Submissions

SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN!

Our mission is to publish truly inspiring and imaginative fantasy stories. We are particularly interested in character-driven works in fully realized worlds that play by their own rules. Æther & Ichor will accept a wide range of styles from urban fantasy, twisted fairy tales and swashbuckling adventures to detailed author-created universes complete with their own fictional languages, mythologies and cultures. These are just guidelines, however: if you aren’t sure we’ll accept it, send it over anyway!

GUIDELINES:
To submit to Æther & Ichor, please send your story in .doc format to aetherandichor@outlook.com, with a short author bio in the body of the email. If your story is over 1,000 words please include a summary of less than 50 words in the body of the email when you submit. We encourage simultaneous and multiple submissions, just let us know if your work is accepted somewhere else. We do accept reprints, but please let us know if and where your work was published previously. At this time we are no longer accepting poetry

Short work:
100-1,000 words
This category includes flash fiction, but we are looking for work that is structured rather than abstract; it should not just be a collection of motifs.

Long work:
1,000-5,000 words, prose only
Pieces over 5,000 words are accepted on a case-by-case basis, collectively determined by the editorial board.

WHAT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT:
-fan fiction or work involving copyrighted material
-sex, violence, and profanity for shock value alone
-bigotry and slurs that do not contribute to the plot
-political or religious diatribes
-your work can be inspired by your personal philosophy but we are not interested in reading your manifesto
-In addition, as many of the stories we publish contain violence and adult language, we do not currently accept children’s fiction

A note about editing
At Æther & Ichor, we respond to every author who submits. If your story is shelf-ready, we are excited to be the ones to publish it. If it has a great soul but needs a little polishing, we are happy to help you iron out the details. If your work simply doesn’t meet our standards, we will tell you exactly where your piece was lacking or deviated from what was solicited. We are not trying to be difficult, we correct because we care.

COPYRIGHT:
If we accept your story, we ask only the right to publish and promote your work on our site. For subsequent issues, your work will be stored in our archive, but it can be removed at your request. All other rights remain with the author.