My Five-Star Reads of 2024
Talebones Tuesday
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.
I can’t believe we’re saying goodbye to 2024!
It was an absolutely wild year around here! In this final issue of 2024 I’ve got a round-up of some recent posts, some exciting things to look forward to next week, and even a little treat: a list of my five-star reads from this year!
Ready? Let’s go!
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Round-Up!
In case you missed it…
YouLog - in this dark, festive fable, Isabelle is throwing the perfect Christmas party and needs the perfect ambience to go with it, but the fancy new AI-powered “yule log” channel she chooses for the background may have other plans for her evening…
Cozy Christmas Read-Along Livestream! - on Christmas Eve, I went live and had a total blast reading three of my winter-themed stories aloud! Also included: dog shenanigans, festive opinions, and a sneak peek into the impending paperback edition of The Orchard Hounds. The replay is a low-key hour of cozy vibes with just a dash of chaos, perfect for the background of your year-end relaxation.
FREE for the SEASON: Winter’s Nell - a folktale-inspired short story about a young runaway, a cold night, and an act of kindness (this story was written last year and is out from behind the paywall for the season! Enjoy!)
Our Winter Season folk horror/romance serial, Sayblood’s Children, has just begun! Synopsis: Othniel Brack left his disgraced family name back in England and set sail for the untamed western edge of Washington Territory, seeking a new fortune and a new legacy for himself on a small, barely inhabited island overgrown with wild apple trees. Life is quiet on that little Orchard Island, until a strange discovery on a windswept beach changes Othniel’s life—and the island’s history—forever. This story updates once a week on Fridays and will wrap up just before March.
Get started here - Part One: The Orchardist
Read the latest episode here - Part Four: The Storm
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.
The Orchard Hounds ebook - The very first Ferris Island short story collection is available in ebook form! While a paperback edition is still on the way (more on that below), you can snag your digital copy here or explore which thirteen stories are included.
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 January 5th to be included in the next issue!)
What To Look For in 2025…
On this final day of 2024, as much as it’s tempting to look back and recap this absolutely bonkers year, so much of what I accomplished in the past twelve months is all in the numbers and personal goals and I’m going to keep those as treasures for myself to propel me into the future. The numbers never tell the whole story, anyway.
But for YOU, my dear readers, I want to focus on what’s coming up!
Paperback NEXT WEEK
It’s official: the latest proof copy of the The Orchard Hounds is as good as my skills and the printer can allow and it’s time to stop tinkering!
Because of this, you can look for a release date sometime during the week of January 5th (subject to KDP’s wait times).
IF YOU ARE A COUNCILMEMBER: you are eligible to receive a slightly discounted and signed copy directly from me!
If this is something that interests you, please email ferrisislandwa@gmail.com and give me a hello-yes-I’d-like-a-signed-book-please, just so I can get a rough headcount of how many copies to order for this purpose. At this time, I’m only offering one signed copy per person. (NOTE: this is just for my numbers only; if the time comes and you change your mind, don’t worry; you’re not locked in.)
Watch this space for the big announcement and more details!
Merch Reshuffle
Coinciding with the paperback release, I’m planning a celebratory merch drop of a handful of new Ferris Island souvenirs in the Gift Shop. Included will be (finally) the beautiful designs from the winner of our fan-art contest, as well as Orchard Hounds designs and even a Ferris Island map!
Councilmember Landing Page
The Talebones Council is our new and improved name for the tiered way we handle our paid subscription perks. There are three tiers of possibilities!
I’ve spent some time this month revamping the landing page, editing a few unclear bits and pieces, and generally making it the go-to place where you can learn more about the different tiers and find all the goodies and perks when you sign up for a paid subscription.
Paid subscribers have access to:
all fiction, including paywalled past pieces
discounted merch
signed physical copies of published work
a discounted rate when you hire me for freelance work
…and more!
Check out the landing page HERE!
You can become a Councilmember for $3.75/month or $45/year and get full access to ALL Talebones fiction, including paywalled work from past seasons. You also get discounts, first-dibs, freelance discounts, signed work, and more!
Paid subscriptions are just one part of the tapestry of how we keep the lights on here at Talebones, and I am so grateful to each person who graciously offers their resources—money, time, attention, and readership of all types—to push this lil train along. It is a privilege to publish for such generous readers!
However you choose to show up, however you choose to contribute—monetarily or not—THANK YOU for supporting Talebones!
My 5-Star Reads of 2024 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And now, for a little treat, the only recap you’ll get from me: my five-star reads of 2024!
I started tracking my reading in my journal about halfway through this year, adding star ratings to my reads after I was done. Because of this, the following list in no way encompasses all the amazing things I read both on Substack and beyond (and I read a lot of stellar four-star pieces, too!). But these reads got five stars out of me for various reasons, so I wanted to give them a much-deserved shout-out.
CONTENT WARNING: Quite a few of the best things I read this year were horror or horror-adjacent. There are content warnings all over these, including violence, gore, sexual situations, bad language, etc. PLEASE do not take my love of these works as universal endorsement, and reader discretion is (as always) advised.
On Substack:
- : This piece of fantasy worldbuilding genuinely feels like a page ripped from an old tome. It’s deeply creative, well-written, and immersive, and I loved—and even better, believed—every word.
white flag by
: No one is more surprised than me that a piece of short fiction about baseball moved me, but Will has such a deft hand with imagery that I felt pulled into this piece completely. This is the kind of story that you’ll want to read aloud so you can taste the syllables.The Pits by
: I love a piece of fiction that leaves you unsettled, up-in-the-air, full of questions. The Pits is a tale with a subtle sense of mystery, a snippet of memory that maybe we’ve all had, or maybe it was a dream? Intimate and cosmic in equal measure. Quietly terrifying.- - A clever bit of short science fiction with a wry sense of humor and a dark twist. Scoot is always so good at giving you a glimpse, the corner of a larger lived-in world, letting you know that there’s scope beyond the camera’s framing that leaves you wanting more. This story is a perfect example, and it’s lots of fun, too.
- : Keith was a new discovery for me this year and I am in love with his writing style, especially his short horror. This piece in particular has layers of truth, lies, and foreboding, and you descend with the narrator deeper and deeper into the place where madness comes from, unable to look away.
- : In this piece of chilling winter short horror we are left to question the storyteller - what is the truth? And are they lying to themselves, to us, or both? The imagery is deeply haunting and the horror is laced with tragedy. Beautiful work.
- : The recent Twilight Zone-inspired Substack Zone event was an incredible display of talent all across the platform, and while I’m still working my way through the amazing stories, I found myself mesmerized by Edith Bow’s contribution. This piece is chaotic, yet you can feel Edith’s strong and confident narrative grip pulling you through it. She never lets go, not until the last sentence. Powerful, intimate science fiction. (All of the other wonderful event contributions are listed at the top of Edith’s post, too—highly recommended reading!)
And Beyond:
Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian: A sweeping, gritty, yet strangely heartwarming horror western with an enormous cast, a deeply Coen Brothers-esque sense of humor, and visceral violence. It’s quirky, it’s fun, it’s surprising. I laughed, I cried.
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King: On my kick to catch up reading Stephen King’s classic catalog, this one was a sweet surprise and is currently my absolute favorite of his work. I highly recommend the audiobook, as Frances Sternhagen brings a completely immersive voice to Dolores, funny and moving and raw all at once. A powerful story about life’s pain and how a woman rises to meet that pain, in good ways and in bad.
Misery by Stephen King: This book broke me in all the best ways. I thought I knew the story pretty well from pop culture osmosis, but this book is an experience. The meditations on suffering, art, and the pursuit and purpose of survival were incredibly moving, and the story itself is genuinely suspenseful with some iconic scenes that will never leave you.
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno: The most surreal story on my list, this piece of horror fiction is about grief, and the way grief takes shape and evolves as time passes. It’s sinister and scary, dreamlike and abstract, mournful and sad. Beautifully written.
The Haar by David Sodergren: Again, in big letters, CONTENT WARNING. This book belongs pretty firmly in the “splatterpunk” genre of horror, which is not my usual fare, but I was so intrigued by the premise that I had to give it a go, and…uh…wow. Yes, it’s gross. (Seriously.) Yes, it’s bizarre. (Like, really.) But it’s also one of the sweetest stories I read this year, a weirdly profound love story and a protagonist you’ll think about for days and days after you stop reading. If you can handle the gross (did I mention it’s gross?) and you like horror with heart, I really do recommend this book.
Your Turn!
I only have two eyes and so much attention, so I certainly don’t get a chance to read all the tales I would like to, and I’m sure there are plenty more I would add to this list if I had been able to read them!
So tell me…
What were some of YOUR five-star reads this year, here on Substack and beyond?
Let me know in the comment section so I can make sure I check them out!
Thank you for reading!
I’ve certainly taken up enough of your time today, so I’ll keep my sign-off brief.
Thank you. Thank you for making 2024 an incredible year for me. Thank you for reading, lurking, commenting, sharing, giving. Thank you for your patience, your attention, and your grace.
I often say that Talebones has the best readership on Substack. And I mean it, because you’re the audience I always dreamed about but never thought was possible. Your kindness and your care have made the pie-in-the-sky dream of a scribbling kid into a humbled adult’s reality.
I am so excited to bring you even more fiction, even more magic, even more connection and fun and thrills and beauty in 2025!
Happy New Year to all!
Your grateful storyteller,
I'll return the favor--one of my top reads of 2024 was without question your miniseries, Imp. My reading this year has been ATROCIOUS but Imp pulled me in (too soon???).
But you know that story already so I'll also shout out Shaina Read's Light's Out series. These have been impeccable, each and every one. And I don't read horror, normally--these have given me a taste that is both gripping and authentically horror.
Thanks for a great year SE, both of writing, and of reading, and of this great Fiction Community!
thank you for the mention and for your generosity and grace all over this corner of the internet. I will shout out Bridget Riley’s Beasts of the Field, which I absolutely adore!