Nachtljocht
Fiction worth staying up for
Nachtljocht is a quarterly literary journal devoted to fiction and short plays.
Each issue brings together work from emerging and established writers across genres, forms, and styles, with an emphasis on fiction that is emotionally precise, formally confident, and unafraid of strangeness. The journal has no house style and no interest in literary gatekeeping; a quiet domestic piece may appear beside speculative fiction, horror, historical romance, or surrealism if the work feels necessary and fully realized.
Rather than chasing trends or cultural performance, Nachtljocht is interested in stories with interiority, atmosphere, conviction, and artistic intent. Nachtljocht especially values voices working outside conventional literary pathways and seeks to create space for fiction that might otherwise go overlooked.
Designed as a substantial quarterly volume rather than a disposable magazine, each issue of Nachtljocht is intended to be read, collected, and returned to over time.
Founder and Editor in Chief
What we're looking for: We are interested in fiction that lingers. Stories with a clear artistic intention, memorable language, and the confidence to become fully themselves. We welcome literary fiction alongside speculative, historical, horror, surreal, and other forms of imaginative work. We are not looking for a particular genre. We are looking for stories that stay with us.
What we take: Previously unpublished fiction and plays, 3,000-12,000 words. No genre restrictions. No content restrictions.
"Previously unpublished" includes personal blogs, newsletters, social media posts, public forums, and any work that has already appeared online in a publicly accessible form.
Upcoming deadlines:
- Volume 2 (November 2026) - submission period closes 31 July 2026 - reading period 1-31 August
- Volume 3 (February 2027) - submission period opens 1 October 2026
Formatting Requirements
Submit your manuscript as a PDF, doc, or docx. Include your name and the title of the work on the first page.
Use 12pt Times New Roman, double spacing, 2.54 cm (1 inch) margins, and page numbers throughout.
For fiction, indicate scene breaks with a centred ***.
Multiple submissions: Up to two stories at a time, one per form, please. Wait for a response before submitting again for future calls.
Simultaneous submissions: Fine by us. Just let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Rights: First serial rights only. We get to publish it first and keep it in our archive. Everything else stays yours. You're free to republish anywhere after it appears in nachtljocht.
Payment: We pay authors 15$ per accepted piece, payment at time of publication. Contributors will also receive a complimentary copy of the print edition. (Please note at the current time with shipping costs as high as they are and Nachtljocht being a fully self funded endeavour, we regret that we cannot ship complimentary copies to those residing outside of the USA, that being said, we are trying to find a solution asap!)
AI Policy: Nachtljocht doesn't publish work written by AI. We don't use AI either. Your story gets read by a real person, start to finish, every time. We're not going to hassle you about this, just be honest with us. The work should be yours.
How to submit: Use the form below. Accepted files are .doc, .docx, or .pdf. No need to pitch, summarize, or include a bio.
First Serial Rights - An Explanation
We acquire First Serial Rights only if your work is accepted for publication. This gives us the right to be the first to publish the piece, in print and/or online.
You retain full copyright and ownership of your work.
We ask that accepted work not be published elsewhere before it appears in Nachtljocht.
After publication, all rights revert to you. You are free to republish the work elsewhere, and we appreciate an acknowledgment that it first appeared in Nachtljocht.
For any inquiries outside of submissions, send a message via the form below.
We believe in attention. Slow work. Honest language.
We publish fiction that is strange, sincere, and alive.
We make space for the overlooked, the unconventional, and the uncompromising.
We value beauty without ornament. Ideas without hierarchy. People without performance.
Attend to sincerity. To the unfinished. To what resists. To what remains unexplained.
Sincerity needs no alibi.
We believe the work can be earnest without apology, beautiful without ornament, and quiet without emptiness.
A story is not a product. It is one person giving sustained attention to another. Not a transaction. Not a performance. A meeting.
We attend to the strange, the tender, the difficult, the ordinary, and the unfinished—not because they are fashionable, but because they are true to the complexity of being human.
A story need not be literary. It need not be experimental. It need not be realist. It need only become a place where two interior lives meet long enough to recognize one another.
Not for the algorithm. Not for the market.
The writer leaves changed. The reader leaves changed. Neither remains exactly as they were.
We are not interested in what sells. We are interested in what stays.
We trust the reader. We trust the writer. We trust the work to do what it must.
Genre is not a boundary. Form is not a hierarchy. The human is our only criterion.
Fiction remembers. Fiction questions. Fiction transforms.
Publish what cannot be exhausted by a single reading. Publish what invites return. Publish what endures.