Fiction Picks Collective: June 2025 edition
Your Substack binge-read headquarters for this weekend
Images shown are covers of serials from tales (in order clockwise starting from the top-left-center) by
, , , , .If you’re new here, so you can find more of the previous reads I recommended by clicking on this lovely button:
Or you can click here to go to the Substack Fiction Picks Collective section list of posts. I love sharing other great fiction series’ writers here on Substack ever since completing my own 🛸 Sci-Fi Comedy Series “The Intergalactizen’s Guide to Taming Earthlings.”😂
I do these once a month, so click here to get more of them:
I hope you’re all having a wonderful summer as I have been, diving into the stacks here to uncover some new serials that I highly recommend everyone to read:
1. Murmurs in the Walls by Bridget Riley
Personally, I find detective stories with a psychic involved so much more fun to read. This tale was great in the way it weaved the paranormal beautifully into the mundane to make it feel fluid and real.
I absolutely loved the transitions into her psychic flashes that are revealing clues about the murder case:
“Bob,” Judith cut in, “the impressions aren’t always under my control.”
“Well, sure, sure, but just focus on the data at first. You’re good at that. Talk to the owner, hear what she’s been experiencing, take a tour of the house, the whole shebang. I can drop off an EMF meter for you to borrow. Then, once you get a baseline, you can do your psychic readings and go from there.”
“Why aren’t you working this one? I’d feel more comfortable just consulting with you as a psychic.”
“Well –” Bob paused, taking a noisy inhale.
A fiery spasm flared behind Judith’s eyes, and she clenched her teeth in pain as an image of Bob fluttered into her mind.
Bob in a blue gown, tied at the waist and shoulder, sitting in a bright, sterile room while a white-coated man with a bright, sterile face gestures at a scan.
A quick incision, and then there is a lump below his collarbone, providing easier access to his veins.
Liquid flooding his body, eating away at the greedy, invasive cells. Shriveling him until he is an old man, a husk.
Sore mouth, heaving stomach, exhaustion, the impenetrable white fog like cotton muffling his thoughts.
Bob in a blue gown, tied at the waist and shoulder, now hanging loosely over his gaunt, atrophied frame.
Judith’s awareness of the world came back to her in a chaotic whirl of honking car horns and an empty lane ahead of her. Pressing on the gas, she hurried through the intersection.
Go to this link to read more by
.2. The Muldoon Book Club by Hanna Delaney
Ok, I have a thing for circus stories. For example, I completely LOVED The Night Circus. (You can read my fan-rant on “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern here.)
You can’t imagine how delighted I was to have a mention of clown-phobia in this because OMG I have always been freaked out by all clowns. This is completely relatable. Plus, that combination of the clowns with the creepy historical setting is fantastic intrigue. To me, it’s a perfectly winning combination.
Check out this quote:
Also, I know what people don’t like, and that’s clowns.
Their frightened faces stared up into the light of the lantern Whitelegs was holding. Large, white eyes sprang out of their gaunt, muddy faces. Whitelegs, it appeared, was white all over, with black eyes and a black tear on his cheek. “You want to give us a hand?” the white-faced clown asked.
Go here to read more by
.3. Radiance by E.B. Howard
This blurb sold me on this story with an incredibly quirky and fun hook of this glam-girl superhero in a world where many of her friends are also superheroes:
Radiance is a lighthearted fiction serial about one of Earth's darker timelines. It takes place around 2013 in a world where atypical abilities have become increasingly common, with the storyline following a group of minor-league superheroes based in Washington, DC. Our protagonist is Lady Radiance, former teen sensation, aka Christabel Jones, professional ray of sunshine—or, at least, she's trying her best.
Can Christabel and her friends handle their new double lives as celebrity vigilantes? Will they be able to track down and defeat the mysterious villain behind the One-Winged Army? Who keeps taking Dr. Marissa’s pizza rolls? And how can you find your place in the world when you're no longer even sure what it means to be human?
Go here to read more by
.4. The Sound of Love by Mkwawa Shujaa
Ok, while this one isn’t technically a series, I’m listing it here because I loved this short story with a powerful message & want it to become a full series. 😉The opening is poetically written and full of relatable characters:
Lately, everything seemed to hang in the balance, like a delicate thread stretched too thin.
The morning had passed in silence, with only the sound of Mia Thompson moving about the apartment and the occasional hum from the refrigerator filling the space.
She sat on the couch now, her hands resting on her growing belly, her fingers nervously tracing circles on the fabric of her oversized sweater.
Her dark curls, usually wild and untamed, were pulled back into a messy bun, her caramel skin glowing faintly in the dim afternoon light.
The loose maternity leggings she wore were soft against her swollen legs, but nothing could comfort the weight she carried inside, not just from the baby, but from the fears gnawing at her heart.
Every time she closed her brown eyes, she saw the bills piling up, imagined the future, wondered how they’d make it.
Go here to read more from
.P.S. He has also written a series called “Into the Deep” about a mysterious woman fighting to stay alive when she suddenly finds herself underwater. If you like contemporary suspense thrillers, then check out this one:
As for what books I’m reading now…it’s this comedy:
Hyperbole & a Half by Allie Brosh details childhood antics and more from a hilariously unhinged woman reflecting on her past, and the way she weaves her stories truly makes me laugh like a kid. Wonderful read so far.
Thanks for reading, and tune in next month for more must-reads!
Plus, next week I’m launching a year-long series of posts called “Revise with me” that will walk you through a unique method I created for doing a developmental revision on your novel. 😁
Cheers, and have a lovely day!
Oh, thank you for including Radiance! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. ❤️ this is a great list, it's in good company for sure.
Thank you for the mention ♥️