Submission Guidelines

Synthesized Sunsets is now taking paid fiction submissions! We will be paying $100 per submission and capping length at 12,500 words. We are only accepting speculative fiction at this time; that is, stories where some novel idea of “what could be” or “what could have been” is central. We will also be prioritizing stories that are on-theme, although this is not strictly a requirement. This season’s theme is excess.

Submissions are currently OPEN until further notice.

General Guidelines

We are looking for speculative fiction stories that preferably relate to this issue’s excess theme. By speculative fiction, we mean stories have some novel speculative idea about possible futures or alternate pasts. This idea may be scientific or technological, but it could also be philosophical, sociological, mythological, etc. While we hope to publish primarily sci-fi and fantasy, our definition will include works not normally considered within those genres. At the same time, just because a story has sci-fi aesthetics (e.g. spaceships and aliens) does not mean it is speculative fiction.

What Kevin Likes

Kevin is partial to stories featuring existential horror, sociological speculation, and mind-bending scale. He also likes stories set in the depths of the Internet.

Some of Kevin’s favorite 20th-century short stories are:

• “Tower of Babylon” by Ted Chiang

• “The Matter of Seggri” by Ursula K. Le Guin

• “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury

• “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison

• “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov

Some of Kevin’s favorite 21st-century short stories are:

• “cripes does anyone remember google people” by qntm

• “The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado

• “Real Artists” by Ken Liu

• “The Effluent Engine” by N. K. Jemisin

• “…And I Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes” by Scott Alexander

What Gordon Likes

Gordon enjoys stories which evolve from some central speculative idea often pertaining to morality, consciousness, or death.

Some of Gordon’s favorite short stories are:

• “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

• “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang

• “Mountain” by Cixin Liu

• “It Was You Who Made My Blue Eyes Blue” Scott Alexander

• “Little Lost Robot” by Issac Asimov

• “The Semplica Girl Diaries” by George Saunders

• “The Egg” by Andy Weir

• “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges

• “For Every Dove a Bullet” by Exurb1a

• “Lena” by qntm

For a better sense of both of our short story preferences check out our Hugo nominee review posts for Best Short Story and Best Novelette.

Logistics

Length + Format

• Stories must be 10,000 words or less with a preferred length of around 5000 words

• Use a clear, readable format when submitting. If in doubt, use standard manuscript format.

• The theme for this season is Excess, so while all stories may be accepted, on-theme stories are preferred.

• We are currently only accepting fiction short stories, but in the future we will likely accept article submissions as well.

Rights

We ask for global first print and digital publication rights including audio, six-month exclusivity, and non-exclusive indefinite archival rights.

Pay

Synthesized Sunsets pays $100 for stories of approximately 5000 words (max: 10000). This amount will likely increase as we gain paid subscribers.

Process

Email us at synthesizedsunsets@gmail.com with a subject line of ‘Fiction Submission’ with your story attached. Feel free to include a cover letter or some description of who you are if you wish, but it is not necessary. If you wish to stay anonymous, that is fine.

We do not yet know how long it will take for us to review submissions, but we are targeting a turnaround time of three weeks. We will be able to give a better estimate once this season has passed.

We will offer more in-depth critical feedback upon request, so let us know if you are interested in the case your story is rejected. If your story is accepted we will go back and forth with revisions before publication.

AI Policy

We will not accept any works authored or co-authored by AI. AI assistance must be limited to what you would get from another human without giving them co-writing credit. For example, using fully AI generated sentences and paragraphs is not allowed, but spelling and grammar editing assistance is. If you have any questions on whether something would be allowed feel free to email us.

Additional Guidelines

• We do NOT accept simultaneous submissions (stories submitted to multiple publications at a time).

• We do NOT accept reprints of previously published work.

• We DO accept multiple submissions (feel free to send multiple stories if you wish).

• Please do NOT resubmit a story after we reject it unless we invite you to do so.