Talestack News - ISSUE 33
[September 16th - October 7th]
✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
[New around here? Check out our FAQ page!]
It’s October, and you’re in for a real treat—no tricks!
Y’all: this issue is SO FULL that I don’t have any space to give you my usual pre-issue chitchat! 😅 So let’s get straight to the fiction goodness, shall we?!
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:
- has just finished her four-part serial, Karma of Kulgera. Synopsis: “Hundreds of people died by drying in the lush green hills of Kulgera. DSP Prithvi Singh was called to investigate the matter. Join him as he navigates through waters deeper than he originally thought.”
- has just finished his serialized novella, The Truth of Who We Are and is about to embark on a new story, Freedom House, which takes place in the Deep South, and involves the Klan, politics, religion, and Civil Rights.
New Projects:
- has launched a new serialized speculative novel, called Ingression. Synopsis: “On a drowned yet parched future world, a young woman is forced into a dangerous journey when seeking to cure her body’s fatal flaws. The key to her survival lies with friends old and new, a mysterious mentor, and a deadly secret she struggles to hide within her mind. But it will take far more than a desperate plan, an irrelevant man and a limited lifespan to avoid her premature fate. So when an enigmatic artefact promises to aid her quest in exchange for her innermost thoughts, she must risk making the ultimate sacrifice to save both herself and those she loves.” Jump into the Prologue here!
- has launched a new fantasy serial called The Graveyard House. Synopsis: “Miss Marjorie Brahms, daughter of a mysterious wizard known by the townsfolk as Bamoy, is having a very bizarre autumn. Her father, Johann, had reasons for purchasing an abandoned house situated in the middle of a graveyard in which to raise his family. That did not mean that evil spirits could never find them. Can Marjorie and her father restore peace to the graveyard and the house in the middle of it?”
- has just started releasing a weekly audio serialization. The new serialized audio stories run around 10-15 minutes, and are for a YA fantasy called Lyric: a Mother of a Faery Tale, “about a college girl whose summer is interrupted by a family legacy with shattering complications for the climate. I release them every Saturday.”
- has just launched a serial titled The Misadventures of Endora Pan. Synopsis: “Endora's life is a recipe for disaster: one part corporate job, two parts baking business, and a dash of clumsiness. When she crashes into Dominic, a FedEx driver with dry wit, it's hardly love at first sight. But fate keeps throwing them together. As Endora juggles her business and romantic hesitations, she learns that love, like baking, requires taking risks and embracing the mess. A funny tale of faith, friendship, and finding love in unexpected places.” Jump into Chapter One here!
- recently started serializing her novel, Journey to Kyron. She’s also crowdsourcing ideas for creating the world it's set in—“a techno-optimist society capable of building space-faring, self-contained ecosystems that transport a million-strong fleet of humans to another planet over several generations.” Learn more here!
- has just started serializing his first book in a fantasy/crossover fantasy series called The Shieldbreaker Saga: “Hold onto your weapons if you wish to die well.”
- is continuing her Judith Temple tales with a new paranormal mystery serial called Beasts of the Field. Synopsis: “When Judith Temple, full-time software developer and part-time psychic detective, agrees to help Sheriff Tim Morrissey find a missing college student, she is confident that her psychic vision will bring the case to a close. The only problem is that Judith’s vision seems to be…wrong. Contending with skeptical police, hostile locals, and her own complicated emotions about the county sheriff, Judith must make sense of her visions and conflicting information about the case to find the missing girl before the trail goes cold.”
Awards:
Congratulations to and , the winners of the Season Eight Lunar Awards for short stories and first chapters, respectively! Check out the short story win page and first chapter win page to read more about their stories and all the fabulous honorable mentions, too!
Milestones & Wins:
- (Kim Hayes) has had a recent short story published in the Fall Issue of Epater Journal. You can read her story, The Curious Drone, on page 21 for free!
📚 The Bookshelf
(Titles listed in order of release date.)
- ’s fantasy novel, The Santara Commentaries Book 1: The Padri, is currently available for purchase as an ebook on Amazon as well as other platforms! There’s also a paperback on the way. Release Date: 9/15/24
- ’s fantasy novel, Tales & Treasure, is now available for purchase from various booksellers! Release Date: 10/1/24
- ’s mystery anthology, Thorfinn Grimm: Year One, is available for preorder as an ebook and paperback via Amazon! Release Date: 11/1/24
📝 Submissions Bulletin
The Asian Writers Collective, hosted by
, is open for fiction and nonfiction submissions again from all writers of Asian descent until November 15th. The theme is longing. Click here for more information.It’s that time again! The Lunar Awards, Substack’s hub for recognizing the best of speculative fiction—hosted by Brian Reindel 👾⚔️—has just started Season Nine: Macabre Edition! Check out the post for submission details and this season’s prizes.
In honor of spooky season, the creepy crew at Macabre Monday are hosting a Halloween Story Contest! The deadline is October 21st, so be sure to read the submission guidelines and send in your trickiest treats!
On January 15th, 2025,
’s Top in Fiction will release the largest list of Substack recommendations EVER! The TiF Annual Recap of 2024 will feature 150+ different stories by different people within the Substack Fiction community.From Erica: “On October 15th a special email will outline exactly who is eligible and how to submit! But, if you can't wait till then, in today's TiF Issue #13 just a bit more information will be provided.”
- and are looking for YOUR opinions on generative AI, both positive and negative. From Birgitte: “We feel it's important to give voice to creatives who have been impacted by genAI. [We] have decided to run a survey to gauge the impact of this technology on creative professionals, and to give them an outlet to tell their stories. The final report will include the results of the survey and interviews with various creatives.” Fill out the survey, and let them know if you're willing to provide additional comments or be interviewed.
❤ Shout-Outs
- would like to shout out the whole team at ’s StoryVerse. From Shoni: “My other news is that I'm writing the next episode of the StoryVerse, so that's kind of exciting. Coming soon for me, but shouting out all the collaborative spirits who have filled its nodes so far, especially , who nominated me, and whose recent short stories also deserve a shout-out on their own.”
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Connection Corner
Calling the youth of Substack! The YA Section was built with the goal of highlighting, encouraging, and connecting Substack writers between the ages of 13 and 25. While the foundations of the newsletter are faith-based, all are welcome to join in and celebrate the platform’s young writers! You can check out the latest recommendations post here.
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
Thanks for the shout out! Collaborating at StoryVerse was so much fun! 👏
Wow, what a cross section of writing to choose from today...the environment seems to be particularly fertile for imagination and inspiration these days! A reader's blessing!