Feminine Collective wants your essays, poetry and fiction; plus 5½ paying markets, and QBF wants your pieces about reading and writing

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The Feminine Collective welcomes articles, interviews, creative nonfiction (personal essays), poetry, flash fiction and short stories for our online magazine. Here’s what they have to say:

Feminine Collective Aesthetic: Raw and unfiltered is what we publish. We want you to write like you talk, Your submission should reach out and grab us by the throat. Language is important. Whether your work is dark or light, blunt or subtle, serious or humorous, it should be in the deep voice. Make us care. Make us feel. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make us angry. Make us want to stand up and fight for you. Give us something to sink our teeth into.

Poetry: Please send up to 6 poems, and load them into our Submittable system as one entry. Poems submitted separately will be rejected unread. We should only see your name in our system once, one document with all poems, one submission, capisce? Thank you. Poems should be single-spaced and no longer than two pages each. We adore prose poems without complicated formatting as this complicates things for our volunteer editors. We love narrative poems. Edgy for the sake of being edgy is not our thing.

Flash Fiction: We accept flash fiction up to 1,000 words in length. Must have a beginning, middle and an end. The idea: Tell a rich, complex story is as little words as possible. Flash fiction can be on any subject but we prefer stories on women, families, and relationships. Keep in mind relationships is a broad category. We accept up to three flash pieces at one time. Please load them into our Submittable system as ONE ENTRY.

Short Stories: Submit one short story up to 5,000 words in length. No novel excerpts, please.

Creative Nonfiction: Submit one personal essay up to 5,000 words in length. Please read Feminine Collective Aesthetic before submitting. All work should be written in deep voice, first person.

Articles, Interviews, Op/Eds: Feminine Collective accepts articles, interviews, and opinion pieces. Articles and Interviews should be completed works. Articles should be well-researched, journalistic style. Op/Eds should be a strong opinion on a current topic. Articles, Interviews and Op/Eds should be 1,000 – 2,500 words. For Time Sensitive Op/Ed works please select appropriate category in our Submittable system.

Full submission guidelines here.

Alien Dimensions seeks speculative fiction of 3,500 – 5,000 words. “Set it in space, in the far future, and include some friendly non-humanoid aliens helping to solve a pseudo-scientific problem.” Pays $10. Theme “Random Aliens.”

Deadline: 10^th of the month for consideration in next month’s issue. Full submission guidelines here.

Splickety Publishing Group has three quarterly flash fiction magazines, so it publishes one magazine or another each month. Here are its current calls for submissions;

Splickety Magazine is our premier flash fiction magazine. We strive to publish the finest quality flash fiction in multiple genres including (but not limited to) action/adventure, suspense, mystery, thriller, contemporary, women’s, young adult, and historical fiction.

Theme for December issue: Wreck the Halls. Sub-genres: – Holiday catastrophe, heart-warming humor, Christmas abroad, non-traditional family, slapstick, nostalgia. Christmas is full of things like family and ugly sweaters and snowballs – all of which make great ingredients for a comedy. Make us laugh while telling a story that captures all the essence of Christmas. From travel delays to the kids’ holiday programs to weird Uncle Johnny’s pants ripping, create a memory that makes us smile.

Pays 2 cents/word. Deadline: September 22, 2017. Guidelines here.

Havok is the premier publication for speculative flash fiction. We publish stories in the following genres (but this is not an exhaustive list): science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, cyberpunk, paranormal, supernatural, horror, techno-thriller, superhero, and more. 

Sub-genres – Space Opera, Far Future, Alien encounters, space travel, new solar systems

Build your own ships, solar systems, crews, and plot twists!

Theme for January issue: Deep Space Design. In this issue, we’re looking for well-developed sci-fi worlds. We still want compelling stories, of course, but we want to feel the texture of your world. The hot sand and the wretched hive of scum and villainy on Tatooine. The way the metal catwalk on Serenity echoes when someone drops a vital engine part. The many worlds and creatures the crew of the Enterprise encounter. Build a world and let us have a glimpse into it.

Pays 2 cents/word. Deadline October 27, 2017. Guidelines here.

Spark (formerly Splickety Love) is the premier publication for romance flash fiction. We publish stories in the following genres (but this is not an exhaustive list): romance, romantic suspense, historical romance, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, inspirational romance, women’s fiction, and more

Theme for February issue: Sadie Hawkins. Sub-genres – Topsy-turvy Proposal, Impatient Friend, Sparks between Strangers.

In this issue we want stories where the woman pursues the man. Strong, determined, know-what-they-want women who go after love. Whether it’s an unconventional proposal or someone who thinks they should be more than friends, let the lady take the leading role.

Pays 2 cents/word. Deadline November 24, 2017. Guidelines here.

Sirens Call Publications

For the October issue of their eZine, they’re looking for horror stories, prose and poetry celebrating classic monster stereotypes (except no zombies for this issue).

Deadline October 6, 2017. Guidelines here.

Call for submissions to an anthology: If it Bleeds, it Leads. Length: 2,500 - 5,000 words. They’re looking for stories that embody the spirit of the good ol’ newspaper headline. Pays $15 per piece. 

Deadline October 31, 2017. Submission guidelines here.

The Maple Tree Literary Supplement  provides a platform for dialogue or interviews on any topic between and amongst Canadian writers, while featuring their work and reporting on literary events, landmarks or festivals in Canada and around the world, with an emphasis on their Canadian composition. 

Usually pays $30, but currently they’re kind of broke. Deadline: October 31, 2017. Guidelines here.

Quick Brown Fox welcomes your  essays about reading and writing (see examples here and scroll down). QBF also welcomes reviews of books and movies or whatever else catches your eye. Details here. Read how to write a book review (or any kind of review) 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, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.