B.C. author's debut novel brings outlaw Belle Jane, head of a cattle thieving ring, to life
Natalie Appleton’s interest in Belle Jane came about when she read an obituary that pointed her in the direction of a history book about southwest Saskatchewan. 
#book #author #novel #history #southwestSaskatchewan #News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/natalie-appleton-i-want-to-die-in-my-boots-1.7513777?cmp=rss

I am a member of #authorsoftheresistance and I invite you to #joinus.

Are you an #author who wants to #resist what's currently going on? Are you interested in #activism? Are you able to post 3 times a week (or more) on your social media platforms about doing something?

authorsoftheresistance.org

Today in Labor History April, 21, 1913: Andre Soudy and Raymond Callemin, members of the anarchist Bonnot Gang, were executed. Callemin had started the individualist paper "L'anarchie" with author and revolutionary Victor Serge. The Bonnot Gang was a band of French anarchists who tried to fund their movement through robberies in 1911-1912. The Bonnot Gang was unique, not only for their politics, but for their innovative use of technology, too. They were among the first to use cars and automatic rifles to help them steal, technology that even the French police were not using. While many of the gang members were sentenced to death, Serge got five years and eventually went on to participate in (and survive) the Barcelona and Soviet uprisings. Later, while living in exile, Serge wrote The Birth of Our Power, Men in Prison, Conquered City, and Memoirs of a Revolutionary.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #illegalism #BonnotGang #Revolutionary #VictorSerge #Revolution #uprising #barcelona #soviet #writer #author #books #fiction #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History April 21, 1910: Mark Twain died. “I have read carefully the treaty of Paris and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem… And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.” During the Boxer Rebellion, he said that "the Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success." From 1901, until his death in 1910, he was vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, which opposed the annexation of the Philippines by the U.S. He was also critical of European imperialists such as Cecil Rhodes and King Leopold II of Belgium, who attempted to establish colonies in African. He also supported the Russian revolutionaries fighting against the Tsar.

Many people have criticized him for his racism. Indeed, schools have banned “Huckleberry Finn.” However, Twain was an adamant supporter of abolition and said that the Emancipation Proclamation “not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also." He also fought for the rights of immigrants, particularly the Chinese. "I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible... but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him." And though his early writings were racist against indigenous peoples, he later wrote that “in colonized lands all over the world, "savages" have always been wronged by "whites" in the most merciless ways, such as "robbery, humiliation, and slow, slow murder, through poverty and the white man's whiskey."

Twain was also an early feminist, who campaigned for women's suffrage. He also wrote in support of unions and the labor movement, especially the Knights of Labor, one of the most important unions of the era. “Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #marktwain #imperialism #racism #feminism #union #literature #fiction #satire #books #writer #author #novels @bookstadon

Chapter 5 of Legacy of Newts is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

The Dead Queen's theft of Junkshop's spell-core gets her ship under control, but the cost is higher than she thinks, because she managed to tick off the gnomes.

General Skurkirt organizes the gnomes for a counter-attack, while Orgic quietly arranges to aid the Blackwell sisters, despite contrary orders.

#PennedPossibilities 649 — What research did you conduct for your WIP, and did you uncover anything surprising or fascinating?

When you are writing 31 chapters in 31 days and posting a chapter a day, having only come up with the idea and character the day before starting, research is a concept dealt with by quick and dirty searches. I did have one interesting factino in my pocket, though. I'd found an article about growing fungus to make building blocks for construction on Mars, and knew the blocks might help repel radiation. Another recent article spoke about inflating a balloon for a habitat. I combined both ideas in the 4th chapter titled Glue. Beyond that, I spent quite a bit of time Googling things about 16 Psyche (an asteroid) and learned that Martian dust is poisonous, and like moon dust, pernicious. Recent NASA tests lofted by a private company to the moon proves that electostatic grids can capture or repel dust. I used that. Much of the rest of the technology I punted on. I realized green minerals on Mars might be rare, so I backtracked on some red-green-black ferric metaphors. Yesterday, I read up on planetary transfer orbits and made changes to the revised novel. I also learned about the Lunar Gateway space station concept, and will revise that concept when I get to revising the relevant chapter.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

This post is to announce to all those who knew about my web-novel Mars Needed Women, who may have boosted or linked to it, that I have deleted the posts from Mastodon. I am heavily into revising it for publication.To prevent 404ing, I've left only the jacket blurb post of March 1st. As best I can remember, that's the only link I gave out. I hope so. I'm tagging hashtags to which I posted links to the novel this one time to prevent confusion. You are welcome to PM me.

#pennedpossibilities #engenderedWriting #writerscoffeeclub #wordweavers #scribesandmakers #writever #writephant

TL;DR

The story was published daily in March 2024 as part of a #Writever challenge, and I completed all 31 chapters one a day using all 31 Women's Rights prompts, managing to complete the last chapter and post it only 20 minutes into April 1st.

The story was definitely beta, with a plot hole and janky science and a few character boo-boos, but I like the result. I have since greatly revised the story and added plenty of material. Writing content daily to fit it into a toot-length that worked out to 750-800 words max forced compromises.

I plan to publish the novel in book form. As such, I have deleted the original free-to-read version. When I've sold or published the novel, I'll be sure to inform all my followers.

If you were part way through the story, PM me.

For you that read it, and for those who favorited chapters, Thank you.

#BoostingIsSharing

#WordWeavers 2504.20 — If someone gave you a million dollars (or equivalent) to never write again, would you take it?

I spent a lifetime scrimping, saving, investing, and being frugal to get to this point. Retirement. Now they offer me a million dollars? Sheesh. Gonna have to make me a better offer to stop me from doing what I like to do. [Sticks out tongue, makes raspberry.]

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

#BoostingIsSharing

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

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.20 — What rôle does religion play in your writing?

Religiosity is important in many of my stories, even when it is as prominent as vacuum by its absence. Usually, I don't write in the point of view of the religious, but I did write an SF novel in the point of view of a shaman. I'd lived in Bali for awhile, and having studied the culture and theatre of the island during college, felt I had a feel for animism. At university, I studied religions and non-western cultures as part of my degree, as well as folklore and mythology. I find it fascinating. At least as far as my writing goes my degree has proved useful.

More often I write about how people wield religion to abuse society. My latest novel (now in revision) pits a fictional religion and a theocratic plutocracy (where our world is headed) against one woman's quest for freedom. It is the background main antagonist. For the people in the other WIP, the concept of a supernatural or the divine is absurd; they don't even have words for it in their vocabulary. Nevertheless, the MCs are destined to face people who bear unusual ideas about how reality actually functions, who might react badly when upon meeting a woman with bull horns and a man with ruby-edged white feathered wings.

[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

We're recording this next Monday morning (in about a week from this post being published). I'm excited and have already gone through Peter's list of questions working out my replies.
#writinglife #books #author #authorinterview

On this Easter Sunday, I am quiet with rage. Why? Look around.

https://philredbeard.com/2025/04/20/a-quiet-rage/

I have now published my "unholy" trilogy in it's entirety on Amazon(two are still in review though) in about 24 hours, I couldn't be more proud, as the ebooks turned out beautifully feel free to check them out:

https://amazon.com/author/akk-the-greatest

0 =

He is risen
Happy Easter

This Easter, I invite you to reflect on resurrection not just as a moment in history, but as a living invitation. What if this Holy Day isn’t just about what happened then, but what we are called to do now—to regenerate?

“Growing academic research shows that our spiritual connection with the natural world is essential… If you’ve felt overwhelmed by climate change or grief for the world we’re losing, that sorrow comes from your connection.”

You are not alone in that sorrow. You are awakening.

"'We become immense,' writes Francis Weller. And from that immensity, we can build something new."

This is Easton’s moment. And maybe yours too.

I wrote this reflection for The Cultural Easton: “Easton’s Regenerative Awakening”

If this resonates, I’d be honored if you shared it.

https://theculturaleaston.com/2025/04/20/eastons-regenerative-awakening/

#connecticut #RegenerativeCulture #Easter #Catholic #LaudatoSi #ClimateChange #polycrisis #sytemchangenotclimatechange #XR #ExtinctionRebellion #Connection #Author #IndependentPublishing #Regen #Awake

Just a quick update this Easter Sunday from my author page on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/quick-update-on-127072408?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

New material such as chapter scenes, character descriptions, and location details are being posted regularly: Lavishly Entangled Words of Enlightenment, the Patreon page of an aspiring author.

https://www.patreon.com/LavishlyEntangledWordsofEnlightenment

The Depression Handbook for Writers: A Simple and Practical Advice Guide
#depression #writers #author
https://donutsdesires.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-depression-handbook-for-writers.html

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.

Today: Vonnie Winslow Crist is author of Beneath Raven’s Wing, Dragon Rain, The Enchanted Dagger, Owl Light, The Greener Forest, the “Shivers, Scares” series, and other award-winning books. Her writing appears in Asimov’s ...

https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/author-spotlight-vonnie-winslow-crist/

#PennedPossibilities 648 — MC POV: Tell us about your home.

[Streak:] I live in an apartment building near the edge of the better part of town. It's remarkable for being in a neighborhood populated by day angels because it's not a village tree nor built into a hill, but a conventional building. I live there with my sisters and my mother, and I'm the middle child. My room is little better than a small pantry or a large closet, but I'm happy for it. My sisters hate me because I had to raise them and set rules (long story), so I'm thankful for a window I can fly in and out of, a black lacquer floor desk, where I keep my books, and a place to unroll a sleeping mat. Baskets and hampers hold my things. You would call the place a boarding house where you live. The apartment is only three bed rooms and a kitchen. The rain room (showers) are on the shared entry floor at the end of the hall, opposite the entry with the post boxes, next to the squats. Both utility rooms are unisex, so you'd better knock before entering.

[Thorn:] I'm a daemon, but live in what many consider a bad neighborhood populated by day angels. It's a village tree house my mother bought because she feels safer there than amongst people who look like us but refuse to accept us as their equals. Our entire nest is called an aerie, and it once belonged to a famous day angel who rebelled against the government a century and a half ago. It requires us to climb ladders to enter it and to levitate provisions to stock it.

My room is a chamber grown from a flattened lateral branch, in a crotch between an auxiliary trunk and uprights. The floor slopes upward and my bedstead is in a hammock across what amounts to a raised dias. I've a nightstand that is a cut-off stump. It's opposite from the casement windows installed at the lower end of the space. I'm thankful for the door like crank windows because they're convenient for when Streak comes to visit—when Mother isn't home, obviously! They provide light despite the tree's heavy canopy, and are enough that foliage forms an interior ceiling and I can culture moss and lichen as carpeting so I don't have to wear slippers to protect my feet from the bark. Smaller windows with rainbow-stained wedged rock glass also provide light to fill in shadowy corners during day light, and can be tilted to encourage convective circulation.

My desk is a form of wood ear mushroom, the top of which is polished to a glassy sheen. The shelves scattered up and down the walls for my hundreds of books are a combination of the same myco-archeculture and woven smaller branches.

I've hung posters by red ribbons, so as not to hurt the living tree, including a grand one Mother bought me of an exploded diagram of the structure of the crystal spheres. After our adventures with Rainy Days, I've also hung enlargements of pictures the woman gave us of her and Streak, though I know he finds them embarrassing. I can't help but admire my boyfriend's best attributes.

[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

I'm 35,000 words (out of almost 105k) into the editing on #WhereNightmaresWalk. I won't get as much done tomorrow, but I'll be done soon. If you have a beta copy with an expired link, let me know. Cover Art coming soon! #BookSky #WritingCommunity #Author