INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE
The Antihumanist is a new Australian zine with attitude. The editorial team ‘seek to publish the most challenging and thought provoking flash fiction and essays’. They are concerned about the state of the world and ‘believe only by confronting the bare bones of reality’ can we ‘understand our place in the world’. They define humanism as ‘a stance that centres the values and agency of humans’ and want ‘antihumanism to negate this’ to be ‘a rejection of humans as the measuring stick for the rest of being’.
Submit flash fiction, micro-fiction and short shorts under 1,000 words.
Their ideal fiction challenges ‘humancentred narratives… forces us to confront our place in the universe, that makes us question: Who are we? Why are we here? Is there a purpose?’ They find that as far as genres ‘weird fiction, speculative fiction and horror’ and good literary writing are the best fit.
Read their detailed guidelines and their rationale, Submit through the website: https://theantihumanists.com
Response time is ‘reasonable.’ Payment is 5¢ per word for ‘exclusive electronic rights for 3 months and non-exclusive rights indefinitely for online archives.’
The Forge Literary Magazine was founded by volunteers from the Fiction Forge, an international online writers’ forum with some prestigious members. The editorial team’s tastes are ‘wide-ranging and eclectic’ for they are ‘a diverse, international group of writers, with differing tastes and styles’. Literary excellence is the only criterion. They are ‘open to all genres and voices, and stories with any background, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual and personal identity from all over the world’.
Submit fiction and non-fiction of no more than 3,000 words. Flash and micro prose is also accepted.
Response time is ‘reasonable.’ Payment is $75 per piece for ‘exclusive worldwide English language rights.’
Submit through the website: https:// forgelitmag.com
Alien Magazine publishes ‘work that is outof-this-world’. Don’t be fooled by the title. As the team explain: ‘We are not a science fiction magazine, though we are open to SF work. By “Alien” we mean “outsider” or anything that exists outside the societal norm.’ The writers they publish write work which is a difficult fit anywhere else. But they want genuine, unpretentious. work.
Submissions are currently open for all types of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual art. For fiction the team all types of stories are welcome, and especially ‘pieces that explore non-traditional narratives’, although they ‘enjoy traditional ones that have a bit of a twist’. Keep prose under 5,000 words.
For non-fiction the team welcome ‘any format: lyric, essay, memoir, creatively researched, etc’. Topics which deal with societal issues work well.
Poetry is always wanted. They like all types and themes but especially topical poems. Submit one poem, of any length, per document at a time.
For all submissions include a brief 100word bio.
Submit through the website: www. alienliterarymagazine.com
Blue Mesa Review (BMR) is a literary magazine published by the creative writing department at the University of New Mexico. The editorial team changes with each new student intake which means a wide range of tastes. They accept submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction during the reading period, 1 October until 28 February.
Each year they also hold summer writing contests for poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. For the competitions and the magazine they are ‘seeking strong voices and lively, compelling narrative with a fine eye for craft’.
Fiction, under 6,000 words, nonfiction, no more than 6,000 words, poetry, one to three poems, should be submitted in doc, docx or pdf files.
Response time is ‘two to six months or longer’. There is payment for ‘first North American serial rights and non-exclusive electronic rights for our website’.
Website: https://bmr.unm.edu
Synthetic Reality Magazine is an online magazine dedicated to unpublished authors. They publish science fiction, fantasy, shtf (disasters like Covid), slipstream, horror, sword and sorcery and surreal fiction, believing that ‘Reality gets more surreal, strange, and weird by the minute’.
They currently seek a wide range of stories, no more than 5,000 words, and will accept reprints and simultaneous submissions. Check out the guidelines.
Poetry should also deal similar genres as the fiction topics. Make the poems surreal. Bundles of poems are permitted up to a 5,000 word limit.
Articles, no more than 3,000 words, should be about ‘the writing process’ with helpful tips for writers. Research articles on topics that will help writers are welcomed. Book Reviews, around 2,000 words, must be of books in the genres of synthetic reality: science fiction, fantasy, shtf, slipstream, horror, sword and sorcery and surreal fiction.
Submit through the website: http:// syntheticrealitymagazine.com
Response time is ‘about three weeks’. There is payment for accepted authors, plus three contributor copies.
Whose Pleasure is it Anyway? is a digital collection of essays, interviews, poems, visual art, film, music, and multimedia/hybrid works that will explore the feminist pleasures that activate or infuriate us. The editorial team want to feature ‘grouchy and disobedient desires, feral and exploratory delights, and playful and improvisational delectations.’
They seek work which ‘firmly places pleasure at the centre of their aesthetics, poetics, or politics’. They like submissions ‘that laugh, tickle, and shriek in the face of frivolity’.
Currently they want ‘submissions that explore the possibilities of pleasure in the digital space through hybrid art forms’. Work which ‘engages with media beyond traditional literary and art forms, such as video games, interactive stories, stand-up comedy, and more,’ is welcomed. Query by email. Traditional essays should be up to 1,500 words and hybrid/creative works 800 words. Email all submissions to editors Sarah and Manahil with Pleasures in the subject line, to digital@canthius.com. Include a bio and mention the work’s genre/s.
Response time is reasonable. Payment is Can$50 for traditional poems, essays, stories, or one visual art piece with an artist statement, and $100 for multimedia work.
Website: www.canthius.com