A Premier Publisher of Genre Fiction
The place for a thrilling escape into new worlds, chilling fears, and urgent mysteries.
Currently accepting submissions for:
Sci-fi + Fantasy
Thriller + Mystery
Humor
Latest Stories
Publishing stories every week from new and established writers
The Flame Inside
Emanuelle BurtonFebruary 7, 2042 Glen Ellyn It’s a Friday afternoon, that last day. There’s over a foot of week-old snow on the ground. The last several days have been bright and sunny — too cold for snow — but today the sky is gray and heavy. Naomi and I are having a late lunch when the […]
Sci-Fi + Fantasy
The Flame Inside
Emanuelle BurtonFebruary 7, 2042 Glen Ellyn It’s a Friday afternoon, that last day. There’s over a foot of week-old snow on the ground. The last several days have been bright and sunny — too cold for snow — but today the sky is gray and heavy. Naomi and I are having a late lunch when the […]
Sleep-Depraved
Matt HollingsworthWhen I got home from the brewery to the shithole basement my wife and I shared, I wanted to sleep but couldn’t. Not with the damned chip in my head. I cracked open the window for some air. Through the bars, a majestic view of a midwinter night’s dream in Zagreb, in the year of […]
Humor
It Was Broke When I Got Here
Stephen FramePrelude In which, a monster is introduced, as is a witch, and certain issues are brought to light. ### I am called monster. A name given to me by others. Although, all things considered, it is rather apt. Yes, it is true, I have taken sheep and goats. Cattle too. And pigs. We might add […]
SELECTED APOLOGIES TO SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, WRITTEN IN LICHEN
Tiffany HarrisGene believed the mitochondria were feminist until someone asked him why. That’s how things started going downhill. My husband, Gene Saperstein, fifty-eight years old and retired from the IRS just this past spring, standing there holding a glass of boxed pinot grigio in Lucy Halperin’s living room, surrounded by women with statement earrings. You should know […]
Thriller + Mystery
Still Life with Cranberries
RJ AurandStepping into the glade is like stepping into another world. The landscape is desolate, painted crimson by the thousands of fruiting cranberry vines that claim the bog each fall as the other flora dies back. Their fruit bursts beneath the soles of your rubber boots as you walk across the spongy ground and you grimace, […]
Time Turns Blood to Dust
Kevin SingerThe bar is called Obsidian. With its narrow black on black storefront, one could mistake it for a mirage. Inside it’s long and dark with three doors in the back: one a storage room marked no admittance, another a women’s room with a leaky toilet, and finally a men’s room where it all ends. *** […]
Historical Fiction
CAN I HELP YOU, MISS?
David Landau(Circa 1953) It’s going on full dark when the car turns off the highway into the motel auto court. A ’48 Studebaker Commander careening through one last pothole, running roughshod since Fresno, on fumes since Old Town Calabasas. But it made it. They made it. Just past the red “VACANCY” sign, the car slows then […]
We Undark Night With Our Tongues
Claudia MonpereWe were instructed to point the brush with our lips ––Grace Fryer, a dial-painter for The Radium Luminous Materials Corporation, 1930 1.Glow Twirling the paintbrush in our mouths to sharpen the point glow-in-the-dark watches airplane dials clocks in the company darkroom our glow-in-the-dark cheeks necks hands our radium tongues constellations of luminous dust drifting as […]
Young Adult
A Little Sorrowed Talk
Heather Etelamaki“You know what I heard, Philippa?” Kenzi said. “What?” I said, watching the lifeguards clean the pool beyond the fence. For the last time that summer, we were waiting to get into the city pool and, as usual, had come too early. “Mitchell was watching you the whole time we were here yesterday.” I gripped […]
The Fox in the Hydrangea
C. E. SternOnce upon a time, the house next to the cemetery belonged to the only undertaker in town. But we Talbots haven’t been undertakers since great-uncle Laurence got shot in a hunting accident. It’s been just Pa and me in the house ever since. But that’s fine. The house likes it better that way. At least […]
Submit Your Story
Share your writing with us! We want stories from these genre categories: sci-fi/fantasy; horror/thriller; humor.
Award Winners
The Flame Inside
Emanuelle BurtonFebruary 7, 2042 Glen Ellyn It’s a Friday afternoon, that last day. There’s over a foot of week-old snow on the ground. The last several days have been bright and sunny — too cold for snow — but today the sky is gray and heavy. Naomi and I are having a late lunch when the […]
There Must Be Something Left of the Minotaur in Me
Adam FellThe children load me into the trailer. Padlock the tailgate. Take the dirt road past the sanitation plant, the tannery, the strip club, the gun store. I’ve known nowhere but the farm, the pen, the milk bottles & dust & feed. The children laugh in the cab, turn their muffled music up. I put my […]
Sitting on Crenshaw
Alison Jean LesterWhen Crenshaw shoots Anneke, he’s within arm’s reach of me. I watch my hand grab him by the back of the neck. My body follows through, and I keep moving. He loses his balance. I feel the base of his skull stretching the web between my thumb and pointer for a second of resistance, and […]
The Sailor: A Novel Excerpt
K. Wallace KingFor beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror. —Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies December 16, 1932 The sun was as hot as the Fourth of July, though it was almost Christmas. I ran a finger over the note in my pocket: I like what you wrote about that creep who killed the kids. Show […]
Love in the Age of Time Travel
Marianna ShekPROLOGUE ### Event 110107 from the Chronicles of Ideal Histories Translated by Senior Historian Gordon Moyes Classified Information ### This is how it happens. Tyson March kisses his wife, leaves his home, and treks to the Tunnels. It’s early morning, the skydome has just ticked over to dawn mode. Street lights still illuminate the faces […]
The Prison Nurse – Novel Excerpt
Anthony Neil Smith“Still got a boyfriend?” “You know you can’t ask me that.” Rochelle kept it light, her sing-song Mississippi accent adorable. She tightened the suture on Farmer’s fourth stab wound. One more to go. “I told you, though, you’d be first to know if I dump him.” A major rule – no flirting with the inmates […]
SELECTED APOLOGIES TO SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, WRITTEN IN LICHEN
Tiffany HarrisGene believed the mitochondria were feminist until someone asked him why. That’s how things started going downhill. My husband, Gene Saperstein, fifty-eight years old and retired from the IRS just this past spring, standing there holding a glass of boxed pinot grigio in Lucy Halperin’s living room, surrounded by women with statement earrings. You should know […]
A Little Sorrowed Talk
Heather Etelamaki“You know what I heard, Philippa?” Kenzi said. “What?” I said, watching the lifeguards clean the pool beyond the fence. For the last time that summer, we were waiting to get into the city pool and, as usual, had come too early. “Mitchell was watching you the whole time we were here yesterday.” I gripped […]
Latest Contests
Get the guidelines on our current contests, where we offer writers premier opportunities for publication and payment. All winners selected by noted guest judges.
Interviews
Uncharted
By Caitlin Taylor So It was awesome to be able to ask Emma Jackson questions about her debut YA dark academia mystery novel A House of Vipers, which comes out today (April 28)! Enter an elite New England boarding school steeped in a long history of secrets with Sutter Heyward as he sets off to […]
Uncharted
By Caitlin Taylor So It was the greatest joy to ask author and poet Kelsey Day questions about their first novel for young readers, The Spiral Key, which has been out since February 24th of this year. This was especially exciting as Kelsey was my former classmate at Emerson College where I had the privilege […]
Arthur H. Manners
Arthur H. Manners is a British writer with a background in space science. His work is published/forthcoming in places like Analog, Strange Horizons, and Flash Fiction Online.
See Their WorkSteven Bryan Bieler
Steven Bryan Bieler bats right, throws right, leans left. He likes dogs, chess, birds, his wife, and probably a few more things. His stories have appeared most recently in Lemonwood Quarterly, Spotlong Review, Fantastic Other, Prairie Fire, and Moment. Follow along at stevenbieler.com as he works on his chess noir novel, Down These Mean Squares. We are all just pawns.
See Their WorkR.H. Acosta
R.H. Acosta is a writer and clinical research professional. She holds a master's in regulatory affairs and is currently pursuing a doctorate in public health. Her fiction explores themes of identity, trauma, and emotional aftermath. When not writing, she enjoys exploring new coffee shops, buying too many books, and spending time with her husband and their pets. She is working on her debut novel.
See Their WorkKay “Kro” Kroger
Kay “Kro” Kroger (@kroetry) is a full-time on-demand typewriter poet. Kro teaches creative (type)writing classes and is poet-in-residence at the WNDR Museum. They have an MA in linguistics (2016) and an MFA in creative writing (2025). Kro’s debut poetry chapbook (2024), Tales From the Abandoned Greenhouse, was published by Bottlecap Press. Their interactive poetry/essay/activity collection, Prayer Wheel (2022), was self-published with grant support from the Illinois Arts Council. Their work has appeared in Outpatient Press, The Prairie Light Review, The Thomasonian, Crook & Folly, and more.
See Their WorkKyrstin Felts
Kyrstin Felts lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her work has previously appeared in Headland.
See Their WorkR.H. Acosta
R.H. Acosta is a writer and clinical research professional. She holds a master's in regulatory affairs and is currently pursuing a doctorate in public health. Her fiction explores themes of identity, trauma, and emotional aftermath. When not writing, she enjoys exploring new coffee shops, buying too many books, and spending time with her husband and their pets. She is working on her debut novel.
See Their WorkEmanuelle Burton
Emanuelle Burton is a religion scholar who now teaches ethics to computer science majors. She is a coauthor of "Computing and Technology Ethics: Engaging Through Science Fiction," as well as the author of the pedagogy guides for the short stories anthologized within the textbook. She has been almost done with her first novel for about four years and anticipates being almost done for at least two more.
See Their WorkRebecca Halsey
Rebecca Halsey is the editor-in-chief of the digital magazine, Flash Fiction Online, and the author of the historical romance novel, Notes of Temptation. Her short fiction has most recently been published in The Bookends Review. She earned an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and resides in Maryland with her husband, four children, and a very stubborn Olde English Bulldogge. You can learn more about her work by visiting www.rebeccahalsey.com, or by connecting with her on Bluesky - @beckyhalsey.bsky.social.
See Their WorkKatie Dee
Katie Dee is a Civil Engineer turned microfiction writer from Nashville, Tennessee. Her work has been published on Sci-Fi Shorts, Black Hare Press, and Curated Microfiction, among others.
See Their WorkRJ Aurand
RJ Aurand is a southern Appalachian writer, poet, and lover of the bizarre whose work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Blanket Gravity Magazine, (s)crawl, Small Wonders, Tales & Feathers, The Deadlands, and others. Connect on Bluesky @rjaurand.bsky.social or at rjaurand.com.
See Their WorkLatest News
Uncharted Magazine Novel Excerpt Contest | Judged by Rachel Howzell Hall Shortlist
We’re back with the shortlist for the Novel Excerpt Contest, judged by Rachel Howzell Hall. We had to make a lot of hard choices, but we’re now that much closer to announcing our highly anticipated three cowinners! Stay tuned!
Novel Excerpt Prize | Judged by Cynthia Pelayo | Winners & Shortlisted Writers
We love celebrating the best excerpts of novels in progress, and we’ve got three great examples from these co-winners! It takes a special writer to craft an excerpt that reads like a complete story and yet fits perfectly in a longer narrative! Co-Winner: Such Lovely Remains by R.H. Acosta Co-Winner: The Flame Inside by Emanuelle […]
2025 What The Wild Carries Prize Winners | Judged by Shelby Van Pelt
For this contest, we asked for stories or excerpts of instinct, presence, and the creatures that change us. You dropped us into those human and creature relationships that make us feel something new or old or leave us twisting to understand. We’re excited to announce these three stories that went above and beyond. Thank you to […]
Uncharted Magazine Novel Excerpt Contest | Judged by Rachel Howzell Hall Longlist
We were really impressed by the novel excerpts that came in this time around and after much deliberation, are ready to present which stories made the longlist. Keep your eye on our website for our shortlist!
2026 Uncharted Magazine Novel Excerpt Prize | Judged by Micaiah Johnson | $3000 Awarded!
We invite writers to submit to the 2026 Uncharted Magazine Novel Excerpt Prize from March 30 to May 31, 2026. There’s something enthralling about stories carved from longer works that have a sense of purpose and stakes, a feeling of depth and emotion. We love excerpts that show your character battling the antagonist and themselves, […]
2025 Horror Challenge Winner & Shortlisted Writers
We’re shaking with fear and excitement to announce the winner of this challenge! This writer gave us quite the fright and now we’re all having trouble sleeping. Thank you to all who submitted! 1st Place Winner: The Interpreter by Patrick St. Amand Shortlist:
2025 Horror Challenge Shortlist
These stories thrilled us with their horrifying characters and premises! Please congratulate these 7 Shortlisted stories! We’ll be back soon with our winner!
What the Wild Carries Prize | Judged by Shelby Van Pelt | Shortlist
Here are our shortlisted titles of 16 stories we couldn’t let go of! These stories have been sent to guest judge Shelby Van Pelt for her final choices!
2025 Horror Challenge Longlist
These stories thrilled us with their horrifying characters and premises! Please congratulate these 21 Longlisted stories! We’ll be back soon with our shortlist and then the winner!