Welcome to our weekly meet-up and open call for the best fiction of the week!
OPEN NOVEMBER 29 - 30
Fiction Accepted:
Only fiction shared between November 23rd - November 29th on Substack!
This open call will be available: NOW until 9pm EST on Saturday, November 30th.
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.
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, December 2nd 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: A quick look into a holiday tradition celebrated by my magical mining city Durnarn. Originally written for The Lunar Awards. It also provides a great starting glimpse into the strangeness of the city of Durnarn and themes explored in the rest of my work.
Note: My original plan for this short story was much longer and more ambitious, and saw the lead character as an Ahab-like mysterious monomaniac, so I had to rework a lot to keep it short and now the story is unrecognisable from the original one that I had planned, but I’m happy with the result. I may use my original ideas in a longer project some day.
Note: a stream of consciousness exercise run by Edith Bow written in a continuum with minimal edits to correct typos and italicise thought speach. inspired by prompts from CJ Stockton. resubmitted to correct the genre
Note: This is Chapter 14 of Book 2 “A River Trembles” in The Môrdreigiau Chronicles. In this chapter the planning meeting finally ends and Eidothea is summoned by the Esteemed for … drinks?
Note: Inspired by The Twilight Zone, this short story is a prequel to my upcoming novel, Shattered, book one of the FORGED Series.
With deadlines ticking down to zero, Noah’s grasp for some semblance of control, no matter how fleeting, takes him on a quest to find relief from the chronic anxiety plaguing him. Somewhere between light and shadow, where the familiar twists into the unfamiliar, he travels through The Substack Zone.
Note: Spurred by the events of the previous weekend, William embarks on a project of ‘really teaching’ his students. Will his resolve survive a worldview-assaulting confrontation with the head of literacy?
Note: A darkly comic plunge into a pro-war dystopia, where breakfast appliances conspire, war slogans inspire zealotry, and the collapse of modern civilization is imminent.
This is the third part of my serialized horror called The Ballad of Slick. It’s explores the relationship a young man had with his best friend when he was a child. A best friend who changed his world in ways he never saw coming.
This is the second part of my serialized horror called The Ballad of Slick. It’s explores the relationship a young man had with his best friend when he was a child. A best friend who changed his world in ways he never saw coming.
Note: This is the third and final part short story about a down and out minor league baseball pitcher at the start of another season on a team in the boonies of West Texas.
Story Title: Day of the Hollow Crown
Writer: Alexandra Hill
Genre: Spec-Fic
Type: Serial
URL: https://alexandrahill141.substack.com/p/day-of-the-hollow-crown?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Note: A quick look into a holiday tradition celebrated by my magical mining city Durnarn. Originally written for The Lunar Awards. It also provides a great starting glimpse into the strangeness of the city of Durnarn and themes explored in the rest of my work.
Story Title: Angel’s Ridge
Author: Tommy Green
Type: Short Story
Genre: Western
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/angels-ridge?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Note: My original plan for this short story was much longer and more ambitious, and saw the lead character as an Ahab-like mysterious monomaniac, so I had to rework a lot to keep it short and now the story is unrecognisable from the original one that I had planned, but I’m happy with the result. I may use my original ideas in a longer project some day.
Story Title: Gratitude / Pink
Writer: Sharron Bassano
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: 50-word prose poem
URL: https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/gratitude
Note: Two fifty-word stories on the hardships of childhood
Title: Ja, Kommandant
Author: Sue Meredith Mann
Type: Serial
Genre: Literary Fiction
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/the-wild-coast-1991-ja-kommandant
Note: A midnight whistle. Intruders in the dark. This is the Wild Coast.
Story Title: Daddy Issues (Use Your Illusion)
Writer: Dyce Anferné
Genre: Speculative
Type: Serial
URL: https://dyce.substack.com/p/daddy-issues-use-your-allusion
Note: Beano loses his restaurant via a dubious legal mechanism.
Story Title: Beau Brewis
Writer:David Stephen Powell
Genre: Historical
Type: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-152273972?source=queue
Note: First published in Flash Fiction Magazine
Title: Word Gets Outt
writer: Nick Winney (The Why and the Why Not)
Type: Short Story
Genre: Crime Noir
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/nickwinney/p/word-gets-out?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2fhpll
Note: a stream of consciousness exercise run by Edith Bow written in a continuum with minimal edits to correct typos and italicise thought speach. inspired by prompts from CJ Stockton. resubmitted to correct the genre
Title: Chapel-de-fer
Writer: Oscar Ruto
Type: Literary Fiction
Genre: Short Story
URL:https://substack.com/home/post/p-152041089
Note: I often wondered what the crowning with thorns meant...
Title: Whalesong
Author: Tommy Green
Type: Poetry
Genre: Free Verse
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/whalesong?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Story Title: Through the Eyeglass
Writer: Rosie Bannerman
Genre: Historical
Type: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/@rosiebannerman/p-151970682
Note: A pair of broken glasses and a young boy's adventures through the streets of Venice.
Story Title: Chandra and the Pink Dress
Writer: Morgan Givens @optimusMo
Genre: Romance
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/optimusmo/p/entirely-inspired?r=2pzmej&utm_medium=ios
This was inspired by Laura Wheeler’s Girl in Pink Dress (ca. 1927)
Story Title: 14: You Called?
Writer: The Môrdreigiau Chronicles
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/projectstarfish/p/14-you-called?r=1mk6at&utm_medium=ios
Note: This is Chapter 14 of Book 2 “A River Trembles” in The Môrdreigiau Chronicles. In this chapter the planning meeting finally ends and Eidothea is summoned by the Esteemed for … drinks?
Story Title: Peaches
Writer: Cameron Scott from Verse
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://cameronscott.substack.com/p/peaches
Note: A story about one's man attempt to cheat Death and save the life of his beloved
Story Title: Miss Jenkins
Writer: Ryan Hight
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://ryanhight.substack.com/p/miss-jenkins
Story Title: Thy Mother Is A Lioness
Substack Name: Sam Foster
Genre: Historic Fiction
Type: Serial
Substack URL : https://samfoster.substack.com/
Story Title: Flowers for Meredith
Writer: Rostislava Pankova-Karadjova of Airings
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/rostislava/p/flowers-for-meredith?r=zcxsb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Title: Fourth Branch of the Old Root Tree
Author: Loser’s Fiction
Type: serial
Genre: Historical Horror
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/losersflashfiction/p/fourth-branch-of-the-old-root-tree?r=3517l8&utm_medium=ios
Note: the fourth of five, each story taking place about 100 years apart.
Story Title: I wanna launch a ¢oin
Writer: A.P. Murphy
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://thestrangenesskit.substack.com/p/i-wanna-launch-a-oin
Story Title: Haiku Hijinks: Space
Writer: Chris J. Franklin
Genre: Sci-Fi
Type: Poetry
URL: https://chrisjfranklin.substack.com/p/haiku-hijinks-space
Note: Hi everyone! This is a little collection of Haiku, based on the theme of 'Space'. Have a great weekend.... 😎
Title: Colony
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Nature
Type: Poem
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/colony?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Title: Morning Breeze
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Nature
Type: Poem
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/morning-breeze?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Title: What You’re Made Of
Author: @jon t - Ferns Of Columbo
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Short Story
Note: writing on themes of identity and transformation
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/jontoews/p/what-youre-made-of?r=1asdvc&utm_medium=ios
Story Title: What's a Dragon? - Chapter 21
Writer: Dragon Writer Luc
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dragonwriterluc/p/whats-a-dragon-chapter-21
Note: It's the end of the most eventful month yet of Emilie's life!
Story Title: Mother of Carpets, Mother of Snakes
Author: Sal Randolph of Free Words
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Micro Fiction
Note: A pair of brief strange stories in which I continue to spend time with the ghost of my mother.
Oops! URL for the above: https://salrandolph.substack.com/p/mother-of-carpets-mother-of-snakes
Story Title: The Substack Zone: The Sun and the Moon
Writer: @cbmason
Genre: Dystopian
Type: Short Story
URL: https://cbmason.substack.com/p/the-substack-zone-special-forged-series-prequel
Note: Inspired by The Twilight Zone, this short story is a prequel to my upcoming novel, Shattered, book one of the FORGED Series.
With deadlines ticking down to zero, Noah’s grasp for some semblance of control, no matter how fleeting, takes him on a quest to find relief from the chronic anxiety plaguing him. Somewhere between light and shadow, where the familiar twists into the unfamiliar, he travels through The Substack Zone.
Story Title: Why Teach? - chapter 5
Writer: Peter Shull
Genre: literary fiction
Type: serial
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151632156
Note: Spurred by the events of the previous weekend, William embarks on a project of ‘really teaching’ his students. Will his resolve survive a worldview-assaulting confrontation with the head of literacy?
Story Title: Storm The Beachhead, Little Bitch
Writer: Michael Arturo
Genre: Satire
Type: Short Story
URL: https://michaelarturo.substack.com/p/storm-the-beachhead-little-bitch
Note: A darkly comic plunge into a pro-war dystopia, where breakfast appliances conspire, war slogans inspire zealotry, and the collapse of modern civilization is imminent.
Story Title: When Is A Door Not A Door?
Writer: Bill Ferguson
Genre: Literary fiction
Type: Short Story
URL:https://billferguson.substack.com/p/when-is-a-door-not-a-door-the-story
Note: Sometimes the question is more than it seems.
Story Title: The Cloud
Writer: Bill Ferguson
Genre: Literary fiction
Type: Short Story
URL:https://billferguson.substack.com/p/the-cloud
Note: Is it self control? Or is it outside influences?
Story Title: Destiny Rising pt. 1 - Sworn to Silence
Writer: Morgan Givens @optimusMo
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/optimusmo/p/destiny-rising?r=2pzmej&utm_medium=ios
This is the first part of my serialized fantasy fiction that follows a young woman assassin sent to rescue her Queen from the clutches of the enemy.
Story Title: The Ballad of Slick - Pt. 3 - Hands
Writer: Morgan Givens @optimusMo
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/optimusmo/p/the-ballad-of-slick-d8f?r=2pzmej&utm_medium=ios
This is the third part of my serialized horror called The Ballad of Slick. It’s explores the relationship a young man had with his best friend when he was a child. A best friend who changed his world in ways he never saw coming.
Story Title: Persephone
Writer: K.M. McKellar
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Poetry
URL: https://karenmckellar.substack.com/p/persephone
Note: Poem based on the Persephone myth. Published today.
Story Title: The Ballad of Slick - Pt. 2 - Folded
Writer: Morgan Givens @optimusMo
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/optimusmo/p/the-ballad-of-slick-e64?r=2pzmej&utm_medium=ios
This is the second part of my serialized horror called The Ballad of Slick. It’s explores the relationship a young man had with his best friend when he was a child. A best friend who changed his world in ways he never saw coming.
Title: Where The F**k Is Marie!?
Writer: Nick Buchheit
Genre:Thriller
Type:Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/thisnickwrites/p/who-the-fk-is-marie?r=mruzz&utm_medium=ios
Note: Unknown assailants are chasing Kate in a high-security facility, and she doesn’t intend to be caught.
Story Title: A Stonecutter’s Chorus (pt 3)
Writer: Chris DeWitt (Dork Mansion Dispatch)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dorkmansiondispatch/p/dispatch-17-a-stonecutters-chorus?r=e4td0&utm_medium=ios
Note: This is the third and final part short story about a down and out minor league baseball pitcher at the start of another season on a team in the boonies of West Texas.
Story Title: Marching Powder
Writer: Scott MacLeod/Son of Ugly
Genre: Noir
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https: https://open.substack.com/pub/sonofugly/p/marching-powder?r=2sz29p&utm_medium=ios
Note: Thanksgiving crime, full of hot air.
Story Title: Gravy
Writer: Scott MacLeod/Son of Ugly
Genre: Noir
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/sonofugly/p/gravy?r=2sz29p&utm_medium=ios
Note: Turkey Day twist. Give ‘til it hurts.
Story Title: I am Dying, I Think Writer: Irshaad Genre: Science Fiction Type: Flash Fiction URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/unfinishedspeedwriting/p/i-am-dying-i-think?r=2qufyf&utm_medium=ios Note: A “dying” man trying to understand what’s happening to him...
[title] Drums of the Bayou.
[author] JWirroac
[type] short story
[genre] psychological horror, Lovecraft.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wirrowac/p/drums-of-the-bayou?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=4hfdz3&utm_medium=ios
[note] tell me who is the murderer.