Science Fiction & Fantasy magazine ClarkesWorld just raised their pay rate for authors. They now pay $0.10 a word for the first 5,000 words, and $.08 cents each word after that. They have a maximum of 16,000 words. That means a total payment of up to $1,380.

Clarkesworld is a monthly sci-fi and fantasy publication. They publish interviews and fiction in multiple formats — including ebooks, audipodcasts, and print anthologies.

They have won numerous awards, including 3 Hugo Awards.

On their submission's guidelines page, they write:

"Science fiction need not be "hard" SF, but rigor is appreciated. Fantasy can be folkloric, contemporary, surreal, etc. Horror can be supernatural or psychological, so long as it is frightening. There are no barriers as to levels of profanity, gore, or sexuality allowed, but high amounts of profanity, gore, and sexuality are generally used poorly. Be sure to use them well if you do use them. "

They also have a thorough list of themes that are "hard sells" (ie NOT gonna do well, so better not to try them):

ting, theme, or plot is anathema to us, the following are likely hard sells:

1)zombies or zombie-wannabes
2)sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, wicked witches, or demonic children
3)stories about rapists, murderers, child abusers, or cannibals
4)stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
5)stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory
6)stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or the Spartacist League, etc. take over the world and either save or ruin it
7)stories in which the words "thou" or "thine" appear
8)talking cats or swords
9)stories where FTL travel or time travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
10)stories that depend on some vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian mythology in order to be frightening (i.e., Cain and Abel are vampires, the End Times are a' comin', Communion wine turns to Christ's literal blood and it's HIV positive, Satan's gonna getcha, etc.)
11)stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
12)stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago
13)stories about your RPG character's adventures
14)"funny" stories that depend on, or even include, puns
15)stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
16)stories that take place within an artsy-fartsy bohemia as written by an author who has clearly never experienced one
17)stories originally intended for someone's upcoming theme anthology or issue (everyone is sending those out, wait a while)
18)your trunk stories

Other than that, they typically respond to submissions within 2 days.

To learn more, be sure to read their full submission guidelines:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/submissions/