These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They’re a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all of them are open through the month.

Ghoulish Tales
They want fiction. “What we are after: short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.”
Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre. We want to have a perverted little smile across our face while reading. Make us slobber like idiots. Turn us into the Sickos.jpeg meme.” Also see guidelines for the kind of stories they do not want.
Deadline: 17 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.

Banshee
This is the literary magazine of Banshee Press. They accept fiction (including flash), nonfiction, and poetry. “Banshee welcomes submissions from both Irish and international writers of any background, including first-time writers. We welcome work from members of groups or communities typically under-represented within literature, whether or not the work addresses this.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose, up to 4 poems
Pay: €300 for a story/essay; €100 for flash fiction; €75 per poem (see ‘We believe in paying writers’ on their guidelines page)
Details here.

(– And, Mud Season Review, which publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, opened on 1^st October and will stay open for fee-free submissions until the deadline, or until the cap is reached, whichever is earlier. They pay $50 for work that appears In their issues and for artists whose images are paired with writing, and for poets whose work appears in The Take: Mud Season Review, they pay $15.
Send up to 3,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems; details here and here.

— Also, Shenandoah is open/will open for selections by their guest editors; they are open for comics till end-October; they will open for poetry on 15^th October and for creative nonfiction on 15^th November; both calls will close when a cap is reached; submit via Submittable. They pay.)

Metastellar
They are now open for science fiction, fantasy, and horror flash fiction, for which they pay. “Meanwhile, we are also accepting reviews, essays, reprints, and book excerpts for non-paid publication on this site.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: Up to 1,200 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.

(And, Planet Scumm is accepting flash and short fiction submissions for Issue 19. They want “Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi that melts in your mouth-brain not your hand-brain
Speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream” They do mention their response time has slowed. Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 5,000 words, and the deadline is 13 October 2025; details here.)

Strange Pilgrims
This is a new Substack-based magazine, and they are open now for fiction and nonfiction. “We’re not married to any genre, structure, or subject. We love surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories; unhinged, lyric, and fragmented essays; voice-driven experimental narratives and slow-burn realism; cultural and literary criticism; hyper-intellectual riffs and children’s stories — so long as they move. If your work is honest, well-crafted, and offers something emotionally and intellectually vivid, we want to read it.” You can read more about them, as well as their likes and influences, here. They will publish one piece each week, alternating between flash and long-form. Submission is via their custom portal.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 1,000 words for flash, up to 5,000 words for short prose
Pay: $50 for flash prose, $200 for longer works
Details here and here.

Faun By Moonlight
They want literary fiction. “We look for stories that feature complex characters, trust the intelligence of their readers, and defy easy categorization. Unmarketable is our specialty.” (See ‘What works are you looking for?’ in their FAQ.) This is a new magazine. They will publish their first issue in November.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 10,000 words
Pay: $20 for stories up to 5,000 words, $50 for longer
Details here.

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Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.