✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
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There’s something a little spooky about how good Substack’s fiction is!
Happy October to all! This latest issue of Talestack News has me all excited, because I love it when an issue is full of writers with projects to share. Some are wrapping up and ready to binge, and some are just getting started so you can jump aboard the train early! There are also some great books for your TBR and some extra community bits and bobs, too. Nothing better!
⭐NOTE: Talestack News is looking for passionate sponsors to feature in upcoming issues! If you are a small business owner, freelancer, artist, or author with a product or service to sell and you think that your business or product could fit the tone and philosophy of Talestack News, reach out to me at talestack.editor@gmail.com and throw the word SPONSOR in the subject line—let’s talk!
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:
- has finished his latest novella, Where The Moon Hides Its Shadow, which “takes place on a small South Pacific, Japanese-held island, during the Second World War. It involves an English ‘Comfort Girl,’ the Japanese Captain who is the last inheritor of a Samurai legacy, and his Malay clerk (the survivor of a torpedoed hospital ship.) When the airfield is invaded by American Marines, the Captain is injured, and the samurai sword he carries is stolen and used against the wounded Japanese soldiers. Follow young Corporal Rutherford Hayes, as he tries to sort out what happened…it’s all a matter of honour, as well as survival.” Jump into the first part here!
- ’s fantasy-adventure serial, Find The Blackpage!, has just concluded. Synopsis: “The ambitious monk Manheim and the callow novice Julian are unlikely traveling companions. Both would consider the circumstances surrounding their journey mere bad luck—yet, one way or another, they have been charged with a single, important mission: Find the Blackpage! Twenty years after Manheim’s rival monk, Byron—now called The Blackpage—was exiled from the Order of Authors, this adventuring party will face dangers in the mysterious wilds of Daranna. Yet, all agree that nothing they could encounter is more dangerous than the man they hope to find…” Start the quest with the first installment here!
- just finished Obsidian and Flame, a 20-chapter fantasy serial in three acts. Blurb: “A sea dragon prince with a deadly secret … a sea dragon with a useless gift and no desire to marry a prince. When they come together, sparks fly. More than the throne is at stake. Can they save their city or will their quest be in vain?” Stay tuned for a three-part behind-the-scenes series from Leanne this month. Jump into Chapter One here!
Leanne would also like to give a shout-out to
: “Finally, I want to shout out Ryan Kunz for helping me out with airships. (Yup, there are airships coming in book 4.) Past Me had done some research but I realised some of it was too handwavey magic. Ryan really helped out!”
- just wrapped up a fantasy-adjacent serial called The Ravenswing Report, told through the journal entries of three convicts. Synopsis: “When Ariel is convicted, her sentence is almost certain death. She’s joined by two others—Lilo and Thaddeus, also convicted criminals—and sent into a complex, dangerous wilderness designed specifically for this purpose. The odds of their making it out alive are slim to none, and at first, Ariel refuses to hope. But as they face challenge after challenge, the trio realizes that maybe—just maybe—they’ll be able to survive, escape, and re-enter the real world.” Get started with the first installment here!
New Projects:
- has started a new novella, This Is How We End Our Day. From Ben: “It’s a story that takes place in Hollywood in the 60’s, about an old Silent Screen Star…and that’s all I have for you now. That’s because I’m a “pantser”, which means I don’t write with a plot. So I guess we’ll find out what the story’s about together. I can tell you that she’s old, well, only 72, but she’s a morphine addict, so that might have something to do with it. Oh yeah, and there’s a young boy, too, and he’s telling the story.”
- just launched a new 12-part science fiction/fantasy hybrid serial called Monster of the Week. Blurb: “Join Scrub and Scratch, a pair of galactic bounty hunters known as Collectors, as they tour the galaxy, hunt monsters, and get on each other’s nerves every week.” Jump right into the First Part here!
- launched an “accidental Substack experiment” this summer that she calls The David/Airbnb Saga, a series written in short micro fiction length episodes; each is self-contained. Find the ongoing series at My Dead Flowers.
- recently embarked upon his “non-snob literary” serialized novel, A Brief Report From the Aging Manservant of a Self-Doubting Autocrat. Excerpt: “The engine hums, and the moonscape unfurls, and the President and I recollect all that used to be. Through the windows, meanwhile, we see the changes that have come to Palatiparvu, since independence. Not all of these changes have been for the better — and how could they have been? That is not the way life, the way governance, works — but I believe that the majority of what we have wrought has done the people good. The President knows this. He knows that it is what I believe, and he knows that I am probably right to believe it, and therefore it is as an agent of confirmation and bucking-up that I am brought along.” Jump into the First Chapter here!
Awards:
- ’s feminist thriller, Make No Mistake, was recently nominated for an Eric Hoffer Award! Congratulations and good luck, Julie! Learn more here.
📚 The Bookshelf
(Titles listed in order of release date.)
- ’s debut collection of short stories, Not Quite A Disaster After All, is finally available in the US for purchase through Flowersong Press! Release Date: 9/18/25
From C. M. Setledge and Spilled Ink Press comes an all-new Substack-fueled comedy anthology, Rated R for Ridiculous, featuring a veritable who’s who of Substack comedy writing! Now available to purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart. Release Date: 10/1/25
- has just published the first installment of his spicy speculative fiction sophomore series, Surreal Estate, Volume 1: The Haunted House of Absurdities. It is available in paperback and ebook through Amazon. (Stay tuned for the audio podcast version with original music and voiceover, coming to Substack this fall at PodFiction!) Release Date: 10/3/25
- ’s YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, is available for preorder (with an option to snag a signed copy!) through Irish-owned indie bookstore Buy The Book, or you can preorder it as an ebook or unsigned paperback at the usual locations like Amazon. Release Date: 12/1/25
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Connection Corner
- (D.A. Kelly) has completed a 60,000-word manuscript for sci-fi/cli-fi/cozy mystery Murder in the Gyre and is looking for advance readers! If you’re interested, please contact @dakelly through Substack DMs. Synopsis: “Aboard their research vessel isolated mid-Pacific by a freak storm, Robin Goodwin finds a body and is presumed the killer. This is the second volume in the Memoirs of a Mad Scientist series, following Solarpunk Outlaw (serialized on Substack).
Have you ever thought that a serial sounded intriguing, but it’s been running for a while and you’re not sure how to jump in?
has you covered! In a recent article she offers some great wisdom for how to engage with a serial when you’ve arrived to it a little late to the party, cribbed from her own experience and full of practical tips. Check out her article here: Top Tips for Reading Serial Fiction That’s Been Out Awhile.
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
Thanks for adding a link to my reading serial fiction article!
Wow ~ there's a whole lotta impressive people and projects on this list! Big Thanks to S.E. for including my new release on Talestack News, and BIG CONGRATS to all these amazing authors for starting, finishing, and releasing original works of fiction!