The Weekly
Founder's Week Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead!
Dear Reader…
Welcome back to The Weekly!
This weekly-ish missive is the way I communicate with my readers to let them know what’s been going on around the Talebones landscape, along with any housekeeping to be aware of.
In this edition, I wanted to update you all on how Founder’s Week went, as well as some important things to look forward to as we head into Fall. Read carefully: you don’t want to miss these details!
Let’s dive in!
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Round-Up!
In case you missed it…
TALESTACK NEWS is a twice-monthly bulletin of Substack fiction news where I collate as many announcements, projects, submissions opportunities, community endeavors, and generally cool things as I can gather. Check out the most recent issue here! (And if you’re a writer on the platform, check out the submission guidelines and email your news to talestack.editor@gmail.com by September 1st to be included in the next issue!)
The second season of our fan-favorite supernatural mystery serial, Freelance and Fishmaids, is finished!! Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed! This season will be paywalled on September 17th, so if you’ve been putting it off and want to read the season for free, you’ve got some time!
Get started in Season Two - Episode One: Albatross
Read the final episode - Episode Twelve: Freedom
Join the Archive at $2.50/month or $30/year to read Freelance and Fishmaids Season One, as well as gain access to the FULL library of Talebones fiction and other perks!
Founder’s Week Wrap-Up
Thank you for your patience with our postponed Founder’s Week, my friends! We managed to hit a few of the hoped-for activities, and some not so much.
Here’s where we landed…
Founder’s Week Fiction: Bad news first—despite all of my efforts and ideas, there won’t be a piece of Founder’s Week fiction after all. I know…boo! After a full season of serializing PLUS the unexpected creative burst of The Shell, my brain is fully fried and needs to rest a little. I really appreciate your understanding!
Merch Drop: Okay, now the good news—The Market Collection at the Ferris Island Gift Shop is now live!! Our early-bird customers are already receiving their pieces, and I can’t wait to hear how they look! You can buy a t-shirt, mug, tote bag, or pullover in the following new designs:
Ferris Island Ecological Society: share the birdmint love!
Port Salish Farmer’s Market: appreciation for island farmers and fruit!
The Seavend General Store: everyone’s favorite place to fuel up!
ARCHIVE MEMBERS: don’t forget that you have an exclusive discount code for the store! You can check your email from last Tuesday or check out this page to claim it!
Fan Art Contest: Our fanart contest closed for submissions over the weekend! Contests can be a hard sell, and I genuinely didn’t know what to expect (I was braced to receive no entries at all), so I was VERY honored that our contest received THREE fabulous entries!
I will be choosing the winner over the next day or so and I’ll send out a special edition of the Weekly showcasing all three entries and handing out prizes like candy. 😂 If you were one of the brave souls who sent something in: THANK YOU, and you’ll be hearing from me privately soon!
Looking Ahead
We are coming up on our Fall Season here at Talebones, and Fall always makes me keen to tighten things up, change things around, and generally try some new experiments. It’s the former teacher in me, I think.
Next week our Weekly post will contain deeper details about the exciting changes, but here are two important things to set the stage…
Fiction Hiatus: I will be taking a break from a heavy fiction-writing schedule in the Fall. No serials or longform tales; perhaps the rare piece of short fiction to keep myself sharp. I’ll be using the time for some pretty cool things though, including…
Putting together a Fall/Winter merch collection
Nailing down the publication of short-story collection The Orchard Hounds in both ebook and paperbook format (my goal is a mid-October release!)
Planning a Winter Season full of new fiction!
Rate Increase: Now that Talebones has been active for over a year, the Archive is filling up with story after story, and my plans for Fall include some interesting changes in the paid-subscription-perks, it feels like a logical time to raise the rate for our paid subscription to reflect the change in what I can offer. I am very determined to always keep my rates as reasonable as I possibly can, so I’ve done my best to crunch the numbers and come up with a rate that I believe is still fair, while also reflecting my offerings.
Starting September 17th our rates here at Talebones will be raised to $3.75/month and $45/year.
All Members who are currently paying the lower rate are locked in at that rate, so no worries: nothing will change for you!
Not a paid subscriber yet? If you would like to lock in at the current $2.50/month price, act before September 17th!
As always, if you have ANY questions or concerns, feel free to reach out anytime!
Thank you for reading!
This was quite the info-heavy digest, so I won’t keep you any longer…
I hope you’re having a fabulous week, my friends, and you’ll be hearing from me soon to see the three fun pieces of Ferris Island-inspired art sent in by your peers. Thank you as always for your readership. You keep me going, more than you know!
All the love, and blessings!
Your grateful storyteller,
S.E., if you must, you must... A partial fiction hiatus for the fall is a reminder that you are a real live human, living a real life, not a factory fiction machine! We are lucky to enjoy the creative fruits of your imagination! Give the little gray cells some R&R. And you certainly knocked it out of the park with The Shell!! Also eager to see The Orchard Hounds, exciting. Of course you have set expectations for some hot fiction come Winter!!!