Open Calls 2026
OPEN SUBMISSION CALLS FOR SHORT FICTION, RACONTEUR PRESS, 2026
Guidelines for all our anthologies (psst! this is important!):
5,000 to 8,000 words. Length should be close to the wordcount bracket! Genre is negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept and is entertaining. Any submission must be in Times New Roman (preferred, but you can use Georgia or other readable font), 12PT, double-spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email in the document. Name the file as [STORYTITLE]-[YOURLASTNAME]—[ANTHOLOGYTITLE]. Send it in a .docx format as an attachment—no links. Refer to the submission guideline graphic below for how to format your story—It has all the information you need!
Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication; after one year, the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all the authors. We’re all in this together. This is why our anthologies are limited to ten stories.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE do NOT submit stories until the date the call opens. We don’t want to hang on to your piece for longer than necessary. You might find another market for it, or it decides to grow into a novel, or...so go ahead and write it, but tuck it away, and revisit it before submitting.
Raconteur Press uses Pubshare (pubshare.com) to distribute payments and handle tax forms for anthology authors, so authors who contribute must have a free Pubshare account.
IMPORTANT: when you set up your Pubshare account, you MUST choose the method by which you want to receive your royalties. There are currently two choices: PayPal at the beginning of each month, or paper cheque each quarter. BE SURE that you have chosen a method of payment and input the required information. If you don’t, Pubshare will hang onto your royalties until you choose a method of payment and input the required information.
DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION IMPORTANT: One story submission per anthology. And the counting of submissions shall be one submission. The number of submissions shall not be two. Three is right out.
Submit to: racpresssubmissions[at]gmail.com
Questions about our publishing schedules can be addressed to Production[at]raconteurpress.com.
Insert Coin
Edited by David Badurina
CLOSED
Publication Date: 01/02/26
Insert Coin harkens back to retro arcades, digital adventures, and pockets full of quarters on a sweaty Saturday night with a group of friends. Looking for stories that have high adventure and show real stakes. Mild horror elements would be fine. Friends surviving, very real injuries, clever moments where the big boss is conquered through wit and ingenuity. The games can be anything – space oriented, sword-and-sorcery, sports, spies, traversing jungles with dangerous animals, etc. Authors should be inventive with wild games and great adventures. It’s not all fun and games, so do your homework!
Plasma Pulp: Lost Worlds
Edited by LawDog
CLOSED
Publication Date: 01/23/26
Ultronic supersonic tales of retro-future adventure! We’re looking for science fiction pulpy goodness hearkening back to Flash Gordon and John Carter of Mars! Evil intergalactic warlords face off against raygun-slinging heroes! Sword and planet adventures! Swashbuckling action in exotic vistas. Rediscovering worlds thought lost to time. Fast-paced stories of humans persevering on potentially dangerous planets with their wits and pistols! You can call it raypunk, if you like—we’re calling it Plasma Pulp!
Pogue, Too
Edited by Liska McCabe
CLOSED
Contracts: 01/16/2026
Publication Date: 02/20/26
Attention to orders!
Throughout human space, grunts in power armor get all the glory. YAWN! This anthology is about all the troops in support of those guys. Send us stories about orbital cargo shuttle drivers, the bulk fuelers, logistical ninjas, ordnance types, the mechanics who work on the giant stompy mechas. Somewhere among them is the admin guy who is screwing up all their pay. Stand by for Pogue, Too. Do your homework, soldier!
Mad Science! Bits & Pieces
Edited by Dave Freer
Open Call date: 12/12/2025
Submissions Close: 01/23/2026
Contracts: 02/06/2026
Publication Date: 03/13/26
Stories exploring fringe science and its consequences. Unhinged researchers push the boundaries of our perception of reality. Clone armies! Eccentric experiments! Doomsday devices! Flip the switch! Push the button! It’s Alive! What have we done? Remember, no mad scientist ever got anywhere without first doing their homework!
Auntie Heroes
Edited by Rita Beeman
Open Call date: 01/16/2026
Submissions Close: 02/27/2026
Contracts: 03/13/2026
Publication Date: 04/17/26
Insane cat lady fights bad guys and solves crime! Golden Girls vs Cthulhu! Betty White saves the day! Stories of aunties in dynamic, exciting adventures. Little old grannies living in cozy urban fantasy worlds, with buckshot. These heroes aren’t your run-of-the-mill saviors—they’re Auntie Heroes.
Crashed Landings
Edited by David Badurina
Open Call date: 01/30/2026
Submissions Close: 03/13/2026
Contracts: 03/27/2026
Publication Date: 05/01/26
"Crashed Landings" is an homage to that mysterious meteor strike in the small-town woods. Our teenage adventurers see the flash of light in the sky, immediately get on their walkie talkies to check if their friends have seen it, and decide to escape out of bedroom windows to investigate...
Maybe it was a meteor? Maybe it was more? Maybe you should do your homework!
For Want of a Nail…
Edited by Bart Kemper
Open Call date: 02/20/2026
Submissions Close: 04/03/2026
Contracts: 04/17/20026
Publication Date: 05/22/26
An alternate history anthology for all you rivet counters out there! Divergence from history, but with hard clear lines to keep it from being confusing. Counterfactual stories of those pivotal moments in history. More description coming soon!
The Muse Within Us
Edited by Wally Waltner
Open Call date: 03/06/2026
Submissions Close: 04/17/2026
Contracts: 05/01/2026
Publication Date: 06/05/26
Stories where the act of creation itself becomes unearthly. Tales in which a painting, sculpture, song, manuscript, poem, or any creative impulse is touched—or possessed—by supernatural forces. Tell us about people whose inspiration springs from uncanny sources: muse spirits, cursed artifacts, spectral patrons, cosmic whispers, haunted landscapes, or otherworldly entities. Show us the muse within—and what it demands.
Pet Monsters
Edited by David Badurina
Open Call date: 04/03/2026
Submissions Close: 05/15/2026
Contracts: 05/29/2026
Publication Date: 07/03/26
Pet Monsters plays on the classic "Mom, can I keep it?" question. Some strange creature – an under-the-bed monster, critters hiding in the garage, or secret basement friends – end up discovered by our wide-eyed protagonist, but that new pet may not be housebroken.
Wyrd Warfare 3
Edited by Chris DiNote
Open Call date: 04/17/2026
Submissions Close: 05/29/2026
Contracts: 06/12/2026
Publication Date: 07/17/26
More Combat! More arcane action! More war and wizardry! Still wyrd! Join warfighters from across all time and space for one more journey into the strange and unknown. Psychic soldiers and angelic apparitions. Will an alien invasion unite East and West? Nations beg for the aid of supernatural allies, but at what price? Rebels and mercenaries aren't the only threats in post-colonial Africa. Lost submarines "still on patrol." Nice fleet you have there, be a shame if some old sea god got mad about it…
Buck Yeah!
Edited by D. Jason Fleming
Open Call date: 05/22/2026
Submissions Close: 07/03/2026
Contracts: 07/17/2026
Publication Date: 08/21/2026
Buck Rogers enters the public domain this year! We’re looking for new tales from the Buck Rogers universe. Rocket ships! Astonishing adventures 500 years into the future! Anti-gravity belts, rocket guns, disintegration beams!
The Spy Who Conjured Me
Edited by Cedar Sanderson
Open Call date: 06/19/2026
Submissions Close: 07/31/2026
Contracts: 08/14/2026
Publication Date: 09/18/2026
The Cold War was not just between the US and USSR, but literally between the side of angels and the side of demons. A spy planting a haunted listening device in an enemy embassy finds that the ghost inside it has his own ideas. Codewords that are also magic spells, assassins using curses, and undead drops. Espionage with magical elements.
Hold-My-Beer Heroes
Edited by David Badurina
Open Call date: 07/03/2026
Submissions Close: 08/14/2026
Contracts: 08/28/2026
Publication Date: 10/02/2026
Hold-My-Beer Heroes plays with the "superiority theory" concept of comedy. The author and the reader are in on the joke of the overconfident everyman thrust into a situation they have no business surviving, but somehow manage to end up winning the day. The ever- predictable train-wreck unfolds in real time.
Giant Killer Kaiju
Edited by Rob Howell
Open Call date: 07/24/2026
Submissions Close: 09/04/2026
Contracts: 09/18/2026
Publication Date: 10/23/2026
“History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man…”
!避難してください
“Daishikyuu hinan shite kudasai!” Take shelter, please! The kaiju are back and ready to rumble. See mankind’s desperate defenders pull out all the stops before there’s no planet Earth left! Wonder at the sheer size and power of all manner of giant beasts! Ponder the mysteries of time and space, like how do these things get around the inverse square law?
The Wyrd, Wyrd, World of Sports
Edited by Liska McCabe
Open Call date: 08/21/2026
Submissions Close: 10/02/2026
Contracts: 10/16/2026
Publication Date: 11/20/2026
Take me out to the ballgame, take me up through the clouds… Put a cursed jersey upon my back, I don’t care if it turns my soul black! It’s a friendly game or a death match. Magic is part of the dream. You have one, two, three wishes left for the Wyrd Sports team!
Deep Blue
Edited by Bart Kemper
Open Call date: 10/01/2026
Submissions Close: 11/12/2026
Contracts: 11/26/2026
Publication Date: 12/15/2026
Hard science. The cutting edge of technology: that’s what humanity will need to explore what lies in the depths of the ocean. The blue waters give way to the black the deeper you go, and the pressure will kill you faster than the lack of oxygen. More description coming soon!
