The Dread Machine

How to submit

• Process

  Other

• Cover letter

  Don't overthink it. No need to give us your life story or a massive list of your professional and personal accomplishments. Like your favorite boy band, we don't care who you are, where you're from, or what you did, as long as you write well, baby.

• Eligibility

  No specific eligibility requirements

• Formatting

  Formatting requirements are discriminatory AF, so we don't have them. However, if you're comfortable operating word processing software and speak the lingo, we appreciate 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and a half-inch indent (set with the ruler, not manually tabbed). If not, don't worry about it!

• Author's rights

  See our contract here: https://www.thedreadmachine.com/legal-stuff/

• Additional info

  We do what we want, always. Right now, we're planning a bitchin' 2024. The magazine is going on hiatus while we work on RPGs, novellas, and some other cool projects we have lined up. Stay tuned to our chillsubs for submission calls. ORIGINAL FICTION: $0.08 per word. REPRINTS: $0.01 per word. POETRY: $10 per poem. WISHLIST We want: DARK, FUTURISTIC STORIES CYBERPUNK LITERARY SCIFI MAGICAL REALISM ALTERNATE REALITIES DIVERSE PROTAGONISTS UNIQUE DYSTOPIAS/UTOPIAS UNCONVENTIONAL SOCIETIES HARD SELLS We’re not likely to accept: EROTICA VIGNETTES FOLKTALES CONFESSIONS MYTHS/LEGENDS PANDEMIC STORIES LOVECRAFT PASTICHE FANTASY (SWORD & SORCERY) HARD PASSES We won’t publish anything celebrating: SUICIDE TORTURE PEDOPHILIA RELIGIOUS FICTION CHILD/ANIMAL ABUSE SEXUAL ASSAULT/INCEST SCHOOL/MASS SHOOTINGS GRAPHIC DOMESTIC VIOLENCE You can learn more about our Hard Pass list here: https://www.thedreadmachine.com/hard-passes/ We accept multiple submissions. You may send us up to three stories simultaneously. Please do not combine your submissions. Each must be rated and reviewed independently. The Dread Machine publishes futuristic dark fiction, speculative fiction, cyberpunk, slipstream, and science fiction. We do not accept religious fiction, fetish horror, or erotica. All submissions must be in English. We will accept previously published submissions, but not those that are available to the public online. If your story already appears online for free, publishing it would negatively impact both our SEO and that of the other publisher. We will accept previously published stories that are available online only if those stories are hidden behind a paywall. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE ANONYMIZED! Sorry for allcaps, but it's super important. If your submission contains any identifying information, it will be immediately rejected. Put identifying information in your cover letter, not in the filename, header, and/or footer of your story. Our readers should not know your name, address, phone number, or email address, nor should they have a long list of your professional accomplishments or links to your social media profiles. Please remove this information entirely. This is a firm policy. In addition to valuing your privacy, we believe all writers deserve a fair shot. Stories must stand on their own, apart from the writer’s notoriety and achievements.