Resolve to submit in 2026: January deadlines for horror writers

AN IRREGULAR MARKETS SERIES

Here are 18 writing markets and publishing/production opportunities for our Seattle chapter horror folks, in case you're looking for new homes for your work. These listings are for shortform work only (poetry, stories, essays, articles, reviews, comics/graphic narratives, animations).

It's essential that you tailor your submission to each publication by reading and following their guidelines. Always check to make sure they are still open for submissions, as deadlines may close early if they receive more work than they need.

KEY:

1. Markets listed below are in deadline order and may have previously appeared in our Discord or were sourced and/or shared by our members.

2. Note: Not all markets are paid markets, but it can be useful for writers at every level to amass several publication credits (paid or not) in order to break into paying—or higher paying—markets.

3. Only non-fee markets and contests are listed.

4. This irregular posting of potential markets is in no way considered exhaustive. You can also find places to send your work using Chill Subs, Duotrope, HorrorTree, New Pages, Submission Grinder, Submittable, and other places.

5. If you find calls for submissions elsewhere while doing your own research that you think would appeal to our members, feel free to post in the Discord or share at hwaseattle@gmail.com.

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Market listing includes indication of paying market (💲), potential inquiries needed ( ? ) publication name, THEME (if available), deadline, type of work sought, payment offered (USD unless otherwise indicated), special notices, and link.

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• 💲Black Beacon Books. Format: "Kindle-Only Novelettes." Deadline: Opens Jan 1; closes when full.  Looking for original work between 9-25k words. Pays $50 flat rate. Genres: Folk horror, ghost stories, post-apocalyptic, suspense, fair-play mystery. https://blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com/p/submissions.html
  

• 💲Daikaijuzine.  Deadline: Jan 5.  Looking for creature horror in short fiction and poetry. Pays $10/story and $5/flash fiction or poem. No fanfic. https://www.daikaijuzine.org/guidelines

  
  

• 💲Anomaly.  Deadline: Jan 7.   Looking for flash-length dark sci-fi and technology/space horror that's "dark and disruptive." Pays .08 per word. Looking to build future anthologies collecting their stories outside Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/posts/124086163?collection=1379866

  
  

• 💲Electric Spec. Theme: N/A. Deadline: Jan 15.  Sci-fi, fantasy, and the macabre and expansions on these subgeneres. Pays $20 flat rate. They have reading periods for every issue though they never close for submissions. https://www.electricspec.com/Submissions.html
  

• 💲Eye to the Telescope. Theme: "Immortality." Deadline: Jan 15.  Looking for speculative poetry. Pays .05/wd rounded up to nearest dollar; min USD $5, max USD $25. Payment on publication. Visit website for a good discussion of what defines speculative poetry (which can include horror). https://eyetothetelescope.com/submit.html

  
  

• 💲Horrific Scribes. Special Exhibit: "Coming to a civilization near you." Deadline: Jan 15.  Looking for fiction and poetry; Special Exhibit reflects current Challenge. Pays $25. Dark, transgressive fiction that's mostly horror but could also be horror-adjacent. https://horrificscribblings.com/submissions/
  

• 💲Three-Lobed Burning Eye. Theme: Speculative horror. Deadline: Opens Jan 1; closes Jan 16.  Looking for short fiction. Pays .08/word. Longer-form friendly; takes work up to 7,499 words in length. https://www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html

  
  

• 💲Nightmare Magazine. Theme: BIPOC-Only. Deadline: Opens Jan 19; closes Jan 26.  Short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry from writers who identify as black, indigenous, or people of color). Pays $.08/word. Opening in January 2026 with two submissions windows: one for BIPOC voices and one without identity restrictions. https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/
  

• Masque & Spectacle. Theme: "Storms." Deadline: Jan 31.

  Fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction, video, visual art. Not a paying market. Literary leanings but welcomes darker works and is friendly to nontraditional voices and visions. https://masqueandspectaclejournal.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

  
  

• 💲Negative Space 3. Theme: "The End of Sanctuary" Deadline: Opens Jan 1; closes Jan 31.  Looking for short survival horror fiction with a "siege" or "isolation" sub-theme. Pays $25. No military horror, weird west, or space opera/adventure. https://www.darkpeninsulapress.com/negative-space-3.html

• 💲Trembling With Fear. Theme: "Valentine's." Deadline: Jan 31, 2025.  Looking for short fiction, drabbles. Pays $5 per story. Drabbles are considered "donations" to the site. https://horrortree.com/submissions/#themed-calls

• 💲Nightmare Magazine. Theme: No restrictions. Deadline: Opens Jan 25; closes Feb 1. Short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that's Sci-Fi Horror in nature. Pays $.08/word. Opening in January 2026 with two submissions windows: one for BIPOC voices and one without identity restrictions. https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/
  

• 💲The Phantom Pulse. Theme: N/A. Deadline: Opens Jan 1; closes Feb 14.  Looking for shortfiction. Pays .03/word for unpublished fiction and .01/word for reprints. Accepts reprints if they are more than 12 months past publication. https://www.thephantompulse.com/

  
  

• Weird Lit. Deadline: Opens Jan 15; closes Feb 15.  Looking for short fiction. Not a paying market. Dark and weird; encourages non-realist narratives and settings. https://www.weirdlitmag.com/submit

  
  

• 💲Bourbon Penn. Theme: N/A. Deadline: Rolling.  Looking for highly imaginative stories in the slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, or surreal mode. Pays .04/word. "Are you a little odd?" https://www.bourbonpenn.com/submissions
  

• 💲Crepuscular. Deadline: Rolling.  Looking for drabbles (microfiction) under 250 words. Pays .10/word. Appreciates genre blending and speculative horror. https://www.patreon.com/posts/submission-85137677

• 💲Ergot. Theme: Experimental horror. Deadline: Rolling.  Looking for flash fiction (<1k words) and short stories (up to 10k words). Pays $25 flat rate. Very specific about what they mean by experimental; see guidelines. Does not accept third-party (agented) submissions. https://www.ergot.press/about
  

• 💲Uncharted.  Deadline: Rolling. Short fiction. Pays $200/story. This publisher of thriller/mystery short fiction is rolling horror into this category. https://uncharted.submittable.com/submit/192194/thriller-mystery-short-story