News from the Couch at Talebones HQ...
a quick hiatus re-entry update (plus a sneaky giveaway!)
Greetings, my dear Talebones readers!
Good grief. I know it hasn’t been that long, really, but it feels like ages!
How have you been?! I hope the holiday season treated you and yours well. ♥
Around here, it’s been quite a lot of huddling near the woodstove, taking the dogs on long cold walks, picking my knitting needles back up to replace the dreaded doomscroll, reading old favorite books, keeping my laptop closed for days at a time, and doing some winter thinking and planning and dreaming and strategizing from the coziness of my couch.
In this house we observe the Twelve Days of Christmas, which means I’ll be slooowwwwly returning to work and writing by mid-week. You’ll start to see little stirring signs of life: the first issue of Talestack News for 2026 will drop on Monday, for example. But I thought I would send out this little missive today to get us all on the same page as quickly as possible.
In that spirit…
Some Things of Note:
It’s still Winter Season here at Talebones. Seasonal changes are usually when I take a step back, tidy up, and make necessary changes, so please “excuse my dust” as I potentially reorganize the Talebones homepage, About section, and other bits and bobs.
It’s high time that I wrapped up my summer serial, don’t you agree? While I hated making you wait for the last few weeks, I’m glad I took a break, and yes…I’m currently working on the final episode of Smoke-Mouth. There should be one more episode (conclusion) plus an epilogue. (Haven’t read this story yet? Catch up here!)
I’ve got some livestream appearances coming up, including a second chat with a Substacker I dearly enjoy yapping with (as yet unannounced—stay tuned!) and the very first slot of the amazing TiF Summit, where I’ll be kicking off a wild marathon of writers reading their work LIVE! (No pressure! 😂)
The first Talestack News issue of 2026 will drop on Monday the 5th, so do submit now if you’ve got news to share! Please email your fiction news to talestack.editor@gmail.com
This year, my biggest project to date will be revising my longest-running serial, a paranormal/magical realism mystery called Freelance & Fishmaids, into a full-length novel later this year. I’m putting together a potential paid-subscriber perk to bring interested readers deeper into that process, but if you’re curious to check out the story, the FIRST TWO EPISODES will be FREE to read here on Talebones while the revision is underway. Jump on in!
This is just a heads-up that I am hard at work modifying my off-platform presence and professional websites, including moving my “Work With Me” information to a non-Substack site. (This is simply to make it easier for non-Substack clients to find and hire me without needing to understand Substack’s ins and outs.) For now, you can still head to this page to learn more about my editing work and rates.
Final Note: A Seasonal Giveaway!
An anonymous donor has let me know that they have a one-year gift subscription to Talebones that they would love to give away to an interested reader!
Comped subscribers get access to ALL Talebones fiction, discounts to the merch shop and when hiring me as a freelancer, and this year they’ll also receive my revision updates as I alchemize Freelance & Fishmaids into a novel.
In short: it’s a good year to join the Talebones Council!
In the spirit of fairness, let’s do a random giveaway draw.
If you would like to receive the gift of a one-year paid subscription to Talebones, please comment below and include a 🎄 (christmas tree) emoji in your response.
If for any reason you can’t use emojis, just work the phrase “christmas tree” somewhere into your comment and that will count.
One comment per person, please!
There will be only one winner this time around, but never fear: I like to pepper giveaways like this throughout the year, so there will be more opportunities!
I’ll pull the winner’s name by random draw over the weekend and announce it in the Talebones Tuesday post on January 6th, as well as send them a confirmation email.
Happy New Year to all, and see you soon for more Talebones shenanigans!
Your grateful storyteller,
S.E. Reid
🎄 Finished Ivy & Ixos today, and just left a review. Loved it! Can't wait for the resolution of Smoke Mouth, or for more Ferris Island adventures.
Still winter over here on t'other side of the world too. No dog here but the black witchy cat is loving the driblet of snow we've had here the last few days, pelting round the garden at lightspeed! I enjoy serial stories too - writing and reading - I just finished The Carpet - the first in the Shapeshifters' Arms series I'm writing - and the newsletter readers get the first episode of The Dragon's Egg today.
Series writing is fun, you agree? And a thing I find is that each episode usually wants to be written fresh, new, just before it goes out. That confused some folk I know who thought I write the story ahead of time then dole it out chapter by chapter, but that never works for me. How do you do it?
Hey! I'm getting verbose! Will stop now. Am looking forward to the TiF conference - cool idea 👏