Several magazines are major players in the spec fic short story field. You might consider them: Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Clarksworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Weird Tales. There are many others, of course, but these six are admittedly the Big Six in my mind. They pay professional rates and they publish future and current heavy hitters. Being accepted into the alumni club of these rags is an honor indeed.
The downside? Some of these guys don't accept simultaneous or electronic submissions. Paper and snail mail are not my favorite means of submitting as they are slow and mean a trip to the post office. (You can't win them all, though, right?)
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Fantasy & Science Fiction. Pay: 6-9¢ per word on acceptance. What they want: "We are looking for stories that will appeal to science fiction and fantasy readers. The SF element may be slight, but it should be present. We prefer character-oriented stories. We receive a lot of fantasy fiction, but never enough science fiction or humor. Do not query for fiction; send the entire manuscript. We publish fiction up to 25,000 words in length." Submissions: Gordon Van Gelder, Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 3447, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Pay: "Beginners get 6.0 cents a word to 7,500 words, 5.0 cents a word for stories longer than 12,500 words, and $450 for stories between those lengths."
What they want: "We seldom buy stories longer than 15,000 words...In general, we're looking for "character oriented" stories, those in which the characters, rather than the science, provide the main focus for the reader's interest. Serious, thoughtful, yet accessible fiction will constitute the majority of our purchases, but there's always room for the humorous as well. Borderline fantasy is fine, but no Sword & Sorcery, please. Neither are we interested in explicit sex or violence. A good overview would be to consider that all fiction is written to examine or illuminate some aspect of human existence, but that in science fiction the backdrop you work against is the size of the Universe." Submissions: Sheila Williams, Editor, 475 Park Ave. South, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10016.
Weird Tales. Pay: 3-4¢ per word. What they want: Short stories of 10,000 words or less. "WEIRD TALES is looking for well-written work that is unusual and original; works of the fantastic, stories that are unique and strange with a proclivity toward the dark side. A new take on traditional storylines is also welcome as long as it is different and distinctive. Think in terms of the exploration of the imagination and stories which push the boundaries." Submissions: Anne VanderMeer, fiction editor. Email submissions to weirdtales@ gmail.com.
Clarksworld Magazine. Pay: 10¢ a word for works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. What they want: "We have a firm word limit of 4000 words...Science fiction need not be "hard" SF, but rigor is appreciated. Fantasy can be folkloric, medieval, contemporary, surreal, etc. Horror can be supernatural or psychological, so long as it is frightening. There are no barriers as to levels of profanity, gore, or sexuality allowed, but high amounts of profanity, gore, and sexuality are generally used poorly. Be sure to use them well if you do use them." Submissions: Online submission format. "After completing the online submission form, you will receive an email confirmation with a tracking number. This number can be used at any time to check the status of your submission. "
Strange Horizons. Pay: 5¢ per word with a max of $50. Short stories up to 5,000 words. They will consider up to 9k in length, but your chances of acceptance are greatly reduced past the 5k mark. What they want: "We want good speculative fiction. If your story doesn't have a clear fantasy or science fiction element, or at least strong speculative-fiction sensibilities, it's probably not for us. We'd like to help make the field of speculative fiction more inclusive, more welcoming to both authors and readers from traditionally underrepresented groups, so we're interested in seeing stories from diverse perspectives and backgrounds. We want stories that have some literary depth but aren't boring; styles that are unusual yet readable; structures that balance inventiveness with traditional narrative. We like characters we can care about. We like settings and cultures that we don't see all the time in speculative fiction. We like stories that address political issues in complex and sensitive ways. However, we don't like heavy-handed or preachy or simplistic approaches." Submissions: Online submission form here.
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