Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year.
We publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October.
We also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme.
Read our submission guidelines and submit your work through our Moksha portal.
Payment
Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.05 per word, minimum of $50.00 dollars for short stories and a flat fee of $50 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year.
Equity Initiative
As Apparition Lit works to create a more equitable publishing community, we recognize that our open submission period is concurrent with some other really great literary magazines where marginalized writers also like to submit. Voices should be heard and we want to help increase that opportunity.
Our submission window will remain open for an additional week each quarter for writers who identify as BIPOC and self-identify in their cover letter.
We will also accept simultaneous submissions from writers who identify as Disabled, BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+. Please just note how you identify in your cover letter, that it is a simultaneous submission, and see further details in the menu below on how to submit for each category.
Past Contributors
Once you are published by Apparition Lit, you join our tiny but mighty family. We love our alumni and will always do what we can to support their publishing career.
We want to continually discover and champion new voices and different point-of-views. If we have published your work in any of the quarterly issues, please wait 3-4 submission periods before subbing again.
If you’ve won a monthly flash fiction contest, feel free to submit for the quarterly issues right away, but please wait 6 months after winning the flash contest to submit flash again.
What We’re Looking For
Please note that we will not accept AI-generated content submissions. This includes stories or poetry that are written or co-written by AI.
We are open to unpublished speculative fiction stories and spec fic poems!
Speculative fiction is weird, almost unclassifiable. It’s fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and literary. Send us your strange, misshapen stories with enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth. We love proactive characters and settings that feel lived in and real enough to touch. Stories with style, stories with emotion, stories with character. We want it all.
Please see “How to Submit” in each of the drop down categories below for formatting, subject line, and cover letter guidelines. Submissions that are sent outside of submission period or do not follow guidelines will be deleted unread.
If you want to better determine if your writing fits with our style, you can purchase past issues or check out our stories page.
What We Won’t Accept
We do not accept simultaneous submissions or multiple submission. Please send only one submission for poems and one submission for short story per theme. (See Equity Initiative for exceptions). If a story is withdrawn and a separate story is sent during the same themed submission period, it is considered a multiple submission. (This includes the extended BIPOC writer submission window. It is still considered the same theme.) Multiple submissions are not accepted, including withdrawn stories.
At this time, we do not accept nonfiction, reprints or resubmissions, excerpts from other works, or unsolicited interviews or reviews. We do not accept stories that have been published, whether in paper or on the internet. Do not send us stories we have rejected in the past. We currently do not accept translations.
Hard Passes
- While we love dark stories with macabre elements, we will not accept stories with gratuitous and graphic violence or rape, this includes any type of child abuse including sexual abuse.
- We will not consider stories that have extreme, purposeless violence toward animals.
- We do not publish erotica or thinly-veiled fan fiction.
- Stories sent outside of the reading periods will be deleted unread.
- Stories or poems with attached/embedded images or graphics files will be deleted unread.
Our Themes & Reading Periods – 2024:
BLIGHT (General submission period: November 15-30 is CLOSED. – Published January 2024)
MERCURIAL (General submission period: February 15-29 is CLOSED – Published April 2024)
ANACHRONISM (General submission period: May 15-31 is CLOSED – Published July 2024)
HARBINGER (General submission period: August 15-31 is CLOSED – Published October 2024)
SHORT FICTION
We are CLOSED
We are now permanently closed to short stories between 1k-5k
Cover art by Annalise Jensen
FLASH FICTION
Currently CLOSED
Open monthly between the 1st-14th to previously unpublished fiction under 1k words based on the monthly prompt.
Our 2024 Flash Fiction Contest theme are all about food! Reminder that all stories MUST be speculative fiction too!
This year, flash is a celebration of all the recipes and meals that shape your worlds, your communities, and your lives. We want rich, unique flavors, vivid stories, and adventurous tastes.
November: Stews, Soups and Curries, inspired by the many hearty and flavorful flavors that can bring heat, and flavor, to our meals
For tips on what we’re looking for in flash, check out this blog by Flash Editor Marie
MONTHLY flash fiction
Challenge Guidelines
Submissions for Flash Fiction (pieces under 1k) will be accepted on the first 14 days of every month (For example, January Flash submissions will be accepted January 1-14). Stories must be based on the image prompt for that month. No rejections will be sent for flash submissions, and one winning story will be selected each month. After the selected writer is notified, their story will be posted the following month.
We want succinct speculative stories. Flex your writing muscles and send us flash fiction of 1k words or less.
Please note that we will not accept AI-generated content submissions. This includes stories or poetry that are written or co-written by AI.
Each month Apparition Lit holds a flash fiction contest. We’ll be looking for previously unpublished stories that are inspired by the monthly reality show prompt. Flash fiction should be a complete story, not an excerpt of a larger work. If you aren’t sure how to write a flash piece, check out the write-up at Writer’s Digest.
For 2024 we chose to focus on food! Please see details in the dropdown below.
Flash pieces must be under 1k words, must be speculative and must meet the requirements of the selected prompt for the appropriate month.
Length:
We will only accept stories 1000 words and under. This is a hard limit.
Apparition Lit is increasing the prize for the 2021 monthly flash fiction contest to $30 USD, to meet the minimum semi-pro payment. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online.
- Format the story using the Shunn manuscript — you do not need to include your physical address or phone number.
- Please only use Times New Roman or Arial font in your document.
- Name the file using the story title and your last name, i.e. THE SWAMP EXCHANGE_Barker. This helps us find your story in the submissions list.
- Provide a brief cover letter that includes your full name, the title of the short story, word count, and any relevant publications. Please do not include a synopsis.
The writer of the selected story will be notified and their story published the following month. Rejections will not be sent for the Flash Fiction contest.
This year, flash is a celebration of all the recipes and meals that shape your worlds, your communities, and your lives. We want rich, unique flavors, vivid stories, and adventurous tastes.
- January: Hand Pies and Buns, inspired by the likes of Bao, Empanadas, Hot Pockets, Arepas…
- February: Drinks, Teas, Coffees, inspired by the likes of, well, coffee, tea, ceremonial teas, chocolate-atole….
- March: Creative Crusts, inspired by pies, pasties, pot pies and shepherds pies…
- April: The Many Roles of Rice, inspired by…the many roles of rice!!
- May: Mother Earth, inspired by foods that can come to our tables just as they are gifted to us from the great Mother herself, like matcha, fried plantain, Chapulines, milk and honey, syrup…
- June: Family Binding Feasts, inspired by what is traditionally seen as “wedding season” in North America, and the ever changing face of commitment and union
- July: Icy treats, inspired by bingsoo, helado/paletas, mangonada, halo-halo, Hawaiian shaved ice…
- August: Deep Fried Dough, inspired by beignets, cronuts, and the almighty donut…
- September: Noodles, Noodles, Noodles…inspired by the many shapes noodles take around the world, including Ramen, Spaghetti, Pad Thai…
- October: Bread of the Dead, inspired by Oprah who once said “I love bread. I…love…bread…” and also Pan de Muerto, soda bread, sourdough, rosca de reyes and all the many types of breads lovingly crafted in celebration and mourning
- November: Stews, Soups and Curries, inspired by the many hearty and flavorful flavors that can bring heat, and flavor, to our meals
- December: Fast or Feast, meant to be a culmination of the celebration of the many, many holidays around the world that feature either feasting or fasting…Boxing day, Epiphany; Christmas; Passover, Yom Kippur, Purim, Ramadan to name just a few…