Submissions
Welcome to our GALAXY’S EDGE SF & FANTASY ANTHOLOGY SERIES submission guidelines! If you are one of our longtime authors, or a new writer, you can submit previously unpublished fiction through our Moksha portal if it fits the current anthology’s theme.
THIS YEAR’S THEME
Our next Galaxy’s Edge anthology will be titled A Call of the Ocean, showcasing short stories about creatures and myths that live in the oceans and surrounding seas. Whether the stories are about mermaids, or selkies, or other magical beings existing in our world or on another, we’re primarily looking for fantasy or urban fantasy fiction. We will accept stories that have a hint of darkness or a science fiction element as long as the core substance of the story is fantastical. The editor will be very interested in stories that derive out of myths from diverse locations around the world, wanting to build an anthology of unique voices.
ANTHOLOGY THEME ACCOUNCEMENT
The next anthology theme will be announced on July 1, to give authors time to plan and write their stories.
WHEN TO SUBMIT
Our Moksha submissions portal will be open between September 1 and October 1.
PAYMENT
We pay 7 cents per word for new fiction.
CONTRIBUTOR COPIES
1 paper edition of the book will be sent to United States contributors, with an eBook edition sent to all international authors.
FICTION GUIDELINES
1. We only accept original short stories, not reprints. If your story has been previously published in a non-English language, but never in English, then we also accept English translations of foreign stories, as long as the English translation hasn’t been published before.
2. Maximum story length is 4,000 words.
3. No simultaneous submissions: If you submit your story to multiple venues, and another editor buys it unbeknownst to us when we have also read your submission to consider it for publication, it shows a lack of respect for both editors and the editorial process, and it wastes our time. Don’t be that person.
4. No multiple submissions: If we bought or rejected one of your stories for a previous anthology, we would love to see future submissions from you. However, please only submit one story per anthology call. It is not fair to the next author in line, patiently waiting for our response to their submission, if we are taking extra time to read multiple stories from one author. You are more likely to make a sale if you are singling out your best story, or a piece of fiction you believe is most suited to the anthology’s theme, rather than sending us your entire inventory.
5. No trunk stories: Please do not re-submit stories that have been previously rejected by our editor for prior publications they have worked on, even if you have made some substantial changes to the piece. Only re-submit a story if you have been specifically asked to do so by the editor.
6. Genre expectations: All submissions must match this year’s anthology theme, which often stipulate the genre expectations for that particular book. One year’s anthology theme might focus on fantasy stories and its subgenres, such urban fantasy. Another year’s anthology theme might focus more on science fiction stories and their subgenres, such as africanfuturism or space opera. Just know that whatever the anthology theme is, we do not publish horror stories, even if they do have a supernatural element. If you have a dark fantasy story, or a dystopian science fiction piece, send it our way—we’d love to read it—as long as the “dark” element doesn’t overpower the entire piece, turning it into a full-blown horror story.
7. Keep us from yawning: We get that authors want to write towards popular trends, but either put your own distinct twist on a familiar trope, catching our interest, or submit something completely unexpected. Above all, strive to be original, even if that challenges you to step outside of your comfort zone as a writer.
8. Please use our manuscript format: This goes without saying. Submissions that deviate from our standard format will be deleted.
MANUSCRIPT FORMAT
1. In the Moksha cover letter, please note the (sub)genre of your story, your country of origin, your native first language, and if your story is translated. (Please add the translator’s name, if applicable.) If you wish to add a little introduction to yourself or publishing history, do so, but do not write a synopsis of your story. We expect your fiction to speak for itself.
2. Please submit your story in a standard Word file format (.doc and .docx) or .rtf, with size 12 Times New Roman font, lines double spaced, with a clear capitalized title and byline at the start of your manuscript.
3. Underline all words intended to be italicized (which can be done through a simple search/replace reformatting step). This not only makes it clearer if blank spaces or punctuation has been wrongly italicized, but also helps the series editor who has a unique form of blindness that makes italicized words harder to read.
4. Above your title, on the top right corner of the first page of your manuscript, please add an approximate word count. On the top left, please add your legal name, pen name, phone number, and your address (physical and email), for contract/payment/mailing contributor copy purposes.
5. Please do NOT have a special title page attached to your manuscript, with specialized fonts or colors or images inserted. Ideally, your paragraphs should also be indented with margins, rather than using the tab key. Your apostrophes and quotation marks should be “smart” not straight, and there should be single spaces between sentences, not double spaces. As long as you fulfil the first four bullet points of our manuscript format, we will read your story…. But we will worship the editing gods if you complete the fifth!
SUBMISSION LINKS
To submit your story to our OPEN SUBMISSIONS portal, click here.
For authors OFFICIALLY INVITED TO WRITE a story, click here and use the password emailed to you to access your submissions portal.
Please use the Moksha portals only to submit your fiction. Fiction received at the magazine’s official email address, or the editor’s email address, will be automatically deleted!
RESPONSE TIME
We will respond to all submissions within three months. If you have not received a reply after four months, email submissions at galaxysedge dot com with the subject line “Submission Follow-Up” to inquire after the status of your story.
Good luck and happy writing!
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If you have not been professionally published before, feel free to also submit science fiction stories for consideration for THE MIKE RESNICK MEMORIAL AWARD for Best Science Fiction Short Story by a New Author. Submissions will be accepted between NOVEMBER 1ST and FEBRUARY 1ST, and you can find the guidelines and submit your story here.