Please scroll down for more information regarding open calls.
Submissions to We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025 for queer short fiction reprints from 2025 are open.
Flash fiction submissions at Baffling Magazine are open until midnight EST on December 15th. We’ll be open again June 1-15 2026 for unthemed stories and a TBA theme issue.
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Neon Hemlock Press will open to submissions of short stories for What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style on January 15th, 2026.
Submissions for the Eighth Novella Series are closed; we’ll reopen in June 2026.
General submission notes:
Unless the editors are otherwise specified, you can address cover letters to “Dear editors” or “Dear dave.” Please avoid “Dear Mr. Ring.”
If you joke about how straight white men are underrepresented in speculative fiction, it will not win you any points.
Please query admin@neonhemlock.com if you aren’t sure if your submission went through. We’re happy to check.
Translations always welcome with permission from author. Payment to be split between author and translator, or according to your agreement.
Authors from all countries are welcome to submit.
“AI”/LLM-written work is not welcome here.
Thanks for thinking of Neon Hemlock for your work!
Please don’t self-reject.
Submissions to We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025 for queer short fiction reprints from 2025 are open.
We are looking for:
The best speculative stories published in 2025 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explores queerness and/or transness.
We refer to queerness that is inclusive of ace/aro stories, trans and nonbinary stories, and intersex stories.
What we don’t want to see: Original/unpublished work, unqueer work, non-speculative work.
Guidelines:
Please submit your story in .pdf, .doc or .docx file, formatted for publication or in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format. Please use italics and bold as necessary. This should be the final version that was published, not including editor notes or track changes.
Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, where/when the story was published, and a brief bio. You may include links to your website/social media, and previous publications if any. Please don’t stress about this cover letter, if we have additional questions about your submission, we’ll ask them.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome.
Multiple submissions are welcome.
Reprint submissions from 2025 only. This can include self-published stories, and those published on your blog or Patreon.
Submissions are open to all. Neon Hemlock Press is particularly interested in queer stories and authors. Authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject.
The compensation level for stories accepted to WE’RE HERE: THE BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION 2025 is $0.01/word. Submissions will close December 31st 2025.
Editors are encouraged to recommend work from their publications and can submit multiple stories for consideration. Authors may also submit their own work; authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject.
Please note that we will not be sending rejections for this anthology, as is standard for other Best Of anthologies. The authors of selected stories will be reached out to in April 2026. We will be announcing our ToC in May/June 2026.
We’d love if you tracked your submissions on Duotrope or the Submission Grinder.
Neon Hemlock Press will open to submissions of short stories for What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style on January 15th, 2026.
Swordspoint meets Star Wars
Ninefox Gambit meets The Devil Wears Prada
Ancillary Justice + An Unkindness of Ghosts + Pattern Recognition
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
Give us gossip wicked and vital, dinner parties salacious and droll, debutantes vile and intrepid.
Give us unforgivable rudeness and oppressive etiquette, scathing asides and dire gaffes.
The compensation level for original stories accepted to this anthology is $0.08/word.
Submit stories on Submittable between January 15th, 2026 and April 15th, 2026. Please contact us if there are any accessibility concerns for any reason and we’ll work with you.
We are looking for:
Wordcount: Under 6,000 words. 1-4,000 words is probably the sweet spot.
Concept: Space opera stories involving style, fashion and society.
What we want to see: Science fantasy stories and elements of horror are very welcome. We’re using the most inclusive definition of queer. Queer, trans, ace, undefinable. Throughout, we’re looking for rich, varied, and nuanced understandings of gender, family, and ethnicity.
What we don’t want to see: Near-future sci-fi will be unlikely to find a home here. We’re not interested in work which focuses on unexamined bigotry or sexual violence.
Guidelines:
Please submit your story in .doc or .docx file, formatted in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format. Use italics for italics etc. The editor has a slight aversion to Courier and a fondness for Georgia.
Please include a cover/query letter with the title, length, and a brief bio. You may include links to your website/social media, and previous publications if any. Please don’t stress about this cover letter, if we have additional questions about your submission, we’ll ask them.
Translations are welcome; payment will be split between the author and translator unless there is another agreement for such between the two parties.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, please withdraw immediately if you take another offer. Stories should be previously unpublished.
Please no multiple submissions.
Submissions are open to all. Authors from underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject.
You should receive a confirmation of your submission via email. Please query after 120 days if you haven't heard back from us yet about this project.
We’d love if you tracked your submissions on Duotrope or the Submission Grinder.
Submissions for the Ninth Novella Series will open June 15-30 2026 for trans women and writers of color, and then October 15-30 2026 for all writers.
We are looking for:
Wordcount: 17,500–40,000 words.
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural, Slipstream, & Weird. Hybrid work or difficult to categorize novellas are also welcome.
Standalone works, although they may be connected to other series or work.
We are particularly interested in work that explores some element of queer experience, broadly speaking.
Guidelines:
Please submit complete manuscripts (your entire novella) in .doc or .docx formats, formatted in something approaching Standard Manuscript Format. However, please use italics and bold as necessary. The editor has an aversion to Courier and a fondness for Georgia.
Please include a cover/query letter with the title, genre, length, a short pitch/synopsis of the concept, and a brief bio. You may include links to your website/social media, and previous publications if any. Please don’t stress about this cover letter, if we have additional questions about your submission, we’ll ask them.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, please withdraw immediately if you take another offer. Novellas should be previously unpublished.
Please no multiple submissions.
Original submissions only. Short stories that have been adapted to novella length or similar are welcome, but the novella itself may not have been published.
You can submit your novella here.
Submissions are open to all. Neon Hemlock Press is particularly interested in queer stories and authors. Authors from all underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to submit. Please don’t self-reject.
Some favorite novels over the last couple years are The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, and An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson. Some favorite novellas include The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indrapramit Das, and Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy by Sam J. Miller.
This call is for our ninth Novella Series. Novellas will be distributed in paperback and ebook formats. Our standard contract will ask authors to choose between an Advance+Royalties option or a Royalties Only option. We ask for exclusive Worldwide English rights. We do not ask for audio rights.
Our turnaround time is expected to be around four months. Please query if you haven’t heard from us after 120 days. We’d love if you tracked your submissions on Duotrope or the Submission Grinder.