Magazine for indie writers & readers ✦ Fiction ✦ Short stories ✦ Flash fiction ✦ Micro fiction ✦ Pays up to €50 ✦ Indie ✦ ad-free ✦ reader-supported ✦ We accept contributions in English, Slovak, and Czech
Are you a budding writer? We’re here for you.
Are you an experienced writer? We’re here for you.
Have you written several bestsellers? We’re here for you.
Are you a Nobel Prize winner in literature? We’re here for you.
Are you a beginner reader? We are here for you.
Are you a advanced reader? We are here for you.
Do you love stories? We’re here for you.
The 42 magazine is a literary magazine founded by independent writer for independent writers and their readers.
We believe that every piece of art makes the world a more beautiful place. Writers show us the beauty of the world. That is why we want to provide a platform for them, so that we can share that beauty together.
Reading will always be free. Just subscribe for free to make sure you don’t miss any new fiction.
We publish fiction of all lengths and genres.
Microfiction: up to 100 words
Flash Fiction: up to 1,000 words
Short Story: up to 5,000 words
We do not favour any particular genre or theme. We love honest, well-written stories with surprising endings. We also love stories with distinctive characters and an immersive atmosphere. It can be horror, mystery, comedy, absurd, romance, sci-fi experimental or other genres. In fact, we love all kinds of stories!
If we publish your story, we will reward you:
€50 for long-form
€30 for flash
€10 for micro
Your reward will be sent via PayPal within a week of your story being published.
Our goal is to increase the reward up to €200 per long-form. We think the authors deserve it. You can help us by promoting us and sharing us in your community.
If you want to help us grow, you can upgrade your subscription to a paid one or make a one-time donation and buy a coffee for our editorial elves.
Reading will always be free. Just subscribe for free to make sure you don’t miss any new fiction.
A paid subscription gives you access to all posts and the full archive. You can also post comments and join the community. You will be able to download every issue of the magazine for free as a PDF.
You can also support us by promoting us and sharing information about us within your community.
Submission guidelines
We welcome contributions from anywhere in the world, as long as they are written in Slovak, Czech or English.
Multiple submissions are not permitted. Please submit only one entry at a time, whether it is a short story, flash fiction or microfiction. You can resubmit your entry after we contact you, if you wish.
We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
We do not accept works that have been previously published. However, we welcome self-published works on your blog, Substack, and so on.
All contributions are processed through our submission portal.
Currently, our general response time is around four months. If you need a quicker response, you can pay extra for express submission. In this case, we will respond within four weeks.
Rights
We ask for first serial rights, meaning that we will be the first publication to feature your work. We also request archival rights, which allow us to keep your work on our Substack/website, as well as the right to publish it in a potential anthology or special issue of the magazine (e.g. an annual issue or one dedicated to a specific topic).
If your piece is reprinted elsewhere, we’d love an acknowledgment of The 42 magazine as the original publisher.
You will find more information in the FAQ section.
Here's what you need to know about our literary magazine
💡Please read these before sending any questions. If you can’t find what you need, we’re always here to help. We hope this helps!
Short Note On Our Magazine’s Name
The 42 is a reference to the work of Douglas Noël Adams and his works such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Life, the Universe and Everything, and others. The number 42 is the answer to the most important question in life, the universe and everything. It was generated by a supercomputer. This calculation took an extremely long time, and the original question was forgotten. So we have a precise answer to an unknown question.
We love this kind of absurd humour.
PS: The dolphins in the logo are also related to his literary work.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about The 42 Magazine, please get in touch via email info@scholaris.sk. Please do not send us your work. We only accept stories submitted through the submission portal.
PS: If you need help with your writing, you might find the above useful.
