December issue open for submissions

NOW CLOSED FOR SUBMISSIONS

It's that time again. From October 15th to November 15th the gates are open and all are welcome to join us by the fire and tell their story (or, you know, submit it by email).

The winter issue always has a slight variation on the current cycle of themes. We began this cycle with our underground issue, representing earth. For the next issue we're feeling the long nights and chill bite of the season so we want some fire.

That's your theme: fire. We want heat, we want flames. We want to be scorched. Maybe it's the hungry crackling nightmare consuming the last of the oxygen on a stricken space station, or the flickering burn of friction on its long doomed descent through the atmosphere. It could be the burning sword, Cinder, that sears its wielder's flesh even as it grants them god-like power. Perhaps it is the cursed superhero, adored by millions, unable to ever touch another for fear his flame powers will consume them. Or the bright orange curve of a Molotov cocktail searing the night's blackness and etching itself indelibly into your memory; the inexorable slick of flames that follows.

The word fire does not have to be in the story (and it must not be the title), but fire must be present in some form. Firing a gun or an employee, the fire in his eyes or his belly, don't count. (Unless it's some kind of fire demon with an actual raging inferno in his guts, awaiting the sinners he tosses into his gaping maw, down his gullet, to their doom...)

We have four main genres - science fiction, fantasy, horror and surreal - but what matters most is a good story, well told. Make every word count; hook us from the first line, and blow us away with the last.

As always, the stories must be exactly one hundred words long, with a one word title. For all the fine details and submission info, go to the submissions page.

Gather the wood. Light the fires. Get writing.