September Statistics and Joachim Glage's New Book!
Joachim Glage, short story winner from January, has recently completed his first novel, The Devil’s Library.
His novel can be purchased HERE.
His winning story, “Epilogue,” has also been made free to read and can be found HERE.
Joachim focuses on philosophical fiction, creating whole worlds and histories with his rich description, typically from a rare or ancient text. Don’t take my word for it, simply read some short exerpts yourself!
From a story called "A Note on a Note on the Paraclitans"
“I offer the following note on the ancient Paraclitans, that sect (descended from the early Eleatic School) known for preaching the notorious doctrine that the one sine qua non of perfection is finitude: “One cannot say of anything that it is perfect until it is finished,” or so Paraclitus himself has it in one of his more famous fragments. A great deed might achieve perfection, as might a poem or a military ruse or a political speech or a tulip, or even a human life, but “the proof will not be had until the thing in question has reached its end, and can no longer ruin or detract from itself.” This doctrine would lead its later adherents, in the early Christian era, to the heresy that the only object in the universe which in principle cannot be perfect is precisely the infinite God. “The incorruptible ALL must wilt before the perfection of a single melting snowflake,” writes the paraclitan monk Philoxenus in the fourth century A.D. (before being flayed for it in Constantinople): “God can only dream of so faultless a completion.”
From a story called "The Book of Ahaziah"
“What possesses a man to celebrate the devil? Of course there are those who but pray for their own advantage, and so seek out magic. (A brute Calvinist principle stirs here: You might bargain with the devil, never with God.) Such lures, however, attract only the basest and coarsest among us, the types that hardly ever are seen shuddering in the throes of religion. Beyond vapid self-interest, however, there are other and more sophisticated forces that might drive a person to devil worship. Some devotees, for example, hold as a matter of principle that God’s verdict against humanity was unjust. (Were we not tricked?) Others merely sympathize with the punished (and surely no being in all the universe has been punished more than he who went from Paradise to the Pit). Still others exalt the powers of imagination and fiction, which are embodied most supremely in the Father of Lies.
What in particular moved Perry Dankworth to love the devil we may never know. Perhaps he had a vision of a resplendent but wronged archangel; perhaps he saw phantoms, with arms outstretched or bound in grave-clothes, who somehow pressed him into their service. Perhaps he found something hidden in the scriptures, or in the Book of Ahaziah, from which he could not look away.”
Let’s support Joachim any way we can!
Other statistics for the month:
Free Subscribers: 9511
Total Cash Payout: $522.50
Total Stories Submitted: 157
Appendix
Short Story Substack Winners (Paid Subscription Unlocks All 34 Stories)
Fields Where Lilacs Fade - A lot can be said with just a little.
Anomaly - Healing the world.
Seasons Change - Reverse chronology on the choices of life.
Less - Only keep things that spark joy.
A Gentleman of Sterling Character - Character can’t be bought.
Exit Duty - Old teaches young and young teaches old.
Becoming Cheyenne - Identity, friendship, and human nature.
The Imposter Carla Cluckins - Not all stakes must be huge.
Epilogue - It is only through evil that good can be known.
The Magnifying Tongue - Cult and subtext.
SIDESHOW - How many choices do we really have?
It’s Just a Rattlesnake - Magical realism in the desert.
Smiley’s Tavern - On listening and understanding what we hear.
Sweeter Than Honey - Love and magic and art.
One Brief Shining Moment - Conspiracy theory or conspiracy fact?
Ten Seconds - The Devil only wants ten seconds of your life. Do you take the deal?
Bear - Simple and beautiful love between a father, his daughter, and a stuffed bear.
Mr. Harold’s Gift - Not all gifts that are given are well received.
The Mummer’s Parade - Love that is real and true is often messy.
The Garden Club - The power of rumor to destroy. A story that is both fictional and educational.
Depression Séance - Magic is real in the eyes of a child.
Abrama’s Endgame - Sci-Fi look at artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and the struggle to survive.
Do-Over - What happens when you get to re-do your life? What does that answer say about the life that was lived?
Goodbye, Debbie Sue - Freedom on your own terms.
The Pawnshop of Intangible Things - The most valuable things aren’t physical.
Make It a Double - Comparison is the thief of joy.
Worms - Creeping horror.
Do Not Resuscitate - Life’s complex choices in end-of-life care.
I Hate Killing People in Kansas City - An action-packed story better than most movies in the past 20 years.
Sometimes, People Just Have Things They Have To Do - Getting the band back together.
There’s Not Much I Don’t Know - Fatherhood and the instinct to protect.
No Greater Love - Sacrifice in the face of slavery.
Oil On Canvas - The future, and regret, always come.
Blues For Rashid - Music turned into story.
Tools
Webster's 1913 Dictionary - Inspirational dictionary that appreciates the art and beauty of words.
Hemingway App - Online tool that will tighten your writing.
One Look Thesaurus - Wide-ranging thesaurus that goes beyond simple synonyms.
Free Online Short Stories
How To Tell A True War Story - Tale of violence and what it means to know the truth.
Good Old Neon - A look at life and death from a different perspective.
Hills Like White Elephants - One of the best uses of subtext ever.
The Egg - Mind-bending sci-fi look at the reason for humanity.
I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream - Sci-Fi horror about a malevolent AI.
Flowers For Algernon - Looking at the limits of intelligence and love.
To Build A Fire - Tale of survival in the bitter cold.
The Cask of Amontillado - Revenge.
The Garden Of Forking Paths - Spy thriller set in WW2.
Rikki Tikki Tavi - On courage in the face of danger.