Submissions

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SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED.

We publish Sword & Sorcery, Heroic Fantasy, and Cosmic/Weird Horror. Short Fiction only (4,000 to 10,000 words). We will auto-deny any submission less than 3,800 words or over 13,000 words.

Simulaneous submissions are not allowed. Multiple submissions are not allowed. You may submit one unsolicited story per submission window.

Submit your writing on our Submission Form

Submission Form

Editorial Preferences

What We DON'T Want

• Dialogue that relies too heavily on modern slang, sarcasm, or comes off as childish.
• Recognizeably modern settings.
• Curse words that wouldn’t fly on TV.
• Parody or deconstructions of genre.
• Hopeless cynicism.
• Clone-an
• Political commentary on current events, preachy narration, or sermons./li>
• Anything touched by AI. Grammarly and ProWritingAid is allowed, but highly discouraged.

What is Sword and Sorcery?

Sword & Sorcery is a fast-paced subgenre of Fantasy featuring characters of action. In general, settings are historic or historically-inspired, magic is dark and dangerous, and monsters are horrific and terrifying.

Many Sword & Sorcery protagonists are outsiders, driven by selfish or mercenary motivations. We also like to see noble protagonists, who are driven by honor and a moral code (but perhaps are not naturally inclined toward such values). The character should face a challenge and get dragged through to mud to achieve (or fail) their goals.

What We DO Want

• Historically grounded secondary worlds or alternate history settings.
• Settings so far in the future they seem ancient.
• Sincerity
• Excitement (or intrigue) and progressive complications that keep pages turning.

Tips for Success

• Polish your prose. We're formalists by training and search for intentional uses of narrative technique.
• Establish conflict early. The reader should feel the narrative’s conflict within the first page, if not the first paragraph. Don’t begin on a lazy afternoon before it all goes down, put us on edge from the beginning.
• Pacing is everything. Keep the pages turning. Utilize progressive complications and consequences to move the plot forward and build momentum.
• Understand the genre. S&S isn't synonymous with other forms of Fantasy. Read some classics by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, C.L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter and/or Tannith Lee. Or check out the Appendix N, a list of works which inspired early Dungeons and Dragons.