Call for Submissions on Theme of "Regret": Flash Fiction Online

Flash Fiction Online is seeking submissions for an issue exploring the theme of REGRET, scheduled for January 2026. The guest editor for this issue is award-winning author Ai Jiang. Hailing from Changle, Fujian, and currently residing in Toronto, Ontario, Ai Jiang is an Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, as well as a Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist. We're happy to be welcoming her to our team for this special issue! And now for the details…

What We're Looking For:

You can't get stuck in the past forever, but too often we don't make space for moments of reflection about what could have been. How could we do better? Be better? Will knowing conclusions change our decisions? Regrets, both small and large, are what drive our self-improvement, especially at the beginning of a new year. And sometimes, it’s the lack of regrets that results in the greatest of consequences, throwing us down vicious cycles where nothing is ever learned or realized. (Some key words for inspiration: Melancholy, Reflection, Reconciliation, Realization, Reminiscence, Rememory, Vicious cycles, Guilt, Acceptance)

Stories that have the feel of what we're looking for include: 

“Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes 

“Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self” by Isabel J. Kim

“Bone-Eater Earth” by Emma Burnett

All stories submitted through this page must fit the theme! If you have a story that doesn’t fit this theme, please submit to one of our regular submission calls.

WORD COUNT: 500-1,000 words. Because we are focused on flash fiction, this word count is firm.

GENRES: All genres – literary or speculative – as long as the story is flash fiction and fits the theme.

SCHEDULE:

This call will be open from July 1-31, 2025.

FFO reviews stories in two stages – a slush stage and a winnowing stage. In the slush round, first readers vote on stories to be passed forward. These top-tier stories are reviewed once a month in our "winnowing" round. If you submit later in the month, you may find yourself in the second winnowing round; however, final decisions on these second-round stories are generally made within 12 weeks from the date of submission.

Ebook release date: January 1, 2026

Each story then has its own release day on our website within the month of January.

ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: YES. Do not include your name, address, email, or other identifying information on your manuscript (header, byline, file name, etc). This allows our First Readers to evaluate your story based on the work alone.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS – YES

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS – NO, one story per author for this call

REPRINTS – NO

RE-SUBMISSIONS — NO, unless previously requested by the editorial staff.

PAYMENT & RIGHTS FOR ORIGINAL FICTION: For original (previously unpublished) fiction, Flash Fiction Online pays $100 per story for first electronic rights, with six months exclusivity, as well as a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the stories in an anthology. The author retains all other rights. Original stories must not have been previously published anywhere, including a blog or on Patreon. Payment is made via PayPal (preferred) or mailed as a check.

Submit your work here. 

Artist-in-Residence: Jalama Canyon Ranch

Application Deadline:

August 15, 2025

Residency Period:
October–December 2025

Residency Length:
4 weeks minimum, with flexible options up to 3 months

Eligible Disciplines:

 

Open to artists across all mediums—illustration, painting, architecture, sculpture, fiber arts, ceramics, photography, music, dance, creative writing, poetry, and beyond.

Support Provided:

 

Cozy onsite cabin and outdoor kitchen

 

Food and materials stipend

 

Travel reimbursement

 

Access to working landscapes and creative spaces

Public Engagement Expectation:

 

Each artist will collaborate with WBLT to co-create at least one community engagement offering and one educational activity during their residency.

Completed Works:

 

Artists retain full ownership and copyright of their work. WBLT will request limited rights to share and display documentation for educational and promotional purposes.

More information and application portal here.

Call for Pitches from UK Writers: The Bee

Between Monday 14th July and Monday 11th August (deadline 4pm) we’ll be considering suggestions for new pieces of writing for the Bee. If you’re a writer from a working-class background and have an idea for something you would like to write for the Bee, we’d love to hear from you.

We are looking for fiction (any genre), narrative non-fiction, non-fiction and journalism that captures something about being working class in Britain in 2025. This could be a feeling, or something you observe, or an experience. We’re particularly interested in stories about joy, community and hope. Your story can be any length from 500 to 3,000 words. It could be anything from a description of something to a short story.

If we select your story for publication you’ll work with the Bee’s editor Richard Benson to write your piece, and it will be published on the Bee website. We’ll pay you according to our pay rates. We’ll also consider your piece for our print magazine.

We know that there are a diverse range of working-class experiences across the UK and we are keen to hear from all working-class identities. You don’t need to have been published anywhere before to submit, and you can be at any stage of your writing career.

If you have an idea you would like to write about, you should submit it via our Airtable form. We will ask you to send us:A pitch of up to 300 words for what you would like to write about for the Bee, and why you think it would be right for us. There’s some advice on writing pitches in the FAQs below.

A 500-word sample of writing you’ve done before, so we can see what your work is like. This doesn’t have to have been published anywhere, and doesn’t need to be the same style or topic as your pitch.
A brief biography of yourself of a maximum of 100 words, mentioning any previous writing experience.

Everyone who sends us an idea will hear back from us with a decision by Friday 7th November.
Submit Your Work

More information here. 

Writing Competition: Best Spiritual Literature Awards: Orison Books

Each year from May 1 – August 1 we accept entries of unpublished single works in three genres (fiction, nonfiction, & poetry) for consideration for The Best Spiritual Literature Awards. The winner in each genre will receive a $500 cash prize as well as publication in Best Spiritual Literature, an annual collection of the finest spiritually engaged writing from a broad and inclusive range of perspectives that appeared in periodicals the preceding year. (The unpublished work selected for The Best Spiritual Literature Awards will be featured alongside the reprinted material.)

Submit up to 3 poems (10 pp. max), 1 story (up to 8,000 words), or 1 work of nonfiction (up to 8,000 words). Simultaneous submissions are accepted. You may submit in multiple genres, and/or submit multiple entries in each genre.

Entry Fee: $12

Submission Period: May 1 – August 1

Judges: Yehoshua November (poetry), Athena Dixon (nonfiction), and Halle Hill (fiction)

Submit your entry here. 

Call for Submissions from Women on Theme of "Divorce": Redacted

Redacted is an anonymous publication showcasing the stories of divorced women.

The Redacted weekly Substack column will feature anonymous personal essays about the author's experience with divorce as well as shorter form stories. A selection of longer form anonymous stories will be published as a print and digital anthology in 2026.

Writers can submit a personal essay to be considered for the Redacted Substack column and/or a forthcoming anthology, a one-sentence reflection for "Tiny Truths," or 300-word micro-essays for "Divorce Dispatches: Revelations and Reckonings."

Submission guidelines:

Subject matter: Any topic related to your personal experience with divorce

Submissions close July 31st, 2025

Anonymous personal essays for Substack column: 750-2000 words
Anonymous personal essays for print/digital anthology: 1000-3000 words
300-word micro-essays for Divorce Dispatches
1-sentence submissions for Tiny Truths

WRITERS MAY SUBMIT THE SAME ESSAY FOR CONSIDERATION IN BOTH SUBSTACK AND THE PRINT ANTHOLOGY, and are welcome to submit to more than one category at once.

Tell us about the day you left. Tell us about your mediation over Zoom, what it cost you to move or stay, how it feels to co-parent with your ex-husband, how you threw his toothbrush into the trash. Write about the moment you knew; write about the first anniversary; write about the audacity of his attorney or the passive aggressiveness of his mother. Tell us about his affair, or yours. Write about what it feels like to have "50/50" custody when you are parenting project manager. Tell us the secrets you have been carrying. Pour onto the page your rage, your shame, your grief, your glee, your ambivalence. Your story might be heartbreaking or hilarious or shocking or relatable. You might make us cringe or gasp or weep or burn with rage or nod our heads or write our senators. Write the story that has been weighing on you, and release what you have been holding. Tell us the truth, and know that none of your story will be redacted.

This publication welcomes perspectives from women, non-binary, transgender, and gender-diverse writers, excluding cis-gender men. Redacted will showcase unique voices, writing styles, and points of view—writers of all ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, and other diverse lived experiences are encouraged to submit.
Considerations before submitting:

As stated in the call for submissions, while Redacted is a safe space to process and share stories, submissions that are primarily a "rant" will not be selected. Essays should contain components of a fantastic story, including: A clear inner and outer story (what happened in the story, and how did you change?)
- A narrative arc—a clear beginning, middle, and end
- A combination of showing and telling
- A clear theme
- A strong narrative voice

Payment + Optional Reading Fee

Essays that are selected for publication in the anthology will be paid. Writers will receive $125 for their essays after publication.

It is my intention to eventually compensate ALL essay writers for the Substack column. As the project gains momentum, I will be able to pay writers regularly, but in the beginning, I am asking writers to indicate whether they would consider essay publication without payment. I understand this is not an option for all writers, but if you are in a position to waive payment for your Subtack essay, please indicate that on the form.

**Tiny Truths and Divorce Dispatches are unpaid publication opportunities.

Learn more about the origin of this project and subscribe for updates here.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Deluge-Drought": South 85 Journal

 

South 85 Journal is open for submissions June 15 through August 15, 2025, with a new theme: deluge | drought. We look forward to reading your work!

THEME ISSUE: DELUGE | DROUGHT 

Is less more? Is more too much? Can less be enough? Is more actually more? What has overwhelmed you? Underwhelmed you? When must we say, Stop? When do we beg, Keep going?

Where do we live? An environment of too much or not enough? Or both? Can we achieve balance or is our fate locked in the extremes?

Maximalist or minimalist…in possessions? Passions? Food? Drink? Love? Questions? Answers? Time? Flowers?

Inundate ~ overflow ~ drown ~ shortage ~ lack ~ parched. Rebirth. Destruction.
The possibilities are endless, and we want this theme to feel open to countless interpretation. As always, we’re eager to see what you come up with!

• Fiction submissions should be between 800 and 4000ish words. Please include word count. Flash fiction should be under 750ish words, submitted to the flash category. One story per submission.

• Nonfiction submissions should be no longer than 4000ish words. Please include the word count on your submission.

• Poetry submissions should contain no more than 3 poems, up to 6 total pages, one poem per page.

• Please send only one submission per category (Poetry, Fiction, Flash, and Non-Fiction) during each reading period. You are welcome to submit to multiple categories. We suggest including the title of your work in your file name.

• Submission fee = $3

• We will publish novel excerpts, provided they can stand on their own. We do not publish genre fiction or children’s stories. We encourage you to read archives of South 85 Journal and acquaint yourself with the material we publish before submitting your work. We encourage the use of a content warning if necessary, in consideration of our manuscript readers.

• Type should be no smaller than 12-pt. font. Please use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and refrain from script or “flowery” lettering.

• All work will be considered for our Editor’s Choice Award of $100, which be given to ONE piece in the issue.

• Submissions should be saved in Word or Rich Text format.

• Number pages consecutively, double space, and use margins of at least one inch.

• Place your name, email address, and word count in an upper corner of the first page.

• We do not solicit work; each published piece comes to us through Submittable.

• Converse MFA students, grads, and faculty are not permitted to submit work to South 85 Journal.

• Writers whose work has been published in the journal are asked to wait one issue before submitting to the journal again (i.e. your poem appeared in Spring/Summer 2025, so you’re cleared to submit again for the Spring/Summer 2026 issue and any after).

• We accept simultaneous submissions. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please promptly withdraw your piece via Submittable or email to withdraw individual poems: south85journal AT gmail DOT com.

Please include a professional bio of 50ish words written in the third person with your cover letter.

South 85 Journal does not publish work which has been previously published, either in print or online.

Our reply time is typically eight weeks or so. If AI has been used in the creation of the work, please indicate so.

We acquire exclusive first-time Internet rights only. All other rights revert to the author at publication, but we offer formal, written reassignments upon request. Works are also archived online. We are unable to pay for submissions, however thanks to an anonymous donor, ONE piece in the issue will be awarded the Editor’s Choice Award of $100. We ask that whenever an author reprints the work that first appeared in our pages, South 85 Journal be given acknowledgment for the specific work(s) involved.

Interviews: If you would like to conduct an interview with a literary writer with whose book has been published or is forthcoming within the last year or so, please send a query via email:

south85journal AT gmail DOT com

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions to Anthology: UNHOUSED-Yearning for Home

UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home’

Prolific Pulse Press’s background in publishing social justice anthologies, continues with ‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ – an anthology of poetry and flash-writing on the current epidemic of unhoused, homeless, stateless, and country-less people and how this lack of safety affects generations. We seek to highlight the writer’s resiliance and determination to survive and thrive whilst sharing their truth and experience(s).

This project shines a light on: Migration, asylum-seeking, illegal-and-legal-immigration, and other factors resulting in being without a home, national-identity, country, or security net. Whether you have immigrated and found yourself isolated and unable to fit into your adopted country’s identity, or lost status in a country you identify with, been out-of-status, living-below-the-radar, a Dreamer or undocumented, or forced to flee your homeland because of discrimination, war or other destabilizing forces, this is your opportunity to share your experiences on the hardships and often invisible struggles so many endure.

‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ will be edited by Carrie Yang and Candice Louisa Daquin. Carrie Yang works in the Homelessness and Employment services in Australia and is herself an immigrant. Candice Daquin is also an immigrant, currently in America, and has worked in crisis centers in the US/Europe and Canada. Their combined professional experience, alongside having produced over twenty anthologies, is the pulse behind this project. The editors are fortunate enough to work with Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld, Manager of Prolific Pulse Press LLC.

Given Prolific Pulse Press’s history of publishing exceptional anthologies, including Cadence (finalist in the American Writing Awards), Social Justice Inks, Dear Heart, and Heartbeats, our goal is to be a powerful platform for erased voices on this neglected and often inaccurately understood subject.

Submissions are also considered by concerned writers who wish to express themselves about the above mentioned concerns.

‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home,’ doesn’t seek to become mired in politics, but rather through the lens of human experience, help others comprehend the unique social and physical challenges surrounding this kind of limbo. Poetry and creative writing is an ideal vessel for this and we welcome all forms of poetry, flash-fiction and accompanying artwork. ‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ is scheduled to be published in early 2026.

Submit via Duotrope: Prolific Pulse Press LLC | Duotrope