Journals that are pushing boundaries

The journals on this list are pushing boundaries–form, genre, geographic, and social–and they’re eager for your work! Many are speculative, but many lean more traditional, too, and all of them are currently open for submission (and free of charge, as we like it)!

Note: We are a creative writing school and compile these lists for the benefit of our students. We’re happy to answer questions about our courses but please don’t send us your publishing queries or submissions :). Instead, click on the green links to go to the publication’s website and look for their submissions page. For more great places to submit as well as our best tips on getting published, check out our other lists and resources.

ergot. is a new publication looking for work that “pushes the boundary of what literary horror is and what it might become.” They’re currently open year-round for fiction submissions (limit 10,000 words, or up to 3 flash fiction pieces of 1,000 words or less) and pay $25 per published piece. Average response time is two months.

Hotazel Review wants writers who are traditionally underrepresented in publishing. They’re “strongly rooted in Africa but international in scope.” While they welcome submissions from everyone, they are especially interested in work from marginalized groups and writers from Africa and the African diaspora. They’re open to submissions of poetry (up to three poems, 30 lines per poem) as well as fiction and creative nonfiction (up to 5,000 words) from 1 November through 22 December, 2022.

Wintermute is a journal focused on lifting up emerging voices in speculative fiction writing! They take all genres as long as they contain speculative elements, and are open to reprints and translations. Fiction submissions should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words; poetry should be five pages maximum. They’re open year-round to submissions and try to respond within two months.

The Dread Machine seeks your dark, futuristic stories, alternate realities, diverse protagonists, and unique utopias (among many others, see their website for more). They aim to foster a community of speculative fiction writers through their various projects, including a quarterly journal, a podcast, and anthology projects. The Dread Machine is always open to submissions, including fiction (up to 3 pieces per submission, word limit 5,500) and poetry (up to 3 pieces per submission,  limit of 50 lines each), and aim to send responses within a month. They pay $0.05 USD per word for fiction and up to $49 USD for poetry. Bonus to dark fiction writers: they have a friendly Discord that’s free to join (featured on their website).

Nonbinary Review is a project of Zoetic Press and publishes four themed journals a year. They want work that gets “in between the cracks, in the corners, all the forgotten places that no one ever thinks to explore.” They accept flash fiction (up to 1,000 words), short stories and essays (1,000-3,000 words) and poetry (up to 3 poems per submission, up to 3 pages per poem). They’re accepting submissions for their theme ‘Food’ through 01 February 2023. Nonbinary also has a sister project, Random Access Memory, that publishes non-linear fiction! They pay $0.01-$0.05 USD per word, and try to respond within two months.

Author: Beka Bevans