Call for Submissions: Witches Save the World: Hags, Harridans, and Hexes Gone Right
Submission Period: 1 January through 31 March 2026
Maximum Word Count: 8000 words
Submission Email: lyradora@yahoo.com

“Witches Save the World: Hags, Harridans, and Hexes Gone Right” is seeking outsider witch tales for an anthology to be edited by Rebecca Buchanan and published by Gorgon’s Gaze Press.

What do we mean by “outsider”? We want stories of witches as marginalized folk who rise up and burn it all down. Oppressed witches working to make the world better for those like them, and, hopefully, everyone else. Persecuted witches doing Whatever Is Necessary to save the day because their personal honor and ethics demands nothing less. The outcast doing the right thing when no one else will. For example:

— a demoted and ostracized witch detective is called in to solve an impossible murder;

— an enslaved king’s witch secretly helps the rebels trying to overthrow the monarchy;

— a thief witch steals potion medicines for the poor, risking imprisonment or worse;

— a fortune teller witch lies to create fear among the powerful and hope among the powerless, and thereby potentially remake the future;

— a witch who can communicate with the dead is called in to clear hostile ghosts from an old castle … except the ghosts are her family, killed during a failed revolt;

— a witch with an affinity for insects sends a plague of locusts after those who have abused and oppressed farmers and the poor; but when the insects cause harm to the very people the witch was trying to help, amends must be made;

— a devotee of Hekate smuggles children to safety outside a war zone;

— a witch cons a dragon out of its gold to help an impoverished village;

— and more.

We’re interested in fiction, essays, poetry, comics, recipes, plays, and more. Surprise us with your creativity! Draw from the world’s vast and varied witch mythology and lore, but please do not send us a rehash of modern popular urban fantasy novels and characters. No fan fiction!

We are interested in devotional works based on real-world traditions, and every subgenre of fantasy such as epic fantasy, urban fantasy, space fantasy, and sword and sorcery; as well as occult detective, paranormal mystery, action/adventure, gothic suspense, science fiction, political thriller, and more. Your witch’s motivations might be altruistic (they really do just want to make the world a better place) or self-interested (they just want to live). Your witch might live in a society that acknowledges the existence of magic or they might be hiding as an ordinary human. They might be fighting others of their own kind, or greedy corporations, or the ignorance and fear of humanity, or even aliens.

Please note that your witch can be any gender, any ethnicity, any sexual orientation, and any age.

Minimum word count for fiction and essays is 1000. Maximum word count is 8000 (a smidge over is fine). Send your submission to lyradora@yahoo.com as a .doc/.docx, .rtf, or .txt attachment. Please include your name, type of submission, and title in the subject field. Formal manuscript formatting is not necessary, but the times new roman or courier fonts are preferred. Include your name and contact information in the submission. Submissions will be open from 1 January to 31 March 2026 only. Submissions sent outside this reading period will be automatically rejected. Responses to all submissions will be sent by 1 May 2026. We anticipate an August 2026 release date in both digital and print formats.

No reprints.

No plagiarism. No plagiarism software. Your submission must be your own creation, not stolen, directly or indirectly, from another author. Any submissions created with AI/LLM software will be immediately rejected.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know as soon as possible if your work is accepted elsewhere.

No multiple submissions. Please limit yourself to one submission.

Payment will be made in the form of royalty shares via Draft2Digital. [Note: failure to accept the royalty share notification from Draft2Digital will result in your acceptance being revoked and your submission being pulled from the anthology.] As the editor, formatter, and publisher, Rebecca Buchanan will take 25% of the royalties. The remaining 75% will be distributed equally among all of the contributors for as long as the anthology remains available. “When Witches Save the World” requires one year world-wide exclusivity from date of publication, after which the anthology will retain non-exclusive rights. At that point, contributors may publish their piece elsewhere as they see fit.

Contributors will receive one free physical copy and a free digital edition in .pdf or .epub format, as they prefer. Additional physical copies may be purchased at cost, plus shipping.

Not sure if your idea will work? Query the editor! [Feel free to query outside the submission period.]

And happy writing!