Paying Fee-Free Literary Fiction

This magazine is for those days, when you work to keep up your eyelids, when the face of a friend overwhelms. It is light and small enough to hold with your body squeezed between heavy blankets. Blanket Gravity is notes to your friend in crisis, to yourself in the words you needed. This is a place for you to sit, then set aside and come back to. Because your life is important—you are essential and worthy of care…
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: to Token to Professional. Details: USD $40 per accepted piece.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 74.7 days.
Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in fiction.

Broad Ripple Review is an independent literary magazine publishing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We seek writing that is finely crafted and deeply felt, work that balances narrative movement with interior complexity and language shaped with intention and care. We are a selective journal, guided not by exclusivity but by care…
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: Unknown.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 22.2 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 1.3% of fiction submissions accepted.

The purpose of The First Line is to jump start the imagination-to help writers break through the block that is the blank page. Each issue contains short stories that stem from a common first line; it also provides a forum for discussing favorite first lines in literature. The First Line is an exercise in creativity for writers and a chance for readers to see how many different directions we can take when we start from the same place. All stories must be written with the first line provided…
Genres:   Open to all/most genres, including: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: Semi-pro. Details: USD $25-$50.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 52.9 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 4.8% of fiction submissions accepted.

The Georgia Review is the literary-cultural journal published out of the University of Georgia since 1947. While it began with a regional commitment, its scope has grown to include readers and writers throughout the U.S. and the world, who are brought together through the print journal as well as live programming…
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: Professional. Details: USD $50 per printed page, up to $800.
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 287.0 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 0.5% of fiction submissions accepted.

New Voices is open to any new and emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. You must not have a novel forthcoming at the time of submission. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of stories from new authors each month. Stories published in New Voices have been selected for The Best Small Fictions and Best of The Net anthologies…
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $100 for flash; $200 for longer stories.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 62.5 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 0.4% of fiction submissions accepted.

M E N A C E publishes work that encapsulates the dark, the transgressive, and the gross. While not strictly a space for the speculative, M E N A C E seeks the “literary weird”—work that would be rejected from big literary magazines for being too genre…
Genres:    General, Fantasy, Horror.
Lengths:    Flash Fiction, Short Story, Novelette.
Payment: to Token to Professional. Details: USD $50.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 8.5 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 1.5% of fiction submissions accepted.

This literary magazine is a ship. As a waterfowl, the merganser doesn’t quite belong anywhere; it exists in the water (where it hunts), in the air (where it flies), and on the ground (where it nests), in each place part-time. Radical empathy, hope, the thing with feathers. Art runs on authenticity and accessibility. It's down to Earth. And is also an escape to a world beyond.
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: Professional. Details: USD $0.08/word.
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 117.3 days.
Acceptances: Average. 7.1% of fiction submissions accepted.

A literary journal for the tramps, trampset publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We welcome diverse voices, including writers working outside academia. We welcome all tramps.
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $30.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 2.6 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 2.8% of fiction submissions accepted.

Vast strives to be an engaged literary press that explores the expansive human experience and celebrates complex, diverse voices. Our mission is to publish bold work, champion distinct artists, and cultivate literary community.
Genres: General.
Lengths:   Flash Fiction, Short Story.
Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $50.
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 102.5 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 4.2% of fiction submissions accepted.