WEIRD TALES Submission Guidelines

We are currently closed for submissions, but will re-open in mid April.

Please know that each issue of Weird Tales – beginning with issue 360 – will be featuring a theme. This means that HALF of each issue will be devoted to strange and innovative takes on that theme. This also means that HALF of each issue will be devoted to the unclassifiable and eclectic tales that have always been the soul of Weird Tales.

Current needs

We have two initial needs: 1. Flash fiction. 2. Stories that fit the themes of issues #
360 and 361. The theme of our next issue is the Elder Gods, in tribute to H. P.
Lovecraft. Though we are already well-stocked with fiction that fits the theme, we
are willing to consider a few more stories, especially if they are short shorts. The
theme of issue # 361 is Fairy Tales (which includes folk tales). This issue is also
already far along, but there is still room for a few more stories, if they are
sufficiently unusual. Theme-related poetry would also be welcome.

Be sure you are submitting an unpublished story or poem. It may be any variety of
fantasy including science fiction (though we will not use much of the latter). We
are currently most interested in stories between 3,000-5,000 words, but longer stories are
acceptable. However, it may take quite a while for a long story to be published.
Short shorts, i. e., flash fiction, are definitely of interest to us.

Horror and Gore

While horror fiction is certainly welcome, gratuitous gore is not. If there is
material of a gruesome nature in your submission, it must absolutely necessary to
the plot. Goriness for its own sake is not acceptable.

Nonfiction and Poetry

A limited amount of nonfiction will be considered for publication. Query first.

Poetry is welcome, including narrative fantasy, eerie mood pieces, experimental
forms, and also humor.

Formatting

Stories should be double-spaced with indented paragraphs with no extra space
inserted between paragraphs.

Do not underline material to be highlighted. Use italics … and do remember to
italicize the titles of books and periodicals.

The most preferable format for submissions is .rtf, but Word .doc is also
acceptable, as is WordPerfect’s .wpd. Please do not submit stories in .docx or .pdf.

How to Submit

We are currently closed for submissions, but will re-open in mid April.