#PennedPossibilities 653 — MC POV: Your best friend comes over at 3 am to go on an adventure. Where are you (both) going?
Alexios: First of all, the only f*ckin' choom I have that would be coming over at three in the morning is Junk. He's a knob. Where are we headed, though? Probably out to a new ramen spot, let's be honest. Not exactly news, but we're foodies. Plus, he probably needs the company. Exciting life we lead, huh? That's an adventure for us.
After the absolute mad dash the last 6-ish weeks have been with editing Gas Giant Gambit, I'm going to take the rest of the week off to clear my workspace and my mind, both of which have become untenably cluttered.
Then, back to outlining Shallow Trenches, Open Skies!
RavenCon of Richmond, VA is this weekend. It's an awesome, fan run SFF convention with an emphasis on science & writing. Here's what I'll be doing there: https://thescribblinglion.com/ravencon-2025-is-this-weekend/
#WritingEvents #SFF #SFF_Conventions #AlixEHarrow #TheScribblingLion #SmallPress #SelfPublished #IndieBookstores #RavenCon
This is one of my favorite lists I've done so far for Reactor:
https://reactormag.com/five-sff-stories-to-tell-around-a-fire/
Nataliya's been a professional killer for 15 years. This is the first time she's in it for revenge.
June 3.
https://www.amazon.com/Condition-War-Central-Corps-Dissolution-ebook/dp/B0F368YJMT/ref=sr_1_1
#PennedPossibilities 652 — Do you ever use cliffhangers at narrative breaks and / or chapter endings?
Credit: @NaraMoore
This was a great prompt that was submitted.
I constantly do—and that goes for both of these options. My friends hate me for it. I love keeping my readers on their toes and / or asking (or maybe begging) for more.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.22 — Earth Day! Who’s your most traveled character? Your least traveled?
The main Reluctance Series antagonist has probably been everywhere in the world and been most every profession, with mother having been her most repeated job. Immortality and always being 24 has its up and down sides.
Wintereyes has traveled all over the Fell Forest with the wolf pack that adopted her, but it's still a just a forest despite the size of the territory. Her parents' farm is just outside its border. Now that she's earned magical fame for befriending a wyvern (and arbitrating a dispute between a farmer, a sneezy so-called red dragon, and an exploded grain silo that had undergone undiscovered fermentation), she now attends a university in a Township—but she's two shy to explore the place because, well, all the people.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
#WordWeavers 2504.22 — Would your story work in a vastly different setting?
Hehehe.
I tell stories about characters with rather universal issues. The story is a plot line and transmogrified characters from an earlier work in a vastly different setting. Shhhh!
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
Notes on what I've been reading recently, if anyone's interested:
Updates on Gas Giant Gambit, Rare, short stories, and the web series I've been working on!
BCS #431 ebook out early today at @WeightlessBooks & Kindle Store and for subscribers, featuring stories of children and parents by Jordan @kurellian and Eleanor Elizabeth Fog, behind new cover art by Erin Costello.
(Buying BCS ebooks or an ebook subscription at Weightless Books gets you stories a week early on your e-reader and helps us pay our authors a pro rate and our First Readers an honorarium. Thank you!)
https://weightlessbooks.com/fiction/beneath-ceaseless-skies-issue-431/
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-Issue-431-ebook/dp/B0F5MZZSV5/
#fantasy #sff #litmag #ebook
I'm excited to take part in this #Climate Fiction panel. #hope #solarpunk #justice and other juicy topics.
Sunday in Brooklyn NY! Maybe I'll meet some fedi-folx in person?
#Earth #ClimateCrisis #CilmateEmergency #CliFi #SFF #reading #writing #bookstodon #books #hopepunk
Limited seating, get free tix in advance. Donations benefit the wonderful Octavia Project in NYC that Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers supports.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-demand-stories-about-climate-with-a-future-tickets-1322385563819
The monsters advanced on Tokyo. The giant radioactive dinosaur was in the lead, but they were all there. The moth, the ankylosaurus, the three-headed dragon, even the giant turtle.
And then, as one, they stopped - just offshore. An hour passed, and then there was movement near the horizon. Gradually the creature came into sight - a huge ape, accompanied by dozens of smaller creatures. Amorphous blobs, disembodied eyes, a swarm of giant ants. A gargantuan woman. There were even some human-sized figures amongst them.
When they reached the other creatures they also stopped, and then they spread out, forming a ring around the home islands. Every approaching jet, helicopter, or ship - from either direction - were strongly encouraged to turn away.
The handful that insisted were brought to ground, or pushed ashore onto one of the outer islands. But gently. Very carefully.
Finally after two days of this, a small boat approached one of the creatures known to be able to talk, and stopped just as one of the larger ones started to move to intercept it. A man stood up with a loudhailer.
"Why are you doing this?" echoed across the sea.
The huge woman leaned down and carefully spoke, "We want SAG membership and percentages."
Episode 16: Shore Leave
All but one of the gang gather for a meal on dry land.
theamazingadventuresof.tortoiseandgecko.au/p/episode-16
#tortoiseandgecko #sff #books 
Episode 16
Today, a small but lovely victory for my work in scifi. Someone, somewhere is in a book club and they're reading #RecognizeFascism this month. I know because they wrote me about it. 
https://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p171/Recognize_Fascism.html
I put so much of my heart and soul into that book, and people are still discovering it. Magic. (FYI to @sarenaulibarri as well!) #SFF #Books #bookstodon
#PennedPossibilities 651 — Name one person that would willingly hold your MC back if they were ever in the “raving lunacy” stage of anger.
(I am so monumentally tired tonight. I'm actually a wee bit dizzy. So... Short answer for me. I might add to it in the morning.)
That one person, without fail, will always be Junk. In fact, we see this occur early on in the first novel of the series. Junk is Alexios' steady, unyeilding best friend and a protector in every way. That faithful friend, the one who protects him no matter the cost, who always stops him from making any terrible mistakes—that's Junk to a T. Alexios has a fiery temper and often flies off the handle. He's working on fixing that...
An honorary mention also goes out to Dante here. He would pretty much do the same for Alexios in heartbeat. He's blessed with good friends.
GOHs Lauren Beukes and Jeannette Ng and a host of genre creators are raising money for The Good Law Project's campaign for trans rights in the UK and The Triangle Project NGO which supports gay, trans, non-binary and intersex people in South Africa.
Books, art, and more, including a custom hand-painted fan by YT. Bid early, bid often! #eastercon #transrights #sff https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/128726/auctions/181179?page=2&r=1&t=all
Trolls, boogeymen and witches, oh my!
Just another day for a young wizard.
It all starts here: https://books2read.com/b/TrollSong
"... Any author can tell you that events in their own life can have an impact on their fiction. As we learn in Heather Tracy’s Big Idea for Only a Chapter, sometimes those events have a bigger impact than we might have expected ..."
#books #sff #reading
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/04/22/the-big-idea-heather-tracy-2/
