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 submitting to Escape Pod and reading (or listening to) Elly Bangs’ The Last Stellar Death Metal Opera from Escape Pod‘s episode 697. TW for suicide ideation.

Escape Pod

Eligibility: science fiction stories from 1 500 to 6 000 words

Take note: All submission must be anonymous. Escape Pod publishes story texts on their website and produces an audio version for their podcast. They buy first print and audio rights. Also reprints, please navigate to their website linked below for those details.

Submit by: Escape Pod will close submissions for the summer season starting June 2020

Payment: $0.08 per word, USD

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

A story to ignite your writing mojo:

This week we’re rocketing into Escape Pod‘s archives to read (or listen to) Elly Bang’s The Last Stellar Death Metal Opera. TW for suicide ideation. Click here to go read or listen now. Trust me, don’t skip this one, it’s a delight. I picked this story because it’s easy to connect with and a lot of fun, which is rare and wonderful, and because it asks deep questions about what humanity might be like if we became immortal. Who will our heroes be? Who will we fixate upon and where will this hero worship lead us? And more importantly, if we don’t save those octopodes from being flash-boiled in a supernovae, who will?

And now for something different:

I rarely share calls that do not offer payment to writers, but sometimes ones come up for charities that capture my attention, like this one. Back from the Brink is a UK conservation agency seeking sci-fi poetry and fiction up to 2k words with a focus on saving endangered species. Science fiction has long had the reputation for inspiring tech, and this collection is seeking to focus that reputation to solve a worldwide dilemma. Have any ideas? Again, this is not a paying market, but you might be able to do some good. Check out that call by clicking here.

Happy writing!

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 covering Podcastle’s current opening and reading (or listening to) Samantha Mills’ heartbreaking story Strange Waters from Podcastle‘s recent archives.

Podcastle

Eligibility: fantasy stories of all sub-genres up to 6k words, reprints welcome but a flat free replaces per word payment (see original call)

Take Note: all stories will be published on their website and read for the podcast, so they are paying you for both print and audio rights

Submit by: the current opening runs until November 15th, 2019

Payment: $0.08 per word, USD. It appears as though the website submissions page might need an update on their payment per word, but their submittable page reflects the recent pro increase to $0.08 per word.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo

Today we’re dipping into Podcastle’s August episodes to read or listen to (it is a podcast, after all) Strange Waters by Samantha Mills. Click here to go there now.

Strange Waters is a haunting time travel fantasy of a mother and fisherwoman caught out of her time in a sea known for temporal portals. Once lost, she manoeuvres her craft into every possible portal, eager to go home to her children. She moves back and forth through centuries, guided by constant stars to her home city as it grows, changes, decays, and builds. This city knows its time travellers, eager to trade for fish now extinct, to question her for the history of the future, to capture her until she tells them what they want. Through her travels, she sees what damage knowledge of the future has done and refuses to share or learn what became of her children, because she’d rather be there than hear of it secondhand.

This story is deeply imaginative and absolutely heartbreaking. Maybe its my motherhood that clung to Mika’s story so tightly, leaving me in tears by the end, or maybe it’s the skill of Mills as she spun this haunting tale.

What can you do with all of fantasy at your disposal? Are you going to make us cry, laugh, or fall in love? I can’t wait to find out.

Happy writing!

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 looking at Pole to Pole Publishing‘s call for submissions to their upcoming Twenty Thousand Leagues Remembered and we’re reading Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Remembered

Eligibility: 3-5K words to suit a PG-13 audience (no sex) that pay tribute in some fashion to Jules Vernes’ story, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Take Note: stories written in third person strongly preferred and must not disparage the original story

Submit by: you’ve got time because your reading assignment is bigger this week. This anthology opens to submissions January 1st, 2020, and closes April  30th, 2020, or when filled (don’t wait!).

Payment: $0.02 per word, $15 flat rate for reprints, by paypal only

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

A story to ignite your writing mojo

No short stories this week writers, you’ve got to read 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea for this one. I’m hoping your local library has it, but I won’t leave you dependent on that and I don’t want anyone to suffer financial barriers: happily this book is well out of copyright and is available to read for free in its entirety via Project Gutenberg. Click here to go there and start reading now.

Happy writing!

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 looking at Arsenika’s month long opening for flash fiction and poetry and reading The Stories of Your Name by J. M. Melican, published in Arsenika Issue 3.

Arsenika

Eligibility: unpublished, original speculative fiction only. Writers may submit two flash stories (up to 1 000 words each) AND five poems (line count limit not given)

Take Note: watching the Grinder suggests a quick response time of one or two days on average at time of publishing this post. If you need to be mentally prepared for any rejections, keep this in mind.

Submit by: this opening closes October 31st, 2019, next opening scheduled for April of 2020.

Payment: $60 USD for flash fiction and $30 USD for poetry

Click here to go to original call for full details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo

Sometimes I have to dig deep into a magazine’s archives to find a story that truly thrills me, you know the kind, your pulse quickens, your heart makes a little gasp of delight, and your eyes never dare to leave the page/screen for fear of breaking the magic. This time, I found The Stories of Your Name by J. M. Melican right away. I’ll make it just as easy on you – click here and have a read, you won’t regret it.

The Stories of Your Name begins with the romantic imaginings of a lover that travel beyond the expected, wooing and seducing as much as the imagined lover. Or perhaps it is the soft possibility that we are eavesdropping, or playing the lover ourselves. This lover takes us to distant worlds and unknown cultures, spinning tales of the elusive name, and all the while drawing us again. It’s a haunting, wonderful little piece.

This is the kind of story Arsenika seeks to publish; stirring, original, untamed, and written with an elegant prose. This might be a trifle intimidating to new writers, but you’ll never know if you don’t try and trying is how you get good at it.

I will like to add, a little off topic, that if you enjoy this story you’ll also probably like the book This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. To the library!

Good luck and happy writing!

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 looking at a call for Space and Time magazine and reading Aliette de Bodard’s The Dragon that Flew Out of the Sun.

Space and Time

Eligibility: Speculative, crossed genre stories up to 10k words (5-7.5K preferred) that “aren’t quite normal”

Take Note: acceptances are posted on Space and Time’s website and facebook page, suggesting they may not send out rejection/acceptance letters. Be sure to check on your submission.

Submit by: this short opening closes soon – on Saturday, October 5th, 2019 (eek!)

Payment: $0.01 per cent PLUS a complimentary e-subscription, print copy, pdf copy, and an audio clip of your work

Click here to go to original call for more details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

While Space and Time doesn’t offer samples of full stories, they do advise of an admiration for Aliette de Bodard’s work, so today we’re reading a crossed genre story of hers, The Dragon that Flew Out of the Sun, reprinted in Uncanny Magazine and available to read here.

The Dragon that Flew Out of the Sun is the story of intergalactic refugees who lost their home after their sun died and unleashed a dragon. It’s about old enemies and reconciliations and healing. Something the world could use more of these days.

On a Personal Note,

I’d hoped to write up a quick post about our local climate strike in Moncton, NB, Canada, but the event sapped this introvert’s energy more than expected. Instead I’ll leave you with this picture of me and my girls before the crowd got squishy.

Happy writing!

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 looking at a call for submissions from Wizards in Space and reading Ari Koontz’ second star to the right (and straight on till morning) from their second issue.

Wizards in Space

Eligibility: speculative and literary stories up to 5k. Nonfiction, art, and poetry is also accepted, please see the original call for guidelines.

Take Note: for this opening, editors are looking for stories contrasting light and dark, winter and summer, and coming full circle from pain into joy.

Payment: $40 flat fee per story

Submit by: this opening closes October 18th, 2019.

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo:

I’m going to switch gears a bit this week and suggest a work of creative non-fiction from this same magazine, second star to the right (and straight on till morning) by Ari Koontz, because it has a story’s soul, it captures the spirit of the full circle journey, and it’s written with the exquisite prose the journal seeks. You can click here to read it on the Wizards In Space website.

I’m always going to have a soft spot for space fantasy, and the fear and wonder in this piece takes my breath away. I don’t feel the claustrophobia Koontz feels when she looks at the Perseids, I don’t feel afraid of the vastness of our universe, but I, too, am “made of stories and science.” This is the story of finding one’s true name on the other side of all this fear, and coming around to joy after pain. This is the emotion we need to capture for this call, that moment in time, as only we can tell it.

Think about it, find your story, write it down, send it in. It’s just that easy, and that easy. Good luck writers, and happy writing.

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 looking Inklings Press’ call for pirate stories and reading Candy Comfort by Eleanor R. Wood and published on Daily Science Fiction.

Inklings Press Pirate Anthology

Eligibility: speculative stories on theme of pirates in or around 5k words. Ghost and space pirates accepted.

Take Note: stories should aim for a PG-13 level audience

Submit by: October 18th, 2019

Payment Offered: $50 (currency unclear)

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

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

This week we’re reading a pirate flash fiction from Daily Science Fiction, Candy Comfort by Eleanor R. Wood. Click here to go read that now. I like this story because Wood chose to tell the story of a pirate family from the perspective of a little girl who is left behind while the males go raiding, a pack of sweets to comfort her. This perspective is what offers this story it’s freshness in an admittedly tired genre. Finding that unique way to tell your own story is the best way to stand out in your submission for this anthology.

What pirate story hasn’t already been told? I know, this one’s tricky. Give it some thought, brainstorm some possibilities, and get writing.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Submit Your Stories Sunday (on Wednesday, thanks to Hurricane Dorian knocking out my electricity for a few days). 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 looking into Translunar Traveler’s Lounge upcoming opening and reading Wings by Vanessa Fogg from the inaugural issue.

Translunar Traveler’s Lounge

Eligibility: fun speculative stories up to 5k.

Take Note: “fun” is defined by the editors as joyful and while lighthearted fiction is welcome, stories need not be exempt from a tragedy which may highlight this joy

Submit by: this opening is from September 15th to October 15th, 2019

Payment: $0.03 per word, USD, minimum $20

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo:

Vanessa Fogg’s story Wings appeared in Translunar Traveler’s Lounge‘s inaugural issue and follows a story where joy is intertwined with tragedy. Click here to go read Wings now. The narrator princess has cast off her duties to love a common poet, only to find their marriage burdened by a cruel curse which turns the poet into a rotating series of wild animals where he has no memory of himself. The princess finds him again and again, but the queen who laid this curse grows impatient with her daughter’s loyalty and threatens to destroy him forever. The princess is forced to find the only way she can be with her love before the queen finds them.

This is a classic story, which harkens to my favorite movie, Ladyhawke, but Fogg finds freshness in her retelling and an ending which appeals and leaves the reader with a warm and thoughtful joy.

Now it’s up to you, writers, get those pens/keyboards ready and write yourself something fun. Good luck and happy writing!

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 looking at Apparition Lit’s call for stories about euphoria and reading Tina Connelly’s A Sharp Breath of Birds in Uncanny Magazine.

Apparition Lit: Euphoria

Eligibility: original speculative fiction from 1-5K on theme of euphoria

Take note: this magazine has four openings per year, each with a different theme (watch their website for future themes)

Payment: $0.03 per word, minimum $30

Submit by: August 31st, 2019

Click here to go the original call for details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo

This week’s story, Tina Connelly’s A Sharp Breath of Birds, was published in Uncanny magazine. You can click here and go read that now. I must say, finding a story that captures the theme of euphoria is difficult in this timeline of doom, which is probably why Apparition Lit chose it. A Sharp Breath of Birds is not a euphoric tale, not at first. The protagonist struggles with her sense of self, her sense of belonging, her… feathers. In growing up she loses the one person who understands her, who might have feathers too. The euphoria of this story is not found until its ending, and then it is still left up to the reader to imagine.

How can you use euphoria to drive your story rather than ending it? It’s interesting to note that astronauts have been reported to experience a sense of inexplicable euphoria in outer space, how that could that be used to craft a story? Romance, always, has its own levels of euphoria. In researching this post I came across stories of drug use, self-harm, and various vices used to reach a euphoric state. I expected to find more stories of the euphoria of birth than I did and I’m excited to see what this issue of Apparition Lit offers.

Happy writing, and good luck.