submissions

the rotting leaf

If you are interested in submitting a story to The Rotting Leaf, take a look at our guidelines below, then use the link to the submission form at the bottom of the page (if we’re open).

general guidelines

• Submission windows will open once per month: For the first week of the month or until 50 submissions are received, whichever occurs first.

• We do not currently accept poetry, but we will consider hybrid and experimental forms

• Payment: $0.06/word ($30 minimum) + contributor copy of annual anthology

• Words: 1,500 or less

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed; multiple submissions are not

• Submissions should be in a word doc file with a readable font

• No reprints unless from markets that are now defunct (please indicate this in your cover letter)

• Each published author will be offered an additional, optional by-line in the form of a mini-essay (500 words or less) to respond the the question: “What does ‘Eco-Fiction’ mean?”

• Contract details: Full rights return to the author immediately upon publication, but RLM reserves print publishing rights for annual anthology

things we like

• Eco-fiction (broadly defined)

• Eco-Horror

• Eco-Gothic/Antigothic

• Haunted/Unhaunted Landscapes

• Transcorporeality

• Eco-Surrealism/Existentialism/Absurdism

• Complex/Flawed characters

• Interiority

• Any other uses of Eco-Fiction that challenge, shift, or obliterate the nature-society binary

things we do not like

• Racism/Sexism/Misogyny/Transphobia/Etc

• Misanthropy

• Generative AI or LLMs

• Eco-Fascism

• Capitalism

• Punching down

• Simple “people are bad and nature is good” stories

• Stories from a child’s POV

things that are a (very) tough sell for us

• Humor

• Outer space / other planets

• Solarpunk

• Apocalyptic/Dystopian futures

• Robots

• Virtual reality