The Skull and Laurel is a quarterly magazine of New Weird short fiction. A more detailed explanation of the type of stories we publish at Tenebrous Press can be found here, but essentially we are looking for speculative fiction that is genre-fluid and modern in its themes, subtext, characters, techniques, or form. Horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories are welcome so long as they are dark and Weird with a capital W. If your story is speculative and either blends genres or refuses to fit neatly within their confines, we want to read it. Our goal is to publish strange and brave new stories told by people you may have never otherwise met.
Submission Guidelines for Skull and Laurel
This round open until: May 31st 2024
Genres and forms: Weird Horror, Dark Fantasy, Dark Science Fiction. Short Fiction, Narrative Poetry. We also encourage trying us with things like comic strips, mixed media, found footage, puzzles, games, experiments, and other weird forms, as long as they tell a story.
Word count: 100 to 7499 words
Payment: 3c/word (USD) originals; $25 (USD) reprints
Reprints: Yes
Simultaneous Submissions: Yes
Multiple submissions: Please submit no more than one original story and one reprint at a time (one of each is fine).
Translations: Translations are welcome as long as the story has not yet been published in English.
Target Age Group: Mature audiences
AI Disclaimer: Machine/AI-generated content is explicitly forbidden. Authors and artists should anticipate contracts declaring that no part of their submission was machine/AI-generated. Those who submit machine/AI-generated content will be permanently blacklisted.
Rights: World English first rights in print, electronic, and ebook, including a six-month exclusivity period. For reprints, World English reprint in print, electronic, and ebook, no exclusivity. All copyright belongs to the author.
Estimated response time: 1-3 months. All submissions will be responded to.
Diversity: Marginalized and first-time authors and artists are emphatically welcomed. Disclosure is not mandatory for anyone, but we do enjoy knowing if you’ve never been published before, use English as a second language, or have any personal relationship with your work.
Special Goal: For the first issue of the magazine, we will be looking to accept ONE wolf-themed story written by a European ESL writer.
For the second issue of the magazine, we will be looking to accept ONE Minotaur-themed story written by a Greek writer.
The theme connections can be vague, but the author does need to disclose that they fit the demographic for this.
If you submit a SPECIAL GOAL STORY that will not count against your ‘one of each’ rule, so you can still submit an original and a reprint.
You can submit these at any time during the open period.
Cover Letter: All we need is a short bio, 100 words or less; your pronouns; and any warnings or other info you need us to know.
Format: Any standard manuscript text format will suffice so long as your submission is readable. No preferences on things like font etc.
For weird formatting or submissions that contain images such as comics or mixed media, please create a shareable PDF in a medium-to-low quality.
Home address and legal name are not necessary and we’d prefer not to receive them.
Submit your work here.
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