Submission Status: Closed. Opening April 13th to May 17th.
What We Want
Fiction
Important note: The guidelines for fiction below are for Saros #6 only! Each issue’s guest editor will have their own set of guidelines, so be sure to read this section closely even if you’ve submitted in the past!
Nature made him, and then broke the mold. In the eighty-forth stanza of the tenth canto of the Orlando Furioso, Ludovico Ariosto gave the world a new idiom. For issue six of Saros, we want your stories of breaking the mold––of the idiosyncratic, of processes new and unrepeatable, of things so novel that there’s no going back.
- Stories between 1000-2,500 words relating to the Issue #6 theme of Breaking the Mold.
- We are also accepting pitches for one essay/non-fiction piece which fits our theme.
- Both original and previously published stories are welcome, though reprints should not currently be available to read for free anywhere online.
- Straightforward, character-driven narrative and more experimental story formats are equally welcome. Don’t self-reject.
- We are wholly uninterested in stories generated using any form of AI assistance. We are also uninterested in stories that celebrate racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, or other forms of bigotry.
Payment and Rights
- Payment is a $33 CAD flat rate, in addition to one print copy and all digital formats of the magazine issue containing your work.
- Our preferred method of payment is PayPal. If you live in a region where PayPal is not available, we will do our best to work with you and find an alternate method of payment.
- For original fiction, we purchase first world electronic and print rights in English, with an exclusivity period of 30 days from the date of publication. For reprints there is no exclusivity period. Copyright of both original and reprinted fiction remains with the author at all times.
About the Editor
Adam McPhee is a Canadian writer whose fiction has appeared in Old Moon Quarterly, Ahoy Comics, and has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. His book reviews have appeared in minor literature[s], Temz Review, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere. He writes the Substack newsletter Adam’s Notes, and lives in Alberta.
How To Submit
- We ask that you please remove identifying information from your manuscript for anonymous judging. Pitches need not be anonymized.
- Stories may be sent in RTF, DOC, DOCX file formats. Something approaching Shunn’s Modern Manuscript Format (12 point legible serif font such as Times New Roman, double spaced lines, page numbers, author’s byline and email address at the top left corner of the first page) is greatly appreciated.
- Please do not include your mailing address in your cover letter or manuscript, as we do not require this information unless we publish your story and need to send you a print contributor copy of the issue. If you publish under a pen name, we also do not need to know your legal name unless we accept your story (in which case we will need to know it for contract purposes).
- Please do include content notes at the top of your manuscript if applicable (e.g., warnings for sexual assault, self-harm, physical abuse, graphic violence, suicide, etc.).
- Please also include a brief cover letter stating your story’s title and word count as well as any other relevant information (e.g., noting that you, the author of a story about an audio engineer, have worked as an audio engineer). You may include a brief bio or list of a few previous publications if you wish; however, a lack of prior publications will not count against you.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please immediately withdraw your story from consideration if it is accepted elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions: please submit no more than one story at a time. If your story is rejected while the reading period is still open, you are welcome to submit again.
- Stories previously rejected from Saros Speculative Fiction or Fusion Fragment are welcome if they are relevant to this issue’s theme.
- Stories must be submitted through the Moksha submission system, which can be accessed by clicking here or on the image below. Stories sent to the email address above will be rejected unread.
- You will receive an automated email confirming receipt of your submission that will include a link where you can check your position in the queue. If you do not receive this email, you should email a query to amcphee@sarossf.com to make sure that your story has been received. (In some cases, you may need to whitelist moksha.io in your email settings.)
