Welcome to our weekly meet-up and open call for the best fiction of the week!
OPEN NOVEMBER 15 - 16
Fiction Accepted:
Only fiction shared between November 9th - November 15th on Substack!
This open call will be available: NOW until 9pm EST on Saturday, November 16th.
Self-promotion of your fiction is welcome!
Leave a link of the story in the comments. Please say the GENRE as well (if applicable).
Submit as many as you want, so long as they were written and shared during the window mentioned above.
TEMPLATE FOR RECOMMENDATION
Copy/Paste in Comments Section. Anyone who does not use the template will be passed over for selection.
Story Title: Writer: [Substack Name] Genre: [See NOTE below] Type: [Choose 1: Poetry, Micro/Flash Fiction, Short Story, Short Serial, or Serial] URL: [Must be a Substack URL] Note: If you’d like to say a little something about your recommendation/self-promotion for anyone who happens upon this comments section in search of something new to read.
Genre can often be difficult to pin down or explain. And, if given the opportunity, we’d likely choose 3+ genres to try and explain our story but that can easily cause confusion for readers. So, I urge, nay INSIST, you only list ONE genre for your story. Using a “/” or “-” does not count as ONE genre and will be passed over for consideration. Some key exceptions are Sci-Fi, Cli-Fi, Spec-Fic, & Lit-Fic.
List of Popular Genre Fiction: Science-Fiction OR Sci-Fi / Literary Fiction OR Lit-Fic / Speculative Fiction OR Spec-Fic / Climate Fiction OR Cli-FI / Fantasy / Horror / Thriller / Romance / Historical / Mystery / Comedy / Folklore / Dystopian / Young Adult
This list is in no way “complete.” For instance, you may choose “Crime” in place of Mystery or “Suspense” in place of Thriller. There are hundreds of genres to choose from. A good source of research, if your story does not fit into one of the above commonly used fiction genres is this page.
Feel free to include “extra genres” in the Note area where you can say whatever you want about your story.
Look for our email on Monday, November 18th where the Top In Fiction list will appear in your inbox! You never know what new gems you’ll discover. All we ask in return is that you share Top In Fiction to your email list and Restack the post on Monday in Substack Notes.
Note: The last record of two young women who went missing on an expedition to view the Ozark spook light. A mash-up of a vivid dream I once had, some local high strangeness, and my affection for found footage horror.
Note: Barrels in short order through parodic-comedic to erotic to gothic modes, making it pretty hard to pinpoint in genre terms. I'll go for weird fiction or near-horror as an approximation.
Note: "The feeling of something massive coming to an end looming like a giant, and the inability or outright refusal to really look that end in the face. The end always comes, ready or not."
Note: Hi everyone! This is a short Sci-Fi story about a world where people have discovered a way to record dreams and nightmares, and use them as an interactive form of entertainment. Have a great weekend... 😎
Note: Hild’s Tale is a creative retelling of Bede’s account of Hild. It draws on over a decade of academic study of seventh-century English elite and monastic life to reconstruct what Hild's life might have been like, filling out the skeleton tale provided by Bede.
Note: William has a contentious post-walkthrough conversation with the Head of Literacy, then heads out to have a strained dinner with his father, the district's chief legal counsel.
Note: This story deals with one’s own perception of beauty and the consequences of not being able to cope with such. I think. But please let me know what you think this is about. Thank you!
I’m going to include all of these in one comment, in order to not spam you or clog up your comments section, I hope that’s okay and means these are still valid submissions:
Genre: A poem about the mysterious ways in which grief works and affects people, also somewhat of a metaphor for agnosticism, and being unsure about what happens after death. Vaguely inspired by Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (the symbol of the well).
Note: This is part 1 of a 3 part short story about a minor league baseball pitcher at the start of another season on a team in the boonies of West Texas.
Note: This is my first attempt at a) serializing fiction on here and b) having paid content. This entry is free for anyone to read and should give you a good sense of where the story is headed. The story is finished and each entry will be posted on Wednesdays. Laurent, the MC, is kind of a rude SOB which is standard for a Fae.
Note: This story is something of a commentary on current events, but taken at a remove. I think that's one of the most beautiful things about science fiction or really any genre fiction. The inclusion of fantastic elements can often take the edge off of controversial topics.
Story Title: Devil's Promenade
Writer: Jean Marie Bauhaus (Through a Glass, Darkly)
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Story (Maybe flash fiction - not sure where the cut-off is)
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/jeanmariebauhaus/p/devils-promenade
Note: The last record of two young women who went missing on an expedition to view the Ozark spook light. A mash-up of a vivid dream I once had, some local high strangeness, and my affection for found footage horror.
Story Title: Uncle's Monkey
Writer: Ryan Hight
Genre: Literary
Type: Short Story
URL: https://ryanhight.substack.com/p/uncles-monkey
Story Title: Elliot's Brand New Toy
Writer: Bryan Russell
Genre: Sci-fi
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/bryan458/p/elliots-brand-new-toy?r=11vroc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Note: Warning: a disturbing theme is in order. Reader discretion is advised.
Story Title: Siebentausend Road
Writer: A.P. Murphy
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://thestrangenesskit.substack.com/p/siebentausend-road-bdb
Note: Barrels in short order through parodic-comedic to erotic to gothic modes, making it pretty hard to pinpoint in genre terms. I'll go for weird fiction or near-horror as an approximation.
Story Title: The Rapunzel in a Field of Rapunzels - Part Two
Writer: E. H. Lau
Genre: Fairytale fantasy
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://ehlau.substack.com/p/the-rapunzel-in-a-field-of-rapunzels-e55
Note: A singing duelist and a knight try to rescue a flower trapped in a tower.
Thank you again for your time and consideration, and running these every week! 😄
Story Title: CRYBABY
Writer: Mark Watson
Genre: Horror
Type: Serial Fiction
URL: https://markwatsonbooks.substack.com/p/crybaby-chapter-nineteen
Story Title: Request Denied
Writer: Evelyn Brunswick
Genre: Sci-Fi
Type: short story
url: https://inadifferentplace.substack.com/p/event-day-a-channelled-message?r=2s9hod
Note: no note required
Story Title: Zenith Solution
Writer: Michael Arturo
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Flash
URL:https://michaelarturo.substack.com/p/zenith-solutions
Story: Villa del refugio
Writer: Oscar Ruto Chemelil
Genre: Literary fiction
Type: Short story
URL:https://open.substack.com/pub/oscarruto/p/villa-del-refugio?r=1of53q&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Note: What eye color do forbidden fruits have?
Story Title: Psychiatry Contest
Writer: Layne Mercer
Genre: Speculative
Type: Short story
URL: https://laynemercer.substack.com/p/pyramidion
Note: The bizarre world you never knew existed, just on the other side of a convention center door near you.
Story name: a Japanese onsen.
Writer: wirrowac
Genre: ??
Type: Short story
Url: https://open.substack.com/pub/wirrowac/p/japanese-hot-springs?r=4hfdz3&utm_medium=ios
Enjoy. I've adapted the story from my own experience.
Thank you so much for this neat opportunity.
Genre: middle school
Title: Nora and the Toad
https://open.substack.com/pub/oakleavesandlavender/p/nora-and-the-toad-a-short-story?r=2732gt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Story Title: Mars in Retrograde. Chapter 10, We are a light.
Writer: James Worth
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://jworth.substack.com/p/mars-in-retrograde-chapter-10
Note: "The feeling of something massive coming to an end looming like a giant, and the inability or outright refusal to really look that end in the face. The end always comes, ready or not."
Story Title: Konos' Mission
Writer: Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen
Genre: Sci-fi
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://katartstrophy.substack.com/p/konos-mission
Note: Aliens looking to colonize earth becomes cat dad instead
Story Title: In My Mother’s Shoes
Writer: Rostislava Pankova- Karadjova/Airings
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/rostislava/p/in-my-mothers-shoes?r=zcxsb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Story Title: The Dreams
Writer: Chris J. Franklin
Genre: Sci-Fi
Type: Flash Fiction/Short Story
URL: https://chrisjfranklin.substack.com/p/the-dreams
Note: Hi everyone! This is a short Sci-Fi story about a world where people have discovered a way to record dreams and nightmares, and use them as an interactive form of entertainment. Have a great weekend... 😎
Story Title: Lost and Found
Writer: Michael Serrur (@mserrur)
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Flashfiction / Microfiction
URL: https://michaelserrurauthor.substack.com/p/lost-and-found-a-story-in-60-seconds
Note: A charming parable set in Medieval Times.
Story Title: Kennedy Madison
Writer: Ava Sophia Brown (fat rabbit)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://fatrabbit.substack.com/p/kennedy-madison
Note: A ghost story. A nasty haunting occurs when Angela sublets a bedroom to her old friend Kennedy Madison.
Story Title: 13. Durban, 1990 - Readings and beatings
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann/ On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/13-durban-1990-readings-and-beatings
Note: At university, Elle’s world expands. The protests rage out there; but in the quiet of a friend’s room, some truths can’t be escaped.
Story Title: Hild's Tale - Chapter One
Writer: Holly A Brown
Genre: Historical Fiction
Type: Historical Fiction
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151035337
Note: Hild’s Tale is a creative retelling of Bede’s account of Hild. It draws on over a decade of academic study of seventh-century English elite and monastic life to reconstruct what Hild's life might have been like, filling out the skeleton tale provided by Bede.
Story Title: 12. Pretoria, February 11, 1990 - A man walks free
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann/ On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/pretoria-february-11-1990-692
Note: Tig, Eleanor and Becca watch history being made. But for Becca, the chains that hold her aren’t as easily broken.
Story title: The Devil's Apprentice
Writer: FranB
Genre: Comedy
Type: Flash fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/francesbrindle/p/the-devils-apprentice?r=j0ch2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Story Title: Mozart’s Symphony No.41 in C Major Expressed as a Weapon
Writer: Spaceman Spiff
Genre: Science Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://abysspostcard.substack.com/p/mozarts-symphony-no41-in-c-major
Story Title:
Writer: Annals of Los Perdedores
Genre: Humor
Type: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://losperdedores.substack.com/p/the-rubbers
Note: Learn more about a clandestine group who go around the town of Los Perdedores rubbing everything, hoping to find a secret Genie Lamp.
Story Title: Clocking Out
Writer: Hannah S. (@howlingfantod)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/howlingfantod/p/clocking-out
Note: comedic/satirical
Story Title: The Ships Came Spinning Down From the Sky Writer: Irshaad Genre: Science Fiction Type: Short Story URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/unfinishedspeedwriting/p/the-ships-came-spinning-down-from?r=2qufyf&utm_medium=ios Note: A sudden and devastating Invasion of earth. “They filled the sky like a rain of steel….”
Story Title: Candy Eyes
Writer: Justin Mcculloh
Genre: Psycho Horror
Type: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-150852660
Note: My first published short story! tell me what you think.
Story Title: Why Teach? - chapter 3
Writer: Peter Shull - lower midlist
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151352609?source=queue
Note: William has a contentious post-walkthrough conversation with the Head of Literacy, then heads out to have a strained dinner with his father, the district's chief legal counsel.
Story Title: Ugly
Writer: Ricardo Alberto
Genre: Dark Realism
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/ricardoalberto/p/ugly?r=4glcvo&utm_medium=ios
Note: This story deals with one’s own perception of beauty and the consequences of not being able to cope with such. I think. But please let me know what you think this is about. Thank you!
Story Title: Burning Bridges
Writer: Safa H
Genre: quiet horror
Type: micro/flash fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/inkblotwriting/p/burning-bridges?r=4at1ty&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Note: "Don't look back, he whispered, it's just another bridge burnt."
Story Title: The Ninth Fidget
Writer: Gareth Marks (Pen Marks)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/garethmarks/p/the-ninth-fidget?r=3qfg1d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Note: A short story involving minor characters from my novel-in-progress, which will follow a group of physicists at the University of Cambridge.
Thanks for being so consistent with these!
I’m going to include all of these in one comment, in order to not spam you or clog up your comments section, I hope that’s okay and means these are still valid submissions:
Story Title: The Hitchhiker
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Narrative Poetry
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/the-hitchhiker?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Note: About the chances that pass us by every day that could change our lives. I was inspired to write this after watching Detour (1945).
Title: Sand
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Poetry
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/sand?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Note: Self-explanatory; a poem about how much I hate sand.
Title: Static
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Poetry
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/static?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Note: With this, I attempted to create a comforting yet eerie nostalgic and melancholic atmosphere.
Title: Forgotten Words
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Ode
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/forgotten-words?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Genre: A brief ode to sparks of genius that are uttered or written by people, but not published or recorded, so lost to time.
Title: The Widower
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Narrative Poetry
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/the-widower?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Genre: A poem about the mysterious ways in which grief works and affects people, also somewhat of a metaphor for agnosticism, and being unsure about what happens after death. Vaguely inspired by Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (the symbol of the well).
Title: Morning Dew
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Haiku
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/morning-dew?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Story Title: A Stonecutter’s Chorus (pt 1)
Writer: Chris DeWitt (Dork Mansion Dispatch)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dorkmansiondispatch/p/dispatch-15-a-stonecutters-chorus?r=e4td0&utm_medium=ios
Note: This is part 1 of a 3 part short story about a minor league baseball pitcher at the start of another season on a team in the boonies of West Texas.
Story Title: What's a Dragon? - Chapter 19
Writer: Dragon Writer Luc
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dragonwriterluc/p/whats-a-dragon-chapter-19
Note: Emilie really hasn't had the best of luck with that extreme heat wall.
Story Title: The Art of Darkness (Part 4)
Writer: MaKenna Grace
Genre: Romance
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/makennagrace/p/the-art-of-darkness-part-4?r=1vkyax&utm_medium=ios
Note: New revelations from an unexpected source open Amber’s eyes even further to the mysterious world of vampires she only thought she knew.
Writer: @feastsandfables (Just Write, Right)
Genre: Dystopian
Type: Short Story
URL: https://justwriteright.substack.com/p/and-so-it-begins
Story Title: Home and Contents
Writer: Lorenzo Gaertner
Genre: Realism
Type: Short Story
URL: https://thirddoorontheright.substack.com/p/home-and-contents
Note: The cold indifference that often greets our most painful, personal upheavals is laid bare during a routine trip to the bank.
Story Title: ＃９４
Writer: Jack Nagy
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://jacknagy.substack.com/p/b35
Note: This is not a cry for help, I promise.
Story Title: Flesh For Fantasy
Writer: Scott MacLeod/Son of Ugly
Genre: sports
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/sonofugly/p/flesh-for-fantasy?r=2sz29p&utm_medium=ios
Note: Fantasy Sports IRL
Story Title: Biscuit Snakes, Transhumans, and Michael
Writer: Alex England
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://goldtoothwriter.substack.com/p/biscuit-snakes-transhumans-and-michael
Note: The world we are creating for ourselves
Story Title: Dread
Writer: Bryan Russell
Genre: Dark fantasy
Type: Short serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/bryan458/p/dread?r=11vroc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Tag Line: A shape-shifting monster from another place becomes a hero in our world.
Story Title: Two Steps From Hell - A Rude Awakening
Writer: @scottroche42
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Type: Serialized Fiction
URL: https://twostepsfromhell.substack.com/p/a-rude-awakening
Note: This is my first attempt at a) serializing fiction on here and b) having paid content. This entry is free for anyone to read and should give you a good sense of where the story is headed. The story is finished and each entry will be posted on Wednesdays. Laurent, the MC, is kind of a rude SOB which is standard for a Fae.
Story Title: A History Lesson
Writer: @scottroche42
Genre: Science Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://rochesomniverse.substack.com/p/a-history-lesson
Note: This story is something of a commentary on current events, but taken at a remove. I think that's one of the most beautiful things about science fiction or really any genre fiction. The inclusion of fantastic elements can often take the edge off of controversial topics.