A transition month. The warm memories of summer are behind us and the dark, cold days of winter are staring us in the face. Of course, you can be like me and live in Florida where winter is actually quite pleasant. The Snow Birds consider it to be the best of times.

Nonetheless, I hate winter. I dislike the short days and lack of sunlight. So, November is not a welcome friend.

But now, let’s think about snuggling up to a warm fireplace and write some romance stories!

A favorite of my Serial Story submissions is Romancing The Spacewoman. This is a science fiction story and is available here.

Dr. Ah-mee Krant is an alien anthropologist from the planet Ed-dan. To protect her people, she is on a mission to find all the human colonies in the Galaxy.

On the planet Cabul, Ah-mee has found a human colony. After rescuing them from the results of their atomic experiments, Ah-mee greets the newsmen.

The Planet Cabul

Following the tall, shapely female Marine’s instructions, Arnold climbed the short staircase to the spaceship.

“You wanted to see me, ma’am?” Arnold said, as he entered the spaceship.

“Yes, come closer, please,” Dr. Krant said. She stood in the center of the small room. Her arms were loose by her sides with the palms facing forward.

Arnold took two steps closer and the hatch closed.

“May I call you Arnold?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“And, I want you to call me Ah-mee, but not when we are among the others. You understand?”

“Certainly, Ah-mee.”

She reached her right hand out and cupped his left elbow. She drew him closer. She tilted her chin up to hold his eyes.

“Let’s just say, I’m in the mood for something different. If you are willing, I would like to…”

“Ma’am?”

She released him and stepped back. He didn’t see how she did it, but suddenly her skin-tight covering was falling away from her body. In a mere moment, the thin material was a heap at her feet, and she was truly nude. She didn’t look like an alien from outer space; she looked like the women he had seen photographed in the girlie magazines.

Oh, yes, my Queen, he thought.

“Ah-mee, is this really appropriate?”

“I think we can do whatever we want. You can leave, but I would rather watch while you disrobed.” She gave him her signature smile. She sat on the couch with one leg crossed over the other with her arms stretched to her knee in a manner which concealed her mons and her nipples.

Gadzooks, I love my job! Arnold knew this was bound to be a bad idea.

Statistics

Let’s look at the statistics for the past month on the publication. I’m sure you remember the explosive increase in Readers we had in October. I’m thrilled that this uptick has continued. Those who want to look at statistics from older months can look for those in previous newsletters.

• The publication currently has 1250 followers (previously 1233). The trend to increasing numbers is continuing.
• We had more than 4400 Reads this month vs 6.5K last month. While it is tapering, it looks like we may have a long-term new normal.

Series which ended in the past month

In October, thee series ended:

The Bound Shadow by Ali Mai

This story is based on a tethering between a prince from a shadow world and a woman from a sunlit world. They are bound to each other and discover love for each other as they first try to break free of their bonds and then realize they must keep them in order to save both worlds.

The entire collection can be found here:

List: The Bound Shadow | Curated by Ali Mai | Medium

The Dream Signal by Paopao

Dream Signal is a science-fantasy serial about Anne, a woman from near-future Japan who is transferred during sleep into a sword-and-magic world known as OZ.

Long before Anne understands what is happening to her, an advanced civilization known as the Astrals begins studying dreams as a tool for both entertainment and control. After inheriting her mother’s secret research project, a new queen sends twin scientists Allen and Shion to investigate a mysterious signal originating from a forbidden region called the Dark Sanctuary.

Their discovery begins to connect dream technology, an ancient consciousness, and the strange transfers occurring between worlds. As Anne explores OZ and encounters others drawn there from reality, she gradually discovers that the fantasy world may not simply be a dream. Something is observing the people who enter it — and the system that connects these worlds may have a purpose far beyond anything they imagined.

The entire collection can be found here: Paopao

That Girl by Marc Stevens

When erotica author Marc Stevens moves to Bayside, his life is thrown into high gear. A mysterious stranger, a secret sex club, and a chance encounter with the beautiful woman who lives just across the hallway from his new apartment all combine to take Marc’s new life down a steamy, erotic trail.

The entire collection can be found here

Series running on Serial Stories

We currently have the following series running on the magazine:

1. The Woman Who Wanted To Enjoy Sex by Kerrie Noor
2. An American Youth by Glenn M Stewart
3. Ashes Into Stardust by S M Revolinski
4. The Black-Iron Dragon and the Ancient Song by Miyabi’s Movie Diary
5. Revisiting The Dark Side Of Planet Hy Man by Kerrie Noor
6. Bride of the Moonlit Court by Ali Mai
7. Dreamloom Saga — A New Saga Begins by Paopao
8. Not Quite Romance by Priya Pandey

New series on Serial Stories

There are three new stories in the list above:

Ashes Into Stardust by S M Revolinski

What do the Yellowstone supervolcano and Mars have in common?

Frank and Helen Gould are brother and sister geophysicists. Following the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, the siblings are cast into a web of survival. Frank struggles in the post- apocalyptic world as North America is thrown into a volcanic winter. The collapsing government disbands NASA, leaving Helen stranded on Mars.

Driven to rescue his sister, Frank works with the Army as it becomes the new governing power. NASA left a rescue rocket at Cape Canaveral, but no one alive knows how to launch it.

Scientific exploration of Mars gives way to life and death struggle. Having lost contact with Earth, Helen searches for the water her team needs to survive. Alone, they realize rescue is not coming.

Bride of the Moonlit Court by Ali Mai

A master thief breaks into a royal treasury to steal a legendary crown and accidentally becomes an immortal king’s bride. Now Lyra Vale must survive a magical marriage, navigate the dangerous politics of the Moon Court, and uncover why an ancient power chose her instead of the princess she replaced.

Although this story could go in any direction as I’m still planning what will exactly go down when they get to the moon court.

Dreamloom Saga — A New Saga Begins by Paopao

The Dream Signal was only Episode Zero — a prelude to a much greater story.

For the young Queen of the Celestial People, there was no greater pleasure than gazing down upon a miniature world of her own creation, watching the lives of those who inhabited it.

But simply observing was no longer enough.

Driven by her whims, the Queen made a new demand — one that would set an extraordinary experiment in motion.

Far away, on a distant world known as the Blue Planet, humans were about to become part of that experiment, unaware of the fate awaiting them. As the boundaries between dreams and reality begin to blur, ordinary people find themselves drawn into a world created by someone else.

What awaits them? A dreamlike adventure filled with wonder? Or a destiny shaped by a young Queen who sees their lives as pieces in her private world?

Beyond the veil of dreams, a world of swords and magic awaits — where forgotten legends stir, ancient mysteries awaken, and countless destinies are yet to be written.

Not Quite Romance by Priya Pandey

Maya has spent years secretly watching romantic dramas, imagining grand love stories, and falling for fictional men. In public, however, she insists that romance is overrated and that she has absolutely no interest in it. Her friends believe her, her family believes her, and she intends to keep it that way.

The problem? Maya has learned everything about romance from fiction but very little about real relationships.

Then she meets someone who threatens to expose her carefully guarded secret. He finds her obsession with romantic clichés ridiculous, while she finds his complete disregard for romance infuriating. Their disagreements, teasing, and increasingly complicated interactions lead to a relationship neither of them expects.

As Maya discovers that real affection rarely follows a script, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about love. Meanwhile, the man who claims not to believe in romance starts demonstrating a kind of love he refuses to acknowledge.

Perhaps she understands romance far better than she understands love. And perhaps he understands love far better than he realizes.

S. M. Revolinski is the owner / editor of Serial Stories, writer of fact and fiction, sometimes erotic, and always about life. Likes to share, and treats everyone with the respect they deserve. Proudly part of The Cocktail Club.

🦋 About | 💻 Follow / Subscribe | 📚 Stories | 🦜 Twitter

Tales & Tidbits #29: November 2026 was originally published in Serial Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On Wednesday, 20 July 1955, twins Patricia and Peter Kirby were born in a small maternity hospital close to England’s south coast, and just seven minutes apart, with Patricia arriving first.

Their parents, Margaret and Harold, were not wealthy, not by any means, but by the standards of mid-1950s Britain, they considered themselves more fortunate than most. They had a steady income, a home of their own in all but name, and a reasonable hope that life would get a little easier as the years went by.

Theirs was a comfortable lower-middle-class existence. 23 Acacia Gardens was a modest semi-detached house on the edge of a Kent town. It was the sort of place cultural commentators would one day look back to describing it as representing the post-war dream. A home of one’s own, the stability that property ownership entailed, and enough money to get by without constantly having to worry about the next bill.

№23 wasn’t much to look at. The galley kitchen was cramped, the bathroom was old-fashioned, and the garden always seemed to need something doing to it. But it was home, and one day, when the mortgage was finally paid off, it would be entirely theirs.

Harold worked in a junior management role, overseeing administration at a local manufacturing firm. It wasn’t a particularly grand position, but it paid the bills and offered a degree of security. He was a steady, dependable man, and that counted for a great deal in those days.

Neither he nor Margaret had grand ambitions. They wanted a comfortable home, a little money put aside for a rainy day, and children who grew up knowing right from wrong. If Patricia and Peter could do a little better for themselves than their parents had done, so much the better. To all intents and purposes, they mirrored the hopes and aspirations of post-war Britain, like hundreds of thousands of the rest of Her Majesty’s subjects.

And like many homes across the land, life at Acacia Gardens followed a familiar pattern. The garden was kept tidy, the curtains were drawn as dusk settled, and neighbours kept a quiet eye on one another’s comings and goings. People knew far more about each other than they let on, though good manners usually dictated that certain things were best left unsaid.

For Margaret, the twins were her greatest joy. She kept the house immaculate, baked at weekends, and believed that a tidy home reflected a tidy mind. The classic 50s housewife.

For Harold, Patricia and Peter represented something even more precious. The promise of a future he had spent his life working to provide.

They had been blessed with two children, a son and a daughter, and for Harold and Margaret it was the family they had always hoped for.

And within that world, Patricia and Peter grew up almost inseparable.

From the beginning, everyone noticed how close they were.

‘They’re like two halves of the same person,’ Margaret often said.

If Peter fell and scraped his knee, Patricia cried harder than he did.

If Patricia was upset at school, Peter sat beside her in silence until she felt better.

They had different personalities, and ways of seeing and doing things that became more apparent the older they got.

Patricia was thoughtful, observant and quietly determined. She noticed things. She remembered conversations. She was the child who saved birthday money instead of spending it immediately.

Peter, or Pete as everyone called him, was warmer and more impulsive. He made friends easily and could talk to anyone. He was the boy who would spend his pocket money on sweets for everyone else and then wonder why he had nothing left.

‘You’ll never become rich with that attitude,’ Patricia teased him once.

Pete laughed.

‘Who wants to be rich?’

Neither of them gave the exchange a second thought. Years later, it would seem somewhat prophetic.

For almost eighteen years, the twins remained remarkably close.

They shared birthdays. They shared the small secrets that children collect. They shared everything. Their childhood was blissfully ordinary, which was exactly why it felt so safe.

There were summer evenings riding bicycles through Kent lanes. Sunday roasts at the family table. Christmas mornings where they both woke before dawn and sat together on the stairs waiting for permission to come downstairs.

Underneath the warmth, as they grew as children throughout the 60s, there was a firm expectation to work hard and behave properly. They were not a family of dramatic displays or loud arguments; problems were dealt with quietly, and feelings were kept inside, as that was simply how things were.

By the early 1970s, however, their childhood had ended. Britain too itself was changing.

The confidence of those early post-war years was beginning to fade and even the glamour that swept many through the 1960s had worn off and stagnated. Strikes, inflation and economic uncertainty regularly filled newspaper headlines. The old rules about class and opportunity were also being continually challenged.

Young people were questioning the expectations of their parents’ generation.

Patricia and Pete were no different.

In 1973, when they were seventeen, the first real fracture appeared in the bond between brother and sister.

The argument itself began over something so mundane that, years later, neither of them could remember exactly what had caused it in the first place. It was really just two teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, saying things in anger that could not easily be unsaid.

‘You always think you know better,’ Pete snapped at her, one day.

Patricia folded her arms, a familiar gesture that suddenly seemed defensive rather than confident.

‘Because sometimes I do.’

‘That’s exactly what I mean.’

‘What does that even mean?’

‘It means you’re always judging everyone.’

The words came out more sharply than he intended. But they struck because, beneath the anger, there was a truth neither of them wanted to acknowledge.

They were changing. They were also becoming individuals, not just twins.

Pete also began spending more and more time with Janet, a girl he had known since childhood. His first girlfriend. Where Patricia offered sharp opinions and high standards, Janet brought an easy, grounded nature that put him instantly at ease. To him, Janet laughed with him, Patricia snapped at him. They would walk through the town together after work, talking for hours about the simple everyday things.

Patricia looked at her brother and, for the first time, saw someone different from the little boy who had once followed her everywhere. The boy who had held her hand when they crossed roads. The boy who seemed to understand what she was thinking before she ever said a word.

Now, standing in front of her, he felt strangely unfamiliar.

‘Fine,’ she said.

Pete looked away.

‘Fine.’

Neither apologised. Both assumed the other would eventually come around but neither of course did.

A week passed. Then a month. Then longer still. The silence between them continued until neither knew how to find their way back.

Their parents noticed the change, though neither child was willing to explain it.

‘What happened between you two?’ Margaret asked one evening.

‘Nothing,’ Patricia replied.

Pete gave the exact same answer when asked. But it wasn’t nothing. In hindsight, maybe it was foolish to expect them to stay tied at the hip as they grew up and drifted towards separate interests and different circles of friends.

By 1978, the twins were twenty-three. They were no longer children, and they were no longer close.

Somewhere along the way they had begun living separate lives beneath the same roof. Their friendships, interests, and social circles had moved in completely different directions. Pete’s world was increasingly centred around Janet, the girl he had known since childhood and the woman he now planned to build a future with.

They were now no longer part of each other’s worlds. The closeness they had once taken for granted as children was gone, leaving them, now as young adults, as siblings by circumstance only rather than as companions by choice. If truth be told, a not uncommon occurrence amongst siblings, as they get older.

Then Patricia met Thomas Heybridge.

Tom was a few years older and came from a very different, even more financially comfortable background. He understood money in a way Patricia admired, not as something merely to spend, but as a tool to use.

‘He’s ambitious,’ Margaret said cautiously after first meeting him.

Patricia smiled. ‘He knows what he wants.’

It was a quality she respected.

Tom worked in finance, and he had begun to notice the subtle opportunities emerging in Britain’s changing economy. The old barriers were weakening, credit was becoming easier to obtain, and home ownership was transforming from simply having somewhere to live into a genuine route towards wealth.

‘People don’t understand property,’ Tom told Patricia one evening over dinner.

She looked amused. ‘Is that your professional opinion?’

‘It’s common sense,’ he replied. ‘They buy a house and think that’s the end of the story.’

‘What’s the rest of the story?’

He smiled. ‘The house is just the beginning.’

Patricia liked that answer. She liked it very much.

Her parents had instilled in her a respectable, lower-middle-class aspiration. Work hard, save, and be honest in everything you do. These objectives should enable you to be both comfortable and content. Yet Patricia had always cherished a desire to go that bit further in life. She wanted to surpass what she felt were the modest boundaries set by her parents and their generation. Patricia relished the opportunity to step up to the next level, and in Tom, she instantly recognised a shared appetite for doing just that.

After three years together, they were married.

They decided immediately not to have children. It was not a decision made with regret or sadness; it was simply the life they both wanted. They valued their freedom, their independence, and the chance, they felt, to build something different.

Their first home as a married couple was a stylish suburban semi-detached house. To most people, it looked like any other home for a young married couple. To Patricia and Tom, however, it represented something more. An investment, and the carefully chosen first step in a much larger plan. They agreed it would be only their first home, a springboard rather than a final destination.

Patricia and Tom shared a belief that careful decisions made early could shape the future, and so much for the better. As Britain entered the property boom of the 1980s, they were ready to take advantage of the opportunities it created.

Pete’s life followed a very different path.

Around the same time Patricia and Tom were planning their future, Pete and Janet found themselves facing an unexpected change in theirs.

Janet discovered she was pregnant, and although they had always known they wanted to be together, marriage suddenly became something that could no longer be left for another day. They married quietly, and before she began to really show, beginning a new chapter of their lives earlier than either of them had expected.

Their conversations over dinner were not about investment strategies or long-term financial planning. They were about bills, nursery furniture, and whether they could afford to replace the washing machine that had finally given up.

But Pete was happy. Blissfully so. He loved Janet intensely, and their home was filled with a warmth that money could never buy. Two more children would quickly follow, transforming their home into a place of noise, laughter, and constant movement.

… To be continued

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Finding Her Way Home — Chapter One was originally published in Serial Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.