Taking Submissions: Otherside January 2026 Window

We have a diverse team of editors, all with different tastes. Some of us like dreamy literary tales and some of us like adventure stories. Some love fantasy and some prefer science fiction. Some like romance and some like horror. And sometimes we don’t know what we like until you send it to us! As long as your story is speculative in some way, we want to read it.

We don’t want erotica (though sex in a story is fine), stories that focus on rape or sexual assault (though a mention is fine), or fanfiction (we can’t publish stories that include copyrighted material).

Shunn manuscript format is ideal—including your name in the header, though we don’t need your address or phone number—but any legible black font on a white background is fine. Please do include page numbers. We accept .rtf, .doc, or .docx files through Moksha only.

• Pay Rate: 8 cents/word (USD). We prefer to pay via PayPal if possible (and we cover all applicable transaction fees).
• Length: 500 to 4,000 words, no exceptions.
• Rights: We buy first world publication rights and nonexclusive anthology rights. We are not looking for stories previously published elsewhere, including on Patreon or in a newsletter. See our sample contracts for more details.
• Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please withdraw your submission promptly if your story is accepted by another market. And congratulations!
• Multiple submissions: No. Please only submit one short story per submission window. Refer to the note above for information about submitting to multiple categories.
• Past contributors: If you’ve had a piece accepted by us, please wait 6 months from your acceptance to submit in that same category again. You may continue to submit to other categories.
• Translations: Not at this time.
• Withdrawals: If you need to withdraw your piece, please do so via Moksha.
• Response time: We try to make an initial decision (rejection or hold) in 2 weeks. If you haven’t received a response 30 days after the submission window closes, please check your spam folder, then query us at [email protected].

We’re looking for previously unpublished speculative poems. Our tastes are varied—we like free verse and fixed forms, experimental and traditional poems, and everything in between. With poetry, feel free to interpret “speculative” broadly. While we’re happy to read poems about spaceships and quests, we’d also love to read poems that experiment with genre and subvert our expectations. Science-fictional, fantastical, slipstream, weird, literary: send it our way, and please don’t self-reject!

You can submit up to three poems at a time. Please format your poems in one document, each with its own title and each starting on its own page, and include your name on the first page. Including the number of lines somewhere on the page would be appreciated.

We accept .rtf, .doc, or .docx files through Moksha only. If you have a poem with experimental formatting and would like to submit a PDF or another alternative format, email us at [email protected] first so we can be sure we can make that work online!

• Pay Rate: $50/poem (USD). We prefer to pay via PayPal if possible (and we cover all applicable transaction fees).
• Length: Any, though poems over 50 lines are probably a harder sell.
• Rights: We buy first world publication rights and nonexclusive anthology rights. We are not looking for poems previously published elsewhere, including on Patreon or in a newsletter. See our sample contracts for more details.
• Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please withdraw your submission promptly if your poem is accepted by another market. And congratulations! If you need to withdraw a single poem from a set of multiple poems, please email us at [email protected].
• Multiple submissions: You may submit a maximum of three poems per submission window in one document. Refer to the note above for information about submitting to multiple categories.
• Past contributors: If you’ve had a piece accepted by us, please wait 6 months from your acceptance to submit in that same category again. You may continue to submit to other categories.
• Reprints or translations: Not at this time.
• Withdrawals: If you need to withdraw your piece, please do so via Moksha.
• Response time: We try to make an initial decision (rejection or hold) in 2 weeks. If you haven’t received a response 30 days after the submission window closes, please check your spam folder, then query us at [email protected].

Every issue of OTHERSIDE includes two reprinted stories originally published elsewhere. As with original fiction and poetry, we are only looking for submissions from 2SLGBTQIA+ authors, and stories must be speculative in some way. At this time we are only looking for stories that cannot currently be read online for free: stories that are out of print, stories that were never available online, stories no longer online after the closure of the original publication venue, etc. Our goal is to provide a new home for hard-to-access stories.

Unlike with original fiction, we are open year-round for reprint submissions, starting on November 24, 2025. That means response times will be slower; see below for more details. If we ever need to temporarily close to reprint submissions, we will announce this closure well in advance.

Shunn manuscript format is ideal—including your name in the header, though we don’t need your address or phone number—but any legible black font on a white background is fine. Please do include page numbers. We accept .rtf, .doc, or .docx files through Moksha only.

• Pay Rate: $100/story (USD). We prefer to pay via PayPal if possible (and we cover all applicable transaction fees).
• Length: Typically 500 to 7,500 words. We will occasionally consider novelettes (up to 17,500 words) but these are a harder sell, especially at the high end of that range.
• Rights: We buy nonexclusive reprint rights. See our sample contracts for more details.
• Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please withdraw your submission promptly if accepted by another free-to-read online publication, since we can only accept reprints not currently available online.
• Multiple submissions: No, but you may submit again promptly following a rejection. Refer to the note above for information about submitting to multiple categories.
• Past contributors: If you’ve had a piece accepted by us, please wait 6 months from your acceptance to submit in that same category again. You may continue to submit to other categories.
• Withdrawals: If you need to withdraw your piece, please do so via Moksha.
• Response time: We try to make an initial decision (rejection or hold) in 4 weeks. If you haven’t received a response 30 days after your submission, please check your spam folder, then query us at [email protected]. If you receive a hold notice, hang tight! We consider held reprints alongside original stories as we assemble each issue, which means decisions will sometimes be slow. Thanks for your patience! (And of course, you’re welcome to withdraw at any time.)

Every issue of OTHERSIDE includes one piece of original nonfiction. As with original fiction and poetry, we are only looking for submissions from 2SLGBTQIA+ authors. We do not accept pitches at this time—please only submit completed pieces.

We are looking for submissions that teach us something new, show us something surprising, or move us. Right now, we are particularly interested in: investigations of queer history, especially literary history or lesser-known aspects of queer history; essays that shine a light on “forgotten” queer speculative works or authors; thoughtful media criticism of all kinds; personal essays, memoir, and genre-blurring creative nonfiction; and non-US perspectives. We always like incisive literary criticism and essays that examine the intersection(s) of speculative fiction and queer identity. We aren’t looking for reviews at this time.

Unlike with original fiction, we are open year-round for nonfiction submissions, starting on November 24, 2025. That means response times will be slower; see below for more details. If we ever need to temporarily close to nonfiction submissions, we will announce this closure well in advance.

Shunn manuscript format is ideal—including your name in the header, though we don’t need your address or phone number—but any legible black font on a white background is fine. Please do include page numbers. We accept .rtf, .doc, or .docx files through Moksha only.

• Pay Rate: $100/piece (US). We prefer to pay via PayPal if possible (and we cover all applicable transaction fees).
• Length: Up to 4,000 words, but our sweet spot is probably closer to 2,000 words. If you have a longer piece that you think could be a perfect fit for OTHERSIDE, please query [email protected] in advance.
• Rights: We buy first world publication rights and nonexclusive anthology rights. We are not looking for stories previously published elsewhere, including on Patreon or in a newsletter. See our sample contracts for more details.
• Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please withdraw your submission promptly if it’s accepted by another publication. And congratulations!
• Multiple submissions: No, but you may submit again promptly following a rejection. Refer to the note above for information about submitting to multiple categories.
• Past contributors: If you’ve had a piece accepted by us, please wait 6 months from your acceptance to submit in that same category again. You may continue to submit to other categories.
• Withdrawals: If you need to withdraw your piece, please do so via Moksha.
• Response time: We try to make an initial decision (rejection or hold) in 4 weeks. If you haven’t received a response 30 days after your submission, please check your spam folder, then query us at [email protected]. If you receive a hold notice, hang tight! We consider held nonfiction alongside original stories as we assemble each issue, which means decisions will sometimes be slow. Thanks for your patience! (And of course, you’re welcome to withdraw at any time.)