Dark Speculative Fiction | Start Here
Your essential guide to mind-bending serialized stories, unsettling cosmic horror, and the unique narrative experience within.
Whether you’re here for mind-bending stories, psychological thrillers, dystopian warnings, interactive fiction, or dark speculative tales with an unsettling atmosphere—this is your map to the madness.
Nocturnal Narrator is more than a Substack publication. It’s… hard to describe. But the closest you’ll get is this: Interactive, speculative, darkly satirical, serialized fiction that’s part alternate reality game (ARG), part Substack newsletter.
A breath.
Welcome, I’m your UnReliable Narrator. The Void is currently undergoing construction, which means this post will update frequently. Bear with me through any broken links, half-finished sentences, and/or complete Narrative dissociation.
Table of Contents
The link below contains the total archive of stories & posts that I may have accidentally disappeared from your feed.
Want access to my entire archive? Be sure you subscribe.
Nocturnal Narrator’s Dark and Speculative Fiction FAQs
Interactive Fiction on Substack?
Yes.
I can tell you how interactive fiction works in the Void, but I do not control outside of it—meaning anyone else who may do interactive fiction. I am working on developing many different forms for you all—including stand-alone pieces for readers that aren’t ready to participate in ritualistic sacrifice learn the lore.
You can begin your journey through the Void HERE.
While I am working on those, you can check out the End of the World Influencer Interactive Pilot and Epoch of Erasure Part 1: The Stain of Envy
What is an Unreliable Narrator?
An Unreliable Narrator is the universes Magic 8 ball that keeps landing on ‘perhaps.’
An unreliable narrator is a character whose telling of the story can’t be fully trusted—because of bias, limited knowledge, personal flaws, or outright deception. In the world of dark fiction, these narrators are our candle in the storm. Deliciously untrustworthy.
If this feels like your kind of madness — subscribe, and stay awhile.
Sections
Ongoing Dark Serialized Fiction
Olivia
Olivia is a brilliant, emotionally detached woman with antisocial personality disorder.
After years of studying human behavior like a second language, Olivia has trained herself in cognitive empathy. She doesn’t feel what others feel—but she understands it. And she uses that understanding to eliminate dangerous men.
![Olivia [Ch. 1]](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1593974123009-e87a2188ae12?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxNXx8a2lsbHxlbnwwfHx8fDE3NDY3NjA5NjN8MA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=1080)
End of the World Influencer
Compare to: Bo Burnham meets Dan Abnett (Warhammer 40k)
Start the apocalypse: READ PART 1 NOW
An ongoing web fiction series following Adam, a cynical Midwest podcaster ("Average Adam") whose final broadcast seems to coincide with the quiet beginning of the end.
Is Adam just caught in the crossfire, or is there a deeper reason everything seems centered around him?
Expect dark humor, psychological unraveling, existential dread, encounters with terrifying cosmic horror entities, questionable allies, and a desperate, character-driven story exploring a search for answers as the world crumbles.
See What The Night Shift Is Saying
Status: Parts 1-5 Now Available!
Schedule: New installments drop free for all subscribers Fridays at 10pm EST.
🎧 Includes immersive playlists and evolving lore, deepening the world-building.
Want even more background or early looks? The Night Shift now meets over on Patreon: Check out the Inner Circle.
More Dark Speculative & Dystopian Fiction Series
Project X: Digital Dystopia
Compare to: Black Mirror meets cyberpunk dystopian themes.
A speculative fiction series exploring surveillance, control, and the illusion of liberation in a hyperconnected future.
Series resumed with Selective Silence: Remastered. You can read it by clicking the link below.
Selective Silence: Remastered
Every day, we give up tiny pieces of ourselves to digital systems we barely even understand. We scroll, swipe, and smile for the algorithm, happily feeding data into machines built by billionaires who swear they're changing the world—for our benefit, of course.
While you wait for more, check out the codex:
Project X Codex: Meet the Billionaires Behind Our Digital Dystopia
Confessions of a Voyeur
Compare to: You (Caroline Kepnes) + Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
At first, it reads like a stalker’s journal. A man obsessed with his ex. The descent feels familiar—until the final confession changes everything.
Full series out now! Read part 1 here.
New Reader Guide: Navigating the Narrative Void
Welcome! You don’t need to read everything in order—but bingeing the serialized fiction of End of the World Influencer from the beginning is highly recommended.
Project X can be read in any order. Codex first is strongly advised.
Most fiction published here lives in the same universe—part of the ongoing world-building—but you don’t need a map to enjoy the view.
Subscribing for free ensures you get all public Substack fiction posts – including ongoing serials like End of the World Influencer, guest posts, essays, and updates – delivered straight to your inbox.
IF YOU GET LOST YOU CAN FIND THE CROSSROADS HERE
Introduce Yourself: Head over to Subscriber Chat and say hello to your fellow nocturnal enthusiasts.
Reader Advisory: Entering Nocturnal Narrator's Universe
Welcome to the edge of reality. Before you proceed further into these tales, a brief orientation is advised for your cognitive and existential safety. Please read carefully.
Narrative Advisory: Consumption of stories herein may lead to unexpected side effects including, but not limited to: mild dissociation, heightened awareness of shadows, questioning the nature of reality, deep grimdark dread, unhealthy suspicion of common household objects (especially closets), sudden urges to research obscure folklore, and an increased sensitivity to the static between dimensions. Proceed with caution.
Subscription Effects: Subscribing significantly increases exposure frequency and intensity. Deeper engagement, such as joining the Inner Circle community, may accelerate symptom onset due to concentrated infusions of bonus lore. Manage your intake responsibly. Withdrawal symptoms are poorly understood but likely unpleasant. Like that one coworker.
Temporal/Cognitive Stability: While navigating these narratives, be aware that linear time perception may fluctuate. What feels like minutes spent reading could result in hours lost to the narrative void. Furthermore, distinguishing between fictional viewpoints and your own internal monologue may become... challenging. Keep grounding objects (like snacks, pets, or strongly-held empirical truths) nearby.
Community Protocol: Engage with fellow Creatures of the Night in the Subscriber Chat (our core reader community), but be advised: shared theories may coalesce into unforeseen psychic phenomena or minor reality incursions. Spoiler etiquette is encouraged but often futile against paradoxical information loops.
SAFETY RECORD: Nocturnal Narrator is pleased to report zero (0) confirmed cases of readers being physically devoured by Devoratus Animarum summoned directly via Substack links this fiscal quarter. * Progress!
*Disclaimer: This report does not cover instances of existential dissolution, minor soul-fraying due to excessive lore exposure, sanity slippage, readers becoming permanently lost within fictional points-of-view, or inexplicable spider infestations appearing post-subscription.
This concludes your initial safety briefing. You may now proceed further into the shadows. We absolve ourselves of responsibility hereafter.
Until the next story,
—Your Narrator 🌙🖤