We are currently CLOSED to fiction submissions. We open to submissions during our Summer Submission Window, April 1–30, and Winter Submission Window, December 1–31. We will close at a cap of 200 submissions per window. Please email your submissions with the headline “[Fiction/Art] Submission: [Story Title] by [Author Name] (Genre)” to backwaterweird@gmail.com. Submissions are free, but we offer paid expedited responses and editorial feedback.
Backwater Weird is seeking unpublished fiction including horror, weird fiction, and dark slipstream.
We publish small-town, suburban, and rural horror and weird fiction. Think intimate stories about strange remote locales, unhomely homes, uncanny familial encounters, cults and rituals, rural weirdness, friendliness with ulterior motives, backroads and woods, and warped everyday occurrences. We welcome stories that splice genre. Other subgenres we enjoy include body horror, folk horror, and elements of science fiction.
We do consider fiction without outright speculative elements, but all stories must be classifiable as weird, whether manifested in some inexplicable element or character perspective.
Simple slasher or killer stories are not for us. We are not interested in secondary world fantasy or hard science fiction. We are not a venue for extreme splatterpunk. We consider and appreciate transgressive fiction, but no erotica, and no gratuitous sexual violence.
We will NOT consider any submission generated or otherwise assisted by AI or other computer-generative writing tools, including, but not limited to, ChatGPT and Sudowrite’s Story Engine. AI-assisted submissions of any kind will result in a ban from future submissions.
We consider and encourage simultaneous submissions, but if your story is accepted elsewhere, please inform us immediately.
We do not accept multiple submissions at once. Please wait for a response before submitting another story. However, if the submission window is still open, you may submit another story immediately after receiving a rejection.
We do not consider reprints.
We do not consider poetry or prose poetry, excerpts from larger pieces, or revised resubmissions of stories we have rejected, unless we explicitly request one.
We are not currently open for non-fiction submissions, but are considering opening in the future.
Backwater Weird celebrates diversity and encourages submissions from writers of all ages, races, nationalities, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, and religions. We accept submissions from anywhere in the world. However, we prioritize Canadian, and particularly Atlantic Canadian, writers. We aim for each issue to be at least 50% Canadian.
We only consider stories in English. Translations are fine, so long as you have the rights to publish the work, and this would be the first English publication of your story.
We encourage and support submission from unpublished writers. Please let us know if this would be your first publication in your cover letter.
Maximum of 6000 words. Shorter stories preferred. We also consider flash fiction of 400–1200 words. But no, we do not mind if your story is a handful of words above or below our boundaries.
We believe in payment for all stories and artwork. We currently offer a flat rate of $10CAD for short stories, $5CAD for flash fiction, and $50CAD for cover art, but aim to increase our pay rates in the future. We pay via PayPal.
We purchase first world electronic publication rights (including audio rights), non-exclusive print rights (allowing us to include your work in any future print editions of the issue your work appeared in), and non-exclusive archival rights. We also request the right to share the title and excerpts of your piece on our social media channels.
The copyright of your work always remains your own.
We request 90-day exclusivity after publication, with exceptions for Best-Of anthologies, given you provide us with written notice. After this exclusivity period, if your work is reprinted elsewhere, we ask you credit Backwater Weird as the original publisher.
We aim to respond to submissions within 60 days, and typically sooner. If you have not heard back after ten weeks, please email backwaterweird@gmail.com with the subject line: “Query for [Story Title] by [Author].”
We aim to provide a small paragraph of personalized feedback on each submission, including what we liked and felt didn’t fully work for the purpose of authorial growth, establishing relationships with submitters, and helping writers’ chances of being published by us in the future. We believe you should get something out of submitting to us, whether accepted or not. The submission process for each story is always a learning experience, and we hope to provide an environment that reflects that.
If you would like to hear back quicker or receive more in-depth editorial feedback on your work, we offer expedited responses ($20CAD for a guarenteed 72-hour response) and a two-page feedback letter response ($30CAD for a regular response time with detailed, story-specific editorial feedback). We also offer both categories for $40CAD. When donating on Ko-Fi for editorial services, please include the name of the story you submitted and what service you are paying for in your message on the Ko-Fi payment.
We are open to art submissions year-round. We are looking for completed artworks for our issue covers. Please submit 1–3 pieces for consideration. Please do not pitch original art concepts for commission.
Please send submissions as jpg. or png. files in 5.5x8.5 inches. We may request .psd or .af files for accepted artwork if needed.
Selected cover artists will also have an in-depth interview with the editor-in-chief or art director via email or Teams call discussing your piece and artistic life for online publication preceding the release of the issue in which your work is featured.
Any AI-generated artwork will result in automatic rejection and ban from future submissions.
We will NOT consider any submission generated or otherwise assisted by AI or other computer-generative writing tools, including, but not limited to, ChatGPT and Sudowrite’s Story Engine.
AI-assisted submissions of any kind will result in a ban from future submissions.