Clancy, wow, thank you! I'm really honored you think so. I've grown a lot as a writer these past few years, and I'm proud of the work I've been doing recently.
The Christmas Eve piece is definitely a collage of experiences over the years thrown into a single story, so maybe creative nonfiction is the best descriptor. The piece from the autopsy is still in the works though. The word count is growing each day. Send help.
that’s what i thought on that story! i really liked it. i’ve found lately sheer cutting is where i do my best editing work. just deleting whole paragraphs. best of luck and keep writing!!!!
Thank you for the mention, Clancy! Honored for my Midnight Vault piece to make the roundup with so many awesome writers' work Substack fiction is really an enormous ecosystem, and there's always something new to find for sure.
Thank you so much for including me in your list. I feel honoured! And so happy to be back on Substack after a month's break. It really does mean the world to have this kind of support and kindness here on this app.
I'm sure there's a lot of talent out there. And it seems like people are networking and getting eyes on their work. As a published author, I haven't been able to do the same. I have a lot of good stories, but find it almost impossible to get folks on Substack to take a look at them. Take a look at this one...
Thank you so much for the mention Clancy, and the kind words! I am a big fan of being flattered!
And I totally agree with you about 1/ the Midnight Vault - it is a seriously brilliant repository of superb writers (I'm still only about halfway through TMV2), and 2/ in a related way, how the algorithm seems to be useless at helping discovery of good writers. So it ends up being down to the writers themselves to do all the work with telling everyone about each other. That is the main way I've been able to discover people.
And of course it ends me up with a colossal TBR list which I am still, as ever, attempting to get through in the manner of a Sisyphus. Like, as soon as I'm almost there, another example of brilliance comes along and the list just keeps going.
If I had the money (like, if I won the lottery or something) then I think what I'd like to do is found a publishing company and just help all these great writers to get published and properly introduced to the wider public. I am constantly amazed, excited and humbled in equal measure by the sheer wealth of talent there is here. And to be counted amongst that (i.e. by my peer group, so to speak) is a real honour.
same! i’d start a publishing house just for substack authors. there’s a few breakthrough stars on here. glad to help and i hear you about the sisyphean nature of it!! but i keep trying
Thanks for the shout out here and the rec. Pretty damn cool to be included with these other fantastic writers, and I continue to appreciate the support.
Thanks so much, Clancy, for introducing all these fine fiction writers to me! The Substack Universe is so immense, I never would have found any of them from over here on this tiny asteroid called Leaves! I do hope the Big T is doing well. It is a great story.
Amazing insights. True wordsmiths are far too rare in this age of commercialized lit. I’ve been so tempted to dumb down what I write. Nauseating in the execution.
Here’s an excerpt from my unpublished novel: “He put his hand to the trunk of a mature Bosc, a paternalistic gesture, and patted it like a favored dog. The scaly bark was sharp and rough beneath his palm, and a bit of it crumbled. He considered his trees an orchard, not a copse or a grove or a planting, as some might call it. Four Bartletts, three Boscs, and a Seckel surely made an orchard, and if not an orchard, they made memories in years of abundance and years of scarcity.”
I could have written “he touched the tree”, but it would be flat. All this just to say how much I appreciate good writing and how difficult it is!! I keep trying.
Thanks, Clancy, for elevating the platform. I hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries.
This is great, thanks for doing the work to put this together, Clancy. Just self-published on here for the first time and these kinds of round ups feel essential to getting the work in front of willing readers.
Clancy, wow, thank you! I'm really honored you think so. I've grown a lot as a writer these past few years, and I'm proud of the work I've been doing recently.
And yeah, self-published all the way buddy 🙌🙌🙌.
Thank you for the mention Clancy!
The Christmas Eve piece is definitely a collage of experiences over the years thrown into a single story, so maybe creative nonfiction is the best descriptor. The piece from the autopsy is still in the works though. The word count is growing each day. Send help.
that’s what i thought on that story! i really liked it. i’ve found lately sheer cutting is where i do my best editing work. just deleting whole paragraphs. best of luck and keep writing!!!!
I have not read (most) of these, thank you for the reading list, I'm excited to dig into these!
I've only seen genre fiction be put down by folks who think art should be 'serious' to be legitimate, and those folks are probably bad in bed.
they’re not bad in bed MP, don’t be rude—they’re virgins
Hah!
Great article Clancy, and thanks for the shoutout too.
i couldnt do Midnight Vault without mentioning one of the editors
There were two others, I’m just really loud.
🙏🙏🙏
Love this Clancy!! Keep up the good work for fiction on Substack!
thanks caroline. i have one of yours saved because it mentions the fort fisher aquarium, hope to get to it soon!
Oh I can’t wait to hear what you think when you do. I spend eight hours wandering around the aquarium writing that one haha
Thank you for the mention, Clancy! Honored for my Midnight Vault piece to make the roundup with so many awesome writers' work Substack fiction is really an enormous ecosystem, and there's always something new to find for sure.
there’s so much i can hardly keep up with it
Obligatory "I spent 15 hours live-reading these Midnight Vault stories" comment.
Thank you so much for including me in your list. I feel honoured! And so happy to be back on Substack after a month's break. It really does mean the world to have this kind of support and kindness here on this app.
taking breaks is good, but glad you’re back
I'm sure there's a lot of talent out there. And it seems like people are networking and getting eyes on their work. As a published author, I haven't been able to do the same. I have a lot of good stories, but find it almost impossible to get folks on Substack to take a look at them. Take a look at this one...
https://paulclayton.substack.com/p/planet-of-the-amazons
Thank you so much for the mention Clancy, and the kind words! I am a big fan of being flattered!
And I totally agree with you about 1/ the Midnight Vault - it is a seriously brilliant repository of superb writers (I'm still only about halfway through TMV2), and 2/ in a related way, how the algorithm seems to be useless at helping discovery of good writers. So it ends up being down to the writers themselves to do all the work with telling everyone about each other. That is the main way I've been able to discover people.
And of course it ends me up with a colossal TBR list which I am still, as ever, attempting to get through in the manner of a Sisyphus. Like, as soon as I'm almost there, another example of brilliance comes along and the list just keeps going.
If I had the money (like, if I won the lottery or something) then I think what I'd like to do is found a publishing company and just help all these great writers to get published and properly introduced to the wider public. I am constantly amazed, excited and humbled in equal measure by the sheer wealth of talent there is here. And to be counted amongst that (i.e. by my peer group, so to speak) is a real honour.
same! i’d start a publishing house just for substack authors. there’s a few breakthrough stars on here. glad to help and i hear you about the sisyphean nature of it!! but i keep trying
Thanks for the shout out here and the rec. Pretty damn cool to be included with these other fantastic writers, and I continue to appreciate the support.
you deserve it, as i said, i particularly like your story about the uncle at the fair
Thanks brother 🤙
Thanks so much, Clancy, for introducing all these fine fiction writers to me! The Substack Universe is so immense, I never would have found any of them from over here on this tiny asteroid called Leaves! I do hope the Big T is doing well. It is a great story.
thanks for being a great reader and writer sharron. i gotta take some time with your stories soon. the big t is doing about as well as I can expect!
I am a fan!
Appreciate the shoutout, my friend.
Amazing insights. True wordsmiths are far too rare in this age of commercialized lit. I’ve been so tempted to dumb down what I write. Nauseating in the execution.
Here’s an excerpt from my unpublished novel: “He put his hand to the trunk of a mature Bosc, a paternalistic gesture, and patted it like a favored dog. The scaly bark was sharp and rough beneath his palm, and a bit of it crumbled. He considered his trees an orchard, not a copse or a grove or a planting, as some might call it. Four Bartletts, three Boscs, and a Seckel surely made an orchard, and if not an orchard, they made memories in years of abundance and years of scarcity.”
I could have written “he touched the tree”, but it would be flat. All this just to say how much I appreciate good writing and how difficult it is!! I keep trying.
Thanks, Clancy, for elevating the platform. I hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries.
i think that’s beautiful rebecca! no need to dumb down. i hope i helped you discover writers with such care as you put in your writing
Thank you. You have!
This is great, thanks for doing the work to put this together, Clancy. Just self-published on here for the first time and these kinds of round ups feel essential to getting the work in front of willing readers.