Old Moon Quarterly are currently calling for submissions by Fiction and Poetry writers worldwide.
Old Moon publishes character-focused, weird sword-and-sorcery: stories of a dark and transgressive nature, set in a secondary or historical-paranormal (“our” reality, but with a twist, if you will) world, with a focus on rounded characters undergoing some sort of conflict, resolved (though not always successfully!) by the might of their main or mind.
They love stories that combine that sense of action and adventure with well-rounded characters who make us question our own realities and perceptions. They love to see the gothic, the baroque, the eldritch, and they love to see it hit with an axe.
Guidelines for Old Moon Quarterly Submissions
Characters: Old Moon wants defined, rounded characters who encounter and interact with conflict of some kind (preferably weird!) over the course of your story.
Narrative style: They have a broad taste in styles, from the poetic to the plain. Their preferred prose is vibrant yet readable. Particularly poetic prose can win us over, but it must always support the story itself.
Point-of-View: They prefer limited POVs: first-person and third-person limited, for example, but will accept any if done well.
Grammar: Old Moon Quarterly tends to prefer works that stick to established rules of written English, though they understand the need to deviate for artistic purposes.
Originality: They want original works that speak with your authorial voice and flair. Though they love Lovecraftian works, for example, they are not necessarily all that enthused by straight pastiche.
Setting: They prefer medieval and antique-adjacent settings, though they are not strict on that point. But in general, they prefer something either pre-gunpowder or early-gunpowder. It can either be a version of our own real world, or a constructed secondary world (or a combination thereof).
Extreme Content: The magazine does not mind violence or sexual content, but they prefer it not be the sole or defining feature of a work. Gore for gore’s sake, extended torture scenes, depictions of extreme violence/conduct done to children, drawn-out erotic scenes and so forth are not right for our venue.
HOW TO SUBMIT
- Please send submissions as a .doc or .docx file to Old Moon’s email: [email protected]
- Title your email “Submission: [title].”
- Provide a short, 1-2 line cover letter with the story’s name and word count. Please do not provide an intro or synopsis of the story. Learn how to write a proper cover letter for your submission.
- They appreciate if your manuscript was in something approaching “Standard Manuscript Format,” as well.
Fiction Submissions Guidelines
- Length: 1000-6000 words. This is a hard limit, unfortunately.
- Simultaneous Submissions: They do not accept them.
- Multiple Submissions: Not accepted, send only one story at a time, please, and only one story per submission window.
- Reprints: They do not accept them at this time, unfortunately.
- Language: English.
- Rights: They purchase first world electronic rights and first-world print rights. This means you cannot publish a story they buy as a first-run or “new” story anywhere else in the world; this means it can only be published elsewhere as a reprint, typically at a much lower rate.
Ensure you edit your submission correctly, check out how to edit your entry.
Poetry Submissions Guidelines
- Subject Matter: They prefer their poems deal with the same subjects as our fiction: tales of eldritch war, images of strange melancholy, and moments of bloody reflection, among other things.
- Exemplar poems: Their tastes run towards the antique. Some of their current favorites include John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Algernon Swinburne’s Tristram of Lyonesse, Robert Browning’s “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” and Charles Young’s “Night-Thoughts.” That being said, they are willing to be convinced by just about anything in verse, so long as it conforms to the aesthetic of our magazine.
- Length: You may submit up to five poems, each of fifty lines or less. This is a hard limit, unfortunately.
- Simultaneous Submissions: They do not accept them.
- Reprints: It is not accepted at this time, unfortunately.
- Language: English.
- Rights: They purchase first world electronic rights and first-world print rights. This means you cannot publish a poem they buy as a first-run or “new” poem anywhere else in the world; this means it can only be published elsewhere as a reprint, typically at a much lower rate.
Payment for Old Moon Submissions
- They pay 8c (0.08 USD) per word per short story. Payment occurs within 30 days of online publication, via PayPal.
- They pay $50 per poem. Payment occurs within 30 days of online publication, via PayPal.
Deadline
Submissions are open from May 1 to June 1, 2023
If interested, ensure to go through the Old Moon Quartely Webiste.