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MICRO/FLASH FICTION
The Forest of Tah-Dahs! by Laurie MacIntosh of Miss Laurie Mac Mac Mac [Fantasy]
âTheyâre calling my name.â (Last Line)
Lily White by Annie Hendrix of ANNIE HENDRIX [Literary Fiction]
I buy tomatoes at the farmerâs market, and Lily alchemizes them into shared joy. (First Line)
SHORT STORY
Glitch by Brok3n Engines of Brok3n Engines [Speculative Fiction]
"Dashaâs left hand did a thing." (First Line)
Death Drives by Lucien Wolfson of One More Draft [Literary Fiction]
I had dinner booked with Francis. I thought I shouldnât go. (First Line)
Danse Macabre by Greg Martin of Gregâs Substack [Horror]
The stones closest to the fence were worn smooth, inscriptions long unreadableâthe dead here had been abandoned. (Any Line)
The Case of the Missing Movement by Jenifer Jorgenson of Snark Floats [Comedy]
It was supposed to be a routine delivery. (First Line)
SHORT SERIAL
My, My! [They Were Shining, Part 1] by Leanne Shawler of The MĂ´rdreigiau Chronicles [Fantasy]
He thought that Heleddâs friends were a bunch of empty-headed ninnies. (Any Line)
SERIAL
DAISY'S NIGHTMARE (Pt. 1, Ep. 27) by Amanda Amory of Amandaâs Substack [Speculative Fiction]
âHow long have you been⌠pretending to be Daisy?â he asked. (Any Line)
Survival (1.01 The Mechanical Crown) by Simon K Jones of Write More with Simon K Jones [Fantasy]
A blackened finger lay in the snow, necrotic, oozing and sickly. (First Line)
Hey yaâll,
I just want to take a brief moment to acknowledge the elephant in the room, the rather large AI-generated elephant in the room, and say how exhausting it is. There is no getting away from it, or avoiding it. I continue to see both sides of the argument for and against it play out in real time on every social media platform. Substack is certainly not immune.
So, am I crazy to want to build a place, not unlike the early days of Substack, that prioritizes the user and fiction writer experience, that gives readers an AI-free zone, over just slop everywhere? I donât know.
But what I can say is that as I zoom out from Top in Fiction to look at the bigger landscape that now encompasses TiF Library, TiF Press, and TiF Studio, Iâm glad that every single one stands for fiction first in just about every facet there possibly is. I am just one person so I believe Iâve gone about as far as I can go with the pillars that have been formed. Now, itâs just a matter of leading the people to these places and create a more cohesive way of interacting and using these tools as expected.
That will, in large part, be what 2027 looks like for me. No more pillars. Just working on the foundations we have and hopefully bringing everyone who wants to come along for the ride cause I feel itâs gonna be a great one.
Itâs true AI is getting larger and more present in our every day lives. But we can choose to trust our gut and go where the supply is plentiful and the connections, the human connections, are 100% real.
TiF AROUND TOWN
Just some things I want to mention really quickly:
TiF Around Town Event news and important deadlines/links has moved to the TiF Library main page. Just click the + to dropdown everything you need to be aware of.
There are TWO main deadlines coming this Saturday, August 15th:
TiF Originals - Submit a story for a chance to be paid for your work and have it be one of many that will be an exclusive original here on Top in Fiction and shared to our over 2,000 subscribers.
TiF Summit 2027 - If youâre interested in reading your Fiction on Substack Live along with 50+ others, now is the chance to tell me youâre interested so you can get access to the TiF Summit Scheduler!
BE A PAID SUBSCRIBER TODAY
Paying for exclusive fiction short stories is coming. All made 100% possible by your continued support.
Paid Subscribers will get early access to TiF Originals, for a period of two weeks, after which time the story will then be made available to all subscribers.
- Erica Drayton, Editor-in-Chief đ
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