Five years of FictionMatters on Substack

Plus two new books I recommend and an epic literary villains bracket

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the FictionMatters newsletter on Substack. Time has flown, but also so much has changed—I mean, I’m now raising a whole human who didn’t exist the first time I pressed send on this newsletter. Wild! I spent some time this weekend looking back at old posts and thinking about how far this project as come. This also lead to remembering some of the types of reviews and essays I enjoyed writing at the onset and wondering if I might be able to reintroduce them in new ways. It’s been both enjoyable and cringey to go back to those early posts; some things are exactly the same and others have changed quite a bit, including my own reading priorities. If you’re a paid subscriber, you have access to all of those archives—if you’re a free subscriber you can go back two years before you hit a paywall.

I like to share these anniversary milestones because I’m proud of what I’ve built, but also to show an example of slow and steady growth on this platform. I’m currently approaching 10,000 subscribers and reached the huge milestone of 1,000 paid subscribers earlier this. year. And that has taken time! Substack HQ loves to spotlight people whose newsletters have seen astronomical growth in a short period of time. That hasn’t been my experience at all. There are certainly moments when I’ve seen more growth than others, but my posts have never gone viral and I’ve never been featured by Substack. When I look at my growth charts, I can’t point to a single time when this newsletter really “took off.” It’s been slow and steady growth this whole time, and—honestly—I’m thankful for that! (Though I’d still take that Substack feature…). If you’re writer here and haven’t experienced that Big Moment, that’s okay! With consistency, slow and steady growth can happen.

Slow growth has allowed me to find my footing and my voice without feeling like I’m boxed in to a particular paradigm. I’ve slowly added different series that allow me to explore books in the ways that interest me without taking on too much at once. And slow growth has also helped this space feel like a real community. I can tell that my readership is invested, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

So whether you’ve been here all along or have recently found your way to this newsletter, thanks for being here! To celebrate 5 years on Substack, I’m going to be sharing an audio Q&A later this month. If you’d like to ask me a question, you can use this form or email me at fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com. Feel free to ask questions about books and reading, this newsletter, teaching, my years on Bookstagram, or even personal life. I’ll answer what I can in a podcast episode in the coming weeks!

This week in books.

This week I read…

• Original Sins by Eve L. Ewing. The former teacher and history nerd in me just adored this book. Ewing brilliantly examines the history of public education in the United States, looking at how the apparatus of schools was built differently for white, Black, and Indigenous children. I love the attention to detail Ewing brings to this book, filling the pages with specific historical examples and primary source evidence. But it’s never overwhelming either. She gives the information she needs to in an engaging way, providing an extensive bibliography for anyone who wants to delve in further. At a moment when we’re facing yet another educational crisis in the U.S., The history Ewing provides is more vital than ever. If you are a teacher or a parent, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Stag Dance by Torrey Peters. I am not an expert short story reader, but there are two main things I look for in a story collection. First, I want a collection to be engaged in a project of exploring some guiding question. That question could be thematic or technical or structural or character-based or about the craft—but I need there to be some sort of “a-ha” where I notice that story C is touching on something that was brought up in story B even if (especially if!) it’s done in a completely different way. Second, I want each story to have a banger of an ending. I want an O. Henry-style ending where there’s some sort of turn or surprise, but I’m also left feeling like that was the only way that story could have possibly ended because it’s so perfect. While I wouldn’t say this collection of stories is perfect in either regard, Peters is very clearly working towards both of these things I love with the follow-up to her excellent debut novel Detransition, Baby. From the first page to the last, this is a book that cares deeply about craft and how to tell a story—and the stories Peters tells are provocative, funny, shocking, and simultaneously both classic and inventive. The pacing is a bit uneven and I wish Peters would have given us a true short story collection instead of expanding one story into a novella—the character and voice of the longer piece are pitch perfect, but it got a bit repetitive. Still, this is one of my favorite 2025 releases so far, and I highly recommend picking it up when it releases this Tuesday. Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

• I started Dream State by Eric Puchner. I’m liking it well enough, but it’s not blowing me away. In pacing and story, it reminds me a bit of Hello Beautiful so if that was a hit for you, this might be worth picking up.

New on my TBR…

• This book caught my attention when a FM Literary Society member recommended it, and I can’t wait to read it!

Links I love.

Bookshop.org is offering 20% off their most anticipate 2025 releases. Shop this list and enter code SPRINGAHEAD at checkout to get your discount. This offer is only good throught 11:59pm PT tomorrow, March 10th…so get shopping now!!

This Zadie Smith interview is such a treat. (NPR)

Six older books that deserve to be popular today. (Atlantic, gift link)

The best recent science fiction and fantasy. (The Guardian)

This essay about historical biographical fiction is great. It really helped me think through what historical fiction does and what I want from it. (NYT, gift link)

This quick quiz will help you find a book to lead you into spring. (NYT)

Full disclosure, I didn’t make it through this entire Gatsby essay, but it is the 100th anniversary of this Great American Classic and it’s a very thorough piece if you’re looking for something to explore. (Vox)

End Notes.

• My IRL book club discussed Detransition, Baby this month which was really cool after having just finished Peters’ newest.

• I’ve been working on an embroidery project for one of my nieces and finished this week. I’m excited to give it to her!

• I wouldn’t say I enjoyed listening to this podcast, but I always appreciate Ezra Klein’s rhetorical analysis.

• I had so much fun voting in this literary villains bracket and I can’t wait to participate in the next round. I highly recommend reading through and voting when you have a spare 15 or so minutes.

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Happy reading!

Sara