26 Comments

Clancy, thanks man! Love how you're always hyping fiction on here and other writers you enjoy. Definitely feeling the community, and you're rightfully near the center of it.

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Thanks Martin! I slowed down a lot this summer for various Life reasons, but as summer ends and life resumes, I’m back to it!

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Sep 2Liked by Clancy Steadwell

Nice, Clancy, I like this. As you say, there tend to be quite a few round-up type posts around at the moment, but they often seem to be link-dumps without much substance and I don't gel with those, so I appreciate reading *why* you like these authors and their words.

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Thanks Nathan, that’s a meaningful compliment. I think all those have their place, I don’t hope to displace any. I’m doing this for me, more than anyone — if i’m going to be reading on Substack, I might as well post about what I’m reading!! And I want to do the same thing you did for me — provide meaningful feedback early in other writer’s substack careers. So hopefully I can do that.

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Sep 3Liked by Clancy Steadwell

Ah, that's awesome Clancy. I'm not sure if I ever offered anything of use hehe, plus I'd as much be looking to you for advice anyway ;)

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Sep 2Liked by Clancy Steadwell

Thank you for sharing! I appreciate those who share other lesser known authors. How else is the word getting out?

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I’ll do my best. I remember how it felt when people lifted me up when I first started, I want to pay that forward. Thanks for reading Reina!

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thanks for such a wonderful reviews Clancy. Lot of good material here

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Thanks for reading Rolando! More to come.

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Great idea, Clancy! I personally like it when you restack with a note, but this format is also interesting and maybe more useful to those, like me, who are not on Notes much. Also, the way the algorithm works on Notes is still a mystery to me: sometimes I see a “Writing is beautiful”, 38 minutes old note with 1638 likes, whereas a note with a compelling, well-articulated thought only shows 5 likes (after having been there for 7 days). A mystery.

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Thanks for taking a peek Silvio! Good point about those who aren't on Notes much. I hope this exposes those people to some of these great writers.

And you're right about the algorithm. Whenever I post something short but pithy, people seem to like it a lot more, but when I post these thoughts on the lit I've found, they do less well. I think longer Notes are just things that maybe people would rather see in a longform post. So I am liking this format of embedding Notes into a post because I think it gets the best of both worlds.

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I welcome any posts/notes/stacks on works - as opposed to how-to-do-the-work. I often feel swamped and sinking when n the glut of “5 ways to …” and “I reached a new milestone and you can too if you only…” posts.

Reading Substack, and notes, can be like going to a fine restaurant for a nourishing meal — and it can also be like wandering into a cooking 101 class.

Give us the meals. Not the ingredients.

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Thanks Andrew! -- Just call me "The Waiter" bringing the meals.

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Love the voyage of discovery you can be taken on by fabulous posts like these. Subscribed to Martin Brodsky on the strength of his piece that you shared. Nice!

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Thanks F&F! I’m so glad!

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Sep 3Liked by Clancy Steadwell

As someone who very much enjoys your writing and respects your opinion, I'm thrilled for this series. I'm always on the hunt for new stories and writers, but admit that Substack has become a bit noisy for me lately. Thanks for cutting through it with these and forthcoming recs.

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Thanks Sara that’s great to hear! I’ll do my best.

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This is a cool series. I wasn’t aware of most of these authors. Thanks, Clancy.

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Sep 3Liked by Clancy Steadwell

thank you for the restack, clancy! i’ve saved the others and can’t wait to read.

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Sep 3Liked by Clancy Steadwell

Great, going to have a look at all of those recommendations.

A lot of recommendations on Notes or in newsletters are for fantasy or sci-fi type fiction, of which I have limited attraction or interest, so your little round up of good fiction writing is really valuable. You do the work, we can follow the breadcrumbs, or not.

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That’s great to hear Caz, thank you! I agree that there tends to be more genre fiction than anything, so I’m doing my best to find the lit.

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Honored to be in such good company. Thanks for the lovely words and connecting us all!

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Thanks for writing on Substack Bryan! Tag me in a Note when you read any good lit fic.

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Thanks for putting this together Clancy...I know how widely read you are in the fiction community here on Substack, so I'll definitely be checking these out for new writers to read.

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Thanks Peter! You're still on my list to read. I actually think you in particular will like a few of these if you haven't checked them out already from my Notes.

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Absolutely...we seem to have a similar taste in what we enjoy reading, so again...glad you're putting this together in one place. It's a bit different than most of the other fiction round up type pages. Love that you hand select them and share your personal thoughts. It's a nice touch.

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