The Pitch is a monthly discussion thread of the best science fiction and fantasy on Substack, as recommended by the authors themselves. Here’s how it works:
Are you an author? Head to the comments and add a link to any one speculative fiction short story, serial chapter or anthology post from your Substack. Add a one sentence summary pitch for the post. This is your chance to creatively promote your work and talent. Try to link a post that you haven’t yet added to a previous pitch session.
Are you a reader? If there’s a story you enjoy, be sure to add a like and comment on the author’s Substack, but feel free to come back here and do the same.
Are you a Notes user? Spread the word by restacking the thread in a Note.
A delivery driver trying to put her life back together is given an unusual assignment and a set of firm rules, but can she follow the rules and still do the right thing?
Captain Happily Married and Super Soccer Mom change up their usual superhero advice column for an Ask Me Anything-style post answering questions submitted by Substack readers.
When his hometown is destroyed in an act of retribution, a legendary warrior makes a desperate last stand in this latest installment of the fantasy anthology series, The Chronicles of Cyron.
A cyborg worries that the central mind that controls her is insufficiently committed to modern society, and too soft to handle the danger that is Humans.
An emotionally wounded sasquatch and a chainsmoking turtle must smuggle endangered unicorns out of Seattle into the Cascades range in a Cloudbrew beer truck in 1993.
Amid the white-hot Tokyo magitech market, the altruistic spokeswoman for Diet Breakfast Water and an ambitious engineer race to open up magic accessibility before their groundbreaking project can be crushed in the vise of capitalism.
The end of a war that ravaged the stars has unexpected consequences for all who survived, including the crew of the Circumstance, who can never go home again.
A teenage boy gifted with light travels a post-apocalyptic South East landscape with his father to confront his opposite and burn away the alien spirits that control the world's children.
When eight sharks wash up on the highway leading into the isolated coastal town of Point Chester, seventeen-year-old Kayla starts to worry that there's something in the water.
But it's not what's IN the water Kayla needs to be worried about now...
I'm kind of the inverse. My substack explores the non fiction which I then weave into my Science Fiction. My debut novel involves a lot of topics that started here like this example of what the biggest threat from AI really is!
I hope this falls under the category, I mean it does involve aetherial shenanigans and long dead alien parasite seeds bring the dead and living into a new life...
The Great War never ended. Not while the Mortalis crawled the Earth and brought ruin to the city on the Moon.
An installment of a novel, "RETRIEVE", written with a monthly theme of "Dreams", and their significance for the story's characters, including humans and Alien "A.I.s" ("shipwrecked" millions of years ago on Earth) gone native. https://edwardrooster.substack.com/p/a-weaving-of-split-infinities
First installment of a two-parter originally in Mohs 5.5 Mars: a mysterious outbreak of breathing problems on the Martian surface, 500 years after English colonization began in North America.
When an alliance is formed between spunky lone wolf Lita and tough gang leader Mack Malten, the freshly-minted duo find themselves in the clutches of a devious (and deviant) city agent.
Tired of the same old serials with no Mancunian scientists?[REDACTED] offers 70% more Jimmy Stokes than many leading brands. Read now and we'll throw in Shoji Mazuka, MBA, absolutely free.
The Pitch #6: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy on Substack
A delivery driver trying to put her life back together is given an unusual assignment and a set of firm rules, but can she follow the rules and still do the right thing?
https://talebones.substack.com/p/the-right-thing
A hurricane grapples with the fury of its own existence in a conversation held miles above the Atlantic Ocean.*
https://open.substack.com/pub/christopherfreeland/p/12-heart-of-the-storm?r=2xiwo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
*Reposting as I accidentally deleted my original comment. Serves me right for checking my likes!
Byron the Blackpage, a monk who writes world-books is censured by his order for a crime he didn't commit, and a horror that stalks his worlds.
https://gibberish.substack.com/p/prompt-the-fire
Captain Happily Married and Super Soccer Mom change up their usual superhero advice column for an Ask Me Anything-style post answering questions submitted by Substack readers.
https://indianamichael.substack.com/p/ask-the-captain-special-ama
A flash piece creating a new mythology about a real wood in Somerset.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesrmarshall/p/henley-giant?r=1eqm6v&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A young man is compelled to go up by a persistent and painful voice echoing in his skull in this 200-word story inspired by The Last of Us.
https://twistingmyths.substack.com/p/a-quick-tale-go-up-science-fiction-zombie
Russell Nohelty’s short story, Pixie Dust, shared on The Books That Made Us.
A frost giant threatens to destroy the Kingdom and only a lone pixie holds the line.
https://booksthatmadeus.substack.com/p/pixie-dust
Life after the invasion leaves Cora in a state of distress and, struck by paranoia, finds herself hiding a rapidly growing secret from her husband. (Lovecraftian, sci-fi) https://open.substack.com/pub/bmaya/p/flowers-from-exodus?r=2bqhzt&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
When his hometown is destroyed in an act of retribution, a legendary warrior makes a desperate last stand in this latest installment of the fantasy anthology series, The Chronicles of Cyron.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshtatter/p/the-lion-of-sparos?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=25u9ow
Wendy, the fast food ai meant to take orders at Wendy’s, becomes self aware. The newest menu item? Vengeance.
https://open.substack.com/pub/peewee/p/wendys-great-jihad?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A cyborg worries that the central mind that controls her is insufficiently committed to modern society, and too soft to handle the danger that is Humans.
https://amyletter.substack.com/p/the-human-wine
An End of Days satire about religion, as Christ, Buddha, and Mohammed, have to interview a candidate for the position of Anti-Christ, while Beelzebub has the final say as to whether or not they have the right guy for the job... https://open.substack.com/pub/benwoestenburg/p/the-deeds-of-mercy?r=254e8w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Mars in 2300 AD is contested: by the Earth, the people who live there, and the spacers from Jove. A one man has to deal with all of this and more. https://stirlingnewberry.substack.com/p/red-zone-4
What’s the maximum proportion of sociopaths in a society before sociopathy becomes the norm? https://open.substack.com/pub/cauf/p/dydx-chapter-i-anodyne?r=1ov3gf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Two young warriors in the Scottish Highlands run afoul of an ancient goblin-like creature and are cursed to serve him.
https://open.substack.com/pub/swordslore/p/the-goblin-dreams?r=2bql01&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A romantic fantasy involving a witch, a ghostly portrait, and an IT guy turned chef.
https://fantasticalfiction.substack.com/p/windfall-apples
A young seamstress might be the only thing standing between her country and a ruthless queen.
https://open.substack.com/pub/lucywinton/p/the-hidden-glade-part-one?r=1frtdb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
An emotionally wounded sasquatch and a chainsmoking turtle must smuggle endangered unicorns out of Seattle into the Cascades range in a Cloudbrew beer truck in 1993.
https://stomproams.substack.com/p/stomp-robs-a-cloudbrew-beer-truck
Dating, sex, and marriage in two competing dystopian worlds.
https://vonwriting.substack.com/p/contract-marriage-1
My bit of Throwback Thursday:
The recordkeeper Dismas went three thousand years into the past to recover the incorrupt body of St. Francis Xavier.
https://germanicuscaesar117.substack.com/p/a-heist-in-goa
When the Icaridians arrive, God evaporates, and a biologist is tasked with finding impossible answers to questions she doesn't understand. https://fallonclark.substack.com/p/the-radio-room
Your wild twin is there, always waiting for you to break, give in and abandon the rules of society. What happens when you embrace her?
https://plottedout.substack.com/p/where-the-wild-things-arent
An ordinary suburban street hides a nervous, ever-vigilant serpent beneath our feet.
Best take a deep breath before diving in…
https://open.substack.com/pub/reiditwrite/p/the-sewer-rats-apprentice?r=wtpo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The Denali hills are alive with the sound of screaming men and murderous automatons.
https://open.substack.com/pub/zacharyroush/p/denali-denial?r=5bis7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
What if the rapture happened in reverse? - BLINK: An Oral History of the Harvest - A epistolary novel in the vein of World War Z
https://theblink.substack.com/p/an-introduction
In a world where Rome never collapsed, it now spreads to the stars.
https://pulpvitalist.substack.com/p/the-last-son-of-rome
Amid the white-hot Tokyo magitech market, the altruistic spokeswoman for Diet Breakfast Water and an ambitious engineer race to open up magic accessibility before their groundbreaking project can be crushed in the vise of capitalism.
https://syphoncontinuity.substack.com/p/chapter-01-fujiwara-eika
The end of a war that ravaged the stars has unexpected consequences for all who survived, including the crew of the Circumstance, who can never go home again.
https://open.substack.com/pub/christiewright/p/prologue-desolation-among-the-stars
Last time I tagged my first installment, this time I tag the second.
What could possibly go wrong when twin brothers indulge in a footrace in the snowy forest, on an alien planet?
https://open.substack.com/pub/jennyhoman01/p/copy-2-getting-into-it?r=25941x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A teenage boy gifted with light travels a post-apocalyptic South East landscape with his father to confront his opposite and burn away the alien spirits that control the world's children.
https://harveyhamer.substack.com/s/children-of-shadows
The only way for immortals to stay hidden within society is to control AI – but the AI has plans of its own.
First chapter in the serialization of STAR FALL PEOPLE: https://jamiedibs.substack.com/p/star-fall-people-chapter-1
When eight sharks wash up on the highway leading into the isolated coastal town of Point Chester, seventeen-year-old Kayla starts to worry that there's something in the water.
But it's not what's IN the water Kayla needs to be worried about now...
What Kayla needs to worry about is...
ZOMBIE SHARKS!
https://authorstrator.substack.com/p/zombie-shark-highway
Balthazar travelled the West hawking his “Miracle Cure” to credulous locals. But what if it really worked?
https://open.substack.com/pub/aflashinthepan/p/the-miracle-cure
I'm kind of the inverse. My substack explores the non fiction which I then weave into my Science Fiction. My debut novel involves a lot of topics that started here like this example of what the biggest threat from AI really is!
https://www.polymathicbeing.com/p/the-biggest-threat-from-ai-is-us
I hope this falls under the category, I mean it does involve aetherial shenanigans and long dead alien parasite seeds bring the dead and living into a new life...
The Great War never ended. Not while the Mortalis crawled the Earth and brought ruin to the city on the Moon.
https://mrmadwriter.substack.com/s/the-fall-years-roswell
Angus Brown was a profoundly unhappy man, until he read a book that appeared on his desk one morning.
https://jimmiewrites.substack.com/p/thursday-the-e-zine-for-september#%C2%A7become-like-the-water
The promise of unimaginable wealth is too much for Charles and Abigail to ignore but everything has its price.
https://reddoscarwrites.substack.com/p/a-slow-ascent-of-madness-chapter
Kill your bosses, save the world...OR, Man who has come to hate his station in life has opportunity to radically change everything. --- https://open.substack.com/pub/sethtummins/p/absence?r=1blk64&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
An installment of a novel, "RETRIEVE", written with a monthly theme of "Dreams", and their significance for the story's characters, including humans and Alien "A.I.s" ("shipwrecked" millions of years ago on Earth) gone native. https://edwardrooster.substack.com/p/a-weaving-of-split-infinities
A King finds an amusing wizard tied to a stake and makes a deal with him.
https://markstarlinwrites.substack.com/p/a-wave-of-silence
(scroll down to The King And The Wizard.)
First installment of a two-parter originally in Mohs 5.5 Mars: a mysterious outbreak of breathing problems on the Martian surface, 500 years after English colonization began in North America.
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/jamestown-2107-482
In the strange world of Anthropomorph, even sex is weird: https://davidperlmutter.substack.com/p/how-not-to-make-love-to-a-superhero
Tyler traveled back in time with one simple goal: to save a beloved childhood pet who disappeared shortly after his 12th birthday.
https://newworlds.substack.com/p/rescuing-brownie
Will a brilliant young mage be able to stand up to the bullying ghosts of his past and thrive in a new environment?
https://amywintersvoss.substack.com/p/standing-on-my-own-part-1
FAHRENHEIT 32 - Charlie approaches the woman sitting at the end of the bar, hoping to get lucky.
https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/fahrenheit-32
What if your body were slowly taken over by an all-too-familiar someone?
https://ffsilva.substack.com/p/the-great-split
When an alliance is formed between spunky lone wolf Lita and tough gang leader Mack Malten, the freshly-minted duo find themselves in the clutches of a devious (and deviant) city agent.
https://365infantry.substack.com/p/vi-under-the-silver-gun
Tired of the same old serials with no Mancunian scientists?[REDACTED] offers 70% more Jimmy Stokes than many leading brands. Read now and we'll throw in Shoji Mazuka, MBA, absolutely free.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ethanrodgers/p/19871112-19871113?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=b9r5q