Specul8 Publishing

Specul8 Publishing Strange minds welcome. Sanity optional. Specul8 Publishing is the demented brain child of Rockhampton based author TC Phillips.

Specul8 Publishing: where TC Phillips turned his oddball ideas into a haven for Aussie and Kiwi writers who love all things weird, wild, and wonderfully speculative. After stumbling his way into a series of anthologies, literary journals and other international publications he was struck with the idea to try and ferret out other like-minded writers, freaks and miscreants a little closer to home. I

n 2014 he launched Specul8: Central Queensland Journal of Speculative Fiction and was shocked to learn there were far more of his type of twisted people out there than he ever bargained for. Three years and four bumper issues later, we set our sights a little farther afield and morphed into Specul8 Publishing, offering an independent publishing avenue for Australian and New Zealand based writers working in the kinds of speculative genres which really excite us. Whether sci-fi, horror, fantasy, steampunk or anything else in between, the stranger and more fantastical the better.

08/05/2025

Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X will arrive this World UFO Day to stomp, smash, and squelch its way through your imagination with 21 titanic tales of skyscraper-sized beasties, interstellar behemoths, and rampaging radioactive reptiles! The long-awaited follow-up to Invasion of the Saucer-Men from Mars!, this monstrous anthology is guaranteed to make you question every tremor, shadow, and ominous roar in the distance.

Coming July 2nd, 2025

Check out our latest flash fiction challenge winner below!Our latest Flash Fiction Challenge winner is hot off the press...
08/05/2025

Check out our latest flash fiction challenge winner below!

Our latest Flash Fiction Challenge winner is hot off the press and ready for your eyeballs—go feast on the fun!

Think you’ve got what it takes? Your story could be next, shining on our site and wrapped up in our very first Christmas Annual!

The heart-shaped planchette hypnotised Clara. Her fingertips traced the cold, burnished gold etchings carved into dark ebony—intricate lines curling like wind around distant celestial bodies.Matt …

🎉 Think Fast. Write Faster. It’s Flash Fiction Time! 🖋️💣Can you tell a knockout story in just 300-500 words? Specul8 is ...
06/05/2025

🎉 Think Fast. Write Faster. It’s Flash Fiction Time! 🖋️💣
Can you tell a knockout story in just 300-500 words? Specul8 is back with a brand-new image prompt designed to spark brilliance—or chaos. Either way, we want to see what you've got!
🔁 Every fortnight until Oct 8th, a fresh visual prompt drops. Your mission? Craft a short tale, submit it, and you could snag:
💰 $10 AUD (via PayPal)
📢 A feature on our site
👑 Bragging rights as Specul8’s flash fiction royalty
But wait—there’s more festive fun! All winners will be featured in the Specul8 Christmas Annual, perfect for impressing relatives or haunting stockings across the globe. 🎄📘
Open to everyone, everywhere. Check the prompt. Hit the keyboard. Crown awaits.

Central Queensland's own independent press Specul8 Publishing, specialising in all forms of speculative fiction.

06/05/2025

Another fortnight down means another Flash Fiction challenge winner. Deciding this prompt winner was an interesting one, and I don’t know whether it was everyone tapping into the same genre tropes or some kind of Jungian collective unconscious thing, but 90% of our entries ended up as mostly all variations on the same theme.

Nonetheless, a winner has emerged and this time it is…. TJ Wickham!

Congratulations! 🎉 We’ve emailed you and your story will be online in the next few days.

04/05/2025

Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X is coming this World UFO Day to stomp, smash, and squelch its way through your imagination with 21 titanic tal...

Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X is coming this World UFO Day to stomp, smash, and squelch its way through...
04/05/2025

Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X is coming this World UFO Day to stomp, smash, and squelch its way through your imagination with 21 titanic tales of skyscraper-sized beasts, interstellar behemoths, and rampaging radioactive reptiles! The long-awaited follow-up to Invasion of the Saucer-Men from Mars!, this monstrous anthology is guaranteed to make you question every tremor, shadow, and ominous roar in the distance.

Who wants a gander at the full cover wrap for Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X?
03/05/2025

Who wants a gander at the full cover wrap for Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X?

Well... s**t.Last page in Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X done and dusted.
03/05/2025

Well... s**t.

Last page in Attack of the Colossal Creatures from Planet X done and dusted.

🔪 Knives, Nightmares & Neon 🔪An 80s Slasher Anthology🚨 Submissions open June 1, 2025 🚨Get ready to slay like it’s 1985! ...
02/05/2025

🔪 Knives, Nightmares & Neon 🔪
An 80s Slasher Anthology
🚨 Submissions open June 1, 2025 🚨
Get ready to slay like it’s 1985! 💀

Break out the synth, tease that hair, and channel your inner scream queen — we’re throwing it back to the golden age of gore, where the blood ran neon and the killers wore ski masks and leg warmers. 👟📼

We want your flash fiction & short stories (500–10,000 words) soaked in slasher horror with a gnarly 80s twist. Think mixtapes, mall madness, and murder on the dancefloor.

📍 Must be Aussie or Kiwi-based
📆 Open: Jun 1 – Aug 31, 2025
💸 Token payment: $10 AUD + 1 print contributor copy
🚫 No copyrighted creepers (sorry Freddy)
✅ All original slashers welcome!

So rev up that VHS tape, sharpen your blades, and get writing—because the 80s are dying to make a comeback.

https://www.specul8.com.au/submissions

Central Queensland's own independent press Specul8 Publishing, specialising in all forms of speculative fiction.

02/05/2025
How’s your story coming along for our latest flash fiction challenge prompt?
30/04/2025

How’s your story coming along for our latest flash fiction challenge prompt?

Central Queensland's own independent press Specul8 Publishing, specialising in all forms of speculative fiction.

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Rockhampton, QLD

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We love storytellers, those passionate people who pour their souls into their work and yearn to share it with the world. That's what we do, at Specul8 we believe in stories that are worth sharing.