✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
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February Fades, but Fiction Remains! 🌿
Every time I put together an issue of Talestack News, I love looking for patterns.
Some issues lean heavier on community events, finished serials, or published books. Some issues are a bit thinner, some packed to the gills. Some contain awards or unique milestones. Some include shout-outs, or feature genres I don’t see represented very often.
I’m pleased to say that this issue—appropriately for the changing season—is FULL of NEW projects! It always warms my heart to see writers launching fresh ideas, planting new seeds, and seeing what the heck grows from the creative soil. And it’s always an honor to witness the start, here on the News.
This is the perfect season to take chances, try new things, experiment with new forms or genres, push yourself beyond your self-imposed creative limits. The soil is ready. Lock that Inner Editor in a cupboard for a little bit and make some mayhem!
Remember: If the goal is to learn, you can’t fail.
If you’re reading this, and you’ve been holding back, I’m here to invite you to take a leap and do it scared. If you’re waiting for the perfect time, it’s now. It’s always now.
Let 2026 be the year you do the thing that only you can do!
Happy reading, happy writing!
S.E. Reid Editor of Talestack News
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📣 Announcements!
New Projects:
Marie Howalt recently launched Dreamwalker’s Diligence, a bite-sized fantasy serial “about a magical antiques shopkeeper with a penchant for mysteries. Come for the arcane artifacts. Stay for the cozy vibes and a touch of the uncanny.” Jump into Episode One of the first season here!
This month, Hatchling Media launched a new found-document mystery serial, The Lighthouse Files. Synopsis: “A lighthouse keeper vanishes from a remote coastal station. The only record of what happened is the collection of logs, security transcripts, and personal documents he left behind — documents that don't add up, and may have been written by someone who knew he was running out of time. Readers piece together the truth themselves through the recovered files. No traditional narration, just the documents.” Explore the first piece of the puzzle here!
Introducing a new piece of classified material from the mind of CB Mason | YA Dystopian+Sci-Fi! Shattered: Isaiah's Side, a FREE novella, is now available to subscribers. From CB: “This exclusive companion to Shattered reveals Isaiah’s hidden thoughts, choices, and feelings that never made it into Tessa’s version of the story. And coming February 24th, Shattered: Lost Session, the second of three companion novellas. Each is available for a limited time, so don't miss out on your free access before the files are taken down! Spoiler Warning: Do not access until after reading Shattered.”
Kevin LaTorre is launching a new series at Shadow/Substance called Letters from Theophilus. From Kevin: “The entries will be metafictions in the form of letters, simultaneously less real and more true as they blend the quite unreal and the truly observed.” Check out the introductory post here!
This week, Jean Marie Bauhaus will begin serializing her paranormal mystery novel, Kindred Spirits. (Note: while this is the second book in the Spirits series, it functions as a standalone.) Blurb: “Kindred Spirits is a paranormal mystery thriller about unfinished business, fragile trust, and the danger of bringing the dead’s secrets into the light. A medium, her ghost sister, and a hardened skeptic must solve a murder with a killer who’s still at large—and watching their every move. Some hauntings start with unfinished business. This one ends with a fight for the living.”
On February 23rd, Norm DePlume will launch a weekly twelve-story run for a series he calls Gothic Knights. From Norm: “The basic premise is there is a team of Gothic monsters in Victorian times that operate under the orders of a ruthless Queen Victoria but supervised by James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ arch enemy. It’s fairly violent and nasty, but I hope my inappropriate sense of humour will still be present. There is a lot of monster vs monster action in the individual stories, but the overall series has a mystery that will be resolved by the end of the 12th story. What’s the mystery? You’ll have to read my 12 stories of Gothic Anarchy in the U.K. to find out.” Subscribe to Norm for updates!
📚 The Bookshelf
(Titles listed in order of release date.)
Jean Marie Bauhaus released the first season of her ongoing supernatural horror serial, Sons of God, as an ebook—Flesh & Blood is free to download wherever ebooks are sold. Release Date: 1/17/26
Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️’s fantasy romance, Harmony of Love, is now available as an ebook through most digital storefronts! Release Date: 2/3/26
M. Cosmos Newstrom’s cozy fantasy novel, A Light Home, is now available to purchase through various storefronts. Learn more about this book, including cover and blurb, HERE! Release Date: 2/12/26
Sean Thomas McDonnell’s colorful punk-noir novel, Cherry Kills, is now available to purchase through Tiny Worlds Publishing. Signed books, merch, and deluxe kits are also available. Release Date: 2/13/26
📝 Submissions Bulletin
Garen Marie and the TiF Team cordially invite you to a spooky springtime fiction event: Spring Fever! Horror in Bloom. Blurb: “Buds bursting, new life waiting to shiver up from the soil. People cooped up too long inside, dazzled by the sun. The smell of rain, but make it foreboding. The feel of new beginnings, but make it twisted and tangled. Beltane fires, ancient rites. Let your horror-filled fever dreams run wild!”
Length: Less than 4,000 words.
Due date: Monday, March 16, 2026, 11:59pm EST. Submit via the Google form here.
Publish date: The first day of spring. Friday, March 20, 2026, 9am EST.
Substack Live: A few authors will be chosen for a reading of an excerpt of their stories during a Substack Live event on March 20 to celebrate. Note from the organizers: “If you’re interested in this, submit your story sooner rather than later so we have time to read it before the event.”
Join our Discord! Want to discuss story ideas, source beta readers, or just chat with your fellow Substackers? Check out the Spring Fever! Discord group!
Questions: Send Garen Marie a DM!
❤ Shout-Outs
Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ would like to shout out the fiction community for their recent support during a difficult life event: “Also can I just give a general shout out to everyone on Substack for the help they’ve given when they heard my kitchen was leaking due to ice dams? Just about fully covered the cost of the ice dam removal.”
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
Thank you so much for including Dreamwalker’s Diligence! I need to look into the others too. 😃
Thank you so much for the Spring Fever shout out! 🌷🖤