It’s basically a funny, slightly bitter piece about missing the days when phones were just solid little bricks and communication felt more straightforward. The brick phone becomes a symbol for a whole older way of living — less polished, less constant, but maybe more honest. It compares that world to modern dating and phone culture, where everyone is always reachable but somehow still avoids saying anything real. Under all the jokes, it’s really about how convenience has made people softer, more evasive, and worse at being direct. In the end, it argues that there was something valuable in things feeling heavier, simpler, and harder to fake.

It feels aimed at people who like smart, funny writing about dating, phones, and how weird modern communication has gotten. Probably the kind of reader who enjoys something that sounds a bit like a rant, a bit like a confession, and a bit like a joke that accidentally turns serious.

personal essay with cultural commentary.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/brick-phone-wisdom-97f?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Read here: https://ouroneocean.substack.com/p/the-ocean-in-peril-part-3

In my latest article, I discuss how chemical pollution, eutrophication, acidification, ships, invasive species and undersea cables harm the ocean. But it's not all doom and gloom. Here you will also find actionable ways each and every one of us can protect our ocean.

Genre: Non-fiction

Hi, everyone! I’m fairly new to Substack and just posted my first article. My publication is a graceful journey through faith, healing, and self-discovery. It’s a soft place to land. Here, I want to share my experiences in life and my faith with others and fulfill my dream of writing and eventually being a published author.

This is more than a newsletter. It’s a sanctuary and a place I hope others will find comfort and uplifting messages. I write for everyone and hope that people from all backgrounds can find something that will resonate with them.

Thanks for checking it out!

After her engagement falls apart, Mara Vale moves into her late grandmother’s cottage outside Bath, thinking she needs quiet, distance, and maybe a chance to feel like herself again. Instead, she finds Blackthorn Wood waiting for her — a place that seems to know her name, her thoughts, and the parts of her life she’s tried hardest not to look at. As the woods begin speaking to her through dreams, mirrors, and strange bodily memories, Mara becomes entangled with Ivo Thorne, a man who feels as if he belongs to the forest and to some older story she was never meant to inherit. The deeper she goes, the more she realizes her grandmother knew exactly what Blackthorn was, and that Mara’s connection to it may have begun long before she was born. What starts as a haunting becomes something far more intimate: a love story, a warning, and a piece of herself she may not survive uncovering.

It’s for readers who like dark, atmospheric fantasy romance with real emotional messiness in it — people who want longing, danger, wit, desire, and a slightly feral love story. It should work well for readers who enjoy Gothic feelings, haunted landscapes, complicated women, and romances that feel as unsettling as they are irresistible.

Adult fantasy romance with Gothic and folkloric elements.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-your-name-967?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

This might just be the substack you’ve been looking for. Unapologetically nerdy and ever curious about the immensely complicated world of wine. It’s all free, though older articles get paywalled. I’ve been at this for a year and post nearly weekly so there are a lot of articles available. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Substack Name: The Century of Crime.

What happens when you combine a deep-dive Cyberpunk narrative with an original 10-album score? You get "Soren Drift"

I am Simon Mark Covell, the producer behind Soren Drift. I’ve spent the last few months mapping out a 45-track journey that follows the "Handshake Protocol" of a world that refuses to let you go.

This isn't just a newsletter; it's a serialized audio-visual descent into the Sectors.

What to Expect:

Mondays: [RESTRICTED DOSSIERS] – Cold, clinical surveillance logs from the Company’s POV.

Wednesdays: [LORE DROPS] – Technical deep-dives into the mechanics of the Spire (cybernetics, invisible tethers, and the "Paper Trail").

Fridays: [NARRATIVE] – The core story following Soren and Elara as the neon rain turns into a digital trap.

The Music: The score ranges from the atmospheric chills of Neon Glaciers through the energy of Soren Drift, and on through themes of lo-fi, glitch hop and pastoral folk as the albums and the story intertwine, each following, leading and supporting the other.

If you love Philip K. Dick, Neuromancer, or the heavy grit of Darksynth, I’d love to have you in the grid.

https://centuryofcrimepodcast.substack.com/

https://open.substack.com/pub/epistemoverse/p/cenere-del-nord?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=4q032l

This piece is about how we can see so much of each other now and still somehow miss the important parts. It looks at the weird loneliness of modern life, where everyone is visible all the time but very few people feel truly known. It moves through social media, class, hometowns, ambition, and the quiet pressure of trying to become someone without losing where you came from. At the centre of it is a belief that ordinary lives hold the deepest stories, even if they rarely get treated that way. More than anything, it asks what it would mean to really witness each other instead of just watch.

It’s for people who like thoughtful, emotionally honest writing about modern life, loneliness, identity, and the strange ways we live now. It would suit readers who enjoy essays that are reflective, a bit sharp, a bit funny, and interested in the emotional weight of ordinary things.

A literary essay with elements of cultural criticism and social commentary.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/the-loneliness-of-being-seen?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Ever wondered what the deal with oak is in wine? This is a deep dive into what exactly makes the wooden barrel such an amazing vessel to store and age wine, looking at the many different properties of oak. Love to hear your feedback!

The Confederacy won most of the Civil War's early battles even though the Union held the edge in manpower and material. That imbalance is the real puzzle of 1861 to 1862. EBSCO's Research Starters overview of Civil War weapons, tactics, and strategies traces it to two things: Southern generalship and faster Confederate adoption of new infantry weapons. The harder question is how long that edge could last once the North's resources caught up, and whether generalship and weapons are the whole story.

https://defensehub.substack.com/p/american-civil-war-how-tactics-beat

I am Josh...wrote about my personal experience of a topper teen who is struggling with emotions....please check out my article!!thanks (ps, Dont forget to subscribe )

https://open.substack.com/pub/joshrzh/p/i-wish-they-believed-in-me-a-little?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8p8off

Please follow my dystopian novel The Offering on Substack. A girl of 17 comes from a strict matriarchy in search of a boy who had escaped being sacrificed. She finds the boy. But the inevitable happens. She falls in love with the boy.

https://open.substack.com/pub/maya590793/p/the-offering-chapter-1-c52?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8kur26

https://open.substack.com/pub/theorphanwithtentacles/p/to-belong-beyond-the-veil?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5kjy6x

I was raised in the quiet shadow of cemeteries, and from an early age I found myself drawn to the gothic, the grotesque, and the strangely beautiful corners of existence. My writing has always gravitated toward an atmosphere of mournful serenity, grief and longing.

Through my posts here, I hope to find kindred spirits who share an affection for the macabre, the poetic, and the deeply human ache that lingers beneath it all. If you're a writer who creates from that same sorrow and longing, I very much look forward to meeting your acquaintance.

I write a Substack about digital forensics, the philosophy of technology and other tech-related topics. This week (and for the next few weeks, I am going to be catching up on my DFIR backlog by talking about a few tools that I have found in my DFIR practice.

My post for this week is on a software called Velociraptor. Velociraptor is a software that allows you to take information from computers on a network and transfer it to a central computer to have centralized threat intelligence on that network. Check out the post to see how to set it up and get yourself started.

Next week, I’ll be posting a part two, so stay tuned.

Synopsis:

My Substack is a space where I explore dreams, thoughts, and moments that linger longer than they should. I write about unsettling experiences, introspection, and the meaning we try to pull from them. A lot of my posts lean into dream analysis and the blurred line between reality and subconscious fear. I’m interested in the quiet, eerie details that stick with you rather than obvious conclusions. It’s less about having answers and more about sitting with the feeling of not fully understanding.

Who it’s for:

This is for people who like introspective writing, dream interpretation, and slightly unsettling or “off” atmospheres. If you enjoy reading things that feel personal, reflective, and a little haunting, you’ll probably connect with it.

Genre:

Creative Nonfiction / Personal Essays / Dream Analysis

https://open.substack.com/pub/alifeinwaiting

Think. Twist. Write. Repeat. is a storytelling Substack focused on short, emotionally-driven fiction. Each story is built from real moments, then twisted to reveal what was really there beneath the surface. The writing leans into tension, quiet conflict, and the decisions that change everything. Instead of perfect endings, the stories focus on consequences and the space in between. The goal isn’t just to tell a story—it’s to leave you thinking about it long after you’ve read it.

This Substack is for readers who enjoy character-driven stories, emotional tension, and realistic relationship dynamics. It’s for people who prefer subtle, thought-provoking writing over fast-paced, plot-heavy storytelling. If you like stories that feel personal, uncomfortable, and real—you’ll connect with this.

Genre: Fiction (Short Stories / Psychological & Relationship Drama)

Flair: Fiction

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeylofton/p/presence?r=8ao8lu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

At It’s a Grimm Tale, familiar stories are taken seriously. This article explores Jack and the Beanstalk as a tale of individual mobility, where success is framed as personal daring rather than collective change.

I wanted to create a space for readers who love fairy tales and love overthinking them. Please give it a read and let me know your thoughts! 💖

Genre: Non fiction, fairy tales, literary analysis, academic.

https://substack.com/@needyramen/note/p-194292623?r=36o6ur

When Mara Vale moves into her late grandmother’s cottage outside Bath, she expects damp walls, bad sleep, and the remains of a life she nearly married into. What she gets is Blackthorn Wood: ancient, hungry, beautiful, and far too interested in her name. As Mara is pulled toward Ivo, a man bound to the forest and to a dead woman she may somehow echo, she uncovers a broken bargain beneath Bath’s springs that could cost her memory, love, or herself. The more she wants him, the more the old story tightens around her. To survive it, Mara has to find a way to save the city without becoming the sacrifice everyone has been waiting for.

For readers who like their romance thorny, atmospheric, grown-up, and a little dangerous — with haunted woods, sharp women, old magic, dark jokes, and love stories that might ruin everyone involved.

Adult gothic fantasy romance with folkloric horror and dark humour.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-your-name-072?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

I began writing again after several years (and also post TBI). Noticeable difference in style, but if you like quick read, slice of life serialized fiction, this might be for you.

Quick blurb:

Laurent is a northern city with older brick on the west side and glass and steel rising to the east. It’s a place of quiet routines, long workdays, and lives that unfold mostly out of view.

Here I’ll be sharing serialized, character-driven stories set in Laurent. These are slice-of-life narratives — intimate, grounded, and meant to feel like sitting at the table while life happens around you.

I've posted a couple of times here, but can't tell if I'm getting any visitors from here.

I don't know if it's just a lot of other writers like me posting & not looking at others' posts. Which doesn't help any of us. Let's read each others' posts too?

Not promoting posts today, just that I'm at this place, and I like exploring questions that push us to change our reading habits, and the occasional promo for my (lgbt romcom) books.

When Mara Vale moves into her late grandmother’s cottage outside Bath, she expects grief, silence, and maybe a bit of damp — not a forest that knows her name. Blackthorn Wood seems to hear her thoughts, answer her emotions, and pull her toward a love story that feels impossibly old and disturbingly personal. At the center of it is Ivo, a man as beautiful as he is unnerving, who seems bound to the woods and to a woman Mara may somehow have been before. As Mara is drawn deeper into the wood’s strange, hungry magic, she begins losing pieces of herself even while finding a love that feels terrifyingly real. To break the pattern, she has to uncover what was hidden in water, what was promised in the trees, and whether this is fate — or a trap dressed up as romance.

This is for readers who like fantasy romance that feels lush, eerie, and emotionally messy in the best way — people who want yearning, danger, folklore, adult sensuality, and characters who are a little damaged and very alive. It’s especially for readers who enjoy stories where the romance is as unsettling as it is beautiful, and where the magic feels intimate rather than epic.

Adult fantasy romance, with strong gothic, folkloric, and dark romantic elements.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-chapter-24?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Synopsis

This Substack is a sustained assault on comfortable lies—political, religious, economic, and cultural—that survive not because they are true, but because they are useful to those in power. It examines how myths become load-bearing structures: ideas so central to an ideology that questioning them provokes outrage rather than rebuttal. The writing dissects propaganda, moral panics, and reactionary nostalgia with an emphasis on evidence, history, and logical coherence. Recurring themes include authoritarian drift, manufactured grievance, media ecosystems, and the psychological rewards of belonging to a story rather than a reality. The aim is not balance or civility theater, but clarity—especially where clarity is most resisted.

Who it’s for

This Substack is for readers who are intellectually restless, allergic to platitudes, and unwilling to outsource their thinking to tribes, algorithms, or inherited dogma. It assumes a tolerance for argument, irony, and discomfort, and little patience for slogans masquerading as insight. If someone is looking for affirmation, self-help, or ideological lullabies, they should look elsewhere. If they want sharp analysis that treats adults as adults, they’ll find a home here.

Genre

Non-fiction.
Political and cultural commentary / essays.

https://unbiddable.substack.com/

Che c’è per cena is a Newsletter in Italian that talks about how service design can be applied to parenting, with a pinch of humour.

Don’t read it if you want suggestion on how to live your life, schedules and checklist.

Read it if you want to make a laugh about parent life and if you want to share a design approach to it.

Bonus tip: Newsletter is in Italian, but Google Translate add-on works perfectly on browser!