What We're Looking For

Gothic is a genre in which the external world reflects an internal wound. The story is driven not by external plot alone, but by something within the protagonist that demands attention. This may be an obsession, a guilt, a repressed desire. It may be a longing, a grief, a hunger, a shame, a love that was not allowed, a truth that cannot be spoken, a promise that will not stay buried. The haunted house, the uncanny double, the ancestral curse. These are the outer shape of that inner truth. In gothic, character and the protagonist's character arc are the story itself. 

Black Fox Review is looking for gothic fiction that unsettles, haunts, and consumes. We publish four issues per year, each a collection of stories that honour the tradition of the gothic while pushing it towards new, strange territories. 

✧ Themes We Love

• Stories that blend the historical and the supernatural

• Explorations of guilt, memory, and unkept promises

• Liminal spaces: thresholds, ruins, gardens at dusk, the moments between waking and sleeping

• The gothic not as decoration but as a way of seeing (a lens for examining what haunts us)

• Transformation, reckoning, and the price of choice

✧ What We Don't Publish

• Gore for its own sake (we prefer dread to disgust)

• Stories where the gothic is merely aesthetic without thematic weight

• Previously published work (including personal blogs and social media)

• AI-generated or AI-assisted submissions

The Fact & Fiction Preference

We like submissions that contain both factual and fictional elements. If you include factual elements, please specify the following in your cover letting:

1. What in the story is true (a place, a historical event, a person, an object, a documented experience)

2. What you have invented or transformed.
   This is not about verification. We will not fact-check you. It is about intentionality. We want to read stories in conscious conversation with the real (stories that know where they came from and choose where to go).

✧ We approach all stories with care, particularly those depicting trauma. Historical accuracy matters, but so does humanity. Write with both.

Submission Process

✧ Reading Periods (2026-2027)

• April-May 2026

• October-November 2026

• April-May 2027

• October-November 2027

Submissions received outside these windows will be returned unread. Members who join now will receive our Three-Act Gothic guide immediately and be ready for the April window.

✧ Fees

• Members of The Black Fox Society: Free (unlimited submissions)

• Non-members: $3 per submission

Fees help us pay contributors and keep the journal sustainable. Memberships are $7 per year and include four free EPUB issues plus free submissions.

✧ Response Time

We aim to respond within 8 weeks. If you haven't heard from us by then, please query via email.

✧ Simultaneous Submissions

We accept simultaneous submissions. Please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

✧ Withdrawals

If you need to withdraw your submission, please do so via the submission platform or email us.

Beyond Publication

Accepted contributors receive more than payment and a contributor's copy.

✧ Novel Discussion
A 30-minute conversation with our publisher about a novel manuscript you're working on. This is direct access to professional editorial feedback and potential publication consideration with Matatabi Press.

✧ Editorial Board Invitation
Writers whose work demonstrates exceptional vision may be invited to join our paid Editorial Board, with ongoing involvement in shaping future issues.