These markets are open now, or will open submissions for brief periods in September 2020; some are award-winning magazines, and all publish fiction. A few also accept other genres, like nonfiction and poetry. They pay writers, and have free submissions, or have some option for fee-free submissions.
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
This speculative fiction magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. They publish science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form; see guidelines for the hard sells, and the kind of stories they won’t accept. They also accept reprints of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They now open their submissions once a month, for the first two days every month (EST).
Reading period: 1-2 September 2020
Length: Anywhere from 1,000 words and up for fiction (shorter works favored); unspecified for others
Pay: $0.06/word for fiction, $0.02-0.06/word for nonfiction, $1/line for poetry up to 40 lines (lower for longer poems)
Details here.
Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine
This fairy tale themed magazine publishes one story and two nonfiction pieces every month. The theme for fiction for the entire year is Angels. The nonfiction can be on any fairy tale related theme, and creative nonfiction is welcome. Fiction guidelines say, “Angels may figure big or small in your story, and other otherworldly figures like fairies may be substituted, but, overall, the entire fiction year will feature winged entities, with angels being preferred, but not absolutely essential. So don’t send me a story without an otherworldly winged entity in it.” Also, the essence of classic fairy tales should be maintained in stories. Writers can retell a classical tale, or write an entirely new fairy tale from scratch. Happy endings are preferred, but not essential. No sci-fi, dystopian, erotica, high fantasy, excessive world building, time-travel, futuristic, space travel, western, love triangles, or children’s stories. For nonfiction, writers can explore any aspect of fairy tale culture. Scattering several links to outside sources throughout the essay is a good idea. Submission windows are scheduled to open for 72 hours at the beginning of every month (EST) until November 2020.
Reading period: 1-3 September (for October 2020)
Length: 1,200-2,500 words for fiction; 900-1,200 words for nonfiction
Pay: $100 for fiction; $50 for nonfiction
Details here.
Cossmass Infinities
This magazine of science fiction and fantasy is open during the first week of each month, alternating between under-represented and general submissions. During the first week of September they are open for Black, Asian, Latin, LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented authors; and they will be open for general submissions in the first week of October.
Reading period: 1-7 September 2020 for underrepresented authors
Length: 2,000-10,000 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.
Scum
This Australian magazine is interested in publishing feminist-friendly fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. They accept work from 1st to 7th of every month.
Reading period: 1-7 September 2020
Length: Up to 2,000 words for prose, up to 50 lines for poetry (max 3 poems)
Pay: AUD60
Details here.
Into the Void
This relatively new literary magazine publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Apart from cash payment, they also give a year’s subscription to the magazine. They have four yearly reading periods. They are open now, but for tip-jar submissions only; their fee-free submission slots will reopen on 1 September, and will stay open until the Submittable limit is reached, after which tip jar submissions will resume for the rest of the reading period. Fee-free submissions fill up quickly.
Deadline: 7 September 2020 (fee-free submissions will resume on 1 September)
Length: 750-5,000 words for short fiction, up to 3 pieces of up to 750 words each for flash fiction, up to 4 poems of up to 60 lines each, creative nonfiction of up to 5,000 words
Pay: $10 per poem or flash fiction piece or visual art; $20 for long-form prose (Canadian)
Details here.
Uncanny Magazine
This speculative fiction magazine is open now for fiction submissions (they are not accepting poetry in this window). They also encourage Black writers to send essay pitches.
Deadline: 9 September 2020
Length: 750-6,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.10/word for fiction; $75 for essays
Details here.
Nightmare Magazine
This horror and dark fantasy magazine announced on Twitter that they would be open for two brief submission periods during September; one submission period is for BIPOC writers only, and the other is for general submissions. They want work for ‘The Horror Lab’ (experimental horror – poetry, flash fiction, creative nonfiction), as well as short fiction. They also accept pitches for ‘The H Word’ (horror essays).
Reading periods: 7-13 September for BIPOC authors; 14-20 September for general submissions
Length: 1,500-7,500 words for short fiction, less than 1,000 words for Horror Lab submissions
Pay: $0.08/word for prose, $40 per poem, $75 for H Word essays
Details here (guidelines) and here (submission portal).
Apex Magazine
This popular magazine of science fiction, fantasy, and horror has returned, after their successful Kickstarter in July 2020. They haven’t specified how long they will remain open for submissions, but they are open now.
Deadline: Unspecified
Length: Up to 7,500 words; additional $0.01/word if the story is podcast
Pay: $0.08/word
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.
