Editor Interview: OTHERSIDE

SFFH by queer writers!

There are so many! Some of our favorite places to find great speculative short fiction are Small Wonders, Fusion Fragment, Heartlines Spec, FIYAH, Strange Horizons, and khoréo. We admire magazines like Clarkesworld and Beneath Ceaseless Skies for setting a standard we can aspire to: fast responses, ethical policies, and truly excellent stories. And (on top of the fact that they publish fantastic work) we wouldn't be here without the advice and support we've gotten from the folks behind Diabolical Plots and New Edge Sword & Sorcery. Lastly, if you're looking for queer speculative fiction, we're big fans of Neon Hemlock, and we're also super excited to see the return of Anathema and the launch of Fantabulosa! in 2026. We live in an amazing time for short fiction.. but it's also a really hard time to survive, as a small magazine. It's critically important to support the publishers you love.

Our favorite submissions are those that surprise us and those that make us feel something. Send us your strangest piece, your most beloved piece, the one that just can't seem to find a home anywhere else... especially if you're worried it might be "too queer" to find a home. Don't be afraid to take a risk! We're open regularly, so you can always try us with something new!

It's really hard to describe our ideal submission, because we love to be surprised! We rarely know exactly what we want until it lands in our queue. But the quickest way to our hearts is simple: read the guidelines carefully, don't use AI/LLMs to write your submission or your cover letter, and send us something you love. We receive a lot of submissions, so we're looking for stories and poems that will stick with us long after the first read.

We don't see many mistakes! One small tip: be sure to double-check the category of your submission, because we have separate portals for original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and reprints. And, to answer one frequently asked question: while we're only looking for work from 2SLGBTQIA+ authors, your submission doesn't have to include queer characters or content.

We don't care about cover letters! We usually read these last, after we've already read the submission itself. Simple is great ("Hi editors! Here's my story, thanks!" works perfectly fine) and, while you're welcome to list a few prior publication credits, that doesn't affect our decision-making whatsoever. We're always really excited to publish debut authors!

We have a big reading team, so the answer will vary depending on the reader. Some members of our team always read to the end while others can get a strong sense of a story's fit after a few pages. Every piece is read by at least two members of our team before we make a decision, and we think carefully about every submission.

Because we're looking to fill one issue at a time, we think a lot about fit. We want each issue to feel cohesive cover-to-cover, which means that we often have to decline incredible work because it's just not the right fit for a given issue. We also have to do a bit of juggling with word count sometimes: our budget only allows for a set number of words per issue, which leads to some very hard decisions.

We will sometimes offer authors detailed notes and an invitation to revise and resubmit. For accepted pieces, however, we offer fairly light edits (our production schedule doesn't allow for major revisions) and authors are welcome to reject any suggestions they'd like. We don't accept a piece if we wouldn't be willing to publish it as-is! The majority of our suggestions are small tweaks for clarity; we also do a few rounds of proofreading. Authors approve the text during the editing phase and also receive a proof copy of the issue shortly before release for their final approval.

Absolutely! We are enthusiastic champions of our writers, now and always! We nominate widely for awards.

We raised initial funds via a successful Kickstarter in 2025. We're primarily funded now via subscriptions on Patreon and elsewhere. We're also a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so we occasionally receive donations from generous readers who are excited about our mission!

Our editors are chronically online, so we do a whole lot of social media promotion! We're most active on Bluesky and Instagram, but you can find us just about everywhere @othersidespec. We also send out advance copies of each issue to reviewers and we submit work to awards and best-of anthologies. We're currently developing a street team program that we hope will help us connect with more readers and more bookstores!