Welcome to the first TiF Annual Recap! This call is ONLY for those who’ve been Featured previously. Please read EVERYTHING below carefully before leaving a comment!
Wondering if you are eligible to be in this Annual Recap? Click HERE and look for your name. In alphabetical order by FIRST NAME.
*If you have not been Featured yet, there is still time! This is open to anyone Featured in Issues #1 - #23. That means you have between Issue #15 - #23 (9 more weeks) to be Featured!
OPEN OCTOBER 15 - DECEMBER 15
You will notice a button below, but the COMMENTS section is also open. Putting your submission in the COMMENTS section ONLY will not guarantee it will make it into the Annual Recap issue on January 15th. The COMMENTS section is for the benefit of people who happen upon this post in search of your amazing stories! To ensure your selection appears in the Annual Recap issue you MUST click the Submission Form button below:
Select ONE fiction story/post that you’ve published on your Substack between January 1, 2024 - December 15, 2024 that is your favorite of them all! Perhaps you have one that received the most comments/likes? Or one that went unnoticed but you feel is your best work yet?
Do not to use a post that is behind a paywall.
Because this closes on 12/15/24, that means you have two months, if you haven’t got anything from the past, to write something and post it for inclusion in the Annual Recap.
One link per person. If you submit TWO links neither will be used.
LEAVE YOUR SUBMISSION IN TWO PLACES*! I know, I know, that might seem complicated but it’s the only way I could think of to have this post filled with your stories AND have an organized version for myself in excel (what I use when doing all this every week) so I can easily put the PDF together and create the medallions! And as there are 211 of you as of today, not having to copy/paste your information from the comments to excel is ideal! However, leaving a comment is OPTIONAL as it is purely for recommendations sake.
ONLY leave a COMMENT or fill out the SUBMISSION FORM if you’ve been Featured in Issues #1 - #23. Honorable Mentions and Monthly Recap included. Use this list as a helpful check.
Anyone who does NOT provide ONE link or provides TWO links will have their last story that was featured in TiF used instead.
TEMPLATE FOR SUBMISSION
Copy/Paste the below template in Comments Section.
Story Title: Writer: [Your Substack Name] Genre: [See NOTE below] ONE ONLY! Type: [Choose 1: Comic, Poetry, Micro/Flash Fiction, Short Story, Short Serial, or Serial] URL: [Must be a Substack URL / CANNOT be behind a paywall] Tag Line: 1 sentence, 50-word cap, about your story.
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 this Annual Recap email on Wednesday, January 15th!
DO NOT share a link in the COMMENTS if you have not been featured in a previous issue! Your link will be removed and you forfeit being selected for the entire 2025 calendar year issues (weekly and monthly).
I will create my own COMMENT for anyone who may have questions for me. Please refrain from leaving a question as a comment as I want to keep the comments section as clean as possible, only listing favorite recommendations.
TWO MORE THINGS
First, I’ve got a VERY important poll for everyone to participate in! This annual recap will bring not just the largest list of stories to come out of 2024, but a BRAND NEW COLOR for the TiF Medallion! I’d love for the community, all of you, to help me choose this special color that all of the stories will receive, exclusive to 2024, that will greatly influence the 2025 medallion color as well:
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Second, because this list will include over 200 stories by over 200 different writers, the January 15th issue will be available as a PDF with clickable links ONLY. This will ensure that no story is cut off by the dreaded “email is too long” police! The number of pages and design for this PDF is still TBD but I’m sure it will be several pages long and I can’t wait to get started!
And in 2025 I want to present all of your with a little something for anyone who may want to continue to support with one-time donations, there will be TWO versions of the Annual Recap 2024:
All of the stories as described above. (FREE TO EVERYONE)
The regular PDF of 200+ stories with BONUS pages that will include ALL 26 of the weekly issues AND the 6 Monthly Recap issues that were previously never released as a PDF! ($)
The second one will be available for low price for anyone who wants to help continue to support TiF with a one-time donation.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING STORIES THIS YEAR! I KNOW I SPEAK FOR FICTION READERS EVERYWHERE WHEN I SAY WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR STORIES IN 2025!
In an echo of Eliade's Myth of the Eternal Return, parallel lives of grandfather and grandson converge as each conforms himself to the Cosmic Pattern, and in the process both are reminded that they are surrounded by everything they need if they just remember how to look.
Tag Line: Thalia, a young psychologist with a dark past, is sent back in time to a kingdom ruled by the scheming Lord Malgor and brooding King Alexander. As danger rises, she must confront her own inner demons—and a love she never expected.
Tag Line: A soldier on a quest for her Emperor's eternal reign and a knight on a quest for her Princess's cure - the two's pursuit of the miraculous Medicine of Immortality leads to a miraculous meeting.
Tagline: A sci-fi satire about a science journalist trying to make sense of conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers, moon-landing deniers, New Agers, and more
Note: Godfried, an elderly man from a small Dutch village, becomes obsessed with a dish at a new up-and-coming restaurant. Since the chef won’t give him the recipe, he returns everyday to decipher it for himself.
Tag Line: Who by Fire is told by Robert, Lena’s husband, as he attempts to understand her affair with Isaac, an affair he’s become aware of after her death, a story he is writing as he tells his imagined version of his wife’s betrayal, a paradoxical tale of his own undoing.
Very excited to check out all the submissions. The story I selected seemed to resonate with a lot of readers, and I believe it is a solid representation of my style and mission. Please give it a read and enjoy!
Story title: A Timeless Beauty: a story in 60 seconds
Tagline: Part 1 of 8, in which a sassy young astronomy postgrad attempts to thwart SETI from covering up a genuine signal from ETI; with a generous dash of good humour
Additionally, I'd like to extend a massive thanks to you for compiling this recap. This is an enormous amount of effort and a fantastic project; I'm certain we're all incredibly appreciative.
Tag Line: On a bitter winter night, the lives of two children hang in the balance - and Maddie Cain, healer and witch, must bargain with the Fae to decide their fate.
Tag Line: An Interpreter in Vienna is a response to Graham Greene's The Third Man and an epistolary novel, written by an interpreter-spy as she awaits a mysterious man at her doorstep.
Tag Line: In a harsh near-future not hard to imagine, can a young woman who escaped her father's cult and later, a bad marriage, falls in with the wrong crowd. Can free herself from the pain of her past without becoming the perpetrator herself? Written in 1st/3rd person combined POV in vignettes.
Tagline: A bittersweet romance about a woman running into the arms of a man to escape her pain. Together, they will push the boundaries of their relationship.
Tag line: Inspired by the Euthanasia Coaster designed by Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas, which made me wonder about who would want to get on it and why and led me to find the narrator that no longer believed life was good.
Tag Line: Tensions are high when two teen co-workers spend the last twenty minutes of their diner shift unsuccessfully distracting themselves from each other.
Tag Line: Meet The Hanahaki Club: five losers in love who share the same rare genetic flaw that means their unrequited love is killing them—literally, slowly and beautifully—as hanahaki flowers fill up their lungs. Somehow, together, they must figure out how to go from losers in love to survivors.
Tag Line: Umberto is a goat farmer and his friend, a Learned Man, confronts his beliefs about the nature of the Duke who rules over the land and the ultimate question of good and evil in a world of beauty and suffering.
Story Title: Our Ancestors Are Always Taking Care of Us
Writer: It Could Be Miles
Genre: Magical Realism
Type: Short Story
URL: https://penrosegulch.substack.com/p/our-ancestors-are-always-taking-care
Tag Line:
In an echo of Eliade's Myth of the Eternal Return, parallel lives of grandfather and grandson converge as each conforms himself to the Cosmic Pattern, and in the process both are reminded that they are surrounded by everything they need if they just remember how to look.
Story Title: For Want of Safe Harbor
Writer: Eric Falden
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://ericfalden.substack.com/p/for-want-of-safe-harbor
Tag Line: A fisherman must make hard choices in order to live through merciless times.
Story Title: Glass Heart
Writer: SVNDAVN
Genre: Romance
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://svndavn.substack.com/p/glass-heart-s1-episode-1
Tag Line: Thalia, a young psychologist with a dark past, is sent back in time to a kingdom ruled by the scheming Lord Malgor and brooding King Alexander. As danger rises, she must confront her own inner demons—and a love she never expected.
Story Title: Catching Ghost
Writer:Jon T
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/jontoews/p/catching-ghost?r=1asdvc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Tag Line: Rhythm and ritual in the face of entropy
Story Title: dr0p_d0wn
Writer: A.P. Murphy
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://thestrangenesskit.substack.com/p/drp_dwn
Tag Line: An oligarch discovers that generating an infinite amount of money though AI hedge trades maybe isn't quite the wonderful outcome he desired.
Story Title: Mulan Searches for the Medicine of Immortality
Writer: E. H. Lau
Genre: Folklore
Type: Short Story
URL: https://ehlau.substack.com/p/mulan-searches-for-the-medicine-of
Tag Line: A soldier on a quest for her Emperor's eternal reign and a knight on a quest for her Princess's cure - the two's pursuit of the miraculous Medicine of Immortality leads to a miraculous meeting.
Story title: Dragon Market
Writer: Jane Dougherty
Genre: Magical realism
Type: Short Story
URL: https://janedougherty33.substack.com/p/dragon-market
Tag Line: In the land of darkness, fire is king.
Story Title: The Fortunicorn
Writer: E.A. Colquitt
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://colquittwrites.substack.com/p/from-the-archive-the-fortunicorn
Tag Line: Three princesses are unlucky in love - can meeting a magical creature bring better fortune?
Story Title: The Summer We Said Goodbye
Writer: Jack Fitzgerald
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://jackfitzgerald.substack.com/p/the-summer-we-said-goodbye-installment-13
Tagline: A coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of Lake Michigan and the rolling fields of the English Cotswolds
Title: Ship of Fools
Writer: Larry Hogue of Glass Half Full
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/larryhogue/p/ship-of-fools-prologue?r=1hfx9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Tagline: A sci-fi satire about a science journalist trying to make sense of conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers, moon-landing deniers, New Agers, and more
Title: 4:45PM
Writer: Tommy Green
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Poetry:
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/tommyjgreen2004/p/445pm?r=4k4m5l&utm_medium=ios
Tagline: A meditation on the nights drawing in earlier as winter approaches.
Story Title: BLOODY HOLLY
Writer: William Pauley III (@doomfiction)
Genre: Thriller
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/williampauleyiii/p/storytime-bloody-holly?r=pm1ka&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Tag Line: Death is but a dream...
Story Title: Beef - Volume I
Writer: Andrew Robert Colom
Genre: Lit-Fic
Type: Short Story
URL: https://storyarc.substack.com/p/beef-volume-i
Tag Line: When it comes to fiction, its battle or bust.
Story Title: Reverent
Writer: one sunflower
Genre: Lit-Fic
Type: Poetry
URL: https://citydogsandcats.substack.com/p/reverent?r=23dr2w
Tag Line: I remind myself of your touch
Story Title: A wish Fulfilled
Writer: Alexandra Hill
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Serial
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-152473163
Tag Line: That's what they say about presenting your work to the public right? If you're nervous, imagine your audience as ants.
Story Title: And they shall know me
Writer: Nick Winney
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/nickwinney/p/and-they-shall-know-me?r=2fhpll&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Tag Line: Is a killer born or made?
Story Title: Tales & Treasure Chapter 1
Writer: Rob Mortell/Stories Have Power
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Serial
URL: https://robmortell.substack.com/p/chapter-1
Tag Line: Vatis stepped over the corpse of a man he didn’t think could die.
Story Title: Godfried the Gourmand
Writer: Shifra Steinberg / Absurdus
Genre: Comedy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151165380?r=fda6y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Note: Godfried, an elderly man from a small Dutch village, becomes obsessed with a dish at a new up-and-coming restaurant. Since the chef won’t give him the recipe, he returns everyday to decipher it for himself.
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...
Story Title: The Fire
Writer: <Mary L. Tabor>
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type URL: Serial https://marytabor.substack.com/p/who-by-fire
Tag Line: Who by Fire is told by Robert, Lena’s husband, as he attempts to understand her affair with Isaac, an affair he’s become aware of after her death, a story he is writing as he tells his imagined version of his wife’s betrayal, a paradoxical tale of his own undoing.
Story Title: Farewell to the Flesh
Writer: Liz Zimmers
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Story
URL: https://lizzimmers.substack.com/p/farewell-to-the-flesh?r=1zdam3
Tag Line: The last farewell to the flesh before penitence.
Story Title: Snakelegs
Writer: Layne Mercer
Genre: Literary fiction
Type: Short story
URL: https://substack.com/@fineideas/p-151402568
Tag Line: There's nothing more addictive than doing nothing at all.
Story Title: Cool Like Casali
Writer: Jim Cummings
Genre: Lit-Fic
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/jimcummings5251/p/cool-like-casali?
Tag Line: The cost of vengeance is a lifetime in the family business.
Story Title: A Marriage of Body and Soul
Writer: William F. Edwards
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://warthogreport.substack.com/p/a-marriage-of-body-and-soul
Tag Line: To love and be loved
Very excited to check out all the submissions. The story I selected seemed to resonate with a lot of readers, and I believe it is a solid representation of my style and mission. Please give it a read and enjoy!
Story title: A Timeless Beauty: a story in 60 seconds
Writer: Michael Serrur
Genre: Dystopian
Type: Microfiction/flashfiction
URL: https://michaelserrurauthor.substack.com/p/a-timeless-beauty-a-story-in-60-seconds
Tag: Desire never grows old
Story title: Ciao, SETI!
Writer: Evelyn K. Brunswick
Genre: Sci-Fi
Type: Short Serial
URL: https://inadifferentplace.substack.com/p/ciao-seti-intro-and-part-18?r=2s9hod
Tagline: Part 1 of 8, in which a sassy young astronomy postgrad attempts to thwart SETI from covering up a genuine signal from ETI; with a generous dash of good humour
Story Title: ＃９ ９
Writer: Jack Nagy
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://substack.com/@hangways/p-152078813
Tag Line: Lt. "the Squire" Varnum conducts a Galilean seance at the mudflats. A tribute to Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow".
Additionally, I'd like to extend a massive thanks to you for compiling this recap. This is an enormous amount of effort and a fantastic project; I'm certain we're all incredibly appreciative.
Story: A Shiver in the Air
Writer: Jean McKinney
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://blackmoonjournal.substack.com/p/a-shiver-in-the-air
Tag Line: On a bitter winter night, the lives of two children hang in the balance - and Maddie Cain, healer and witch, must bargain with the Fae to decide their fate.
Story: Scavengers
Writer: Ken Wolfson
Genre: Science Fiction
Type: Short Fiction
URL: https://kenwolfson.substack.com/p/the-scavengers?r=2f2488
Tag Line: The rains wash everything to the bottom of the arcology, including humanity.
Story Title: Quarter Past Murder
Writer: Elisabeth Grace Foley of The Second Sentence
Genre: Comedy
Type: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://secondsentence.substack.com/p/quarter-past-murder
Tag Line: Midnight (or just past) upon the terrace of an English country house. A body has been discovered. And nobody knows quite what to do next.
Story Title: Go Down Swinging
Writer: loren of badger scratch
Genre: Fic-Lit
Type: Short story
URL: https://lorenvictory.substack.com/p/go-down-swinging?r=43m39u
Tag line: Taking a random encounter beyond simply passers-by to a more intimate view into a life lived differently
Story Title: An Interpreter in Vienna
Writer: Dr Kathleen Waller
Genre: psychological thriller
Type: serial
URL: https://thematterhorn.substack.com/p/an-interpreter-in-vienna-chapter
Tag Line: An Interpreter in Vienna is a response to Graham Greene's The Third Man and an epistolary novel, written by an interpreter-spy as she awaits a mysterious man at her doorstep.
Story Title: Thaw
Writer: Wes Mann
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://wesmann.substack.com/p/thaw?r=1spoth
Tag Line: An emotional journey through the cold after the remnants of a halloween party
Story Title: The Seven Deadly Sins
Writer: Chris J. Franklin
Genre: Humour
Type: Microfiction
URL: https://chrisjfranklin.substack.com/p/the-seven-deadly-sins
Tag Line: A collection of Microfiction, based around The Seven Deadly Sins... 😎
Story Title: Who Will Save Her?
Writer: Val Stuart
Genre: Mystery
Type: Serial
URL: https://whowillsaveher.substack.com/p/0
Tag Line: In a harsh near-future not hard to imagine, can a young woman who escaped her father's cult and later, a bad marriage, falls in with the wrong crowd. Can free herself from the pain of her past without becoming the perpetrator herself? Written in 1st/3rd person combined POV in vignettes.
Story Title: Beyond the shadows they wait
Writer: Anthony Akins
Genre: Horror
Type: Micro/Flash
FictionURL: https://asakins.substack.com/p/beyond-the-shadows-they-wait
Tag Line: A recurring nightmare of mine, one that always wake me up with a start, sometimes screaming.
Story Title: Inkut the God
Writer: Cobol
Genre: Lit mythology
Type: Short fiction
Fiction URL: https://synopsys.substack.com/p/inkut-the-god
Tagline: A god who has the power to combust at will struggles to find a community that will embrace him.
Story Title: Dougie R. Reingold
Writer: CAMILA HAMEL
Genre: LIT-FIC
Type: Micro/Flash
FictionURL: https://camilahamel.substack.com/p/dougie-r-reingold
Tag Line: A story about a nomad who faces an unexpected lesson in stillness and what is unavoidable.
Story Title: Bacalaito
Writer: Scott MacLeod/Son of Ugly
Genre: sports
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/sonofugly/p/bacalaito?r=2sz29p&utm_medium=ios
Note: Boy meets Gloves. Boxing gloves.
Story Title: Mayhem at Miskatonic
Writer: Bill Hiatt
Genre: Horror
Type: Short Story
URL: https://billhiatt.substack.com/p/mayhem-at-miskatonic
Tag Line: An aging college professor, his devoted assistant, and a dreamer are all that stand between the human race and total annihilation.
Story Title: The Dance
Writer: Bill Ferguson - Observations In Time
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://billferguson.substack.com/p/the-dance-a-hundred-word-story
Tag line: Fall is just the beginning.
Story Title: How to Kill an Immortal
Writer: Alex S. Garcia @ The Xen'in Universe
Genre: Science-Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://xenin.substack.com/p/htkai
Tag Line: When an immortal dies, a scientist asks questions no one has asked in millennia...
Story Title: Bandages and Broken Hearts
Writer: MaKenna Grace
Genre: Romance
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/makennagrace/p/bandages-and-broken-hearts-v2?r=1vkyax&utm_medium=ios
Tagline: A bittersweet romance about a woman running into the arms of a man to escape her pain. Together, they will push the boundaries of their relationship.
Story Title: Golden Glow
Writer: Amanda Saint - The Mindful Writer
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Type: Flash Fiction
URL: https://themindfulwriter.substack.com/p/flash-fiction-friday-76e
Tag line: Inspired by the Euthanasia Coaster designed by Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas, which made me wonder about who would want to get on it and why and led me to find the narrator that no longer believed life was good.
Story Title: Thirsty
Writer: Meg Oolders of Stock Fiction
Genre: Young Adult
Type: Short Story
URL: https://stockfiction.substack.com/p/thirsty
Tag Line: Tensions are high when two teen co-workers spend the last twenty minutes of their diner shift unsuccessfully distracting themselves from each other.
Story Title: The Second Dimension, Part 1
Writer: Daniel Sherrier
Genre: Superhero
Type: Serial
URL: https://danielsherrier.substack.com/p/the-second-dimension-part-1
Tag Line: No one is born a perfect superhero, but Miranda tries to live up to the ideal anyway.
Story Title: The Hanahaki Club: Episode 1, Losers in Love Part 1
Writer: PJ from Life at 23.5 Degrees
Genre: Romance
Type: Serial
URL: https://lifeat235degrees.substack.com/p/the-hanahaki-club-813?r=1zmgej
Tag Line: Meet The Hanahaki Club: five losers in love who share the same rare genetic flaw that means their unrequited love is killing them—literally, slowly and beautifully—as hanahaki flowers fill up their lungs. Somehow, together, they must figure out how to go from losers in love to survivors.
Story title: Umberto and the Duke
Writer: A. A. Kostas
Genre: Philosophical Fiction
Type: Short Story
Url: https://waymarkers.substack.com/p/umberto-and-the-duke
Tag Line: Umberto is a goat farmer and his friend, a Learned Man, confronts his beliefs about the nature of the Duke who rules over the land and the ultimate question of good and evil in a world of beauty and suffering.
Story Title: Embrace
Writer: Tracy
Genre: Horror
Type: Poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wyrdplay/p/embrace
Tag Line: The loathing of touching and being touched haunts this protagonist to the very end.
Story Title: Matters of the Heart
Writer: Shane Bzdok
Genre: Science Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://shanebzdok.substack.com/p/matters-of-the-heart
Tag Line: A lover's heart is used as leverage when the desperation of self-preservation turns man into monster, and brother against brother.