So how deeply does this person sleep?

When I woke, I looked at my iPhone on its recharging stand. I quickly took a screenshot. Look at the time marker.

This makes a blaring noise when it occurs.

Very?

#BoostingIsSharing and more in #AltText

Here's a little insight into how my creative mind works. As an author, artist, and voiceover artist, I just love to create something special...

"In early 1964, Jean Ziegler, a young Swiss politician, received a phone call from a man claiming to represent Ernesto Che Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary and minister of industry. Che would be in Geneva in March for a UN conference on trade policy, and some comrades had suggested Jean might be his chauffeur during his stay. Was Ziegler available for the gig?

Today, in his tenth decade of life, Ziegler is Switzerland's most notorious public intellectual. That's because over the course of writing about 30 books, serving for close to three decades in the Swiss parliament, and relentlessly crusading for left-wing causes in his free time, Ziegler has made a career of unsparing criticism of his home country, and its outsize influence on the rest of the world.”—Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

‘Here lives the Monster’s Brain’: the Man who Exposed Switzerland’s Dirty Secrets >

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/feb/13/here-lives-the-monsters-brain-the-man-who-exposed-switzerlands-dirty-secrets

Here is another installment of my regular author temperature gauge survey on the use of AI for the author business.

If there were 5 choices, the first would be "Use for nothing at all". If that is your answer, please reply to the survey with that.

@indieauthors #Author #Authors #Writing #Writers #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

I currently use or am willing to use AI for:

Today in Labor History April 14, 1935: The Black Sunday dust storm swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. This was one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl. 4 years later, on this same date, John Steinbeck published his classic working-class novel, The Grapes of Wrath, about Dust Bowl refugees in California.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #dustbowl #GreatDepression #JohnSteinbeck #GrapesOfWrath #refugees #poverty #fiction #books #author #writer #Oklahoma #texas @bookstadon

New Post From The SeerOfSouls Blog

Review: Redragon Galatin Pro K719 Gaming Keyboard With LCD Screen

https://www.seerofsouls.com/review-redragon-galatin-pro-k719-gaming-keyboard-with-lcd-screen/

Associated Mastodon Account: @Cliff

In celebration of 900 followers, I've created a new masthead for my profile. The photo is one I took of Catalina Harbor, showing the town, the Casino, the docks, and a cruise ship.

Thank you everyone for following. I'll work to keep on providing interesting and entertaining writing related content!

#BoostingIsSharing

RIP Mario Vargas Llosa. One of the greatest authors of the 20th century.
In addition to 50+ books, Llosa also wrote for decades on politics and free markets. He was branded as conservative and was in many ways, but also supported LGBTQ rights and reproductive freedoms.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/the-elder-statesman-of-latin-american-literature-and-a-writer-of-our-moment.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

#PennedPossibilities 642 — How old are some of your characters?

I'm glad this isn't just MCs or SCs. I'll go with the last written story point or idea that isn't written.

Devil-girl: ~19
Bolt/Streak: 27
Streak and Thorn: 18
Emeraline: 31
Marigold: 26
Triplets Cloud Dancer, Meadow Dancer, and Fire Dancer: 35
The Hawk: 26
Chrome: 31
Rainy Days: > 3,000

May Ri: 45
Mari: 22
Manette: 19
Twins Miriam and Maurine 17
Moria: 13
Reina Īto: 35
Randy: 55

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

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory #RSMarsNeededWomen
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.14 — International Moment of Laughter Day! What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever written? Read?

Offhand, there was that time were a serious MC came down with singing and dancing mania. It's a real thing, by the way. Look it up. Nevertheless, very embarrassing! If I remember something else, I'll post a part two.

I've read a lot of Terry Pratchett's books. I'd certainly vote him number one. Jack Vance also comes to mind, but heck if I remember why…

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

#WordWeavers 2504.13 — How dangerous is your MC? CW: Definite Background Spoilers.

The Reluctance Series stories MCs by danger score least to most:

• 0: Devil-girl — Give her a book and leave her alone.
• 1: Streak — He's a sweetie. He'll have your back if you are mobbed by bullies. His danger score is multiplied by Thorn's as he's protective of her. He did charm the pants off of Rainy Days, so there's that wild card.
• 2: Thorn Rose — She's capable, just not very antagonistic. Pushed into a corner, watch out. Her danger score is divided by Streak's because she realizes he has more common sense than she does and listens to him when he's around to advise her. She loves him.
• 3: Rainy Days — She's a lot less capable then most people think, but she has experience. Her inclination is to fight for others. First it was family, then it was for women. After millennia of bearing children, all of humanity is related to her—except the dragons. She's very sweet, caring, supportive, and she'll teach you lessons if she thinks you'll benefit from it. You don't want to cross her, however. She's lived through the fall of two civilizations, and ended up being rebuilt from parts at the end of the last fall. She's technologically immortal and always 24 years old.
• 4: Devil-girl — Told you to give her a book and leave her alone, didn't I? Nobody listens! She's very capable (unlike Rainy Days) and self-taught. People keep using her as their sharp tool. She'll try the dangerous, impossible, and taboo things anyway because, Well, that's Interesting! The character was conceived as a study in how evil isn't born but is created through interaction with others and their environment. Each story is, Which side of the knife edge will she tumble? Will she end up saving people or suddenly be so frustrated she ceases to give a damn? Recently she discovered love, and got that used against her—not by her lovers, thank goodness! Well, we'll see.

BTW: Streak and Thorn live 200 years before the Devil-girl. Roughly 1960 vs 2160.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

Hey self-published authors! Did you know you can upload and publish your EPUB or PDF books to Leanpub and start earning up to 80% royalties on your sales in just ten minutes?

Here's a full tutorial:

Getting Started Using Leanpub's Upload Writing Mode to Self-Publish Your Book | Leanpub Help Center https://help.leanpub.com/en/articles/2932466-getting-started-using-leanpub-s-upload-writing-mode-to-self-publish-your-book

I've done a thing! I want my short stories to be read, so I put them on Lulu dot com for download. Enjoy!

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kranz

#Kabuki masks. I think this is a Kitsune, but I'm not sure. Can anyone identify it? Extra points if you can't also identify the anime.

One of the interesting things about watching media from other countries that have a different culture than your own, is sometimes you miss very important cultural references. If this is a fox not a lion or a dog, it has meaning for the anime.

#BoostingIsSharing

RIP Peter Lovesey.

My photo of him from the 2009 Bouchercon.

The Rap Sheet has a wonderful tribute up:

https://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-decent-man-and-one-hell-of-writer.html

@bookstodon #books #bookstodon #crimefiction #novel #author #writer #WritingCommunity #writing

Parachute Landing Fall (PLF) - A critical technique taught to paratroopers to ensure a safe landing and minimize injury upon hitting the ground.

#AmWriting #WritersLife #WritingCommunity #AuthorLife #SciFiWriter #BookLovers #ReadersOfInstagram #IndieAuthor #Bookish #Wordoftheday #WOD #author

(This image was crafted by artificial intelligence (AI) through a subscription service )

Check out Joshua Dyer

Fantasy, Horror

Joshua Dyer writes in several different genres and styles including fantasy, science fiction, horror, and mainstream fiction. Several of his works have won awards in L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future competition. Previously, he wrote for the Los Angeles Times where his fiction won their "Reader's Choice Award" for best story of the year. When he's not writing, Dyer ...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/joshua-dyer/

#AuthorSpotlight #Bookstodon @bookstodon #author

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. Today: Jon McGoran is the author of eleven novels for adults and young adults, including his latest science fiction thriller, The Price of Everything, coming April 2025 from Solaris Books. His other books include the YA science fiction thrillers Spliced,Splintered, and Spiked and the science thrillers Drift, Deadout, and Dust Up. ...

https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/author-spotlight-jon-mcgoran/