Essay Submissions - OPEN
Interstellar Flight Magazine is seeking essays on pop culture, movies, geekery, and scifi/fantasy related topics. Submissions are open year-round. (Please note: We close to submissions briefly at the end of each year from 12/15-1/15 to work on our anthology. Submissions sent during this time will be read after the break.)
We want essays on popular culture, movies, books, video games, SFF culture, conventions, and anything else geeky. We love reviews but believe that the goal of criticism should be to know and understand not to like or dislike. The tone of our essays are conversational and accessible, but we do enjoy a good academic debate. We're always interested in hearing from underrepresented and marginalized voices. How you define that is up to you.
Guidelines:
We want essays on popular culture, movies, books, video games, SFF culture, conventions, and anything else geeky. We love reviews but believe that the goal of criticism should be to know and understand not to like or dislike. The tone of our essays are conversational and accessible, but we do enjoy a good academic debate. We're always interested in hearing from underrepresented and marginalized voices. How you define that is up to you.
Guidelines:
- Essays should be 250-1500 words.
- Please submit in .doc, .docx, or .rtf form.
- Essays should be timely, i.e. that movie you just saw and loved/hated, a book that just came out, or a current topic of discussion online.
- Please include links as hyperlinks in your document. Please do not include images (Tweet embeds are fine).
- You may also submit pitches (max 100 words). Send us several ideas at once if you like.
- We prefer not to publish articles that only work as a series (we are not a "monthly" or "quarterly" publication, so series columns don't really work for us.) Instead focus on one thing and dive deep into it.
- Reprint essays are fine if they are relevant, but we regret that we cannot pay for reprints at this time.
Flash Fiction Submissions - Opens November 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023
lInterstellar Flight Press seeks speculative flash fiction for 2024 publication in our online magazine and yearly anthology. We will publish one piece of flash fiction a month in 2024, celebrating micro and small fictions. Submissions will be read by our team of readers and final selections will be made by flash series editor, Annika Barranti Klein.
Guidelines:
Annika Barranti Klein’s flash fiction has been in Mermaids Monthly, The Future Fire, Milk Candy Review, HAD, Hallowzine, and Worlds of Possibility. Her longer fiction and poetry has been in Asimov’s, CRAFT, Fireside, Weird Horror, Fusion Fragment, Haven Spec, and Kaleidotrope. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart, recommended in Quick Sips Reviews and on Tor.com, gone viral on Twitter (just one time!), and been a finalist in the Gotham Writers 2021 A Monster Comes contest and the Cast of Wonders 2023 flash fiction contest.
Annika writes nonfiction for Interstellar Flight Magazine and Book Riot, and has also been in Paste TV, The Toast, and more. She is a freelance editor and has worked with Interstellar Flight Press, Book Riot/My TBR, and private clients on projects ranging from novels to medical articles to listicles. Prior to getting into editing, she was a reader at a film company. She’s been a nanny, a caterer, sold advertising space in USA Today, and taught people how to knit.
Thanks to a convenient nick in the space-time continuum, she somehow also finds time to write novels and have a family — they are very understanding and can all make their own sandwiches (not the novels; they are total freeloaders).
Hard Sells:
Guidelines:
- Genres: as long as it’s speculative (even a little bit!), anything goes for genre. Please see below for specific content hard sells and loves.
- Length: up to 1,250 words (no minimum)
- Payment: 8¢ per word (minimum payment $25) within 30 days of publication. 1 print contributor’s copy of our yearly anthology.
- Simultaneous subs? Yes! Please let us know right away if you need to withdraw a story by emailing contact@interstellarflightpress.com.
- Multiple subs? Yes! Up to three stories per person; please fill out a separate form for each story.
- Response times: We aim to reply to submissions in 90 days. We will try to get first round answers (rejections or holds) out as quickly as possible.
- Terms: Original stories, no reprints please. First English Rights with a 3-month exclusivity period. Inclusion in our annual print anthology.
- Please do not send anything generated using the large language models commonly called AI; they are built on plagiarism and we won’t publish them. Tools like spellcheck are absolutely fine.
- Accepted stories will be featured on our website and Patreon, where authors will be asked to complete a short Q&A interview for our patrons. All accepted stories will also be in our yearly anthology, along with the interview.
Annika Barranti Klein’s flash fiction has been in Mermaids Monthly, The Future Fire, Milk Candy Review, HAD, Hallowzine, and Worlds of Possibility. Her longer fiction and poetry has been in Asimov’s, CRAFT, Fireside, Weird Horror, Fusion Fragment, Haven Spec, and Kaleidotrope. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart, recommended in Quick Sips Reviews and on Tor.com, gone viral on Twitter (just one time!), and been a finalist in the Gotham Writers 2021 A Monster Comes contest and the Cast of Wonders 2023 flash fiction contest.
Annika writes nonfiction for Interstellar Flight Magazine and Book Riot, and has also been in Paste TV, The Toast, and more. She is a freelance editor and has worked with Interstellar Flight Press, Book Riot/My TBR, and private clients on projects ranging from novels to medical articles to listicles. Prior to getting into editing, she was a reader at a film company. She’s been a nanny, a caterer, sold advertising space in USA Today, and taught people how to knit.
Thanks to a convenient nick in the space-time continuum, she somehow also finds time to write novels and have a family — they are very understanding and can all make their own sandwiches (not the novels; they are total freeloaders).
Hard Sells:
- Graphic violence, especially sexual violence, domestic violence, or suicide — please include content warnings at the top of your story.
- Stream of consciousness
- Super vague endings (I love ambiguity, but don’t want to be left wondering wtf I just read)
- Racism, sexism, homo- and transphobia are unacceptable themes, but may be all right within the story (especially if those are your margins and you’re exploring your reality in fiction) — please include content warnings at the top of your story.
- Clichés
- Beautiful, deliberate writing
- Time loops
- Fun use of form, including “found footage” stories
- Friendship, feminism, found family
- Endings that make me rethink the story and/or immediately read it again with new context
- Tropes
- The Hulder’s Husband Says Don’t by Kate Lechler
- Giants by Allison Mulder
- Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math by Aimee Picchi
- Space-Time by Stella Lei
- Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine by Maria Haskins
- You Called Me by Avra Margariti
- A Case for De-Extinction at the End of the World by Lyndsie Manusos
- Bone Deep by K.C. Mead-Brewer
- From the Journal of Sawyer L. Gibbs, Hero, Aged 13 ½ by Premee Mohamed
- Untitled [daycare worker at the end of the world] by bixbythemartian
- Unknown Number by Blue Neustifter
Book Submissions
Call for Nonfiction Proposals - Open
Interstellar Flight Press is accepting submissions of book-length nonfiction manuscripts. We invite scholars of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres to submit proposals via our submission form. Our areas of focus are: Books about SFF genres, writing speculative fiction, poetry, film, comics, pop culture, diverse and marginalized voices, feminism, and disability, as long as these topics intersect with speculative genres. We are very interested in books from researchers outside the U.S. We also welcome collections of essays. Authors should be experienced in the field of SFF research.
Guidelines:
Interstellar Flight Press is accepting submissions of book-length nonfiction manuscripts. We invite scholars of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres to submit proposals via our submission form. Our areas of focus are: Books about SFF genres, writing speculative fiction, poetry, film, comics, pop culture, diverse and marginalized voices, feminism, and disability, as long as these topics intersect with speculative genres. We are very interested in books from researchers outside the U.S. We also welcome collections of essays. Authors should be experienced in the field of SFF research.
Guidelines:
- Full-length books 30,000-125,000 words.
- Please use our Proposal Format to prepare your submission.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions are allowed.
- If your book is in-progress, please include a delivery schedule in your proposal.
We are keen to publish new authors as well as to hear from more established authors. As always, we love hearing from authors from underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities.
All of our books receive a full marketing plan and are printed in paperback formats, as well as distribution as eBook. We consider publishing a collaboration and pay 30-40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Depending on the project, we may also offer an advance. We ask for exclusive world English rights and audio rights (for novellas). We believe in transparency. If you would like to see a sample of our contract, we encourage you to email us at contact (at) interstellarflightpress (dot) com.
Our turnaround time around three months, although it may vary depending on the call. You may query if you haven't heard from us after 90 days.
All of our books receive a full marketing plan and are printed in paperback formats, as well as distribution as eBook. We consider publishing a collaboration and pay 30-40% of all Publisher’s Net Receipts to the author as royalties. Depending on the project, we may also offer an advance. We ask for exclusive world English rights and audio rights (for novellas). We believe in transparency. If you would like to see a sample of our contract, we encourage you to email us at contact (at) interstellarflightpress (dot) com.
Our turnaround time around three months, although it may vary depending on the call. You may query if you haven't heard from us after 90 days.
Previous Submission Calls
Call for Horror Novellas - Closed
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Lee Murray.
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Lee Murray.
Call for Short Story Collections - Closed
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
Call for BIPOC Novellas - Closed
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Premee Mohamed.
This submission call is now closed. All submissions have been responded to. Our guest editor for this call was Premee Mohamed.
Call for Flash Fiction from BIPOC - Closed
Our 2020 Alternate Endings Submission call has closed. You can read the accepted pieces for this call on our website. Our Guest Editor for this call was Jamileh Jemison.
Our 2020 Alternate Endings Submission call has closed. You can read the accepted pieces for this call on our website. Our Guest Editor for this call was Jamileh Jemison.
Chapbooks & Poetry Collections - Closed
Interstellar Flight Press is currently closed to poetry book submissions. Our Guest Editor for this call was Saba Razvi. All submissions from our 2019 call have been responded to.
Interstellar Flight Press is currently closed to poetry book submissions. Our Guest Editor for this call was Saba Razvi. All submissions from our 2019 call have been responded to.
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