Aurealis Submission Open

Aurealis is looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words. All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a “speculative” nature will be considered, but we do not want stories that are derivative in nature. We do not publish horror without a supernatural element.

Although we are an Australian-based publication, we are open to submissions in English from anywhere in the multiverse during specific reading periods.

Stories containing an unacceptable number of spelling mistakes and typos, and those that do not conform to our guidelines in other ways, will be rejected automatically. This may seem harsh, but we are being honest about it. Please take the time to polish your work in every way before you send it to us.

Aurealis pays between A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words, but assume the lower rate for unsolicited submissions.  Payment is made soon after the publication of the issue containing your story. Minimum payment is A$20. You will also receive a free electronic copy of the issue containing your story.

We buy First Electronic Publication Rights and the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print and digital anthology. All other rights remain with the contributor. The story must not be published elsewhere for a period of twelve months after it appears in electronic form in Aurealis.

 Aurealis does not publish reprints. We don’t publish poetry or novel extracts. We don’t serialise longer works.

Aurealis does not publish AI generated stories. Please do not submit them.

Our response time for subscribers is no more than two months and can be up to twice as long for non-subscribers, but we are always aiming for much shorter turnarounds.  If you are a subscriber, please do not query us until two months have passed since your submission.  If you are a non-subscriber, please wait four months.  Where time permits, unsuccessful authors will be emailed a reply in the form of a checklist critique and/or a personal note. We are sorry, but Aurealis is not able to respond to queries about rejected stories.