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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.
Reset by Louis Urbanowski of UrbWrites
[Short Story | Speculative Fiction]
There were probably other, similar shenanigans. (Any Line)
O'Casey's Other Visitors by Jenean McBrearty of Bent Eye
[Short Story | Speculative Fiction]
āItās one big litter box,ā he said. (Any Line)
Holiest of Cities: The Dead and the Dying by Tom Schecter of The Shieldbreaker Saga
[Serial | Fantasy]
Uskol ul-Aravan had no idea how long heād been down here amongst all the bodies. (First Line)
Midnight Towers by Maximilian Siddell of Mythscape
[Poetry | Free Verse]
Midnight towers reaching for that blackened sky. (First Line)
Divine Curiosities [Episode 1] by Meadoe Hora of Meadoe's Mythology Corner
[Short Serial | Fantasy]
Thankfully, the shop was nearly empty. (First Line)
Cold Hearts by SPAM on Rye of SPAM on Rye
[Short Story | Literary Fiction]
Homeownership is a blessing like being an adult is freedom. (Any Line)
Excrucior by Jeremy of Fictions & Fabrications
[Short Story | Science Fiction]
He is three feet and an eternity away. (Any Line)
Power cut by Rostislava Pankova-Karadjova of Airings
[Micro/Flash Fiction | Literary Fiction]
The flute takes over the tune, breathy and hollow, in a key so lonely that if I open the window, itāll melt the snow into a long and yellow river. (Best Line)
Chaos Critter Tails: Carter and the New Year's Kiss by A. Kristina Casasent of Chaos Critters
[Micro/Flash Fiction | Comedy]
Because drool is love. (Best Line)
Jewel of the Village by E.A. Colquitt of Exploring the Eyrie
[Micro/Flash Fiction | Fantasy]
Even luckier for Eben: the arrow had pierced the tail end. (Any Line)
WALL OF SERIALS (New Section)
Making a comeback in 2026, Serials and Short Serials, will return to the Weekly Issues. However, donāt 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 TiF Summit 2026 was a resounding success. It was 3 glorious days of non-stop fiction readers lending their voices to their own work for our listening pleasure! 48 readers. 3 days. I still canāt believe what happened. And despite the issues I was having in the background, it managed to go even better than I couldāve expected. I managed to catch many of them and was just so proud to see how different each reader and reading was. One after another. But what was the constant throughout was the unrelenting support from our community. Reader/Listener and writer alike. We came together for a great weekend and I hope what happened here will carry us for the rest of 2026!
There will be a VOD page where you can easily access and watch all of the readings that took place. Look for that formal announcement to come before February 1st. Wrangling that many MP4s and then putting them all in one place isnāt as easy as it might seem!
In the meantime, are you ready for todayās State of the Union? The time has had to move about quite a bit but Iām sticking with 2pm EST today! Just a reminder, this will be a full discussion about the plans for 2026. Iām opening up the playbook and leaving nothing out (well, Iām leaving one thing outā¦but more on that laterā¦). So, bring pen and paper and prepare to take notes on what you may want to participate in this year! All things Top in Fiction and TiF Press! Itās going to be awesome!
Now YOU can support Top in Fiction! As of right now weāve turned on Paid Subscriptions! Weāre committed to supporting writers by paying for their work and helping them get paid any way we can. To learn more, read this post:
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Even though this issue is a week late Iām going to ask this question here anyway: What/who was your favorite part/reader from this weekend? Who were you looking forward to the most? Did you watch them all (or try to)?
Iāll share my answer in the comments and you should too!
- Erica Drayton, Editor-in-Chief š
If you enjoyed any of these stories, please consider sharing this post everywhere:
Thank you for featuring my story, Iām truly grateful āŗļø
Thanks for reading. I am making my way through the other shorts that made the cut. Always love a good speculative fiction tale.