What is the best story you have read that was published in 2025 by someone who frequents the Authors’ Hangout?

[FrancesScott]

No it can’t be your own story!!! Even if - as is obviously true - you are the greatest writer Literotica has ever seen.

I’ve been more focused on writing of late and had little time to read here. But the irrepressible talent that is @PennyThompson has to get my vote with Mothman Is Real, He’s My Boyfriend.

Why? Artfully written by someone who makes a virtue of simplicity, but isn’t afraid to throw in recondite words when appropriate. Characters you connect with and feel empathy for. Weird non-human sex made to feel familiar and sweet. Just a teaspoon of humor. And overall wholesome, consensual erotica, featuring people being nice to each other, and with a strong beating heart.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I’ve been more focused on writing of late and had little time to read here. But the irrepressible talent that is @PennyThompson has to get my vote with Mothman Is Real, He’s My Boyfriend.

I don't read much here, but do have a bunch of AH authors on my fave list. @PennyThompson is one of them - I was particularly taken by the sequel to the story you mention, set in Australia.

I see from my comments list that I left comments against several other PT stories too. Definite fan!

 

[NotWise]

Deleted. It wasn't recently.

 

[FrancesScott]

Deleted. It wasn't recently.

Let’s say in 2025. I’ll update my question.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Lemme see… what have I written this year?

Oh. Wait.

I’ve not been reading as much as I would have liked, but the Mothman tale is indeed delightful.

 

[YDB95]

I've been too busy with my own works to read anyone else's. But I am looking forward to the Born to Run event next month, and plan to read all the entries.

 

[iwatchus]

I have read several good ones, but I will go with @PennyThompson Mothman is my boyfriend and @Actingup nude day entry about the music festival. My apologies to ones I am sure I have forgotten.

 

[FrancesScott]

Going to rename this thread to the @PennyThompson appreciation society.

 

[Erozetta]

Fossil Hunter by @WhiteTailDarkTip

 

[PennyThompson]

Going to rename this thread to the @PennyThompson appreciation society.

This is NOT GOOD for my mental state

 

[FrancesScott]

This is NOT GOOD for my mental state

So get some good karma by nominating your favorite story from 2025.

 

[Lifestyle66]

There are several good authors who post here in the Ah whose stories I appreciate. But for this year, I'd have to say @NoTalentHack" story "3br-2ba-1-story" in Loving Wives was a very good one!

And at 4.54 average after over six months with 58K views, that has to be a winner in loving wives!

 

[Actingup]

No it can’t be your own story!!! Even if - as is obviously true - you are the greatest writer Literotica has ever seen.

I’ve been more focused on writing of late and had little time to read here. But the irrepressible talent that is @PennyThompson has to get my vote with Mothman Is Real, He’s My Boyfriend.

Why? Artfully written by someone who makes a virtue of simplicity, but isn’t afraid to throw in recondite words when appropriate. Characters you connect with and feel empathy for. Weird non-human sex made to feel familiar and sweet. Just a teaspoon of humor. And overall wholesome, consensual erotica, featuring people being nice to each other, and with a strong beating heart.

Well I have to go with Mothman, as well, since I'm clearly a fan of Penny's. But I should point out that real moths don't have a single heart as such, but rather a dorsal vessel pumping hemolymph.

I also want to highlight 'Treehouse Rules', by @Rollinbones. A really worthy contest winner, widely loved, original as all heck, and possesses that same warm heart.

 

[PennyThompson]

There are a lot of stories from this year that I love, including from several of the wonderful folks in this thread...

But I'm going to nominate Pair of Queens by @Izanami9!

It got lost in the shuffle of Geek Pride, which is just tragic. It's a Genderfluid SciFi vignette about a starship's crew having a loving, cathartic orgy as their ship plots a course directly for the event horizon of a black hole! It's beautifully written, literary and dense with some fascinating themes and concepts

 

[Cali_Love]

Actingup, Hands Off the New Girl. Yeah, that was a good one.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Props to possibly the best author here: Damselfly by @onehitwanda

 

[Cali_Love]

Props to possibly the best author here: Damselfly by @onehitwanda

The romances by OnehitWanda are gold and deserving of GOAT in my favorite category.

 

[Actingup]

Props to possibly the best author here: Damselfly by @onehitwanda

Damselfly was sensational. 32K words of airborne bliss.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Props to possibly the best author here: Damselfly by @onehitwanda

I have to agree with this one, although I am founding member of the Penny Thompson Appreciation Society and I beta read her stuff, so I'm heavily biased.

As a runner up, I absolutely loved Lemon Soju by @TheRedLantern. It just came out a few days ago for the Hammer event, and it's probably my fav IR story I've read in a while.

 

[Nynah]

I'll read just about anything Penny or Actingup write, so I have to add on the praise for all of their stories mentioned here already. They just write good, thoughtful smut.

Wanda rightfully gets a ton of accolades and Damselfly regularly fights to the top of my favorite list of hers.

In the same category, @redgarters does some fantastic work and I can certainly recommend "Wake Me Up Inside" because it made me feel so seen. It's heavy, but so worth the read and deserves more love.

Veering back into my own chosen genre of E/V, @Bazzle wrote "Spick and Span With Only a Fan" and I absolutely loved it. Definitely the kind of stuff I look for when reading E/V as it's smartly written and just plausible enough to imagine it happening in reality.

 

[THBGato]

Gah! Too late to this already, as Wake me up inside and Mothman is real, he's my boyfriend have already been nominated! Those would definitely have been front-runners for me.

In fact, I could just join the chorus an namecheck any story @PennyThompson or @redgarters has published this year.

So in the spirit of widening the selection, Could a cookbook be a new beginning by @Cagivagurl is one I adored at the time and have been back to re-read. Complex, moving and immersive.

 

[TheLobster]

I know OP changed "recently" to "2025" but this one is close enough (Christmas 2024!) that I'd be remiss not to mention it.

Save Some Seed of the Lord for Me by @ChloeTzang is just a masterfully executed combination of silly, sexy and hilariously transgressive. It neatly slots into both subcategories of Taboo/Incest, in two different ways, and does so through an almost hypnotically captivating narrative. It is really long because it has to be, is not afraid to string you along through large sections of prose that seem superfluous at first but actually have a totally justified purpose, and is overall delivering its high-concept story in an essentially real time fashion. It's at the same time strangely plausible and utterly ridiculous, and also just plain awesome.

 

[AchtungNight]

Reading Hands Off The New Girl now (link https://www.literotica.com/s/hands-off-the-new-girl ) Thx for the recommendation.

 

[Actingup]

Reading Hands Off The New Girl now (link https://www.literotica.com/s/hands-off-the-new-girl ) Thx for the recommendation.

You’ll need to bear in mind that it was written for the ‘on the job’ challenge - they are definitely going to act inappropriately

 

[Cagivagurl]

OK...
This is hard...
Every time I see one of these threads, I get a little nervous.
Because I have never been able to say one story, one song, one painting is the best...
The one I see the most is, "The greatest guitar payer in the world is..."
For me it's an impossibnle task. Some are better at different styles, different feels. On different days, one may be better than the other, but it's impossible (IMO) to say, one is the greatest..
'This thread falls into this category also...
There have been some stunningly good stories posted here in Literotica land. Is one better than others? In some regards, yes, but in others...

@redgarters posted a fabulous story...

@THBGato Posted a story that I admired greatly.

@onehitwanda posted another sensational read.

There have been many, and all covering different ground. I loved them all.
The hard part is leaving off some names, and I do so only for the sake of brevity. No offence or slight intended to some of my other favourite writers.

Cagivagurl