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Monster Authors: Where to Submit Your Short Fiction + Prompts

Chris Well

Where you might publish your short stories about creatures of the night and the like.

Do you write stories about monsters? Maybe tales of threats and / or mistakes involving science and / or magic?  

If you’re looking for places to send your fiction, I’ve linked to some options for you. Of course, because this is Monster Complex, the list is focused on places that want stories about monsters—plus other tales featuring urban fantasy, horror stories, science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction.

As a work in progress, I’m just now finding these sources. Some of them I know as a reader but have no personal experience with them (yet) as an author. This is our chance to check these out together!  

NOTE: Some links are to pages showing opportunities that have already closed. However, those pages (or their URLs) look like they may be updated with new opportunities in the future. (So, still worth bookmarking.)

Also below: Need help coming up with ideas for your stories?

The page below also includes several links to fiction prompts. Need help coming up with ideas for your stories? Writing prompts can help you beat your writer’s block. Try any of the links below to find hundreds of ideas to kick your fiction in gear!

Here we go!

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Monster Authors: Where to Submit Your Short Fiction in 2025

Horror Tree and Trembling With Fear

The Horror Tree is a whole website showing where authors can submit speculative fiction. Their lists include anthologies and magazines, plus places looking for flash fiction, poetry, and more. Horror Tree also posts online articles about the writing process, guest posts, and blog tours.

Horror Tree also has its own online magazine, Trembling With Fear. You can read the magazine online free—or buy the book editions (affiliate link). And you can submit your own fiction to Trembling With Fear here.

Find out more here:

Raconteur Press

Twice a month, Raconteur Press publishes anthologies featuring brand-new spec fiction. Each book is devoted to a particular topic—so when pitching for these collections, your story needs to fit the idea.

Anthologies coming in 2025 include:

  • Magic Malfunction (“What happens when spells, potions, and hexes don’t go as planned?”)

  • Mad Science! (“Stories exploring fringe science and its consequences”)

  • It Came From The Pulp—Creature Features (“Stories about monsters with a retro feel”)

Other upcoming books revolve around supernatural pirates, giant robots, sci-fi military, and genetically altered cats.

Find more about all their 2025 submission requests here: Open Calls 2025

Some previous collections in their series:

Plus you can find lots more Raconteur Press anthologies here.

Monstrous Books

Monstrous Books specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Launched by editor and author James Aquilone, recent books include the anthologies Dead Detectives Society (showing sleuths dealing with “the bizarre and weird”) and Shakespeare Unleashed (a collection that reimagines “the Bard’s plays in a horror vein”).

Other projects include tie-in books and comic books celebrating Kolchak: The Nightstalker, a comic book series featuring Doctor Omega (the inspiration for Doctor Who), and the Monstrous Magazine (sharing fiction and comic book stories).

As they work on their anthologies, Monstrous has a submissions page here. (Check back for new chances to work with them.)

By the way, we should mention that publisher James Aquilone also writes the zombie detective books starring Dead Jack. Find those books here (affiliate link).

Find out more about Monstrous Books here:

WordFire Press

Owned by New York Times bestselling authors Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, WordFire Press has published books by the likes of Jonathan Maberry and Frank Herbert, plus classic authors William Faulkner and H.G. Wells.

What got my attention is they publish Anderson’s monster detective series Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.

WordFire Press also publishes themed anthologies featuring submissions from spec authors. Previous books include:

Watch the WFP submissions page for when the next anthology is open for your entry...

Find out more about WordFire Press here.

Clarkesworld Magazine 

A monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine has won Hugo Awards, a World Fantasy and a British Fantasy Award. (Plus lots more awards and nominations.)

Clarkesworld publishes short stories, interviews, articles and audio fiction. Monthly issues are on their website. You can also buy them as eBooks and find them in podcast and other formats. They also package all the original fiction in their annual trade paperback series.

Clarkesworld is currently open for art, non-fiction and short story submissions. While they do not want any horror stories, they do appreciate science fiction and fantasy. (There’s also a list of stuff to avoid in your stories here.)

Find out more about Clarkesworld Magazine here.

Do you recommend any more places for authors to submit their short stories?

Let us know in the comments below!

Websites to find ideas for your next story…

Need some help coming up with what to write next? Below are links to lists with hundreds of story ideas—including places to find ideas for urban fantasy, horror fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and lots more!

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