Greetings, Talebones Readers!
This weekly(ish) digest is the way I communicate with my readers to let them know what’s been going on around the Talebones landscape, along with any housekeeping to be aware of.
My goodness, this month flew by! March saw the return of more regular short fiction to Talebones, with some other stuff happening behind the scenes. And so I thought, before April comes roaring in, we should take a quick pause and recap some of March’s highlights and what to expect going forward.
Read on for more!
✨ First, A Quick Word From Our Sponsor… ✨
Work With Me! - Looking for an editor, beta reader, proofreader, or copywriter? Look no further! Check out my Work With Me page for rates and services. Don’t see something that works for you? Reach out via email or DM—I’m happy to discuss. Let’s make your projects sing!
Shop My Book! - Purchase my debut short story collection, The Orchard Hounds, as an ebook or paperback!
Visit the Gift Shop! - Grab a piece of Talebones swag or a Ferris Island souvenir for your very own! Mugs, tees, hats, sweatshirts, and more, updated seasonally!
And now, back to Talebones Tuesday…
Round-Up!
In case you missed it…
Bonewhistle - In this short piece of romantic/supernatural fiction, Warren is a lonely security guard at the quiet ferry terminal on Ferris Island. Feeling a bit lost and paralyzed in his life, everything changes when he meets an unusual busker who plays a very strange instrument...
The Lake - while renewing his fishing license, Hank Hollister talks about one of Ferris Island’s best—and most mysterious—local fishing spots. (This is the third in a series of stand-alone “Hank Tales”; you can read the other two below!)
The Orientation - a strange tale from Ferris Island’s past, as told by grocery store assistant manager Hank, in the midst of a new hire orientation
The Knocking - Ferris Island resident Hank Hollister tells us a little piece of his own personal lore. Fact or fiction? With Hank, it’s always tough to tell!
Limbs (two-part short story) - in this horror/mystery, Olivia Holt hikes out into the backwoods to find any trace of her missing twin sister—an eccentric cryptozoologist—and discovers more than she bargained for on the unmarked trail into the heart of the woods…
New around here? Most of our speculative fiction takes place on a haunted island in Washington State called Ferris Island. Check out the landing page to see which stories are currently available to read here online, along with other info and resources!
We also have stories of various genres set elsewhere, listed here.
TALESTACK NEWS is a twice-monthly bulletin of Substack fiction news where I collate as many announcements, projects, submissions opportunities, community endeavors, and generally cool things as I can gather. Check out the most recent issue here! (And if you’re a writer on the platform, check out the submission guidelines and email your news to talestack.editor@gmail.com by April 6th to be included in the next issue!)
Have you read The Orchard Hounds?
Though I’m turning my attention to new projects for imminent publication, The Orchard Hounds short story collection is still available for purchase on Amazon! (And, with any luck, will have wider ebook distribution soon for those who don’t prefer to use Kindle…working on that as we speak!)
You can purchase your copy here!
If you’ve already read it, would you take a brief moment to leave the book a review? Reviews are a HUGE help to self-published authors; they go a LONG way toward letting other readers know that they might like this book if they’re curious!
You can review this book on:
THANK YOU for supporting independent authors! ❤
Sayblood’s Children Bonus Post Update
(First of all, I want to thank William F. Edwards for following up on this via email to see if it was still happening! I appreciate the nudge!)
At the end of our last serial, Sayblood’s Children, I promised a behind-the-scenes livestream with more information about the story and answering some reader-submitted questions…and then life happened! (Isn’t that always how it goes?) A livestream became less and less feasible, and then as time passed I worried that I had missed my window of audience interest for it. Argh.
For those who are still interested, I am hoping to put together a behind-the-scenes post (not a livestream, sadly) so that readers who enjoyed the serial can still get some of the backstory and questions answered. I hate to promise things and not deliver, but I will have to modify my promise ever-so-slightly this time around.
My apologies for the delay!
Thank you for your patience and stay tuned for that post coming soon!
Interested In Going Deeper?
Talebones is kept afloat by a beautiful and diverse tapestry of support, from my freelance day job as a writer and editor to purchases of books and merch AND the bountiful generosity of my paid subscribers!
You can become a Talebones Councilmember for $3.75/month or $45/year (or go above and beyond as a Founding Member) to gain access to ALL online Talebones fiction past and present, exclusive resources, discounts to merch/products and freelance/consulting services, and more!
Learn more about each tier’s perks here.
Upgrade now to be part of the Talebones story in 2025!
Thank you for reading!
I know this was a quick ditty with quite a lot of not-so-new info for folks who have been around for a while, but I hope now we’re all on the same page and ready to “march” into April (ha!) and whatever a new spring month brings!
As always, I am ever-so-grateful for your readership and your gracious attention, and I hope you have a truly beautiful week!
Your grateful storyteller,
Congratulations on making the fiction top 100 list.
Ah S.E., I am gratified to be reassured that you are indeed human and you may occasionally drop a ball that you are juggling! And I remain grateful for the amazing variety of creative writing that you lay out on the Farris Island banquet!