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MICRO/FLASH FICTION
Laura by The Radical Individualist of The Radical Individualist [Science Fiction]
Laura brought the drink over to him, handed it to him and sat on the companion stuffed chair beside him. (Any Line)
A Great Performance by Ricardo A. Martagón of In Search of Lost Time [Horror]
Many years ago, way before our falling out, my best friend faked his own death—just to spare me the work of having to kill his grandma. (First Line)
The Outhouse Agreement by Raven Tomes of The Butchered Writers [Horror]
They always think we’re stupid. (First Line)
SHORT STORY
It's Been Zero Days Since A Plane Crash by Nick Buchheit of Nick After Normal [Speculative Fiction]
The commercial jet whips and twists in the 90-mph wind like an abandoned hair weave discarded from a moving vehicle. (First Line)
THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WALTZ by Aaron Martinez of Whitfield Fahrenheit [Speculative Fiction]
Stab. Step. Pull. Lift. Toss. Breathe. (Any Line)
To Rise by terence of from our ashes [Science Fiction]
The blitz drone seemed to be staring at him from the shadows. (First Line)
Puzzled by Feasts and Fables of Just Write, Right [Literary Fiction]
The nervous chatter of fellow students did little to puncture the claustrophobic atmosphere of learnedness. (First Line)
SHORT SERIAL
Selene’s Vow [Ch. 2] by Leanne Shawler of The Môrdreigiau Chronicles [Romance]
“To the beautiful and kind Lady Selene, may we never find her chaperone.” (Any Line)
SERIAL
Neon Black: Dispatch #1 by Tony Mills - fiction writer of A Little Night Breeze [Speculative Fiction]
Let me show you this world in broad strokes first before we go into the meat. (Any Line)
WALL OF SERIALS
Check out our Wall of Serials where we have a dedicated page showing you ACTIVE stories:
Hey ya’ll,
As it’s Mother’s Day Weekend here in the states, I say Happy Mother’s Day to the moms, the caregivers, and all who take up the role.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS
Rather than give you the long list of what’s coming in the second half of 2026, here is the most important one that you need to mark your calendars for, especially if you’d like to participate in any way.
TiF Summit 2027 Sign-Up (June 15th - August 15th) - Would you like to join us and read your fiction on a Substack Live? This past January we had 50 different readers across a 3-day Voices event who took turns reading their work one after the other! You can rewatch many of those Voices here. And come January 2027 you could join us as we attempt to do it all over again, only this time bigger and better than ever! The quick and easy sign-up to let me know you’re interested begins mid-June but if you’d like to let me know earlier (June 1st) join our Discord here.
Right now I’m looking to fill 75 spots (a 50% increase). Don’t miss out!
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
Our very first anthology featuring 18 writers is out but we’re not stopping there. We have one more anthology coming in 2026 and plenty more planned for the future! But we need your help and support to make it all happen and pay the writers what they deserve. Consider becoming a MONTHLY subscriber and you’ll help us reach out goal of paying for exclusive short stories right here on Top in Fiction that you can read early before it is made available to everyone else.
Paid Monthly Subscribers will get early access to the TiF Story Story of the Month, for a period of two weeks, after which time the story will then be made available to all subscribers. Writers will be paid from the monthly subscribers.
- Erica Drayton, Editor-in-Chief 😈
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Some great stories here as always! 😊