For Reckoning’s next special issue, we are asking for environmental justice flash fiction of 1000 words or less. While we’ll take 1-1200 words, we strongly prefer things in the 500-1000 range. Outside of flash, what we specifically want are weird stories, dark stories, horror stories . . . and yet stories with some bit of hope to them, even if that hope is simply, We will persist, we will exist, we will endure. You can’t make the world a better place, after all, if you aren’t there to do the work.
We want you to take big swings. We want you to push boundaries of expectations and language. Okay, let me be real: I’m the editor, one Andrew Kozma. I like weird. I like dark. I like things I don’t know I like until I like them. Go back and read my story for Reckoning 3. Is that hopeful? I don’t know. I know it’s a blood sacrifice. What I’m saying is that I want your dirty, I want your rough, I want your jagged. I want your environmental justice in a box just waiting to be read to know if it’s alive or dead.
Payment: .15/word (US)
No reprints for this issue, please. Previously unpublished work only. Anything submitted to the special issue will also be considered for our regular issue, so please don’t resubmit. And we’re still accepting only one piece at a time per author. Once you’ve heard back, feel free to submit again!
Reading List for Inspiration:
You might start with the flash fiction that we’ve already published.
“Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday[2][3]” by Emma Burnett in manywor(l)ds, which plays with form in an interesting way.
“I’M NOT TRYING TO SELL YOU ANYTHING AND I’M NOT TRYING TO SCAM YOU” by Jack Klausner in ergot. which isn’t really ecological, but the momentum and the dread and the weirdness of the situation are what I want.
Submissions for our flash fiction issue open now and will remain open until October 31, 2026.
Please review all our usual submission guidelines, then submit your work via our Moksha portal!
