✒ Editor’s Note
Welcome back, Talestack Readers!
[New around here? Check out our FAQ page!]
Summer may be slow, but the fiction is still flowing! 🌞
I’m writing this in the middle of a small but powerful heat spike.
Here in the maritime Pacific Northwest, we’re not used to extremes. Anything over 80 degrees can really shut the whole region down, send us running indoors for shade and a cold drink. The plants pout. The animals hide.
Everything feels slower when it’s hot outside in a place where heat is unusual.
Veterans to Substack will know this by now, but the northern-hemisphere summer around this platform can be slow. Engagement goes down as readers find themselves busy with summer plans, new routines, travel, or just a different set of warm-weather distractions and priorities.
If you’re new to the platform, you might look at your stats and worry that you did something wrong. But you didn’t. This is just the seasonal norm, and a necessary one. We need slow seasons in order to thrive.
So take advantage of it! Be bold, like the folks in the following issue—start a new project, or experiment with a new genre. Try something you’ve always been afraid to try. Or, if you feel you’ve already taken a lot of risks lately, maybe you’re being called to rest and gather input. Give your creative brain a chance to soak up new stimuli, learn new things, or just lie fallow for a little while.
Whatever summer brings for you, I hope it’s full of good vibes and good stories. And Talestack News will be here to help! ❤
Happy reading, happy writing!
S.E. Reid Editor of Talestack News
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.
📣 Announcements!
Finished Projects:
Laurie MacIntosh has just concluded her first-ever serial, a documentary literary fiction called The Three Sheep Rebellion. Synopsis: “The Three Sheep Rebellion is a documentary fiction serial set in Scotland in the spring of 2026. Featuring an ensemble cast, this story shows the impacts of geopolitics on even the most resilient communities who are now faced with an impending food distribution crisis. Thankfully, the town of Milnathort has a particularly clever seven-year-old named Daisy who challenges them to simply do what makes sense, thereby irrevocably changing the course of history.” Jump into Chapter One here!
New Projects:
On June 21st, Aaron Mead | Writer will be launching his serial, a reimagined, fictionalized, but historically sound account of the biblical story of Philemon, called Neither Slave Nor Free. Learn more about the project—along with its inception and vision—at the announcement post here!
Ian Barr has just launched his fantasy serial, Seventh Daughter. Excerpt: “The ball tonight was for her, after all, and nobility from all corners of Pretani had been trickling into Camelot for a fortnight. Acquaintances she had known since she was a girl; country nobles who rarely made it to the capital; dignitaries from the Pretani’s various protectorates; there were even rumours of suitors from overseas. Dragonhearth was full to bursting with the finest folk, the city beyond overrun by their retainers, and all in celebration of Princess Marian Pendraig. For tonight, if God was good, she hoped to meet the man who would steal her heart.” New installments are planned to drop every Saturday!
Garen Glazier has started Dark as Dawn | Bright as Night, a dark fantasy with shades of a family saga, epic adventure, coming of age, and romantic tragedy in seventeen bingeable episodes. New episodes drop every Sunday with original illustrations by A. C. Sanders. It’s recommended reading for those who want to keep the atmospheric and unsettling feels alive and well this summer. Jump into Episode One here!
Leanne Shawler has launched Season/Book 4 of The Môrdreigiau Chronicles, titled A Shattering of Souls. From Leanne: “Eidothea’s and her Chosen Court’s world is upended as consequences come to roost. The Court is scattered and we are not clear of the prophecy of ash and dust yet… had a blast doing an ‘unboxing’ of all the journals too!” Jump into the Prologue here!
Kiki Ellingson has embarked upon a ten-week summer mini-series podcast (with transcription available), a YA cozy fantasy called Zandry and the Witch. Excerpt: “The witch looked me up and down again, then sighed, asking my magic competency. When I said it was a solid three, my schoolmates snickered, the witch looked at the headmistress doubtfully, and I colored up to my eartips. The headmistress assured her I was perfectly capable of mixing herbs and casting all the usual cantrips by rote. ‘I guess I’ll take her.’ The witch didn’t look happy.”
Milestones & Wins:
Shannon W Haynes has decided to change her newsletter name—Chapter by Chapter with Shannon Haynes is becoming Story Feathers. From Shannon: “I started writing and sharing Chapter by Chapter to accomplish what seemed like an impossible goal: completion of that first novel draft. But now that I am editing that novel, writing more stories, and preparing to write another novel, I can see that what I’m really doing here is much more than Chapter by Chapter. I am finding creative magic in my path and writing down pieces to share with you—capturing Story Feathers.” Learn more here!
📚 The Bookshelf
(Titles listed in order of release date.)
C. Lee McKenzie’s young adult paranormal romance novel, That Moonwater Witch, is now available for purchase as an ebook and paperback through all distributors, including Amazon. Release Date: 5/29/26
The second volume in The Midnight Vault anthology series, inspired by the uncanny flavor of The Twilight Zone, is now available! This new collection contains stories from dozens of Substack fiction authors all across the speculative spectrum. Available to purchase—along with the original volume—in a beautiful hardcover from Tiny Worlds Publishing. Release Date: 6/1/26
Ben Woestenburg is launching a new epic historical fiction ebook series called TRILOGY, with each volume containing three novellas. The first, Bridges of Rome, is now available to download through Gimmebook. Release Date: 6/2/26
The second book in Tom Schecter’s fantasy saga, The Shieldbreaker - Book Two: Holiest of Cities, is now available for purchase through Gimmebook. Release Date: 6/8/26
This month, Hanna Delaney’s science fiction novel, Oceanus, will be re-released in a brand-new edition—both ebook and physical—with an all-new cover through Tiny Worlds Publishing. Release Date: 6/19/26
❤ Shout-Outs
Leanne Shawler sent a shoutout to Hallie Jules: “Shout out to Hallie Jules for her birthday this week! She put out a birthday prompt and it’s inspired what’s potentially going to be a whole new serial called The Moonstone Files.” Happy Birthday, Hallie! 🎉
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Connection Corner
Fans of YA/crossover, fantasy, and mythical reimaginings, you are being summoned—Katharine Kapodistria is looking for ARC readers for her new novel, Underworld! From Katharine: “Underworld [is] a reimaging—not a retelling—of the myth of Persephone. We’re talking ancient Greece, an epic journey of self-discovery, mythological Easter eggs all over the place, gods behaving like spoiled children, not-so-subtle allusions to gender and social inequality, and the issues young women have to deal with.” For more information, or to sign up, click the link here!
Leanne Shawler would like to remind everyone that the collaboration, Upon Our Seas, In Our Skies (explained in more detail in a past Talestack issue here) will continue to accept stories, poetry, and more until her new serial, A Shattering of Souls, is complete.
Got something you want us to publish? Have any questions, comments, or feedback? Send it all to:
talestack.editor@gmail.com
✨Talebones runs on YOUR support! ✨
My Tip-Jar! - Enjoying this resource? Show your appreciation with a one-time tip!
Work With Me! - Looking for an editor, beta reader, proofreader, or copywriter? Look no further! Check out my NEW Work With Me site for rates and services.
Shop My Books! - Explore my self-published works, both ebook and paperback, available from various retailers!
Visit the Gift Shop! - Grab a piece of Talebones swag for your very own! Mugs, tees, hats, sweatshirts, and more, updated seasonally!
Thanks so much for the shout out!!! 🥰🥰🥰
Wise words about the Summer. Warmth temperatures here in our corner of France about to leap to the high 30s, there’ll be more time for me to hide in the shadows scribbling fiction.