A Game Where No One Wins A Russian man is haunted through the years by a harbinger of doom, who in turn is paying for his own past sins.

I wrote a ghost story a little while back for a contest. This is one of my personal favorites and this Halloween weekend is the perfect time to re-up it for folks to enjoy under a blanket or with a Hot Toddy. open.substack.com/pub/benjakub...

Of Botany and Biology A xenobiologist struggles to find connection light years from Earth after never quite having it at home.

My latest short story is up, perhaps my favorite yet. This was for a contest from Writers' Playground, and while I didn't win, I was glad to receive very favorable and helpful feedback. This one is for the science fiction nerds like me! open.substack.com/pub/benjakub...

How or What A tiny midwestern vignette

I wrote a quick “flash fiction” story a few weeks ago for a local contest with the Gordon Square Review. Though not selected, this was a good challenge to try to deliver an emotional jab with very limited space. open.substack.com/pub/benjakub...

Air Fryer Guy The approval process of a new solar farm is derailed when someone shows up with an unconventional prop.

Happy Saturday! I wrote a new short story for another competition a few months ago. I was assigned Political Satire as my genre, which is, uh, a pretty tall order these days. The word count limit makes this a quick read, and I hope some of you enjoy it!

open.substack.com/pub/benjakub...

Heads up that noahpinion.blog is not currently loading in any browser (desktop or phone). It's fine in email and the Substack app, though.

Collection Season Frustrated by how people around her dismiss her ideas, a young woman finds support and validation from the school nurse. Unfortunately, the nurse literally feeds off the rebellious energy of the young

My latest story is up on Substack! This was my Round 3 entry for the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge, and while my journey ends here, I'm pleased with this story and having made it this far. benjakuben.com/p/collection...

THE WRECK OF THE ADMIRAL BY RAYMOND DANNER - The RavensPerch Tom pilots the Sea Ray next to the blue-and-white mooring ball as Kate deftly reaches over the bow to grab the line and tie off to the cleat. Then Tom kills the engine and the 25-footer dances in the…

Congrats to Ray Danner for getting a new story published! What a great read on a sunny and bright summer afternoon in Cleveland. Just beware: there's a real scare in this that cements my fear of diving in Lake Erie (or anywhere, really)! theravensperch.com/the-wreck-of...

A Game Where No One Wins A Russian man is haunted through the years by a harbinger of doom, who in turn is paying for his own past sins.

My journey continues with the @nycmidnight.bsky.social Short Story Challenge! I wasn't thrilled to be assigned a "ghost story" but I found characters I ended up really caring about that made it work for me. Here's to getting out of your comfort zone.
open.substack.com/pub/benjakub...

Some discourse and a lot of reflection is probably the best mix. But hey, audiobooks are great, too! lol

Even I’m listening to fewer podcasts. There are still plenty of good episodes, though!

I'm so excited for "Anji Kills a King" that I wrote a Substack post about it! 🥳 benjakuben.com/p/happy-for-...

The Flash Fiction Challenge — nycmidnight The Flash Fiction Challenge is an annual creative writing competition that challenges writers around the world to create short stories based on genre, location, and object assignments in 48 hours.

Join me in the @nycmidnight.bsky.social Flash Fiction Challenge on May 30th! Learn more at nycmidnight.com/ffc

Using Claude AI as a personal assistant while filling out my taxes on Cash App Taxes has been the best tax filing experience I've ever had. I feel much better about it than I ever felt with TurboTax!

What's the point? A lot, actually! Nothing really matters, but also, everything matters?

Thanks to encouragement from some very dear people, I've started writing! Up first is an intro post and a short story I recently submitted to a contest. It's been rewarding so far; here's hoping I can build a habit! benjakuben.com/p/whats-the-...

Trump and Vance are somehow even more despicable than they normally are in this clip. Slava Ukraini.

This joke is too perfect

2024 Review: Well... Look at the Bright Side! Yeah... YOU'RE GONNA WANT TO READ THIS.

Wise (and fun) words from my amazing niece! open.substack.com/pub/hannahsa...