Monthly Recap #6 in 2026

May 30, 2025 - June 26, 2026

Jul 01, 2026

The last couple months I’ve had little to say in the form of updates. But today! Today is the first day of July and I would be remiss in mentioning that it happens to be the 3rd anniversary of Top in Fiction. We’ve been around for 2.5 years but I could it as 3 years because that first year when we started in July I did open up the floodgates for stories written in the ENTIRE year so as not to leave out Jan to Jun of 2024.

Anyhow, you know how much I love to share stats during the Annual Recap that I do in January and I won’t spoil that but I want to at least highlight some pretty note-worthy things that have happened in the span of these last 3 years: (in no particular order)

Top in Fiction the URL - The moment I feel Top in Fiction went from being an idea born out of frustration and became a real deal thing that I would be managing for as long as I can, was when the community helped me purchase the dot com URL. It might not seem like that big of a deal to anyone but me, but Top in Fiction wasn’t around for that long yet, so for strangers to have taken a chance the way they did. I’ll never forget it.
TiF Press - The point of Top in Fiction has always been to highlight great writers and the work they do sharing their stories on their respective Substacks (aka newsletters). But for many of us, the fun doesn’t stop there! Many writers want to be published. See their work. Hold it in their hands. There’s no greater feeling (besides writing “The End” on a story) than getting published. But not everyone has the bandwidth, finances, or skillset to do it all. That is where TiF Press steps in. The purpose is to publish at least two anthologies a year that will feature new writers who all come directly from Substack.
Eye See You - The very first published book under TiF Press. I could not be more proud of this little collection. From the judges, Garen Glazier & John Coon, to the cover artist, A. C. Sanders. And all the participants who took a chance entering their story into the contest/event and went even further to let me publish their words. I look forward to the next anthology that is coming this Fall!
The TiF Library - This was definitely a labor of love. And next to serials it’s what I’ve spent most of my free time on trying to figure out. In the early days it was just a mess of spreadsheets I kept to myself that housed hundreds of stories that were recommended since the beginning. But I knew it was a library that required more eyes on it than me. I had other put it to good use! But how? I tried Notion for a time and while it didn’t look as messy as a Google Sheet it was nowhere near what I envisioned in my mind. I knew something had to be done and so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work coding a site that I am proud of and I hope those who visit it regularly will make damn good use of. It’s nearly perfect to exactly what I was hoping for. It still requires some tweaking here and there but for the most part the bones are there, the stories number in the thousands, and it’s ready for you. If you haven’t checked it out, please do. Share it within your friends, followers, and subscribers everywhere and bookmark it because it updates in realtime every weekend with new stories.

We have a lot of things in the works the second half of this year but for now, let’s enjoy what was created and if you’re in a warm climate (like I am) stay cool! Or if you are looking for a story to write, check out our Heatwave event happening now and if you’re a reader, get ready to read stories that will make you break a sweat on Friday, July 31st!