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THE FALL, 2025 24-HOUR SHORT STORY CONTEST WILL BE ON SATURDAY, September 20, 2025! Only 500 participants permitted so DON’T DELAY IF YOU WANT TO PLAY!!

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If you know how to blend imagination, creativity, and futuristic elements, there are many science fiction markets actively looking for fresh voices to add to their teams. Whether you excel in short sci-fi stories, sci-fi movie and novel reviews, or speculative essays, there’s a publication for you.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of twelve paying science fiction markets for writers with details on what each market publishes, what they are looking for, their rates, and submission guidelines.

1. Science Fiction Classics

Science Fiction Classics is a publication that focuses on celebrating the golden age of sci-fi. They publish reprints of classic works as well as new stories inspired by traditional sci-fi themes. This publication is looking for original, unique, and factual science fiction listicles, opinion articles, fiction articles, and episode, movie, and novel reviews. They welcome pitches on topics about classic science fiction, such as space exploration, artificial super intelligence, aliens, and parallel universes. Science Fiction Classics pays between $10 and $50, depending on the length and type of article. The ideal length of articles ranges from 650 to 2,500 words.

Submission guidelines: https://www.sciencefictionclassics.com/write-for-science-fiction-classics/

2. Sci-Fi Shorts

Sci-Fi Shorts is a popular publication specializing in flash fiction that revives the golden age of science fiction in a short, engaging, and impactful format. They welcome submissions on everything sci-fi, narrated in short, snappy pieces that deliver a big impact in just a few words. The pieces should be no more than 1,000 words. This publication pays a flat fee of $10 for published pieces. It also offers a $100 prize for pieces voted in as the best story of the month.

Submission guidelines: https://www.scifishorts.co/submission-guidelines

3. Flame Tree Fiction

Flame Tree Fiction publication is known for publishing beautifully crafted anthologies and collections in the world of fantasy, science fiction, gothic, and horror. They are open to stories ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 words and pay 8 cents/6 pence per word for accepted pieces.

Submission guidelines: https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/topic/call-for-submissions

4. Seize The Press Magazine

Seize The Press is a famous sci-fi magazine known for its dark speculative fiction. It publishes bleak sci-fi, horror, dark fantasy, and all kinds of weird, genre-defying stories that defy labels. This magazine is open to submissions on challenging, thought-provoking, and unconventional speculative fiction stories. The stories should be within a 10,000-word limit with a pay rate of 3 pence (GBP) per word for original fiction. Seize The Press occasionally accepts non-fiction pitches paying £50.00 GBP per article.

Submission guidelines: https://www.seizethepress.com/submissions/

5. Electric Spec

Electric Spec is a quarterly magazine that focuses on speculative fiction. They publish stories on sci-fi, fantasy, and macabre tales. Electric Spec welcomes submissions on original, well-crafted stories about speculative fiction elements with a length between 250 and 7,000 words. They pay $20 per published piece.

Submission guidelines: https://www.electricspec.com/Submissions.html

6. Planet Scumm

Planet Scumm is a quirky sci-fi magazine that thrives on humorous, offbeat, and mind-bending speculative fiction stories. They are looking for stories no more than 5,000 words in length that offer a fun, unusual, and challenging take on Sci-fi. This publication offers writers 8 cents per word for accepted stories.

Submission guidelines: https://www.planetscumm.space/submit

7. Night Shades Mag

Nigh Shades is an experimental fiction magazine that publishes four speculative stories per month. This magazine focuses on any kind of speculative fiction, leaning more towards sci-fi, horror, and fantasy with a twist of mystery. They are looking for engaging and captivating speculative fiction stories not exceeding 500 words. Night Shade pays $65 per story (minimum $0.13/word). They run submission windows, so always check whether they are open for submissions before sending your pitch.

Submission guidelines: https://www.annareser.com/night-shades-mag/

8. Crepuscular Magazine

Crepuscular Magazine is a fiction magazine centered around stories from the in-between. This magazine publishes microfiction stories that address characters, places, and questions buried in between the gray areas (for example, between night and day, feminine and masculine, evil and good, real and unreal, etc.) They are looking for speculative fiction pieces, in-between pieces that blur genre, horror stories, fantasy, sci-fi, and generally anything in between. The articles should be any length under 250 words, with a payment of $.10/word. They guarantee a minimum pay of $5.

Submission guidelines: https://www.patreon.com/posts/submission-85137677

9. Future Of Sex

Future Of Sex is a leading publication on the intersection of human sexuality, futuristic technology, and science fiction. They publish stories addressing how biological, communication, and other technological changes are enabling new expressions of human sexuality and how individuals and society are responding to these shifts. They are looking for original, short sex science fiction stories which are LGBTQIA2S+, neurodiverse, gender-fluid, non-ableist, and culturally inclusive. The ideal length of the articles is 800 to 1,000 words max, with a fixed pay rate of $70 per accepted piece.

Submission guidelines: https://futureofsex.net/sex-science-fiction-writers/

10. Haven Spec Magazine

Haven Spec is a speculative magazine that publishes engaging, informative, and provocative fiction stories. They are looking for original fiction work that balances a sense of wonder with a bold plot and emotional depth. Their articles have a word limit of 6,000 words with a payment of 8¢ per word.

Submission guidelines: https://www.havenspec.com/submit

11. James Gunn’s Ad Astra

Named after James Gunn, a legendary science fiction author, this magazine mostly publishes science fiction and fantasy stories. They are looking for original, creative, quirky, and explorative stories on speculative elements. They love stories up to 7,500 words and offer an honorarium of $50 per accepted story.

Submission guidelines: http://www.adastrasf.com/submissions/short-fiction-submission-guidelines/

12. Neon Dystopia

As a hub for cyberpunk cultures, Neon Dystopia (ND) publishes stories that explore dystopian themes. They are looking for fiction essays that explore everything from music to current events, to games, to sheer existential dread. The ideal length for fiction pieces is 5,000 words max. Neon Dystopia pays $20 per published piece.

Submission guidelines: https://www.neondystopia.com/?p=100042814

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Karoki is a full-time freelance writer who passionately writes about how to make a killing as a writer. When he is not writing, he is a diehard lover of music, novels, and adventures. Connect with Karoki on Freelance Writing Jobs Worldwide and his personal website.

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