Submissions Open! Aug 1st-15th
Cabinet 13, Issue One: WATER. Horror flash and short fiction, 100–3,500 words. Pays $25 (≤1,000 wds) / $50 (1,001–3,500 wds) flat, on acceptance, USD. First world electronic rights, six-month exclusivity. Digital. Reading August 1, 2026 – August 15, 2026 or first 200 submissions.
CABINET 13 — ISSUE ONE
Open Call: WATER
THE CALL
Issue One is for all things WATER, and we want it doing something wrong.
💧🚣♂️🧊❄️🌧️💦🫗🚿🌊🚤🩵
We are Cabinet 13.
We are new, we are small, we pay, and we can't wait to read your work!
WHAT WE WANT
- Water behaving badly! Whether it is rising, standing, seeping, dripping, boiling, rippling, refusing to drain, falling from the sky, we are interested. 🩵
- Horror surrounding the vessels that hold water: cisterns, fonts, retention ponds, wells, bathtubs, ice machines, culverts, leaks, floods, rivulets, plastic bottles, Owalas...bodies... 🩵
- Vivid imagery and flawed characters 🩵
- Settings that are, well, water-y. This isn't a must by any means. But, we are already warm to the idea.
WHAT WE’VE SEEN ENOUGH OF OR DON'T WANT TO SEE
- Drowned people returning wet. Yes, we know that Creepshow vignette was EPIC. But, that's the point. It's been done. And well.
- Stories where the twist is that they were dead the whole time
- Clowns in the sewers…in Maine (not that we don’t love Pennywise…but…)
- Deserts. Yes, we know there is a wealth of inspiration to be found in exploring the psychology of seeking water when its scarce. But, we want this issue to be 💦 soaking wet. The wetter, the better, in fact. 💦💦💦💦💦💦💦 Fully incorporating the theme = 🥇
Not for us: stories built on sexual violence; harm to children or animals as the engine of the horror
THE SPECS
| Reading window | August 1 – August 15, or at 200 submissions, whichever comes first |
|---|---|
| Length | 10 – 3,500 words (upper limit somewhat flexible) |
| Payment | $25 flat up to 1,000 words · $50 flat for 1,001 words |
| Paid | On acceptance, USD via PayPal |
| Format | Digital issue, August 31, 2026 |
| Response | Within ten days of the window closing |
| Rights | First World Electronic Rights, exclusive six months |
THE FINE PRINT
Rights. We ask for First World Electronic Rights, exclusive for six months from publication, after which all rights revert to you. We keep a non-exclusive right to hold the piece in the back-issue archive and to quote briefly for promotion.
Copyright remains yours. If we ever put together a Cabinet 13 anthology, we will come back and ask again, and we will pay again.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome; withdraw promptly if it places elsewhere.
Multiple submissions: 10 per writer per window.
AI. We do not accept work generated by AI, in whole or in part. We read everything ourselves.
Payment on acceptance means before publication, not after. If we say yes, you get paid whether or not the issue ships on time.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Send to submissions@cabinet13.com. One submission (story) per email.
- Attach as .docx — standard manuscript format, or close-ish preferred
- Subject line: WATER — [Story Title] — [Word count]
- In the body: your name, the title, the word count, and three sentences of bio if you want one. No cover letter needed.
- Put your name on the manuscript or don’t; we won’t google you.
We respond to everything.
If four weeks pass without a word, send us a DM. Something got lost.