#JustFinished River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
What happens when you need to choose between love and duty? in a world where grammar is magic, maybe the answer lies in riddles. This gorgeous, lyric fairy-tale gives us the answer in song. The audiobook is just under 3 hours long and so worth listening to.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.14 — What new themes are you currently exploring?
Not sure if it's a theme or not, but in Mars Needed Women I'm exploring what happens when a world of endpoint religio-fascist nations run by squabbling oligarchs who value loyalty over brains meet a no-nonsense brainy woman (a Martian colonist) who's been pushed too far too often by too many men, who's unwilling to play the old male-power-dominance game, who's unwilling to play by any the rules if it means saving her daughters and all the children born on Mars.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSMarsNeededWomen
I'm watching #Frieren together with Katriina and wow, that show is amazing! I love it love it love it!! It somehow takes a classic high #fantasy plot and turns it into a gentle, profound and often hilarious story of friendships and how they shape and re-make a person. Every episode is a gem, philosophical in a down to earth, tongue-in-cheek way.
And I'm so happy I realized on time that "Frieren" is eligible for the #HugoAwards , nominations end tonight!
#sff #anime
#WordWeavers 2503.14 — Antagonist POV: Do you want to be perceived as “good?”
Want? As in feeding my ego? I'm mature enough that I don't need that. It depends on the task and what happens if I fail. Do people die if I fail? Usually, I don't care then if people perceive me as good or bad, only that I keep people from dying. If being perceived as good helps me in my goals, I work at it. I'll literally charm the clothes off them and [NSFW] if it helps. Regardless, it's human nature to not like other people getting in the way of their need for power. There's always someone who doesn't like the way I run things, the peace I maintain. Bear in mind, I didn't want to be perceived as good when I invaded the dragon lands and occupied their northern prefecture, simply effective.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
I am reading #KatherineAddison’s “The Tomb of Dragons” and am reminded how much I like spending time with Thara Celehar.
#TheTombOfDragons #CemeteriesOfAmalo #TharaCelehar #bookstodon #SFF
I've finished: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
This Holms and Watson duo really captured me. The fact that the setting isn't London, but a province near the seawall that protects a biotech empire from seasonal attack by giant leviathans makes it much more appealing.
The biotech isn't mimicking current or future technology, it mainly enhances natural abilities. The augmentations have repercussions and unwanted side effects.
The story is toled in first person by Dinios Kol, an engraver, augmented to have perfect recall. He is very competent but suffers from imposter syndrome as he tries to hide his dyslexia from his superiors.
Kol is assigned to assist the eccentric genius investigator Ana Dolabra, an over sensitive woman that has to blindfold herself in order to manage the amount of information assaulting her brain. Kol assits her by going out into the world and recalling what he's seen and heard.
As the plot thickens, we learn more about the empire and its ills.
As mysteries go, our attention is pointed towards many clues, the satisfaction is more in watching competent people do a good job in the face of adversity.
The Tainted Cup is a real page-turner and I found it hard to put down.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/a97ae9ff-1aa2-4ea9-a547-f290ac647b61
@bookstodon @audiobooks
#SFF #mystery #AudioBooks #bookstodon
"Laurence strolls through the woodland, enjoying the heady sensation of walking in the open air. He hasn’t been outside in months. And he can move so easily, in pain-free strides... The proxy body is strong and tireless."
Read "Blue" by Ian Creasey https://inner-worlds.ghost.io/blue-ian-creasey/
If you'd like to write for our articles section, we'd love to have more guest writers! We host a large array of articles on obscure information, game design, writing tips, world building, creative project tools, nerd humour, and all sorts of other creativity-adjacent topics.
Whilst we're too smol a volunteer organisation to pay writers in full, we can provide small thank-you bursaries in some cases and we're happy for writers to plug their projects and donation pages in things they write for us.
Find details here:
https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?msg=116062
Do boost!
BlueSky is doing a #TransRightsReadathon from Mar. 21-31 
Is it happening on the Fedi, too?
Anyway, looking for #BookRecs 
Cozy trans +/ nonbinary and gender expansive novels, short fiction, webnovels, etc. 
#Romance would do in a pinch, and I love me some delectable #SFF , but #LitFic is also welcome! 
Also, anybody else also planning to participate?
I'm still in two minds whether I'm down with the norovirus or a regular stomach bug, and I don't have enough to go see a doctor who'd inevitably call for a number of expensive tests. Whatever it is, I have no appetite for horror right now.
P.S.: I love the Monk and Robot duology by Becky Chambers, and would like more fiction of that kind, please!
Un ami me fait découvrir La ballade de Pern d'Anne McCaffrey dont j'en suis au deuxième volume, La quête du dragon.
Excellente série de science-fiction / fantasy que je prends plaisir à découvrir des années après sa parution.
#PennedPossibilities 613 — How do you feel about the world or universe you’ve created within your WIP? Are you satisfied with it thus far?
Remember. You asked...
How do I feel about the world itself? Like I stepped in a cesspool up to my knees!
Most nations are theocracies, with oligarchs ascendant fighting one another. It's a full extrapolation of post Jan 20th 2025, stabilized with the needle at religio-fascist, by those who preferred stable to bat-shit crazy, and taken 50 to 150 years into the future. (I haven't decided the timeline, yet.) The initials E.M. in EM Mars Colonizations Corp stand for what you think it does, complete with very cute silvery Heinlein spaceships misnomered as Starships. The main character is shanghaied to Mars as a colonist (one added to a population of 10,000) on the last ship making the passage as EM goes bankrupt. All her life, May Ri struggled not to be completely nothing, destined by her gender to barely have agency, valued mostly because she could bare sons. Now she must master living on Mars, with its corporate frontier rules.
There's a reason Mars Needed Women (the title), but the story I'm telling has "Need" in the past tense. Men die disproportionately more often than the women in Mars Space, and when the corporate power structure begins to crumble, May Ri has to fight harder for survival. She, however, isn't interested in keeping the status quo. Neither is all her sister colonists, nor all the first generation (nisei) Martians who have all been raised by only their mothers.
I'm really satisfied with how the story I'm writing works within this universe. It's feminist to the core. It questions gender roles. It tars patriarchy as ruining the lives of women AND men.
It's coming together, gonzo pantser style. Just wrote the 14th installment of 31. I've 8 of the remaining 17 planned. The reader should be starting to see that May Ri is as ruthless as those in power (the men, of course), but with a female twist. She hates being used, but she likes men (finds them fun) and wishes they'd quit with the power-dominance-shit. She hates seeing other women being hurt, and she's the type of person, given the chance, ceases opportunities and makes solutions. When she has four daughters to protect against the Earthers, it becomes very real.
I'm posting all installments on Mastodon thru the month of March on a single thread. To keep up with the story, follow this hashtag: #RSMarsNeededWomen.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory
2503.10 — Exploit (Ch/March 13) #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera CW: Fictional violence, women fighting back
Angry to the point of trembling, May Ri gathered in the auditorium with the other women with "non-essential tasks," as ordered over the loud speakers. She, Randy, Reina, and Rod had been waiting for the Deimosbase Decath minister to call to marry them when an emergency in a far off colony separated the men from them. A man past 50—with a gold braid patch on his helmet-less form-fitting Mars-green pressure suit— marched in trailed by his all male goons as May Ri characterized them.
She knew she was right when he said, "You are Mars' improperly exploited resource. Today we are redistributing that labor." That caused a massive cringe amongst the women amidst a growing roar of desent.
He yelled, "Quiet!" shutting them down.
When a selection criteria was, "Are you married?" a bristling May Ri found herself backing the teenager into a wall, trying to hide her.
"You!" the man motioned Reina to the exit.
May Ri put her arms out. "Not happening!" She glared into blue eyes.
The man—who turned out to be the Head EM Director and an original colonist—backhanded her.
In Mars gravity, she flew against the wall and slumped, seeing stars. He bent over Reina—May Ri's fall had knocked her over—offering a hand. When May Ri's eyesight quit swimming, face burning and tasting blood, she launched herself head-first at his gut. She still had Earth muscle. He deflected her, but her leg hit the big man's hip and they tumbled together. She landed no punches before he wrenched her upright, arms locked behind her.
Chuckling, he said, "I like determination—"
She jerked, stomping at his foot. He shoved her cheek and nose into the wall, pinned her arms, and pushed a hand into small of her back, preventing anything but sputtering.
"Fights back. I value that. Sexy. Are you married?"
"You interrupted our ceremony."
"Ah." He chuckled more. "About Reina—?"
"You know her name!"
"I won't pick the Onēsanue if you calmly come with me."
May Ri found herself swearing and cursing in her head. She spat blood, which dripped down the wall, noticing the other prey had slunk away from the predators. His goons watched silently at a distance. Reina looked pale, shaking, sitting limbs akimbo, hands on the floor. Red hair flew as she shook her head vigorously.
May Ri shouted, "Did you hear that promise?"
Women's murmurs proved they did. Heart ricocheting off her sternum, she said, "Fine."
Minutes later, the man dragged her by her wrist with a long stride she could barely match. Spring doors guarded all the domes against vacuum breach, but the créchè had windows, as did the farms. Women worked in each, some men in the farms. Nobody in the halls. She thought about crying for help, but thought of Reina whilst palpating her bruising face.
Was he simply redistributing her labor to another job?
Equating the, "are you married," question with Decath purity standards, she whispered, probing, "I've been with other men."
"Experience makes you more qualified," he returned.
Could her stomach knot up worse?
Best to seem docile, she thought, to hope for weapons. He was an EM Corp manager, bound by the charter. Theoretically. Was she over-reacting? The corporation had run out of money; all Earth transits with supplies and people, cancelled. The term corporate reorganization came to mind. Was the Martian board of directors reorganizing?
She recognized the docks as she let his pace slide her into a doorframe. She saw the circular glass corridor that surrounded a Martian "tarmac." Rovers and motels, with flatbeds, were parked to the right—three orange dust-coated helios, with multiple stacked blades and lots of hyper-nacelles, sat at priority. Jetways connected to two passenger cargoons and one long distance pinnace. He shoved her through the spring door of the latter, following. It jostled like the flex tube it was, with his massive form clumping behind—bouncing her, she thought, to intentionally panic her.
Rushing, she grabbed the spring door. Stuck! It didn't even rattle.
He plowed into her, flattening her against it. With a snigger, he unlocked it. When it opened, still smooshed, she stumbled flat onto the deck. The spring door snapped back with a bang as he clamored over her. Vac-safe cargo boxes littered the inside. With no preamble, he unzipped his pressure suit.
She sucked in her breath, scrambling bruisingly into a bulkhead.
He had a jumpsuit underneath. Scoffing, he said simply, "Remember Reina. See that bench? Toss the boxes down the cargo chute." He stomped to the loo, shutting it behind himself.
Sweating, heart racing, she thought, Now what?
(Continued) #RSMarsNeededWomen 13
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSstory #microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
#PennedPossibilities 613 — How do you feel about the world or universe you’ve created within your WIP? Are you satisfied with it thus far?
I am, actually. I love creating different universes, and this one is no different. When it comes to anything cyberpunk, dystopian, and grungy, whether it's a book, game, film, television series, or a wonderfully-molded #TTRPG, heck yes—it's going to be something that I'll fall head over feels for. The entire SFF universe within this series of mine is a thing that I'm falling deeper and deeper in love with the more that I write it. It's been a long time coming. This book series (and the world within it) started back in about '08 or '09. The result of all that hard work is more than worth it. In short, yes, I'm so incredibly satisfied.
So I know that more important stuff is going on, but nominations for the Aurora Awards are now open and my short story "Anomaly" is on the eligibility list. If you enjoyed this story and you're a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and would be willing to donate $10 to the cause of speculative fiction, please head over to the CSFFA website and nominate me! (And others. We're all in this together - Elbows Up!) https://www.csffa.ca/awards-information/eligibility-lists/
#Canadian #ScienceFiction #SFF #CSFFA #AuroraAwards
I'm on MythBehaving for a second time! This time I'm talking about my latest book, the convoluted history of my webcomic, and how to deal with writing an ongoing series.
Looking for a free read? BookSirens offers people ARC copies of new releases in exchange for a review. You'll even find mine there!
https://booksirens.com/bundle/space-opera-arcs-you-ll-love-march-2025-batch/TLEPVDT
#ScribesAndMakers Mar 13: Shameless self-promotion day.
My debut novel, a space-western called Gas Giant Gambit: A Tall Tale From Beyond the Cygnus Rift is coming out in September, and we just revealed the amazing cover!
"Our Dust Earth" our newest anthology featuring 19 stories and a miniRPG is now available for preorder (copies should ship sometime around the first week of April) http://aanpress.com/aanorder.html#ode #sff #dyingearth #rpg #sf
#ScribesAndMakers 2503.13 — Shameless Self-Promotion Day. Let's boost away.
Here's the newly minted cover art† for Mars Need Women. Check it out!
It's a web-novel, described in the blurb below. I have been posting it in a single free-to-read Mastodon thread. Here is the story link: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178
“A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.”
So far I've posted 12 chapters of 31, which I will do more or less daily through the end of this month. The first installment is an inside jacket blurb. The main story starts with a clang in the second installment. Chapter 11 may leave you in tears. #RSMarsNeededWomen
More in the #altText
=-=-=-=
† I designed and created the cover, wrote the blurbs, and did the titles. The images are courtesy of ESA and NASA. The spine is a strip of a Mariner 7 image. This is becoming a hobby of mine, and I am open to requests.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author #coverArt #art #artwork
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory
