SPOOKY SPECIAL ISSUE!

[October 30, 2023]

Photo by Tandem X Visuals on Unsplash

✒ Editor’s Note

Greetings, Talestack Readers, and welcome!

For your reading pleasure, TALESTACK NEWS is proud to present this very special SPOOKY BONUS ISSUE full of seasonal announcements and, for this issue only, a reading-list of spooky and/or Halloween-themed tales from the past month!

Please enjoy, and let us know in the comments if you would like to see more special themed issues in the future!

Have a frightening week, and Happy Hallowe’en!

S.E. Reid
Editor of Talestack News

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TALESTACK NEWS is a FREE-TO-READ publication!

Please support us by liking, commenting, sharing, and restacking. Any monetary support is appreciated, but not necessary.

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🎃 Announcements!

Finished Projects:

• The Man Behind the Screen
  has just completed his dark fantasy/horror pulp novella, In The Giant’s Shadow! Synopsis: “In Jötungatt, a shadow looms. Lured to this sleepy farming town by a mysterious white raven, Gaiur the Valdunite soon finds herself wrapped in a conspiracy of ritual murder and very real nightmares.”

• S.E. Reid
  will be finishing up her eight-episode supernatural fiction serial, Goldgreen, at the end of this week, with an Epilogue and behind-the-scenes Q&A. “In the fall of 1962, an eccentric director and a screenwriter with a hidden past set out to make a most unusual TV show. But the show only filmed eight episodes before the cast and crew mysteriously vanished. To this day, the reruns of the eight completed episodes are all that remain.”

New Projects:

• Scoot
  has just started an atmospheric, tech-noir thriller serial called Duel featuring hardened detective James McElroy and his sidekick droid, DB431. Read the first installment here!

• reinancruz
  is still in the early stages of her spooky serial, Marredbury! “In a near-future city haunted by its own dark history, evil lurks beneath the surface. Enter Marredbury, a chilling serial anthology that weaves together a tapestry of haunting tales from the past and a contemporary digital nightmare.”

Awards:

• Congratulations to Lunar Awards Season Four, Short Story winner

  Justin Deming
  and honorable mentions
  Shannon Aaron Stephens
  and
  Josh Tatter
  ! Also, for the first time ever,
  Jessica Maison
  won the Hallowe’en-themed “Pumpkin Patch” badge for her tale!

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💀 Reading List!

Short Pieces with creepy and/or Hallowe’en-themed vibes, published this month!

(NOTE: Some of these pieces were sent directly to the Editor for this issue, and some were gathered and curated by the Editor. Various genres; stories organized alphabetically by title.)

• Attack of the Vengeful Pumpkins by

  ReddOscarWrites

• Behind The Door by

  S.E. Reid

• The Better Pill by

  Bill Adler

• Cardboard Robot by

  J.E. Petersen

• Creepy Houses by

  Lausanne Davis Carpenter

• The Door by

  S.L. Linton

• Feedback Loop by

  Christopher Freeland

• The Final Bell by

  Brian Reindel 👾⚔️

• The Fire Tower by

  Justin Deming

• If Anything Happens by

  Shaina Read

• Halo E’en by

  Michael S. Atkinson

• Horror Shop by

  reinancruz

• Levitation by

  Erica Drayton

• Returning by

  Jessica Maison

• The Rowan Glade by

  Sharron Bassano

• Samhain by

  Daniel O’Donnell

• Silver & Snow by

  Josh Tatter

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🕸 Shout-Outs

• It’s

  Winston Malone
  ’s birthday tomorrow, on Hallowe’en, so send along your spookiest best wishes!

• The Fictionistas virtual meetup is THIS EVENING! Click here for details on how to join in the fun!

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👻 For More Spookiness…

• Check out the Macabre Monday community by

  Jeff Kinnard
  all throughout the year for more love of all things grim, spooky, and thrilling!

And Dear Readers…

Share the titles/links of your favorite spooky stories—on Substack or not, your own or by someone else—with us in the comments below, to keep the creepy vibes rolling!

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Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:

talestack.editor@gmail.com