Fiction Submissions Open Now for Volume 15: Halcyon

Fiction and Flash Fiction open through October 31, 2026

Writing about dystopia is easy. There is a sense of its inevitability in the future of humanity that we writers feel compelled to warn everyone about, in the hopes we’ll avoid these obvious pitfalls.

So far, it has not worked. Some might argue we’ve only made that future appear cool and edgy, more inevitable.

Can we imagine something better?

Halcyon.

Adjective

a. characterized by happiness, great success, and prosperity : golden. —often used to describe an idyllic time in the past that is remembered as better than today

b: calm, peaceful

c: prosperous, affluent

(Source: Merriam Webster)

This issue’s musical inspiration, Halcyon by Orbital, harkens back to the carefree days of the 1990s rave culture.

What We’re Looking For

We like work that makes us think. Stories where things happen. We prefer work that incorporates our theme, but won’t turn down a great piece that doesn’t.

Fiction

We are interested in stories that take place in:

• Utopian worlds

• Idyllic times in the past

• An idyllic future

• The world as it is

And anything else you can imagine that links back to our theme!

We accept short stories up to 5,000 words. We generally publish only 2-3 longer stories (4,000+ words) per issue. We will consider one short story per author per submission period.

For flash, please send up to three pieces under 1,000 words each.

Each piece should be submitted as a separate file.

Please see our Submissions guidelines for details on our requirements, and to find a link to our Submittable page.