Stacktember 2025

Week One: The Bargain

Restaurant Dickey

Sep 1

First prompt of Stacktember: The Bargain.

Congratulations to Mae, our first 2025 winner for The Bargain: THE BARGAIN FOR MOURNING! The perfect combination of all four criteria—dark, strange, fucked up, and flashy.

Mae Paulson

The Bargain for Mourning

Nancy moved through the funeral like she was underwater. Faces leaned in, lips moved, hands touched her arm, but everything blurred. The only thing sharp in her mind was Harold, lying so still in their bed that morning, when she reached for him and found air instead…

2 months ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Mae Paulson

This week’s runner-up as Craft Winner is: Benjamin Bagenski: BEFORE HENRY CRAWLED INSIDE mastering flash fiction’s odd detail, time jump, and gut-punch ending.

Coyote Handsome

Before Henry Crawled Inside

The following is an answer to Nico Harlakenden’s Stacktember prompt, “The Bargain.” As always, thank you for reading…

2 months ago · 1 like · Benjamin Bagenski

Congrats to

John M. Bauer

for winning the Reader’s Choice Award for the first week of Stacktember!

Nightly Noise

Unwanted Gesture

Hey! What makes a good deal…

2 months ago · 1 like · John M. Bauer

The Strangeness Kit

A New Face in Hell

A short piece inspired by Nico Harlakenden and her project for STACKTEMBER ‘25, based on the prompt/theme The Bargain…

2 months ago · 4 likes · A.P. Murphy

Automatic Writer

Vanilla Sinners

This story is based off of four prompts given by Nico Harlakenden as part of the Stacktember 2025 contest. Thanks, Nico…

2 months ago · 12 likes · 2 comments · Sean Thomas McDonnell

Incessant

Off the Coast of Novare

“Three”. The inky night was quiet. Not even a cricket chirped as Lilah looked out her bedroom window…

a month ago · 1 like · 1 comment · K.D Paige

Week Two: The Offering

The Lover's Tongue

Nico Harlakenden

Sep 8

Second prompt of Stacktember: The Offering;

Read full story

Darkness is the warp and the weft of the mundane—and may he never slide through your drive-through window…

Coyote Handsome

After Mass, But Before Choir Practice

The following is an answer to Nico Harlakenden’s Stacktember prompt, “The Offering.” As always, thank you for reading…

a month ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Benjamin Bagenski

Reliably unhinged and finding humor in the darkness, Murph is the master of lacing real-world references around your ankles while you read, to pull your feet out from under you with the final twist.

The Strangeness Kit

A Secondary Monster

Week 2 of the Stacktember challenge from Nico Harlakenden…

a month ago · 8 likes · 11 comments · A.P. Murphy

AND voting is open for all READERS’ CHOICE (vote here for the following):

Nightly Noise

Burning Ice

Hey! What’s the highest price you’ve paid…

a month ago · John M. Bauer

Mae Paulson

Playthings

Thrilled (and a little haunted) that The Bargain for Mourning was chosen as the first week’s Stacktember winner! Huge thanks to everyone who read, shared, and lingered with Nancy and Harold’s echoes. I’m so excited to dive into week two, may the offerings be deliciously unsettling…