Flash Fiction Online is currently seeking submissions for an issue of wilderness horror, scheduled for October 2025. The guest editor for this issue is C.R. Langille, owner of Timber Ghost Press and the League of Utah Writers 2024 Editor of the Year. 

What We're Looking For:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep…”  -- Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

The forest can be a magical place. Full of beauty, wonder, fresh air, and escape from the daily grind. However, when the sun sets, the woods take on a different demeanor. That same beautiful wonder from before transforms into a place of uncertainty. A place where one might find themselves lost. A place where you might be alone… or perhaps you’re not.

Stories of the wilderness have intrigued us for thousands of years. Early humans would tell stories of danger and monsters to warn children to stay out of the woods or they’d get snatched up by a witch or some other monster. Even today, tales of things that move through the trees at night fill us with delight. From Aokigahara (a.k.a. Suicide Forest) on Mt. Fuji to the Black Forest of Germany which gave the Brothers Grimm so much inspiration, the wilderness has planted its roots in horror.

Wilderness horror tickles that primal part of our brain. Beckoning us to a time without luxuries or modern amenities. Often playing with the theme of isolation, wilderness horror claws through our hubris, showing us in savage fashion just how powerful Mother Nature can be. It can awaken the darkness inside our souls and whisper horrible things as the wind makes the trees creak and groan with the sounds of cracking branches and bones. We don’t truly know what’s in the deep timber. But one thing is for sure, if we make it back out, we’ll never be the same again.

Stories that have the feel of what we're looking for include:

• The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
• The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill
• The Hunger by Alma Katsu
• The Revenant by Michael Punke
• The Wild Dark by Katherine Silva
• “The Deep Timber” by C.R. Langille

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

TO REITERATE: This is a call for horror! Any dark fantasy or fairy tale stories will be a hard sell.

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

SCHEDULE: 

This call will be open from April 1-30, 2025.

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, 2025

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 for this call

REPRINTS – NO, we have an open call for reprints beginning May 1st

RE-SUBMISSIONS — YES, if you have made revisions! And you were declined prior to 2023 (i.e., before the tenure of the current EIC). When in doubt, query editor@flashfictiononline.com.

PAYMENT & RIGHTS FOR ORIGINAL FICTION: For original (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. For more information on the type of stories we enjoy, please read a few issues and check out our "What We're Looking For" page.

SUBMISSION CAP: To keep our response time as expeditious as possible, this submission form will close when we reach 400 submissions.

FORMATTING: Please format your submission in a double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman or similar font (we prefer not to read in Courier), with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. No PDF submissions.  No Images and no graphics.

ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: Do not include your name, address, email, or other identifying information on your manuscript (header, byline, file name, etc).

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. One story per author per call.

RESUBMISSIONS: For this call, we are NOT accepting resubmissions of stories previously rejected by Flash Fiction Online, unless requested by the editorial team.

REPRINTS: Not for this call. We will have a separate call for Reprints opening May 1, 2025.

AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: 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," you may email editor@flashfictiononline.com with QUERY in the subject line for an update on its status. (Submissions sent to this address will be deleted unread.)

COMPENSATION: Our 2025 rate is $100 for each original story.

We are unable to provide personal feedback or critiques.

We will NOT consider stories that promote or affirm hatred, prejudice, or violence toward any group of people based on age, race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, political affiliation, disability, neurodiversity, or other social identity.