hello hello!

as the title says - i've run into a bit of a predicament. my fantastic beta reader recently lmk that they couldn't keep up and i'm now 19k balls deep in a good omens fic. i'm looking for a beta reader who knows the fandom fairly well enough, mostly to catch how in-character things are and what sections are strongest/weakest. the fic is fairly canon-compliant and plot-oriented!! i'm also planning to post chapters every other week. if anyone is down to take on the challenge it would be so incredibly appreciated. i'm not often on here but please can reach out via tumblr (myminimiwi). i would also love to read other works too!

thank you all! <3

GENRE: Dark, literary fantasy with elements of mystery and gothic horror, in an Andean-inspired setting

BLURB: After eons of sleep, Nino wakes without memories in a dying world. She assembles the scraps of herself in the cliff-city of Yassos, where the tunnels are lined with skulls and leagues of haunted grassland stretch away in every direction. While investigating clues of the forgotten age she left behind, she discovers there are ghosts inside the city, too - and they remember her. Hunted by the fanatical, red-eyed priestesses who rule Yassos, Nino makes common cause with the possessed and the damned to untangle a conspiracy that has shaped the world for untold generations. Dreams bleed into waking life, the moon sickens in the sky, and Nino decides how much she’ll sacrifice to uncover a truth more terrible than the lie it replaces.    

IDEAL READER: Someone who enjoys adult literary fantasy in a character-driven, atmospheric story. The story’s biggest inspirations are Le Guin, Wolfe, and Hobb, along with sci-fi like Hyperion and Dune. No coziness here. If you enjoy straightforward prose, complex magic systems, and action-propelled plots, then this probably won’t be up your alley.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, attempted suicide (one instance), child death (described in dialogue, not witnessed), substance use (some involuntary), animal suffering (very brief, magic-induced, and non-lethal)

DESIRED FEEDBACK: General feedback is fine. How’s it landing? How do you feel about the characters? Do those opinions change over the story? Is the mystery hitting like it should? This is the completed 4th draft, so I’m confident about the structure.

SWAP: Yes please! Something in a similar state of polish, please. I’m happy to read adult fantasy, adult science fiction, literary fiction, speculative fiction, and gothic horror. Basically anything consciously 'adult' in thematic terms. I’m not the ideal audience for romance, but I enjoy romance-focused plots inside other genres. Not into thrillers or YA.

Timeline is flexible.

EXCERPT: Chapter One

It's a rom-com ❤️. There's a girl 🍓. There's a guy 🍌. There's a meet-cute 👩‍❤️‍👨. You know the drill.

No sex, so don't keep your hopes up. 🚫🍆🍑
No restrictions.

Just a cute story 🐶

If rom-coms are your favorite genre, I'd love for you to beta read it and provide the following feedback:

1. Overall, what did you think of the play? Did you enjoy reading it? Why or why not?
2. Did the play keep your interest throughout? If not, where did you begin to lose interest, and why?
3. Did the dialogue feel natural and authentic? Were there any lines that stood out, either positively or negatively?
4. What did you think of the ending? Did it feel satisfying? Why or why not?
5. How predictable or original did you find the story?
6. If you could change just one thing to improve the play, what would it be?
7. What rating would you give the play (1–10)?

Please DM.

P.S. I will read your romantic story/novel and provide any feedback you are looking for in return.

Hello everyone. Please DM for gdoc link.
I did not write this, my husband did.

This is more of a short story/manga. He wants readers to give feedback honestly. It's a play on the fact that anime/manga titles have gotten so out of control. His story is one long run-on sentence. I understand this probably isn't a lot of people's cup of tea, but I'm really hoping this community pulls through and reads it. Our friends aren't big readers, so we are having a hard time finding people to read it and give their thoughts on it.

A hard political fantasy set in a world comparable to late 19th century AD. Driven by logistics, lords, politics, deception and pure adrenaline, the story is depicted under multiple POVs, working together as gears in a single machine slowly working towards its ruin.

Blurb:

An engineered famine. A hidden fortune. A war that will reshape the subcontinent.

In Noxrath, a fiercely proud quasi-state trapped between rival empires, survival has always meant vigilance. When a mysterious crop failure starves the province of Varkhien Noxrath, the occupying Tharovellian empire offers aid—a veiled attempt to absorb the region under the backing of the powerful Sovereign League. Knowing the trap, the Noxarii prepare to fight rather than submit.

To finance a war against an empire, Noxrath must break an ancient ancestral oath and unseal the Golden Spine: eleven legendary mines long thought dry, flowing with unimaginable wealth.

As war ignites, four lives become the axis on which the conflict turns: Theodore, the supreme leader torn between his family and the ruthless choices required to secure victory; Marquise, a fresh military graduate forced to harden into a commander amid raw carnage; Oscar, a minister caught between sacred tradition and practical duty; and Augustus, a foreign lord racing to uncover the sinister conspiracy behind the famine before the continent burns.

In a war driven by logistics, gold, and cold strategy, victory won't just demand blood—it will demand the soul of Noxrath itself.

Hello! I wrote a short scary story. This is what feedback I would love to receive:

• How does the story flow?
• Do you think the last "chapter" adds or takes away from the story?
• Overall spookiness factor

I definitely welcome you pointing out if you catch any grammar/spelling errors as well. Hoping there are none of course! (This story has been edited.)

Content Warnings:

• Horror/Scary
• Violence/Death
• Pregnancy

Quick blurb:

There are three things Holly hates: Halloween, horror, and her ridiculous last name, Houdini.

She only agrees to attend a bonfire party in the local woods after her friend promises zero Halloween high-jinks or pranks. But what starts as a fun night catching up with old friends quickly turns nightmarish as partygoers begin disappearing one by one without a trace.

Is this just an elaborate joke cooked up by her friends? Or is there something far more sinister lurking beneath the roots of the Haunted Woods?

Example from the story, with none of the TW above (just to confirm you'll like my writing style):

Jessie stretched her arms with a yawn. “When I find something truly worthy of my talents.” Ever since graduating from high school, Jessie had been unemployed, living comfortably on a stipend from her parents with zero urgency to work or go back to school.

Holly rolled her eyes.

“Do you have any plans this weekend?” Jessie asked.

“Do I ever?” Holly laughed.

“Good point. Well, Xavier is hosting a Halloween party up in the Haunted Woods.”

Holly sighed. She hated Halloween—and she hated the Haunted Woods. That wasn't their official name, of course. Maps called it Redrock National Forest, but locals preferred the moniker thanks to decades of urban legends, town lore, and whatever rumors the high schoolers fed it.

I appreciate anyone who read this far! If you're interested please send me a DM! I would love to hear back from 2-3 readers :)

The word count is 34, 071 and 109 pages.

Blurb: Luke Moore prides himself on his dedication to his work, so when Chase Graves is hired and then assigned to him without the appropriate qualifications, Luke makes an assumption that turns out to be correct about Chase’s father. Now stuck with the boy, who refuses to do his work and acknowledge Luke in a professional manner, he’s become easily frustrated. His frustrations hit an all time high when Chase invites himself to lunch with Luke and his partner, Oliver, after a pissing match between Chase and Oliver. Luke decides he’s had enough. Someone needs to punish Chase for his inappropriate behaviour, and that man will be Luke.

Content Warnings: explicit open door, daddy kink w/ no age play, impact play (spanking). Also, one of the MCs is trans, and their bottom anatomy is referred to as a cock, front hole, and back hole. There is no PIV, and the trans MC is the top in the relationship and never experiences any penetration.

Looking for: general feedback mainly, pointing out if there are any glaring errors, if the story is entertaining or if it's a bit boring or falling flat. Or how the flow, pacing and whether the story is readable. Honestly, any input would be amazing!

I'm open to a critique swap, ideally just not historical as I don't personally read it. So I wouldn't be able to provide good feedback. I predominantly read MM, FF, MF, MNB romance and dark romance. But do occasionally read general works of fiction, just to give an idea.

Timeline: Ideally within a month or sooner.

Please dm me if interested, or would like a sample of the writing before for committing.

Thank you and I appreciate your time!

Hi! I’m looking for beta readers for a high fantasy manuscript.

Open for swaps, including longer projects. This is the first book in a planned series, and I'd love to continue with feedback for future books as well, but there's absolutely no expectation. DM me if you’re interested! (I use google doc)

Series status: Both book 1 (104k words) and book 2 (105k words) are available for beta reading.

About the story:

Core Maker Carina is one of the last harpies on Isle of Six Havens, raised to sustain those who depend on her family’s cores to survive. It’s an esteemed honor, one that comes with a brutal cost.

Every twenty years, the Royal Council calls the harpies for a ceremony where souls are harvested and reborn, binding their lineage to an endless cycle of duty and loss.

As the letters arrive, grief seeps into daily life. With time running out, Carina watches those she loves walk toward their deaths while unwilling men are claimed to ensure the next generation.

But Carina cannot accept a future built on forced consent. Obeying means sacrificing her principles. Refusing risks her bloodline and everyone her family has kept alive.

I’d love to hear your reactions as you read, even small nitpicks. Things like awkward phrasing, picking out what doesn’t land well or could use some clarity, especially in scenes you find weaker or confusing. I’m flexible and happy to work around what's comfortable for you, but I’m hoping for a steady pace rather than very long gaps.

Hi all! Looking for an aromantic beta reader to help with representation and ensure I'm portraying the experience fairly. TIA!

Blurb

Nala Hart has spent seventeen years watching people fall in love and lose their minds, and she's been waiting for it to kick in. What she has instead is a notebook: ten pages of things that terrify her, from touching the bottom of a shoe to telling someone how she feels. She has her interesting-ways-people-die stories and the red velvet chair in her room: the only place her brain shuts up.

When a new kid named Finn shows her a worthless trading card that he's convinced will someday be worth millions, she finds the courage to cross off the item at the top of her list: the senior class trip to New York. Finn recruits her to join him on a covert mission, searching hobby shops across Manhattan for two rare cards, and she signs the clipboard with an unsteady hand.

But the stakes change when Nala's estranged best friend, Megan, joins the quest. Nala and Megan haven't spoken since middle school when Megan developed feelings for a boy and Nala tried to sabotage it. In New York when the three of them get stranded in a card shop basement during a blizzard, Nala tastes belonging. But Finn is falling for her. He has feelings she can't access. And Megan sees through everything she's performing. If she can't be what Finn needs and what Megan deserves, she'll lose them both—and have proof she was right to be afraid of herself.

Available to return a beta read for YA.

[edited to include blurb]

Hi! I’m looking for a few beta readers for THE NO-ROWERS RULE, a complete 83,000-word adult novel with a central slow-burn romance.

The manuscript is currently out with around three agents, but I’m continuing to revise. I’m also uncertain about the best market label. I initially queried it as adult contemporary, though several agents have suggested that may not be quite right. It may sit closer to upmarket contemporary, romantic upmarket or book-club fiction, so reader impressions on positioning would be especially useful.

Premise: Mara Ellison, a former elite Oxford coxswain beginning a neuroscience PhD at Cambridge, has one firm rule: no dating rowers. It protects her from men who confuse loving her with having access to her expertise. Then she meets Kit, a history PhD who initially knows nothing about rowing—and inconveniently becomes very good at it.

The novel combines Oxbridge rivalry, rowing, academic ambition, female friendship and a slow-burn romantic relationship.

I’m mainly looking for feedback onwhether the romance has enough tension and momentum; whether Mara’s rule feels emotionally credible; whether Kit feels human rather than overly patient or idealized; repetitive conversations or themes; pacing and places where attention drops; whether the rowing is accessible to non-rowers; and wether the novel reads as upmarket, book-club, romance-adjacent contemporary or something else

I’m looking for broad emotional and structural feedback, not line edits. No rowing, Cambridge or neuroscience knowledge is required.

A four week turnaround would be ideal. I can share by Word or PDF. I’m also open to a critique swap with a manuscript of similar length in upmarket, contemporary, book-club or romance-adjacent fiction.

I am not interested in paid services or anything involving AI.

Blurb:

She trusted her memories.

She shouldn’t have.

After a brutal attack leaves Ivelle’s mind altered, Ivelle believes Elias–her childhood friend and only happiness–betrayed her. The truth is far darker; Samael, the cruel prince of Vemetra, stole Elias’s face and rewrote Ivelle’s past.

Years later, engaged to the prince himself, Ivelle discovers the monster behind the crown and runs. Her escape leads to her own monster’s doorstep, and to a reckoning that could cost them both everything.

^^looking for general feedback of the entire story with a main focus on the plot and pacing. Cannot swap stories currently! Timeline is not rushed, but 2 weeks is preferred.

Premise

Kagekai is an OC-centric, heavily canon-divergent Jujutsu Kaisen fanfiction.

While it uses the JJK power system and world as its foundation, it tells its own story with an original cast. The tone is inspired by Gintama-the story begins with a strong comedic focus before gradually becoming darker as the plot unfolds.

I'm looking for honest, constructive criticism rather than reassurance, particularly on:

Whether the opening hooks you.

Pacing.

Dialogue.

Characterization.

Whether the comedy works.

Whether the transition into the more serious story feels natural.

Anything that confused you or made you lose interest.

One concern I already have is that the first few chapters may give the impression that the story is just a comedy, so I'd especially like to know whether that was your first impression.

Reading the entire story (the chapters I have completed so far, the story is still ongoing) would be amazing, but I'm also perfectly happy if you'd rather read only the opening chapters and tell me whether you'd continue.

DM me for the material.

Thanks for reading:)

Loony never expected the love of her life to be the boy who became her best friend.
For years, she and Cho were inseparable, growing up side by side until one reckless decision changed everything. What followed wasn't the happily ever after either of them imagined, but years of impossible choices, broken timing, and a love neither could completely leave behind.
As adulthood pulls them toward different futures and different lives, Loony and Cho discover that loving someone isn't always enough to keep them. Sometimes the greatest heartbreak isn't losing the right person.
It's meeting them too soon.
While in Spring is a funny, heartfelt and deeply emotional contemporary friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance about timing, forgiveness, and finding your way back to the person who has always felt like home.
Dm if interested!! 

Blurb

Swift knows that having powers and being powerful are two very different things.

As leader of the River Kids, a group of superpowered burnouts in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, he decides what battles are worth fighting. There’s Psycho, whose telekinetic abilities are barely stronger than his arms. Curry, whose electric shocks are powerful enough to mildly irritate any foe. And then there’s Swift, who can think—but not move—four times faster than the average person.

Their abilities are useful, sure. But not for fighting crime. Trouble is best left to law enforcement.

But trouble finds them anyway when Swift’s old rival returns and police start finding bodies that look like they’ve been crushed to death. The townsfolk have always heard stories of people with abilities that go beyond party tricks. And those people—the ones with real powers—are almost always jerks.

Something dangerous has come to town, and it’s time for Swift and his gang to step up their game.

Law enforcement can’t help.

River Kids police their own.

Requested Feedback

General reactions. I'm also keen to find people who love pointing out continuity errors. Those are always fun to look out for.

Timeline

4 to 6 weeks. Preferably, all feedback will be received by September 1st.

Content Warnings

Very strong language. Some violence, but not gore. Sex and nudity mentioned, but not graphically described.

Available for Critique Swap?

I sure am. I'd love to read some good horror or thrillers. Also, anything with a comedic lean is welcome.

Excerpt

We found Curry’s Honda parked across three spaces outside of the French Creek Inn. We ran toward the entrance to the apartments above the bar. As we reached the door, it flew open and Curry darted out.

She was gasping for breath. “Nope...nope nope nope…”

“What is it?!” I asked, grabbing her by the shoulders so that she would stop pacing.

She took a deep breath. “If I said ‘dinosaur made out of body parts,’ would that make sense?”

No. No, it would not. Aren’t all animals made out of body parts? But still, dinosaur? That I had to see. I entered the building against Curry’s objections. Psycho followed. There was a loud thumping sound. Something was slamming repeatedly into a door or wall somewhere ahead. I slowly climbed the stairs. Halfway up, I heard the door open behind us.

Curry said, “Guys, seriously, we need to go get help.”

The thumping continued as I reached the top of the stairs, coming from just around the corner up ahead. I heard breathing. Loud breathing. And a low rumbling. Almost like purring. Something was scraping against the floor. Even though I couldn’t see what it was, I got the impression it was something sharp.

Just as I was thinking Curry’s plan of getting help was sounding like a good idea, the thumping gave way to a loud crash. I could feel the building shake with the force of it. I heard Heater screaming, and I tore off down the hallway.

Around the corner, I darted through the shattered door frame and almost tripped over the nightstand lying in the middle of the floor. It must have been propped up against the door as a barricade. In front of me was a sight unlike anything I had ever seen. And I’d like to pause here just to remind you that I grew up with a bunch of people with special powers.

Heater was crouched in a corner, holding a lamp over his head and ready to strike the creature that loomed over him. Now, I understood what Curry meant. It looked like a dinosaur, alright, but made out of human body parts. It had a long tail that ended in something that I can’t decide whether it was a claw with ten webbed fingers and razor-sharp nails, or a mouth with excessively long fangs. Its hips were giant shoulders. And not in the way that hips are to legs what shoulders are to arms. I mean, its hips looked like fucking human shoulders, jutting out of the side of the thing’s abdomen. Its legs, extending below, had normal forward-bending knees but appeared to melt about halfway down so that the feet were just mushy flaps of skin. It had little t-rex arms, but instead of two clawed fingers, it had a pair of giant thumbs on each. The thing’s caucasian skin had wisps of hair here and there, some long and straight, some short and curly.

“Oh, dear God, we’re gonna die,” I said.

“Ho. Lee. Fuck.” said Psycho as he entered the room behind me.

“Told ya,” said Curry.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for 3–5 beta readers for my completed epic fantasy novel, The 13th Moon (approximately 123,000 words).

This is my first novel, and it grew from an idea that stayed with me for years.

Blurb

When Will is mysteriously transported back in time and finds himself trapped within the life of a young blacksmith named Ashur, the boundaries between past and present begin to unravel. As ancient roads awaken beneath the kingdom of Caernegon and long-buried truths begin to surface, two lives separated by centuries are drawn towards the same destiny.

The 13th Moon is an epic fantasy exploring reincarnation, forgotten wisdom, hidden history and the continuity of the soul. Blending dual timelines, political intrigue, mystery, adventure and deeply emotional character journeys, it explores the continuity between lives and asks whether anything that truly belongs to the soul is ever lost.

I'm especially looking for readers who enjoy character-driven epic fantasy with rich world-building, mystery, and emotional depth.

The feedback I’m most interested in is:

·       Were the reincarnation and dual-timeline elements easy to follow?

·       Were there any sections where you felt confused or had to reread?

·       Did the pacing keep you engaged throughout?

·       Which characters did you connect with most, and why?

·       Did the emotional moments have the impact they were intended to?

·       Did the ending answer the questions you had while reading and feel satisfying?

·       Were there any chapters or scenes that felt unnecessary or too slow?

I’m not looking for line editing or grammar corrections, as the manuscript has already been through several editing passes. What I’m really looking for is your experience as a reader—what worked, what didn’t, and whether the story held your attention from beginning to end.

If you're interested, please leave a comment or start a chat with me. I'm hoping to receive feedback within about 4–6 weeks, although there's no pressure if it takes a little longer.

The excerpt below contains the opening two chapters (approximately 2,200 words).

Excerpt (First Two Chapters)

Sara

The package sat between them like an omen.

Will gripped the steering wheel with both hands, his attention fixed on the road as countryside blurred past beyond the windows. He was trying to appear calm, but the muscle working in his jaw gave him away.

Sara drew her knees up against the seat and glanced again at the leather-wrapped bundle resting beside the console.

“What was that?” she asked finally.

Will’s eyes stayed forward. “I don’t know.”

“He knew your name.”

“I know.”

“That’s not normal.”

His grip shifted slightly on the wheel. “I’m aware.”

Sara looked back at the package. “You don’t find this even slightly concerning?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why did you take it?”

Will exhaled softly before answering. “Because it didn’t feel wrong.”

Sara let out a short disbelieving breath. “That’s your reasoning?”

He glanced at her. “You didn’t feel it?”

She opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. Her attention drifted back to the package despite herself. The thing seemed to pull at her focus every time she looked away.

Will rubbed absently at the chain around his neck before unclasping it. The amulet settled into his palm, warm against his skin.

“This thing’s been irritating me all morning,” he muttered. He stared at it, unsettled by the heat lingering in the metal, then slipped it into the inside pocket of his bag.

Sara folded her arms. “This could be anything. Drugs. Money. Something illegal.”

“Or something important.”

“Or something that gets us arrested.”

A faint smile touched his mouth before disappearing again. “The old man told us not to open it,” he said.

“That just makes me want to open it more.”

“I know.”

Her fingers moved toward the leather cord.

“Don’t.” Will caught her wrist gently but firmly. “He said he’d find us.”

“So what? We’re just supposed to keep driving around Europe carrying some mystery package while we wait for him to magically reappear?”

“Pretty much.”

She stared at him for a second before shaking her head. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Been told that.”

Despite herself, she smiled faintly.

It didn’t last.

By the time they reached their hotel, the sky had flattened into dull grey. Sara found herself glancing back through the window as Will parked, unsettled by the strange feeling that she had been here before. Which was impossible. This was her first time travelling overseas.

Will killed the engine and reached for the package. “Go upstairs,” he said, handing it to her. “Start packing.”

“You’re not coming?”

“I’ll check us out.”

Sara hesitated, glancing toward the hotel entrance where tourists drifted in and out beneath the awning. “You sure we shouldn’t stay? He said he’d meet us.”

Will opened the door. “He said he’d find us.”

Before she could answer, he leaned across and kissed the top of her head. Then he was gone.

Sara watched him disappear into the lobby before looking down at the package in her hands. It was warm. She shook it, but it didn’t rattle. Just a dull weight.

The lift ride up seemed strangely long. By the time the doors opened, a faint unease had begun to creep in. The corridor beyond stretched out silent and empty. Sara stepped out quickly, her grip tightening around the package as she headed toward the room. At the door she fumbled the keycard on the first attempt, swore under her breath, then shoved inside and locked it behind her, chain and deadbolt. Only then did she breathe properly.

She placed the package carefully on the bed and stared at it. “Don’t open it.” The old man’s warning returned with uncomfortable clarity. Sara turned away, dragging her suitcase onto the bed and began to pack. Clothes disappeared into bags without folding, her movements quick and distracted.

Something hit the floor behind her. 

She froze. The package lay beside the bed.

Slowly, Sara turned toward the door. Still locked. The room felt unnaturally still. She crouched beside it carefully. The leather cord had loosened, the flap sitting partially open.

Sara swallowed. “Don’t open it.” Her hand moved anyway. The leather felt worn smooth beneath her fingers as she pulled the flap back fully. A book rested inside. Old. Heavy. Bound in dark leather. She lifted it carefully onto the bed, brushing her thumb across the cover—and stopped.

A gold symbol gleamed beneath the light. Her breath caught. “No way…”

It was identical to the symbol on Will’s amulet. A hexagon. A circle. Intersecting lines. Sara stared at it for a long moment before trying the cover. Locked. Of course it was.

She turned slowly toward Will’s bag.

“No,” she whispered. Then—“Yes.”

She crossed the room quickly and dropped beside his luggage, digging through it until her fingers closed around cold metal. She pulled the amulet free and stared at it for a second before looking back at the book waiting on the bed.

“This is insane…” But she was already moving.

The amulet settled perfectly into the indentation on the cover. Like it belonged there. Sara twisted it carefully. Click. The sound echoed through the room.

The book pulsed beneath her hand. Sara jerked back. “What the hell—”

The air shifted around her. For a moment she simply stared at the book, her pulse hammering hard against her ribs.

Then slowly, carefully, she reached for the cover again.

And opened it.

Will

The lift doors slid shut with a soft thud.

Will leaned back against the rail, exhaling slowly as he tried to shake the unease that had followed him from the street below. The old man, the package—something about it still sat wrong in his chest, refusing to leave him alone no matter how much he told himself it didn’t matter.

“Get a grip,” he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair as the lift hummed into motion.

At first the change was subtle, little more than a faint chill brushing against his skin, easy enough to ignore, but within seconds the cold deepened sharply through the lift until goosebumps rose along his arms and his breath fogged faintly in front of him.

Will frowned. “What the hell?”

The lights flickered violently. The floor shifted beneath him hard enough to throw him against the rail as the steady mechanical hum distorted into something heavier and uneven, like metal dragging through stone. Darkness swallowed the lift entirely. For one disorienting second the world seemed to compress inward around him, reality folding tightly into itself before suddenly releasing again.

The doors chimed. Light flooded in. Will blinked hard as the world snapped back into focus. Except the lift was gone.

He didn’t move at first. Silence pressed in from every direction, complete and unnatural, stripped of machinery, voices, traffic—anything familiar enough to anchor him. When he finally stepped forward, uneven stone met the soles of his boots and cold air carried the faint scent of oil and dust, like a place sealed away for years.

“This isn’t possible.” His voice echoed softly through the corridor. That made it worse.

Paintings lined the walls beside him in heavy gold frames, each depicting the same man in different poses and ages, the same raised scar running down the left side of his face.

Will stared at them uneasily before turning sharply toward where the lift should have been. He grabbed the tapestry hanging behind him and yanked it aside.

Stone wall. No doors. No lift. Nothing.

A laugh threatened to escape before dying in his throat.

His gaze dropped suddenly to his clothes. Dark fabric layered heavily across his body, rough and structured beneath his hands. Not jeans and not his jacket. Instead, a tunic and laced trousers.

“What the hell…”

His hand moved instinctively to his neck. The amulet rested there against his skin. Will frowned. He could remember taking it off in the car and slipping it into his bag. The memory remained perfectly clear, yet the weight against his chest was solid and unmistakably real beneath his fingers. He simply stood there staring at it, unsettled by how little sense that made.

Then his awareness shifted elsewhere, to the sword strapped across his back. Slowly, Will reached over his shoulder and drew the blade free. Steel slid cleanly from the scabbard in one smooth practiced motion that tightened something low in his chest. Dark metal caught the corridor light with a faint blue-black sheen while subtle markings ran along the fuller, almost invisible unless the light struck them directly. A deep emerald sat worked into the hilt and near the guard, worked into the metal beneath years of use —A.Z.

His grip adjusted naturally around the worn leather binding. Balanced. Certain. Like the sword already belonged in his hand. Will stared at it uneasily. “I don’t know how to use a sword,” he said under his breath.

But even as the words left him, he knew they weren’t entirely true. Something beneath conscious thought had already begun responding to this place. His stance adjusted slightly without instruction, weight settling instinctively into balance as awareness sharpened around him in ways he couldn’t explain.

Then voices echoed faintly below. Will looked toward the windows lining the corridor. The Danube stretched beyond them—but not the Danube he knew. No bridges, no modern skyline, only farmland, forest, and thin trails of smoke disappearing into grey skies. “No…”

The voices rose again, sharper now, arguing somewhere below him. He shouldn’t have understood the language, yet somehow the meaning arrived before the words themselves, clear and immediate inside his mind.

Will backed instinctively into the shadows, his breathing slowing automatically as his grip tightened around the sword. The reaction felt less like panic than training, controlled in a way that unsettled him far more deeply.

At the far end of the corridor, heavy timber doors reinforced with iron stood closed, the only barrier between him and whatever was coming. He moved toward them carefully, every step quiet on the stone floor.

The voices were close now, too close.

Will pressed his ear against the timber doors. Only silence waited on the other side. He reached for the heavy iron bar holding the doors shut and lifted—

The sword slipped from his hand. Steel struck stone with a sharp metallic crack that echoed violently through the corridor. Will swore under his breath. Below him, the voices stopped instantly. Movement came fast. Ascending.

Will snatched the sword back up and shoved through the doors just as shouting erupted beneath him. He slammed them shut behind him and dropped the iron bar back into place with a heavy thud.

Darkness swallowed the room. For several seconds, he stayed completely still, listening to the silence while his pulse hammered hard against his ribs. Nothing followed. Gradually shapes emerged through the dark—shelves, furniture, towering rows disappearing into shadow. A library.

Will moved carefully through the room until he reached the heavy curtains near the far side. He pulled one aside slightly, allowing a thin blade of daylight to spill across the space. Dust drifted through the beam of light. And there, resting on the desk beneath it—

A book. Leather-bound. Ancient. Familiar.

Will stepped toward it before fully realising he’d moved.  The gold symbol on the cover caught the light. “No way…”  A hexagon. A circle. Intersecting lines. The same symbol as the amulet. He lifted the book carefully.

Then movement shifted near the window. Will turned instantly. A man stepped from the shadows, huge, broad-shouldered, scarred. The same face from the paintings. Recognition struck before logic could stop it—not memory exactly, but something deeper and older that caught him off guard.

The man studied him before a slow smile spread across his face. “You.”

Will shook his head. “No. You’ve got the wrong—”

“Not this time.” The words struck harder than they should have.

Something flashed violently through Will’s mind—Steel. Fire. Rain. Voices. Gone almost instantly. He staggered slightly as the man’s smile deepened.

“I don’t even know who you are.”

The attack came without warning. The man moved with terrifying speed, his blade crashing toward him. Will reacted instinctively. Steel collided hard enough to jar through his arms, but his footing adjusted automatically, balanced and controlled as he absorbed the force and redirected it cleanly aside.

The man stepped back slowly now, studying him differently. “Better,” he said.

Will tightened his grip on the sword, unsettled by how natural it already felt in his hands. “I don’t even know how I’m doing this.”

The man attacked again. This time Will moved before conscious thought could catch up. Everything aligned at once—distance, timing, balance—as his body slipped cleanly inside the arc of the strike with terrifying familiarity.

The opening appeared instinctively before him. He took it. And drove the blade into the man’s chest.

For a moment neither of them moved. The man looked down at the sword buried in him before lifting his gaze back to Will. “Ashur,” he said quietly.

The name struck somewhere deep beneath thought, something ancient answering the name before he could stop it.

The man let out a faint breathless laugh. “Took you long enough.” Then his strength gave way. His body collapsed heavily to the floor.

The library fell quiet once more. Will stared down at the body, breathing unevenly as the reality of what had just happened slowly caught up with him. He stared at the wound, at the precision of the strike, at the certainty behind it. He had known exactly where to strike.

“No…” he whispered, but the denial already felt weak. Beneath the fear and confusion. What remained was familiarity. And that frightened him far more than the killing itself.

A short story group I belong to prompted us to write a 2500 word short about any "dystopian future." So I had a little fun with a sci-fi angle. Is anyone down to give it a read and provide some feedback before I submit?

Premise: A boy and his guardian venture into the wilderness to hunt for their small, isolated community, in a world still scarred by a past uprising of machines. Their bond is tested in the woods and neither of them comes away seeing their world the same way.

A short, emotional sci-fi piece (~2,500 words) about found family and survival. Looking for a beta reader's take on pacing, voice, and whether the ending lands. Honestly, I just shot this one out quick because I really fell in love with the characters and would be grateful for some eyes on it and general feedback.

DM me!

Tubular Logic is a short story about the life and times of Janis, who is chosen to be the new leader of their religious order. The tone starts off claustrophobic and tense, but gradually opens up to a more freeing feeling. I don't really want to give too much, since it's short and there's a lot of fun twists.

Mostly looking for critique on the character side, since that's the main thrust, but I also want to make sure that the important plot bits are properly communicated. Here's a quick excerpt:

“A map?”

“Yep.” Talking to the child has already become so routine. It’s a bit like talking to the old Librarian. “Every corridor of the machine, more or less. And the next page,” they flip it for her, “what I could get of the exterior.”

Regina runs their fingers over the worn inklines reverently. “We really live in a cylinder?”

“You could say we live on the inside surface. Or maybe in the walls.” They falter, just for a moment. “There are people who live on the inside. I could never tell if they had the whole inside, or it was just another layer, and there’s another group of people, even further in than that.”

“People… but not our people?”

“I don’t think so. Their world is very different from ours, from what I could tell.”

The child’s face alights. “I wanna go!”

I'm open to story swaps, but I'm quite busy with work, so I would prefer something on the shorter end (<20k). SF/F is my sweet spot, but if it's short, I'll read anything.

Thanks for reading. I'm looking for beta readers into experimental fiction. Scrapbooking Others is about technology, memory, language and how we know one another. The narrator is a lonely monster and voyeur. He begins the book as an office-supply clerk in 1993 who hides in a hallway and watches his coworkers with a mirror. The book's premise is that he is an empty consciousness, but through surveillance he consumes communications using the same technology we all use and he calls this knowing another.

Two-thirds of the novel is assembled as his scrapbook of others’ messages. Some of the prose is dense and deliberately slow and clotted, especially early. There is a chapter about natural language processing that's meant to be an explanation of what I have attempted to enact in the remaining two-thirds, including through transliteration of liturgical, propaganda, and legal texts. The book does not have a traditional plot after the first ~30%, really.

I'm hoping to reach readers who enjoy dense and possibly strange texts and won't be thrown by extreme compression and references to other texts and histories. If you are open to books without a traditional plot and have experimental prose, I’m deeply curious what you think. 

What I'm looking for

Really what you think; I have no idea if this is a thing for more than just me. I have spent a long, long time on this after a panic 15 years ago after witnessing technology in the Bay and I can’t tell if it’s hermetically sealed and esoteric.

Most valuable:

• Was it readable, if not, at what point was it not worth it?
• Do you feel like what you read was worth your time, or do you regret it?
• The opening ("Pittsburgh"). The prose there is intentionally droning to establish the narrator's flattened, empty consciousness. The narrator’s vocabulary is gradually populated by the subject matter and then degrades. Is it awful?
• "Natural Language Processing." This chapter is a pseudo lecture and to a large degree it is the thing that felt like a scream when I encountered it, but it's the part I'm most worried about losing people with. It is intentionally non-technical, but it does have a some etymology (I am sorry if it is awful).
• Is the non-standard structure ok?
• Did this make you think about how we know one another?
• Does this add anything to your perception of our relationship with technology?

Content warnings

Stalking and pervasive surveillance; voyeurism and references to non-consensual pornography; homophobia and slurs; racism; scatological content; injury to a child. The narrator is deliberately monstrous and several of these appear through his point of view.

Format: Google Doc
Timeline: hoping for notes within ~4–8 weeks
Reciprocity: Happy to swap and beta yours in return

Comment or DM if you're interested. Thanks for reading this far.

Looking for a beta reader for an ongoing M/M slow burn romance (explicit, 21/40 chapters, 70k words so far). Looking for someone to read ahead of posting for continuity, pacing, and general feedback. Familiarity with sports romance and music is a plus but not required. Also if you just really hate it, and can tell me why in a constructive way, that’s cool. Please DM me or comment if interested. TYIA

Summary:
Noah Hampton and Ash Reeves have history; bad blood, shared secrets, and too many memories they never finished dealing with.

The football player and the musician. They aren’t friends. They aren’t lovers. They are just two people who know exactly how to get under each other's skin, and into each other's pants.

It was only supposed to be sex but turns into something addictive and consuming. Nothing stays simple forever and “casual” has a shelf life. How much damage are they willing to do pretending it isn’t more?
A spicy gay football drama.

Because it’s a story collection – here are a list of the story titles with word count and blurbs. If only one or a couple speak to you, I’d be happy send just the ones requested.

Down and Up [3800] – A wife becomes consumed by what her husband hides behind a locked bathroom door.

The Stars Go Out at Night [2000] – A crew that has already died once notices the stars beginning to disappear.

The Sophant [3600] – Pilgrims cross a dead land toward the head of a dying god. The only rule is this: if you hear it call your name, do not answer.

Next Stop [1500] – A man rides a train that is slowly waking up around him.

Trapped [2500] – A woman holds onto herself while something keeps her, hour by hour.

Tragedy at Kvitøya Station [10,000] – On an isolated arctic expedition, a crew fights to save one of their own.

Never the Teeth [1500] – A man keeps digging up his daughter’s bones and burying them again.

The Attention [2500] – Explorers go off-course chasing a discovery that will make their names, but find something already there, waiting.

For a While [1000] – It’s his first day, but he can’t quite work out how to leave.

Finders [1600] – A lonely man in Appalachia grows obsessed with an arm he finds in the woods.

The Light Comes Down the Valley [11,000] – A PI is sent to a remote valley to trace a missing priest.

What You Are Made Of [2800] – Unseen captors test the limits of one man’s endurance.
(CW for this story: graphic violence, torture, suicide)

The Patient Dark [4700] – Alone in his farmhouse, a man decides what to do during an endless eclipse.

I have a couple questions for each story and a couple for the collection as a whole. A lot of them are around pacing, building dread, whether endings land, and how well the collection stays on “theme” without being redundant.

Hoping to get feedback in the next two weeks or so – can be flexible if needed.

I am available and willing to do swaps for similar sized material – either individual shorts, collections, or novellas of a similar length. I would prefer horror, sci-fi, dark fantasy, or weird fiction.

Content warning: mentions of bullying, school shootings, and parental abuse. Do not read if you find any of those topics to be triggering.

Marvin Williams has been ostracized and abused his entire life. From being bullied throughout his school life, to being abused at home by his parents, he just can't seem to catch a break. What's worse, is that nobody seems to notice, or even care. Marvin is all alone. But his life takes a turn for the worse when he enters high school for the first time. As he attends Skyline high school, he uncovers its dark history in the form of ghosts. Ghosts who were once students of Skyline, and died due to the schools negligence. They've been roaming the halls, unable to rest because of the injustice and the lack of care they've recieved from others. They found Marvin to be a kindred spirit, and jumped at the oppurtunity to use him as their vessel for their revenge. They befriend him while slowly chipping away at his sanity, convincing him to commit a school shooting as an act of revenge. Over time, Marvin starts to lose more and more control until he ends up giving into his rage, causing others to deal with the fall out.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Hi everyone!
I’m looking for one or two thoughtful beta readers for a literary memoir currently sitting at approximately 40,000 words and in its 3rd draft. It’s close to complete and, at this stage, I’m primarily expanding existing scenes rather than making major structural changes. This would be a developmental read rather than a proofreading or copyediting request.
The memoir explores trauma, mental illness, addiction recovery, emotional abuse, grief, and sexual assault (no graphic details), as well as rebuilding a life after mental illness. Although those topics are central, it’s ultimately a story about identity, resilience, and learning to trust yourself again.
I’m specifically looking for readers who don’t know me, as I’d like to see how the manuscript lands with someone coming to it completely fresh. I’ve removed identifying information and am sharing it under a pen name (Rowan North).
The kind of feedback I’m hoping for includes questions like:
Where did you want more detail?
Which chapters stayed with you the longest?
Where did the pacing feel too fast or too slow?
Were there places you felt emotionally disconnected?
Which scenes did you wish lasted longer?
Did anything confuse you?
If you finished the manuscript, what do you think it was ultimately about?
If you finish the manuscript, I’ll also have a few more specific questions about how certain moments landed.
I’m not looking for line edits or grammar corrections at this stage—I’m much more interested in your experience as a reader.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I’d love to hear from you. Please send me a message with a little about the kinds of books you enjoy reading and whether you’ve beta read before (experience isn’t required).
Thank you so much for considering helping me with a project that’s been very close to my heart.

Excerpt:

One day, we were sitting in the food court at our university. She failed a test. Not just did poorly. Failed. The kind of grade that would have sent me into a spiral for days.
I waited for panic. For self-criticism. For shame.
Instead she shrugged, smiled, held up her lunch and said,
“Well… at least I have this sandwich.”
Then she ate it. That was it.
No catastrophe. No identity crisis.
Just…
a sandwich.
I don’t think she ever realized how much that moment changed me. My entire life had been built around achievement. I believed failure wasn’t something that happened. It was something you became.
She believed something entirely different. A failed test was just a failed test. It wasn’t a verdict on who she was. It wasn’t proof she was unworthy.
It was simply Tuesday.
That idea stayed with me. Long after the test. Long after the sandwich. Long after we’d stopped seeing each other every day. Over time, I realized something important. The mask I’d spent years building wasn’t protecting me from failure. It was protecting me from being seen.
Seen struggling.
Seen uncertain.
Seen human.
She challenged that belief without ever sitting me down to teach it. She simply lived her life as though authenticity was safer than perfection.

Hello all, I had a strange compulsion to write a story after I finished some novels and reading "On Writing" by S.K

I've written but this is my first complete story and I think it's a fun read with some gut punches, but it's likely pretty sloppy with a mountain of formatting issues. This was straight from my brain after I figured out the setting and wrote by the seat of my pants.

I'd classify it as a fast paced horror.

Would love to exchange manuscripts with someone working on something of similar length, open to most genres but would prefer scifi or horror, something with tension and satisfying climaxes. If you just wanna beta-read it let me know!

Blurb:

Ollie knows when to take a risk.

At least, that's what he tells himself.

Reeling from a freshly ruined marriage and a brutal night at the tables, Ollie is introduced to a mysterious new gambling machine tucked away deep inside The Dragon casino.

This machine is unlike any casino game he has ever played before.

The winnings become more and more surreal and Ollie must decide how deeply he wants to dive into the rabbit hole for the jackpot.

After all, the house always wins.

Doesn't it?

Excerpt:

It opens with a poker scene to establish Ollie's character, but here's a small more engaging excerpt I picked showing the premise:

Let’s spin again.

The machine vibrated slightly and displayed:

Cherry, Cherry, Pile of Coins.

Congratulations, You win: 1 Cherry.

Ollie smirked wondering what that meant, do they add it on his club card?

The machine vibrated more thoroughly, and a small panel folded up near the bill acceptor and a tray extended out with a cherry on it.

Ollie started laughing now, still a bit buzzed.

“Now that’s pretty funny Chester.” He looked around half expecting Chester to be there, but he was not.

Ollie decided to press the ATTENDANT button.

The machine vibrated again.

PLEASE RETRIEVE CHERRY

The ATTENDANT button was now lit in a yellow light. Ollie reached over and took the cherry.

THANK YOU

the machine displayed.

Ollie smirked and held the cherry up close inspecting it. It looked like a perfectly normal cherry even with a small stalk and tiny leaf attached. He decided to eat it and chewed it before extracting the pit and pulling the stalk off, it tasted pretty normal. A nice treat he supposed after his night.

He placed the pit and stalk from the cherry on the side of the panel and looked at his balance in the right corner.

$201

Ollie pressed play again.

The reels spun up once again and ticked through the symbols at a furious pace, before slowing down and ending up on:

Blue circle something, Cherry, Seven.

The machine vibrated and sent out a series of dings.

Ollie looked at the symbol, it seemed like a circle of blue, with a cartoon brain inside of it.

“Did I hit the bonus game?” He said.

Some pixel fireworks shot off from the corners of the display and the machine displayed:

CONGRATULATIONS, DO YOU WANT TO REMOVE ONE MEMORY FOR $20,000?

Content Warnings:

Gambling, addiction, alcoholism, drugs, divorce. Some body horror, mild gore.

Feedback I'm looking for:

Anything you think would be useful to me, from tips, suggestions, pacing, things to expand and things to cut down.

​

Hello everyone. I am looking for beta readers for book one in a series. *I am not looking to hire anyone. Just honest people who enjoy reading and sharing their thoughts.* If, after reading the summary you are interested, DM me, and I will send you the info on how to access the book. Thanks in advance for considering!

Summary:

In a world where power is inherited and divided by continent, seven heirs rule nations of extraordinary abilities: Africa wields elemental magic; Asia commands mental magic; South America manipulates energy and technology; North America controls shadow and illusion; Europe masters arcane and blood magic; Australia works with summoning, and necromancy; Antarctica governs destruction magic.

These heirs must navigate their families’ complex legacies and the delicate balance of global politics while training, protecting their people, and managing territories. But non-magic users are vanishing, and supernatural activity is rising. As enemies become allies and secrets surface, the seven heirs must confront a growing threat that could shatter their world.