The Weekly

Merch Shop and Contest Announcement!!

Jul 30, 2024

brown wooden tray — Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash

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.

And we just so happen to have a pretty thrilling digest today, with our merch shop opening AND a contest announcement!

Read on, and let’s get going…!

Round-Up!

In case you missed it…

8 Questions: The wonderful and talented
Eleanor Anstruther
has been posting a months-long series where she puts Substack fiction writers in the hot-seat and asks them “8 Questions” about their journey on the platform. Last week, I was given the privilege of adding my voice to the chorus!
- Check out my interview here and be sure to explore the rest of the 8 Questions interviews, along with Eleanor’s own amazing fiction work. Thank you again for the opportunity, Eleanor!
Work With Me: For my “day job”, I work as a freelance editor and writer for hire to complete all kinds of projects, and I’m currently looking to fill up my end-of-summer roster of clients. If you would like help with beta reading, outline consultation, proofreading, or developmental editing, I’d love to hear from you!
- Check out this page to see my current rates, or feel free to reach out via DM/email if you have any questions or want to chat about your project and budget. I’m always willing to work something out!
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 August 4th to be included in the next issue!)
The second season of our fan-favorite supernatural mystery serial, Freelance and Fishmaids, is rounding the corner to the final stretch!
- Get started in the new season - Episode One: Albatross.
- Or, if you’re already reading along, jump into the latest piece - Episode Eight: Can’t Go Back.
- 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!

Come Visit the Gift Shop!

Earlier this summer, I quietly soft-launched the Ferris Island Gift Shop through Etsy, and had so much fun letting the early-birds grab their pieces of merchandise while I learned how the whole print-on-demand process works. New skills ahoy!

Now, I’m happy to report that the shop is officially open for all to purchase a tourism-board-approved souvenir from your travels to the island! Currently available are hats, shirts, bags, and mugs; this first “Souvenir Collection” is very simple and wearable/usable, based on typical tourist-shop merchandise. More designs and styles are planned for the future, including a cold-weather line for fall and winter!

If you have ideas and requests for merch items and designs, please don’t hesitate to let me know! I’d be overjoyed to create stuff that I know you’ll love and use.

ARCHIVE MEMBERS:
You are entitled to a 30% discount at the gift shop!
Snag the promo code here.

Founder’s Week Fan Art Contest!

August 11th-17th is Founder’s Week on Ferris Island

Every year, the good folks of the island put on street fairs, tourism events, parties, and more to celebrate the island’s founding. It’s a blast! Last year we followed the island’s new social media consultant, Tamsin Cunningham, on a strange journey of personal discovery.

This year, along with some special-edition fiction, we have something a little more interactive in mind…our very first Ferris Island Fan Art Contest!

Here are the details…please read carefully!

From TODAY until MIDNIGHT PST on AUGUST 25th, submit your art for the contest by emailing it to ferrisislandwa@gmail.com!
In your email please include your name, your Substack handle (along with any other social media handles you would like mentioned), and a brief description of your piece, including the medium and what subject you chose.
You may submit no more than TWO pieces of art per artist.

Topic/Theme:

You may depict ANY character(s), situations, settings, or stories that you want from around the Ferris Island universe!

Creepy, scary, and unsettling are totally acceptable, but please keep images rated “PG-13” or below
No sexual situations, nudity in a sexual context, or excessive blood/gore

Medium:

Please feel free to use any visual medium, as long as it can eventually be sent in a high enough resolution file for sharing online and potential printing. Paint, sketch, digital, photography, collage, mixed media…all are perfectly acceptable and encouraged!

No AI-generated images. Any images suspected of being AI-generated will be immediately disqualified.

Prizes:

The winning piece of art will receive…

A feature on a limited-edition piece of Ferris Island merchandise with full credit to the artist
A prominent feature on the Talebones site with full credit to the artist
One free piece of Ferris Island merchandise of the artist’s choice
A full-year comped Talebones Archive membership

Choosing the Winner:

In the week after the submissions window closes, Archive Members will help me to narrow down the submitted pieces to three favorites, and from that Top Three I will choose the winner.

There will be honorary mentions and superlatives with their own smaller prizes, so even if you don’t win the grand prize, please don’t worry!
The winning piece of art will mostly be judged on its creativity, along with its accuracy to the source material and/or an interesting subversion of the subject!
Get wild, have fun, spread the island love!
The winner will be announced on Friday, August 30th.

Disclaimer:

By sending in your art for this contest, please be advised that you are giving me permission to share it (with full artist credit) in public and private/paid posts here on Talebones, and this may include future inclusion on merchandise, though you would be notified ahead of time and asked for your permission in that event.

I will never repost, share, or use your art without permission and full credit.

Thank you for reading!

I’ve already used up more than enough of your time, so I’ll keep this brief: THANK YOU, as always, for being the best readership on Substack and beyond.

I’m so excited to see what fun, frivolity, and fan-crafted creativity August brings us, and I hope you are, too!

All my love, and blessings!

Your grateful storyteller,