Incensepunk Magazine: Short Fiction Free

Guidelines

Length

About 4,000 to 6,000 words

Pay

$100, plus lifetime “paid” subscription to Incensepunk Magazine. Stories included in annual anthology also receive pro-rata share of 50% of profits (each story’s author receiving a share from that 50% proportioned by the length of their contribution to the total length of the book) and a print copy of the anthology. See the sample contract for details.

Rights

First digital print plus one-time non-exclusive digital and print rights (for the annual anthology).

Formatting

We aren’t too picky on formatting, but don’t try to get clever with it - Substack, where the magazine is hosted, is designed to send posts as emails, which means formatting is more or less barebones. Bold/italics/underlines, special characters, and horizontal rule/divider work fine, but multiple fonts, indenting, tables, etc., are no-go.

What We Want to See

• Sci-fi worlds that embrace the breadth of human religion
• Complex characters that experience doubt as well as faith
• Compelling journeys, whether metaphysical or adventurous
• A light at the end of the tunnel, even if the way there is fraught
• Thoughtful re-imagining of religious aesthetics in future settings.

• Apologetics or sermonizing on any particular faith
• Made-up religions or unstructured spirituality
• Characters who are walking exemplars of their church
• Bashing other religions or the non-religious
• Transparent allegories of contemporary political issues

A few additional tips to keep in mind:

• Read the Incensepunk Manifesto to find out if your story is a good fit.
• AI-generated content is not accepted.
• If you do not hear from us after three months, feel free to send a follow-up query.
• Here’s a preview of our contract. Note that this is just a sample; actual contract may vary slightly.

We accept reprints at a flat rate of $25 per story.

For reprints, we only ask for one-time digital publication rights. Be sure that you have the rights to republish before submitting.