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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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!

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

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