5 Cents per Word for Speculative Fiction
Feel like writing good speculative fiction? This is for you, then. Founded in September 2000, Strange Horizons is a weekly web-based magazine of and about speculative fiction. The term “speculative fiction” refers to what is more commonly known as sci-fi, but which properly embraces science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, slipstream, and a host of sub-genres. They want:
- Stories that have some literary depth but aren’t boring.
- Styles that are unusual yet readable.
- Structures that balance inventiveness with traditional narrative.
- Characters we can care about.
- Settings and cultures that we don’t see all the time in speculative fiction.
- Stories that address political issues in complex and sensitive ways.
They don’t want:
- Heavy-handed or preachy or simplistic approaches.
- Horror (especially stories in which the main goal is to evoke feelings of fear, terror, or revulsion in the reader).
- Stories that explain a scientific or technological phenomenon in great detail.
- Plots we see all the time.
- Stories with twist endings.
As with any magazine, the best way to figure out what they like is to read some of the fiction they published. So, it’s strongly recommended to visit their website.
No simultaneous submissions or unsolicited reprints. Wait until they accept or reject each story before sending another story, even if your stories are very short.
Material that has appeared on publicly-accessible websites is considered as published, and therefore they will refuse it.
Strange Horizons strongly prefers stories under 5,000 words long. However stories up to 9,000 words is ok. But no more than that! Not even as serials. There is no minimum word requirement. Short-short stories are welcome. They just don’t accept partial or incomplete stories.
Strange Horizons pay 5 cents/word, with a minimum payment of $50. They buy first-printing world exclusive rights for two months. After that period, you are free to republish the story elsewhere.
Upload your story in Rich Text Format (.rtf) using the submission form. No papermail nor email attachments submission.
The response time is less than 70 days. After you receive an autoresponse, wait 70 days to query. After 70 days, if you haven’t heard from them, query immediately.
Strange Horizons send an autoresponder message in response to every submission. If you haven’t received an autoresponse within 24 hours after, query immediately. Don’t wait longer than 24 hours to query about a missing autoresponse.
To query about a submission, or to contact them for any other reason, write to fiction@strangehorizons.com with the word “QUERY:” at the beginning of your subject line. [Image art by Raul Cruz, as seen on Strange Horizons’ website]
