sciencefiction

17d

Fresh newsletter incoming in one week! What pots am I stirring in this month's mini-essay? Check out the archive to see if you'd like to find out, then sign up for a free sci-fi ebook and a monthly missive from Yours Truly!

https://www.books.xaurielzwaan.ca/NewsletterArchive

#ScienceFiction #SciFi #AmWriting

NewsletterArchive

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15d

I've finished: Welcome to The Deep Estate by Kevin Kane

If you like John Dies at the End, you'll probably like The Deep Estate.

It plays with a similar mix of horror, humor and teenage mischief.

The Audiobook narrator: Christopher Harbour, won the 2026 Narrator of Distinction Award from: The Professional Audiobook Narrators Association for his work on this novel.

https://pronarrators.org/christopher-harbour-2026/

Note that this is definitely part of at least a duology.

For Audible members, at least at this time, the first part is in the Plus catalogue.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/95456d44-3d72-4236-ae1a-0f25d4321f42

@bookstodon @audiofiction #ScienceFiction #humor #horror #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks

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15d

Chapter 33 of The Book of Newts: Witchhome is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

Iris meets with Aldis Lionrock, in front of a crowd of his supporters, to address the matter of River being a blood witch, hoping to put the matter to rest. Unfortunately, they scream all sorts of awful things at her as she approaches...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #actionadventure #fiction #webseries

the-book-of-newts

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12d

My space-opera novella, “The Warrior Within”, is on sale today for just $0.99 at Kobo and Amazon.

Contains 100% of your recommended daily intake of:

- homicidal mercenaries
- posthuman aristocrats
- nomadic scavengers
- enigmatic ruins
- tidally-locked planets
- colossal devices
- disembodied voices

and other essential nutrients.

#SpaceOpera #ebooks #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF #adventure

A book cover, showing a futuristic city in a desert. The title “The Warrior Within” is written in large white letters over the image, underneath the name of the author. At the bottom right, a smaller text reads “Craftsman. Diplomat. Killer. Karsman contains them all.”

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14d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/StoneProphet

Nicole seeks to collect the missing fragments of the magical city of Kurg from her home world, but the remaining pieces were deactivated and are hard to find. Luckily, she just found the first piece of the Seventh Sage, an ancient stone man that knows the future, which she hopes knows where to find them.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Stone Prophet, by Owen Tyme.

At the center is a hexagonal coin with a golden appearance,. That bears a watercolor painting of a woman's face, which drips paint as if it were fresh.

Following the edges of the coin, the background is divided by a spiral of black lines into six images representing vital pieces of the titular stone prophet.

Upper right is an attractive woman with blue eyes and blond hair that's almost white. She stands in place of Memory.

Right is an eye with a blue iris surrounded by blue skin and golden decorations, representing Vision.

Lower right is a hooded woman in darkness, partially illuminated by a purple triangle that magically restrains her. She is Skill.

Lower left is a heart made of and resting in blue sand, with yellow light inside. That shines through cracks, hinting at fragility. This is Emotion.

Left is a gray sphere covered in black zeros and ones. More zeros and ones lay over the top, in blurred white. This is Reason.

Upper Left is a brass statue of justice, wearing a robe and blindfold. She holds a sword and scales. Behind her are the stars of space. This is Heart.

(Right) The same attractive woman from the upper right section of the cover, looking right at the viewer. The following quote frames her face, above and below:

“Does the Leader make the hard choices, or do the hard choices make the Leader?”

“Will she do what must be done, for the good of all?”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/StoneProphet

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14d

📚 This Inevitable Ruin by: Matt Dinniman

IT'S TIME FOR WAR, FOLKS.

The ninth floor. Faction Wars.

Nine armies enter, led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy.

The winning team must capture and hold the castle at the very centre of the battlefield.

But thanks to Carl, Donut, and Katia, thi...

https://bookblabla.com/book/this-inevitable-ruin

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #generalfiction #fantasy #sciencefiction #humorousfiction

IT'S TIME FOR WAR, FOLKS.

The ninth floor. Faction Wars.

Nine armies enter, led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy.

The winning team must capture and hold the castle at the very centre of the battlefield.

But thanks to Carl, Donut, and Katia, this season is different.

For the first time ever, the crawlers have their own army. The NPCs, who are normally used as nothing but cannon fodder, have become fully self-aware and have formed an unprecedented team of their own.

And it's not just the crawlers who are at risk this Faction Wars. Any combatant who dies on the battlefield stays in the ground.

For Donut and Katia, the stakes are even higher. No matter who wins the war, only one of them will be allowed to leave this level.

If they all want to survive, they're going to need a little help.

This is it.

This is what they've been fighting toward. This is war.

---
Praise for Dungeon Crawler Carl

The seventh explosive installment in Matt Dinniman's best selling LitRPG series and all's unfair in love and war ...

"Dungeon Crawler Carl is legit awesome" #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson

Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, betrayal . . . It all makes for great fun and even greater television.

'Fresh. Creative. Hilarious. I'm obsessed...Princess Donut is my queen' Actor, producer and New York Times bestselling author Felicia Day.

'I don't always say nice things about a book just

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13d

Chapter 34 of The Book of Newts: Witchhome is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

Iris shares a warning of the future death of Uthec and her child during childbirth, to help avoid those events and briefly meets Bumraura, the goddess of the mind and self evident, beautiful truth, who wears a surprising black robe and mask...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #actionadventure #fiction #webseries

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12d

Saskatchewan Screams Again is now available on Amazon! This one has more than a bit of sci-horror, as well as cozy horror if that's your jam. 16 chilling tales from the Land of the Living Skies, just in time for spooky season!

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1069690546

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #Horror #SciHorror #CozyHorror #Saskatchewan

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14d

Behold my awesome story collection. It has a little bit of everything, if everything is defined as fantasy AND science fiction. Lots of whimsy, dark & crispy around the edges. Fully endorsed by Gandalf the Grey Cat.

kindle (DRM free)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJWQRWGY

https://books2read.com/relicsfromatravelingshow

*also on bookshop.org, Hoopla, Overdrive & Biblioboard. Or ask your local library to purchase it in print!

#books #fantasy #ScienceFiction #bookpromo #IndieAuthor #MagicAcademia #Elves #Wizards #Monsters

Fluffy grey kitten lying on his back on a blue blanket in a “paint me like one of your French girls” pose. A paperback book Press on the blanket behind his right shoulder.The book is titled Relics From A Traveling Show and the front cover illustration shows a wizard sitting at a desk next to a bookcase.

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11d

Chapter 35 of The Book of Newts: Witchhome is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

Denholm struggles to get the situation in the street under control, using her magic to herd protesters toward watchmen, while also trying a bone transduction spell, in desperation, to reach River!

She's quite surprised when the spell actually works...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #actionadventure #fiction #webseries

the-book-of-newts

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32d

Ok #Asmiov nerds, help me out:

Can I watch #Foundation, or do I need to read it first?

My only other exposure to Asmiov was the Robot Trilogy, which I loved in High School.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction

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9d

THE SUMMER QUEEN (1990)
Acrylic on Panel - 36” x 24”

I was glad to learn that Joan Vinge was writing a sequel to The Snow Queen, and even more so when I got a call from Warner Books for the cover assignment. 1/7

#sciencefiction #illustration #joandvinge #warnerbooks

A woman in ornate headdress and leafy yellow cloak holds out two glass vials. One is accented in black with a skull decorating the slender handle of the stopper. The other vial is decorated with a gold swirl leading to a Celtic shield knot. Her young face is covered by a mask of pointy yellow leaves with a gold and green border framing her blue eyes. A motley pattern of butterfly wings peeks out underneath; a purple butterfly is centered above her forehead. Bells hang from her ear which is covered by a single pink rose. A hint of white hair mixes with beaded necklaces covering her neck. Wild grass sweeps off the top of the mask. The tall headdress is laden with symbols. Central among them is a sun with a stylized biohazard symbol at its center.

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10d

Naomi Mitchison (née Haldane, 1897–1999) was born #OTD, 1 Nov, & saw almost every day of the #20thcentury. A hugely influential writer, with 80+ books—poetry, politics, historical novels, #ScienceFiction, #Fantasy, #ChildrensLiterature & more—to her credit.

A 🎂🧵

“She liked to challenge, she liked to shock, she liked to deliver the unexpected, she liked to experiment”

—Jenni Calder on Mitchison’s life & work

1/12

https://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/09/25/naomi-mitchison/

#Scottish #literature #womenwriters

A sepia-tinted monochrome photo of Naomi Mitchison, c. 1925. A young woman looks directly at the camera, leaning forward slightly. Her long dark hair is parted down the middle, and tied behind her head. Her gaze is steady and appraising.

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50d

Fresh newsletter incoming in one week! What does Revolutionary Year CCXXXV hold for us? I'm just as eager to find out as you are... Check out the archives to sample past essays, then subscribe for a free ebook!

https://www.books.xaurielzwaan.ca/NewsletterArchive

#AmWriting #ScienceFiction #SciFi

NewsletterArchive

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10d

📚 Red Rising by: Pierce Brown

I live for the dream that my children will be born free, she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.
I live for you, I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. Then you must live for more.

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded...

https://bookblabla.com/book/red-rising

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #sciencefiction #dystopianfiction #actionadventure

I live for the dream that my children will be born free, she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.
I live for you, I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. Then you must live for more.

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Praise for Red Rising

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hu

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33d

Ebook: https://books2read.com/RowleysRide

The space pirate, Captain Edwina “Roaring” Rowley wakes in the vacuum of space, in orbit of the old harvest moon, Cakana, despite the fact her body is literally frozen stiff. She’s utterly confused by the fact Nuva, the goddess of death, didn’t come for her soul.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

$The cover of Rowley's Ride, by Owen Tyme. The central image is a ghostly electric guitar composed mostly of blue and white light, with a metal plate covering a fair bit of the main body. The guitar has a bright and shiny aura, almost like electricity, though the non-metallic portions are transparent. The background is a fractal arrangement of stained-glass panels, in various shades of red.$

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8d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TheThirdWish
Series Ebook omnibus: https://books2read.com/TheWizardsScion

Spies, aliens, trolls, wizards and a disowned prince try to change history, but Levi Jacobs stands in their way, despite having just lost his parents in war. Will he stop them or will they kill his father at a pivotal moment, on which the fate of the galaxy hangs?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of The Third Wish, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

A wizard in a black robe that glitters with hints of gold stands on a mountain and looks down at a city of sky scrapers covered in greenery. In his shadow lurks a creature with glowing red eyes.

In the background, the sun is setting and stars are becoming visible.

(Right Background) Four images separated by black lines, with the silhouette of a woman wielding two swords laid over them. She's outlined in black and her interior is yellow clock-based imagery that spirals outward from the center.

The upper left quarter is a queen in a red, furred robe, wearing a gold and diamond crown. She has dark eyebrows and blond hair.

Upper right is a planet seen from orbit.

Lower left is a symbolic wire frame representation of the view inside a wormhole, in green and yellow.

Lower right is dandelions among grass.

The angle of the planet, one of the woman's swords, the yellow highlights of the wormhole and some of the dandelions form a line that draws the eye along a sweeping curve.

(Right Foreground) The following quote:

He admired the flawless beauty of the insane swordswoman’s fluid movements as Ida took desperate step after step, backwards!

He felt waves of mental energy pour off the panic-stricken troll, but the energy bounced right off of Nicole’s mind, as though she’d shut herself inside a solid, red-hot, steel box of rage!

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheThirdWish

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33d

This week's net.wars, "What's in a name", goes to see Alan Ayckbourn's latest play, The Trial of Romeo Oscar, in which a robot is tried for murder: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/10/09/whats-in-a-name/ #NetWars #robots #scienceFiction

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33d

ARKADY (1985)
Acrylic on Canvas - 32” x 20”

Having passed through terrible destruction, the former hub of the Galaxy in Isaac Asimov's classic opus is now a pastoral world. 1/5

#sciencefiction #illustration #isaacasimov #foundation #delreybooks

With a leather bag over her shoulder, a young woman with red hair stands on a metal platform set against a pastoral backdrop and blue skies. She wears an olive green jacket and striped shorts with yellow tights. Caught mid-step, she turns her head toward the audience. The angle of her legs are a mirror of the twisted metal of decaying towers that collapse into each other.

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6d

Chapter 37 of The Book of Newts: Witchhome is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

The Grand Vizier, Ixium Mildshine, comes to personally investigate the accusations that hang over Amerlia's head. At the conclusion of his investigation, he presents her with a sealed envelope from the King...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #actionadventure #fiction #webseries

the-book-of-newts

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6d

A Review of Deal’s Worth: https://lydiaschoch.com/a-review-of-deals-worth/

#ScienceFiction #Books #BookReview #Fantasy

Book cover for Deal’s Worth by Jeffrey Robin Palin Jr. The cover is a graphic-novel style drawing of a young black man whose hair is neatly braided back on his skull. He’s wearing a black shirt and looking to the side as if there’s something disturbing him over there.

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7d

KUTATH (1980)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 27” x 16”

One of the hallmarks of C.J. Cherryh’s writing is her intricate worldbuilding and detailed portrayal of extraterrestrial races. 1/3

#sciencefiction #illustration #cjcherryh #fadedsun #dawbooks

In long black robes with faces covered, a trio of men wielding katanas look out at the desert as a globe-shaped spacecraft blasts off. In the background left, a robed figure in silhouette stands atop a rocky spire as if conducting. Other figures migrate across the burning sand below to where dunes peak.

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4d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TheInvertedGlass
Series Ebook omnibus: https://books2read.com/TheWizardsScion

After the death of his wife and child, destruction of his home world, an addiction forced on him by the one responsible and a third of the galaxy falling under the heel of that tyrant, Levi Jacobs, a wizard, seeks to unravel the secrets of time and fate.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of The Inverted Glass, by Owen Tyme.

The Background is a pink and purple nebula in space.

The foreground is largely line art, in white, with a black shadow outline.

At the center is an hourglass. The bottom has black sand, with a white figure standing in it. The top has is an inverted mirror image of the bottom, with a black figure in white sand.

The hourglass serves as the balance point for a set of scales, which hold a heart and a feather. The heart is on the left and the feather on the right. The heart is lower than the feather.

(Right) Lying in blue sand is a heart made of the same sand, full of cracks. It glows from the inside in a warm, yellow color. Over that is the following quote:

Nicole felt an extreme kind of loss, realizing she’d been stolen away from the afterlife, just before finding out if she deserved punishment or not!

“How dare you do this to me? Why?”

“I’m always in need of strong spirits and I’ve seen none stronger. You have unique talents I refuse to see go to waste.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheInvertedGlass

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6d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TymeDarkMoon
Series Ebook omnibus: https://books2read.com/TheWizardsScion

On a world thought to have no moon, its sudden appearance inspires wonder and terror. Research links the full moon and catastrophe, revealing the existence of ‘Harbingers of Doom’, creatures that harvest souls. Can everyone survive or will they be reaped like wheat?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of dark moon, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

In the foreground, a redheaded witch and a dark haired wizard fight back to back, holding some rather large pistols. The witch is in a black dress and the wizard is in a black robe with golden decorations. Both looked a bit purple, due to the lighting. The witch's hair blows on the wind and she wears a necklace of bone beads.

Behind them, there's dust, mist and fog lit by twilight as a moon rises, framing their heads. Objects that look like shooting stars fall from the moon and there's a few visible impacts.

(Right) A white moon, on a background of the stars of space, with the following quote over the top of it:

“Idiot! You’ve likely killed us both, leaving us stuck out in the open like this.”

“We’ve got incoming. I know you’re angry and I suppose you’ve got every right to be, but we need to defend ourselves.”

“ ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’, for now, and then we decide what to do about the conflict between us.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TymeDarkMoon

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39d

Chapter 23 of The Book of Newts: Witchhome is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102509/the-book-of-newts

Iris and Marta's beastly personality face the rebel soldiers together, and they battle with brutal efficiency, a circumstance that draws the worse memories out of Iris, triggering a bout of PTSD...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #actionadventure #fiction #webseries

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