Eggplant.place

176d

Chapter 42 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Umak hand-delivers a wax stamped and sealed letter from Kazic, which Nicole is quite excited to read, because it's a formal invitation to some mysterious event...

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

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1y

My favorite reads of 2025 (so far.)

Follow the authors:
@aptshadow
@garethlpowell
@DSLaLonde
@stevestred

See my reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/71384024-michael-shotter

@bookstodon @specfic @scifi @horrorbooks

#books #reading #bookrec #bookrecs #bookreview #bookreviews #whattoread #booksofmastodon #readersofmastodon #bookstodon #booktodon #book #specfic #scifi #horror #speculativefiction

Michael Shotter's favorite reads of 2025 (so far.) See Goodreads link in post for details.

ALT

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233d

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

Spies, aliens, trolls, wizards and a disowned prince use a time machine, to improve their place in history, but Levi Jacobs stands in their way, despite having just lost his parents in war. Will he stop them or will the time travelers 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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203d

Did you miss the #StarTrek Lates at the Science Museum yesterday?
Or maybe you were there and got caught up in all the cool events, so you missed Ready Singer One (the UK's nerdiest choir)?

Never fear!
A playlist is here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhMQGIHtptywhBxsr-3HDiHG1oyPIkql&si=NiF-ok6RV88Erjg6
By one of our choristers in attendance. 🖖

#SciFi #singing #London #liveMusic #TVmusic #MontyPython #Klingon #Enterprise #ToS #StrangeNewWorlds #choralMusic #choralSinging

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213d

Chapter 26 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Having enjoyed fighting Ustrina, because the event reminded her of being young again, Eden asks Nicole to take her on one of her upcoming missions, that they might share an adventure...

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

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160d

Chapter 49 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Having lost her temper, Nicole attacks Koko, who calls for help from the Queen of Queens...

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

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214d

This week on Big Picture Science, science fiction author Andy Weir discusses his space-travelling tale, Project Hail Mary, from its description of interstellar flight to aliens that thrive in extreme environments - including the sun.

Listen here: https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-project-hail-mary

#science #podcast #scifi

Screen capture of a moment in the film Project Hail Mary, where lead character Ryland Grace floats above his spacecraft, wearing a spacesuit, in front of a Jupiter like planet full of swirling storms. The planet is mostly green with a few redder areas.

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198d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TymeStarwitch
Audiobook: https://owentyme.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-newts-starwitch

The undead queen of the space pirates kidnapped Amelia’s sisters and damaged her ship, leaving her with little fuel. Amelia’s a dead woman without her sisters, forced to attack the pirate’s mountain-sized star ship, despite how slim the odds are…

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

(Left) The cover of Starwitch, by Owen Tyme.

In the background is a red, orange and white nebula.

In the foreground is a line drawing of a red spotted newt, in white. The lines of the newt are outlined in black, to help it stand out. The interior is red, with an appearance similar to stained glass.

(Right) In the background is a red and orange galaxy, with a blue core, which bears a resemblance to an eye. It has the following text over it:

“First you turn my dog against me, then you steal my ship’s core? What’s next, pulling my teeth?”

“We didn’t ask for this! You attacked us! Why don’t you just let us go?”

“I might as well cover myself in tartar sauce, then go swimming in shark infested waters! My lieutenants would tear me to shreds, just the same!”

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

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150d

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

Spies, aliens, trolls, wizards and a disowned prince use a time machine, to improve their place in history, but Levi Jacobs stands in their way, despite having just lost his parents in war. Will he stop them or will the time travelers 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

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226d

25% off @ Smashwrods: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1657116

After encountering the worst life has to offer, including 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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201d

Latest #blog is on #ProjectHailMary . It took me about a week to write because that thing happened where I really liked the movie in the theatre, yet when thinking about it afterwards I had more and more issues with it.

Anyway, I still liked it, but you do have to be willing to engage with it to enjoy it.

Plus, it's just time to move away from stories about a single white man coming to save us.

#movies #scifi #sf #review

https://write.as/the-casual-critic/project-hail-mary-friendship-rocks

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225d

Wow, #StarTrek #StarfleetAcademy S1 E09 was unexpected. I've always imagined ***** and I'm happy to see it in this episode. ***** STO or the Relaunch series?#TV #SciFi

Skyblur

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225d

Wow, #StarTrek #StarfleetAcademy S1 E09 was unexpected. I've always imagined ***** and I'm happy to see it in this episode. ***** STO or the Relaunch series?

https://skyblur.uk/post/did:plc:bpotnohnlgcj3fbmp7ugx4en/3mgdlhtv4ycmv

#TV #SciFi

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209d

Anyone else old enough to remember Short Circuit? A 1986 family comedy about a military drone turned into a mechanised hipster by a lightening strike, Frankenstein style. The 1988 follow-up was one of those rare sequels that's as good as the original, if not better.

In hindight, Neill Blomkamp's Chappy (2015) borrows as heavily from Short Circuit as it does from the Robocop franchise. Both are coming of age stories for sentient robots.

(1/2)

#movies #comedy #SciFi #ShortCircuit #Chappy

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57d

Platform Decay. Martha Wells. (Book ~342 of a series)

You are a newishly self-aware security android who’d rather be watching TV, instead, you must rescue hapless humans from a corporate controlled ginormous space station; pretty much your average day.

3 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 .

@bookstodon #bookstodon #books #reading #scifi #androids

Book cover featuring an android floating near an airlock

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224d

So I figured out editing the universal book link so here is a URL with all stores where my new novella is listed for pre-order. https://books2read.com/blossoming

It's about a 70yr old woman, probably autistic, who accepts to coordinate the defense committee of her decentralized country, a seemingly easy job responding to climate disasters, until a colonizer invades to steal the tech that makes their nation a #solarpunk utopia.

Read a sample: https://www.ododopress.com/novellas/the-blossoming-of-the-big-tree/

#books #bookstodon #sff #scifi

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220d

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

The undead witch that rules the space pirates, known as the Dead Queen, has finally been defeated. That only makes it worse for the witches that pulled it off. She’s livid and coming for them, at least once she gets her star ship back under control…

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

(Left) The cover of Legacy of Newts, by Owen Tyme.

In the background dawn, as seen from space, above a blue world.

In the foreground is a line drawing of a red spotted newt, in white. The lines of the newt are outlined in black, to help it stand out. The interior of the line drawing has been filled with the image of a spiral galaxy in red, orange and yellow, with a blue color that shades to white at the center, which lines up with the newt's head. The galaxy almost looks like fire.

(Right) The background is a blue and orange nebula, with the following text over it:

“You gotta be real strong, real bright, real quick, or real lucky to survive drawing *attention*. Which are you?”

“I’m quick, Amelia is bright, Marta is strong and all three of us have been lucky, after a fashion: if we didn’t have bad luck, then I suppose we wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

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

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213d

Know what's better than one book? Two! Or in the case of the Space Rogues series, ten!
One minute they're saving the entire commonwealth, the next they're helping a drunk space wizard. And so much more!

https://johnwilker.com/series/space-rogues/

#scifibooks #scifi #bookstodon
@bookstodon @scifi @reading

Space rogues books 1 and 2 as paperbacks on a desk with a laptop, succulent, pair of hipster glasses and cup of black coffee. The succulent looks fake.

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223d

Currently on BBC Sounds: THE STATE OF THE ART by Iain M. Banks

In 1977, the Culture starship GCU ARBITRARY discovers Earth: a primitive society on the edge of self-destruction.

When Contact agent Dervley Linter decides to go native, can Diziet Sma change his mind?

@bookstodon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz

#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #scifi #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #audiobook

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211d

Chapter 27 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Aurora meets with Kontoti again, while the two of them sit on the edge of volcanic caldera, with a lake in the bottom.

They watch a human woman being run down by wolves, who barely makes it into the valley, but just as the wolves leap for the kill, she asks for help...

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

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222d

So this #solarpunksunday you can get an advance readers copy of my new novella, The Blossoming of the Big Tree, on BookSirens. It's the story of an old woman who has to organize the defense of her decentralized nation when a colonizer invades, to steal a technology that makes her national a solarpunk utopia. Here is the link https://booksirens.com/author/K5YAEKD/KZWYELM

#writing #writingcommunity #sff #scifi #solarpunk

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150d

Science fiction has failed us.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #prediction #future

The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.

Frank Herbert

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209d

Chapter 28 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Kazic visits Nicole's birth mother, Lyra, because he wants to ask permission to seek Nicole's hand in marriage.

Lyra is overcome with joy and he asks her advice on the right approach to proposing...

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

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213d

It's been a while since I've done a #review of a #tv series, and it's my first #starwars related one, about Season 2 of Andor.

It took me a long time to write. I found Andor genuinely very good. But maybe because of that, I was disappointed by its narrow view of agency in a hostile world. Though there is only so much any Star Wars product can do, given the constraints of the source material.

Anyway, in-depth #blog here: https://write.as/the-casual-critic/andor-season-2-the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-warp

#SF #scifi

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209d

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

Zechariah Jacobs has angered a vast empire that spans a third of the galaxy, which is far too much for his planet to stand against, but in a clash of wizards and magic versus technology, it’s hard to say which will win.

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

(Left) The cover of Wrath of the Sky, by Owen Tyme.

On a black background, a planet much like earth burns, set aflame. The flames are on the top and sides, but haven't yet reached the bottom.

(Right) An ogre stands on a rocky cliffside path, clearly quite upset, with both his head and arms raised as he cries out! The background is blue sky with white clouds. The following quote is laid over the top of the scene:

Winzon grinned evilly. With great slowness and ceremony, he undid the draw-string of his sack and up-ended it, dropping an ogre skull at the brute’s feet!

The massive ogre’s entire demeanor changed in an instant! He backed away, carefully stepping out of reach of Winzon’s ax, even though it was still strapped to his back!

The brute whispered, “Ogre-slayer!”

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

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