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 get you thinking about your own submission and to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re submitting to Cossmass Infinities and we are reading Frances Rowat’s stunning story  Mechanical Connection from their first issue.

Cossmass Infinities

Eligibility: original science fiction and fiction from 2K -10K words

Take Note: after receiving a rejection, writers may submit another, different story for the duration of the magazine’s opening

Submit by: this opening closes May 14th, 2020 (open calls happen 3x per year)

Payment offered: $0.08 per word

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

A story to ignite your writing mojo

This week we’re diving into Cossmass Infinities‘ fiction section and reading Mechanical Connection by Frances Rowat. Click here to go read that now.I like this story because of the trope subversion, what we can learn from it as writers, and because I’ve always had an affection for a superhero story.

In Mechanical Connection, Jennifer Jackson, AKA Phosphorus Jack, is a mechanic with a side of vigilante. There’s a sequence in the story wherein Rowat describes how Jennifer fixes the mechanical devices she works on, by feel and instinct and seeing what comes after this next thing, and it grabbed me because it felt like story construction. Maybe you’ll have a similar reaction, but I bring it up because, like the way this story subverts a ton of female superhero tropes, it also upends ‘the write what you know’ and shows us how to actually do that. Mechanics for Jennifer are an act of creation, and perhaps mechanics aren’t our specific passion, but creativity is (I assume, since you’re reading this) and there are certain universals in human nature we can build on – things we ‘know.’ Rowat has taken a chance and written the mechanics from the perspective of creativity rather than methodical attention to order and three-dimensional place.

Now hear me out because while this scene is a wonderful lesson for writers, this scene also works as some damn positive feminist fiction.  Rowat has taken a superhero, eliminated any need for hyper-sexiness, gave her the quintessential man’s job, AND made our perception of that job shift into something more feminine so as not to strip Jennifer of her womanhood. Moreover, Rowat then has Jennifer (SPOILER AHEAD) take a woman out of an actual fridge to save her. This dynamic writer/character duo has just subverted the fridging trope. I am so impressed and delighted to read this.

::Standing ovation::

Stay safe everybody, and happy submitting this week. If you need a pick-me-up, be sure to check out #BookCoverChallenge on twitter and enjoy people recreating book covers with random objects lying about their homes during lockdown. It’s a good time.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Arsenika and reading J. M. Melican’s The Story of Your Name from their archives.

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: writers of fiction may send up to two pieces for this call

Submit by: this market is already open and closes April 30th, 2020

Payment offered: flat rate of $60 USD for fiction

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

A story to ignite your writing mojo:

This is the kind of story that truly thrills me, the kind that quickens my pulse, that makes my heart give a little gasp of delight, and my eyes never dare to leave the page/screen for fear of breaking the magic. This is The Stories of Your Name by J. M. Melican – 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.

(editorial note – I have reviewed this story, so if it feels a bit familiar, it’s not just you, but this story still takes my breath away and I want to share it with as many people as I can.)

Stay well writers, wash your hands, stay home, be safe, I love you.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing social isolation stories to Impulsive Walrus’ Going Viral anthology and we’re taking inspiration from… reality.

Going Viral

Eligibility: speculative stories from 2K-8K words, set in the near future where the current quarantine and isolation rules still apply.

Submit by: submissions OPEN May 5th, 2020 and close when the anthology is filled. Don’t wait!

Payment offered: $0.02 per word

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A story to ignite your writing mojo

This time, you’re the story. What’s your life right now? What edges of this quarantine enveloped is your mind already pushing open? What does imagination and/or nightmares whisper to you is going to happen next in your busy writer’s mind? That’s your inspiration.

If you’re still coming up empty, scour your feeds for stories. I’ve read about overheard confessions of love, dogs fed by a neighbour on the balcony below, and I’ve seen bands jam together over Zoom. There’s no end of inspiration once you start digging, humans are social beasts and we will find a way, dang it. Give us a year of this and we will interacting in ways we cannot conceive of yet… except you should, and then write a story about it.

Stay safe, writers. Wash your hands and remember better days are coming.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Daily Science Fiction and we’re reading Mary E. Lowd’s Home Remodeling from their archives.

Daily Science Fiction

Eligibility: original, well-written speculative fiction from 100-1500 words.

Take Note: no reprints, no simultaneous subs, and they rarely publish horror

Submit by: no deadline, this call is ongoing

Payment Offered: $0.08 per word for worldwide rights

Click here to the to the original call for details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

This week we’re reading Home Remodeling by Mary E. Lowd, published earlier this week at Daily Science Fiction.Click here to go read that now.

I chose this story because there are notes that resonated with me, trapped in my home on what suddenly feels like an alien planet. Nothing is what it once was. People are shadows seen from the safety of their yards or two metres away, looking tense, delivering groceries with shallow pleasantries. Also cats, because thank goodness for pets now we’re in isolation (need a pet? Call the SPCA and foster one while you’re home alone). My cats and dog are the stars of social distancing… on my lap, asking for snuggles. Keeping the kids entertained.

I’m finding it difficult to read during this crisis, but stories that have some element of similarity with this situation are still grabbing, and holding, my focus. However, it’s tricky to find stories with those qualities that aren’t going to make it even harder to sleep at night than it already is, SO… Home Remodeling is a lovely little respite. I hope it inspires you to write yourself an escape from the newscycle.

Keep healthy, eat some vegetables, stay home, and write.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Translunar Traveler’s Lounge and we’re reading Catherine George’s Calling on Behalf of the Dark Lord.

Translunar Traveler’s Lounge

Eligibility: fun, speculative stories up to 5,000 words

Take Note: stories should offer hope rather than bleak futures

Submit By: this opening closes April 15th, 2020

Payment offered: $0.03 per word, with a minimum of $20

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

This week we’re reading Catherine George’s Calling on Behalf of the Dark Lord from Translunar Traveler’s Lounge’s current issue. Click here to go read that now.

I like this story because it catches the rare fun aspect TTL is looking for, and it gives us something new to consider at the end. The protagonist has been listlessly going from dead end job to dead end job and finally ends up at the dreaded call center. Except in this call center, she’s a demonic telemarketer hunting up followers for the Dark Lord. It’s a far cry from the partial year I spent in the hell of call center work. People don’t yell at you when you’re calling direct from Satan, apparently. The job seems to suit our protagonist, she gets better and better at it and it starts to change her… drastically. You’ll have to read to find out the rest, I’m afraid.

Stay safe everyone, wash your hands, and please take care of your mental health. If you feel like everything is too much, that you’re teetering on the brink of a breakdown, take a step back. If getting a rejection on top of this pandemic is going to be too much, then don’t submit right now. Rejections can hurt on good days and these are not good days. We are all handling this differently, so please tend to your creativity. Writing can be an excellent escape and that is the only purpose it needs to serve until we are on the other side of this.

Be well.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Clarkesworld magazine and we’re reading D. A. Xiaolin Spires’ story Coffee Boom: Decoctions, Micronized from the March 2020 issue.

Clarkesworld

Eligibility: science fiction and fantasy stories from 1,000 to 22,000 words. Translations welcome.

Take Note: stories should formatted for online reading (i.e. overlong paragraphs or experimental paragraphing are discouraged). The editors also have a list of ‘do nots’ on their submission page (linked below).

Submit by: ongoing open call

Payment offered: $0.10 per word

Click here to go to the original call for details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

The current issue of Clarkesworld holds a story that is close to this coffee drinker’s heart: Coffee Boom: Decoctions, Micronized by D. A. Xiaolin Spires. Please click here to read that now. As the hordes, um, hoard toilet paper I’m sitting here worried about coffee. We don’t grow any in Canada. If shipping shuts down, I… (sobs).

I want to say I’m not some sort of coffee snob, but I only drink freshly, *finely* ground dark roast from my french press. It’s actually the perfect coffee maker if you live in an area prone to power failures like I do (crap, I hope no one realizes I was hooked on my french press long before I moved here). I also drink it black, but again, that doesn’t make me a coffee snob. I just got used to drinking it that way back when I was a student and I couldn’t afford luxuries like milk and sugar.

I’m glad we’ve established that I’m just a regular coffee drinking writer who would never be swayed by a story about a protagonist in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Or one where said protagonist would go so far as to plan the heist of super collider in search of the perfect cup of joe. Or, you know, one where the drinking of such a cup of java would vastly improve not only one’s life, but one’s entire outlook. I would never be able to empathize with characters or a story like that.

In short, this is a wonderful story. I hope you get to read it while drinking your favourite cup of coffee. { FWIW, I also love tea, but this story isn’t about tea, sorry, may I recommend John Chu’s Probabilitea to soothe your ruffled feathers? } Have a read of some of the other Clarkesworld stories while you’re there and get a feel for the editor’s taste. Wash your hands, write some stories, stay home if you can, and keep healthy. I want to read your stories one day.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to On Spec and reading Marissa K. Lingen’s Say it With Mastodons as published in Nature: Futures.

On Spec

Eligibility: speculative, character-driven, high stakes stories up to 6,000 words

Take Note: while worth the wait, writers should be aware that this market can take several months to get back to you.

Submit by: this submission window closes March 28th, 2020

 Payment offered: $50-$200 Canadian, dependant upon a tiered word count, one contributor’s copy for stories under 1K, with anything over receiving 2 contributor’s copies and a one-year subscription

Click here to go the original call for full details.

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

On Spec is available at Weightless Books and other fine book retailers, but they don’t offer any stories for free. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but in this column I want to support impoverished writers struggling to make it with an empty cupboard and wolf at the door. If you can, please buy and read a few issues of On Spec, it’s always a wonderful read. Today we are going to switch things up a bit and read a story from a writer On Spec has published at least four times. It’s safe to assume they like Marissa K.Lingen’s work, so we’re going to read her story Say it With Mastodons as published on Nature: Futures and available to read here.

Like On Spec stories, Lingen’s Say it With Mastodons is character-driven. Indeed, the protagonist has taken incredible leaps to recreate mastodons as a means to say I love you – without actually needing to say I love you – as awkwardly and sweetly as possible. The stakes are high because the protagonist is clearly uncertain of this declaration and how it will be received and since it also appears cattle is dying of the black leg plague, their act of love might be helping save the communities involved. We never quite get all of those details, but they are not the protagonist’s focus in their stumbling, rambling, desperate hope. They feel like a real person and here I am, hoping their mastodon-infused love is returned or at least they hold hands for a moment before the agony of awkwardness overcomes them both.

Good luck to everyone submitting to this call, and as always,

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Liquid Imagination and we’re reading My Little Monster by Iseult Murphy from Liquid Imagination‘s November 2019 issue.

Liquid Imagination

Eligibility: intense and emotional speculative (or literary) fiction up to 8, 000 words.

Take Note: this market has format guidelines that differ from Standard Manuscript Format, please read guidelines carefully at the link below.

Submit by: open today, March 1st, 2020 until 6-8 weeks before the May issue’s release date (please note this is not specified, so get your submissions in early)

Payment offered: $8 for short stories, $3 for flash (below 1K words), with $2 bonus if payment allowed by paypal

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

A story to ignite your writing mojo

Iseult Murphy’s My Little Monster was published in Liquid Imagination‘s November 2019 issue and is available to read online by clicking here.

This cautionary fable tells of a blacksmith, Jonathon, who purchases a creature called a Diae from a fairy market. He is given specific care instructions and told to share what wealth his beautiful monster brought him when the fairy market returns in the next year. At first all is well, but Jonathon grows jealous of the children who come to play with his Diae, of the people who come to admire it, leaving small gifts in return. Jonathon retreats in a paranoid state of forced reclusion, taking his Diae with him, but the creature suffers in this state, its beauty fading into ferocity.

It’s a familiar story, but there’s also lesson here about sharing one’s gifts. I’m not sure I agree with the lesson one hundred percent, but I don’t fault it’s delivery. Murphy hits Liquid Imagination‘s desired notes, intensity (the drama in Jonathon’s house as the Diae changes) and emotion (the delirious joy of meeting the Diae, Jonathon’s jealousy, and finally, his fear). Now it’s your turn to hit those notes and send your story off to Liquid Imagination before they close.

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 to help newer writers understand how to fulfill a call’s thematic elements.

This week we’re subbing to Hybrid‘s Future//Tense: Gender anthology and we’re reading Merc Fenn Wolfmoor’s The Frequency of Compassion in Uncanny.

Hybrid’s Future//Tense Gender anthology

Eligibility: the Future//Tense anthologies focus on identity in the future, this one specifically on gender identity. 5K to 15K words preferred.

Take Note: Hybrid has no restrictions on gender or orientation. #ownvoices encouraged.

Submit By: open to submissions until April 1st, 2020

Payment Offered: $0.025 per word, to a maximum of $100

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

A Story to Ignite Your Writing Mojo

For this call we’re reading one of my favorite short stories, The Frequency of Compassion by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. You can read this story online at Uncanny magazine by clicking here.

The Frequency of Compassion follows an autistic, agender protagonist, Kaityn Falk, into deep space, accompanied by their AI, Horatio. Extremely introverted, their solo expeditions suit Kaityn well, though their memories follow and haunt them in the darkness. When Kaityn and Horatio stumble into an unusual distress call, Kaityn’s gender identity is what gives them the tools to understand and survive First Contact.

What I like about this story is it’s emphasis on compassion and that it tackles the question of gender representation head-on within the story. In a flashback we hear Kaityn’s ex argue that Kaityn’s gender identity would only confuse any alien species they might encounter in deep space. The story itself acts as rebuttal to the ex’s argument.

Happy writing!