1. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories about November & December holidays - The deadline for submissions has been extended to May 15, 2026. How do you celebrate the holidays? Are your celebrations very traditional or are they very spontaneous and never the same? Do you stay home or do you travel? Do you gather with family and friends to share the special spirit of the season? How do you brighten those long winter days? If you live in a warm climate, no snow for you! How does that affect your celebration? What special things do you do? Please submit your true stories about the entire December holiday season, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and New Year's festivities too. Remember that these holiday titles do make wonderful gifts for everyone on your list! **If your stories are about celebrating Christmas, please be sure that they are "Santa Safe" so that we don't spoil the magic for precocious readers! Submit at: Possible Book Topics | Chicken Soup for the Soul
2. PLATFORM STORIES LITERARY CONTEST 2026 - https://laultimaestacionfilm.
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 15, 2026. This international contest invites us to give voice to those who care without recognition: family members, friends, neighbors who dedicate their time, energy, and love t1. o caring for others. Stories or tales based on your experience as an unpaid caregiver. Length 1000-1500 words. Texts in Spanish or English. Prizes range $100-$300. All finalists and honorable mentioned receive publication in the anthology + audiovisual capsule recording + certificate.
3. Pinhole Poetry - They want poetry for their themed issue. “The July 2026 issue will be all about subways, undercurrents, subtext and undertows, basically anything that moves us, somewhere under the surface. Send us up to five of your best poems that fit the theme by May 15th!” They have detailed guidelines about the kind of poems they like. They also accept photography. Deadline: 15th May 2026.
Length: Up to 5 poems. Pay: CAD5. Details here.
4. Scryptid Games: Tales from the Cryptids Anthology - This is a games, fiction, poetry, and ephemera anthology. “From Scryptid Games, this anthology of games, fiction, poetry, and other ephemera flips the lens on conventional cryptid lore. In this book, cryptids are beings with vivid lives, goals, and stories of their own to share. We are more interested in thoughtful tales of transformation, self-discovery, and embedded interrogation than stories centering cryptid hunting, categorization, or collection. … For the purpose of this anthology, cryptids are beings of real or imagined folklore who “could be real” and exist on the fringes of our world. We welcome thoughtful submissions featuring documented cryptids like Bigfoot, Mothman, and Nessie, and we also love new takes on cryptids and creative reflections on the wondrous in the everyday. Could a cryptid be a song, a memory, an entire town? We are excited to read expansive, imaginative perspectives on this theme.” And, “we are keen to acquire TTRPGs and other narrative games that embody a sense of the liminal. … For fiction and poetry, we want cryptid content that prioritizes the agency of liminal beings, places, and experiences. Your work does not need to feature a cryptid protagonist or an optimistic point-of-view, but your monsters must have agency and depth. We are also interested in micro-submissions of uncanny ephemera to literally occupy the margins of this book. Send us cryptid scribbles, doodles, haikus, photographs, and other 2D marginalia. Even we don’t quite know what we want in this category. Surprise us.” They also accept reprints. They will stay open until the deadline, or till they hit a submission cap in each category. The anthology has been funded on BackerKit. Deadline: 15 May 2026, or until filled - Length: Up to 1,000 words for fiction and games, up to 3 poems - Pay: $0.10/word for original fiction and games, $50 for original poems, $25 for ephemera. Details here and here.
5. Flash Fiction Online: Paranormal Noir - They have extended their submission window for the themed call, and have also opened a submission window for (unthemed) translations and reprints. They want speculative flash fiction on the Paranormal Noir theme, stories “that marry the noir and paranormal aesthetic in any speculative genre. … “Isn’t Paranormal Noir just a subset of Urban Fantasy?” It can be, but we’d love to see a new, fresh take on old themes: Vampires in space, doing crime? Far-future consciousness transfer-hauntings? Sad wizard investigates a murder in LA? Okay, sounds cool, submit that, but also what if he were on Mars instead? A group of West Virginia moonshiners firebombing a haunted A.I. data center?” Something else? They also welcome stories from unique points of view. Also see the kind of stories they do not want. Deadline: 15 May 2026, or until filled (extended) for themed fiction, 30 May 2026 for translations and reprints. Length: 500-1,000 words. Pay: $100 for originals, $36 for reprints. Details here.
6. Cat Eye Press: Don’t Go for the Vault – A Bank Robbery Horror Anthology: This is a fiction anthology. They want “horror stories involving bank robberies. While the title for the anthology is “Don’t Go for the Vault,” we want characters who do exactly that. We want to see what you have hidden behind that giant metal door. Give us a reason to heed this legendary piece of bank robbery advice. Stories can take place in any time period and do not need to occur exclusively within the confines of a bank. The three main requirements for stories are: must involve a bank robbery, must mention or include a bank vault door being opened; AND must have horror elements (either inside or outside the vault). While these requirements may seem simple, we encourage you to think outside the box.” Deadline: 20 May 2026 for all writers; 21st May-31st May for underrepresented writers. Length: 1,500-4,500 words. Pay: $0.05/word for originals. Details here.
7. Salt Bloom - This is a new print journal and they are reading submissions for their inaugural issue. The magazine is affiliated with Fairfield University. They want prose of up to 3,500 words, which “includes flash, hybrid works, micro fiction and memoir, short plays, and play excerpts”, as well as poetry. The deadline is 31 May 2026. Details here.
8. Qwerty Magazine: Post and Beam (The Architecture Issue) - They’re open for fiction, poetry, and art for their 30th anniversary issue. “We've lain the cornerstone. Now we build the house. In this special issue commemorating our 30th anniversary, we want your stories, poems, and otherwise artistic interpretations on the theme of dark architecture and pseudoarchaeology. The connection is closer than you think: chances are the chill summer enclosure on your back deck was built with the same basic principle as Stonehenge: post and beam construction. We're not looking for any old office building—no perfect beachfront property. We want your weird little crawlspaces. We want your five-and-a-half-minute hallways and backrooms. We want your unknowable ancient monuments that might be instruments for giants. Send us your doors found ajar, dwelling and liminality, flash fiction found on street signs and graffiti, and literal concrete poetry. Over the last 30 years, we have built a lasting little nook behind the cracks of the Poets' Corner—our own typeface Fraggle Rock. Let this issue be a testament to the weird: an architecture you don't so much digest as suck it down.” Qwerty is published by graduate students in Fredericton, New Brunswick. They accept work via Submittable. Deadline: 31st May 2026. Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose, up to 6 pages of poetry. Pay: $15. Details here and here.
9. Shacklebound Books: Witches & Warlocks - They want exactly 100-word stories (excluding the title) on the theme, Witches & Warlocks. They want dark fantasy stories for this digital and print anthology; authors receive a cash fee and a digital copy. Deadline: 31 May 2026. Length: 100 words.
Pay: $5. Details here (scroll down).
10. Cracked Anvil Press: Off the Broken Path – Dark Tales of Enchanted Forests - They want stories featuring enchanted forests for this anthology. “Tell us tales of enchanted forests. Stories filled with grit and gore. Tales of warning and woe. And if your story ends happily… make sure your characters bleed for it. We like to be surprised. Excited. Engaged. Preferring short, compact prose to long, drudgy sentences. Stories that move quickly, with subtle set ups and brutal pay offs.” Regarding genre / theme, they want “Fantasy. Grimdark. Horror. With enchanted forests taking a central role in the story. (With a preference for fantasy settings.)”. Deadline: 15 June 2026. Length: 1,000-5,000 words (can accept shorter or longer – see guidelines). Pay: $5. Details here.
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