Frivolous Comma: Speculative Fiction Call for Submissions

The theme/overarching title for 2025 is Shadows and Signals: Speculative Mysteries. Here are some guidelines.

• Use speculative fiction to give an atmosphere to the mystery.
• Draw us in.
• The mystery in these stories should be tied to that speculative world. In other words, the mystery could only work because of the unique setting / concept that makes this speculative.
• Be careful not to have too many characters since this is a short story- Avoid classic mystery tropes, unless you’re working to upend or reframe them.
• We’re not looking for “gotcha” mysteries.
• Cosy and not-cosy mysteries are good.
• At the end of the year we plan to collect the stories into both an ebook and a printed book collection. We’re looking for stories up to 4000 words paying $0.10/word, paid within 45 days of publication.
• Frivolous Comma will not consider any AI-written, developed or assisted submission of any kind for publication, now or ever.
• Please allow for 6 weeks before querying.