#boostingissharing — Public Fediverse posts

#EroticMusings 2026.08.02 —Week 62 (August 2-8) Characters: Do power imbalances exist within the romantic or sexual relationships between your characters? Is this a challenge for you? Does it present unique opportunities?

I don't think certain romantic or sexual relationships would be in a story if there wasn't a power imbalance. Even in one novel, where the chemistry between the MMC and FMC is electric, sexual, and undeniably romantic, it's the imbalance between the pair and the antagonist, and the rest of the world which distrusts their atypical relationship (in terms of their society not ours), that provides a great deal of the novel's tension.

Bolt, in the current WIP for example, has an intense but oddly casual relationship with Blue—so far. Week 61's answer (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116989087682412745) discussed that Bolt has taught willing men to "fly tandem." Blue was her most recent student. Bolt is a day angel; she has wings and can fly under her own power; so can Blue. If you didn't get the hint, flying tandem is sex while flying, but it takes immense stamina, strength, and skill. The power imbalance comes (pun intended) when Blue's employer flies up to the lovers after they finish their aerial ballet. He's a new praetorian guard on leave. His employer, Rainy Days, rules ten worlds. Bolt (secretly a reluctant courier for the mob) becomes ticked by the woman's body language and they fly stunts at each other in a mock battle to isolate their man (Blue) from the other, to Blue's horror because, well, everyone knows that in any era you do your best not to be noticed by royalty. The implication is that Rainy Days has flown tandem with Blue. Spoilers to explain further, naturally, but the power imbalance is fun and raises the stakes.

Writing power imbalances is rarely a challenge for me because I don't plan them out. They organically grow out of the situations and characters I cultivate, and often sprout into new situations to feed the needs of the story.

In the Blue example above, the power imbalance flowed naturally from the inadvertent situation I wrote myself into, and provided a unique opportunity to hint at an unseen level of story about Rainy Days' agenda for her students, including students who don't know yet that they've been signed up for Her tutelage.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

#EroticMusings 2026.08.02 —Week 62 (August 2-8) Characters: Do power imbalances exist within the romantic or sexual relationships between your characters? Is this a challenge for you? Does it present unique opportunities?

I don't think certain romantic or sexual relationships would be in a story if there wasn't a power imbalance. Even in one novel, where the chemistry between the MMC and FMC is electric, sexual, and undeniably romantic, it's the imbalance between the pair and the antagonist, and the rest of the world which distrusts their atypical relationship (in terms of their society not ours), that provides a great deal of the novel's tension.

Bolt, in the current WIP for example, has an intense but oddly casual relationship with Blue—so far. Week 61's answer (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116989087682412745) discussed that Bolt has taught willing men to "fly tandem." Blue was her most recent student. Bolt is a day angel; she has wings and can fly under her own power; so can Blue. If you didn't get the hint, flying tandem is sex while flying, but it takes immense stamina, strength, and skill. The power imbalance comes (pun intended) when Blue's employer flies up to the lovers after they finish their aerial ballet. He's a new praetorian guard on leave. His employer, Rainy Days, rules ten worlds. Bolt (secretly a reluctant courier for the mob) becomes ticked by the woman's body language and they fly stunts at each other in a mock battle to isolate their man (Blue) from the other, to Blue's horror because, well, everyone knows that in any era you do your best not to be noticed by royalty. The implication is that Rainy Days has flown tandem with Blue. Spoilers to explain further, naturally, but the power imbalance is fun and raises the stakes.

Writing power imbalances is rarely a challenge for me because I don't plan them out. They organically grow out of the situations and characters I cultivate, and often sprout into new situations to feed the needs of the story.

In the Blue example above, the power imbalance flowed naturally from the inadvertent situation I wrote myself into, and provided a unique opportunity to hint at an unseen level of story about Rainy Days' agenda for her students, including students who don't know yet that they've been signed up for Her tutelage.

[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 1089 — MC POV: Write a diary entry that’s dated 10 years in the past.

[In Bolt's world, they count in twelves (5 fingers + palm). To have the same significance in Bolt's world as "10 years in the past" in ours, Bolt's diary entry needs be a dodecade in the past, not a decade. In fact, the midlife crisis Bolt experiences as the novel begins is due to that it has been a dodecade since she's been, um, well, stuck in her dead​-end criminal job as a Reluctant Courier (for the Mob). The diary entry might just make it into the story as an epigraph, —RS]

I didn't do it. If you're reading this, and maybe I should burn this after I finish writing it, know that I didn't do it.

Today, running what I figured was a shady errand for a shady woman who was offering a too large coin to convince me—which I needed to feed and shelter myself having run away to Home City—I saw myself a murdered man.

I did not kill him.

I found his apartment door, where I was to deliver my blue envelope, ajar. Saw him lying face down in his living room. I rushed in, knelt beside him to try to help, and got my knees and left hand wet. Sticky wet. In a spreading warm puddle. I'll never forget the iron tang of the blood and the stink of death rising. I'd obliged someone by getting my fingerprints all over the chef knife I had found outside, which I'd thought had been dropped, which I'd helpfully picked up and brought in with me. Kneeling there, I had still held it in my right hand.

It had blood on the blade.

I didn't do it.

Someone else was there. They tackled me and kept me from screaming, and told me they were working for the same people as I was, and helped me get away from the constables whose whistles I heard fast approaching.

I didn't see the blood spatter on her clothes and face until later. This evening, they showed me the photo of me kneeing beside the client who had ratted out the syndicate to the constables, me with the knife I'd found in hand.

I didn't do it.

You won't believe believe me reading this, I know. I've been told that with the photo, and the evidence I left on the scene, that I'll be working for the Thousand Eyes Syndicate for the rest of my life and that I will be keeping my mouth shut, if I wasn't as stupid as I look.

I'm writing this, keeping my mouth shut, and hoping when stupid happens and I'm tapped by the constables, maybe you will doubt a case that is otherwise too pat.

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

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No wonder NASA earth and ocean science is being cut (#uspol). Good science puts at risk masking the true nature of bad weather: acts of God that frees government and corporations from paying to fix things broken.
#boostingIsSharing

#climate #science #nasa #climatechange

https://weather-fox.com/nasa-confirms-atmospheric-shift-over-north-america-8-345225

No wonder NASA earth and ocean science is being cut (#uspol). Good science puts at risk masking the true nature of bad weather: acts of God that frees government and corporations from paying to fix things broken.
#boostingIsSharing

#climate #science #nasa #climatechange

https://weather-fox.com/nasa-confirms-atmospheric-shift-over-north-america-8-345225

#PennedPossibilities 1088 — Name something that is considered rare and valuable in your WIP? What is common and essential?

Rare and Valuable: Fertility. The human population is declining. We are slowly going extinct despite enjoying sex.

Common and Essential: Food, water, shelter, education, and healthcare. It's a stewardship property society; you get to keep and use property only if you don't use it to hurt or control people, and it's never automatically heritable. There's basic income and thorough consent laws. Of course, humans are human and still create their own personal dystopia when motivated.

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

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

#PennedPossibilities 1088 — Name something that is considered rare and valuable in your WIP? What is common and essential?

Rare and Valuable: Fertility. The human population is declining. We are slowly going extinct despite enjoying sex.

Common and Essential: Food, water, shelter, education, and healthcare. It's a stewardship property society; you get to keep and use property only if you don't use it to hurt or control people, and it's never automatically heritable. There's basic income and thorough consent laws. Of course, humans are human and still create their own personal dystopia when motivated.

[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 2026.08.02 — What's the most challenging thing you've ever written?

What I am currently writing: I'm depicting a modern urban society that on the surface appears very similar to our own, but turns everything upside-down and backwards in a way such that traditionally-minded or "conservative" readers will eventually discover I have made them question their own worldview. Beyond the worldbuilding, I'm non-PC when I write. There's a reason if characters come off as offensive or unrefined; I have to strive to build into this such that I don't throw the reader from the story. Bolt, the MC, a day angel woman, is, let's say, unrefined and sexist, and even when she finds herself becoming more progressive minded because of the people she encounters, she throws gender roles willy-nilly into question, including her society's conception of a trans person. Oh, right, did I forget to say the story is a female-centric society?

Oh, sorry! It is. And Bolt likes her men.

Challenging?

Maaaybe.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
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#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.02 — What's the most challenging thing you've ever written?

What I am currently writing: I'm depicting a modern urban society that on the surface appears very similar to our own, but turns everything upside-down and backwards in a way such that traditionally-minded or "conservative" readers will eventually discover I have made them question their own worldview. Beyond the worldbuilding, I'm non-PC when I write. There's a reason if characters come off as offensive or unrefined; I have to strive to build into this such that I don't throw the reader from the story. Bolt, the MC, a day angel woman, is, let's say, unrefined and sexist, and even when she finds herself becoming more progressive minded because of the people she encounters, she throws gender roles willy-nilly into question, including her society's conception of a trans person. Oh, right, did I forget to say the story is a female-centric society?

Oh, sorry! It is. And Bolt likes her men.

Challenging?

Maaaybe.

[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 2026.08.02 — What's one scene you cut that you still think about?

I was going to answer that I don't. Usually when I cut a scene, I scrap it (goes in a folder) or trash it, and never revisit it—unless it's the start of a side story at which point the scene no longer qualifies for this question.

However, I've been talking with a few people about my earliest work. Under the direction of the publisher, I cut a 200,000 word book down to 95,000 words. They were right, the cuts made it much better, but a few scenes stuck with me. The MC is a girl masquerading as a boy to be able to attend school in a society where women aren't allowed. For reasons I won't get into, she ends up taking the coming of age test—a quest administered by a theocratic vaguely Shinto government—that all boys must take to become men. Boys that fail, they die and are never heard from again. In preparation, the boys are taught certain "essentials" by a woman instructor, to give them extra incentives to live through a grueling experience. The MC doesn't have the proper "equipment," naturally, but passes (somehow). Most of the scenes and character development surrounding this event in the story, it's implications and subplots, got excised.

The story got turned into a YA.

And, yes, I think the scenes are worthy. They expand how tolerant and open minded the MC is, even when her purpose isn't to become a man but to rescue her brother she's convinced will fail The Test.

I plan to republish the story in an author preferred edition.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.08.02 — What's one scene you cut that you still think about?

I was going to answer that I don't. Usually when I cut a scene, I scrap it (goes in a folder) or trash it, and never revisit it—unless it's the start of a side story at which point the scene no longer qualifies for this question.

However, I've been talking with a few people about my earliest work. Under the direction of the publisher, I cut a 200,000 word book down to 95,000 words. They were right, the cuts made it much better, but a few scenes stuck with me. The MC is a girl masquerading as a boy to be able to attend school in a society where women aren't allowed. For reasons I won't get into, she ends up taking the coming of age test—a quest administered by a theocratic vaguely Shinto government—that all boys must take to become men. Boys that fail, they die and are never heard from again. In preparation, the boys are taught certain "essentials" by a woman instructor, to give them extra incentives to live through a grueling experience. The MC doesn't have the proper "equipment," naturally, but passes (somehow). Most of the scenes and character development surrounding this event in the story, it's implications and subplots, got excised.

The story got turned into a YA.

And, yes, I think the scenes are worthy. They expand how tolerant and open minded the MC is, even when her purpose isn't to become a man but to rescue her brother she's convinced will fail The Test.

I plan to republish the story in an author preferred edition.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

#WordWeavers 2026.08.01 — Which of your characters would make the best tour guide, & where would they take us?

Only the devil-girl has the skill. In an analogue civilization like hers, only one profession has to know a city better than a taxi driver. As a transporter for a syndicate, she had to get never-specified items and people you don't ask questions about from one side of town to the other. Intact. Unharmed. Being the autist she is, she walked and rode every street and alleyway, both day and night, mentally mapping everything.

She would find the idea of giving a tour of the grungy old eastern seacoast city she lives in rather weird, but she might suggest the harbor area. The shipdock district (both sky and sea) is picturesque and smells of salt and iodine and industry, and sometimes fish. If you're pescatarian, she can take you on a crawl of the best grills, saloons, and smokehouses (though she'll make the point she's too young to drink or partake in the smokes). If it's during tournament season, she'll include the fights in the tour, both tag-team and mixed "magical" martial arts, that are held in a converted skyship dry dock on Wharf C, where she can tell thrilling stories of blood and bruises. As an former prizefighter, she literally brought down the house.

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

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

#WordWeavers 2026.08.01 — Which of your characters would make the best tour guide, & where would they take us?

Only the devil-girl has the skill. In an analogue civilization like hers, only one profession has to know a city better than a taxi driver. As a transporter for a syndicate, she had to get never-specified items and people you don't ask questions about from one side of town to the other. Intact. Unharmed. Being the autist she is, she walked and rode every street and alleyway, both day and night, mentally mapping everything.

She would find the idea of giving a tour of the grungy old eastern seacoast city she lives in rather weird, but she might suggest the harbor area. The shipdock district (both sky and sea) is picturesque and smells of salt and iodine and industry, and sometimes fish. If you're pescatarian, she can take you on a crawl of the best grills, saloons, and smokehouses (though she'll make the point she's too young to drink or partake in the smokes). If it's during tournament season, she'll include the fights in the tour, both tag-team and mixed "magical" martial arts, that are held in a converted skyship dry dock on Wharf C, where she can tell thrilling stories of blood and bruises. As an former prizefighter, she literally brought down the house.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

#ScribesAndMakers »2026.08.01 — Choose an adverb to describe how you plan to approach your creative project(s) this month.

I cannot emphasize how well I understand my current writing problem. I'm going to quote myself from my pinned profile introduction post before I choose my adverb.

I DON'T know what the reader is going to expect.

I DON'T know if the current scene is going to frighten, trigger, or be too explicit for my audience...

Because I DON'T have anyone looking over my shoulder, clicking their tongue, and saying, "Tch, tch, tch!"

I am going to take a deeeeeeep breath, now,
clear my mind,
and write the flapping scene—
full stop.

There were many runner up words:

• Confidently
• Nonchalantly
• Worrilessly

Like all words in our language, for authors at least, there are implied nuances, side meanings, and moods. Also, the last one, though the most correct, sounded clunky. I guess you could also add to the attributes of words style.

In the end I chose because it is the way I need to approach gritty yet cozy material from the standpoint of a woman who knows how to enjoy the common pleasures in life and would it allowed to:

blithe′ly adv.

blithe′ness n.
Blithe

adj. blither, blithest

1. Carefree and lighthearted.


— From American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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

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photographer chef cooking
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#ScribesAndMakers »2026.08.01 — Choose an adverb to describe how you plan to approach your creative project(s) this month.

I cannot emphasize how well I understand my current writing problem. I'm going to quote myself from my pinned profile introduction post before I choose my adverb.

I DON'T know what the reader is going to expect.

I DON'T know if the current scene is going to frighten, trigger, or be too explicit for my audience...

Because I DON'T have anyone looking over my shoulder, clicking their tongue, and saying, "Tch, tch, tch!"

I am going to take a deeeeeeep breath, now,
clear my mind,
and write the flapping scene—
full stop.

There were many runner up words:

• Confidently
• Nonchalantly
• Worrilessly

Like all words in our language, for authors at least, there are implied nuances, side meanings, and moods. Also, the last one, though the most correct, sounded clunky. I guess you could also add to the attributes of words style.

In the end I chose because it is the way I need to approach gritty yet cozy material from the standpoint of a woman who knows how to enjoy the common pleasures in life and would it allowed to:

blithe′ly adv.

blithe′ness n.
Blithe

adj. blither, blithest

1. Carefree and lighthearted.


— From American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
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photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers 202608.02 — How wholesome do you consider your creative work? What does wholesome mean to you?

Wholesome is a word that's both incompletely defined (nutritionally especially) and totally subjective. Writing stories about women who can't leave their home without the escort of a husband or male relative and who must be fully covered head to foot to do so might be especially wholesome to readers in an awkwardly large portion of the world. Yes, I wrote one such story, but it addressed how because of segments of the depicted society the story was about the corruption of something considered wholesome by the POV. That the POV woman bought into the clothing and the male protection part was the point there.

I think learning something fundamental about human nature is wholesome. Even if squick or uncomfortable. Your mileage will vary.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
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photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#ScribesAndMakers 202608.02 — How wholesome do you consider your creative work? What does wholesome mean to you?

Wholesome is a word that's both incompletely defined (nutritionally especially) and totally subjective. Writing stories about women who can't leave their home without the escort of a husband or male relative and who must be fully covered head to foot to do so might be especially wholesome to readers in an awkwardly large portion of the world. Yes, I wrote one such story, but it addressed how because of segments of the depicted society the story was about the corruption of something considered wholesome by the POV. That the POV woman bought into the clothing and the male protection part was the point there.

I think learning something fundamental about human nature is wholesome. Even if squick or uncomfortable. Your mileage will vary.

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

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

#PennedPossibilities 1087 — Friday Edition: In honor of a friend (@thatwriterellie), we’re using a word once per week. Write or share something from your WIP pertaining to: “struggle.”

In this newly revised #excerpt from Reluctant Moon, Streak, the MMC, has witnessed the leader of the world, Rainy Days, do the Solomon thing, having made a contentious judgement to place a child in an unexpected person's care, doing what others might think beneath her notice but she felt she must, and in the end it was one too many stressful decisions in this powerful woman's life. He's but a teenager, a potential university student, someone she was showing around. But he's male. He acts instinctively (for his society, anyway). Thorn Rose is the FMC and Streak's, the POV's, lover.

Were she Thorn Rose wound-up worrying, what would I do? I dropped my hands and before Rainy Days could take it as a signal to stand, I looped my arms under hers and crossed them over her upper chest, pulling her into a reverse hug, pressing myself against her back and fluffy furled wings, positioning my chin on her shoulder. This time I took a deep breath. She was substantial, a giant true enough, but womanly. Human.

She took a deep breath. Shuddered. Whispered: "You and Thorn remind me of Raven Caw and I back then. Centuries ago." Breathless. "What next? What should we do... next?"

I struggled for a moment, feeling in my arms for all appearances a young woman barely twenty-five, only a few years older than myself. I tried to push from my head the incomprehensible truth that she was actually ancient, a chimera of daemon, day angel, and nephil who ruled the entire world. A crown of ibex horns touched the top of my head behind my ear held against hers, feathers fluttered nervously beneath my arms, and fur above black hooves rubbed my shin as she squatted in my grasp—attributes that fought any semblance of normalcy, fought to negate that the skin I felt as I embraced her was any more than that of any other woman, as human as any other's, merely that of a woman in desperate need of centering. Much I could do if only I held perspective and tamped down on the overwhelm bubbling up.

And. Breathing slowly. With her… breathing slowly. I did. Hugging her still.

She reiterated, "Tell me."

The two words held no extra meaning. Not anger. Not sarcasm. Not a command. Men's Studies let me recognize surrender. She wanted me to transform her reality—from powerful to vulnerable—though we both understood well that I could not actually perform miracles.

"You consent?" I asked, asking The Question: The only thaumaturgy of which I was capable.

"Thorn Rose trusts you to carry her through the sky without dropping her, so... I shall, also."

Well. Reality did change. Mine. An unexpected sense of power grew thumping loudly in my chest: a fraction of her sovereignty abdicated temporarily to me, for my use as I chose, which she trusted me to borrow.

For how long? To what extent?

I had to wait for these questions to answer themselves because I knew one thing: I was just a man and we both knew what a man's purpose was.

I drew Her to stand and She did. Her whole body seemed relaxed. She had a tentative smile. What could I do? that smile asked. Even if I did nothing more, I knew her perspective had...

Shifted.

For instants maybe only heartbeats, she had not been, was not, in control; for her it screamed revelation, a relief, burdens flung off, leaden chains sundered…

Rainy Days is the main series antagonist, of course. What you think is about to happen will. Rather publicly, in fact.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#PennedPossibilities 1087 — Friday Edition: In honor of a friend (@thatwriterellie), we’re using a word once per week. Write or share something from your WIP pertaining to: “struggle.”

In this newly revised #excerpt from Reluctant Moon, Streak, the MMC, has witnessed the leader of the world, Rainy Days, do the Solomon thing, having made a contentious judgement to place a child in an unexpected person's care, doing what others might think beneath her notice but she felt she must, and in the end it was one too many stressful decisions in this powerful woman's life. He's but a teenager, a potential university student, someone she was showing around. But he's male. He acts instinctively (for his society, anyway). Thorn Rose is the FMC and Streak's, the POV's, lover.

Were she Thorn Rose wound-up worrying, what would I do? I dropped my hands and before Rainy Days could take it as a signal to stand, I looped my arms under hers and crossed them over her upper chest, pulling her into a reverse hug, pressing myself against her back and fluffy furled wings, positioning my chin on her shoulder. This time I took a deep breath. She was substantial, a giant true enough, but womanly. Human.

She took a deep breath. Shuddered. Whispered: "You and Thorn remind me of Raven Caw and I back then. Centuries ago." Breathless. "What next? What should we do... next?"

I struggled for a moment, feeling in my arms for all appearances a young woman barely twenty-five, only a few years older than myself. I tried to push from my head the incomprehensible truth that she was actually ancient, a chimera of daemon, day angel, and nephil who ruled the entire world. A crown of ibex horns touched the top of my head behind my ear held against hers, feathers fluttered nervously beneath my arms, and fur above black hooves rubbed my shin as she squatted in my grasp—attributes that fought any semblance of normalcy, fought to negate that the skin I felt as I embraced her was any more than that of any other woman, as human as any other's, merely that of a woman in desperate need of centering. Much I could do if only I held perspective and tamped down on the overwhelm bubbling up.

And. Breathing slowly. With her… breathing slowly. I did. Hugging her still.

She reiterated, "Tell me."

The two words held no extra meaning. Not anger. Not sarcasm. Not a command. Men's Studies let me recognize surrender. She wanted me to transform her reality—from powerful to vulnerable—though we both understood well that I could not actually perform miracles.

"You consent?" I asked, asking The Question: The only thaumaturgy of which I was capable.

"Thorn Rose trusts you to carry her through the sky without dropping her, so... I shall, also."

Well. Reality did change. Mine. An unexpected sense of power grew thumping loudly in my chest: a fraction of her sovereignty abdicated temporarily to me, for my use as I chose, which she trusted me to borrow.

For how long? To what extent?

I had to wait for these questions to answer themselves because I knew one thing: I was just a man and we both knew what a man's purpose was.

I drew Her to stand and She did. Her whole body seemed relaxed. She had a tentative smile. What could I do? that smile asked. Even if I did nothing more, I knew her perspective had...

Shifted.

For instants maybe only heartbeats, she had not been, was not, in control; for her it screamed revelation, a relief, burdens flung off, leaden chains sundered…

Rainy Days is the main series antagonist, of course. What you think is about to happen will. Rather publicly, in fact.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.31 — End of the month roundup: What will you do differently next month?

Finish the novel or bust.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.31 — End of the month roundup: What will you do differently next month?

Finish the novel or bust.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.31 — Does your MC have a role model they look up to? If so, who?

Bolt had nobody growing up. Athletic, she made herself the exemplar, but at thirty, the day angel woman is a criminal and is keeping watch on and sometimes supervising the new enforcer. The younger woman is super in-control and gets reticent clients to pay up by scaring them to death through joyful mayhem and artful destruction rather than by hurting anybody. Working for the mob, Bolt has run into too many people that hurt people and are twisted by it. The devil-girl is different. Her agenda is attending thaumaturge school and making coin on the side, and not doing anything that's against her "uniquely fungible ethics."

Bolt doesn't understand the devil-girl is autistic, but finds her joie de vivre attractive and is increasingly crushing on her. Certainly, Bolt tries to be a bit more brave and think things out (somewhat more often) following the example the daemon presents now that they are coworkers.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.31 — Does your MC have a role model they look up to? If so, who?

Bolt had nobody growing up. Athletic, she made herself the exemplar, but at thirty, the day angel woman is a criminal and is keeping watch on and sometimes supervising the new enforcer. The younger woman is super in-control and gets reticent clients to pay up by scaring them to death through joyful mayhem and artful destruction rather than by hurting anybody. Working for the mob, Bolt has run into too many people that hurt people and are twisted by it. The devil-girl is different. Her agenda is attending thaumaturge school and making coin on the side, and not doing anything that's against her "uniquely fungible ethics."

Bolt doesn't understand the devil-girl is autistic, but finds her joie de vivre attractive and is increasingly crushing on her. Certainly, Bolt tries to be a bit more brave and think things out (somewhat more often) following the example the daemon presents now that they are coworkers.

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

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The main series antagonist may be responsible for the destruction of civilizations (plural) and a partly uninhabitable Earth (maybe) but she's also distantly related to everyone alive while she's always 24 years old, sexy, and sympathetic—unless you're the one that crossed her. This article discusses the phenomenon.

https://reactormag.com/your-protagonist-is-a-terrible-person-can-they-still-be-likable/

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The main series antagonist may be responsible for the destruction of civilizations (plural) and a partly uninhabitable Earth (maybe) but she's also distantly related to everyone alive while she's always 24 years old, sexy, and sympathetic—unless you're the one that crossed her. This article discusses the phenomenon.

https://reactormag.com/your-protagonist-is-a-terrible-person-can-they-still-be-likable/

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#PennedPossibilities 1086 — How do you find your inspiration? (Do you enjoy nature, books, games, films, shows, or all of the above?)

I don't go looking for inspiration, it tends to find me while I'm reading or watching, or notice a news item, or hear someone report an event they experienced. It really does feel like something I breathe in. I don't know how I'd go about finding it.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1086 — How do you find your inspiration? (Do you enjoy nature, books, games, films, shows, or all of the above?)

I don't go looking for inspiration, it tends to find me while I'm reading or watching, or notice a news item, or hear someone report an event they experienced. It really does feel like something I breathe in. I don't know how I'd go about finding it.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.30 — End of the month roundup: How well did this month go for you?

Welp, our friends are SMOFs (secret masters of fandom), deeply into running conventions, escorting guests of honor, immersed in science fiction and heavy reading. Yesterday they asked about the beta story. (Me: 😔). Had to face the music and discuss my lack of discipline. New motivation now. Yep. That's me. Gonna do it.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.30 — End of the month roundup: How well did this month go for you?

Welp, our friends are SMOFs (secret masters of fandom), deeply into running conventions, escorting guests of honor, immersed in science fiction and heavy reading. Yesterday they asked about the beta story. (Me: 😔). Had to face the music and discuss my lack of discipline. New motivation now. Yep. That's me. Gonna do it.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.30 — Do the people close to you find your writing surprising?

For those few who read my work, no, not too surprising. I'm a renowned ultra feminist (though not evangelical about it because I'm shy) and may give you a look if you say something sexist or racist. They understand I'm non-PC when I write, and know there's a reason if characters are offensive or unrefined. This doesn't mean they're shy about pointing out these things!

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.30 — Do the people close to you find your writing surprising?

For those few who read my work, no, not too surprising. I'm a renowned ultra feminist (though not evangelical about it because I'm shy) and may give you a look if you say something sexist or racist. They understand I'm non-PC when I write, and know there's a reason if characters are offensive or unrefined. This doesn't mean they're shy about pointing out these things!

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.30 — Smol?

SMOL: Secret Masters of Lust. An acronym the MC of the WIP might have liked were it suggested to her by her Flight and Field teammates in school.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.30 — Smol?

SMOL: Secret Masters of Lust. An acronym the MC of the WIP might have liked were it suggested to her by her Flight and Field teammates in school.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1085 — What is special about your world or universe?

In the SF universe of the Reluctance Series where Reluctant Courier (for the Mob) is set? Reluctance, of course! It brings new meaning to the universe trying to frustrate human intention, more so if you're a human born with horns.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1085 — What is special about your world or universe?

In the SF universe of the Reluctance Series where Reluctant Courier (for the Mob) is set? Reluctance, of course! It brings new meaning to the universe trying to frustrate human intention, more so if you're a human born with horns.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.29 — What’s your MC’s least favorite mode of transportation?

Bolt has wings and flies herself around the city and to nearby locales. She's a stunt flier able to fly tandem with the right (cute) partner. She has taken the metro, and tolerated the crowds, with those friends who were so unfortunate as to be born without wings—about ⅔rds of the population. While she's okay with an air-taxi, a rickshaw in the sky, she's not copacetic with a regular taxi, an actual bicycle rickshaw. She's used to the three-dimensional tilting-skewing perspective of flight, the predictability of trajectories in the air, and unless she's intentionally flying close to buildings or skimming traffic, she can feel how momentum and inertia will effect what happens next. It's predictable. Having somebody racing around on a bike pulling a carriage, taking turns, threading through traffic, finger-lengths from others with the road below blurred spoked wheels taller than her, with traffic signs flashing by so close, sometimes skidding, sometimes sliding sideways or in directions she can't predict other than knowing the taxi is stuck moving in two dimensions—and she can't dodge above or brake sideways… It makes her very nervous. You might see her with a wing covering her face!

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.29 — What’s your MC’s least favorite mode of transportation?

Bolt has wings and flies herself around the city and to nearby locales. She's a stunt flier able to fly tandem with the right (cute) partner. She has taken the metro, and tolerated the crowds, with those friends who were so unfortunate as to be born without wings—about ⅔rds of the population. While she's okay with an air-taxi, a rickshaw in the sky, she's not copacetic with a regular taxi, an actual bicycle rickshaw. She's used to the three-dimensional tilting-skewing perspective of flight, the predictability of trajectories in the air, and unless she's intentionally flying close to buildings or skimming traffic, she can feel how momentum and inertia will effect what happens next. It's predictable. Having somebody racing around on a bike pulling a carriage, taking turns, threading through traffic, finger-lengths from others with the road below blurred spoked wheels taller than her, with traffic signs flashing by so close, sometimes skidding, sometimes sliding sideways or in directions she can't predict other than knowing the taxi is stuck moving in two dimensions—and she can't dodge above or brake sideways… It makes her very nervous. You might see her with a wing covering her face!

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.29 — From soft to hard, where do your tastes fall on the Science Fiction scale?

Soft. I'm more interested in how technology affects people than learning or speculating about the tech. I don't have an engineering degree; it's a liberal arts degree.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.29 — From soft to hard, where do your tastes fall on the Science Fiction scale?

Soft. I'm more interested in how technology affects people than learning or speculating about the tech. I don't have an engineering degree; it's a liberal arts degree.

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

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RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116990644467038101

#PennedPossibilities 1084 — In your universe, what happens to people when they die?

Mulched, most of the body, anyway. Health Services takes care of the physical remains, as well as possession of them, and Mental Services helps with mourning and helping families psychologically. You can find day angel feathers (night angels don't have feathers) where you'd buy stationary, labeled either as molts (less expensive) or unlabeled if not molts by the BHT (Bureau of Human Trafficking). The quills make great pens, but have other niche uses. Daemon bones, however, are serialized by the BHT, in conjunction with Health Services, since remnants have important technological use, which is heavily regulated.

Or, did you mean religiously? The quoted post ought give you a clue.

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

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RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116990644467038101

#PennedPossibilities 1084 — In your universe, what happens to people when they die?

Mulched, most of the body, anyway. Health Services takes care of the physical remains, as well as possession of them, and Mental Services helps with mourning and helping families psychologically. You can find day angel feathers (night angels don't have feathers) where you'd buy stationary, labeled either as molts (less expensive) or unlabeled if not molts by the BHT (Bureau of Human Trafficking). The quills make great pens, but have other niche uses. Daemon bones, however, are serialized by the BHT, in conjunction with Health Services, since remnants have important technological use, which is heavily regulated.

Or, did you mean religiously? The quoted post ought give you a clue.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.28 — If you couldn't write, how would you tell your stories?

I have a degree with a specialization in folklore and mythology.

I've studied oral traditions, enough to know how bogus the kerfuffle is over Helen of Troy being portrayed with dark skin. Are the events of The Odyssey historical? Mostly, no. Furthermore, there's no single canonical original Odyssey text.

There are none.

The story existed for centuries only in the minds of the trained storytellers as a formulaic plot, song, story, and characters, recreated on-demand for a paying audience, often tailored to that audience. Often only the greatest hits parts, to boot. It would take days to tell the whole story. It's practically guaranteed that Helen would have conformed to regional beauty in each retelling. I remember reading about the many versions of the same tales collected by a folklorist, when that scholar could still find storytellers who made a living telling stories, before compiling them to build the tale they'd eventually publish.

I think I'd try live storytelling to see if I could recreate the mental systems they used for my own stories. Gives new meaning to having created a series of stories.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.28 — If you couldn't write, how would you tell your stories?

I have a degree with a specialization in folklore and mythology.

I've studied oral traditions, enough to know how bogus the kerfuffle is over Helen of Troy being portrayed with dark skin. Are the events of The Odyssey historical? Mostly, no. Furthermore, there's no single canonical original Odyssey text.

There are none.

The story existed for centuries only in the minds of the trained storytellers as a formulaic plot, song, story, and characters, recreated on-demand for a paying audience, often tailored to that audience. Often only the greatest hits parts, to boot. It would take days to tell the whole story. It's practically guaranteed that Helen would have conformed to regional beauty in each retelling. I remember reading about the many versions of the same tales collected by a folklorist, when that scholar could still find storytellers who made a living telling stories, before compiling them to build the tale they'd eventually publish.

I think I'd try live storytelling to see if I could recreate the mental systems they used for my own stories. Gives new meaning to having created a series of stories.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.28 — How difficult is it for you to write characters whose taste in art/books/music/television etc are vastly different from your own?

I think it is consistent with this question to mention characters whose understanding of mathematics is vastly different from my own. They see beauty in the numbers. Aesthetics of the solutions are important. These people can do force tensor operations in their heads necessary to figure out how to tip over a locomotive without tearing it apart, or imagine the mathematics of a singularity to build a quantum black hole. Me, I have trouble with my multiplication tables, though I can still do algebra and did learn calculus (though I never plugged in the numbers correctly). As you can imagine, I have to approach their narration very carefully and tangentially so as to be imaginatively vague yet believable. I think I've mostly succeeded.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.28 — How difficult is it for you to write characters whose taste in art/books/music/television etc are vastly different from your own?

I think it is consistent with this question to mention characters whose understanding of mathematics is vastly different from my own. They see beauty in the numbers. Aesthetics of the solutions are important. These people can do force tensor operations in their heads necessary to figure out how to tip over a locomotive without tearing it apart, or imagine the mathematics of a singularity to build a quantum black hole. Me, I have trouble with my multiplication tables, though I can still do algebra and did learn calculus (though I never plugged in the numbers correctly). As you can imagine, I have to approach their narration very carefully and tangentially so as to be imaginatively vague yet believable. I think I've mostly succeeded.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.27 — Have your MCs held onto any objects from their childhoods?

It's not that Bolt might not be sentimental, it's that she vandalized a business and then ran from the constables. She's never been home since.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.27 — Have your MCs held onto any objects from their childhoods?

It's not that Bolt might not be sentimental, it's that she vandalized a business and then ran from the constables. She's never been home since.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1083 — Are you pleased with the way the various relationships between the cast of characters are developing throughout your WIP?

Pleased? Yes? Happy? Well, I know in real life happy endings are few, and precious, and require work. My characters, including the antagonists, despite generally being people you would want to know or you'd like to see redeeming themselves, have their own agendas, fears, and tolerances and have to choose what's best for them and theirs. They can't all just get along. One LI has hit the breaking point and we're about to see whether or not the MC is selfish enough to get in the way of the LI leaving. The results will put stress on her to act and to change. A good story will have sad parts.

=-=-=-=-=
† I'm aiming for the cozy sub-genre.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1083 — Are you pleased with the way the various relationships between the cast of characters are developing throughout your WIP?

Pleased? Yes? Happy? Well, I know in real life happy endings are few, and precious, and require work. My characters, including the antagonists, despite generally being people you would want to know or you'd like to see redeeming themselves, have their own agendas, fears, and tolerances and have to choose what's best for them and theirs. They can't all just get along. One LI has hit the breaking point and we're about to see whether or not the MC is selfish enough to get in the way of the LI leaving. The results will put stress on her to act and to change. A good story will have sad parts.

=-=-=-=-=
† I'm aiming for the cozy sub-genre.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1082 — What is something your SC is reluctant to tell others?

Reluctant to tell? It's not that Steamed Milk and Sugar is a man who figured out very early that he was a girl not a boy. Proving he's in the wrong body was always a hard sell in a society where he's seen as encroaching on breadwinner women's jobs by being an aspiring journalist. Men usually only do physical or low skilled jobs, and certainly not ones where they could express aggression. He proved he has the chops as a journalist running the high school paper and (surprising to everyone) earning a journalism degree. He grew up around women, supporting other women, and gaining their trust and friendship. Still, he's perpetually proving to new people he's not some kook man who thinks too highly of himself, pretending to be a woman for ulterior motives.

What he's reluctant to tell others is that while he's a woman in a wrong body, he's also attracted to them, too.

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

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#PennedPossibilities 1082 — What is something your SC is reluctant to tell others?

Reluctant to tell? It's not that Steamed Milk and Sugar is a man who figured out very early that he was a girl not a boy. Proving he's in the wrong body was always a hard sell in a society where he's seen as encroaching on breadwinner women's jobs by being an aspiring journalist. Men usually only do physical or low skilled jobs, and certainly not ones where they could express aggression. He proved he has the chops as a journalist running the high school paper and (surprising to everyone) earning a journalism degree. He grew up around women, supporting other women, and gaining their trust and friendship. Still, he's perpetually proving to new people he's not some kook man who thinks too highly of himself, pretending to be a woman for ulterior motives.

What he's reluctant to tell others is that while he's a woman in a wrong body, he's also attracted to them, too.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.26 — If you were to metaphorically assign your non-culinary creative work a flavo(u)r, what would it be?

Salty. With a hint of iodine. With dots of red sauce. Yep, like a freshly shucked oyster laid lovingly upon shaved ice with wedge of fragrant slightly-squeezed lemon on the side, glistening in the sunlight, ready to eat.

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

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#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.26 — If you were to metaphorically assign your non-culinary creative work a flavo(u)r, what would it be?

Salty. With a hint of iodine. With dots of red sauce. Yep, like a freshly shucked oyster laid lovingly upon shaved ice with wedge of fragrant slightly-squeezed lemon on the side, glistening in the sunlight, ready to eat.

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

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#WordWeavers 2026.07.26 — Do any of your MCs have nicknames? How did they get them?

I have one MC and nobody gives her a nickname. Her name is Bolt. Lightning Bolt.

She does have nicknames for practically the whole cast, though, especially since names are descriptive and sometimes long. Since I figure the SC version of this question will eventually show up, I'll leave those for a later time.

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