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The Future Fire

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About

The Future Fire (TFF) is our flagship online magazine, always open to submissions of beautiful and useful short stories and poetry in Social-political and Progressive Speculative Fiction, Feminist SF, Queer SF, Eco SF, World SF and Cyberpunk, and an experiment in and celebration of new writing.

Want more insight into the editors' preferences? Read our interview with the editor(s).

Country of Publication & Year Established

International
Established in 2005

Publication Medium & Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication
Published 4 x per year

AI Policy

Unknown AI policy

Statistics Synopsis

Faster
The Future Fire's overall average response time is faster than most magazines.
More Challenging
The Future Fire's overall acceptance rate is lower than most magazines.
More Responsive
The Future Fire's overall rate of non-response is lower than most magazines.

Collapse section Fiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: All ethnic groups/populations, All genders, All sexual identities.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres, including:
General Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Women's Fiction
Fantasy Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Magic Realism, Weird/New Weird
Horror Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Gothic, Noir, Science Fiction Horror, Weird/New Weird
Mystery/Crime Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Noir
Science Fiction Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Cyberpunk, Dystopian, Mundane Science Fiction, Slipstream

Lengths:

Flash Fiction: Up to 1,000 words.
Short Story: 1,000 - 7,500 words.
Novelette: 7,500 - 15,000 words.
Novella: 15,000 - 17,500 words.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Dark, Experimental, Surrealist.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Nature/Environment: Environmental issues.
Politics/Political Science.
Sexuality/Gender: General, LGBTQ issues, Women/Female issues.
Society/Culture: General, Ethnicity/Race.

Payment:

Token payment (under 1 US cent per word) to Semi-pro payment (1-4.9 US cents per word) Pay ranges from Token payment to Semi-pro payment. Details: USD $10 for flash fiction; $20 for short stories.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Reprints: Reprints are allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are NOT allowed.
Media: Text.

Expand section Nonfiction Closed

Collapse section Poetry Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: All ethnic groups/populations, All genders, All sexual identities.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres, including:
General Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Women's Fiction
Fantasy Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Magic Realism, Weird/New Weird
Horror Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Gothic, Noir, Science Fiction Horror, Weird/New Weird
Mystery/Crime Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Noir
Science Fiction Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Cyberpunk, Dystopian, Mundane Science Fiction, Slipstream

Lengths:

Poem: Up to 100 lines.

Poetry Forms:

Open to all/most Forms.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Dark, Experimental, Surrealist.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Nature/Environment: Environmental issues.
Politics/Political Science.
Sexuality/Gender: General, LGBTQ issues, Women/Female issues.
Society/Culture: General, Ethnicity/Race.

Payment:

Semi-pro payment (US$5-49 per poem) Semi-pro payment. Details: USD $10.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Reprints: Reprints are allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are NOT allowed.
Media: Text.

Expand section Visual Art DNQ

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

The Future Fire Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

Filter:
Accuracy
We have received 103 reports from 77 different members within the past 12 months, not including pending responses (see below). The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.
Days Reported
0 min | 29.5 mean avg | 19.0 median | 123 max days (31.3 std dev)
Responses
97.09 %
Acceptances:
0.97 % of submissions accepted (68.0 avg. days per acceptance) | 1.30 % of submitters accepted Rejections are often underreported, which skews the statistics in favor of acceptances. Most publishers have a lower acceptance rate than indicated here.
Rejections:
96.12 % (29.8 avg. days per rejection) | 11.1 % personal, 66.7 % form, 22.2 % unspecified | 1.9 % shortlisted
Non-Responses
0.00 %
Lost/Returned:
-
Never Responded:
-
Withdrawals
2.91 % (1.3 avg. days per withdrawal)
Pending
3 responses are pending (5 min | 5.7 mean avg | 5.0 median | 7 max days waiting | 1.2 std dev) from 3 different members This only includes pending reports from people who have been active on Duotrope within the past 30 days

Other Information

The editors will try to make a decision within 42 days. (29.1 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 42 days.)
Do not query on the status of your submission before 42 days have passed.
Submissions are acknowledged within 2 days on average.
Most recent response reported was received on 31 Aug 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 24 Aug 2026.
Date compiled: 09 Sep 2026 22:26 UTC (2 hours, 7 minutes ago).
View report of recent responses from this project

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Before Submitting

We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is correct. It is not unusual for publications to evolve or close without notice. We do our best to keep up, but it isn't always possible. Duotrope listings do not imply endorsement or recommendation of the project being listed. Before submitting, you should use your own judgment to determine whether the project meets your standards.

  • Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
  • Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
  • Unless the publisher's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
  • Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 10 Aug 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.

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