Volume 7, September 2026
Greetings,
With summer on the way out, we make room for the fall season. Need proof? There’s candy corn on store shelves, ha! The warm colors of changing leaves coupled with the softness of a favorite sweater or hoodie holds a beauty unique to this season. There’s a coolness in the air that causes hazelnut coffees and apple spice teas to seem even more comforting. I’m eagerly anticipating the crisp, fall mornings and the cloudy, misty afternoons that seems so slow.
Last month, Smoke Signals reached quite a milestone. We had over one-hundred views! That’s amazing!! We’re sending much gratitude to all who read our newsletter and found it worth sharing. Thank you!
Another record breaker is our submission volume for Savagery on the Salty Seas, Volume 1. We had over one-hundred submissions and are looking to accept between 13-15 stories. We’re still narrowing down the final bit and will begin sending out notifications if not by this weekend, the beginning and throughout the following week–that would be the week of September 7th.
If you submitted a story, please know that there was not one single submission I would call bad. Sometimes our choices as editors come down to aspects such as ‘which stories fit the most cohesively together’ or ‘we have five strong stories featuring mermaids. Perhaps we only need two.’ (These are simply examples). Neither one of these reasons means a particular story wasn’t worthy and wasn’t strong. So please know that.
In this issue of Smoke Signals we’re featuring August’s winning Campfire Tales story and bringing an all-new topic for September’s contest. We’ll also be listing our upcoming appearances for the month of September.
As always, thank you for supporting our art.
Cheers!
-Aaron
Find all our books in paperback and eBook formats on Amazon.com!
Before we announce the winner for our August 2026 Campfire Tales writing contest, we’d like to give a HUGE thank you to our Judge, Jennifer Weigel!
Multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist Jennifer Weigel (she/her/they/them) lives in Kansas, USA. Weigel was a staff writer for Haunted MTL from 2020 – 2025 until the website was shut down, and is now involved with Weird Wyrlds, posting poems and stories every Sunday. She also serves on the Board of Nat 1 Publishing, from 2024 – current. Weigel is the author of Witch Hayzelle’s Recipes for Disaster trilogy and her writing has appeared in over 150 publications in print and online. https://jenniferweigelart.com/
Feedback from Jennifer:
” I am honored to be able to judge the Campfire Tales Contest for August: “What if we all just stopped”. I really appreciate how diverse the selections were and how they each touched on the theme in a wholly different way.
I chose “What the Hell” as the Contest Winner. This story stood out to me because it is both really descriptive and funny, playing off of the Classic succubus trope in a campy tongue-in-cheek manner that was well executed and a joy to read. “
A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Jen Poteet for her winning story, “What the Hell.”
“What if we all just stopped.” Jack said weakly. He tried again to protest, but his voice cracked and went unheard by his companions anyway.
One straddled his thighs. Her eyes had rolled back in her skull and only the whites were visible. She murmured in a language he didn’t understand, but when the words reached him, they felt like paper cuts to his eardrums.
The other lapped at his blood with her forked tongue as it seeped from the symbols she had carved in his flesh with her fingernail. He could only lift his head, but he was eighty percent sure that was a pentagram on his chest.
Jack couldn’t even be mad. He had done this to himself. Did he think he’d end up with each of his limbs tied to a corresponding bed post and starfished across this dirty mattress? Of course not. But when the two Goth Baddies approached him and asked if he would like to join them for tantric ritual sex magic, the only things that got through his lust fog were “sex” and “them.”
As in both of them.
At the same time.
He realized that it may be his only chance, so he took it. Besides, he was just another person trudging through the day to day bullshit. He worked at the Home Depot for fuck’s sake. So yeah, if this was how he died, so be it. And those were his last thoughts before everything went black.
He had lost a lot of blood after all.
**
The next day Jack was in fact not dead. He was sore and the lower half of him had been chaffed raw, but he would live to see another day. How he ended up back in his apartment was yet another mystery. There was a note beside him that said, “call us,” with a phone number made of all sixes. He rolled over and hoped he could sleep this one off.
**
This time when the She Demons approached him at the bar, he could see the oddities he had missed during their first rendezvous. Heat waves wafted off their bodies. A sweat mustache beaded on his upper lip, and his heart sped up like prey ensnared. When they asked him if he’d be up for another go, he could see their sharp incisors as they bit their plump bottom lips. He still had some lingering scars on his torso and the phantom pain of how much it burned when he peed for two weeks.
And yet…
Jack threw back the rest of his drink before draping an arm around each of them and said, “What the hell.”
About Jen Poteet:
Jen Poteet has been romanticizing monsters since the 80’s when she started watching the Double Creature Feature after her Saturday morning cartoons. She’s never been afraid of the dark, instead has found herself more curious of what lurks there. She currently dwells in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains with her family, her home is practically an unofficial pet rescue and spends most of her time creating. Jen Poteet currently has four published works, has appeared in multiple anthologies and a few online journals that are all in no specific genre because she just loves words.
Campfire Publishing’s September Appearance Schedule:
Here at Campfire Publishing, our team is dying to meet long-time, current, and new readers in person! Here’s a list of our upcoming September events.
Saturday September 5th — Book Fair at Madame’s Oddities 1:00 P.M.- 6:00 P.M.
Friday/Saturday September 18-19 — Margins and Moonlight Richmond, VA
Sunday September 27th — Big Kid Book Fair 12 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. Remington, VA
As the fire crackles and the shadows stretch, a brand-new story waits for us in the flames.
This month, we’re inviting you to tell a tale in 500 words or less.
September’s Prompt: You’re taking a different route today
Rules/Details:
500 words or less
One submission per person
NO AI
NO EROTICA
Deadline: Friday, September 25th 2026
Format: .docx (.doc)
**We will NOT accept any other file format**
Please include: Name (or pen name) and email address
Send submission to info@aaronkcrocker.com
Subject Line: Campfire Tales
Authors who have been published in Campfire Publishing’s anthologies are encouraged to submit!
STORIES WILL BE JUDGED BLINDLY (Please include your name in your file with submission. All names will be removed before being sent to our guest judge)!
Winner receives a $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD, and their story and bio will be featured in our upcoming Newsletter!
We all have a story! —tell us yours. Keep it dark (or twistedly funny) and send it our way for a chance to be featured in next month’s newsletter!
September’s Guest Judge is Heather A. Busse!
Author Heather A Busse, is a mother and writer living in Minnesota with her cat, Fizzgig. She is the author of the previously published The Useful Life Clockworks Company. Heather is also a developmental and line editor.
When she isn’t writing, she enjoys the stars, gaming, books, gardening, Goth culture and music, and of course The Band of the Red Hand fandom for Robert Jordan’s series, “The Wheel of Time“. She also is an active gamer with TheCriticalFail on Twitch.
Having personally read through each story, and we received quite a few over one hundred, I am so honored that such strong writers submitted for SSSV1. These decisions have truly and genuinely been extremely difficult, and I hope that receiving a ‘not selected’ letter does not discourage anyone from submitted to our future anthologies or to opportunities in general. Please keep creating art! The world needs all of you right now!!
I’m excited to get the publishing process started and look forward to seeing another Campfire vision into reality.
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