#boostingissharing — Public Fediverse posts

#PennedPossibilities 1013 — MC POV: Have you ever lived in another country / place besides where you were born? Would you want to?

[Bolt:] Okay. figured ya didn't mean in the country, a different country area other than where I was born, so I had to look it up, then had to ask someone. A pretty-out there question, this one! Learnt there're a few autonomous regions that get to have different customs, different laws, and different money systems, but there's no other place completely, separately ruled by anyone other than Rainy Days. There's a reason why her title is Director of Home (our world) and the Nine Outer Worlds (because there are nine others, but none like home). Now that I've learnt that "Nine Outer Worlds" actually means nine other places beyond the stars that people live and ya can walk through an Interstellar gateway to go there, I'd like to walk through one of them daemon-worked miracle gateways, to see a sky different from ours, at least once. Since Boss Mead's syndicate doesn't extend beyond Home City, I probably won't be allowed, though.

[Bolt's a bit of a country bumpkin who ended up in the big city against her will. But she's right, there are no nation states, and though Rainy Days delegates much of her authority, that sometimes backfires to the extent that wars break out (like the one she started in Reluctant Moon), she technically rules ten worlds, mostly colonies on Mars-like worlds where people live under domes, and two hollowed out asteroids. The Dragon world is large enough that it has a breathable atmosphere, but it's hellish.—RS]

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1013 — MC POV: Have you ever lived in another country / place besides where you were born? Would you want to?

[Bolt:] Okay. figured ya didn't mean in the country, a different country area other than where I was born, so I had to look it up, then had to ask someone. A pretty-out there question, this one! Learnt there're a few autonomous regions that get to have different customs, different laws, and different money systems, but there's no other place completely, separately ruled by anyone other than Rainy Days. There's a reason why her title is Director of Home (our world) and the Nine Outer Worlds (because there are nine others, but none like home). Now that I've learnt that "Nine Outer Worlds" actually means nine other places beyond the stars that people live and ya can walk through an Interstellar gateway to go there, I'd like to walk through one of them daemon-worked miracle gateways, to see a sky different from ours, at least once. Since Boss Mead's syndicate doesn't extend beyond Home City, I probably won't be allowed, though.

[Bolt's a bit of a country bumpkin who ended up in the big city against her will. But she's right, there are no nation states, and though Rainy Days delegates much of her authority, that sometimes backfires to the extent that wars break out (like the one she started in Reluctant Moon), she technically rules ten worlds, mostly colonies on Mars-like worlds where people live under domes, and two hollowed out asteroids. The Dragon world is large enough that it has a breathable atmosphere, but it's hellish.—RS]

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1013 — MC POV: Have you ever lived in another country / place besides where you were born? Would you want to?

[Bolt:] Okay. figured ya didn't mean in the country, a different country area other than where I was born, so I had to look it up, then had to ask someone. A pretty-out there question, this one! Learnt there're a few autonomous regions that get to have different customs, different laws, and different money systems, but there's no other place completely, separately ruled by anyone other than Rainy Days. There's a reason why her title is Director of Home (our world) and the Nine Outer Worlds (because there are nine others, but none like home). Now that I've learnt that "Nine Outer Worlds" actually means nine other places beyond the stars that people live and ya can walk through an Interstellar gateway to go there, I'd like to walk through one of them daemon-worked miracle gateways, to see a sky different from ours, at least once. Since Boss Mead's syndicate doesn't extend beyond Home City, I probably won't be allowed, though.

[Bolt's a bit of a country bumpkin who ended up in the big city against her will. But she's right, there are no nation states, and though Rainy Days delegates much of her authority, that sometimes backfires to the extent that wars break out (like the one she started in Reluctant Moon), she technically rules ten worlds, mostly colonies on Mars-like worlds where people live under domes, and two hollowed out asteroids. The Dragon world is large enough that it has a breathable atmosphere, but it's hellish.—RS]

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1013 — MC POV: Have you ever lived in another country / place besides where you were born? Would you want to?

[Bolt:] Okay. figured ya didn't mean in the country, a different country area other than where I was born, so I had to look it up, then had to ask someone. A pretty-out there question, this one! Learnt there're a few autonomous regions that get to have different customs, different laws, and different money systems, but there's no other place completely, separately ruled by anyone other than Rainy Days. There's a reason why her title is Director of Home (our world) and the Nine Outer Worlds (because there are nine others, but none like home). Now that I've learnt that "Nine Outer Worlds" actually means nine other places beyond the stars that people live and ya can walk through an Interstellar gateway to go there, I'd like to walk through one of them daemon-worked miracle gateways, to see a sky different from ours, at least once. Since Boss Mead's syndicate doesn't extend beyond Home City, I probably won't be allowed, though.

[Bolt's a bit of a country bumpkin who ended up in the big city against her will. But she's right, there are no nation states, and though Rainy Days delegates much of her authority, that sometimes backfires to the extent that wars break out (like the one she started in Reluctant Moon), she technically rules ten worlds, mostly colonies on Mars-like worlds where people live under domes, and two hollowed out asteroids. The Dragon world is large enough that it has a breathable atmosphere, but it's hellish.—RS]

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1013 — MC POV: Have you ever lived in another country / place besides where you were born? Would you want to?

[Bolt:] Okay. figured ya didn't mean in the country, a different country area other than where I was born, so I had to look it up, then had to ask someone. A pretty-out there question, this one! Learnt there're a few autonomous regions that get to have different customs, different laws, and different money systems, but there's no other place completely, separately ruled by anyone other than Rainy Days. There's a reason why her title is Director of Home (our world) and the Nine Outer Worlds (because there are nine others, but none like home). Now that I've learnt that "Nine Outer Worlds" actually means nine other places beyond the stars that people live and ya can walk through an Interstellar gateway to go there, I'd like to walk through one of them daemon-worked miracle gateways, to see a sky different from ours, at least once. Since Boss Mead's syndicate doesn't extend beyond Home City, I probably won't be allowed, though.

[Bolt's a bit of a country bumpkin who ended up in the big city against her will. But she's right, there are no nation states, and though Rainy Days delegates much of her authority, that sometimes backfires to the extent that wars break out (like the one she started in Reluctant Moon), she technically rules ten worlds, mostly colonies on Mars-like worlds where people live under domes, and two hollowed out asteroids. The Dragon world is large enough that it has a breathable atmosphere, but it's hellish.—RS]

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#ScribesAndMakers № 13 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is exploring pixel art. Have you ever worked with pixel art?

I have been using computers since there were personal computers or personal screens with pixels. My friend was cutting edge because they bought an IMSAI kit (look it up) with 256 bytes of serial RAM. You read that right, 256. It had no display. It had lights above dip switches. You put an AM radio near it and tuned in the music the running machine programmatically made. NO PIXELS. I did have a Balley game console. It was all 16-bit pixels, none of which I could make art with.

My Apple ][ Plus years later had pixel games. I don't think I used it for art. Later, my original Fat Mac came with Quick Draw and Mac Paint, which allowed me to draw things with the mouse. The sketches I've found with notes for very early story files are really bad. Personally, I prefer oil pastels for art and pencil for sketching, and I'm not calling that big A art, either. I'm not much of an artist; I haven't done pixel are except to create icons for programs. I do work with my iPad acting as a tablet when working with photos in Photoshop. Photography is my art.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers № 13 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is exploring pixel art. Have you ever worked with pixel art?

I have been using computers since there were personal computers or personal screens with pixels. My friend was cutting edge because they bought an IMSAI kit (look it up) with 256 bytes of serial RAM. You read that right, 256. It had no display. It had lights above dip switches. You put an AM radio near it and tuned in the music the running machine programmatically made. NO PIXELS. I did have a Balley game console. It was all 16-bit pixels, none of which I could make art with.

My Apple ][ Plus years later had pixel games. I don't think I used it for art. Later, my original Fat Mac came with Quick Draw and Mac Paint, which allowed me to draw things with the mouse. The sketches I've found with notes for very early story files are really bad. Personally, I prefer oil pastels for art and pencil for sketching, and I'm not calling that big A art, either. I'm not much of an artist; I haven't done pixel are except to create icons for programs. I do work with my iPad acting as a tablet when working with photos in Photoshop. Photography is my art.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers № 13 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is exploring pixel art. Have you ever worked with pixel art?

I have been using computers since there were personal computers or personal screens with pixels. My friend was cutting edge because they bought an IMSAI kit (look it up) with 256 bytes of serial RAM. You read that right, 256. It had no display. It had lights above dip switches. You put an AM radio near it and tuned in the music the running machine programmatically made. NO PIXELS. I did have a Balley game console. It was all 16-bit pixels, none of which I could make art with.

My Apple ][ Plus years later had pixel games. I don't think I used it for art. Later, my original Fat Mac came with Quick Draw and Mac Paint, which allowed me to draw things with the mouse. The sketches I've found with notes for very early story files are really bad. Personally, I prefer oil pastels for art and pencil for sketching, and I'm not calling that big A art, either. I'm not much of an artist; I haven't done pixel are except to create icons for programs. I do work with my iPad acting as a tablet when working with photos in Photoshop. Photography is my art.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers № 13 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is exploring pixel art. Have you ever worked with pixel art?

I have been using computers since there were personal computers or personal screens with pixels. My friend was cutting edge because they bought an IMSAI kit (look it up) with 256 bytes of serial RAM. You read that right, 256. It had no display. It had lights above dip switches. You put an AM radio near it and tuned in the music the running machine programmatically made. NO PIXELS. I did have a Balley game console. It was all 16-bit pixels, none of which I could make art with.

My Apple ][ Plus years later had pixel games. I don't think I used it for art. Later, my original Fat Mac came with Quick Draw and Mac Paint, which allowed me to draw things with the mouse. The sketches I've found with notes for very early story files are really bad. Personally, I prefer oil pastels for art and pencil for sketching, and I'm not calling that big A art, either. I'm not much of an artist; I haven't done pixel are except to create icons for programs. I do work with my iPad acting as a tablet when working with photos in Photoshop. Photography is my art.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers № 13 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is exploring pixel art. Have you ever worked with pixel art?

I have been using computers since there were personal computers or personal screens with pixels. My friend was cutting edge because they bought an IMSAI kit (look it up) with 256 bytes of serial RAM. You read that right, 256. It had no display. It had lights above dip switches. You put an AM radio near it and tuned in the music the running machine programmatically made. NO PIXELS. I did have a Balley game console. It was all 16-bit pixels, none of which I could make art with.

My Apple ][ Plus years later had pixel games. I don't think I used it for art. Later, my original Fat Mac came with Quick Draw and Mac Paint, which allowed me to draw things with the mouse. The sketches I've found with notes for very early story files are really bad. Personally, I prefer oil pastels for art and pencil for sketching, and I'm not calling that big A art, either. I'm not much of an artist; I haven't done pixel are except to create icons for programs. I do work with my iPad acting as a tablet when working with photos in Photoshop. Photography is my art.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WordWeavers 2026.05.13 — What role does non-romantic love play in your story?

Like yesterday's response, today's is a high level meta answer; specifics would delve into plot. Whilst these responses sound all very planned out, plotted, Machiavellian even, I'm a simple pantser. Character discovery drives the story. Here I'm analyzing the total affect on my stories.

Non-romantic love? An interesting distinction: Basically a love were sex has nothing to do with it? My Reluctance Series stories go out of their way to remove sex as an important factor in love—unless the characters choose otherwise!— meaning all love in the story is essentially the non-romantic sort. Sex? Well humans need to eat and sleep, too? Right? Most characters are very fond of, or go out of the way to be with, others. Many feel connected. They enjoy levels of intimacy with many people, this in a way that our society works hard to make us (i.e., the reader) feel uncomfortably close, or to cause us to worry about upsetting our primary partner, or to worry that friends, family, or co-workers might call us out, embarrass us or ostracize. We live in an hierarchal society strictly structured to provide power to a select few, with set gender roles that control women's freedom and restrict men and force them to act cruel; reluctance series stories poke furiously (though subtly) at that to make the reader reluctantly think, to make them change their context such that they can view the world and themselves differently. The role that non-romantic love plays is to propose that friendship should always be primary in any relationship and, if friendship is neglected, such relationships are destined to fail or, at best, be transient.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.05.13 — What role does non-romantic love play in your story?

Like yesterday's response, today's is a high level meta answer; specifics would delve into plot. Whilst these responses sound all very planned out, plotted, Machiavellian even, I'm a simple pantser. Character discovery drives the story. Here I'm analyzing the total affect on my stories.

Non-romantic love? An interesting distinction: Basically a love were sex has nothing to do with it? My Reluctance Series stories go out of their way to remove sex as an important factor in love—unless the characters choose otherwise!— meaning all love in the story is essentially the non-romantic sort. Sex? Well humans need to eat and sleep, too? Right? Most characters are very fond of, or go out of the way to be with, others. Many feel connected. They enjoy levels of intimacy with many people, this in a way that our society works hard to make us (i.e., the reader) feel uncomfortably close, or to cause us to worry about upsetting our primary partner, or to worry that friends, family, or co-workers might call us out, embarrass us or ostracize. We live in an hierarchal society strictly structured to provide power to a select few, with set gender roles that control women's freedom and restrict men and force them to act cruel; reluctance series stories poke furiously (though subtly) at that to make the reader reluctantly think, to make them change their context such that they can view the world and themselves differently. The role that non-romantic love plays is to propose that friendship should always be primary in any relationship and, if friendship is neglected, such relationships are destined to fail or, at best, be transient.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.05.13 — What role does non-romantic love play in your story?

Like yesterday's response, today's is a high level meta answer; specifics would delve into plot. Whilst these responses sound all very planned out, plotted, Machiavellian even, I'm a simple pantser. Character discovery drives the story. Here I'm analyzing the total affect on my stories.

Non-romantic love? An interesting distinction: Basically a love were sex has nothing to do with it? My Reluctance Series stories go out of their way to remove sex as an important factor in love—unless the characters choose otherwise!— meaning all love in the story is essentially the non-romantic sort. Sex? Well humans need to eat and sleep, too? Right? Most characters are very fond of, or go out of the way to be with, others. Many feel connected. They enjoy levels of intimacy with many people, this in a way that our society works hard to make us (i.e., the reader) feel uncomfortably close, or to cause us to worry about upsetting our primary partner, or to worry that friends, family, or co-workers might call us out, embarrass us or ostracize. We live in an hierarchal society strictly structured to provide power to a select few, with set gender roles that control women's freedom and restrict men and force them to act cruel; reluctance series stories poke furiously (though subtly) at that to make the reader reluctantly think, to make them change their context such that they can view the world and themselves differently. The role that non-romantic love plays is to propose that friendship should always be primary in any relationship and, if friendship is neglected, such relationships are destined to fail or, at best, be transient.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.05.13 — What role does non-romantic love play in your story?

Like yesterday's response, today's is a high level meta answer; specifics would delve into plot. Whilst these responses sound all very planned out, plotted, Machiavellian even, I'm a simple pantser. Character discovery drives the story. Here I'm analyzing the total affect on my stories.

Non-romantic love? An interesting distinction: Basically a love were sex has nothing to do with it? My Reluctance Series stories go out of their way to remove sex as an important factor in love—unless the characters choose otherwise!— meaning all love in the story is essentially the non-romantic sort. Sex? Well humans need to eat and sleep, too? Right? Most characters are very fond of, or go out of the way to be with, others. Many feel connected. They enjoy levels of intimacy with many people, this in a way that our society works hard to make us (i.e., the reader) feel uncomfortably close, or to cause us to worry about upsetting our primary partner, or to worry that friends, family, or co-workers might call us out, embarrass us or ostracize. We live in an hierarchal society strictly structured to provide power to a select few, with set gender roles that control women's freedom and restrict men and force them to act cruel; reluctance series stories poke furiously (though subtly) at that to make the reader reluctantly think, to make them change their context such that they can view the world and themselves differently. The role that non-romantic love plays is to propose that friendship should always be primary in any relationship and, if friendship is neglected, such relationships are destined to fail or, at best, be transient.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.05.13 — What role does non-romantic love play in your story?

Like yesterday's response, today's is a high level meta answer; specifics would delve into plot. Whilst these responses sound all very planned out, plotted, Machiavellian even, I'm a simple pantser. Character discovery drives the story. Here I'm analyzing the total affect on my stories.

Non-romantic love? An interesting distinction: Basically a love were sex has nothing to do with it? My Reluctance Series stories go out of their way to remove sex as an important factor in love—unless the characters choose otherwise!— meaning all love in the story is essentially the non-romantic sort. Sex? Well humans need to eat and sleep, too? Right? Most characters are very fond of, or go out of the way to be with, others. Many feel connected. They enjoy levels of intimacy with many people, this in a way that our society works hard to make us (i.e., the reader) feel uncomfortably close, or to cause us to worry about upsetting our primary partner, or to worry that friends, family, or co-workers might call us out, embarrass us or ostracize. We live in an hierarchal society strictly structured to provide power to a select few, with set gender roles that control women's freedom and restrict men and force them to act cruel; reluctance series stories poke furiously (though subtly) at that to make the reader reluctantly think, to make them change their context such that they can view the world and themselves differently. The role that non-romantic love plays is to propose that friendship should always be primary in any relationship and, if friendship is neglected, such relationships are destined to fail or, at best, be transient.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.13 — Follow-up: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Photography. Have a picture. Notice the horse's eye? Taken at the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang. California.

#BoostingIsSharing

More in #AltText

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#Photography #photo

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.13 — Follow-up: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Photography. Have a picture. Notice the horse's eye? Taken at the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang. California.

#BoostingIsSharing

More in #AltText

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#Photography #photo

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.13 — Follow-up: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Photography. Have a picture. Notice the horse's eye? Taken at the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang. California.

#BoostingIsSharing

More in #AltText

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#Photography #photo

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.13 — Follow-up: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Photography. Have a picture. Notice the horse's eye? Taken at the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang. California.

#BoostingIsSharing

More in #AltText

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#Photography #photo

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.13 — Follow-up: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Photography. Have a picture. Notice the horse's eye? Taken at the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang. California.

#BoostingIsSharing

More in #AltText

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#Photography #photo

#EroticMusings 2026.05.03 — Week 49 (May 3-9) Characters: Do you come up with your characters before their relationships, or do you design characters to fit desired relationships or interpersonal dynamics? Any interesting examples?

The daemon Thorn Rose and the day angel Streak Carryingaton were created with their relationship in mind. She's as dark as midnight and he's as white as snow. I'm using intentionally loaded words here. Also, she has an accent that alludes to an eastern European accent. She's a first generation daughter of an emigrant mother alluding to the Jewish ethnic experience in the early to mid-1900s in the US. He's simply from a bad neighborhood never expected to amount to much. In a world where a relationship like what we would call "marriage" does not exist—and is indeed frowned upon enough to merit special adjectives describing it, like ancestrous—these two lovers have a special youthful chemistry and randiness. It allows me to contrast a relationship that seems normal to us with a normalcy in their society we'd find promiscuous at best. It puts an interesting spin on concepts of fidelity and love. They spend parts of this moonshot novel proving they're better than what everyone assumes.

Other than this one example, I'm more likely to have characters form relationships of their own accord as the story develops and I discover connections.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1012 — How do your characters feel about seeing doctors or anyone in the medical field?

The best doctors are daemons as Bolt, my day angel MC, understands it. As far as she knows (and she'll learn she's wrong) all doctors are part of Health Services, something everyone gets for free along with basic income, and is therefore available to her only if she shows her government ID. She's a criminal, so she's intentionally lost that ID; the last thing she needs is for the mob to use it to trace her to her family (or for the constabulary to link her to a teenage cough-cough "indiscretion"). Her first experience with the medical field in the novel is when she takes her boyfriend Molt, who is a very cute university student, to Health Services to mend a broken arm. Not only does a daemon nurse use a miracle to relieve the guy's pain, but a daemon doctor later "reaches" into Molt's body to "convince" his fracture to heal "miraculously" quickly. Bolt later learns from the devil-girl that the exceptionally talented doctor they had to wait half the night for is Rainy Day's personal physician.

It's interesting how the main series antagonist, Rainy Days, keeps up showing up peripherally in the story!

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1012 — How do your characters feel about seeing doctors or anyone in the medical field?

The best doctors are daemons as Bolt, my day angel MC, understands it. As far as she knows (and she'll learn she's wrong) all doctors are part of Health Services, something everyone gets for free along with basic income, and is therefore available to her only if she shows her government ID. She's a criminal, so she's intentionally lost that ID; the last thing she needs is for the mob to use it to trace her to her family (or for the constabulary to link her to a teenage cough-cough "indiscretion"). Her first experience with the medical field in the novel is when she takes her boyfriend Molt, who is a very cute university student, to Health Services to mend a broken arm. Not only does a daemon nurse use a miracle to relieve the guy's pain, but a daemon doctor later "reaches" into Molt's body to "convince" his fracture to heal "miraculously" quickly. Bolt later learns from the devil-girl that the exceptionally talented doctor they had to wait half the night for is Rainy Day's personal physician.

It's interesting how the main series antagonist, Rainy Days, keeps up showing up peripherally in the story!

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1012 — How do your characters feel about seeing doctors or anyone in the medical field?

The best doctors are daemons as Bolt, my day angel MC, understands it. As far as she knows (and she'll learn she's wrong) all doctors are part of Health Services, something everyone gets for free along with basic income, and is therefore available to her only if she shows her government ID. She's a criminal, so she's intentionally lost that ID; the last thing she needs is for the mob to use it to trace her to her family (or for the constabulary to link her to a teenage cough-cough "indiscretion"). Her first experience with the medical field in the novel is when she takes her boyfriend Molt, who is a very cute university student, to Health Services to mend a broken arm. Not only does a daemon nurse use a miracle to relieve the guy's pain, but a daemon doctor later "reaches" into Molt's body to "convince" his fracture to heal "miraculously" quickly. Bolt later learns from the devil-girl that the exceptionally talented doctor they had to wait half the night for is Rainy Day's personal physician.

It's interesting how the main series antagonist, Rainy Days, keeps up showing up peripherally in the story!

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1012 — How do your characters feel about seeing doctors or anyone in the medical field?

The best doctors are daemons as Bolt, my day angel MC, understands it. As far as she knows (and she'll learn she's wrong) all doctors are part of Health Services, something everyone gets for free along with basic income, and is therefore available to her only if she shows her government ID. She's a criminal, so she's intentionally lost that ID; the last thing she needs is for the mob to use it to trace her to her family (or for the constabulary to link her to a teenage cough-cough "indiscretion"). Her first experience with the medical field in the novel is when she takes her boyfriend Molt, who is a very cute university student, to Health Services to mend a broken arm. Not only does a daemon nurse use a miracle to relieve the guy's pain, but a daemon doctor later "reaches" into Molt's body to "convince" his fracture to heal "miraculously" quickly. Bolt later learns from the devil-girl that the exceptionally talented doctor they had to wait half the night for is Rainy Day's personal physician.

It's interesting how the main series antagonist, Rainy Days, keeps up showing up peripherally in the story!

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
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#PennedPossibilities 1012 — How do your characters feel about seeing doctors or anyone in the medical field?

The best doctors are daemons as Bolt, my day angel MC, understands it. As far as she knows (and she'll learn she's wrong) all doctors are part of Health Services, something everyone gets for free along with basic income, and is therefore available to her only if she shows her government ID. She's a criminal, so she's intentionally lost that ID; the last thing she needs is for the mob to use it to trace her to her family (or for the constabulary to link her to a teenage cough-cough "indiscretion"). Her first experience with the medical field in the novel is when she takes her boyfriend Molt, who is a very cute university student, to Health Services to mend a broken arm. Not only does a daemon nurse use a miracle to relieve the guy's pain, but a daemon doctor later "reaches" into Molt's body to "convince" his fracture to heal "miraculously" quickly. Bolt later learns from the devil-girl that the exceptionally talented doctor they had to wait half the night for is Rainy Day's personal physician.

It's interesting how the main series antagonist, Rainy Days, keeps up showing up peripherally in the story!

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.05.12 — If not in your current format (novel, play, music, etc.), in what format would you write?

My life in the past decade has been this: dabbling in the other format. I was and had always been a novelist. The idea of something "short" was pretty much foreign, though not alien. When I began writing again after the 2001 burnout in 2015, I began first writing essays (which much of my output on Mastodon illustrates and demonstrates) and then writing short stories in the 1K to 3k range. I discovered the pleasure of starting, writing, then completing projects that novel length puts off and puts off and puts off... You get the idea. My answers today would be short stories, and if by novel you mean fiction, I'd write short essays or columns, though I doubt I'd enjoy it as much as writing fiction.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.12 — What role does romantic love play in your story?

Part of my aim writing the Reluctance Series of stories is to address what-if human social structures totally different to ours, societies with no history of being male-centric. As a result, I approach the concept of romantic love from a totally foreign point of view, deconstructing what romance means when human biological imperatives are accepted as typically human and as normal as eating and sleeping, never regulated to control half of humanity or build a social hierarchy to oppresses both genders. Romance exists, but it's more applicable to friendship and long term relationships, regardless of gender, than to a woman stereotypically finding a man to whom she's not related to depend upon, possibly to raise a family. Even in a society stripped of the concept of blood inheritance, I think it's possible for humans to find soulmates, to experience love, and feel comfortable attachment. For this reason, none of my stories can really escape a romance angle; most include romance subplots.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers № 12 ('26 May) Our next featured creator is a Table Top Role Playing Game designer. Do you play, or have you played, TTRPGs?

I played MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) for ten years, finally ending when our party of adventurers defeated a Nazgûl, one of the nine ringwraiths. I played a hobbit mage, which is pretty impossible to begin with considering how unmagical they are. I managed to roll two 100s in a row with a third high die, in the 90s if I recall, using a spell through a multiplier item, and between us all, we defeated the monster, and the GM! The scenario had been created to once and for all kill off the party since we'd played all the modules and everything he created. It had been an adventure. Our characters got retired.

Playing the game generated an idea not related to Tolkien IP for a novel (I wrote a first chapter). I also wrote short story in the same fantasy universe—which was actually SF in disguise—featuring a female to male trans protagonist who encounters a being made of fire. It got accepted into an anthology. Sadly, the publisher went out of business and it never got published because it was too niche.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.11 — Antagonist POV: Tell us about a fun time you recently had.

While flying, I found a new praetorian of mine and a day angel woman I'd been told about by an advisor having fun in the sky, flying tandem. She went by the name Lightning Bolt and was the one who taught Arrow Flies True precision flying that allowed him to become part of my guard—for selfish reasons I could see! Very athletic, those two.They were having so much fun. I soared in to join them.

Most people either fright, flee, or fawn when I show up, this time flying circles around her, them, but she took the challenge and flew flack, stunt for stunt I tried, countering me sparrow versus hawk driving her away from the man, despite my being faster and more agile, able to augment my acceleration [by magic]. We ended with us on either side of my handsome new praetorian wingtip to wingtip, having gotten me to sweat at least.

The fellow looked adorably confused and worried, but kept formation despite being fought over.

It wasn't anger Bolt showed me. It was more like annoyance, having her needed playtime interrupted perhaps after a previous bad day? I knew that feeling. It was a fragility masked with a hard shell. A good talent.

I liked her. I hadn't had such fun in awhile. I mentally noted to make her a student. Lots of potential to match my ability given the right training.

Author note: As an absolute ruler, you don't want to interest Rainy Days. She seems pleasant and normal, but her students quickly find she's an unrelenting and demanding teacher.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.11 — Antagonist POV: Tell us about a fun time you recently had.

While flying, I found a new praetorian of mine and a day angel woman I'd been told about by an advisor having fun in the sky, flying tandem. She went by the name Lightning Bolt and was the one who taught Arrow Flies True precision flying that allowed him to become part of my guard—for selfish reasons I could see! Very athletic, those two.They were having so much fun. I soared in to join them.

Most people either fright, flee, or fawn when I show up, this time flying circles around her, them, but she took the challenge and flew flack, stunt for stunt I tried, countering me sparrow versus hawk driving her away from the man, despite my being faster and more agile, able to augment my acceleration [by magic]. We ended with us on either side of my handsome new praetorian wingtip to wingtip, having gotten me to sweat at least.

The fellow looked adorably confused and worried, but kept formation despite being fought over.

It wasn't anger Bolt showed me. It was more like annoyance, having her needed playtime interrupted perhaps after a previous bad day? I knew that feeling. It was a fragility masked with a hard shell. A good talent.

I liked her. I hadn't had such fun in awhile. I mentally noted to make her a student. Lots of potential to match my ability given the right training.

Author note: As an absolute ruler, you don't want to interest Rainy Days. She seems pleasant and normal, but her students quickly find she's an unrelenting and demanding teacher.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.11 — Antagonist POV: Tell us about a fun time you recently had.

While flying, I found a new praetorian of mine and a day angel woman I'd been told about by an advisor having fun in the sky, flying tandem. She went by the name Lightning Bolt and was the one who taught Arrow Flies True precision flying that allowed him to become part of my guard—for selfish reasons I could see! Very athletic, those two.They were having so much fun. I soared in to join them.

Most people either fright, flee, or fawn when I show up, this time flying circles around her, them, but she took the challenge and flew flack, stunt for stunt I tried, countering me sparrow versus hawk driving her away from the man, despite my being faster and more agile, able to augment my acceleration [by magic]. We ended with us on either side of my handsome new praetorian wingtip to wingtip, having gotten me to sweat at least.

The fellow looked adorably confused and worried, but kept formation despite being fought over.

It wasn't anger Bolt showed me. It was more like annoyance, having her needed playtime interrupted perhaps after a previous bad day? I knew that feeling. It was a fragility masked with a hard shell. A good talent.

I liked her. I hadn't had such fun in awhile. I mentally noted to make her a student. Lots of potential to match my ability given the right training.

Author note: As an absolute ruler, you don't want to interest Rainy Days. She seems pleasant and normal, but her students quickly find she's an unrelenting and demanding teacher.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.11 — Antagonist POV: Tell us about a fun time you recently had.

While flying, I found a new praetorian of mine and a day angel woman I'd been told about by an advisor having fun in the sky, flying tandem. She went by the name Lightning Bolt and was the one who taught Arrow Flies True precision flying that allowed him to become part of my guard—for selfish reasons I could see! Very athletic, those two.They were having so much fun. I soared in to join them.

Most people either fright, flee, or fawn when I show up, this time flying circles around her, them, but she took the challenge and flew flack, stunt for stunt I tried, countering me sparrow versus hawk driving her away from the man, despite my being faster and more agile, able to augment my acceleration [by magic]. We ended with us on either side of my handsome new praetorian wingtip to wingtip, having gotten me to sweat at least.

The fellow looked adorably confused and worried, but kept formation despite being fought over.

It wasn't anger Bolt showed me. It was more like annoyance, having her needed playtime interrupted perhaps after a previous bad day? I knew that feeling. It was a fragility masked with a hard shell. A good talent.

I liked her. I hadn't had such fun in awhile. I mentally noted to make her a student. Lots of potential to match my ability given the right training.

Author note: As an absolute ruler, you don't want to interest Rainy Days. She seems pleasant and normal, but her students quickly find she's an unrelenting and demanding teacher.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#WordWeavers 2026.05.11 — Antagonist POV: Tell us about a fun time you recently had.

While flying, I found a new praetorian of mine and a day angel woman I'd been told about by an advisor having fun in the sky, flying tandem. She went by the name Lightning Bolt and was the one who taught Arrow Flies True precision flying that allowed him to become part of my guard—for selfish reasons I could see! Very athletic, those two.They were having so much fun. I soared in to join them.

Most people either fright, flee, or fawn when I show up, this time flying circles around her, them, but she took the challenge and flew flack, stunt for stunt I tried, countering me sparrow versus hawk driving her away from the man, despite my being faster and more agile, able to augment my acceleration [by magic]. We ended with us on either side of my handsome new praetorian wingtip to wingtip, having gotten me to sweat at least.

The fellow looked adorably confused and worried, but kept formation despite being fought over.

It wasn't anger Bolt showed me. It was more like annoyance, having her needed playtime interrupted perhaps after a previous bad day? I knew that feeling. It was a fragility masked with a hard shell. A good talent.

I liked her. I hadn't had such fun in awhile. I mentally noted to make her a student. Lots of potential to match my ability given the right training.

Author note: As an absolute ruler, you don't want to interest Rainy Days. She seems pleasant and normal, but her students quickly find she's an unrelenting and demanding teacher.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@rbreich Eye-opening explainer about how tax cuts and interest on a rising national debt (now > than GDP) is a vicious circle that actually only benefits the very wealthy. Highly recommended.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-no-one-will-tell-you-about-the

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#PennedPossibilities 1010 — What are any of your characters hiding? (A fantasy, fear, strength, talent, an unpopular or controversial opinion, prejudice, etc.) Why are they hiding it?

Why? In the period of a few weeks she's gone from invisible to meeting a newspaper reporter who's front pagestory needed her photographs, an editor who wants to agent her work, and a cute college student —who's, well, the type of cute she likes—as well as learning a favorite boyfriend is a praetorian who works for the nation's ruler, and then meeting said ruler... who has learned her name.

Bolt is hiding that she's a courier for the mob. For her friends' safety, since she can't convince her friends to leave her alone.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1010 — What are any of your characters hiding? (A fantasy, fear, strength, talent, an unpopular or controversial opinion, prejudice, etc.) Why are they hiding it?

Why? In the period of a few weeks she's gone from invisible to meeting a newspaper reporter who's front pagestory needed her photographs, an editor who wants to agent her work, and a cute college student —who's, well, the type of cute she likes—as well as learning a favorite boyfriend is a praetorian who works for the nation's ruler, and then meeting said ruler... who has learned her name.

Bolt is hiding that she's a courier for the mob. For her friends' safety, since she can't convince her friends to leave her alone.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1009 — Do any of your characters wear glasses?

Bolt, the MC, should have as she points out...

I'd made myself up as prim and proper as I could, including putting my hair up, spreading a covering paste on my cheeks to hide the piercing holes, and wearing a gauzy white shift tailored for any kind of angel, with snap closure wing cutouts. The seller promised it would wick perspiration, not become transparent, and would keep me cool. I even bought blue-rimmed reflective glasses to further confuse recognition should I encounter someone I'd delivered a mob missive in a blue envelope to. I ought have bought glasses that would correct my sight back to 6/1, but such things required visiting Health Services and submitting my civil ID, which [could get her identified].

Day angels have hawk-like sight, but Bolt's is barely 10/20, which makes things on the ground from altitude very hard to see. As a teenager she lost enough glasses that her mother stopped buying them. As a jock she didn't want to be mistaken for a scholar! Turning 30, she realizes how stupid she had been.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1008¹⁵ #PennedPossibilitiesImposterToot One or more of your characters, of your choice, are about to sneak into 'something'. Why are they sneaking and what are they sneaking into, are they successful?

Bolt is a courier for the mob, but occasionally she's also sent to trade for supplies to make 'products' the mob sells. Owning those products isn't illicit, but transporting them is, which is one of the few criminal acts Bolt commits (delivering anonymous mail isn't a crime, per se). Blackmailed, Bolt transports the herbs unwilling because she's been ordered to do so. She needs to sneak in and out of a city that was built like a fortress on a mountainside before siege warfare became obsolete. It has few roads in and out. She and her helper, the devil-girl, must sneak out of the city with their wagon-load of trading cargo, then return without getting stopped. It helps that Bolt is a day angel. She can fly.

Since I won't comment about spoilers, I'll say only that it is part of a scheme to gather blackmail to control the devil-girl. The devil-girl is a very expensive extremely capable independent contractor. The events constitute major plot worsening. It's the beginning of the end of the novel.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1008 — Have you ever had someone translate a story of yours (into another language)?

The agent sold German rights but I never saw any royalties, so dunno.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers 2026.05.06 — Ghoti (fish) is a word created to demonstrate the odd pronunciation variations in the English language. Create or share a word you've created.

Here are some synthetic words. I keep a lexicon for the Reluctance Series to add them to, along with regular words the definition of which I've either extended or warped. The definitions below were tuned to lessen any spoilers, not to mislead.

Arithmocosm: The vivid mindscape a daemon sees when they think mathematically.

Chromatype: 1. A trait passed to one's children without out the aid of the chromosomes, but instead is a flight of epigenetic switches reluctantly† turned on or off around the time of conception. 2. A type of human differentiated only by the epigenetic switches inherited from either their mother or their father.

Crystalscaphe: A word for spaceship where the destination traveled within is not exactly space—powered not by rockets but by miracles. Derived from bathyscaphe, if you wish to ponder what the word could mean further.

Idioglyph: An idiosyncratic marking associated with all chromatypes. Some people even think they say something about them. Also, informal, singular: idy; plural: iddies.

=-=-=-=-=-=
† The various forms of the word reluctance are important to the series of stories. It is both a MacGuffin and a glue that holds the stories together, and saying anymore would be spoilers.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#ScribesAndMakers 20260505 — Have you ever worked with collage?

I went to school when art was still considered an essential subject in school. I'm sure I've committed collage once or twice in the lower grades, and a science project poster that could pass as a better example of the same.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1007 — What is your SC’s earliest memory?

For Shugh? Always playing with the girls and only the boys giving him guff for that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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#PennedPossibilities 1006 — How would your characters describe their community or communities?

Working for the mob is also working in a community. In Bolt's eyes, anyone asking about the "community" she was blackmailed into must have a death wish.

Do you?

Well, if you do: The "syndicate" is actually a group (a mob, if you will) of confederated interests, some of them legit but many criminal, centered around a mob boss who suggests how everything could work well without ordering anyone around. He's talented at this. He's a golden goose worshipped by spiders content to comfort him in their web. Bolt, as a courier with no knowledge of the messages and threats she flies around in the addressed blue envelopes handed her, doesn't realize she's an important part of the glue making the decentralization work. She personally encounters, and deals with, the ugliness, the venality, and the violence necessary. She avoids getting caught up by appearing as vicious and untouchable as possible when "at work." She socializes with none she is not forced to socialize with, and keeps isolated and alone, her hopes pretty much crushed.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@Priyajsridhar

#Writephant 2026.0504 — A5. What is your space hill to die on regarding real life or fiction?

In real life, I am firmly convinced there is no FTL or secret undiscovered science that will enable human beings to exceed the speed of light. No warp drive. No wormhole that won't crush you in its singularity. No stargates.

Nope. Nothing. Nada. Won't happen.

I'll still writing fiction using FTL, however. An unlimited universe is the ultimate romantic notion in SF—well, besides courting the opposite sex, preferred gender, or elegant alien beast of your choice, in an otherworldly milieu, maybe.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@Priyajsridhar

#Writephant 2026.0504 — A4. If you were to write a story set in space, what is the first thing that comes to mind for an idea?

Even though I'm writing a story where people could walk on the sky, the sky is a very special place that the powers that be are ignoring. I'm sure there is a story I could write about when the sky was visited. Be cool, right?

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@Priyajsridhar

#Writephant 2026.0504 — A3. Have your characters ever visited other planets, asteroids, or stars?

Yes, I write SF. I have one novel where they live in a generation ship, another where an MC orphan is adopted into a mixed-species marriage and travels through an Andre Norton Star-Traders type universe, and a WIP where part of the story takes place on the moon (Reluctant Moon). In this story, the characters can also walk on the sky. It's SF, too.

PS: I also have a fantasy trilogy where the characters do actually walk on the sky, but that is definitely not SF.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@Priyajsridhar

#Writephant 2026.0504 — A2. Do you have a favorite work that is either set in space or a celestial body that isn’t Earth?

Plenty. Not only do I write SF, I read it. However, let's stick to media.

I love Firefly. From beginning to end, it was weirdly interesting and fun, with a pure demonstration of how to lampshade facts you really don't want to have to explain. I'm often offended when obvious science is gotten wrong, but the characters and plot lines had their own consistent logic and I went with the quirkiness.

I also loved the last series version of Battlestar Galactica, except for the very last episode. They made a think about FTL rules, and I felt they got the military milieu exceptionally well, with the robotics explained well enough to make it all consistent and believable—except for the very end where the story went so far off the rails, it launched the locomotive directly to high orbit. Otherwise, good SF, showing how technology affects humans.

I'll give a shout out to Babylon 5 for mixing idealism and multiculturalism in a way much better than most TV SF ever did.

#Firefly #Babylon5 #BattlestarGalactica #FTL

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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@Priyajsridhar

#Writephant 2026.0504 — A1. What do you think of outer space? Would you like to travel through it?

Pardon this author's tardiness. No good excuse, so forgiveness, please!

For all humans who are stuck in a reality where no matter can go faster than the speed of light, outer space is the final frontier, though I suspect those who might colonize some world like Mars, or lesser rocky bodies, might content that exploring them is the final frontier. Would I travel through it? Me? Riding on the top of a controlled firecracker? You crackers?

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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