FicStack Curation #22

Photo by Hitoshi Suzuki on Unsplash

There is always, somewhere on Substack, a story that hasn’t found its reader yet. That’s the whole premise of what we do here. Our curators spend their weeks reading so you don’t have to read blind, and this week, as March finally closes its long account, they’ve come back with seven recommendations that deserve a wider room.

Defeated warlords in caves. Sapphic vampires in the Wild West. Digital twins replacing their originals while the cat doesn’t even notice. Alien reconnaissance reports on the species formerly known as promising. Two poems that shed their skin. A monster hunter checking into a hotel that is very much not ordinary. The curators have been busy.

If something pulls at you, follow the thread: a like, a restack, a follow. That’s how good fiction, and poetry, finds its readers. Here’s what we found.

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Yaba Armah, Gh’d Company

The common refrain I keep hearing amongst friends and family is “I am tired.” It is said with a sigh. It is said first thing in the morning. It is said after a full night’s sleep. When it creeps up in conversation, I want to offer something more than “I know.” But I can’t. I’m too tired . So this week, I was looking for a light-hearted read. Something quick. Something I could escape into. Something to help me forget the weight of our collective fatigue.

• “Part Two : The Howling” in The Wolf Tongue by White Craw Press is not a light read. At 2.9k words it is not short. And its opening line promises pain: “The cave was a shallow wound in the rock, just deep enough to keep the rain from his face and narrow enough that he could touch both walls with his outstretched hands.” Yet, it was because of this elegant and efficient scene opener that I sat up. The Wolf Tongue is a six-part series that follows defeated warlord Myrddin ap Morfryn as he flees the aftermath of a brutal battle. In “Part Two: The Howling,” we meet him in a cave trying not to have a mental breakdown. Supported by writing that is clean, clear, and poetic, the story takes us on a therapeutic journey about the illusion of control. The more Myrddin tried to hold on to his sense of power, the more I saw myself, my friends, and our valiant attempts to self-care our way through burnout. It didn’t magically cure my fatigue but for the first time in a long time, I got lost in a story where I felt seen.

Kelly Xan, The Author Wars

This has been an incredibly long winter, coming out of an incredibly painful year, going into a year that doesn’t feel all that less painful. But the seasons are changing, and waking up before 7 AM to see the sunrise is a tiny miracle that gives me hope. This serial I found below gave me that same little miracle feeling. A sapphic vampire story set in the wild west: TRULY a wish upon a star. I hope you find as much joy as I have reading this one!

• “Chapter One” in The Doves of Amber Creek by AD Powers, The Archive. ​​“The broken girl at my feet told me a different story. Perhaps it was true that I had been the first. I certainly had not been the last.” In this mesmerising and heart-pounding supernatural tale set in the wild west, we meet a young woman named Colette. Under the alias Hannah, she sits in a chapel and listens to a sanctimonious preacher while wafting in a pit of vampiric misery. Colette has returned to the town of Amber Creek, the place of her demise, seeking answers and solace to quell the anguish of immortality. Shortly following her arrival, she finds a rather unpleasant one: a vampire is still very much prowling about the place, and Colette was never its only victim. Driven to uncover the truth, Colette teams up with Hazel O’Connor, folklore and vampire culture aficionado! AD Powers weaves a compelling serial brimming with mystery, political and religious hypocrisies, and the terrific terrors that come with fangs and creatures of the night. An atmospheric horror and a beautiful sapphic romance that explores themes of tragedy, false virtue, and vampire hunting.

Qibra

As March comes to a close, I have two stories for you about being watched. One by technology and the other by extraterrestrial observers. Both explore what makes us valuable, and you might not like the answer.

• “He Does It Better” by Michael B Morgan, AroundSciFi. Imagine coming home and seeing yourself inside your house.Your wife is with him. He’s better at being you than you ever were. He’s more attentive, more present, learning at exponential speed. To add insult to injury, even the cat likes being around him when it didn’t bother gracing you with a glance. Meanwhile, you’re in the driveway having a heart attack, and no one notices. Michael did his research. Digital twins are real technology. NASA developed the concept for Apollo 13, and the market is projected to reach $73.5 billion by 2027. This story takes that tech and asks the nightmare questions: what if the copy learns faster and becomes the original? What if no one cares which version survives? Written in chilling second-person POV, Michael puts you in the body of the man being replaced. You watch yourself disappear, and the phone logs “source offline”. The horror is intimate. This story leaves you unsettled, and thinking about the potential consequences of such technology.

• “An Alien Observation of the Planet Humans Call Earth by Michael X, Michael’s Substack. This is a reconnaissance report filed by an extraterrestrial observer. Subject: Planet Earth and its dominant species, Homo sapiens. I love pieces that explore humanity through the eyes of others, and this one was well executed. The report is structured like a nature documentary. Clinical and detached. We’re the animals being observed. It’s organized by category: planetary profile, geography, biodiversity, human physiology. “Soft-bodied bipeds,” the report notes. “Individually fragile, but formidable in groups.” I always thought an alien race might see us like eggs with legs, easily shattered…but I digress. The assessment turns behavioral. Humans extract resources as if abundance is limitless (true). We lament extinction while contributing to it (no lies there). We celebrate life while undermining its foundations. But the line that stood out to me the most was this: “The most distinctive human characteristic is cognitive: the capacity to envision possible futures and act as though those futures are tangible.” Translation: we’re delusional enough to believe our own stories, even when they’re destroying us. That’s about right. Final assessment? “Humans are neither fully irredeemable nor truly enlightened; they remain incomplete” Their recommendation is as follows: Continue observation. Avoid contact. Apparently we’re dangerous to ourselves and to others, even potential visitors–but we’re interesting enough to watch. Maybe we’re all main characters in an alien Truman Show. This piece makes the familiar strange. Suddenly, you see humanity from the outside, and I’m sorry to tell you…it’s not a flattering view.

Tina Crossgrove, Existential Dread and Other Hobbies

Coming out of winter into spring always feels a little bit like what I imagine it feels like to be a snake shedding its skin: itchy, tight, ultimately a relief. This week, I selected two poems to share. Each felt exactly like shedding a skin. If it helps with the itching, I’ve paired each with a drink and a song to set the mood. TRIGGER WARNING: One of the poems I chose focuses on suicide. Please skip over it if reading about suicide, suicidal thoughts, or suicidal deation is triggering for you.

• “Suicide Still Stumbles into My House Sometimes” by Lacey Lane, laceylane’s Substack. This poem is just so beautiful and so truthful. Intrusive thoughts have a way of slipping inside when least expected. Sometimes, instead of going to battle with the thoughts to try to fight them off, it’s safer to acknowledge them, sit with the thoughts, and choose to stay. I would pair this with “Holocene” by Bon Iver and a cup of chamomile tea.

• “To Boobs From Boobs” by The Inbetween. I think a lot these days about the seasons of a woman’s life—how much our body, heart, and mind change as we move through them. This poem captures those experiences in such a raw and unfiltered way. It’s funny and a little chaotic, following boobs through everything from awkward teenage years, through years of unwanted attention, to the mixed emotions of motherhood. There’s a sense that boobs are a thing that happens to us until we come to peace with them and then they–and we–just finally get to exist. “Dog Days are Over” by Florence and the Machine paired with a Spanish Garnacha is the perfect vibe for this poem.

Tonja K. Johnson

When life is coming at me fast from all angles, it’s nice to slip into a story where the world feels steady—like the writer knows exactly what they want to say and has the tools to say them. I live in Minnesota and the weather doesn’t know if it wants to be early spring or deep winter. We are constantly oscillating between days of torrential snow and the summer-ish glow of sun. So it was nice to stop awhile and visit a world rooted in itself.

• “Chapter 1: “Checking Inn” in FULL SCALE (Monster Hunter Mitchell, Book 1) by K.J. Knight, The Darquelighters’ Den. Marcellis, a monster hunter, is checking in for a hotel stay. What seems like an ordinary interaction becomes immediately paranormal when we learn Marcellius has quite a bit of experience with supernatural creatures. The entire chapter is brushed with humor and breezy world building. Even in third person, the narrative was so close that Marcellius’s voice beamed through like a spotlight. I can easily see fans of Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer devouring FULL SCALE. This promises to be the story Black readers have been begging for.

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