Welcome to the final curation post for November.

FicStack curators have been trawling through Substack and have found the following gems for your reading pleasure this week.

Be sure to give the featured authors a read, a like or two, drop them a comment, and maybe give them a restack.

Yaba Armah, Gh’d Company

Hullo, hullo, from sunny, humid, raining-in-the-dry-season Accra! We asked Climate Change for proof she existed and now she’s just showing off. So while we wait for the faithful Harmattan Wind to gather momentum, let’s get into this week’s reads… none of which are weather related.

• “Year 1: The Spark; Chapter 1: The Arrival” in Borderline Silence by Dr. Domo, Occasionally Feral. This is a beautifully executed novel-in-progress that highlights the power of fiction to say the quiet bits out loud. Aptly titled, Borderline Silence dissects the ugly intricacies of racism through the lens of a veterinary student and her adorable four-year old son. This dark dystopian novel forced me to think about my everyday interactions and what it means to be in communion with my community

• "Broadcasts From District 12” by Brett Ory, Fiction Buffering. Do you remember the first time you picked up a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Brett Orry’s “Broadcasts From District 12” will leave you giddy with that exact same feeling. Aliens meet humans and chaos ensues. This wry science fiction serial will have you sneaking chapter-sized breaks throughout the day as you waddle down a ridiculous rabbit hole of miscommunication and bureaucratic shenanigans. Enjoy!

Kelly Xan, The Author Wars

In the last few weeks, I’ve felt the urge to escape the world. Reading these stories helped me do just that. Many times, all you need is a good story to clear out the anguish of reality. Whether it be by riding on a dragon, or visiting a mysterious library where you can borrow time, I hope these tales can offer you the same peace of mind, even just for a moment.

• “MOUNTAIN BOND I.I” in MOUNTAIN BOND by Morgan A. Drake, Dimidium Tales. “Ryn Stormwatcher has found their place in the world—soaring through mountain peaks with Kivith, their dragon bond-partner. But when Guild mining operations threaten the sacred storm formations, a catastrophic confrontation shatters everything.” – A gripping epic fantasy filled with adventure, mystery, tragedy, and dragons. Morgan doesn’t just pull you into a magical world in this multi-part series. She quite literally teleports you out of the practical and into the fantastical. I would stand in an hours-long line to buy physical copies of this collection. Read all of Part 1 and hop right into Part 2 to get up to speed (and bring a tissue box or two with you)!

• “Flying on Borrowed Time” by Gaby Brogan, The Anatomy of Reality. “What if you could borrow time from a mysterious library? One young man does, and risks everything.” – For a short story, this tale packs a multitude of punches. It is a slice of life narrative with a sprinkling of sci-fi magical realism, nail-biting excitement, and the agonies of pining love. What type of time would you borrow? Would you use it to get ahead in life, or for a far more tragic, beautiful purpose? Gaby takes you on an entire rollercoaster ride in this piece, and it’s such a thrill that you will hop right back in line to give the story another read.

Tina Crossgrove, Existential Dread and Other Hobbies

This week’s curated trio of stories highlights the many ways fiction helps us process what shapes our lives—grief, memory, identity, and the myths we cling to. Together, these stories show how fiction allows us to explore the truths that slip between the lines of our lives.

• “The Saltwater Bride” by L. Binnie, The Pale Horse. This modern fairytale follows a woman who abandons her familiar world after falling in love with a mermaid, only to spend the rest of her life haunted by the ache of what she left behind. If you’ve ever experienced the ruin associated with love, loss, and longing, this one will ruin you all over again.

• “The Man Who Remembered Blue, A Post-Apocalyptic Tale” by A Writer’s Voice. This stark post-apocalyptic tale reminds us how fragile our definitions of humanity become when the world collapses, and how fiercely we cling to meaning in the aftermath.

• “Chapter 1: The Price of Joy” in Nightmare from Never-Never Land by Nikki | Nocturnal Narrator, Speculative Fiction and Other Dark Tales. I’m a sucker for retellings and am really excited to see where this serial goes. So far, it’s a reimagining of a classic children’s tale that invites us to revisit our supposed heroes through the sharper, more questioning gaze of the villain.

Jade Fox-Morgan, Jade Fox-Morgan

Some nights, sleep isn’t a break so much as a weird second shift where your brain clocks in and starts causing trouble. For this round, I’m leaning into strange dreams: the ones where something’s in your room that shouldn’t be, or you’re stuck in a situation that feels real and wrong at the same time. Here are two nightmares for you, one child-like and one guilt-ridden adult.

• “A Picky Biter” by S. K. Ratidox, Logical Contradictions. If you like your bedtime scares with a bit of attitude, “A Picky Biter” is a fun little shiver. It takes the classic “there’s something in my closet” panic and gives the vampire strangely specific… culinary preferences, which makes it both darkly funny and extra creepy. It’s a quick read that feels like a childhood nightmare retold by someone with a wicked sense of humour.

• “The Weight of Sleep” by Neil Stewart, Titoli Nightmares tend to mash up bad decisions, worse weather, and that awful feeling of not being in control. This one hits that perfectly. It starts grounded in grit and grime, then slowly tilts into something stranger and more dreamlike, where nothing behaves the way it should and the past won’t stay put. “The Weight of Sleep” is perfect if you like horror that feels like waking up at 3 a.m. with your heart racing and no idea why.

Qibra, Qibra

This week I have two stories about ordinary people caught inside larger systems. Worlds with rules they didn’t create, but can’t escape. Both of these tales begin with something small and harmless: a phone call, a customer. And both show what happens when a single rule is bent.

• All You Can Eat by Chris Hicks, Disco Insomnium. What are you willing to sacrifice for success? Chris taps into that question with a story that begins like a small-town slice-of-life fiction…and slowly turns to something darker, stranger and devastating. When Siya’s family opens an Indian restaurant in rural Indiana, business is painfully slow. Until one day, a polite, elderly woman walks in. She eats quietly. She pays nothing. And then she returns…again and again. Suddenly, reviews soar, customers flood in and the restaurant is finally a success. But nothing comes without a cost. What follows is a spiral of obligation, fear and survival as the family realizes the woman is no ordinary customer. If you don’t know Chris Hicks yet, he is the author of I am Not Alone, acquired by Netflix. All You Can Eat is now in development with Wonder Worldwide and Big Light Production, and is being released on Substack for the first time. If you love horror, this belongs on your list. New chapters drop every week.

• “The Switch” by Emily, Emily Writes.What would it be like to meet another version of ourselves from a parallel world? Would they be wiser? Happier? More reckless? If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered about this once, twice…maybe a hundred times. Emily plays with that question in a way that feels clever and deeply human. Meet Maisy. For ten years, she has worked the switchboard connecting calls between universes. The rules are simple: confirm the identity, connect the call and above all, never let versions of the same person speak to each other. When a trainee abandons her shift, Maisy covers both consoles. Just for an hour. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. Especially when the caller requesting a connection is…her. And she wants to speak to someone who Maisy loves. A complete sci-fi thriller you can devour in one sitting—morally complex, cleverly structured and with an ending that’ll make you wonder what you would have done in that situation.

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