I enjoyed learning about MJ’s writing background, style, favorite book, writing process and a little bit about how Hank’s The Ugly Duckling, our featured book came about. He even read the blurb in addition to the review that’s available here on this publication.

During this live we mentioned other writers here on Substack, whose work might be nominated to the Short Stories and Tales Short Story Contest, and those whose published books are featured as reward options for our winner.
Please check out the nomination post here.

I read a chapter from MJ’s book earlier in March. The recording of that live can be viewed in the podcast. The book can be found on MJ’s page, on the Southern Copywriters Blog and on Amazon as well.

Other books mentioned during this live were:

Our featured books:
Hank Cotton’s The Ugly Duckling
’s Loretto, reviewed here
’s Myths & Monsters, reviewed here (last week’s live)
’s short story book My Angel Wears a Helmet and his latest, Such Pleasant Smells, reviewed here, also
, ’s book, featured on the Southern Writers’ Guild last month: First Light.

Thank you , , , , and many others for tuning into my live video with ! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Harriet Corvine in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Welcome to Short Stories and Tales.

This publication was created to bring beautifully written pieces to the spotlight, that deserve recognition.

Following Saturday’s Live with the , where we talked about a few of her stories in her short story book, and where we talked about the purpose of this publication (beginning of the the live) and reward options as well (end of the live),
this post is to open the nomination period, when we can share our favorite short stories’ links in the comments, so they can compete with each other.
With this post, the Nomination period for the May Short Stories and Tales Short Story Competition is NOW OPEN.
Please feel free to nominate in the comments.
Reward options for the winning story and rules and info how it works can be found below. Please check them out.

This competition serves as an advertisement for writers
who are willing to participate or whose work is nominated
and
to those who agree for their books listed as possible reward for the winner to choose from.
If you’d like your book to be featured as a reward, please reach out and provide a link to your work. Offers are welcome.

Subscribe now

Reward options:
Subject of availability of shipping:

Click on the title to see the Amazon page to read about the author and his/her book(s) and the Author’s name to check out their Substack!

Loretto by

My Angel Wears a Helmet by

Myths & Monsters by

The Ugly Duckling by Hank Cotton

Please SUBSCRIBE, RESTACK and LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments under this post, ALONG WITH YOUR NOMINATION. Most importantly: ENJOY!

Subscribe now

Here is how / The rules:

• Frequency: Monthly

• Nominations and voting periods are approximately 2-2 weeks,

• Genres: Not narrowing it down, you can nominate any genre, but need to keep it under 2000 words. - this gives exposure to more people and makes the end result (who’s going to be the winner) more unpredictable, more exciting every month.

The details, logistics:

1. A post, THIS POST

   is calling all readers/writers to nominate their favored stories with a link in the comments during the nominations period while sharing this post = please check the box to share in Notes, too.
   Restacking and sharing this post is always welcome.

   Nominations period is: May 5th to May 17th, 2026.

2. A post calling for voting, listing the nominated stories (published at the end of the nomination period) with the poll(s) and the links to the possible reward options included.

3. Both posts
   a) the post calling for nominations (this one)
   b) and the one calling for voting (published at the end of nomination period)

   are listing the authors and their published books (written by fellow authors on Substack) that are available for the winner to choose from as a prize (Disclaimer: 1 book and subject to availability of shipping) - please see below:

4. Q&A: Can a writer who has a book included in the rewards section be nominated in the contest?: Yes.

NOMINATION WINDOW IS NOW OPEN, from May 5th to May 17th, 2026, with voting open in the second half of May.

Thank you!
H.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into our video today!

To buy Emma’s book from Amazon please click here.

Join me for my next live video in the app.

See you again soon,
Harriet

Get more from Harriet Corvine in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

My dad didn’t like gardening either. He did some of it, but didn’t put all his heart into it. And it showed. I picked up the pieces. Then I planted my own garden and I tended to its every need. I am still there, but many of my plants died in the last few years, many I gave away. In my parents’ garden my dad’s trees still stand, but what I used to have are long gone.

Now I enjoy the beauty of wildflowers. They grow freely, effortlessly in the fields that are home to bunnies and bees and butterflies. I used to wander around the field with my friend and collect bouquets there while my mother preferred gerberas and carnations.

A garden is more than the plants and flowers in it. It’s sweat and dirt and skin cut by the thorns of beautiful roses.

I walked into a garden a few days ago. It is magical. It is beautiful with a variety of plants. I could smell the roses and the jasmins, lean on the walls and take it all in. I am not familiar with all the plants in this one but I am with the concept.
We are born and we learn. We learn from our elders what was passed down to them. The expectations, the patterns.

This story is not about flowers. It’s not about words that are on the surface. It’s not about beauty. It’s about the meaning, that layer underneath. It’s about opening the gate and going for what we want. Many will live their lives and won’t think much of it. Live it like everybody else, accept the way, bowing to it, kneeling. And then there are those who remember, who are curious. Those who stand in the garden one day and stare into nothing because it dawns on them or at the sink in the kitchen, the water still running. Then walk and that doesn’t seem to make any sense to others. It makes perfect sense.

The book is well thought out, beautifully illustrated, structured, the pictures are otherworldly, the botanical descriptions and the opening observations are spot on and profound. It’s easy to digest, but deep. It’s worth taking in slowly and thinking about each part before moving onto the next. It’s a living-breathing metaphor in our hands and it’s the Gardener who breathes life into it.

’s new book is available for purchase on ko-fi and Amazon.

If you are looking for something entertaining with some suspense, double story lines that meet in a church in New Mexico, look no further, read ’s Loretto.

Available to purchase on Amazon.

He demonstrates not only bravery, empathy, but wit, humor, love and loyalty, too. His words to the girl not long before arriving at their destination are the wisdom and truth for all of us to remember.

I highly recommend reading this story by Hank Cotton. It will make you feel good and will restore your faith in humanity.

This book is available for purchase though The Southern Copywriter’s Blog and Amazon.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so very much for opening the book of Short Stories and Tales.

We’ve officially successfully completed our first competition cycle, during which we’ve had seven short stories nominated.

It was always going to be a tough competition, given the nominated pieces, as well as the rewards are so very different in genres, subjects and in styles. And that difference is to be celebrated as well!
So, although I am about to announce the winner of this competition, I must highlight the fact that the existence and appearance of every piece here was a treat in itself!

Last night at midnight I took a screenshot of the polls (picture inserted into the bottom of this post) and here are the results:

’s The Alabama Jubilee’s 28% of 7 votes equals 2 votes.
’s The Way In’s 57% of the 7 votes equals 4 votes.
‘s It’s Nice But’s 14% of the 7 votes equals 1 vote
’s In a Perfect World’s 66% of 3 votes equals 2 votes
’s Kindred Paws’ 33% of 3 votes equals 1 vote
I am hereby adding a complimentary vote to both ’s The Procedure and ’s Men Can Be Broken, which are both touching and well written stories and deserve our attention, too.

The story and the writer, who’s received the most votes in this cycle’s competition is ’s The Way In.
Congratulations!

Please let me know which one of the 3 featured books would you like to receive as a reward:
’s My Angel Wears a Helmet
’s Myths & Monsters
Hank Cotton’s The Ugly Duckling

Congratulations again to all participants and writers for their accomplishments and a big thank you to all who nominated the stories, read them and played along with voting.

See you again soon with some new stories to read!
Harriet

Please SUBSCRIBE, RESTACK and VOTE!

Welcome to Short Stories and Tales’ FIRST POLLING PERIOD!

This publication was created to bring beautifully written pieces to the spotlight, that deserve recognition.
Please find the Introduction here.
I am very excited to announce the nominated pieces below.

Subscribe now

The following stories were entered as nominees:

Southern Writers Guild

The Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic!

It started, as these things often do with our unholy trinity, with a wrong turn off I-20 near Pell City and a cooler that wouldn’t stop whispering…

Read more

4 months ago · 8 likes · primalbeet

A Girl Writing The World

The Way In

It had been a landmark, the Halcyon, a towering monolith of culture and entertainment, but there was no one left alive now who had seen it in operation. Old photographs provided evidence that it had once been anything but the ruin it was today, a monument to the past, red brick, dressed in sandstone and Art Deco sweeps. The golden glow of old bulbs gave…

Read more

2 months ago · 9 likes · 5 comments · Emma Steel

Observations In Time

It’s Nice But…

Prompt by: Fantasy and Fellowship: The Glorious Dead | A 687-Word Fantasy Short Story…

Read more

2 months ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Bill Ferguson 🇨🇦

Bocha's Substack

The Procedure: a short Political story that is complete fiction (or is it?)

By Bocha Blue…

Read more

2 months ago · 15 likes · 26 comments · Bocha Blue

Mania of Thought

In a Perfect World

In a perfect world…

Read more

2 months ago · 22 likes · 6 comments · Elizabeth

Douglas’s Substack

Men Can Be Broken

MEN CAN BE BROKEN…

Read more

4 months ago · 17 likes · 11 comments · Douglas Bruton

Through Words Be Guiled: A Phantom Literary Press™

Kindred Paws

© 2025 Annieguile Bentulan/Through Words Be Guiled. All rights reserved…

Read more

4 months ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Annieguile Bentulan

And the POLLs:

POLL CLOSES on April 17th, midnight Eastern Time.

REWARD OPTIONS:
Subject to availability of shipping:

Click on the title to see the Amazon page to read about the author and his/her book(s)

Myths & Monsters by

Of Men, Mischief & Misadventure by GJ Nichols aka
(on Amazon with both names)

The Ugly Duckling by Hank Cotton

Please SUBSCRIBE, RESTACK and VOTE!
LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments under this post.
Most importantly: ENJOY!

Thank you!
H.

Welcome to Short Stories and Tales.

This publication was created to bring beautifully written pieces to the spotlight, that deserve recognition.

As I was detailing this in the Introduction, we are starting this Short Story Competition, similarly to and in tandem with the poetry contest that is introduced and being run at Women’s Perspective.

Here is how / The rules:

• Frequency: Monthly

• Nominations and voting periods are 2-2 weeks,

• Limiting the number of nominations to 10 per month (first come first serve), because reading 10 stories in a month sounds manageable for readers/voters in 2 weeks or a month.

• 1 nomination per person, also 1 vote per person

• Genres: Not narrowing it down, you can nominate any genre, but need to keep it under 2000 words. - this gives exposure to more people and makes the end result (who’s going to be the winner) more unpredictable, more exciting every month.

This competition serves as an advertisement for writers
who are willing to participate or whose work is nominated
and
to those who agree for their books listed as possible reward for the winner to choose from.
If you’d like your book to be featured as a reward, please reach out and provide a link to your work. Offers are welcome.

Subscribe now

The details, logistics:

1. A post, THIS POST

   is calling all readers/writers to nominate their favored stories with a link in the comments during the nominations period while sharing this post = please check the box to share in Notes, too.
   Restacking and sharing this post is always welcome.

   Nominations period is the second half of March, 2026: March 15th to March 31st, 2026.

2. A post calling for voting, listing the nominated stories (published at the end of the nomination period) with the poll(s) and the links to the possible reward options included.

3. Both posts
   a) the post calling for nominations (this one)
   b) and the one calling for voting (published at the end of nomination period)

   are listing the authors and their published books (written by fellow authors on Substack) that are available for the winner to choose from as a prize (Disclaimer: 1 book and subject to availability of shipping) - please see below:

4. Q&A: Can a writer who has a book included in the rewards section be nominated in the contest?: Yes.
   

Reward options:
Subject of availability of shipping:

Click on the title to see the Amazon page to read about the author and his/her book(s)

Myths & Monsters by

Of Men, Mischief & Misadventure by GJ Nichols aka
(on Amazon with both names)

The Ugly Duckling by Hank Cotton

Please SUBSCRIBE, RESTACK and LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments under this post, ALONG WITH YOUR NOMINATION. Most importantly: ENJOY!

Subscribe now

NOMINATION WINDOW IS NOW OPEN, from March 15th to March 31st, 2026 for 2 weeks, with voting open from early April for 2 weeks.

Thank you!
H.

In this, his debut story–our hero Hank Cotton, is tasked with getting not only a travel trailer from Indiana to Florida; but also Jenny Deal, a thirteen year old runaway, who’s been kidnapped and the crooked cops are looking for her. Hank finds her hiding out in the back of his camper and he knows he has to save her.
Will Hank be able to outrun her pimp, and outsmart the crooked Alabama lawmen looking to stop him?
Find out how Jenny got in this mess – whether Brooke, Hank’s wife will understand why he’s got an underage sex worker with him, and whether Hank is able to get his cargo delivered safely in this novelette-length story titled, The Ugly Duckling.

The Ugly Duckling is available on the https://www.thesoutherncopywriter.com website: thesoutherncopywriter.com/books
as well as on Amazon worldwide - Amazon eBook link: a.co/d/8NbO0Ba ,
and for a limited time subscribers of the Southern Writers Guild can read it for free!

Closing:

As I said it in the introduction during the first episode of Lunchtime readings with Harriet:

Every day this week I came Live and read you a piece written by someone who is on Substack. Each piece is different and I like each for different reasons. I guess, to an extent I did discuss why I like each of these pieces.. and it’s alright. What we like is always subjective.

• on Day 1 I read from / ’s Antique Bastards series

• on Day 2 I read ’s Two Dawns

• on Day 3 I read ’s How Should I Feel?

• on Day 4 I read A Cold Wind Blowing by

• and today, on Day 5, as a closing piece of this series, I read from Hank Cotton’s novelette, The Ugly Duckling.

The purpose of writing can be many things. It can be letting off the load, spilling the excess, making us think, clear our minds, come to a conclusion, entertain us or other things.

For me, as a reader, a good piece of writing is good because it moves something in me. Because it speaks to me somehow. And that’s what I am after. Something that I can resonate with or something that can make me feel in awe. Be it the choice of words or the descriptions or the conversation or what is unsaid but implied. You understand what you are reading. Not only with your brain, but with your heart.

I hope that these readings made you think or made you just sit in awe, in wonderment and when you woke from it, you decided that you wanted more. Not of my reading. But that writing or what that writing has awakened in you: Curiosity, hunger!

Thank you for your attention all week.
Subscribe to Short Stories and Tales and be part of the adventure!
Please click on the links of Introduction & The Field of Wildflowers to learn more.

And now: Have a good day!
Thank you and See you soon,
Harriet

Short Stories and Tales

Platform for (short story) writers to showcase their work and the home of our Monthly Short Story Competition

By Harriet C.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Harriet C. in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Today was the 4th of the 5 short story readings I decided to do to highlight writers’ voices here a little. Please see the Introduction piece for this publication.

Today I read a beautiful story from Marty D. Snow.

About Marty:
He says, he is just a guy trying to make people feel ‘something’ thru stories and real lived experiences. He loves reading, writing, stories, books, music, nature, experiencing life.

He is a fellow Substacker, you can find his work at (@snotime) and his publication here: md840.substack.com

Today I read A Cold Wind Blowing, written for MJ’s Jukebox prompt in December.
Enjoy this beautiful peace! Link is below.

Marty D. Snow

A Cold Wind Blowing

This story is based on a prompt from MJ Polk’s wonderful publication, Stories from the Jukebox. This week’s song prompt is I Still Miss Someone by Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, first recorded in 1958. (Lyrics in bold italics…

Read more

5 months ago · 21 likes · 17 comments · Marty D. Snow

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video tomorrow!

Harriet

Get more from Harriet C. in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

’s bio:

She writes poetry and short stories in the genres of both gothic and fantasy, weaving in aspects of her native British mythology. Her writing is often gritty, exploring the underbelly of life, especially her poetry.

Her short stories typically stick to gothic and horror, where she takes delight in adding humor and a twist, often involving some kind of cosmic or karmic justice.

With a series of books published in 2025, she has established herself as a force to be reckoned with.

Her name is Emma Steel and much of her work can be found here on Substack at emmawrotewhat.substack.com

How should I feel?

A Girl Writing The World

How Should I feel?

Tell me, you always do. How should I feel when I wake, with the smile you expect to see, the day glorious regardless of the sky, because that's what you want? My gut wrenches with the expectation of another day, always the same, wearing me down. My nerves are strung out, monthly tension building, waiting for a release. A …

Read more

a year ago · 12 likes · 27 comments · Emma Steel

Hi all,
It seems I need to stick to the computer when it comes to doing lives today. The app on the phones (in plural) don’t seem to work. So in fact I don’t think the reason is my phone, but maybe the app…
Luckily though, I managed to have a live the second time to do the Lunchtime readings with Harriet (3 of 5).

Today I read Emma Steel piece, titled: How Should I feel?
Listen to it and enjoy!

See you tomorrow at 8:30am ET for the next poem reading in the morning and at 12:30pm ET for the next story!

Thanks for your patience!
H.

This is the second live, dedicated to bringing Substack writers’ voices to the forefront, ahead of this weekend’s post, when I’ll ask you to play along and tell me which is your current or all time favorite story on this platform and bring it up for all of us to see and read.

Today I am going to read a beautiful lyrical piece from a well-known writer here on Substack. He is a published author of 9 books. He has written a wide variety of pieces here as well, including heartwarming children’s stories, political pieces, incredible poetry, humorous, and some downright scary pieces, too. And while they are widely different in style, each is very down to earth, very human and relatable. He’s had a number of publications but his main domain here is Beautiful Heresy. His name is .
Today I’ll read Two Dawns

Beautiful Heresy

Two Dawns

Some places shape the way you wake. For me, it is Georgia, the first home, and Chicago, the city where I stand. Each morning carries the voice of both, rising with the light…

Read more

a year ago · 38 likes · 23 comments · Joe Nichols

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Harriet C. in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Every day this week I come live and will read you a piece written by someone who is on Substack. Each piece is different and I like each for different reasons. I won’t discuss why.

The purpose of writing can be many things. It can be letting off the load, spilling the excess. And that can feel good and result in something great.

What is good from the reader’s point of view is always subjective. So what I might like, you might not and vice-versa.

For me, as a reader, a good piece of writing is good because it moves something in the reader. Because it speaks to the reader somehow. And that’s what I am after as a reader. Something that I can resonate with or make me feel in awe. Be it the choice of words or the descriptions or the conversation or what is unsaid but implied. You understand what you are reading. Not only with your brain, but with your heart.

So I am going to read you now and hope that what I read will make you think or just sit in awe, in wonderment and when you wake from it, you decide that you want more. Not of my reading. But that writing or what that writing is awakening in you. Curiosity, hunger.

The first piece I am going to read is from aka Rick West.

Primalbeet aka Rick West is a lifelong musician, songwriter, poet, novelist and mixed media artist. He has one non-fiction book published on Amazon - “When the Boogeyman Comes Calling”, about recovering from broken relationships. He is in the process of publishing three fiction pieces, including Antique Bastards.
He will be the featured writer over at Southern Writers Guild beginning late in March, introducing his soon-to-be published novel “First Light”, a love story of sorts, set in Pensacola Beach, Florida.
You can find his music at primalbeet -YouTube and most of his writing at https://primalbeet.substack.com

The piece read during this live is from Antique Bastards: 6. Hannah
https://substack.com/@primalbeet/p-182702163

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Harriet C. in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Sunday morning and it seems that those thoughts are flowing in my mind again. I came to the couch, put my coffee cup down on the side table and opened the blind. The sun was out, Here comes the sun, I thought, it’s March and I feel it. And it is still trying to send some warmth my way through the clouds, through the windowpane.

So I sat down and scrolled through yesterday’s happenings. That and the thoughts, ideas I woke up with, the ones that were crossing my mind while making my coffee a little bit ago are waiting in neat lines… There is just so much I could tell…

Does it come with age? That we look back? And while standing next to the coffee maker, the word retrospect came to mind and from that the phrase of retrospective bank reconciliation... But I don’t want to talk about any of that.

****

I do look back in time. Think and compare. Memories come up that bring smiles to my face or make me feel sad... In retrospect, you could say, these memories make me aware of the now. Time does that. Shines light on things, puts things into perspective..
I visited my website yesterday with the intention of updating something there. I did fix an issue with a photo but didn’t fix another. There are things I need to think over, and then there are things that are just fine the way they are.
One of those fine things is my bio there. That is just spot on. True. It’s me. It couldn’t be more me. And maybe that’s how I would like to be remembered. But it’s not yet time for that. I am still here. Smiling and shining whenever I can. Beam and bask in the sun’s rays and enjoy.
There are just so many stories to read and there are too many adventures to be had.

Time, that cheeky thing that gets to get away from us so easily, time doesn’t always allow us to have those adventures the way we want. But language, language opens up a whole new world for us. And I am sure that I’ve been gushing about this a few times and maybe I even said these very words and I would hate to repeat myself. Regardless, I love language. Language can be divisive but I like thinking about it as a clip, a link to connect. A door that opens. To a big field full of flowers. Wildflowers, waist high that I can wade through with my palm touching the tippy top of them. Feel free, and small and innocent. And this takes me back to my childhood, when I was walking across the field near our house, a field full of poppies. There are still places like that. Books are like that and stories!

Words are those wildflowers, context is the field and I love getting lost in these worlds and admire the beauty and the depth, bask in those feelings lazily, with my face toward the Sun.

But this, this isn’t about me, though I’ve been talking about how much enjoyment language and words and books can cause me. It’s about you. Because without you, who writes, who shares, my life would be so much poorer, so much bleaker than it is with you in it. So I would like to celebrate you, the writer! You are the Sun!

Thank you!

If you love stories and language and the door that it represents to new worlds (real or imaginary), I’d like to invite you to join me, subscribe to Short Stories and Tales and be part of the adventure, by actively bringing your favorites into our (the readers’) attention.

Subscribe now

More on how I imagine this happening is coming up soon.
In the meantime, I have some fun planned for next week in a series of short live readings of YOUR stories to show the beauty that YOU bring into the world with your language, your words. The Sun shines on you. Please look out for Lunchtime readings with Harriet from Monday through Friday next week (I guess it’s this week, starting tomorrow) at 12:30pm Eastern for 15 minutes each day.

Here comes the Sun!

HC Tales

A short story contest page - Introduction

Dear reader…

Read more

2 months ago · 8 likes · Harriet C.

Subscribe now