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An introduction to My Substack Page

Hello, Dear Readers!

Welcome to my Substack page.

I am Jeffrey Cummins. I am from Belleville, Illinois, but moved to the Ozarks of Arkansas over twenty years ago where I still live with my wife and other family and our many dogs.

I write “Heartfelt speculative stories of family, faith, wonder, and redemption” which means, though, I write different genres, the questions and core elements don’t really change: exploring fractured familes, children in need of found kinship, my narratives aren’t sentimental when dealing with trauma and grief. There is solid realism base against which is introduced supernatural elements that haunt both memory and place. What transpires is a wrestling match between despair and redemption where matters of faith are lived-in.

I world-build with atmosphere and thematic arguments between grace and determinism. This argument is not settled with me, so I approach it from different angles in each new story.

As of now, I have published a YA portal fantasy Leftwich Blues/Elfwitch Rules (2021) availble just about anywhere on-line. If you prefer, here is the eBook Amazon link:

Leftwhich Blues/Elfwitch Rules

I followed that up with a post-human retelling of the Christmas classic A Christmas Carol with a setting of addition, recovery, forgiveness and redemption—or as one reviewer put it “favoring meds over ghosts”: Ex-Mas Song (2023). It has been reviewed as raw and intense. It is highly personal and deals with an issue near and dear to my heart: mental health issues. Here is a the Amazon eBook link:

Ex-Mas Song

And then for something completely different, I wrote a collection of thirteen ghost stories in the old-fashioned shudder tale style. To introduce them, I began to release them on Kindle Vella which closed down two months later which brought me here to Substack. I called it my Full Moon Ghost Story Campaign. I released a new short story in serial form every full moon for free. Once the campaign was complete, I published the collection as 13: Stone Corners and Other Stories (2025). Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/0h1vLtJ5

This eBook is being sold for $3.99 unless you have Kindle Unlimited, so the download is free. But, and this is the beauty of Amazon, when someone reads an eBook through Kindle, the author makes money per pages read, which is about .00045 a word. Since my books run over 400 pages, that translates to about $2.40 or $3.00 for me versus a standard 70% royalty off a non-KU purchase of $1.99. I am telling you this in the “spirit” of “transparency.” And I am sharing all that to explain this: now that the Full Moon Ghost Story Campagin is over, I have moved all the posts covering those stories to a paywall accessible for $1.99 which is the same royalty I would get from a straight purcahse.

The TOC post for the paywall is here:

That will also happen to my latest on-going serial, Breaking Grin’s Law once it’s complete. This is a gothic mystery and alchemical black comedy with an ensemble cast centered on the Grin Brothers, Sebastian and Karl, who work at a rare book store and attend University during the day and solve occult mysteries at night. Hopefully, I plan to publish it sometime in 2027.

The TOC post is here:

I archived most of my non-fiction essays (I hate writing essays. Yes, I was a History major, English minor and wrote nothing but essays) except for the oddballs. If it’s weird or something I feel very strongly about, might as well write about it.

Last year, I felt like I had to post all the time. Instead of “saying something”, it is better to wait until I have “something to say.”

Here is the link to the TOC to free essays:

I still have about five stories that I did for prompts, contests, or for S.L. Stallings’ two publications: “Alice’s Trading Post” and “A Haunting We Will Go.”

The Shape of Things to Come

Later this week, I will share reviews for Ex-Mas Song and 13: Stone Corners and Other Stories from the awesome publication Literary Titan. I also entered each in another contest. I love competing in contests. Sometimes, I get trophies or digital seals for placing. A few contests offer cash.

I will write about my experiences of having all three of my books getting some Amazon reviews. Since every project I do is in a different genre, I feel like I am starting over and am interested in the comments about the trope details.

I have a couple of book reviews about classic books. One is a re-read of career-killing masterpiece that “sunk” the master. The other is a recommendation from a “master of atmosphere.” I will be writing as a reading fan.

I am hoping to have more physical interactions by taking my books to local libraries, consignment store stalls run by friends, and some bookstores.

Another goal for this year is to branch out to another platform: for audio files!

Here is one more item: sorry to have to do this, but I can’t resist this new AI tag.

As a teacher, I am already used to doing this for my writing and students’ writing. Yes, they ususally confess to AI help.

Here is my official human/no AI tag:

I have already been using this tag on my copyright page since 2021.

Thank you very much for giving one of the most precious resources you have: your time!

And, as always, I am grateful to God!

God bless us everyone!
Jeffrey Cummins