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#fiction

154 posts106 participants18 posts today
Public
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

Hey, New York Review of Books just joined Mastodon!

newsie.social/@nybooks/1142756

This is NOT the New York Times Book Review, completely separate. Follow 'em if you're into, idk, books. xD

NewsieThe New York Review of Books (@nybooks@newsie.social)The New York Review of Books is proud to join Mastodon today to bring you essays and reviews about literature, politics, art, history, philosophy, science, society, and culture. In fact, our April 24 issue is now online, with Fintan O’Toole on Trump’s destructive European policy, Vivian Gornick on City College, Erin Maglaque on sex with Christians, Merve Emre on Tom Wolfe, Peter Singer on morality, Omer Bartov on Israel’s genocide, and much more. https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2025/04/24/?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2025-04-03_04-24-25-Spring-Books-issue-reveal
#books#reading#literature
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.04 — What are some tips and tricks you use to convey strong emotions?

I think this is where my use of Grammar B helps me. Strong emotions, even things like anger, I think are associated with confusion and levels of self-doubt, which leads to cycles of justification or re-evaluation on the fly, quickly, immediately, erratically. or it just might conceivably—or very possibly since MURPHY in all things, right?—get worse, far worse; that type of thing.

The last sentence is a short example of a Grammar B run-on. It is non-grammatical; your high school English teacher would grade it a Fail. What it does is breathlessly fire off thought after thought in a continuing sequence, no sequence dependent on the sequence before. It flows. Like a speech. The reader never needs to backtrack to deduce meaning. Such a construct could be cut into individual sentences, standardized. But. Why? Rhythm of any sort drives the reader forward. It creates tension. All useful when writing emotion. A flood of description to overwhelm the senses, like the emotion itself.

Another construction I think works, usually mixed carefully with the run-on to break repeating rhythms, is telegraphy. I used that in the previous paragraph. Did you. Notice? Short, non-grammatical sentences. Missing a verb, a noun, or what not. It works like a drumbeat, focusing the reader on individual word or unsupported phrase meanings—and you get extra credit if you use a word with multiple meanings that could conceivably apply in context; emotion is confusion, innit?

In a sense, Grammar B is like finding poetry in prose. Used right, it uniquely depicts emotion. This is why I call myself a "prosaist."

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
##writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion #grammar #grammarb

Public
David Brent 📚

Started The Swallows by Lisa Lutz, and I'm already 20% into it and liking it so far. It's like an anti-Dead Poets Society, but where DPS kind of ignored private school cliques, - all the students seemed to mostly get along - Lutz leans in hard and it's far more interesting (don't get me wrong: I ❤️ Dead Poets Society). My main complaint is that the long list of characters - students and teachers - is hard to track in the #audiobook. #Bookstodon #Books #AmReading #FridayReads @bookstodon #Fiction

Cover for The Swallows (A Novel) by Lisa Lutz. New York Times Bestselling Author of The Spellman Files Series Cover is read with white text and a large drawing of a black and white sparrow in flight, holding a pair of cherries by their stems in its beak.
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

#ScribesAndMakers 2504.04 — Can you handle praise well, or do you get embarrassed and play your achievement down? CW: self-analysis

Oddly enough, this devolves to gender roles and the confusion an autistic can discover in any social illogic. As a child, I quickly evolved into a listener, observer, and a pleaser with my shyness providing me an escape route from any confrontative situation—things I worked on (had to!) as I became an adult. Wanting to be an author is not entirely compatible with these personality traits regardless of gender—there is a definite forwardness and egoist nuance to insisting on communicating one's ideas—and I couldn't rely on others to meditate for me.

I got praise growing up, especially when doing well in school. Then again, my mother had me convinced I'd die if I didn't bring home top marks. I mostly got to hide from praise. It's not that I don't, didn't, like it, but I could better process it unobserved and generally make it appropriately and comfortably undeserved. A pleaser can't accept being pleased well!

Yeah, I got help. If you've heard of EST, I did that.

Now my reaction to praise is a Venn diagram of who, what, and where. If it is online, where nobody has to see me physically react, I'm a lot more copacetic with it. In person, it can be uncomfortable. I can still find ways to minimize the input but as I get older I'm better at fairly assessing my abilities. I do remember having this one fan at conventions that would greet me. She really wanted a sequel. Maybe she sensed I was shy, I don't know. But I grew to like her reminder.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

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

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MikeDunnAuthor

Today In Labor History April 4, 1866: Russian revolutionary, Dmitry Karakozov attempted to assassinate Czar Alexander II. He failed and the government executed him. Some believe that Karakozov chose the year 1866, since that was the year in which a character in Chernyshevsky’s “What Is To Be Done?” planned to launch a revolution. In the book, the protagonist, Vera Pavlovna, escapes a controlling family, and an arranged marriage, to start a socialist cooperative and a truly egalitarian romantic partnership. She starts a seamstress commune, with shared living quarters, profit-sharing and an on-site school to further the women’s education. Chernyshevsky wrote the novel in response to Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.” He wrote the book while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul fortress. The book inspired generations of Russian radicals, including the nihilists, anarchists and even many Marxists.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nihilism #anarchism #communism #chernyshevsky #russia #novel #fiction #Revolutionary #commune #socialism #books #fiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Cover of Chernyshevsky's "What is to be done?" with protagonist, Vera Rozalsky, in a yellow dress, and two men in the background.
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Erin Mackey Author

It's reveal day! Sharing the finished book cover for my children's chapter book, Hidden World, which will be released this month!

It turned out fabulous as Kathlyn always does a phenomenal job. Keep watching for the official publication date so you can pick up your copy for the young readers in your life!

#read#reading#write
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Owen Tyme

Chapter 39 of Starwitch is available to read on both #RoyalRoad and #Wattpad.

The chase between Amelia and Bones ends as they reach Marta, who wakes her from her meditative trace and orders Bones to stop. Fortunately, he's confused and thinks Marta is his master.

Together, they rescue rescue Iris, who's still busy giving the Queen a beating.

royalroad.com/fiction/102509/t
wattpad.com/story/386378071-st

Royal RoadThe Book of Newts | Royal RoadHome, safety, and a place to belong – they seem so easy to find, at least for everyone but Amelia Blackwell and her sisters, who run from accusations of witchcraft at every turn. It started so simply, with a book. No one might have predicted that a book apparently filled with pictures of newts might lead to so much trouble, but The Book of Newts is (...)
#author#indieauthor#writing
Replied in thread
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

#ScribesAndMakers ##TTMD @sfwrtr @Nisaa

I see you are coming back from burnout. Any tips on how to avoid it?

I did answer that one so be sure to search the #TTMD hashtag, but my best answer was to ensure you can communicate to someone with your writing, if communicating is what counts for you. Since 2015, I have had a fan fiction outlet that generates feedback and page view to which I can write. However, being able to write replies to all you folk on Mastodon is also good.

I’m excited to see you are publishing your book to Mastodon in chapters. What made you decide to publish it that way?

I found a set of 31 women's rights prompts for March. Since the card was in French, the month name read "Mars." An SF feminist idea popped into my head. I took up the challenge. The result is pretty good (says the author immodestly), likely commercial quality with careful revision after fixing some science mistakes. Sadly, I've burnt my 1st Publication Rights sale by publishing even temporarily online. I'm now busy revising and adding material, and think I can make a go of selling it, probably as a self-pub.

Wanna read the completed story? It should be available for the next week: Mars Needed Women: eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11426181

What’s a question you wish someone would ask you about your work?

How do you think Mars Needs Women does feminist lit differently?

I interpreted your question asking for a question as specifically for the web-novel, but it's applicable to my other works. How? By writing women embracing being female, but neither shamed nor accepting their fate. The story depicts women both as stuck in their role models thanks to their society, and redefining themselves and their roles when they seize the opportunity. The main character has to get married (but she does choose the gorgeous guy!) and has five daughters, but she's avoided the housewife trap on Earth as an engineer on Mars. Women are shown liking sex, nursing their infants in social situations, working on important projects, and convincing their husbands to assist in child care. Because the MC has a temper, she fights back when men in power interfere with the developing women's society. With the help of her daughters who become important side characters in the story, she finds cunning opportunities for the first generation of martian girls, and together they break open the patriarchal power structure that the conditions on Mars is causing to unravel.

PS: Sorry I took so long to answer. I was pretty messed up after the marathon compose, revise, publish grind during which I wasn't sleeping well.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#gender #fiction #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writer #author #photographer #chef #cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

Eldritch CaféRS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist (@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)Attached: 2 images My feminist SF web-novel *Mars Needed Women* is complete! 23,300 words in 31 chapters, one chapter posted each day throughout March, the last posted 23 minutes ago as I write this. Check out the cover art. To read, either use the hashtag #RSMarsNeededWomen or this link to the first chapter: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178 The full novel is in the thread. Just scroll to read. > “A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.” I'll leave it up for you to read for at least a week. After that, I'm revising it for later secondary publication. [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera #writer #author #sf #sciencefiction #scifi #feminism #gender fiction #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon
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Alan Crawford

I am sitting here wondering about my wandering about the internet and if my pursuit of international fame is reasonable. May I ask that you buy the two eBooks in The Story or Two to Tell Collection and let me know? (a third is in the pipeline)
"A Story or Two to Tell" books2read.com/u/4APpek
"More Stories to Tell" books2read.com/u/4A0jyp
#ShortStories #WritingCommunity #Authors #DarkTales #StrangeStories #eBook #Promotion #Fiction #Nonsense

An image of the "A Story or Tow to Tell" cover on a tablet screen
An image of the "More Stories to Tell" cover on a phone screen
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Editors/Réviseurs Canada

Curious about editing horror fiction? Join Molly Cernik on Apr. 10 for an introduction to editing in accordance with the mechanics and themes of this exciting genre. Sign up here: webinars.editors.ca/upcoming_w

Member price: $42 / Non-member price: $70

(Image copyright: megaphone by liravega258 © 123RF.com, laptop/notebook by yupiramos © 123RF.com)

Megaphone, notebook and laptop with Editors Canada logo on its screen, below text "Editors Canada webinar, Thursday, April 10, 1 PM ET. Peeking Through Your Fingers: An Introduction to Editing Horror. Get to know the horror genre’s foundations, mechanics and themes and learn to apply them as an editor"
#Editing#EditingAdvice#EditingTips
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