The Understory: Love, Culture, Fiction is the living legacy of E A Carter, award-winning author and book editor and coach.
Tucked onto its shelves, you’ll find my published books in full, exclusive behind-the-scenes updates on upcoming releases, a huge variety of posts about writing, author interviews, and deeper thought-pieces about life, love, and finding meaning in a rapidly changing world.
Meet The Author
Hi! I’m Elizabeth Anne Carter (aka E A Carter), a writer and thinker who’s obsessed with exploring love, the unknown, and what it means to be mortal in a fleeting world. My writing is influenced and inspired by Carl Sagan, Joan Didion, Margaret Atwood, and Donna Tartt.
Why Substack?
For years, I’ve wanted a single place to share my writing, free from the noise of social media. This Substack is my new home, where I can be myself with you, my reader, and focus on what matters: writing, thinking, and sharing it with you.
To keep things organized I’ve created separate spaces for the topics I write about. You can pick and choose what you want to receive in your newsletter preferences.
When you subscribe to The Understory: Love, Culture, Fiction you will also be automatically added to these newsletters where I keep my posts organized by topic:
If you would like to get emails to the other newsletters, you’ll need to add them in your email preferences (see full list of my other newsletters with descriptions below)
You can always opt out to any of these in your settings.
Posting Schedule:
Posts: A Substack post will go up every other Saturday, with a monthly dedicated post to Paid subscribers.
Full Cast Audiobook: Every other Monday at 4 pm CET- A new audiobook chapter with a full cast of characters of one of my books will be released.
Currently releasing I, Cassandra until Nov 30, 2026 - Paid subs get 7 episodes of early access. For free subs, Chapter 2 unlocked on Feb 9, 2026, with a new free chapter unlocking every other week at 4 pm CET.
The Lost Valor of Love will be released from Dec 14, 2026 with the same paid and unlocking schedule.
Podcast: Starting at 2 pm CET on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2026 Creative, Actually will release a new episode every 2 weeks.
My Newsletters / Sections:
Paid subs have full access to the content in these newsletters / sections of The Understory: Love, Culture, Fiction
My Books – All my fiction and nonfiction is free to read for paid subscribers (the first few chapters are free to read to ‘look inside’). Each book is organized into an-easy-to-navigate table of contents with excerpts. Paid subscribers are able to leave comments.
Well-Read Audio – Listen to the stunning full cast audiobook of I, Cassandra. The first episode is available to everyone, the following episodes are for paid subscribers.
For free subs, Chapter 2 unlocked on Feb 9, 2026, with a new free chapter unlocking every other week at 4 pm CET.
Books in Progress – Updates, research, backstories, and much more on my current writing projects (this is the place where the creative magic happens!), a few posts are free. When I post content from upcoming books or any backstories, these tend to be paywalled.
All of the content in these sections is free for up to 12 months, then it is paywalled:
Storycraft – Author interviews, inspiration, and insight into the art of storycraft, editing, publishing, marketing, and DIY book launches.
The Real E A – Just me sharing real life stuff, travel, cats, and food. Expect an entertaining rant or two.
Reviews and Ratings – A meta-post with all my reviews and ratings collected from Goodreads, my website, and newsletters. I also share my current read if you want to read along.
The Love Archive – Essays and personal posts on the heartache of narcissism, technology-saturated relationships, and modern love.
The Great Unraveling – Reflections on societal collapse and living with purpose in uncertain times.
Mind & Mystery – Mysteries of the ancient world, allegories, and musings on the meaning of life, our purpose, and what comes next.
The Obstacle is The Way – Exploring the Stoic philosophy of resilience, discipline, and finding strength in adversity.
All of the content in these sections is permanently free:
Creative, Actually Podcast - a new episode every two weeks
Free Books - Free subs can also access permanently free books and short stories from my catalogue
Join Me in The Understory: Love, Culture, Fiction
Subscribe for free and explore. Or, if you’d like to support my work, become a paid subscriber and gain access to everything.
Benefits include:
Free subscribers receive occasional public posts, access to free books, and previous 12 months’ archive.
Monthly Subscribers are able to access the full archive of writing to 2010, read my published books and unpublished works, get exclusive access to full cast audio dramatizations of my books, receive sneak peaks from my new books, plus more!
Annual Subscribers enjoy all the above at a discounted rate of two months’ free subscription.
VIP Subscribers receive their name in the acknowledgments of my next book release, and a 10% discount on any of my services as a book coach or editor.
The real story exists beneath the surface.
Welcome to The Understory: Love, Culture, Fiction.
