Call for Submissions: Hearth Stories

Reading periods/When to send

Submissions will be open as follows: March 1st–31st (closing at 10pm PST on the 31st), for a June release
September 1st–30th (closing at 10pm PST on the 30th), for a December release

Write to us at:

hearthstories@protonmail.com

What to send

Hearth Stories publishes speculative fiction (fantasy & science-fiction in our case) slice-of-life stories with a focus on connection, family, relationships, comfort, and the natural world (we love stories prominently featuring nature, as opposed to tech).

We accept works from 1,000 words up to 10,000. However, the ideal length may be something in the 1,500-3,500 word range. We do not currently accept poetry, non-fiction, or non-speculative work (there needs to be a fantasy or science fiction element present in the work).

Some things we like: 

• Cozy, sweet, cute, kind, hopeful stories

• Caregiving, parenting, friendship, romance, and partnership stories

• Rural/pastoral life and less technologically advanced settings

• Works that take place in nature

• Stories involving food and cooking. However, we are vegan; stories that feature animal products may result in a pass on the story or a request for removal of the animal products

• Stories involving hermits, issolated places, or wandering in the woods

• Bonus points for stories backed by vegan, anarchist, eco-conscious, and anti-capitalist themes (while still fitting the above)

You may notice that none of those things have anything to do with science fiction or fantasy. We would like speculative stories with the above themes and settings. We are very into slice of life stories, the ruralism of Richard Jefferies (ruralism in general, extending to so-called “cottagecore”), and stories in general that take place in wooded places. We like witches and magic, new world stories (usually terraformed planets), alien worlds, and the small adventures of daily life. We accept simultaneous submissions (but we do not accept multiple submissions at the same time, unless specifically requested).

What not to send

Please review the what to send section, as it is a better guiding light for what we are looking for than a list of negatives. However, there are a few specific things we do not want:

Do not send

• AI generated content (the contract will include this stipulation)

• Works featuring violence, threat of violence, war, military themes, or combat

• Graphic sexual content. We accept sexual content up to a point, but PG-13 or so is the best fit

• Pieces that we have already passed on, unless very significant rewrites have occured

• High technology settings, or stories that rely on lots of tech. Science fiction settings are great but ones that rely on a lot of technology as a central focus of the story don't work great for what we are going for

• Christmas stories. I'm not sure why we get so many of these. We aren't interested

• Works that are more or less straight retellings/adaptations of traditional stories (fables, fairy tales, legends, world mythology). That said, feel free to use witches, ghosts, vampires, faeries, etc in your stories

• Reprints or translations

Pay scale

Authors deserve to be paid for their work, even by a magazine that professes itself to be non-commercial. As such we offer 1¢ per word for accepted stories (with a minimum of $20 regardless of length). We would love to be able to offer more, but we are not bringing in any money to offset the cost and the given amounts are what we, as individuals, can bear financially to support authors while continuing to release the magazine.

More information here.