Arcane Twilight accepts original, well-written short stories of general fantasy and science fiction, as well as horror and subgenres such as steampunk. The genre elements should be so integral to the story such that, if they were absent, the story would collapse. (Think of it this way: if a horror story doesn't contain anything frightening or scary, is it really horror?)

We are also interested in artwork in the above categories (fantasy, sci-fi, or horror).

Only stories that are written in clear, understandable prose will be considered. Please spell-check your manuscripts before sending (we reserve the right to do slight editing for spelling and grammar).

 Stories that contain characters from popular media, well-known books & movies (e.g. Captain Kirk, Frodo, Han Solo, Xena) or any other copyrighted characters will not be accepted. We will also reject any story that contains gratuitous sex and/or pervasive profanity. Some adult content may be acceptable, however, if it is a necessary part of the plot.

 

SUBMISSIONS

E-mail the entire story or artwork for consideration to:

 

submissions@arcanetwilight.com

 

Be sure to put the title of the work in the Subject line!

Submissions must be sent as plain text (ASCII), RTF or as a Microsoft Word document, either in the body of an e-mail (for plain text) or as an attachment. At this time, we do not accept submissions via regular postal mail.  (See below for artwork rules.)

Please format your story according to our Manuscript Style Guide. Submissions using standard short story format will also be accepted, but manuscripts that do not follow either will probably not be read.

Stories should be around 6000 words or less, but not longer than 7000 words. If your story is a longer work that can be broken up into a series of parts, each part should not exceed 7500 words; additionally, the entire series must be submitted all at once.

We do not accept poetry, nor simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions can be made by a single author, as long as the stories are not under consideration elsewhere (i.e. simultaneous submissions).

If we publish your story or artwork, we will ask for a short biography to place with your story.

 

 PAYMENTS & RIGHTS

We do not pay for stories at the present time. You may opt to have a Paypal Donation or Amazon Honor System box placed at the end of your story or artwork. (Please see Paypal or Amazon for instructions; you must set these payment boxes up yourself.)

If your story or artwork submission is accepted for publication, you agree to grant Arcane Twilight a 90‑day exclusive right to display your submission on the Arcane Twilight website. Once this period expires, all rights will revert to you. The 90‑day period begins on the day your work appears in a "live" issue. You also have the right to request that we remove your submission from the website at any time after the 90-day exclusive period.

Please note that most magazines consider material that has appeared on publicly-accessible websites to be published for the purposes of "first rights". Magazines may decline your story if it was published online first, even if you haven't been paid for it.
 

ARTWORK

The guidelines for submitting art for inclusion in Arcane Twilight are the same as for submitting prose. Please send an e-mail with a link to your artwork, not the artwork itself. (Even if you don't have a personal online gallery, free image hosting is available at many sites such as Photobucket.) Files must be in either JPG or GIF format, and may be cropped or resized as required. The file size of the artwork should preferably be 1 MB or less.

 

ARCHIVES

Arcane Twilight will maintain an archive of back issues for as long as possible. That way, if you do have a donation link, you will still have the opportunity to receive donations.

RESPONSE TIMES

We will try to respond to your submission within four to six weeks after receipt. Please allow at least that amount of time before sending any inquiries.