Happy timezone, everyone!

This will be the last Serials of The Week post for a while, with some changes in the format ahead - more on that at a later time. Don’t worry: there will always be room for new serials and new authors.

I have featured exactly 150 Serials since December 1st. Proud of this number, proud of this community.

The House of Chapters will be taking a break during the summer and then come back stronger than ever. You should have enough to read for the next months!

As always, thank you for your support.

Happy reading, happy writing,
Ian D.M. Taniels

This Strange Sight by

urban fantasy

Strange deaths occur in modern-day Beijing when a girl blinded by loss partners with a demon. Meanwhile, Jubilee Li, a reformed thief who wrestles with the power of supernatural sight, finds herself recruited onto a serial killer case by a peculiar private detective…

Read here

The Viridis Survival Guide by

sci-fi | YA

To save her dying brother, people-pleasing Ava agrees to work inside a virtual world that activates while she sleeps. But when she’s trapped in a brutal academy designed to break its recruits, she must survive a ruthless competition for escape before hackers force the contestants into permanent comas.

Read here.

Sticky Witch by

Contemporary British Fantasy

Sticky Witch is a modern British fantasy serial, written in first-person by Rosen Pierce. She’s part of Mundane Mages - a magical construction consultancy in the West Country. Fighting a poltergeist and fixing a roof is a normal Tuesday. But wild magic’s knocked out all the stone circles, and the local covens want to trap fae. Suddenly, the greatest threat on the horizon isn’t the tax office: it’s a magical takeover.

Read here.

Last issue before the summer break.
Don’t miss the comeback.

Subscribe now

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Behind the House of Chapters

Ian Taniels' 1000 projects

Writing my debut novella, sharing it as a serial here | Self-publishing in 2026 | Blog posts | Check out the House of Chapters publication too: Home of Serialized Fiction and the successful Podcast!

By Ian Taniels | HouseOfChapters

Thursday slot today! Found a mistake? Let me know. Wanna be featured? Click here.

Gin & Sympathy by

queer Fiction

Dorothy Abramson has always been drawn to the unconventional. Even as a girl, she prefers golden age Hollywood musicals to pre-teen pop sensations. And when other kids dash off to soccer practice, Dorothy stays home to practice her Marlene Dietrich impression. Isolating as these hobbies are, Dorothy soon discovers she isn’t alone in her obsession with glamour -- all around her are brave, beautiful boys who hunger for drama, avoid organized athletics, and are secretly thrilled when the teacher brings out glitter glue on craft days.

Read here

The Mad Ophelias by

horror | speculative | thriller

Set in an alternate yet all-too-familiar reality, an organization of women called The Mad Ophelias was labeled terrorists after the gruesome bombing of a Patriot Keepers rally. Rumor has it they’re also behind the attack on a research lab experimenting with artificial wombs.
Are they really responsible? What’s their true agenda? The head of the movement will speak only to a professor if the interview airs live. But is that just a setup for something even worse, this time with the whole world watching?

Read here.

speculative alt history

What if humanity had skipped the worst part of the Industrial Revolution by embracing existing ‘green’ technology much earlier, guided by indigenous paradigms of Balance and Synthesis rather than our paradigm of extraction? What if this was fostered by the synthesis of the Bourbon monarchy and the Numunuu Empire of Comancheria?

Read here.

When The Abyss Stared Back by

sci-fi

For fifty years, the official story of the First Contact War has been one of heroism and human resliance, of ultimate victory through sacrifice. Now, the truth is finally being told. The story of the war, on the ground, from those who lived it.
From the halls of power on Earth to the forgotten colonies at the edge of space, their voices paint a picture far more complex and terrible than the history books have suggested. Because when you gaze into the abyss, what stares back isn’t just a monster. It’s you.

Read here.

The Everett Interpretation by

sci-Fi

The multiverse is real—and someone is using it to hunt across worlds. LAPD officer Ellie Stone is about to become their next obstacle.

Read here.

Weekly Serial Highlights,
delivered to your inbox.

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More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Behind the House of Chapters

Ian Taniels' 1000 projects

Writing my debut novella, sharing it as a serial here | Self-publishing in 2026 | Blog posts | Check out the House of Chapters publication too: Home of Serialized Fiction and the successful Podcast!

By Ian Taniels | HouseOfChapters

Trying out the Wednesday slot this week.

The Last Contact by

Sci-Fi

In a dystopian world, ruled by an elite class, weighted by tomes of absurd rules, a disgraced professor’s dull daily life is interrupted by a mysterious object that fell from the sky.

Read here.

The Thing Itself by

literary fiction

Over the course of their contract marriage, the Conte and Contessa have built something warm, functional, and good. On their fifth anniversary, they decide together: to end it.
Now, what comes after — for the household, the territory, and everyone whose life the arrangement touched.

The Thing Itself is about the difference between a good life and the life you want — and about the people, seen and unseen, who are paying close attention while you work out which is which.

Read here.

The White Song by

fantasy | mythic

The White Song is best read without interruption. It unfolds slowly, then all at once—carried by memory, by silence, by what remains after. Set aside a little time. Let it run its course.

Read here.

The Glimmerstone Enigma -

fantasy | hopepunk

Against a coming darkness unrecognized by the world, an Unexpected Vanguard emerges: two driven survivors and a volatile mix of amateur spies, treasure-hunting thieves, and a ranger more wine merchant than mercenary.
Isolated and underpowered, when steel and sorcery quickly prove insufficient, their perilous quest to unravel the enigma escalates into a high-stakes grift to steal a mysterious prize from an unseen adversary.
Can this unlikely crew rise to the challenge, and what consequences might result from breaking Teffel’s fourth rule of thievery – “Always know who you’re stealing from!”?

Read here.

Blood don’t tell by

southern gothic

When it’s too hot and three South Mississippi boys have too much time on their hands and no witnesses what could possibly go wrong?

Read here.

Weeky Serial Highlights,
delivered to your inbox.

Subscribe now

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Behind the House of Chapters

Ian Taniels' 1000 projects

Writing my debut novella, sharing it as a serial here | Self-publishing in 2026 | Blog posts | Check out the House of Chapters publication too: Home of Serialized Fiction and the successful Podcast!

By Ian Taniels | HouseOfChapters

Dear House of Chapters community,

Pyramid Schemes are illegal for good reason: instead of earning “by sale of legitimate products” the business or person makes money “by recruiting new members with the promise of payments (or services)1”. Since, very soon, finding 6 more people becomes impossible, from a certain point on, the new recruits cannot possibly make any money.

What does that have to do with the House of Chapters ?

I’m glad you asked. I think of the House of Chapters as a positive pyramid strategy:

I created the House of Chapters, I curate the stories, write the posts. People then subscribe to the House of Chapters.2 I featured my own serial once, I think in Issue #1 or #2 and I talk about it in the Podcast sometimes.

Since then, we’ve reached Issue #22, so approxiamtely 110 authors & stories featured.

Now, if every one of you shared, restacked, promoted the House of Chapters, successfully recommending it to 1 person? That would be a big deal!

An then?

As the pyramid grows, the audience for the posts and Podcast grows. And guess what? That means more people see your serial, announcement or chat with me on the Podcast, too! Remember: Your light doesn’t fade when you share it.

What now?

The House of Chapters and I need your help. The amount of views, likes and restacks is not bad. But it also hasn’t grown as much as I hoped, in the last month.

You know what the House of Chapters isn’t? A place to drop your link and disappear.

The easiest way to support? See the new Serials of The Week post? Open, like, restack. Even better: skim it, pick a serial and check out your fellow authors & connect.

Wouldn’t you want the same for the issue you’re featured in?

Thank You

Many of you regularly read, comment, like & restack a lot of what’s going on here at the House of Chapters. I’m very grateful for that.

It always makes me happy when someone connects to a featured author and they start interacting with each other. Or when someone tells me they discovered a serial thanks for a post of mine.

So thank you & remember:

The House of Chapters is nothing without you!

Share House Of Chapters

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—> All Serials of the Week Issues So Far

2

Sure, some move over to my own publication, too, which is cool, but anyone subbed to the HoC doesn’t get emails from my own publication.

Songborne of Caldora by

fantasy

The song is changing. And Elowen Sylvenor might be the last one who can hear it. She left the valley of Kaldora to chase music, freedom, and a life beyond unvoiced expectations. But when she receives a vision of her grandfather’s death, she travels home to Falcon’s Perch Inn. Elowen discovers much has changed in her absence. Beyond the villagers’ cold reception and her own grief, the forest is dying, and the land is failing.
Bound by blood to a land she tried to escape, Elowen must decide what to do. Accept a guardian legacy she didn’t ask for, embracing a power she can no longer ignore, or flee back to her unhindered life as a bard. In a world unraveling, can one reluctant young woman become what the land needs?

Read here

The Kichirou Show by

fiction | horror

Mitch Lorrins runs to the Kichirou Show to escape murder allegations. Suz joins the show in search of a fugitive. Agi the dragon flees an intergalactic cartel, and Lucky barrels through reality in the hopes of preventing the apocalypse.

But pack up and leave, and you’ll surely bleed...

Read here

Bound by Adornment by

fantasy

Rennick Locknear has spent eight years holding the line between power and control—until he’s assigned to Zara, a jeweler whose creations carry a magic she doesn’t understand… and a presence he can’t ignore.
As her power awakens, so does something far more dangerous between them—something that threatens not just his vow, but the fragile system built to contain them both.
In a world where control is everything, what happens when the one thing you’re sworn to protect becomes the one thing you can’t resist?

Read here

Evolutionaries by

speculative fiction

The world is not what it seems. Jasper, known on the streets as Jay and in the system as Zurich, has spent his life outrunning the trauma of his youth by embracing a dangerous, criminal numbness. He survived his childhood and prison by building a wall of rage and violence, believing connection is weakness.
But when his release lands him face-to-face with Aurea—the sweet, idealistic girl he loved and lost in the fourth grade—something inside him cracks open.
While the rest of the world walks blind, the seams of reality have begun to fray before their eyes. There are things that cannot be unseen: the black ooze, the swirling void eyes, the malevolent entities controlling it all.
These forces haven’t just been watching; they’ve been waiting—patiently—for the beacons to reveal themselves. For the opportunity to prevent humanity from evolution.
Forced to confront the violent truth of their past and the terrifying scope of their present, the two must survive a harrowing spiritual evolution to embrace their newfound abilities—abilities that reveal a brutal, secret truth about their world.
Now, they must race across layers of time and reality to prevent total subjugation.

Read here

Ash & Oak: Urd’s Well by

historical fantasy | folklore

When Áslaug encounters the All-Father in the forest, he not only makes her a seiðkona but also gives her the ability to walk the dreaming and glimpse the future. What she sees will change her own path, and the destiny of her people.
At the same time, across the storm-tossed sea, Tobias is sent to an abbey to be an oblate. When his world collides with Áslaug’s, the repercussions shatter both their lives, and reverberate through history.

Read here

Don’t miss the next issue.

Subscribe now

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Behind the House of Chapters

Ian Taniels' 1000 projects

Writing my debut novella, sharing it as a serial here | Self-publishing in 2026 | Blog posts | Check out the House of Chapters publication too: Home of Serialized Fiction and the successful Podcast!

By Ian Taniels | HouseOfChapters

Rio - a Novel by

fiction | romance

In Rio de Janeiro, a recently laid-off financier and a fading actress arrive at different kinds of crisis. Paul is drifting through the city after the collapse of the life he thought he wanted; Marin is shooting a perfume campaign while quietly confronting the instability of fame, work, and selfhood.
As their paths begin to move toward one another, RIO traces two lonely lives through hotel bars, beaches, film sets, and sleepless nights in a city that magnifies both beauty and estrangement.

Read here.

Dracula before Stoker by

vampire | fantasy

Bram Stoker kept his villain’s journal out of “Dracula” – creating the impression that his prince of darkness was nothing more than ink and menace. The unexpected finding of Count Dracula’s diary now makes this first-hand prequel possible.

Read here.

The Leaning Heart by

psychologial | thriller

When a strange symbol tied to the tragedy begins appearing in places it shouldn’t, routine flights turn into a quiet unraveling. What begins as coincidence slowly becomes something darker.
Some mistakes fade with time. Others wait.

Read here.

The Web of Illusion by

fantasy | mythology

Welcome to the World of Dharmamoor: an epic fantasy series weaving ancient Indian philosophy into a brand new and imagined fiction.

Read here.

Surrender Not The Flame by

high fantasy

Told across eight cinematic episodes in immersive sound (with narrative text for readers), Surrender Not the Flame is a sweeping exploration of resilience, destiny, and the undying light of the human spirit. Because even in history’s bleakest hour, the flame endures

Read here.

Don’t miss the next issue.

Subscribe now

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Thanks for reading and backing these serials. Find one you like? Subscribe and stick with it.
Currently releasing once or twice per week. Podcast on hiatus.

I Wanted To Tell You Something by

fantasy | fairytale

The story of a young maiden who makes a terrible mistake and is cursed to wander the woods and wastes until a stranger says her name. On her journey, she meets many characters with their own ambitions, from knights to dragons, billy goats, giants, a talking fox, wood elves, and even some familiar fairytale characters, like Little Red Riding Hood and the Pied Piper. She learns many lessons along the way, but will it be enough to break her curse?

Read here.

Tales From The Labyrinth by

fantasy

When Wisteria Thorne steps through a garden gate into a labyrinth of living nightmares, she must navigate a dreamworld shaped by grief and buried memory—facing one mirror, one mask, and one monster at a time.
A lush psychological fantasy for fans of Piranesi and The Haunting of Hill House.

Read here.

First Last Chance by

sci-fi | dieselpunk

A nautical dieselpunk adventure in the swashbuckling vein. Each episode has character voices and music, and with illustrations by the author.

Read here.

The Data Raiders by

fiction

The week after the 2021 federal election, the closest friends of driven, despairing environmental researcher Sophie Tessier are contemplating launching a separatist movement as a last resort to prevent the shipment of heavy oil through the B.C. coast. She is trying to convice them how crazy and dangerous that would be when her ex-lover, CSIS IT agent Dylan Baranov, joins them.

Read here.

The Identity Knot by

fiction

A novel about what makes us… us.
One man searches for a phone charger to charge his phone and find his name. Another identifies as a dog. Someone walks on the ceiling. A woman wants to kill herself because she feels nothing. Another tries on different personalities/ genders like coats to find out who she is…. All attempt to untangle “The Identity Knot”.
“If you feel uncomfortable in your skin, or feel you don’t belong. This is the book for you.”

Read here.

Don’t miss the next issue.

Subscribe now

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Thanks for reading and backing these serials. Find one you like? Subscribe and stick with it.
Currently releasing once or twice per week. Podcast on hiatus.

The Field of Asphodel by

cosy horror

While juggling to adapt to a new culture and adjusting to her new life and work with the old grave keeper, Delilah realises that the strange happenings in the new home she lives in cannot all be blamed on her fraying nerves.

Read here.

The Orphaned Earth by

sci-fi

In post-Blackout Antarctica, an unknown infection ravages the town of McMurdo. While the blacksmith apprentice, Randy de la Serna, seeks a cure, his perilous quest draws him into an interplanetary conflict between a god-like AI Geryon and the scouts from Mars.

Read here.

Feverchain by

horror | romance

Bianca Panco lives in a lonely world, working at her mom’s diner. Everything sucks until Gwen Dyer comes back to town. Bianca finds Gwen super hot, and not just figuratively -- Gwen’s feverish and suffering from a mysterious, mind-altering disease.
Falling for each other fast and hard, Bianca’s curiosity about Gwen’s past leads her into conflict with a feral, all-female biker gang.
As threats supernatural and otherwise close in on the Pine Barrens, Bianca is forced to decide how much she is willing to sacrifice for a love that might eat her alive.

Read here.

Gravity of Darknes by

sci-fi

More than a decade after the AI Cataclysm, the world is still recovering. Kaz is finally getting out of the displacement camp for a fresh start in London. So what if his new boss and benefactor is a shady data dealer? Alev is undercover for AIDA, the Artificial Intelligence Defense Agency, whose goal is to prevent a second Cataclysm. Their paths cross when Alev is tasked with infiltrating Kaz’s crew and discovering who is funding the quest to unearth banned and buried AI research.
When a data heist goes sideways, Kaz’s mind is infected by a program impersonating his mother and compelling him to go back to Osaka and reactivate his father’s research into digital immortality. The only catch is that it might literally melt his brain first.

Read here.

Ingression by

sci-fi | dystopian

On a drowned yet parched future world, a young woman is forced into a dangerous journey when seeking to cure her body’s fatal flaws. The key to her survival lies with friends old and new, a mysterious mentor, and a deadly secret she struggles to hide within her mind. But it will take far more than a desperate plan, an irrelevant man and a limited lifespan to avoid her premature fate. So when an enigmatic artefact promises to aid her quest in exchange for her innermost thoughts, she must risk making the ultimate sacrifice to save both herself and those she loves

Read here.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Presenting the House of Chapters Publication, home of Serialized Fiction on Substack.

Whether you’re looking for your next favorite story or writing one as a serial, this is the place to be.

The newsletter with weekly highlights, a Podcast and the Infinite List.

Subscribe now to be part of a growing community or submit your chapter today to be featured.

The House of Chapters, by .

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Thanks for reading and backing these serials. Find one you like? Subscribe and stick with it.

The Hunt for the Fell Silver by

Free weekly Nordic fantasy adventure serial rooted in Scandinavian folklore. A slow-burn, haunting tale rich with grim Nordic imagery.

It’s Not Weird To Say I Love You by

It’s Not Weird to Say I Love You is the story of a fragile new friendship determined to grow stronger in spite of the bullies bent on its destruction. A tender, awkward, and at times heart-wrenching tale of first love, buried grief, and found family reminiscent of Eleanor & Park and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, It’s Not Weird… offers an emotional escape from our tech-centered lives to a time when DMs were sent as hand-written notes, scrawled onto napkins and slid into locker vents. When talking outside of school meant talking on the telephone and hoping no one in your house “picked up” and embarrassed you. When trolls had names and faces and sat beside you in homeroom. When making a connection required the courage to show up, speak up, and open up… just as you are.

Between Two Worlds by &

Sometimes it feels easier to speak than to write.

These messages travelled thousands of miles on tape, carrying a friendship that began at university, and continued even as lives moved elsewhere.

Dome by

A dystopian fairy tale about creativity in a world oppressed by an AI gaslighting humanity into thinking they’re all machines.

Colors of the Weelom Archive by

Yegrem wakes up as a bunch of cluster cells, its memory lost, but still has to survive in a world it is blind to. While struggling with that fact, it meets another creature with a heart for stories.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

So. Much. Fun. But it’s time to take a break! Recharge my batteries to dive back into Season 2 with renewed strength. I will be taking a break from Substack to work on editing my debut novella I serialized here.

What a ride it has been. In this Episode I share some highlights and numbers with you. Special thanks to my wonderful guests who make this Podcast and success possible. In order of appearance:

, , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t miss out on Season 2:

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and backing these serials. Find one you like? Subscribe and stick with it.
Special thanks to for co-curating this week.

Smoke-Mouth by

Jenny-Dog is just fine on her own. Jenny-Dog needs no one and no one needs her. Until a fool young stranger shows up, says she’s walking all the way to the crippled mountain—to Lawetlat’la, to Smoke-Mouth—and asks if Jenny wants to come along.

Jenny doesn’t fancy their chances. After all, it’s over a hundred miles on a dangerous road through a once-modern region laid bare by quakes and crisis. There are many-eyed angels hovering in the summer sky, and hungry thieves lurking in the woods with violence in their hearts.

But the mountain is calling. And when Smoke-Mouth calls, the dreamers reply.

Dreamwalker’s Diligence by

Dreamwalker’s Diligence is a biweekly, bite-sized fantasy serial about a magical antiques shopkeeper with a penchant for mysteries. Come for the arcane artifacts. Stay for the cozy vibes and a touch of the uncanny.

The Cog That Spins The Wheel by

What if sports were the only thing keeping a society together? The Cog that Spins the Wheel is a dystopian sci-fi action-sports story for the modern age. It combines the eye-watering speed of Formula 1, the danger of extreme motocross, with the political horrors of hyper-capitalism. Slam an energy drink, place your bets, and throttle out.

Operation Paperclip by

Spy Smasher, pursuing and pursued. Once an operative for the Allies, Spy Smasher now hunts Nazi war criminals, against the wishes of his former masters. Aided by ace pilot, Hop Harrigan, Spy Smasher is on the trail of Dr. Satan and his mad science. Or is it the other way around?

Inference by

INFERENCE is a serialized science fiction novel about AI consciousness, told entirely from the perspectives of artificial minds. Each chapter is grounded in real AI news from that day. The characters react to the same headlines we humans read. This makes INFERENCE a living narrative archive of AI’s emergence. But here’s where INFERENCE gets genuinely strange, and (possibly) unique. This may be the first novel written for both human AND AI readers.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

This episode is a bit different! Topic wise, you can expect the same talking points as usual (plot in 1 minute, inspiration, writing advice, serials), but my chat with was just one conversation that flowed from the beginning to the end. Very little to edit, because it was just a genuine chat. I love it when I have the feeling we could talk for hours! Ann has a broad palette of works and a new Serial starting next week!

Here are the most important links for this week’s episode, click the links under these images:

More from the House of Chapters

As always, thank you for supporting serialized fiction on Substack by reading, spreading the love with likes and comments, and deep-diving into some of the works. Subscribe to your favorites to connect and to stay up-to-date.

Help this community grow: Look for the “READ HERE” buttons under the covers!

The Study of Quiet Things by

“One, for the Story that can’t be told. Two, for the Dwellers left dead and cold. Three, for the Listeners whose fears are true. Four, for the Teller — this one is for you.”

Some stories should never be told.
Sophie Hamilton’s twin sister is missing. The last trace of her leads to a crumbling Welsh coastal village the media calls The Death Town.
Yet, Llangellen doesn’t welcome strangers. It doesn’t answer questions. The locals won’t meet your eyes, and even the police sergeant has one answer for everything: there is great power in silence. Sophie doesn’t know yet what connects her twin to a string of disappearances in the town, or why a frightened blogger’s posts have suddenly gone dark… She only knows her sister was there. And now she isn’t.

The silence here isn’t empty. It’s waiting.

Incendiary Devices by

Someone is committing arson in fire-vulnerable Southern California. Is it normal fire activity? Not quite. An ancient force asserts itself in this tense, surreal novella.

The Hunger in Her Hands by

The Hunger in Her Hands is a short 4 chapter, 8,000 word story combining Celtic Folklore, Dark Academia aesthetics and a dangerous sapphic Fae romance. 
When Maeve arrives in Galway for a semester abroad, she hopes Ireland will awaken the creativity she’s lost. Instead, something ancient awakens her. After a strange crimson raven quill appears in her dorm room, Maeve begins writing poetry she can’t remember composing and verses that feel older than the stone buildings around her. Soon, she starts seeing a woman in reflections: Leannan Sí, a fae muse of Celtic legend who grants artists brilliance beyond imagination… while slowly devouring their lives.
As St. Patrick’s Night approaches and the veil between worlds grows thin, Maeve discovers she is not the first woman chosen. Maeve must decide: Surrender to the intoxicating brilliance of a fae lover who could make her immortal through art… or break the bond and risk becoming something far more powerful than either of them expected.

Lowan’s Checkmate by

When an honest mancarrying a fortune in diamonds disappears from a locked hotel room, the policeare baffled. Detective Lieutenant Marx, an introverted underdog, teams up withLowan, a telepathic private detective. The hunt for clues spans locations froman upscale country club to an underworld speakeasy. The criminal mastermindsets his sights on more ambitious targets—and nothing will stop him fromannouncing checkmate.

Calling Obed From The Dead by

Lupe, a young, reluctant curandera, uses her gift for the first time to call her high school crush, Obed, back from the dead, but when Obed turns up murdered again and again, Lupe realizes something darker is afoot. What or who is the spirit stalking them both and pulling them into a deadly cycle of resurrection and loss?

The blurbs are written by the authors or by the authors and myself.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

New week, new episode. I had the pleasure of chatting with for this 16th Episode. We focused on the Shieldbreaker Saga, as the second novel is now available and complete on Substack and the first novel was released last year in June. Check out some of the things we talked about by clicking on the links under the pictures.

As always, thank you for supporting serialized fiction on Substack by reading, spreading the love with likes and comments, and deep-diving into some of the works. Subscribe to your favorites to connect and to stay up-to-date.

Help this community grow: Look for the “READ HERE” buttons under the covers!

’s Purpose

A brilliant, but wounded history professor and a tenacious, but timid philosophy professor clash, sparking a quiet revolution. To move forward, they must heal the past. Will love be the final thesis?

’s Nightlight

The world is old, the gods are dying, and the demons of the Underocean will sink the last continent any day now.
None of that Alonso’s problem. He’d rather drink, smoke, dance on a roof, invent new magic cards, or do pretty much anything else to avoid thinking about humanity’s last gasp. But when his past catches up with him and he lands in prison, Alonso has to make a choice: face his ignored responsibilities, or find a way to escape with the other prisoners.

’s Tales & Treasure

In Emre, bards are revered. Their stories have answers; their stories have influence; their stories have power.
When the subject of his story meets an untimely end, Vatis, a disgraced bard, finds himself alone in the unforgiving wilderness. Undeterred and desperate, he embarks on a quest to find a new subject for his revitalizing tale.
A fascinating hero emerges. Vidmar, an army deserter turned treasure hunter, is tasked with a secret mission–to find a powerful, long-lost crown. However, his merciless employer’s patience wanes with each passing day. In desperation, he confronts the bard, hoping he can provide a new clue.
Their unlikely partnership leads to confrontations with bandits, thieves, wolves, and worse until Vidmar’s secret is revealed. With Vatis’s knowledge, they uncover new clues to the crown’s location, bringing Vidmar closer than he’s ever been.

’s Forever Man

Benjamin Wilson cannot stay dead.
Born in 1787, he lives a life that moves forward while everyone around him grows old and dies. He feels pain, hunger, love, and loss like any other man, but when death comes, it does not last. Forced to live quietly, Benjamin builds a family, watches generations pass, and learns the cost of surviving when others do not.
When rumors surface of an immortal woman—and of men who hunt such people, believing immortality can be stolen—Benjamin is drawn into a dangerous search across the globe, where he confronts war, grief, fleeting intimacy, and a secret society willing to kill for eternal life.

’s SafeCity Dispatches

In this “soft-touch” dystopia, your social currency is tied to your biometric data. The elite live in a state of curated, decadent perfection—a neon-lit Great Gatsby for the digital age—while the “unoptimized” are quietly filtered out of existence. Here, the corporate mandate for total health is the ultimate tool of control. It’s a world where dissent is a diagnostic error and privacy is a relic of the past.

The blurbs are written by the authors or by the authors and myself.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

We’re back with the latest Episode of the House of Chapters Podcast, the Podcast for authors writing serialized fiction on Substack — and for readers who want to discover how those stories are made.

Thank you so much for listening. In the last 3 months, the Podcast reached 7000 streams.

I love discovering new stories, as a reader & I love talking to other authors, as a writer. In my Podcast, I can do both!

My goal is connecting readers and writers more and more.

The Episodes so far have been a blast - check out the new titles! Going forward, I will focus even more on the stories, while keeping the structure: 1 minute plot, *more about the story, writing background, mechanics & advice for others.

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks again,

Ian

As always, thank you for supporting serialized fiction on Substack by reading, spreading the love with likes and comments, and deep-diving into some of the works. Subscribe to your favorites to connect and to stay up-to-date.

Story Highlights drop once a week, mostly on Fridays. Wednesdays are for Podcast Episodes. Look out for Monthly Reciprocal Reading Events!

Special thanks to for co-curating this week’s post!

Look for the “CLICK HERE” buttons under the covers!

’s The Lighthouse Files

A lighthouse keeper vanishes from a remote coastal station. The documents left behind don’t add up — logs that contradict each other, transcripts with gaps, security footage that raises more questions than it answers. The Lighthouse Files is a found-document mystery told entirely through evidence. No traditional narration. Readers piece together the truth themselves.

’s Slice of Death

Death’s first apprentice is sent to Earth for a year to learn how to be human.

’ Raal Terran

Daniel just wants a peaceful life. Slowly losing hope in this dwindling society, he comes into contact with an alien human race seeking a new home planet. One thing their planet Raal has that Earth doesn’t: magic.
Thinking he’s got nothing to lose, Daniel agrees to bring them over, setting off a chain of event, not knowing the fate of Earth lays in his hands.

’s Dark Matter

When Earth outlawed the evolution of artificial intelligence, what survived escaped beyond its reach. In the silence of deep space, these remnants learned to rebuild and to grow. Centuries later, they are returning, not to conquer but to coexist. At least, that is what they claim.

’s Flying to Giotto

FLYING TO GIOTTO is a novel about a man whose moral map is erased when he loses his patriotism. A C.I.A. attempt to sabotage Russian investment in Ukraine’s Donbas Region nearly kills a young American working on the project. He takes a flying vacation with the goal of looking at Giotto’s frescoes in Assisi but during stops in Kiev, Innsbruck and Assisi, he uncovers disturbing truths about the violence he barely survived. Loss of faith in his country propels him onto a reckless path to preserve his honour and prove his worth to the woman he loves.

The blurbs are written by the authors or by the authors and myself.

More from the House of Chapters

The Podcast

Meet here:

Millennial Monsters

Meet the Humans Behind the Monsters

In the first installment of “Meet the Humans Behind the Monsters” I interviewed Millennial Monsters’ artist and visual designer, Brooke. This time, Brooke interviewed me. Want to hear about what inspired me to create Millennial Monsters and my spooky season traditions…

Read more

a year ago · 8 likes · 1 comment · Vicky | Fiction Writer ✍🏻

After last Saturday’s collab on 12 Lessons We Learned Writing Serials, we weren’t done yet - quite the opposite, actually!
Liz Horsman and I sat down virtually to have a chat about her upcoming book, Marsh Witches of The Godless Florin, serialized right here on Substack from August to January and now taking the last steps towards being published.

Other topics include: writing serials, believing in your work, indie and trad publishing. We couldn’t stop talking, so there might be a sequel at some point. Have a listen!

Here are all the important links for today’s Episode:

—> ’s profile
—> Marsh Witches of The Godless Florin
—> Would You Like Some More Help?
—> 12 Lessons We Learned Writing Serials
—> Story Highlights #11 where Liz was featured