“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

We are looking to curate the finest speculative fiction for The Bare Bones Book of Speculative Fiction, edited by Tejaswinee Roychowdhury.

Writers from all over the world, aged 18 and above, can submit their work.

Stories may be folkloric, contemporary, historical, otherworldly, magic realist, surreal, dark, horror, etc. Please avoid explicitly sexual content, gore and other violent fantasies, and the usual tropes—we agree with Clarkesworld on “hard sells.” That said, we don’t intend to restrict you. Unleash your imagination and surprise us.

Stories must be in English. Non-English words, phrases or passages are fine as long as translation is provided, wherever necessary, and the work itself is in English.

Word count: 800 to 3000 words

Selected works will be published in a print anthology by Bare Bones, an independent publishing house based in Gurugram, India.

Submission window: June 15, 2025 to August 25, 2025 (Indian Time)

All responses will be sent out by October 4, 2025.

The expected date of publication is early 2026.

About the editor: Tejaswinee Roychowdhury has publications across the world. Her work has been nominated, selected and longlisted for best of lists, both nationally and internationally. She edits The Hooghly Review, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Calcutta, India. Find her on X @TejaswineeRC and IG @tejaswineeroychowdhury. 

How to submit?

Send your work as a .doc / .docx attachment to barebones.sff@gmail.com with the subject line: Bare Bones SF: [Your Name]. 

Please follow the William Shunn Proper Manuscript Format, Modern Edition. There is no need to write your address and phone number in your manuscript.

Submissions must be accompanied by a brief cover letter in the body of the email with the following information:

• Title
• Byline
• Email
• Word Count
• A brief biographical note (third-person, not more than 50 words, and if possible, please mention where you are based)

General Guidelines 

• Please submit only one story.
• Although we prefer previously unpublished works, we can consider reprints as long as the work has been previously published in print only and the author retains reprint rights; additionally, we can consider a work that has previously appeared in an online magazine which is now defunct and offline, meaning the work is no longer available on the internet. If you are submitting such a piece, do mention the when and where of its first appearance.
• Since we would not take too long to send out decisions, we request you to send exclusive submissions. If, however, you are sending in a simultaneous submission, kindly mention so and notify us immediately in case of an acceptance elsewhere.

Things we do not want 

• Work that includes AI-generated and/or plagiarized text.
• Work that includes any copyrighted material such as song lyrics without the explicit and written permission of the copyright holder.
• Work deliberately intended to offend any person or group. 

Payment and publishing rights 

There is no submission fee.

Contributors will receive a complimentary eBook.

Writers accepted for publication will grant and assign to Bare Bones first worldwide print, electronic, and digital rights, exclusive for one year, and non-exclusive rights thereafter. For reprints, non-exclusive rights apply. Copyright in the works shall remain the property of the respective authors and the publisher shall affix a copyright notice in compliance with the provisions of the Universal Copyright Convention in every copy of the book.

Copyright of the Individual Works © Respective Authors [YYYY]

Please note that we cannot offer feedback. The editorial decision will be final.