A (NON-EXHAUSTIVE AND CONTINUOUSLY DEVELOPING) DIRECTORY.
CONTENTS OVERVIEW: (though use the document outline)
NOTE:
As the title says, this document focuses on fiction (short stories for the most part because that’s what I want to read more of this year! ) so although some sites do contain other types of writing/art e.g. poetry, those are materials that I’m not actively trying to cover here (can you imagine me trying to do that in one google doc oh my).
Happy Reading! :)
they’ve put links to where they’re published for online reading (truly, iconic of them)
YES, this list is woefully short, I will definitely be adding to it asap.
I’ve shared sites that have a lot/all/the majority of their short story content for free online - but obviously, if you enjoy the content and are able to support the publications monetarily by purchasing issues/donating (particularly the smaller sites!), that would be great!
A lot of these also have a newsletter you can subscribe to or a twitter to follow if you want updates :)
Also, the majority of publications have a mix of emerging authors and more well known ones so all worth checking out.
Contents:
if you don’t like these genres, just scroll to section 2
Tor.com - this one is the big one you’ve probably heard of
they also have a monthly FREE ebook club (ostensibly... if you’re based in the US/Canada) details here / here…
Anathema - focussing on work by marginalized writers
Shimmer Zine (complete) - speculative fiction, navigate by side or tags cloud
Liminal Stories (indefinite hiatus) - focusses on the “beautiful, heartbreaking, and strange”
Omenana - speculative fiction written by authors from Africa and the African diaspora.
Nightmare Mag - horror, dark fantasy
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - adventure fantasy, ones w awards
Strange Horizons- speculative fiction / this site has content warnings you can check for each entry which is honestly great
Avatars Inc - completely free anthology of science fiction (article on it here) - you can download the pdf/ebook if you give an email. but they also have a very s*xy interface (and like Concept) on the website to check out!
Escape Pod - a science fiction podcast primarily. also gives CWs and you can download episodes for free. Some of them have the story written out as a transcript if that’s more your jam!
The same company also has other genre podcasts:
EDIT: So now I’ve found the Semiprozine Directory, which is what the Hugo Awards (sci fi/fantasy) uses for eligibility criteria, and realised I was basically just doing a bad job of what they’re doing…! SCREAM. (it also has non-semiprozine publications listed as well so truly WHAT am I bothering with… I like mine a little more though because it’s mine and I’m not scrapping it so let’s continue.)
Short Story Project - it has works translated from different languages as well as a ‘global’ section with untranslated works in their original languages, indicates reading time, a range of sections including historical fiction, work by women, speculative fiction and emerging writers (check the sidebar for more).
Classic Short Stories - or by author/word count, some have been removed but still a good reference site!
Jalada - anthologies with literature by African writers - they also have spotlights and conversations sections which are worth checking out.
Lit Hub - mostly excerpts from books but there’s also good essays elsewhere on site too
Reckoning - creative writing on environmental justice
Levar Burton - podcasts! !
Mascara Review - in their words “bi-annual literary journal co-founded in 2007, Mascara is particularly interested in the work of contemporary migrant, Asian Australian and Aboriginal writers”
Cha - Asian literary journal / archive of past issues you can click to it in the menu of the home page obvs but just to flag it up!
Slate’s Future Tense Fiction series
Electric Literature / also on tumblr??
Also The New Yorker and Medium go here but lololol
African speculative fiction reading list (2019)
My Favourite African SFF from 2018
19 Free Short Stories Online (2019)
Hugo Award winners - a lot of the short stories receiving awards tend to have been published online so a good point of reference. gotta search like the internet people we are, all chill
Six short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lost my motivation here to keep listing, I will update this later lol when I sorted a bit more and I’ll update it as I read! (site of online publication in brackets)
The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu (io9)
The Husband Stitch - Carmen Maria Machado (Granta)
Seasons of Glass and Iron - Amal El-Mohtar (Uncanny)
Do Not Look Back, My Lion - Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
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