The next submissions window will be:
Mon 6th January 2025 to Sun 12th Jan 2025
It’s an open call, no theme, so prepare your favourite piece – make it shine!
The submissions link is at the bottom of this page
Also:
Cymera /Shoreline of Infinity/ SF Caledonia short story competition for Scottish writers 2025. That’s for Science fiction, fantasy, horror or all three in one. Closing date: 8th March 2025.
For details visit Cymera Competition.
—Editorial Team
What we are looking for
First, we strongly suggest you read a copy of Shoreline of Infinity to see the kind of stories we, and our readers like. You can download a copy or order a print copy from the Shoreline Shop.
We are looking for engaging science fiction, stories that give reality a tweak on the nose – an idea that makes us stop and think.
The stories we publish are both entertaining and challenging, exploring the world both as it is and as it could be. We want to push the boundaries of the genre, while maintaining a link to its rich and global history. We publish everything from high-concept, “literary” SF to pulp-style adventure, sometimes all at once!
We are particularly interested in seeing work from authors of backgrounds underrepresented in the Western science fiction canon, and authors from outside the anglophone West.
If English is not your first language, please let us know and we will keep that in mind while reading your story. If an acceptance from us would be your first fiction publication, please also let us know – we’re always keen to publish new voices! Finally, please let us know if you have personal experience relevant to the content of your story, for example if you are a neuroscientist and your story is about neuroscience, if you are disabled and writing about a disabled protagonist, etc.— but do not feel obliged to share any information you’re not comfortable with.
The following are hard sells for us:
- Stories with no discernible science fictional element (I love fantasy and other speculative genres, but this is a sci fi mag!)
- Unchallenged bigotry (we love fiction that interrogates social issues, as long as it actually interrogates them)
- Violent revenge fantasies, especially from the POV of a male character
Remember, we want stories that broaden our horizons and make us look beyond the Shoreline.
Length
A maximum of 6,000 words.
What we Offer and Rights
We offer £20/1000 words.
We retain the right to continue selling back issues of Shoreline of Infinity and Shoreline anthologies containing your story (a reprint fee is paid for republishing in collections).
For original stories, or for reprints published in another language, we buy first digital, print and audio world rights in English, but after 9 months of original publication (digital or print), you are free to publish how or wherever you like. However, it would be splendid if you could acknowledge first publication in Shoreline of Infinity. We also ask for audio rights.
What to Submit
We accept simultaneous submissions, but do tell us immediately if you want to withdraw a submission. Submit a neatly formatted manuscript set in Times 12 point and double spaced in Microsoft Word format ( doc/docx). Please use the submission process here – emailed manuscripts will be ignored.
Submit only one story per call.
Response Time
We will reply as soon as we can after your submission, but do contact us if you have not heard within 3 months. We know what it’s like to be kept waiting, but we are only human (mostly).
We receive a large number of submissions, so please be patient.