Submit your short story early.
Stellar Magazine will launch in Spring 2027. By submitting your short story, you're adding your work to our pool for consideration. This gets your work in front of our editors early, before the wide release of the magazine. You're allowed to submit up to two (2) stories maximum between now and December 31, 2026.
Science fiction with something on its mind.
We're looking to publish authors of all backgrounds and experience levels who have impactful, subversive, and entertaining science fiction stories to tell. Our favorite science fiction looks to the future to tackle the biggest questions of today, asking "What if?" and "Why not?" unironically and emphatically.
Stellar only publishes science fiction. If there's an answer (however speculative) to "how does that work," rooted in tech, physics, biology, or systems, it's SF to us.
We don't publish fantasy. If the "how" is magic, gods, or another supernatural mechanism, it's not a fit for our publication. We understand the line between science fiction and fantasy can easily blur, so if you're unsure, submit anyway. The final judgement call will be made by our editors.
WHAT'S NOT A FIT
- Fan fiction or stories set in someone else's world.
- Horror, erotica, or shock-value gore.
- Poetry, novels, or serials.
The guidelines, briefly.
- AGE
- Writer must be 18 or older
- LENGTH
- 500–1,800 words
- LANGUAGE
- English (no translations)
- STATUS
- Unpublished work only (no reprints)
- SIMULTANEOUS
- Welcome, just tell us if it's accepted elsewhere
- RIGHTS
- First World publishing rights for print, digital, and audio
- PAYMENT
- $150 USD flat (above the SFWA pro rate of 8¢/word)
- AI POLICY
- Your words, not AI's (details below)
Have questions? Email us at stellarscifi@loreparty.com.
Human words only.
Stellar will never publish a story written by AI. You're welcome to use AI tools for research, brainstorming, outlining your own ideas, proofreading, and formatting, but the drafting, writing, and revising must be yours. We check every accepted story with Pangram before sending an offer.
Kept in confidence.
An author's personal information (name, address, email, phone, or secret identity) will not be shared with anyone outside our editorial staff, except in the following situations:
- We're compelled by law.
- Threats are made against our staff by the author.
- Our narrators need your help with pronunciation.
- The author has instructed us to do so.
- The submitted work is determined to be plagiarized, fraudulent, or otherwise not your own.
Individual works submitted to Stellar are treated as confidential material for evaluation purposes only. They will not be used to train AI tools of any kind. Our privacy policy has the full details.
Send us your best.
Format your story, check the word count, and send it through the Google Form. Thank you for sharing your work with us!