The Official Valentine’s Day Contest Support Thread 2026

[StrentWriter]

I present to you: Peta & Sam, a short story following on from my novel Peta/Sam and taking part in the Valentine’s Day Contest 2026.

Peta & Sam is a short companion story that follows directly on from the novel Peta/Sam, capturing the moment when two people who have spent years almost finding each other finally choose to stay.

Reunited in London, Peta and Sam move quickly from physical reconnection to an unambiguous decision: to marry, to blend their families, and to stop running from what they’ve always known. Alongside humour, explicit intimacy, and cultural friction, the story explores grief, responsibility, and the quiet work of becoming a family.

Set around an intimate wedding in Holland Park and its aftermath, Peta & Sam closes one chapter of their relationship while opening another — a love story no longer defined by longing, but by choice and consequence.

 

[StrentWriter]

Thought this might be helpful. Today’s submissions!

2026 Valentines Day Submissions​

Saved By Jane Eyre And A Nude - Beachregularguy13
The Last Song She Wrote - redgarters
To Have. To Hold. To Remember. - payenbrant
Love Me Like You Do - McQueen127
HeartMatch Plus - CiaoSteve
Valentine's Proposition - CiaoSteve
Oh Sweetie - old_prof
Shades Of Desire - Aoife_from_Ulster
Wanted:... - CatMother
Festival of Love - ChloeKendall
A Maddening, Mystery Valentine - IdahoExec
Deeper Than a Son's Love - spiderboi
Psyche's Cover Up - marauder3r
SexWorld - Sugrcone
Cindarella's Midnight Secret - DjadoTorbalan
Cider - DawnDuckie
She Was Always There - regularguy13
To the Very End - PapaRomantic
Love off Lakeshore Drive - MistressMoonDrop
Vodka: Cinnamon Apple - JimBob44
A Valentine's Weekend Wedding - carrteun
Foot Fetish Fairy - Agent0069
A Mother Wants It One Last Time - other11
Fucking Benny - ShelbyDawn57
Valentine's Game Night - mrs_mackenzie
The Right Time - YmaOHyd
Peta & Sam - StrentWriter
Panties: A Valentine's Love Letter - Paul_Bright
Pierced - RoyalAuthor
Fucking Ishani - EdIsWriting
You Never Know - Voboy
The Accidental Honeymoon - CloudCuckoo
Geir and the Goblin Princess - Eosphorus
The Franchise - HelenL
Cupid's Arrow of Time - FrancesScott
It's a Sin to Tell a Lie - YDB95
Sadie Hawkins Dance - Jamie6977

 

[EmilyMiller]

January 13th

For Valentine’s now it’s day four
And your FMC’s down on the floor
On her knees with mouth wide
Saying, "Put it inside!”
A request you just can’t ignore

 

[Purechicanery]

OK I submitted a thing, now to look forward to publishing day, AKA the day I discover all the typos.

 

[StrentWriter]

January 13th

For Valentine’s now it’s day four
And your FMC’s down on the floor
On her knees with mouth wide
Saying, "Put it inside!”
A request you just can’t ignore

Do you have these pre-written or just think them up on the spot?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Do you have these pre-written or just think them up on the spot?

I wrote a lot upfront

 

[Duleigh]

I just started my story yesterday. While I'm not a huge fan of Valentines day, I'm known as a romance author so I guess I have to make a showing.
Going to try Mature again. For us old folks it's permissible to hate the hoopla around Valentines Day.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I just started my story yesterday. While I'm not a huge fan of Valentines day, I'm known as a romance author so I guess I have to make a showing.
Going to try Mature again. For us old folks it's permissible to hate the hoopla around Valentines Day.

Maybe call the story Cupid’s Curmudgeon

 

[Duleigh]

Maybe call the story Cupid’s Curmudgeon

Well, I've already used that word once in the text, and I'm still searching for a title...

 

[MillieDynamite]

I finished the first draft of my story late, late last night, or more correctly, in the wee hours of the morning this morning. It's now in the heads of my editor/publisher, who isn't thrilled about this possibly going into a contest before it's had a run for sale. My guess is, it goes up for sale either at the same time, or doesn't make the contest this year.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Try it, you might like it. It can be freeing to let go.

I never get past the first interview.

 

[old_prof]

I wrote a lot upfront

I thought I remembered you commenting that you didn't have much up front...

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Quick question, since I tried something new this time. How is everybody's engagement from this contest so far - views and # of ratings/comments/new followers? Mine is low, and I'm wondering if it's everyone or if it's just because I posted this one to SciFi/Fantasy, and maybe that's a lower traffic category? Not that it matters, but I'm always trying to figure out the ins and outs of this site.

 

[old_prof]

Quick question, since I tried something new this time. How is everybody's engagement from this contest so far - views and # of ratings/comments/new followers? Mine is low, and I'm wondering if it's everyone or if it's just because I posted this one to SciFi/Fantasy, and maybe that's a lower traffic category? Not that it matters, but I'm always trying to figure out the ins and outs of this site.

My story has only been up since last night, but I'm happy so far with its engagement in terms of view, votes, comments, and favorites. And I have six new followers already since it posted. Not as many as I got from Winter Holiday, but much more than I got early on from Nude Day, which are my only other contests.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Quick question, since I tried something new this time. How is everybody's engagement from this contest so far - views and # of ratings/comments/new followers? Mine is low, and I'm wondering if it's everyone or if it's just because I posted this one to SciFi/Fantasy, and maybe that's a lower traffic category? Not that it matters, but I'm always trying to figure out the ins and outs of this site.

I posted to Non-Erotic so I wasn't expecting anything, really. I had a very good spot on New yesterday, though. That said, it's been terrible. My other contest stories average one rating per ~150 views or so; across my catalogue it's one rating per 94 views. I've gotten one rating per 225 views for this piece, no followers, no comments. Again, it's a non-erotic piece so I'm really not expecting much, but at this point I'm not sure I'll meet the 25 rating minimum. I guess I thought more people would go through the contest page than actually do.

 

[StrentWriter]

Quick question, since I tried something new this time. How is everybody's engagement from this contest so far - views and # of ratings/comments/new followers? Mine is low, and I'm wondering if it's everyone or if it's just because I posted this one to SciFi/Fantasy, and maybe that's a lower traffic category? Not that it matters, but I'm always trying to figure out the ins and outs of this site.

Aside from the one star, pretty happy. Higher than I anticipated.

 

[FrancesScott]

Random question. Lesbian Sex seems quite sleepy compared to normal. My story (which I have no aspirations for beyond a few people reading it) is second on the category page and toward the top of the overall new story page, but views are really anemic. A glut of other stories, or is there a big lesbian erotica convention on somewhere?

 

[old_prof]

Random question. Lesbian Sex seems quite sleepy compared to normal. My story (which I have no aspirations for beyond a few people reading it) is second on the category page and toward the top of the overall new story page, but views are really anemic. A glut of other stories, or is there a big lesbian erotica convention on somewhere?

Maybe because I got the spot above you on the LS new list, but I'm happy with my views, (over 5K so far middle of the first day, on a Tuesday).

Hopefully the evening readership will do well for you.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My story has only been up since last night, but I'm happy so far with its engagement in terms of view, votes, comments, and favorites. And I have six new followers already since it posted. Not as many as I got from Winter Holiday, but much more than I got early on from Nude Day, which are my only other contests.

You are #1 on your category page and top three on New Stories, so you get an initial bump from both.

 

[WittyUserName]

Quick question, since I tried something new this time. How is everybody's engagement from this contest so far - views and # of ratings/comments/new followers? Mine is low, and I'm wondering if it's everyone or if it's just because I posted this one to SciFi/Fantasy, and maybe that's a lower traffic category? Not that it matters, but I'm always trying to figure out the ins and outs of this site.

My entry will be in SciFi/Fantasy when it's finished, so I'll see you there! I did okay there for my Halloween entry, but I think that one makes more sense to be in Scifi/Fantasy. Overall, it seems a fairly low-traffic category.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I thought I remembered you commenting that you didn't have much up front...

I’m Treasurer of the Jersey chapter of the IBTC

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

You are #1 on your category page and top three on New Stories, so you get an initial bump from both.

I've been on this site coming up on seven years and I just found the New Stories list...
I think I need to get out of my shell a bit more.

 

[old_prof]

I've been on this site coming up on seven years and I just found the New Stories list...
I think I need to get out of my shell a bit more.

I was a reader here for almost a quarter century before started to write last year. I only know about the overall new story list because of mentions of it here. But it's often flooded with stories in categories that I'm not interested in. I always looked by category as a reader.

 

[FrancesScott]

Maybe because I got the spot above you on the LS new list, but I'm happy with my views, (over 5K so far middle of the first day, on a Tuesday).

Hopefully the evening readership will do well for you.

Fortune smiled on you for sure, but I’d expect more than 1,000 views in LS at this point, even as #2 on the list. I often end up with over 18,000 in LS.

 

[old_prof]

Fortune smiled on you for sure, but I’d expect more than 1,000 views in LS at this point, even as #2 on the list. I often end up with over 18,000 in LS.

18K is more than I got in either of my prior stories, so you do something right generally.