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Any errors seen below such as typos, miss-labeling of genre or category, wrong link, wrong person mentioned, etc. please state the error in the comments and I will update immediately. Mistakes can happen. I am only human.
POETRY
Away/Beached - 11/6/25 [Free Verse]
MICRO/FLASH FICTION
Dream On - 11/3/25 [Literary Fiction]
The Breath of Life - 11/4/25 [Literary Fiction]
Hephaestus - 11/5/25 [Fantasy]
The Halloween Cat - 11/7/25 [Literary Fiction
SHORT STORY
(MAN)I(N)FESTATION - 11/2/25 [Horror]
The Dead Village - 11/6/25 [Horror]
April in Appomattoc - 11/3/25 [Literary Fiction]
as you are - 11/3/25 [Literary Fiction]
The Lich King: A Fantasy Short Story - 11/3/25 [Fantasy]
NEW VOICES
Encore - 11/1/25 [Horror]
A complex case - 11/5/25 [Mystery]
The Crow and the Crown - 11/5/25 [Fantasy]
Beneath the Black Star - 11/7/25 [Science Fiction]
The Wrong Potion - 11/7/25 [Fantasy]
The Listener - 11/3/25 [Speculative Fiction]
These Are the Words They Never Taught You - 11/2/25 [Free Verse]
WALL OF SERIALS (New Section)
Making a comeback in 2026, Serials and Short Serials, will return to the Weekly Issues. However, don’t let that stop you from checking out our Wall of Serials where we have a dedicated page showing you the ACTIVE works: (updated regularly)
The TiF Library is a comprehensive list of all stories recommended each week!
Over 2,000 stories to search and choose from!
Use it to find even more fiction to read!
Top in Fiction News
THE GREAT TiF LIBRARY OVERHAUL
I never thought I’d find myself learning how to code, or at least use coding and something called Python to help me in cleaning up the much neglected TiF Library. But it has finally happened. What clean-up was needed?
Way back during Weeks 1 to 9 of 2025 we were still using the Comments section for submissions. This made things very clunky because we were getting 70+ comments of submissions every week! Beginning Week 10 we shifted over to using Google Forms. This made everything much easier on everyone. But I DESPERATELY wanted to take those hundreds of Comments and add them to our TiF Library.
The TiF Library is filled with links that are “broken” and therefore need to be removed. How is “broken” defined? Any links where the URL is NOT FOUND or the Substack Publication no longer exists.
With all the fixes I can proudly say we have officially surpassed 2,000 submissions in our TiF Library! I knew we would before the New Year… [Click The Database button above to see for yourself! And stay tuned for an even more robust clean-up of how it looks and flows for Searching purposes.]
Now to see if I can import the six months from 2024…
IMPORTANT NEWS: MONDAY EMAILS MOVING TO TUESDAYS IN NOVEMBER
This is continuing for the next several weeks.
🎁 A TiF SECRET SANTA PLOT ←→ SWAP SIGN-UP IS OPEN 🎁
Theme: What’s Inside the Box?
Answer: You decide, within the guidelines of 50 words or less.
Sign-up is only open till this Friday, November 14th. Want to write a short story for someone else? Want to receive a short story as a gift based on your answer to the theme question?
Sign-Up Link: https://forms.gle/avGWUFSo3x8rdWsv6
EVENTS UPDATE
All events listed below can also be found on our Calendar of Events page.
Day of Thanks (on Nov 24): A chance to give thanks to the writers and stories that inspired you in 2025. Sign-up November 17th.
A TiF Secret Santa Plot←→Swap (on Dec 22): Exchange story ideas as gifts, and see how another writer brings yours to life. Sign-up November 10th.
TiF Summit 2026 (Jan 15 to Jan 18): A 4-day event jam-packed with the Annual Recap, State of the Union, 50 Voices reading their fiction, and more!
TiF Press News
The below are all viewable over on our TiF Press Blog. Check it out today!
[Do you have a non-fiction blog that is related to writing fiction or the fiction industry and you’d like to post it on TiF Press? DM TiF Team and let’s chat about it.]
’s ReviewStack
I’m sure you have all seen his work, reviewing fiction, on his Substack Notes, but did you know his reviews can also be found over on TiF Press? See them all here! I just love the images he creates to go along with each of them, too.
’s Bits of Book Marketing
Learn something new, tips and trips, for how to make marketing your work that much easier. Each read is short, sweet, and easily digestible. Why not get started here, today!
’s For Your Consideration
Putting together an Anthology is hard work and the journey can be different every single time. The same can be said for building and sustaining and brand. Working on the present while simultaneously planning for the future. Let me guide you through it all by sharing some behind-the-scenes on how I manage it all on TiF Press specifically. For Your Consideration will be a bi-monthly blog beginning November 2025.
HELP WANTED
At Top in Fiction and TiF Press we could always use help and no one knows your particular set of skills better than you! So, if and only if you’re a good fit and have the time, here are some things we need assistance with at present:
DESIGN
I am looking for someone to design the banner for our new Database name. The name is obviously pending as the voting for it has just opened. I’d like an official banner to just consist of a font and maybe some non-obtrusive imagery in the background. I’m not the best at creating these graphics (perhaps you’ve seen my handiwork around) so I’ve learned to lean on those far more skilled than myself in these matters.
ARCHIVIST
As we near the end of the year there is a lot of back-log that needs to be properly catalogued and requires someone with a few minutes/hours a week to devote to helping me organize it all. Also, ability to use Adobe and editing PDFs is a plus.
- , Editor-in-Chief 😈
If you enjoyed any of these stories, please consider sharing this post everywhere:
I hate to be the bad guy here, and mention the big C of copyright… We’re not allowed to include a single line of copyrighted song or a poem without a permission regardless if the publication is for profit or not. Just crediting the artist is not enough. I was surprised to see a whole song cited in one of the stories in this edition.
Thank you for featuring my piece. It's an honour to be included.