Hello! Submission Window announcements for you!
General Submission Window
This year for the general unthemed Diabolical Plots submission window we are opening from July 13-27, 2026. Again, no theme on this one, but of course you should read our submission guidelines for more detail! 3500 words upper limit, no generative AI writing, must be speculative.
Themed Guest-Edited Submission Window
Bring out your dead, your undead, your mostly dead, and maybe your mushrooms! Diabolical Plots is pleased to announce our next themed issue, Diabolical Rot.
We’ll be accepting submissions for this special issue from October 18 – 25, 2026, with stories publishing in fall of 2027. In addition to being centered around rot and rotting, submissions must have a speculative element. Pay rate, format, and submission restrictions (no reprints, no resubmits, etc.) will follow our general submission guidelines. Writers who submitted to Diabolical Plots’ main 2026 submission window may submit to Diabolical Rot, even if their submission from the main window is pending.
So, what does ‘rot’ mean for this call? Think the undead, especially the less well-preserved ones, from rotting skeletons in the literal closet to zombies and vampires or other undead creatures. Also fungi and mycelium, because why not! They grow from rotting things. (Fair warning: mentioning mushrooms without a speculative element or a focus on the rotting aspect won’t be sufficient, and cordyceps zombie stories will be a hard sell unless you have a new take. And while ‘rot’ is the theme, description of gore will be best received when it contributes to, but is not the point of, the story.)
While this theme might lean toward horror, and horror is most definitely welcome, so are “gentler” stories. See both “Vegetable Mommy” and “A Strange and Muensterous Desire” (both from Diabolical Plots’ first themed issue, Diabolical Pots) for examples of the variety of tone we welcome for Diabolical Rot!
For this themed issue, editor Amanda Helms will be taking the wheel and making final selections. Of course, your story should still be a good fit for Diabolical Plots—check out our general guidelines for an idea of what that means—but what might win you extra points with Amanda?
Amanda would love to see:
- Unusual takes on rotting—when is rotting a good thing versus “solely” decay?
- Nontraditional formats, where the format adds subtext,or helps reinterpret the story (see “A Complete Transcript of [REDACTED]’s Video Channel, In Order of Upload” and “Rebuttal to Reviewers’ Comments on Edits for ‘Demonstration of a Novel Draconification Protocol in a Human Subject’” for examples)
- Undead creatures from non-European traditions, particularly when the writer has a cultural connection
And she’ll repeat some points from former editor Kel Coleman and current editor Ziv Wities, which remain true for Diabolical Plots as a whole:
- Fiction that’s high on emotional resonance, low on unexamined imperialism
- Any kind of prose—it can be ornate, experimental in structure or tone, or punchy and simple, as long as it is intentional and serves the story