This has been a year of transition for the fiction department. With the departure of two senior editors, we have recruited new staff members to carry us into 2027 and beyond.
First, please join us in thanking senior editors Hebe Stanton and Kathryn Weaver for their tireless work. Together they have contributed more than 17 years to Strange Horizons! We wish them the best in their new projects!
New Editors
Austin Dewar (Managing Editor - Fiction)
Austin Dewar stepped into the managing editor role early in 2026. Austin is a writer, editor, and educator from Fort Worth, Texas. He has a certificate in copyediting from UC San Diego, previously served as a first reader for Strange Horizons and Flash Fiction Online, and is pursuing a master’s in English at TCU.
Strange Horizons will open to general fiction submissions on October 1, 2026, at 3 p.m. UTC! This window will remain open until we hit our submission cap of 1,000 stories. Our maximum word count for this window will be 5,000 words. We offer payment of 9¢/word USD. We do not read simultaneous or multiple submissions.
Response time:
Our goal is to respond to all submissions with either a hold notice or rejection within eight weeks. We hope to send acceptances or rejections within one month of hold notices. This is ambitious, and we might fall behind schedule. Please be patient with us as we refine our systems.
Strange Horizons is looking to add an additional social media editor and a Patreon editor to our editorial collective. These roles will entail working in tandem with our existing social media editor, Isana Skeete, our fundraising editor, Josh Kidd, and our management team.
Strange Horizons will open to general fiction submissions on January 19th, 2026, at 3 p.m. UTC! This window will remain open for 48 hours, closing at 3 p.m. UTC on January 21st 2026.
