Submissions
Closed
Reopening Someday Soon
Every issue of Night Sky centers on a new and spectacular fictional planet. Submissions should, in some way, have this world as a setting or key factor. This is meant to inspire creativity, rather than constrain it, and we encourage authors to expand on the world's provided skeleton in unique and visionary ways. Selected works will appear together in that planet's anthology, reimagining collaboration to build a world from our contributor's shared vision.
Issue's #1's focus was Orcanus: The Crystalline World
Click the link above for more information.
What We're Looking For
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Flash fiction and short stories between 500 and 5,000 words. Longer stories accepted within reason. Poetry submissions are also accepted, so long as they relate to that issue's world.​
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Stories about hope, discovery, mercy, love, and passion. We love tales about the better half of humanity (or alien-ity!), but we won't reject stories about struggle, turmoil, or conflict, either. We acknowledge that life, even in the interstellar age, isn't all glory and tranquility.
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We welcome works from authors of all backgrounds. Especially, we encourage works by and about LGBTQ+, BIPOC, disabled, and other traditionally marginalized writers and characters.
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Unusual perspectives; have you always wanted to write from the viewpoint of an android, alien lizard, or amorphous, sentient fog, but been unsure where to submit it? We love the creative, the strange, and the new.
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Stories that take creative use of our setting, and expand, deepen, and enrich our world. Don't be afraid to add your own flare, aliens, landmarks, and history within our provided framework.
What We're NOT Looking For
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Homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, blanket villainization of religious groups, or any other type of identity-based discrimination. While there may still be conflict, we envision a future that has progressed past prejudice.
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Colonialism or colonial sentiments. In stories where human visitors or settlers are depicted alongside native wildlife or sentient races, we ask that the relationship be one of respect, caretaking, and mutual benefit.
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Stories with no relationship to the issue's planet or setting. While we love speculative fiction of all sorts, our mission is to curate an anthology connected by the thread of a common world.
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Explicit gore or sex. Eroticism and violence have their places in fiction, but please use moderation.
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Self-rejection. Our anthology is open to all writers, of all experience levels, ages, and perspectives. Don't doubt yourself or your work; we want to hear your voice!
Rights
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Formatting
We ask for One-Time Rights to your work, allowing us to print in our anthology and possibly use your writings on our website to promote Night Sky. We accept simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere. We also accept previously published work, but advise that if writers submit reprints, they first edit the setting or details of the story to fit into the prescribed world.​
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Please email submissions to nightskypress@gmail.com. We accept pieces in .doc, .docx and .pdf format, as well as Google Doc attachments if necessary. We ask that the font be easily legible (such as 12 point Times New Roman) in 1.5 or double spacing. Please make the subject line of your submission email your preferred name and the title of your work. In the body of your email, feel free to tell us about yourself. We aim to respond in 1-2 weeks, but please give us a month before sending a follow-up.
Payment
At Night Sky, we believe all writers deserve to be paid for their work, and someday dream of offering professional rates, but we are a small press with little funding. For now, we offer all authors a token payment of $10 and a contributor's copy.
Editor's
Note
We respect every writer's autonomy and right to oversee their work. But please know that, in the spirit of creating a single-setting anthology, we may request that writers change minor details or approve editor changes before publication. Writers may always refuse these suggestions, but doing so may result in a rejection if the piece would not otherwise fit in our collection.