Call for Submissions: Embrace the Weird and Wacky
Welcome to Borderline Tales, where the strange, the bizarre, and the wonderfully unconventional come to life. We are on the hunt for the weirdest and wackiest pieces of literature and poetry, and we invite you to take us on a journey beyond the boundaries of the ordinary.
What We’re Looking For
At Borderline Tales, we celebrate the fantastical and the eerie. We are passionate about speculative fiction and seek submissions in the following genres:
- Fantasy: Unleash your imagination and transport us to magical realms filled with extraordinary creatures and epic adventures.
- Horror: Send shivers down our spines with tales that explore the darker side of the human experience and the supernatural.
- Science Fiction: Take us to the future, to distant galaxies, and alternate realities where science and technology shape new worlds.
- Creative Nonfiction: Share true stories with a twist – narratives that defy convention and offer a fresh perspective on reality.
- Humor: Make us laugh with quirky, offbeat, and absurd tales that bring a smile to our faces and a chuckle to our hearts.
- Non-Fiction: We’re also interested in non-fiction pieces that promise to be weird – essays, memoirs, and articles that delve into the peculiar and the strange.
Submission Guidelines
We encourage you to push the limits and let your creativity run wild. Here are some tips for submitting your work to Borderline Tales:
- Originality: We value originality and fresh perspectives. Give us stories and poems that we haven’t seen before. We are open to previously-published work, but please make this known in your submission.
- Simultaneous Submissions: We do allow for simultaneous submissions, but we do ask that you let us know and update us if your work is chosen to be published elsewhere.
- Quality: While we love the weird and wacky, we also appreciate well-crafted prose and poetry. Pay attention to detail and polish your work before submitting.
- Length: Flash fiction up to 1000 words. Short stories should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words. Poetry submissions can include up to 1 page or 250 words. For non-fiction, pieces that reflect our vision are welcomed up to 4,000 words. Longer pieces may be submitted for the website.
- Format: Please submit your work in a Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF format. Use a standard font and size for readability.
What You Get
Free Advertising: Gain exposure through our platform with free advertising for your work.
Publishing Opportunity: Get your unique stories and poems published in our new magazine.
Free Digital Copy: Receive a complimentary digital copy of the issue featuring your work.
Highlight: Each issue will highlight a chosen piece which will be rewarded with a cash prize.
Future Funding: We are actively working on securing funding to offer paid submissions for future issues and adding physical prints.
Past submitters are encouraged to resubmit their pieces to take advantage of these planned future changes.
How to Submit
Send your submissions to this Google Form. We aim to respond to all submissions within 2 months.
What to Know After you Submit
Ownership and Rights Retention
The author retains full copyright and ownership of their work. By submitting to Borderline Tales, the author grants Borderline Tales the right to be the first to publish the work.
Exclusivity
The author agrees not to publish the submitted work elsewhere prior to its publication in Borderline Tales. This exclusivity period begins upon acceptance of the work and ends upon its official publication in Borderline Tales.
Post-Publication Rights
After publication in Borderline Tales, the author is free to publish the work elsewhere, provided that Borderline Tales is credited as the original place of publication.
The author grants Borderline Tales the non-exclusive right to archive and display the work online on our website and associated digital platforms after the release of the subsequent issue.
Reprints and Anthologies
The author grants Borderline Tales the right to include the work in any future anthologies or special editions. The author will be notified and credited appropriately if the work is selected for such purposes.
Right to Edit
The magazine reserves the right to make minor edits to the work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity, while significant edits require author approval.
Author’s Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges and agrees to these terms upon acceptance of their work for publication in Borderline Tales.
Join Us on This Adventure
We are excited to discover new voices and unique stories that challenge the norms and venture into the unknown. If you have a story, poem, or essay that fits our vision, we want to hear from you. Let’s embrace the weird and wacky together!