If you’re looking for fiction writers and great fiction stories but are unsure of where they are hiding, then you’ve come to the right place. Some things you should know:

1. We ONLY feature fiction work from Substack publications (for now).

   1. We encourage self-promoting work for writers but prefer recommendations from readers of other peoples work.

2. We ONLY share NEW work. Meaning the stories you read in our Monday emails will never be more than one week old!

3. This list of recommendations are put together by the people who know what good fiction can be found here: YOU! We DO NOT use algorithms in any way shape or form to curate our lists. Nor are we influenced by audience size in our decisions.

WHAT WON’T GUARANTEE YOU GET ON THE LIST

• Size doesn’t matter here. We never look at your subscriber count (if it’s listed) or how long you’ve been writing/sharing fiction.

• DMing. In fact, this might be a double detractor. We encourage self-promotion within the Friday meet-up posts, but we won’t accept DMs from people asking me to include them in the next TiF issue (believe me, it’s already been happening more often than we’re willing to admit).

• Restacking/Likes/Comments! We love when the issues are shared. Sharing is what helps TiF grow and growth increases the audience that the stories listed each week can reach. But it’s not a tit-for-tat situation. Just because you’re helping the community doesn’t mean we owe you something in return.

• AI/ChatGPT/etc. Use is AI to write fiction is not allowed. If we discover a story has been written by AI it will be removed from being Featured and the writer will be barred from TiF for a period of 1 year. There is no statute of limitations on this rule.

So, whether you’re looking for a great story or perhaps you’ve written one that you want more people to know about, there’s room here for everyone’s story!

REMINDER: We will never, ever, ever, not ever, include a non-fiction post in any of our lists! However, we do acknowledge that most fiction writers we share may also write non-fiction within their own publications.

You’re under no obligation to subscribe to our many recommended Substacks, we just ask that you give them a try! You never know, you may discover something/someone you never heard of before!

PAST TiF RECOMMENDATIONS

From July 2024 - February 2025 we accepted recommendations for featured stories via the comments section of weekly Friday posts. That practice has been discontinued in favor of using an online form for recommendations. But the past posts are still available to look through as they contain, by my count over 1,000 different fiction stories to choose from! Just click the button below:

Recommendations Archive

We are slowly adding all of the recommendations from last year (2024) and Weeks 1 - 9 from this year (2025) to our new Notion page that allows for easier filtering and searching:

The Database

OTHER FICTION COMMUNITIES

LUNAR AWARDS -

Winston Malone

Recognizing and sharing the best fantasy and science fiction on Substack. Periodically posting essays, interviews and reviews.

STORYLETTER XPRESS PUBLISHING -

Winston Malone

A place where readers, writers, artists, and creators can coexist. It’s a community-driven initiative that breaks away from traditional publishing norms to return attention to writers and their stories.

THE LIBRARY -

Winston Malone

A free resource for finding original literature.

Share Top In Fiction

Fictionistas -

Meg Oolders

&

J.E. Petersen

Fictionistas is a space for fiction writers to get to know each other. A place we can announce virtual meetups and discuss tips and tricks that worked for us. As we grow, we welcome ideas from all fiction writers on Substack on how we can best serve each other as a community.

Macabre Monday -

Jeff Kinnard

|

The Chronicler

|

Shaina Read

|

John Coon

|

Jon T

Each and every Monday of the month you will be showered with the best horror/dark fiction content Substack has to offer from all kinds of terribly talented writers.

TaleStack News [Fiction Bulletin] -

S.E. Reid

All the freshest happenings from around Substack's Fiction Neighborhood: announcements, contests, publishing updates, and more! *FIRST and THIRD Mondays* Send suggestions and announcements to: talestack.editor@gmail.com

SUM FLUX -

Sandolore Sykes

Sum Flux is an experiment in collective creativity—a zine born from the convergence of diverse voices around shared prompts. Each theme is designed to evoke, provoke, and inspire, inviting writers to interpret it in their own distinct ways.