Hello readers and writers of fiction on Substack!
I’m Niccolò, author of Adventure Story, and alongside
and I am very excited to present to you the second SOTB fiction blast for the month of June. Whether you’re a reader looking to discover new stories or a writer looking to amplify community and audience, this is the place for you.We have seven pieces for you today but before we get into them I want to announce that submissions are now open for the July fiction blast. I’m very excited about the July blast because we will be rolling out our first themed showcase: Gods and Monsters. This is an invitation to submit stories surrounding mythic gods, heroes, and monsters—be they canonized or of your own creation. Submissions through this link! If this theme is not your cup of tea don’t worry, we will be cycling through many different themes in the following months. Let us know what you think of this new format in the comments!
Now, without further ado, I bring you seven brand new pieces of fiction to round out the month of June. As always, please show these writers some love and share this post so these pieces can reach as many eyes as possible. If you’d like to get involved in SOTB as an editor or in some other capacity send me a message! We can use all the help we can get especially with how fast this is taking off. Hope you enjoy today’s selections and stay tuned for July’s blast coming soon!
A Tale of Two Cocktails |
A dark sci fi short story in the style of the golden age of sci fi. The rich must survive on a space station as they are chased by a killer machine. But they signed up for this.
Lord Der Ärzte - Gentleman Detective Chapter 1 |
Lord Der Artze is a combination of satirical humour and fantasy wrapped up in a detective novel. It induces the reader to laugh along with and then love the characters while inferring deeper meaning from their twisted take on reality. In a nutshell - it's fanciful, clever and funny to read.
The Last Word |
The Last Word is the first of three serialized novellas about a half-fae private detective, Owan Craig, who lives in New York City at the height of the 1920s. Owan is tasked with helping a barmaid at a speakeasy, but the job just might land him in hot water with the local fae mob.
The Castle of the hill, Ch. 1 |
Katrine Bertoli-Dunajoux is a young noblewoman torn between desire and duty. She wants nothing more than to daydream of adventure and study her grandfather's craft of alchemy. But an arranged marriage to Paul Tarnesian, the youngest son of an ambitious family, looms on the horizon. Fearful of losing the freedom to be who she wishes, Katrine flees her home. Her destination? A mysterious castle nestled in the hills. But rash actions have harsh consequences, and Katrine's actions may cost her family more than she realizes.
Snow-Fox vs Leukemia |
What do you do when even your awesome superpowers aren’t enough to save your son? Snow-Fox comes to grips with his son’s cancer, and the fact that the only one who’ll be able to save little Georgie is himself.
Gotharmony |
Meet Verity, whose sheltered life at the Ashford Estate is about to take a wild turn.As Verity returns from her music studies, she's greeted not by familiar melodies, but by whispers of secrets hidden in every corner of her ancestral home. But Verity is no damsel in distress—armed with her wit and determination, she's ready to uncover the truth, no matter where the music leads her.
Underland and the Forehidden Kingdom |
Underland and the Forehidden Kingdom is a serialized, young adult, fantasy novel about an overconfident bookworm who finds himself in a parallel world where words are weapons, ideologies form fortresses, and intelligence without integrity may just cost you everything.
I want to once again thank all 66 writers who submitted for the month of June - we read everything and just because you weren’t featured this month doesn’t mean your writing wasn’t deserving of it. Please feel free to re-submit, there is no limit. For more information on SOTB see below:
Archive:
Exciting update: SOTB just hit 500 subscribers! Thank you to all of you for your support and especially to
for her generous paid subscription, which is never expected but always appreciated. As always, please comment, like, share, re-stack, etc to help us get the word out on SOTB and the hard working and talented writers featured within.See you next time!
Testimonials:
During my time on Substack, I’ve been pretty unsure about its viability as a platform for publishing fiction. But being featured on Suspension of This Belief’s May Newsletter blast has not only given a noticeable boost to my work, but to just about everyone else who was featured. Substack has a lot of potential as a platform for fiction, and it’s through initiatives like this that the potential will be realized.
Suspension of This Belief significantly helped boost my serial novel, The Glaciermen, in terms of visibility for new readers, including subscribers—and in turn I’ve discovered other writers to add to my own reading list. I can’t wait for the next blast to do my part in boosting the other worthy fiction authors out there!
Another great set of stories! Really enjoyed all of these!
More great stories here - I’ve already been enjoying The Castle on the Hill and Underland, and look forward to checking out some of the others!