Flash Fiction Online is seeking submissions for an issue of Paranormal Noir speculative fiction, scheduled for October 2026. The guest editor for this issue is author and editor, Jacob Baugher.

UPDATE: This call has been extended by two weeks - until May 14, 2026 - for historically underrepresented and marginalized authors.

What We’re Looking For

For this special call, we’re looking for stories that marry the noir and paranormal aesthetic in any speculative genre. As always, we want interesting stories, told by interesting characters, in an interesting way.

Noir

• Crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings
• Having a bleak and darkly cynical quality of the kind associated with hard-boiled crime fiction and film noir

Paranormal

• Not scientifically explainable, supernatural

“Isn’t Paranormal Noir just a subset of Urban Fantasy?”

It can be, but we’d love to see a new, fresh take on old themes. 

• Vampires in space, doing crime? Sure! 
• Far-future consciousness transfer-hauntings? Send them our way! 
• Sad wizard investigates a murder in LA? Okay, sounds cool, submit that, but also what if he were on Mars instead?
• A group of West Virginia moonshiners firebombing a haunted A.I. data center? Sign me up!

Get weird. Get crazy. Go nuts.

We’d love to see stories told from unique perspectives or points of view. Always wanted to write a piece in first person direct address? Send it. Second person? Send it. Fifth person POV? Invent it, but please make sure your story is intelligible to human eyes.

There are some things we’re just not interested for this issue:

• Humor is fine but the humor genre is a hard sell
• Vignettes (it has to be a complete story)
• Callous “-cides”
• Violence for violence’s sake
• Stories that positively portray I.C.E. agents, or give grace to the oppressor

All stories submitted through this page must fit the theme! If you have a story that doesn’t fit this theme, please submit during one of our regular submission calls.

WORD COUNT: 500-1,000 words. Because we are focused on flash fiction, this word count is firm.

GENRE: All speculative fiction genres - weird, fantasy, sci-fi, horror with speculative elements - these are all good. Slipstream and magical realism are totally fine.

SCHEDULE: This call will be open from April 1 to April 30, 2026. UPDATE: This call will be extended by two weeks - until May 14, 2026 - for historically underrepresented and marginalized voices.

FFO reviews stories in two stages – a slush stage and a winnowing stage. In the slush round, first readers vote on stories to be passed forward. These top-tier stories are reviewed once a month in our Winnowing round. Final decisions on these second-round stories are generally made within 12 weeks from the date of submission.

Ebook release date: October 1, 2026

Each story then has its own release day on our website within the month of October.

ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: YES. Do not include your name, address, email, or other identifying information on your manuscript (header, byline, file name, etc). This allows our First Readers to evaluate your story based on the work alone.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: YES

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: NO, one story per author per call. (You can still submit if you have a story in consideration for a different call.)

REPRINTS: NO, thank you. But please consider submitting in May 2026 during our call for reprints.

FFO's AI POLICY: NO AI / LLM stories. We are committed to publishing stories written and edited by humans. We reserve the right to reject any submission that we suspect to be primarily generated or created by language modeling software, Chat GPT, chat bots, or any other AI apps, bots, or software.

PAYMENT & RIGHTS FOR ORIGINAL FICTION: For original (i.e., previously unpublished) fiction, Flash Fiction Online pays $100 per story for first electronic rights, with six months exclusivity, as well as a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the stories in an anthology. The author retains all other rights. Original stories must not have been previously published anywhere, including a blog or on Patreon. Payment is made via PayPal (preferred) or mailed as a check.

We are looking for complete 500- to 1000-word stories with crisp prose, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and satisfying resolutions. We want stories that engage our minds and emotions. We publish across many genres, including speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary fiction.

TRANSLATIONS: We are looking for stories that were published in their original language, but have since been translated. Translations must be done by a human -- absolutely no AI translations. Both author and translator will receive the 2026 reprint rate of $36 upon publication. Both author and translator will be asked to sign the MOU for reprint stories. Either the author or the translator may submit, but must be able to provide information on behalf of both parties.

REPRINTS: Reprint and translation submissions must be free of the exclusivity period for the previous journal or publisher. We do not consider stories self-published on personal blogs, Substacks, or Patreon pages.

FORMATTING: Please format your submission in a double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman or similar font (prefer no Courier), with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. No PDF submissions.  No Images and no graphics.

ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: Reprints and translations do not need to be anonymous.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: YES, we accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us and withdraw the story as soon as you learn that it has been accepted somewhere else.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: NO. We accept ONE story / per reading period.

AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: NO. We are committed to publishing stories written and edited by humans. We reserve the right to reject any submission that we suspect to be primarily generated or created by language modeling software, Chat GPT, chat bots, or any other AI apps, bots, or software. We reserve the right to ban submissions from accounts, emails, or users who we believe or suspect have submitted AI-generated content.

QUERIES: You can check on the status of your submission at any time via your Submittable account. If, after 10 weeks, your submission is still marked as "in-progress" with no updates, you may email editor@flashfictiononline.com with QUERY in the subject line for an update on its status. *** We do not reply to submissions sent via this email. Those are deleted unread. ***

We are looking for complete 500- to 1000-word stories with crisp prose, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and satisfying resolutions. We want stories that engage our minds and emotions. We publish across many genres, including speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary fiction.

REPRINTS: Reprint and translation submissions must be free of the exclusivity period for the previous journal or publisher. We do not consider stories self-published on personal blogs, Substacks, or Patreon pages. Our 2026 reprint rate is $36. You can find our MOU here: MOU for reprint stories

To submit a translation, please go to this separate form: TRANSLATIONS

FORMATTING: Please format your submission in a double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman or similar font (prefer no Courier), with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. No PDF submissions.  No Images and no graphics.

ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: Reprints and translations do not need to be anonymous.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: YES, we accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us and withdraw the story as soon as you learn that it has been accepted somewhere else.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: NO. We accept ONE story / per reading period.

AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: NO. We are committed to publishing stories written and edited by humans. We reserve the right to reject any submission that we suspect to be primarily generated or created by language modeling software, Chat GPT, chat bots, or any other AI apps, bots, or software. We reserve the right to ban submissions from accounts, emails, or users who we believe or suspect have submitted AI-generated content.

QUERIES: You can check on the status of your submission at any time via your Submittable account. If, after 10 weeks, your submission is still marked as "in-progress" with no updates, you may email editor@flashfictiononline.com with QUERY in the subject line for an update on its status. *** We do not reply to submissions sent via this email. Those are deleted unread. ***

IMPORTANT: Original/unpublished stories submitted through this portal will be declined unread.