Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday. Every week I bring you a unique call for submissions to help you find a home for your stories or inspire a new one. Each call will contain a speculative element and will offer payment upon acceptance. Next, I’ll recommend a story to inspire your submission and help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Cossmass Infinities and we’re reading The Paper-Doll Golems by Gwynne Garfinkle.

Cossmass Infinities

Eligibility: original, speculative stories from 2 000 to 10 000 words

Take Note: while we’re reading a story freely available on their website (linked below), Cossmass Infinities’ ‘about’ section links to the editor’s former podcast of stories which will help give writers an idea of what they like.

Submit by: current opening closes January 12th, 2020

Payment Offered: $0.08 per word for original stories

Click here to go to the original call for full details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo:

Cossmass Infinities offers a single story on their website to give us an idea of what they like. This is story is The Paper-Doll Golems by Gwynne Garfinkle and it’s the kind of story that stays with you, though somewhat uncomfortably. You can read it for yourself at Cossmass Infinities‘ website by clicking here. TW for internalized racism.

The Paper-Doll Golems is the story of an invalid girl fighting against her own helplessness. Ruthie has no power in any corner of her life and slowly watches her idolized older sister drift away from her. Her brothers tell her wild tales of a clay Golem come to life and she uses this concept to bring her paper dolls to life, certain she will have a friend to break her endless loneliness. Instead, Ruthie’s internalized racism and the destructive power of her long-term helplessness threaten to steal what little she has left.

Happy subbing, writers! I wish you a happy holiday and hope that whatever you are celebrating this week, you manage to find some time to write.