per poem (or page, capped at CAD120); CAD50+ per experimental or hybrid work, at an increasing scale depending on the nature of the piece
Details here and here.
Split Lip Magazine
Split Lip Magazine is a voice-driven literary journal with a pop culture twist. They publish online monthly and in print annually – memoir, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and art, as well as interviews and reviews (for interviews and reviews, query first via webform – see guidelines). For memoir, they say, “Give us the dirty lowdown. We love memoir that shines a new light on the human condition. There are no limitations on subject matter.” Fee-free submissions for all writers are open during certain months, including September and November; these can close earlier by category, if their Submittable cap is reached and at the time of writing, fee-free general submissions for poetry were no longer available. Fee-free submissions for Black writers are open till mid-December.
Deadline: 30 September 2023, or until filled, for general submissions
Length: Up to 3,000 words for fiction; up to 2,000 words for memoir; one poem
Pay is $75 for web contributions, $5/page for print, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews for their web issues
Details here and here.
Event
This Canadian magazine accepts fee-free submissions of fiction and poetry. For fiction, they want “compelling characters, plots that surprise us, narratives that move us, stories that have something new to say.” For poetry, “We love poems that are lyrical without being overwrought, and are profound without being pretentious. We look for honesty of emotion, and images that arrest us.” They accept non-fiction mostly via a contest, for which there is a submission fee.
Deadline: 30 September 2023 for fiction and poetry
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 8 poems
Pay: $40/page for poetry and $35/page for fiction, up to a maximum of $500
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
