These magazines accept fiction in various genres – adventure, sword & sorcery, science fiction, fantasy, crime, noir, mystery, romance, horror, Western, pulp, historical fiction, gothic, and more. Some also accept other genres, like nonfiction and poetry. Some of these magazines pay writers. Many, but not all, are open for submissions now.
Starspun
This magazine publishes fantasy stories for children, middle graders, young adults. “Stories must be fantasy (adventure, sword and sorcery, literary, high, etc.) and set in a different world. We do not accept urban fantasy. Dark fantasy is welcome but a hard sell.” They also welcome submissions from writers under the age of 18. Send works of up to 5,000 words (prefer up to 3,500 words). Details here.
Strange Passage
This is a new magazine. “I like stories of any genre, or any combination of genres. I love it when genres are twisted, combined or left behind. Show me something that is honest and new. Break your own rules. Stories should be less than 20,000 words, but I’ll consider longer pieces if they are serialized well. Send the complete story.” Details here and here.
Freedom Fiction Journal
They accept flash (up to 500 words) as well as short (1,000-12,000 words) fiction. “Fiction Short Stories of All Genres such as Literary, Pulp fiction, SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Detective, Crime, Romance, Adventure, Western, Young Adult, Humour, Satire, etc. are welcome.” Details here.
Cliffhanger! Magazine
They want “Pulp-inspired adventure stories in the vein of H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur O. Friel, Harold Lamb, Robert E. Howard, Theodore Roscoe, H. Bedford Jones, Louis L’Amour, and others.” The focus is adventure. They have preference for vintage, real-world settings. Romance is optional but not discouraged. See their detailed guidelines, including the things they do not want, like “tired stereotypes and tropes of yesteryear”; they prefer stories to not have Weird and supernatural elements. Stories have to be5,000 – 6,500 words. Query for longer fiction for serialization. Query for nonfiction, including retrospectives and reviews. They pay $10. Details here.
Pulp Asylum
“I publish a variety of traditional pulp genres. Horror, mystery, crime, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, western, and just plain weird stories are all welcome. Any genre, no genre, cross genre are all okay. I like challenging, fun, fast stories. Give me action and adventure. Forget background and get down to it. Resist the urge to explain. Dive in and show—vividly, concretely—what’s going on with your protagonist. Character is important. I want a character facing challenges, under pressure, whose world is falling apart, whose sense of self is at risk, who is running out of lies to tell her/himself. Give me the strange, the violent, the mysterious, the disturbed, the desperate, the angry, the lonely, the damned.” They pay $15 for stories up to 3,000 words. Details here.
Escape Artists Magazines
They have speculative fiction podcasts focusing on various genres; PodCastle, which publishes a wide range of fantasy stories – “from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and everything in between”, they’re open till 30th April 2026, see their schedule; EscapePod for science fiction, is open till 21 May 2026, see their schedule; PseudoPod publishes horror, they’ll open for reprints of stories to be published in 2026 on 1st March 2026, and for original stories later, see their schedule; Cast of Wonders, for young adult (YA) speculative fiction, will likely update their schedule for 2026 soon; and CatsCast publishes fun speculative cat stories, and opens occasionally for submissions, see their submission portal. These magazines only accept submissions via their submission portals, which open during the reading period, and pay $0.08/word for original fiction. All the Escape Artists magazines also accept reprints.
Alpennia: Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast
This is a fiction podcast series on lesbian-relevant themes, and is open for all writers. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Stories must be set in an actual historic culture–i.e., a specific time an d place in history–and the plot and characters should be firmly rooted in that time and place. (No time-travel or past memories, please.) Stories may include fantastic elements that are appropriate to the historic setting. …Stories must be set before 1900. We’d love to see stories that reach beyond the popular settings of 19th century America and England unless you do something new and interesting in them. … Romance is optional, and romance stories should have some other significant plot element in addition to the romance.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 5,000 words. Their submission period will be 1st to 31st January 2026. Work sent outside of the reading period will not be considered. Details here.
Literally Stories
They publish stories in various genres: crime/thriller/mystery, fantasy, general fiction, historical fiction, horror, humour, romance, and science fiction. They want stories of 500 to 3,000 words. Details here.
Lit Nerds
“We believe that good fiction doesn’t have to have an unhappy ending. We believe conflict can be resolved, characters can make good choices, and fiction that’s fun to read is just as important as fiction that reveals the dirty undersides of humanity.
Send us your happy endings, your good triumphing over evil, your stories where the dog doesn’t die. Romanticize everyday life until we have no idea how we never saw the magic ourselves. Make us laugh, give us hope, restore a little bit of our faith in humanity.
We don’t care what genre it is, whether it’s contemporary, set a thousand years ago, or takes place in another world entirely, as long as it’s well-written and enjoyable to read.” Send stories of 700-3,000 words. They also accept nonfiction and poetry. 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. Length guidelines are: up to 1,000 words for flash, up to 5,000 words for short prose; payment is
$50 for flash prose, $200 for longer works. The deadline is 30 November 2025. Details here and here.
Ghoulish Tales
“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. They pay $0.10/word for stories up to 5,000 words. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.
Rat Bag Literary
This is a new literary magazine. “Fiction that crosses genres and blurs the lines between literary and genre. … Bold ideas, tight prose, snappy dialogue, speculative elements.” And, “Yes to aliens, alternate worlds, apocalyptic game shows, bigfoot, blue collar, cats, cemeteries, coming-of-age, cosmic, cryptids, cults, cursed objects, dark, dating fails, dystopian, elder millennials, embarrassing moments, female narrators, food service, gen x, ghosts, girl power, gothic, grim reapers, grumpy unicorns, fairytale revamps, found family, haunted mansions” and more. They accept drabbles, micros, flash, and short fiction, as well as nonfiction and poetry. They have some fee-free submissions, for which they open on 15th November and close when they hit their submission cap. They pay $0.01/word for fiction. Details here.
The Genre Society
“Dedicated to the stories that are out-of-this-world, leave us on the edge of our seats, sweating, laughing, crying, The Genre Society presents all that is Genre and Good. Think modern day Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Mary Shelley.
Focusing on fiction and poetry, we seek to provide a space for new, unread writers to publish their weird, their creepy, their fantastical stories.” You can read more about them here. Submissions are open now and will close when filled; details here and here.
Cold Caller Mag
Cold Caller is a Substack-based magazine. They publish crime and mystery fiction; “and we define those terms broadly. We’re looking for stories of bad decisions and worse consequences; unlucky losers who can’t catch a break; grifters and con men convinced they’re about to score big; good men and women who have very good reasons to do terrible things.” They have detailed guidelines, including, “We lean toward noir and realism, so generally speaking we aren’t looking for cozy mysteries, spy thrillers, or for cross-genre work such as mystery-romance, mystery-science fiction, mystery-fantasy, etc.” They prefer stories of 2,000-6,000 words, though they accept works up to 10,000 words. They pay $125. Details here.
Black Fox Literary Magazine
They publish biannual issues. Apart from fiction (up to 5,000 words), they also accept poetry, nonfiction, blog posts, and art. “We enjoy receiving submissions from under-represented genres such as: YA, romance, flash fiction, mystery, etc.” They pay $20. They accept a limited number of fee-free submissions each month. The deadline is 30 November 2025. Details here and here.
Short-Story.me
“We like strong genre fiction – crime, fantasy, mystery, romance, science fiction, horror. We will also publish good work that does not necessarily fit into a particular genre – general. We don’t publish erotica, polemics or non-fiction.” They accept stories up to 2,000 words. Details here.
Flash Frog
They want flash fiction of up to 1,000 words that is “Small. Brightly Colored. Deadly to the Touch.” They accept general submissions year-round, with some exceptions. They pay $25. Details here.
DBS Press: Dracula Beyond Stoker – Van Helsing
Dracula Beyond Stoker publishes fiction issues (with some poetry) featuring characters and more from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. You can read about the magazine here. For their upcoming submission period, they want work on Van Helsing. “The one you’ve all been waiting for.
Doctor. Professor. Lawyer. Monster hunter.
Abraham Van Helsing has become a legend—but how did he get there?
What shaped the man who would face Dracula? What monsters, mysteries, or miracles did he encounter before the novel—and what haunted him after? We want your tales of the world’s most famous vampire hunter: his triumphs, his obsessions, his failures, and his legacy.” They pay $0.05/word for stories of 1,500-5,000 words, and the deadline is 31 December 2025. Details here.
Zooscape
This magazine publishes furry fantasy fiction. “All stories must be furry. That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks. We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 1,000 words, and $80 for longer. They also accept reprints. They are scheduled to reopen for submissions in February 2026. Details here.
Remains
Their About page says, “Remains is a new colour print magazine edited by Andy Cox and illustrated by Richard Wagner, who worked together on Black Static and other publications. It contains new horror fiction ranging from short stories to novellas, and various features.” Their first issue was published in January 2025. “Submissions of previously unpublished fiction are very welcome from everyone everywhere.” Details here.
Crimson Quill Quarterly
They want “original tales of nail-biting peril faced down by a fearless protagonist or protagonists reliant upon their mental might as much as their physical prowess to achieve their goals and overcome their enemies in action packed adventures” – sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and grimdark subgenres of fantasy fiction. Send stories of up to 10,000 words. They also accept works up to 30,000 words, to be serialized over several issues. Pay is $35; serialized stories get $25 per issue they appear in. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.
Seaside Gothic
Seaside Gothic magazine will open for a brief submission window in July; they want seaside gothic fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. “There are three criteria that define seaside gothic literature.
It is led by emotion, not reason, exploring the human experience mentally and spiritually as well as physically… ; It addresses duality—land and sea, love and hate, the beautiful and the grotesque…; It connects to the edge, living on the seaside either literally or figuratively, and has one foot in the water and the other on solid ground…” Pay is £0.01/word for stories up to 1,000 words. Their upcoming submission period is 12th to 18th January 2026. Details here.
Claudine
They accept micro fiction, micro creative nonfiction, and they also have a section for new writers (who have published three or fewer literary pieces). They want “Pieces that move; pieces that surprise. Stunning prose. Thoughtful punctuation over strict grammar. Innovative form over arbitrary paragraphing. Intentional language over wordsmithing. Specificity and context over vague emotion. Interrogation and transcendence over bald trauma. We crave discovery and wonder and awe. Bittersweet is our favorite emotion. We love myths, fairy tales, fabulism, slipstream, and haunting vibes, but horror is not the best fit, neither is fantasy nor sci fi that leans more genre (plot-forward) than literary. We love personal essays that bend and twist and braid, but op-eds, rants, and heavy-handed issue pieces aren’t the best fit. More than any genre, we love prose that makes us ache and images that linger. (Sea creatures always a plus.)” They pay $25 for fiction and creative nonfiction up to 400 words. They will be on hiatus in December (see this post on Bluesky).
Details here.
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
This magazine is “dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place.” And, Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. “Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25.” They pay $25-100 for fiction of up to 10,000 words, $12.5-25 for poetry. A note on their website says they will likely reopen for submissions toward the end of 2025. Details here.
Sundial
This is a literary magazine of historical fiction; they publish works up to 20,000 words, as well as poetry. They are currently open only for art; all other genres are closed. Details here.
Fiction on the Web
They want submissions for online and audiobook publication: funny stories – for when you need a laugh; creepy stories – to make your hair stand on end; fantastic stories – ghosts, swords, magic and fantasy; futuristic stories – many worlds of science fiction; criminal stories – crooks and detectives; and real life stories – everyday life and relationships. Send stories of 1,000 to 10,000 words. Details here.
Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror
“Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror is a magazine devoted to horror fiction (500-5,000 words), art, and poetry. It is published once a year (Spring) by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers. (It) is open to all writers, poets, and artists. … We specialize in horror in all its guises, particularly for adult audiences. We’re open to most settings and themes, from historical, modern, supernatural, and even the future. We want our writers to push the boundaries of horror.” US writers receive a print contributor copy, and overseas writers get a digital copy. The deadline is 1 December 2025. Details here and here.
Plott Hound Magazine
This is an e-zine for speculative fiction starring animals. They pay $0.08/word for fiction of 1,000-4,000 words, $100 for nonfiction, and $50 for poetry. Their detailed guidelines are here and open submission periods for 2025 are here. Their next submission period is 1st to 15th December 2025; their portal will open for submissions during the reading period.
Curated by Costiuc
This is a new Substack-based magazine and they publish one story every month in the Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense genres (Stories must be PG-13.) Please see their detailed guidelines; the guidelines page also has a helpful genre reference guide. They pay $25 for stories of 1,000-5,000 words, and the deadline is 1 February 2026. Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
