Since 2019, Landing Zone has been committed to publishing the best science fiction and fantasy on the internet. Landing Zone was founded and is currently managed by Miranda Williams and Nathaniel Buckingham, all out of their love for magic, technology that may as well be magic, and everything fantastical in between.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
We want fantasy that exists out behind the famous tavern, out in the strange twists of woods that no one has traveled through before, and no one will again; fantasy that blends the magical and the real and anything in between, that’s brutal and honest to the characters. We want science fiction that’s original and nuanced, that throws you into the glitching areas lurking between the gears, that sends you soaring to breathtaking skylines, or the deepest pits of the WiFi dark zones. We want poetry that explodes from the page like a star fighter battle, glitches out, reads like a lonely robot powering down at the end of the world.
In other words, Landing Zone seeks narrative with fantastical elements or genre fiction within the realms of fantasy, dark fantasy, afrofuturism, high fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, science fiction, steampunk, and anything in between. Please send us work that contains some form of genre elements, or experiments with subject matter like it. Basically, if it's otherworldly or impossible in any way, we'd love to read it.
Payment is $15 through PayPal (if you don’t have PayPal, we can work something else out on a case-by-case basis) for online only features, and $15 and one copy of the issue for print publications. If we accept you, we'll let you know where we'll place you depending on how full up we are on print spots for each issue. We're hoping (and planning) to pay more than that in the future.
If you want to know what we like to read, check out the wonderful, fantastical content we have posted for free on our site. Reading what we've published before is the best way to know what we'd publish in the future, although we're always looking for writing that opens up portals to new places, forms, and genres we haven't seen.
We're especially interested in writing by individuals who are:
- BIPOC and LGBTQIA+
- unestablished, undergraduate, and underrepresented
- neurodiverse
- incarcerated, houseless, or in other ways affected by the horrors of capitalism
If you identify as one those, let us know in your cover letter.
For additional inspiration, check out:
"Seasons of Glass and Iron" - Amal El-Mohtar - Uncanny Magazine
"Dirty Wifi" - Porpentine Charity Heartscape - Strange Horizons
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" - Kij Johnson - Clarkesworld Magazine
"Cat Pictures Please" - Naomi Kritzer - Clarkesworld Magazine
A few other magazines we love: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Metamorphosis, Coffin Bell, Ghost Parachute, Uncharted, Asimov's, Black Warrior, Stardust, FracturedLit, Last Resort, Ember Chasm, Button Eye, Fatal Flaw, Booth, Room, Carve, Split Lip, Luna Station Quarterly, Rust+Moth.
There are many more we're fans of, but to list them all would likely exceed our website space limits.
MECHANICAL GUIDELINES
- Manuscripts should be double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman font, with standard one-inch margins, with the exception of poetry.
- Please remove all identifying information from your submitted document.
- Submissions should be one fiction piece no longer that 7,500 words or five poems all in one document.
- We are happy to review both short stories and novel excerpts.
- If you're accepted elsewhere, congratulations! Please just withdraw your work on Submittable.
- Please use .doc, .docx, .pdf file formats.
- We're a small magazine, so please refrain from contacting us about the status of your submission unless it exceeds six months. We're trying to sharpen our processes to a one-to-two month response, but if your work is still in progress, it's likely still being considered by our magazine. For expedited responses, please submit through our other Quick Response form, and we'll respond within a week, usually much less.
If you have any other questions that aren't answered by our guidelines, please contact us through email: staff@landingzonemagazine.com.
Thank you, readers and writers. You power our engines, and we appreciate you endlessly for doing so.
Sincerely,
Nathaniel & Miranda
Editors-in-Chief
Hello, and thank you for considering Landing Zone Magazine. We are currently seeking nonfiction essays about the writing process for our next print issue. What is it like to create a character? How do you go about existing in a new fictional world? What are the mechanics of writing combat? The strategies for creating a magic system? We are interested in the answer to all these questions and more. Please feel free to tackle whatever aspect of the writing process you wish for this essay. Here are some guidelines:
- Manuscripts should be in an easily readable font, size, and format with standard one-inch margins, with the exception of poetry.
- Please remove all identifying information from your submitted document.
- Submissions should be one piece no longer that 7,500 words.
- If you're accepted elsewhere, congratulations! Please just withdraw your work on Submittable.
- Please use .doc, .docx, or .pdf file formats.
Landing Zone is currently seeking fiction and poetry themed around the concept of "alien"--literal or metaphorical. We are open to any interpretation of this theme! Send us writing about extraterrestrial beings coming to earth, explorers in space, a character who feels isolated or abnormal or IS isolated and abnormal, absurd occurrences in every day life, weird places and settings, strange dystopias. We are open to all of it!
For fiction please send us:
-One piece of up to 7,500 words. Formatting is your choice.
For poetry please send us:
-one to three poems, formatted however you see fit.
Simultaneous submissions is perfectly fine; just make sure to withdraw if your piece is accepted elsewhere. Please remove all identifying information from your document. Accepted pieces will be published in a print anthology and each contributor will receive one free copy. We look forward to reading your work!
Landing Zone Magazine seeks fiction with fantastical elements or genre fiction within the realms of fantasy, dark fantasy, afrofuturism, high fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, science fiction, steampunk, and anything in between. We want poetry that roars and glitches out. Please send us work that contains some form of genre elements, or experiments with subject matter like it. We like themes associated with fantasy, science fiction, magical realism. Basically, if it's otherworldly, we'd love to read it.
For expedited responses, we respond within a week, usually much less.
Payment is $15 through PayPal (if you don’t have PayPal, we can work something else out on a case-by-case basis) for online only features, and $15 and one copy of the issue for print publications. If we accept you, we'll let you know where we'll place you depending on how full up we are on print spots for each issue. We're hoping (and planning) to pay more than that in the future.
If you want to know what we like to read, check out the wonderful, fantastical content we have posted for free on our site here. Reading what we've published before is the best way to know what we'd publish in the future, although we're always looking for writing that opens up portals to new places, forms, and genres we haven't seen. We're especially interested in writing by unestablished, undergraduate, and underrepresented authors.
For additional inspiration, and to glimpse inside what we the editors like to read, check out: Aimee Bender (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake), Martha Wells (Murderbot Series), Kij Johnson (26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss), V.E. Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Ursula K. Le Guin (Left Hand of Darkness), Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice), Nnedi Okorafor (Lagoon, Noor), Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive), Amal El-Mohtar (The Honey Month, This Is How You Lose the Time War).
A few other magazines we love: Strange Horizons, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Metamorphosis, Coffin Bell, Ghost Parachute, Uncharted, Asimov's, Clarkesworld, Black Warrior, Stardust, FracturedLit, Last Resort, Ember Chasm, Button Eye, Fatal Flaw, Booth, Room, Carve, Split Lip, Luna Station Quarterly, Rust+Moth.
There are many more publications we love, but to list them all would likely exceed Submittable's guideline space limits.
Guidelines:
- Manuscripts should be double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman font, with standard one-inch margins, with the exception of poetry.
- Please remove all identifying information from your submitted document.
- Submissions should be one fiction piece no longer that 7,500 words or five poems all in one document.
- We are happy to review both short stories and novel excerpts.
- If you're accepted elsewhere, congratulations! Please just withdraw your work on Submittable.
- Please use .doc or .docx file formats. PDF's are difficult to format on our website.
- We're a very small review, so please refrain from contacting us about the status of your submission unless it exceeds six months. We're trying to sharpen our processes to a two month response, but if your work is still in progress, it's likely still being considered by our magazine.
We look forward to reading your work!
Landing Zone Magazine is looking for visual art for our issue covers, and to accompany our short stories and poems. We prefer something that contains fantasy or science fiction elements, especially whimsical digital landscape creations, however we're happy to review art of any sort, style, form, and subject, and all will be considered equally for potential cover feature.
- We’re happy to review: photography, digital art, drawings/paintings, mixed media, and photos of larger art such as sculptures, tapestries, textiles etc. If you have something that isn’t any of that, still send it over! We’ll take a look.
- Payment is $50 and one print contributor copy if accepted for the cover, and $10 and one print contributor copy if accepted to accompany fiction and poetry submissions.
- You may submit up to five images per submission.
- Please submit images in .jpg or .png format, under 5mb.
- We may contact you for a higher-quality file if your work is accepted.
Landing Zone seeks fiction with fantastical elements or genre fiction within the realms of fantasy, dark fantasy, afrofuturism, high fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, science fiction, steampunk, and anything in between. We want poetry that roars and glitches out. Please send us work that contains some form of genre elements, or experiments with subject matter like it. We like themes associated with fantasy, science fiction, magical realism. Basically, if it's otherworldly, we'd love to read it.
Payment is $15 through PayPal (if you don’t have PayPal, we can work something else out on a case-by-case basis) for online only features, and $15 and one copy of the issue for print publications. If we accept you, we'll let you know where we'll place you depending on how full up we are on print spots for each issue. We're hoping (and planning) to pay more than that in the future.
If you want to know what we like to read, check out the wonderful, fantastical content we have posted for free on our site here. Reading what we've published before is the best way to know what we'd publish in the future, although we're always looking for writing that opens up portals to new places, forms, and genres we haven't seen. We're especially interested in writing by unestablished, undergraduate, and underrepresented authors.
For additional inspiration, and to glimpse inside what we the editors like to read, check out: Aimee Bender (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake), Martha Wells (Murderbot Series), Kij Johnson (26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss), V.E. Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Ursula K. Le Guin (Left Hand of Darkness), Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice), Nnedi Okorafor (Lagoon, Noor), Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive), Amal El-Mohtar (The Honey Month, This Is How You Lose the Time War).
A few other magazines we love: Strange Horizons, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Metamorphosis, Coffin Bell, Ghost Parachute, Uncharted, Asimov's, Clarkesworld, Black Warrior, Stardust, FracturedLit, Last Resort, Ember Chasm, Button Eye, Fatal Flaw, Booth, Room, Carve, Split Lip, Luna Station Quarterly, Rust+Moth.
There are many more publications we love, but to list them all would likely exceed Submittable's guideline space limits.
Guidelines:
- Manuscripts should be in an easily readable font, size, and format with standard one-inch margins, with the exception of poetry.
- Please remove all identifying information from your submitted document.
- Submissions should be one fiction piece no longer that 7,500 words or five poems all in one document.
- We are happy to review both short stories and novel excerpts.
- If you're accepted elsewhere, congratulations! Please just withdraw your work on Submittable.
- Please use .doc, .docx, or .pdf file formats.
- We're a very small review, so please refrain from contacting us about the status of your submission unless it exceeds six months. We're trying to sharpen our processes to a two month response, but if your work is still in progress, it's likely still being considered by our magazine. For expedited responses, please submit through our other Quick Response form, and we'll respond within a week, usually much less.
We look forward to reading your work.