What We Publish
The Phantom Pulse is a biannual speculative fiction magazine of the grey corners of humanity, dread that permeates the skin, and the bizarre. Our pages are haunted by twisted longing, inevitable darkness, and quiet obsession.
We publish traditional horror, sci-fi horror, dark fantasy, and the weird. We have diverse reading tastes and are open to experimental forms and stories.
Unsure if we’ll like your story? You’ll never know unless you submit!
The Phantom Pulse welcomes and encourages submissions from writers of all races, color, religion, gender, gender expression, national origin, disability, and sexual orientation.
Story Submission Process
We are currently CLOSED for submissions.
Submissions open January 1st, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time and close on February 14th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. We accept original submissions up to 3,000 words. Please send submissions as a DOC or DOCX attachment to ThePhantomPulseSubmissions@gmail.com.
The subject line of your email should read: Your Name | Story Title | Word Count.
For example: John Johnson | Grubby Alien Soup | 2,503
Provide a brief cover letter in the body of your email.
Reprints
We accept reprint submissions up to 5,000 words. When submitting a reprint, please let us know where and when the piece was originally published. We don’t accept reprint submissions for stories that were published within the last 12 months.
Story Payment
We pay $0.03 per word for unpublished fiction and $0.01 per word for reprints. We pay our authors using PayPal.
Simultaneous Submissions
We allow simultaneous submissions, but please inform us in a timely manner if your story has been accepted elsewhere.
Multiple Submissions
We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit only one story per submission window.
Response Time
We will respond to all submissions on or before March 31st, 2026. If you have not heard from us by then, please inquire at ThePhantomPulseSubmissions@gmail.com.
Artwork Submission Process
We want art that tells a story and sends a shiver down the spine of our magazine. The ideal cover art will haunt us as easily as the stories we publish. Please see the “What We Publish” section at the top of the page for descriptors. We enjoy many forms of art, but we are not looking for photography or photo-realistic drawings.
We will not consider art that has been previously used for another magazine or book cover.
Artwork should be in a high-resolution format and friendly to resizing.
You can send an individual art piece or your portfolio link to ThePhantomPulseSubmissions@gmail.com.
The subject line of your email should read: Your Name | Title of Work | ART
For example: Belinda Bogerty | Bugs in My Brain | ART
Provide a brief cover letter in the body of your email.
Art Payment
We pay $100 for cover art.
Statement on “AI” Tools
The Phantom Pulse does not accept stories or artwork created or developed using AI or machine generation tools. Failure to abide by our AI policy will likely result in a permanent submission ban for offenders. And we will add you to our list of people who suck.