This is an audio and online magazine from the Escape Artists suite of magazines. “We’re looking for : dark, weird fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as vulgar shock-value pulp fiction. We don’t split hairs about genre definitions, and we do not observe any taboos about what kind of content can appear in our stories. Originality demands that you’re better off avoiding vampires, zombies, and other recognizable horror tropes unless you have put a very unique spin on them. What matters most is that the stories are dark and compelling.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 11th August 2025 (see their schedule)
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word for originals
Details here (guidelines), here (submission portal)
(Also, Cast of Wonders, Escape Artists’ young adult online and audio magazine, is open for submissions by young authors only, under 20 years of age, through August – they pay $0.08/word for original stories. See their guidelines here, schedule here, and submission portal here – see Young Author Showcase 2025.)

Deadline: August 11th, 2025