Winter Season Is Here! ❄
Talebones Wednesday (oops)
Greetings, Talebones Readers!
This weekly(ish) digest 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.
(Okay, ya caught me…this missive normally goes out on a Tuesday, but hey. Better late than never, right?)
It’s officially Winter Season here at Talebones, but this Winter is a little different than my usual. So read on if you’d like to know what’s been going on, what to expect from me this month, and—hot takes abound!—my favorite film adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Because clearly everyone is dying to know. 😂
Onward we go!
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And now, back to Talebones Tuesday…er, Wednesday…
Round-Up!
In case you missed it…
A Perfect Guest - In my supernatural contribution to this year’s edition of The Midnight Vault, a widowed boardinghouse owner with a terrible secret is visited by an unexpected guest and a most fateful haunting. Check out my story at the link, and click through the graphic at the top of the post to read the rest of the amazing stories in the Vault!
Imp Review! - Big thanks to John Watson - Horror Author for his recent spoiler-free review of my horror novella, Imp!
Our supernatural/dystopian serial Smoke-Mouth is rounding the corner to its conclusion. Synopsis: Jenny-Dog is just fine on her own. Jenny-Dog needs no one and no one needs her. Until a fool young stranger shows up, says she’s walking all the way to the crippled mountain—to Lawetlat’la, to Smoke-Mouth—and asks if Jenny wants to come along. Jenny doesn’t fancy their chances. After all, it’s over a hundred miles on a dangerous road through a once-modern region laid bare by quakes and crisis. There are many-eyed angels hovering in the summer sky, and hungry thieves lurking in the woods with violence in their hearts. But the mountain is calling. And when Smoke-Mouth calls, the dreamers reply.
Explore the Table of Contents
Get started here - Episode One: The Fool
Read the latest episode here - Episode Thirteen: In The Hours Before Dawn
New around here? Most of our speculative fiction takes place on a haunted island in Washington State called Ferris Island. Check out the landing page to see which stories are currently available to read here online, along with other info and resources!
We also have stories of various genres set elsewhere, listed here.
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 December 14th to be included in the next issue!)
⭐ Holiday Ebook Sale! ⭐
2025 has been a CRAZY year in my self-publishing journey. I published two books from scratch—ebook and paperback—added a paperback edition to two of my ebook offerings, and threw in a bonus ebook just for the heck of it right at the end of the year. Whew!
This is just a small gesture to say THANK YOU for being part of the 2025 chaos!
⭐ From now until New Year’s Day, ALL of my published ebooks are 50% off in the Kindle Store! ⭐
This includes:
The Orchard Hounds and The Shell: collected short fiction, equal turns spooky and heartfelt
Ivy & Ixos and Imp: single-tale novellas, easy to read in a weekend
Pilgrim God: my poetry-based Advent devotional
If you’re looking for a fun way to finish out your yearly reading goals and/or stock your 2026 TBR, check out the full S.E. Reid Amazon library!
📚 Shop the Holiday Sale! 📚
❄ A Season Of Rest and Restoration… ❄
This Winter is a little different from my past ones. When my Publishing Schedule is operating normally, Winter is usually when I work on my second serial of the year. But since my Summer serial is still chugging along (nervous laugh), I’ll be focusing on bringing that to a close instead.
Along with that, I confess, I need to take a little time for a breather and a reset. This year was so very good in so many unexpected ways, and while January never feels like “the new year” to me (too cold and gray), I’m going to use this opportunity to take a mid-December rest and re-orient at the start of 2026, take a good look at the state of Talebones, and see what (if anything) can be evolved or tightened up!
So here’s the lay of the land for this season, in Q&A format…
1. How long will your hiatus be?
Just from mid-December to the start of January. I won’t be gone long; I just want to soak up the Advent peace, savor Christmas, and give my creative brain a rest.
I foresee that I’ll be doing a lot of reading. And eating. Yum.
2. Will you finish Smoke Mouth?
Yes! ASAP!
3. Will you be publishing any short fiction this season?
Only if the spirit moves me. I do have an idea for a creepy holiday short story that I’ve been percolating, but we’ll see if that one decides to step into the hot-seat this month or if it wants to wait until the gloom of January.
4. Can I still hire you as an editor while you’re on hiatus?
Yes please! Publishing may be on hiatus but the day-job never stops! 😂
You can check out my rates here, and feel free to send me a DM here on Substack or email me at writer.sereid@gmail.com with any and all questions about hiring me as an editor.
5. Will you still be publishing Talestack News?
Oh yes! The second December issue will drop as normal, on the third Monday (the 15th). Send me your year-end news at talestack.editor@gmail.com to be included!
6. Will you still be hanging around the platform?
Yep! You can pretty much always find me haunting Notes at some point in the day, and I might even take the opportunity to publish little nonfiction thoughts to The Wildroot Parables and Scatterbones, if I feel so inclined. I might even do a holiday livestream at some point, since last year’s was so much fun.
I’ve also been reinvigorating my Instagram account lately, just for low-key, chill-vibe funsies, so feel free to follow me over there if you like!
7. Most importantly: what’s your favorite film adaptation of A Christmas Carol?
The 1984 TV-movie version with George C. Scott as Scrooge. It’s not even close.
If you have any other questions about this season, my hiatus, or future projects, please leave them down in the comment section!
Do You Have A Moment To Leave A Review?
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For self-published authors, there’s no multi-million-dollar engine running promotion, marketing, and other advertising…there’s just me! So ratings and reviews go a LONG way in raising indie books in algorithms, triggering retailers to suggest them to customers, and helping new readers find self-published books that they’ll love!
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Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to leave a review!
It really, really means the most. ♥
Interested In Going Deeper?
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Thank you for reading!
In short: the feeling I’m feeling right now is definitely fatigue, but it’s the kind one feels after a whole lot of fun and rewarding work. This year was a total blast, even if it had its ups and downs, its messes and mistakes.
And through it all, I couldn’t be happier to share the road with all of you!
Stay tuned for the last few pieces of the Talebones puzzle to fall into place this season, and have the Happiest of Holidays!
Your grateful storyteller,
Uhm, Albert Finney's Scrooge! Hands down. And there's something...different about Patrick Stewart's A Christmas Carol.
But, I will say George C. Scott does deserve a top 3 vote, for sure.
And because I've got Rod Serling on the brain lately, why not throw in Carol for Another Christmas! Now that I think of it, there are A LOT of Dicken's versions aren't there...
George C Scott is good--but it's hard to top the Muppets. Or Patrick Stewart. Or Albert Finney.