✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
Can you believe it—we’re midway through April!
In this issue, we find proof that the art of the fiction serial is alive and well here on Substack, with a whole heap of new stories launching within the last few weeks! Alongside the new beginnings are some conclusions, a fun Kickstarter, and a particularly wicked opportunity for submissions.
As always, please hype each other up in the comments. Go visit, explore, give virtual high-fives, and let your colleagues know that you’re with them.
Have a fantastic week, and happy writing!
S.E. Reid Editor of Talestack News
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📣 Announcements!
Finished Projects:
Michael S. Atkinson’s superhero serial, Quarks of the Heart, has just concluded its 13-episode arc with an epilogue (posted March 31st) and a debrief to follow. Synopsis: “In Quarks of the Heart, Meg Atomic must choose between her responsibilities to her cape, her family, and her city, and her growing feelings towards the Malevolent Med-Student, while he is forced to make a similar choice between her and his desire to be accredited by the Committee of Calamity. Hearts, not to mention femurs and the occasional small building, will almost certainly be broken.” The whole story is free to read, so get started anytime with the First Episode!
Alexander M Crow has just completed his fourth Tales of the Lesser Evil, called A Clean Death. From the synopsis: “Pepper has one more name on her list, just one more death to tick off before she can go home—but it will not be easy. In three days, the city will be cut off and she will be trapped for winter. Just three days to find her prey. And finding one man in Youlmouth may prove too much, even for her skills.” The novella will remain free for a bit longer before heading behind a paywall, so don’t delay to jump right in!
New Projects:
Daniel Sherrier has just launched a new superhero anthology serial called Terrific. Synopsis: “Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged. No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.” Read the first installment here!
Daniel Bishop has just started a new weekly serialized novella, Every Year, Rain. From Daniel: “It is a supernatural thriller about a cursed throne, betrayal, and a ‘beggar’ with intimate knowledge of the main character’s thoughts and past.” The serial is still in its early chapters, so jump on board!
Julie Gabrielli has just launched a four-part short story called Heartwood, to be concluded on Earth Day (April 22nd). From Julie’s introduction to the story: “The stories are set in the Marcellus shale fracking region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Originally the home of the Lenni-Lenape, the Munsee Lenape and the Susquehannock, whose descendants live there still. I’m interested in how we, trapped and complicit in destructive systems we hate, might find a way forward. Holding wonder, humility, and awe in the same trembling hands as our grief, fear, and anger—with love and compassion.”
Alexander M Crow just started his fifth Tales of the Lesser Evil, entitled Death in Harmony. This is the longest of the tales so far, being novel-length, and will be shared over 29 weeks. It will remain free to read while it’s being posted, and will be archived and paywalled later. Synopsis: “Flin knows stories. She knows songs. Give her an instrument and she’ll play it. She can lead dances slow and dances fast, make grown men and women weep, make them laugh. Her teacher told her she was the best he had ever seen. But all Flin wants is to find the home she lost. She certainly did not mean to have a baby. Now alone in the world but for Kadan, Flin knows almost constant fear, but she will never give up. Somewhere, in a high village deep in the woods, far away from the big cities, her family—and safety—await. Nothing will stop her: not the ghosts in the mountains, not wolves or lions, not magic, man, or death itself. And nothing will take her baby. Not again.” Get started here!
Michael S. Atkinson has just started a new superhero serial, 2.17 Seconds into Never. Synopsis: “In this sequel to the recently completed Quarks of the Heart!, Meg Atomic is lost in the swirling vortices of time! Her family attempts a rescue but can they find her before she runs afoul of history’s many innumerable perils, or worse, changes history itself?” Check out the first installment here!
After working on it for a decade, C.A. Phoenix is bringing the first in an envisioned trilogy of novels to Substack with Origins. Synopsis: “This is a telling of the history of the world, starting tomorrow. A story about what happened after the end of the world as we knew it, which explains the beginning of the world as we never would have known.” Read the First Chapter here!
Milestones & Wins:
Chris Well and his wife are part of a group of writers and artists who have banded together with a shared noble goal: to create a hardcover comic book anthology inspired by the (terrible, yet classic) sci-fi horror movie Robot Monster! The Kickstarter is currently active, so check out the project page to find out all the details and join in the fun!
Keep an eye out: though he says he “never set out to write Westerns”, Travis Blake will be posting his third short story chronicling the life of Deputy United States Marshall Abraham Woolsey in the next few weeks! You can catch up with the first two here: Oh Whistle, My Child, and I’ll Come for You and The Heart Knows What the Eyes Deny.
📝 Submissions Bulletin
Calling all writers with spookier tastes: the Wicked Writing Contest is underway once again, hosted by the fearsome crew over at Macabre Monday! Check out the Wicked Writing link above for submission guidelines and the chilling theme. The deadline is June 17th, 2024, so start brainstorming your winning ideas, ASAP!
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
Thanks for including me and the ROBOT MONSTER info! I'll also try adding some of these folks to the "Substack authors" article I have on Monster Complex. :)
Thank you so much for including my work here, I really appreciate it, and you. (And the wider community, too, there are so many great people in this space, it is humbling.)