Talestack News - ISSUE 40
[January 6th - January 20th]
✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
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Is it frigid or fair where you live? Here at Talestack News, the weather is always perfect!
As January tips over its halfway point, Substack fiction writers simply don’t quit! We’ve got plenty of new and finished projects to add to your TBR list today, as well as some books for the bookshelf and writerly milestones to celebrate. Not to mention a fantastical awards season and the return of a fan-favorite weekly prompt event!
2025 is off to a simply fabulous start!
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 lovely week, and happy writing!
S.E. Reid Editor of Talestack News
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📣 Announcements!
Finished Projects:
- is wrapping up The Last of the Etela, the first novel of The Shieldbreaker Saga, on January 29th. Synopsis: “The Etela have lived in the dry plains and red-rocked deserts on the southern border of the Disputed Lands for centuries, watching the two great empires of the age battle for control of the region—and often selling their prodigious military talents to the highest bidder. A massive army of northern horse warriors has swarmed over the Brul Mountains to take advantage of the chaos, offering everyone in the Disputed Lands a choice: become vassals or corpses. Now, only nineteen-year-old Kareva, chieftain of the tribe of Hodrir, stands between his people and extinction—and he’s got demons of his own to contend with.” You can start from the beginning (or rather, “the bitter end”) here!
- ’s Ship of Fools, a reader-beloved “Pynchon-lite” satire on conspiracy theories, false beliefs, flat-earthers, moon-landing deniers, New Agers, and more, wrapped up on January 12th after twice-weekly posts since May. Jump into the Prologue here!
New Projects:
- has just begun serializing his novel, The Amazing Adventures of Tortoise & Gecko. Synopsis: “Tortoise, meet Gecko. A four-part, multi-genre novel that sets off as a simple comic fable and then begins to spiral, one short episode a week. Includes talking animals, piracy, humour, interpolation, grief, and a plunge off a continental shelf.” Jump into Episode One here!
- is launching her new historical epistolary horror serial, Sleep, Dearie, Sleep, today! Synopsis: “Archie Craig is an ambitious young architect poised to make his mark on a new nation. Leaving a wife and child behind in Scotland to seek opportunity and fortune in the burgeoning United States, he has toiled away as an apprentice to one of the young country's most sought-after architects. [Now] he’s tasked with building a stone bridge that will connect North Carolina to the Southwest territory and help make the way for western expansion. But the project is met with disaster upon disaster, until it seems that Nature itself has rejected the bridge and seeks to punish all who attempt to build it. As the deadline looms, pressure builds and desperation takes hold, Archie’s faith falters. He succumbs to the old ways, making an unspeakable promise to save his career, his family’s future, and his sanity. When modernity and reason are confounded by ancient, forgotten realities, Archie learns that the true price of progress is his heart and soul.”
- has just launched a new crime fiction noir serial called Capitol Rookie. Blurb: “The year is 2024 in Sacramento and new reporter Alex Shelby is trying to make his first break when he stumbles on political corruption leading to murder. Follow the thrilling twists and uncover the truth.” Jump into Part One here!
Awards:
The revamped Lunar Awards are currently underway with Round One of Season 10, featuring Fantasy tales in all their myriad forms and subgenres. Submissions are open until January 31st, so there’s still time to polish up your best tales of magic and mystery and send them in! Round-specific rules are in the post linked above, while general awards guidelines can be found HERE.
Milestones & Wins:
- is celebrating a personal writerly milestone: “More or less finished my fantasy world map, at least the concept stage. Not gonna publish it for a long time, especially not connected to my current online usernames, but I've been thinking about this world for nine years and this feels like a major milestone for me.” Congratulations, Scatterbrawn!
- (Kim Hayes) has had a short story, Chris and Opie, accepted by Corner Bar Magazine for publication in March or April. From Kim: “This will be the second story of mine that they publish.” Congratulations, Kim!
📚 The Bookshelf
(Titles listed in order of release date.)
- ’s collection of paranormal short stories, The Orchard Hounds, is now available for purchase as both an ebook and paperback through Amazon! Release Date: 1/6/25
- ’s Gothic murder mystery novel, The Spider, is now available for purchase in various formats across various platforms! Release Date: 1/10/25
- ’s collection of short stories, Well Water and Other Odd Tales, is now available for purchase as an ebook through Amazon (with a paperback edition on the way)! Release Date: 1/15/25
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Connection Corner
- will soon be bringing his famous weekly Flash Fiction Fridays off of Notes and into a permanent home at Gibberish! From Scoot: “The Notes-based prompt/fiction community-writing fun-time returns to Gibberish! Starting 1/31, Flash Fiction Friday posts will start with four unique Scoot-style prompts designed to help get writers' gears turning. Subscribe to Gibberish for the weekly prompts and the opportunity to share your writing in the chat threads!” Check out the new Flash Fiction Friday pages here!
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
Good to see Larry's Ship of Fools mentioned.
For anyone who hasn't jumped aboard with Larry's writing, I highly recommend.
Ship of Fools has been a delight, great fun.
I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next.
Just read an excerpt of Lyndsey's book, and I love it! Thanks for including such a gem in your newsletter!