Issue 3 Dragon's Blood logo

Fall 2026 Issue 3: Dragon’s Blood

We are so excited to announce that we are running a special flash fiction issue of Scattered Flock Journal, titled “Dragon’s Blood” for our fall 2026 issue. Submission deadline is August 31st at 11:59PM EST.

Dragon’s Blood is a bright red resin that has been used since antiquity for things like varnish, science and medicine, art pigment and dye, as well as incense. We’re looking for fantastical flash fiction stories inspired by its rich history. Here are some ideas of what we’re looking for…

The color crimson. Socotra and its bleeding trees. Resin, sap, amber, ichor. Alchemy and the rubedo. Grimoire ink, summoning seals, wax, and cinnabar. The varnish on a Stradivarius. Illuminated manuscripts, religious icons. Salves, coagulants, cure-alls, abortifacients. Horns stained to pass as tortoiseshell. Coolant lines and hydraulic weep. The wound and the remedy. 

The dragon is optional, but the color is not. We welcome all speculative takes.

Submission Guidelines:

  • maximum word length: 500 words
  • only one submission per writer
  • unpublished work only, responding to the theme
  • no entry fee
  • digital publication
  • no AI-assisted writing

Please format your submission in Shunn Standard Manuscript Format (Modern or Classic). You do not need to include your address or phone number. Your manuscript should be in DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT file format.

Please submit through our Google Form. We will not consider submissions sent to our email.

Thank you and good luck!

~ The Scattered Flock Editorial Team

Submit to Issue 3

Scattered Flock publishes two issues every year in the spring and the fall.

General Submission Guidelines

Thank you for considering Scattered Flock as a home for your work. See below for our general guidelines and check out our past issues for insight into our style.

Creative Writing

We’re looking for short stories, flash fiction, excerpts, or even experimental prose that plays with form and genre (between 500 and 5,000 words). Your piece can be high fantasy, low fantasy, magical realism, science fiction, horror, or anything that falls under the wide umbrella of speculative fiction. We encourage original voices and bold storytelling.

Opinion Pieces

Opinion pieces (between 500-2,000 words) are informal, personal reflections on speculative fiction. You can discuss a favorite trope, critique recent trends, review a new release, or rant about your newest obsession. This is a casual but thoughtful space to spotlight the niche interests that exist within speculative fiction.

Academic Articles

We are interested in short academic pieces (up to 4,000 words) that offer thoughtful literary analysis, genre studies, or reflections on speculative fiction. Whether you’re unpacking the symbolism in Tolkien or exploring folklore influences in fantasy, we invite submissions that engage critically with the genre. All articles should follow current MLA style guidelines and be submitted with an accompanying abstract. All accepted academic pieces undergo a double-blind peer review process, examined by speculative fiction scholars who hold an MLitt in Fantasy Literature.

FAQ’s

  • Can I submit more than one piece?
    • An individual may submit one piece per written category (academic article, short story, and opinion piece) per issue.
  • Will I be able to keep the rights to my content?
    • All authors and artists retain the creative copyrights to their works.
  • Will you consider a piece if its over the word limit?
    • As our magazine grows, we are setting the word limits according to our editorial and production team’s capabilities. Pieces that surpass our word limit will be rejected unread.
    • Please note that the Works Cited in an academic article is not included when considering word limit.
  • Are there any fees to submit?
    • There are no fees to submit.
  • Do you pay contributors for their work?
    • Our magazine is run by a volunteer team of MLitt Fantasy Literature graduates, and we currently do not have the resources to pay contributors. As our magazine grows, we hope that one day we might secure funding to be able to pay our writers. In the meantime, we will always offer a public, easily accessible online space where anyone can enjoy our contributors’ work.

Submissions Policy and Rights

All authors retain the creative copyrights to their works.

By submitting to Scattered Flock Journal, you grant us the non-exclusive right to publish your work in both our print and digital formats, including archival display on our website, for a period of up to three (3) years in print and five (5) years online from the date of publication.

Authors retain full copyright and may republish, anthologize, or adapt their work elsewhere at any time, acknowledging Scattered Flock Journal as the original place of publication.

After the stated archival period, we may remove the work from our active archive at our discretion, though we may seek permission to reprint it in anthologies or special editions.

We do not request exclusivity before or after publication; simultaneous submissions and future republication are permitted.

By submitting work to Scattered Flock Journal, you affirm that the work has not been ideated or developed by generative AI. Any work found to be created with assistance from AI following acceptance of publication will result in breach of publishing contract, and Scattered Flock Journal holds the right to revoke publication offer.

AI Policy

Scattered Flock Journal does not accept submissions of any kind that were written, developed, or assisted by GenAI tools. We love stories about AI, but we want them created by humans. Attempts to submit AI-aided work may result in being permanently banned from our magazine.