Top in Fiction is the place where fiction lives, but it’s also the place where a community of fiction writers and readers come together every week to share in our mutual love (and respect) of fiction. Please read the guidelines as some things may have changed.
OPEN JANUARY 3 - 4
Guidelines:
Only fiction shared between December 28th - January 3rd on Substack!
This post will be open from NOW until 9pm EST on Saturday, January 4th.
Self-promotion of your fiction is welcome!
Use the TEMPLATE FOR RECOMMENDATION below when submitting a story.
**Submit NO MORE THAN 2 stories! This is a strict rule that will be enforced.**
TEMPLATE FOR RECOMMENDATION
Copy/Paste in the Comments Section. Anyone who does not use the template will be passed over for selection.
Story Title: Writer: [Name on Substack] Publication Name: [Substack Name Ex.: Erica Drayton Writes] Genre: [Choose 1 ONLY] Category: [Choose 1: Comic/Cartoon, Poetry, Micro/Flash Fiction, Short Story, Short Serial, or Serial] URL: [Must be a Substack URL] Extra: Tell us about your story in three sentences or less.
Look for the first TiF Weekly issue of 2025 on Monday, January 6th! TiF Weekly, Live! will be at 10am EST. The only way you can watch is with the app on your mobile phone, or wait till the video is released at 11am EST with the weekly post.
The time to share fiction LOUDLY AND PROUDLY is now!
Extra: For those who can afford it, the company Thrillium provides a unique experience: legally murder someone. Don't feel bad, the victims want you to kill them — they're desperate for you to do it! Told in customer reviews, this sci-fi/horror mash-up satirizes cruelty's seductiveness and how people treat human lives as disposable.
Extra: The protégé of kindness Nihal brings news of a terrible betrayal, and Quibble learns her friends and guardians have deceived her. This chapter is narrated by Quibble's friend Imay, a Far outcast, in a somewhat baroque style with commentary from the social margins.
Extra: Meet Prometheus Prink, the billionaire tech mogul with a mansion so big it has its own weather and ambitions even larger. His New Year’s resolutions? Colonize Mars, become Chancellor of Germany, and maybe—just maybe—finally floss.
Extra: This is a horror story that dives both into the depravity and humor that the genre is known for. Inspired by the Clutch song of the same name, this story seeks to present a story as explosive and triumphant as the song itself. CW: Gore and Violence.
Extra: A hospice nurse cares for her grandmother, Tania, a woman whose life has been shaped by love, loss, and a deep connection to nature. This touching story celebrates the enduring bonds of family across time.
Extra: Her rock to his scissor. The debate reduced to circular quarrels, each like the beads of a necklace, the sound drifting outwards like pungent smoke.
Extra: SF story about the ethics of populating newly terraformed planets with trial animals. Told from the point of view of Burt Stockman, who originally converted to Islam as a joke.
Extra: The patrons of Rickshift Inn love to hear the stories of travelers, but when a weary soldier recounts a harrowing tale, they discover that some stories are more real—and more terrifying—than they ever imagined.
Extra: The Winter Light Festival is an annual celebration of the Light Goddess's sacrifice to save the mortal plane from darkness. The Mage Hunter, Tychon, discovers meaning of this holiday thanks to a new priestess introduced to him.
Extra: A story about a young man projecting his insecurities onto an imagined story of why his girlfriend broke up with him. The story is told through the man's imagined conversation that his ex and her best friend had while trying to deliver to him the reasoning and text that would end their relationship.
Extra: Evan is Isaac’s wife; Lena is his lover. Robert, Lena's husband, is on a search for how he lost Lena: He’s creating the story through memory, invention and a search for the truth and his role in what happened—and by stalking Isaac.
Extra: A beautiful piece of writing that I thought 100% worthy of promoting here so others could enjoy it - I don't think the author posted it here themselves - apologies if I posted it again.
Walking to work I saw an amusing scene outside of a franchised sandwich shop and this idea came to me and I had to write it down as soon as I got to a computer. Hopefully you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Extra: Using Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day as prompts to write 100ish-word stories, we encounter two tales: one of a detective in pursuit of an organ selling ring and the other of a woman in search of a natural cure for what ails her.
A coming of age story about a young man, a spy hole in the closet, his aunt and mother, and the Mafiaosa bill collector who sometimes is willing to make a deal.
I know I've been away for a while, but life sometimes gets in the way...
Story Title: Polish Wedding
Writer: Matt Benedyk
Publication Name: Crawling From The Wreckage
Genre: fiction
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/mab1550133/p/polish-wedding?r=4logvl&utm_medium=ios
Extra: this may have happened
Story title: Snowing
Writer: Jane Dougherty
Publication name: Jane Dougherty's Bestiary
Genre: Literary fiction
Category: Short fiction
URL: https://janedougherty33.substack.com/p/snowing
Extra: When a hard-up Christmas is as magical for a child as a lavish one.
Story Title: ＃１０８
Writer: Jack Nagy
Publication Name: Scrapbook
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://www.scrapbookbyjack.com/p/108
Extra: A village custom, told as concisely as I could bear.
Story Title: Disposal
Writer: Andy Futuro
Publication Name: Andy Futuro
Genre: Horror
Category: Short story
URL: https://andyfuturo.substack.com/p/disposal
Extra: For those who can afford it, the company Thrillium provides a unique experience: legally murder someone. Don't feel bad, the victims want you to kill them — they're desperate for you to do it! Told in customer reviews, this sci-fi/horror mash-up satirizes cruelty's seductiveness and how people treat human lives as disposable.
Story Title: Quibble, chapter 38, "Confession"
Writer: Joshua Lavender
Publication Name: Singular Dream
Genre: Science fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://singulardream.substack.com/p/quibble-chapter-38
Extra: The protégé of kindness Nihal brings news of a terrible betrayal, and Quibble learns her friends and guardians have deceived her. This chapter is narrated by Quibble's friend Imay, a Far outcast, in a somewhat baroque style with commentary from the social margins.
Story Title: Lazarus
Writer: WS Ribelin
Publication: A Star Led Astray
Genre: horror fiction
Category: short story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wendopolis/p/lazarus?r=3ngv5r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: The moon hid behind a cloud the night I buried you.
Story Title: The Redcross Shop And The Codpiece
Writer: Kerrie Noor
Publication Name: Getting Through The Day With Comedy
Genre: Comedy
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://kerrie.substack.com/p/the-redcross-shop-and-the-codpiece
Extra: When George buys a codpiece in a charity shop, he takes on more than he bargains for.
Story Title: Our Business is Death
Writer: Jim Minns
Publication Name: Reality Dispatch
Genre: Drama
Category: Short Story
URL: https://jimminns.substack.com/p/our-business-is-death?r=wtc3f
Extra: A turning point in the war is captured by photojournalist Roger Dayton.
Story Title: Shape-Shifting Secrets on New Year’s Eve
Writer: J Packer Samms
Publication Name: The Cat's Meow
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://thecatsmeowued.substack.com/p/shape-shifting-secrets-on-new-years
Extra: A hidden human, a magical locket, and a choice between two worlds
Story Title: Beachmaster
Writer: CJ O’Hare
Publication Name: Between Two Lampposts
Genre: Myth
Category: Poetry
URL: https://cjohare.substack.com/p/beachmaster
Extra: A poem about slipping away
Story Title: A Billionaire's Perfectly Reasonable New Year's Resolutions
Writer: Miles Madron
Publication Name: [Substack Name Ex.: Erica Drayton Writes]
Genre: Humor
Category: Short Story
URL: https://milesmadron.substack.com/p/a-billionaires-perfectly-reasonable
Extra: Meet Prometheus Prink, the billionaire tech mogul with a mansion so big it has its own weather and ambitions even larger. His New Year’s resolutions? Colonize Mars, become Chancellor of Germany, and maybe—just maybe—finally floss.
Story Title: Nina’s Gift
Writer: Nancy Waddell
Publication Name: Nancy Waddell
Genre: Sci Fi
Category: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/@writerpublishernancywaddell/note/c-84350383
Extra: This short story is inspired by Nina Kulagina, a Russian woman who could move objects with her mind.
Story Title: The Wolfman Kindly Requests
Writer: Ashley T.K.
Publication Name: Ashley T.K.
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/atkthegroovyking/p/the-wolfman-kindly-requests?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2482ee
Extra: This is a horror story that dives both into the depravity and humor that the genre is known for. Inspired by the Clutch song of the same name, this story seeks to present a story as explosive and triumphant as the song itself. CW: Gore and Violence.
Story Title: The Puck’s Favor
Writer: Ian Dunmore
Publication Name: Dunmore Dispatch
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/iandunmore/p/the-pucks-favor?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=4lns5a&utm_medium=ios
Note: Free the puck. Gain its favor. Lose your mind.
Story Title: Ol' Bessy
Writer: W.B. Foley
Publication Name: W.B.'s Substack
Genre: Romance
Category: Flash fiction
URL: https://wbfoley.substack.com/p/ol-bessy?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
Extra: Boy meets girl, boy tries to impress girl, leads to a thrill ride. Does it work...
Story Title: Lazarus
Writer: WS Ribelin
Genre: horror fiction
Category: short story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wendopolis/p/lazarus?r=3ngv5r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: The moon hid behind a cloud the night I buried you.
Story Title: Ice Cream Run
Writer: WS Ribelin
Publication Name: A Star Led Astray
Genre: Fiction
Category: micro/flash fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wendopolis/p/ice-cream-run?r=3ngv5r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: A man stands in line with two half-gallons of ice cream.
What about December 28. Last week's only went up to the 27th, I think. If the 28th works, too, here's mine: :)
Story Title: The Summer We Said Goodbye Installment 21 - The Invitation
Writer: Jack Fitzgerald
Publication Name: Jack Fitzgerald
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://jackfitzgerald.substack.com/p/the-summer-we-said-goodbye-21
Extra: The Summer We Said Goodbye is a coming-of-age novel set in the rolling hills of the English Cotswolds.
Story Title: The Hole, Part II: The Throat of the World
Writer: Brock Eldon
Publication Name: SUM FLUX
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/brocke/p/the-hole-part-ii?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=h5x57
Extra: earth air fire water blood bone echo echo ECHO
Story Title: My Little Bluebird
Writer: Aaron Martinez
Publication Name: Aaron Martinez
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://eatmoreliver.substack.com/p/my-little-bluebird
Extra: A hospice nurse cares for her grandmother, Tania, a woman whose life has been shaped by love, loss, and a deep connection to nature. This touching story celebrates the enduring bonds of family across time.
Story Title: RUN THE TITLES: VOLUME FIVE
Writer: Chris J. Franklin
Publication Name: Tales of the Zeitgeist
Genre: Humour
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://chrisjfranklin.substack.com/p/run-the-titles-volume-five
Extra: This is a quick little story about a couple who embark on a romantic New Year break, which unfortunately, doesn't go accordning to plan... 😎
Writer: CAMILA HAMEL
Publication Name: REMOTE CONTROL
Genre: Fiction
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://camilahamel.substack.com/p/the-bear-in-the-woods
Extra: Her rock to his scissor. The debate reduced to circular quarrels, each like the beads of a necklace, the sound drifting outwards like pungent smoke.
Writer: J. Kyle Turner
Publication Name: A Fictionalized Account
Genre: Science Fiction
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://jkyleturner.com/p/flash-fiction-fridays-january-2025
Extra: SF story about the ethics of populating newly terraformed planets with trial animals. Told from the point of view of Burt Stockman, who originally converted to Islam as a joke.
Story Title: Matilda Rose and the Beekeeper
Writer: Rostislava Pankova-Karadjova
Publication Name: Airings
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/rostislava/p/matilda-rose-and-the-beekeeper?r=zcxsb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Extra: A love story, claiming it’s not all about sex.
Story Title: 27. Cairo, 1996 - The Nile
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann
Publication Name: On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/27-cairo-1996-the-nile
Extra: The Nile flows; Eleanor rows.
Story Title: Cairo, 1995 - Arrival
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann
Publication Name: On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/26-cairo-1995-arrival
Extra: Eleanor arrives in Cairo. Apartment hunting throws up some…um…interesting challenges.
Story Title: And I’m Here
Writer: The Môrdreigiau Chronicles
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/projectstarfish/p/and-im-here
Note: Episode 5 of “Hiraeth”. Wraps up most of the story begun in episode 4 “Gold Dust Woman” and has a poll to determine the future arc of the story.
Story Title: The T-room
Writer: Anne McClard
Publication Name: On the Shelf
Genre: Satire
Category: Short story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/annemcclard/p/the-t-room?r=6vpfe&utm_medium=ios
Extra: An undercover journalist sneaks into a private event at Bore-a-logo, where the Broligarchs for Better Business are meeting.
Story Title: I am Ophelia
Writer: D.W Dixon
Publication Name: The Steam Stack
Genre: Steampunk
Type: Serial
URL: https://dwdixon.substack.com/p/i-am-ophelia-5a9?r=3onfnc
Note: A girl comes to grips with the world after father is murdered by the Oligarchy
Story Title: Winter rain
Writer: Kathrine Elaine
Publication Name: Kathrine’s substack
Genre: contemporary
Category: micro/flash fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/kathrineelaine/p/winter-rain?r=2rhgsy&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Extra: a tragic contemporary tale tackling heavy existential themes. No cussing, no romance, just life.
Story Title: Rickshift Inn
Writer: B. H. Schafer
Publication Name: Schafer's Quill
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Category: Short Story
URL: https://bhschafer.substack.com/p/rickshift-inn
Extra: The patrons of Rickshift Inn love to hear the stories of travelers, but when a weary soldier recounts a harrowing tale, they discover that some stories are more real—and more terrifying—than they ever imagined.
Story Title:
Writer: Michael Persin
Publication Name: Michael Persin's Thunderous Fantasies
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Short Story
URL: https://thunderousfantasies.substack.com/p/winter-light-festival
Extra: The Winter Light Festival is an annual celebration of the Light Goddess's sacrifice to save the mortal plane from darkness. The Mage Hunter, Tychon, discovers meaning of this holiday thanks to a new priestess introduced to him.
Story Title: What's a Dragon? Chapter 26 - Family Introduction
Writer: Dragon Writer Luc
Publication Name: The Dragons' Den
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dragonwriterluc/p/whats-a-dragon-chapter-26
Extra: It's the start of a new year for us, and the start of a new part of Emilie's tale!
Story Title: What I Think Happened When My Ex Broke Up With Me
Writer: OG Sullivan
Publication Name: OG Sullivan
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-154085446
Extra: A story about a young man projecting his insecurities onto an imagined story of why his girlfriend broke up with him. The story is told through the man's imagined conversation that his ex and her best friend had while trying to deliver to him the reasoning and text that would end their relationship.
Story Title: Isaac and Evan
Writer: <Mary L. Tabor>
Publication Name: Only Connect
Genre: literary fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/isaac-and-evan
Extra: Evan is Isaac’s wife; Lena is his lover. Robert, Lena's husband, is on a search for how he lost Lena: He’s creating the story through memory, invention and a search for the truth and his role in what happened—and by stalking Isaac.
Story Title: Why Teach? - chapter 11
Writer: Peter Shull
Publication Name: lower midlist
Genre: literary fiction
Category: serial
URL: https://pshull.substack.com/p/why-teach-chapter-11
Extra: Features a drive-home of shame and a perspective-shifting phone call. Includes a read-aloud by the author.
Story Title: Last of the Etela, Chapter 7
Writer: Tom Schecter
Publication: THE SHIELDBREAKER SAGA
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Category: Serial
URL: https://shieldbreakersaga.substack.com/p/the-last-of-the-etela-chapter-7
Extra: The evening after the battle: a funeral atop Valtaa, and a rethinking of strategies before the Pohyor attack our heroes again…
Story Title: Turtle
Writer: Cassidy Rose - contributor to the Sum Flux project
Publication Name: The Dispatch by Cassidy Rose (https://substack.com/profile/78772455-cassidy-rose) as contributor to Sum Flux (https://sumflux.substack.com/)
Genre: fiction
Category: short story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/sumflux/p/turtle?r=2fhpll&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: A beautiful piece of writing that I thought 100% worthy of promoting here so others could enjoy it - I don't think the author posted it here themselves - apologies if I posted it again.
Story Title: The Unnamed Man
Writer: Matt Gerrity
Publication Name: Bluebird Fiction
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://bluebirdfiction.substack.com/p/the-unnamed-man-a-short-story
Extra: A man on the run encounters an old colleague.
Story Title: One Star Review
Writer: Nick Winney
Publication Name: The Why and the Why Not
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/nickwinney/p/one-star-review?r=2fhpll&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Walking to work I saw an amusing scene outside of a franchised sandwich shop and this idea came to me and I had to write it down as soon as I got to a computer. Hopefully you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Story Title: The Event
Writer: Hannah S.
Publication Name: Hannah S. (@howlingfantod)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: Short Story
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/howlingfantod/p/the-event?r=64xrn&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Extra: New Year’s-themed slow burn metafiction
Story Title: Extra Time
Writer: FranB
Publication Name: Tales at Twilight
Genre: Science fiction
URL: https://francesbrindle.substack.com/p/extra-time-part-one
Category: Serialised short fiction
Note: A wry look at Silicon Valley's obsession with life extension
Story Title: Portrait of a hitman
Writer: Johnson
Publication Name: Movie Deaths
Genre: Crime
Category: Flash fiction
URL: https://johnsonwrites.substack.com/p/portrait-of-a-hitman-f9a
Extra: A father and daughter bond over an extraordinary game
Story Title: The "Obituary" of my Nicotine Addiction
Writer: OG Sullivan
Publication Name: OG Sullivan
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153389723
Extra: Tells a story about a young man's introduction, development, and eventual addiction with nicotine throughout high school and college.
Story Title: Night at the Plaza
Writer: Jon T
Publication Name: SUM FLUX
Genre: Literary Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/sumflux/p/night-at-the-plaza?r=3517l8&utm_medium=ios
Category: Short Story
Note: A dangerous escapade into the poisonous outside world and it’s strange inhabitants
Story Title: Rejuvenate & Potpourri
Writer: J.J.A Smith
Publication Name: The Ergodic Engine
Genre: Horror Sci-Fi
Category: Microfiction
URL: https://ergodicengine.substack.com/p/rejuvenate-and-potpourri
Extra: Using Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day as prompts to write 100ish-word stories, we encounter two tales: one of a detective in pursuit of an organ selling ring and the other of a woman in search of a natural cure for what ails her.
Story Title: Lowest Spaces
Writer: Keith Long
Publication Name: Loser’s Fiction
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Story
URL: https://sumflux.substack.com/p/lowest-spaces
Extra: An atmospheric descent into the darkest of all parking garages.
Story Title: Letter of Rejection
Writer: wirrowac
Publication: the WAC Attack
Genre: suspense
Type: Experimental
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wirrowac/p/letter-of-rejection?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=4hfdz3&utm_medium=ios
NOTE: a FICTION piece I dreamed up after getting countless rejections.
Recycle these rejections to the bottom of the hamster cage. Or wallpaper the bathroom. Creativity counts.
CINDERELLA AND HER SISTERS
BEN WOESTENBURG
SCRIBBLER -- A PORTAL TO FICTION
SHORT SERIAL FICTION
LINK: https://benwoestenburg.substack.com/p/cinderella-and-her-sisters-efb?r=254e8w
Our girl Anna, rides out to the site of a train accident and thinks she recognizes one of the survivors.
And a second entry with THROWBACK THURSDAY and
THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
BEN WOESTENBURG
SCRIBBLER--A PORTAL TO FICTION
SHORT SERIAL FICTION
LINK: https://benwoestenburg.substack.com/p/throwback-thursday-cac?r=254e8w
A coming of age story about a young man, a spy hole in the closet, his aunt and mother, and the Mafiaosa bill collector who sometimes is willing to make a deal.
I know I've been away for a while, but life sometimes gets in the way...
Story Title: Cracked Ice
Writer: Bill Ferguson
Publication Name: Observations In Time
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://billferguson.substack.com/p/cracked-ice
Extra: Artists and Artistes party hardy in 1920’s era New York City. Humour is but a sideline.
Story Title: The Night Shift
Writer: Bill Ferguson
Publication Name: Observations In Time
Genre: Fiction
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://billferguson.substack.com/p/the-night-shift
Extra: A thief joins a party in a new location!