Four paying markets for short speculative fiction and The Toronto Star free short story contest

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The Lane of Unusual Traders is a world building project. The aim is to bring The Lane, the City of Lind and the world of Midlfell into existence through stories, illustrations, music and whatever other creative means present themselves as the world grows."  Pays $180 (AUD) per short story, $60 (AUD) for flash fiction. 

Guidelines here. Deadline: February 28, 2017.

Renfield Press is calling for submissions to its quarterly journal, Literary e-clectic. The want speculative fiction on the theme of The Record Pays $50 upon publication plus contributor copy. 

Guidelines here. Deadline: February 28, 2017.

Strange Constellations wants short speculative fiction. Pays $30.

Guidelines here. Deadline: February 28, 2017

Parsec Inc. wants speculative fiction, 3,000 – 7,500 words, on the theme of Appetites, for its annual short story anthology, Triangulation.  Pays 2 cents / word.

Guidelines here. Deadline: February 28, 2017.

The Toronto Star free short story contest

Here’s your opportunity to see your story published in Canada’s largest newspaper.

Aspiring authors who live in Ontario can enter the Toronto Star 2017 Short Story Contest, the biggest contest of its kind in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The annual contest, which attracts approximately 2,000 entries each year, is co-sponsored by the Toronto Public Library and the Humber School for Writers.

The first-place winner in the contest, which now is in its 39th year, will receive $5,000, plus the tuition fee for the 30-week creative writing correspondence program at the Humber School for Writers, which has an approximate value of $3,000.

In addition, the second-place winner will receive a cash prize of $2,000 and the third-place winner will get $1,000.

The contest is open to all Ontario residents 16 years of age or older. Entrants can write on any topic they want. Stories must be original, previously unpublished and no longer than 2,500 words. Entries are limited to one per person. There is no fee to enter the contest.

Deadline: All submissions must be received by 5 p.m., Tuesday, February 28, 2017. Complete rules here.

Keep on top of all the annual writing contests in Canada – order your copy of The 2017 Canadian Writers Contest Calendar. Details here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigating tip: For more paying markets, go to the Labels for this posting listed below and click on Paying Markets, or Best Paying Markets. In the list of Labels, you’ll also find a links to various other collections of postings.