9 Literary Journals Looking for Speculative Flash Fiction

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Do you want to submit to sci-fi and fantasy literary journals, but you’re daunted by the word count they look for? Don’t worry! Lots of spec fic journals also look for flash fiction. Check out this list of nine speculative flash fiction literary journals (or literary journals that look for speculative flash).

Flash Point Science Fiction

This speculative journal specifically looks for flash fiction. However, they only look at submissions at certain times of the year: February 1st – March 31st, June 1st – July 31st, October 1st – October 31st, and November 1st – November 30th. For the November submissions, they look for drabbles. According to their site, “Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length. Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short.“

Find their full submission guidelines and what they look for here.

If There’s Anyone Left

Not only does this journal look for speculative fiction, but it also pays professional rates ($0.08 per word)! This journal also has a few eligibility criteria: they only look for work by marginalized writers (and obviously no AI). Their submission period is June 1st through July 15th. Also, their maximum word count is 1000 words and no more.

Find their full guidelines here.

Apex Magazine

While this journal might be more well-known for its full-length fiction, it also has a monthly flash fiction contest! From the 7th to the last day of the month, you can submit flash up to 1,000 words. Like If There’s Anyone Left, this journal also pays flash fiction pro rates of $0.08 per word!

To find their flash fiction, reprints, and short fiction guidelines, check out their site here.

Small Wonders

This journal accepts both flash fiction and art, including reprints for each. According to their site, “We accept flash fiction of 1,000 words or fewer. We’re a little more lenient on word count for reprints than originals: our limit there is 1,100 words. We’re looking for speculative fiction with elements not of this world: fantasy, science fiction, horror. They also look for poetry and pay $0.10 per word for their flash fiction, $60 for poetry, $0.01 for reprints, and $125 for art.

Find their full guidelines on their site here.

100-Foot Crow

Note: if you want to find out when their next submission period is, you need to sign up to their newsletter. Regardless, 100-Foot Crow specializes in speculative flash fiction. They also accept drabbles, which they say are 100 words exactly, no more, no less. They also pay $8.00/$0.08 per word, making them another pro-rate journal on this list!

Check out their full guidelines through this link.

Want to get into science fiction? Check out these six resources for science fiction writers.

Orion’s Belt

This journal looks for speculative stories, poetry, and art, and they have a hard word count of 1200 words. Anything over that will be rejected automatically, so make sure not to go over the word count! Submissions are also set to close on August 31st. They also have a very quick response time, usually responding to submissions within a week.

Find their full guidelines, including art and poetry, here.

Factor Four Magazine

According to Factor Four’s site, “We publish flash fiction in the genres of speculative fiction, specifically science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, super hero, or any combination of these. We are looking for stories that are engaging to our readers in such a short word count.” With that, they publish stories of 1,000 words or fewer. They also pay $0.11 per word.

Find their full guidelines here.

Etherea Magazine

This Australian journal looks for longer fiction, but they also look for flash fiction between 500 and 1,000 words. They pay a flat rate of $25 (or the equivalent in Australian currency). Besides looking for science fiction and fantasy, they also accept flash horror.

Find their full guidelines here.

365 Tomorrows

Last but not least, this journal looks for work under 600 words. According to their site, “We like science fiction in all its incarnations, from hard sci-fi to cyberpunk and beyond.” They don’t pay, but they also have a quick response time.

Find their full guidelines here.

Happy submitting to these journals! If you want some help before submitting, find my post about tips for writing a science fiction short story.

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