Calendar of Fools is seeking your short stories for the Missed-Fits anthology.
The idea for Missed-Fits is born of two central motivations at Calendar of Fools: the desire to create truly unique books and reading experiences for our readers, and the desire to provide a service or fill a gap we see in the professional short fiction space. In this case, the gap we saw was a relative dearth of stories of a certain length (1,200 to 2,100 words), and once we settled on that, the “unique books” part presented itself: stories with elements that are out of place, that don’t fit, that are missing.
We wondered: what would happen if we created a space that was exclusively for these odd-length oddities? What if we set writers the task of purposely writing a story that tends to be too long for flash fiction markets yet is on the short side for short story markets? What stories will innovate narratively in ways unique to this story length? We plan to find out.
Missed-fits contains 9 odd stories by highly acclaimed authors, and has room for more.
What we’re looking for
- Genre: Speculative short stories (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.).
- Length: Story length must be between 1,200 words and 2,100 words. No more, no less. Word count is calculated via Microsoft Word. Story title, byline, and header material are not part of word count.
- Theme: Your story should have an element of someone or something that doesn’t fit, that is missing, that is out of place.
- Format: Standard Manuscript Format (double-spaced 12 pt. Courier or Times New Roman, no extra lines between paragraphs). Include your name and email on the first page of the story. Please submit only .rtf, .doc, or .docx files.
- Multiple Submissions: We are not accepting multiple submissions.
- Simultaneous Submissions: We accept simultaneous submissions. Please let us know at contact@calendaroffools.com if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
- Reprints: We are not accepting reprints for Missed-Fits. (A story that has been published in any form anywhere, even self-published or on a personal website, counts as a reprint.)
- Languages: We are only able to accept English-language submissions.
- Stories produced with AI: We do not ever accept stories where AI wrote or generated portions of the text.
Submission Period:
Submissions will open on April 16th, 2026 and be open through May 16th, 2026.
Stories submitted outside this period will be deleted unread. Stories must be submitted via our submissions form, which will become available on April 16th. Do not send your story to us via email. If you haven’t heard from us in 3 months after the end of the submission window, please contact us at contact@calendaroffools.com.
If your story is not accepted for this anthology, please keep writing and editing and molding your stories.
Acceptances, Payments, and Rights
Rejections, acceptances, and other updates will be notified via email.
Editing: All accepted stories will undergo an editing period. The author will be able to review and discuss edits.
Payment: For this anthology, we pay a pro rate of 8 cents U.S. per word.
Rights: For this anthology, we seek the following rights:
- First World Serial Rights
- First World Electronic Rights
- Non-Exclusive World Anthology Reprint Rights