The Sun-Kissed Summer Contest

It’s about time we had our fifth official Breakthrough writing contest!  It seems we've all had our struggles recently, and this is my way of giving back to this beautiful community that has supported one another through it all. Our little discord server shines brightly over the dark world in which we live. I hope to shine some of that light back onto our wonderful writers here with Breakthrough. That's why this contest's prize will be our first ever piece of Typey merch!

Best of luck from Typey and the Breakthrough gang!

Contest Schedule

The schedule will vary based on how many people sign up. In any case, the submissions will open on July 26th, 2025.

July 26th - Submissions open

August 7th - Submissions close, voting begins

August 10th - Voting closes, winner announced OR second round announced

If we receive 6+ submissions by August 7th, or if we need a tiebreaker on August 10th, we will hold a second round with a new prompt to be announced when the round ends. 

After the winner is announced, their chosen prize will be mailed to them, so they’ll be asked to DM that information. The prize will be an exclusive and first-made piece of Typey merch! A hat, a t-shirt, a muscle shirt, booty shorts – your choice. We'll also include some Typey stickers! 

All contestants will be added to the community spotlight, and the winner will earn the featured writer spot on the official Breakthrough website! If you would like to be featured, we have a writer biography form to fill out in the server info channel.

More information may be announced and added to this form as the contest draws nearer.

Rules and Guidelines

Voting will be done through a ranking system on StrawPoll. The poll will ask for the voter’s discord username and their ranking for the total list of submissions. All voting will be anonymous to other voters.

• All contestants and voters must be a part of the discord server before submitting or voting. Submissions will not be shared outside of the discord server.

• All work must be original, unpublished, and written by the contestant submitting it. No AI or plagiarism.

• Submissions with content deemed too graphic will not be accepted.  No graphic sexual or violent content.

• Contestants keep the rights to their work. 

• Previous winners of the past 2 years will not be chosen to win. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t participate if you so choose!

By entering, contestants agree that they have read and understood this form.

The prompt is…

Body

maximum 1500 words OR 150 lines

More June Submission Calls!

• ”Stellar Evolution Anthology” Science Fiction and Fantasy stories of trans joy. Must feature a trans or nonbinary main character. 2,000-7,000 words. Pays $15 per 1,000 words. Closes June 30th.

• “Enter Here Anthology” Speculative fiction featuring a door opening, whether physical or metaphorical. BIPOC writers only. 2,000-4,000 words. Pays $.01 per word. Closes June 30th.

• “Deep Anthology” Science Fiction exploring the unexplored depths of our planet and universe. 2,500-10,000 words. Pays $.05 per word. Closes May 1st.

• “Swords & Sorcery Magazine” Traditional Fantasy stories set in pre-industrial settings. 1,500-8,500 words. Pays $10 per piece. Ongoing.

• “Dirty Magick Magazine” Urban Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery and/or Gothic Horror. 2,000-12,500 words. Pays $50 per piece. Closes July 15th.

• “The Cosmic Background” Slipstream Flash Fiction. 1-1,500 words. Pays $.08 per word ($.03 per word for reprints). Ongoing.

• “Sometimes Hilarious Horror” Humorous Horror Stories. 1-15,000 words. Pays $25 per piece ($10 per piece for reprints). Ongoing.

• “Fairy Tale Review” Fairy Tales with the current theme of “Food.” 1-6,000 words. Pays $50 per piece. Closes July 15th.

• “Seize the Press” Dark Speculative Fiction. 1-7,500 words. Pays $.03 per word. Ongoing.

• “Taco Bell Quarterly” Creative Essays, short story, poetry about Taco Bell. 500-1,500 words. Pays $100 per piece. Closes July 31st.

• “Luna Station Quarterly” Speculative Fiction by Women Writers. 500-7,000 words. Pays $10 per piece. Closes August 15th.

• “SLUGGER” Horror, Dark Fantasy and Dark Science Fiction. 1,000-4,000 words. Pays $25 per piece. Closes July 15th.

June Submission Calls!

• “Sapphic Horror Anthology” Own Voices Horror. Fiction, Poetry and Art. 2,000-6,000 words. Pays $.02 per word. Opens June 1st-June 30th.

• “100-Foot Crow” Science Fiction, Fantasy and/or Horror Drabbles. Current theme: Train, though considers off theme submissions. 100 words exactly. Pays $.08 per word. Closes June 15th.

• “Anomaly” Dark Science Fiction. 300 words or less. Pays $.08 per word. Opens the 1st-7th of each month.

• “The Dark” Dark Fantasy and Horror. 2,000-6,000 words. Pays $.05 per word ($.01 per word for reprints). Ongoing.

• “Beneath Ceaseless Skies” Literary adventure fantasy. 15,000 words or less. Pays $.08 per word. Ongoing.

• “Stellar Parallax: Human Hope in Grimdark Worlds.” Grimdark Science Fiction with a hopeful twist. 2,000-7,000 words. Pays $50 per piece. Closes June 30th.

• “Tall Tale TV.” Science Fiction and Fantasy. 1,000-6,000 words. Pays $10 per piece. Ongoing.

• “Bullet Points.” Speculative Military Fiction. 100-5,000 words. Pays $30 per piece ($20 per piece for reprints). Ongoing.

• “Rejected Lit Magazine.” Poetry. 3-5 poems. Pays $30 per poem. Closes June 11th.

• “Peasant Magazine.” Literary Fantasy and Historical Fiction and Nonfiction articles related to Fantasy and Historical Fiction. Only considers settings set before 1750. 1,000-12,000 words. Pays in royalties. Ongoing.

• “Radon Journal.” Science Fiction, Anarchism, Transhumanism or Dystopian short fiction and poetry. 1-5,000 words. Pays $.02 per word. Ongoing.

• “Pharmacopeia Obscura.” Medical Themed Speculative Fiction. 1-12,000 words. Pays $5 per 1,000 words. Open until anthology is full.

• “Home Constellations.” An Anthology of Unconventional Bonds.” Stories of any genre so long as it is set in the future and explores the theme of unique family bonds. 1-40,000 words. Pays $.01 per word (Less than $.01 for reprints). Closes October 1st.

• “Plott Hound Magazine.” Speculative Fiction and Poetry starring Animals. 1,000-3,000 words or 1-3 poems. Pays $.08 per word. Ongoing.

• “Eye to the Telescope.” Speculative Poetry with the theme of Birds. 1-3 poems. Pays $.04 per word. Closes June 15th.

• “Trans and Genderqueer Voices Anthology.” Poetry, Short Fiction and Essays by Trans and Genderqueer authors. 1-2,500 words, or 1-3 poems. Pays $20 CAD plus royalties. Closes June 30th.

• “Yay! All Queer II.” Any Genre of Fiction so long as the Main Character is LGBTQ+. 2,000-6,000 words. Pays in royalties. Closes June 30th.

We’re Back!

Technically, we never left. But we did move from our old site to our brand new shiny one! And this time we have a mascot!

Introducing Typey (tip/tap, any/all) is a sentient typewriter who's as passionate about writing as tip is about activism. No one knows where tip came from, though it's heavily theorized tip sprung out fully formed from the skull of Margaret Atwood. Typey believes anyone has the power to fight for a better future, be it with a pen, a sword, or even just your voice.

We’ve been busy during our transition of sites, from hosting our first Type-athon to Mutual Aid.

We believe wholeheartedly that queer liberation has deep ties to all other liberation. LGBTQ+, POC, houseless, disabled, and otherwise -- all of these groups are affected by white supremacist colonial and imperialist destruction.

This is what lead our group to extend our efforts across the board. As a queer and multi-marginalized group, collective liberation is a goal for us all, and this manifests as mutual aid. While the world is burning and our people are dying, we will continue to plant seeds and rebuild atop the ashes. The people's power is resilient in spite of facing violence and death.

We’re kicking off the new website with our latest issue of Concoctions, a Breakthrough at the Lit Lab Zine. The goal of this zine is to showcase the work of our members and therefore, submissions are only open to members. Fortunately becoming a member is free and easy. Simply join our Discord server!

Check out Concoctions .05: Resistance under the Zine tab! Or read some of our older issues, listed under the same tab.

Our next theme is still being decided by members at the moment, and submissions will be opening within the next week for our fall issue.

Also Summertime means it’s time for our next contest! Stay tuned and keep in touch for more information!