Me, when someone tries to keep one of our fellas from being their sweet, nurturing self. 🙃

And... it's live!

Chapters 1&2 of A FERTILE SOURCE OF RUIN, my wartime space opera inspired by Thucydides.

I decided to go a little "extra" and record the first two chapters. That took three hours (recording and editing) due to how noisy my highway is, but I think it'll be worth it in the end if I record as I go.

Going forward, all segments are for Patrons only. ($1 a month, if so inclined!) Enjoy!

#SFF #ScienceFiction #AFSR #CoSoBooks #WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fertile-source-1-106165986

OK, folks. Patreon-posting of A FERTILE SOURCE OF RUIN, a space opera inspired by history, will launch tomorrow.

I'm dropping this here both to lock me into this decision (no take-backs now!), and to start a thread to which I'll add links weekly.

The first two chapters will be free-to-read, and the rest for subscribers only - but this will be great for accountability as I prepare to write Books 2 & 3 in The Dark-Eyed Nebula trilogy.

#SFF #Reading #Novel #AFSR #ScienceFiction #WritersOfCoSo

I don't know who needs some hideous tree babies today, but if that's you, go forth appeased. #Nature

Forget "which of these cat pics fits your mood?" memes. Which one of these squares and rectangles best embodies how you feel this morning?

#ClaimYourQuadrilateral

Finance reporting never ceases to read like it's written by sociopaths.

The core of this piece is sound enough: if the US keeps interest rates high while other major markets are easing, investors will leverage the disparity by investing money borrowed from low-interest countries in the US. This surfeit of external cash will then boost US inflation.

But when you end up writing about job growth as a bad thing because it might keep interest rates high? #YouMightBeTheBadGuy
https://www.businessinsider.com/america-economy-recession-stock-market-crash-inflation-interest-rates-2024-6

Oscar the Green Banana Cockroach

The perfect animal familiar for today's mood. Diving into a night of editing now.

TTFN, stinkers.

#Nature

OH DEAR. THIS POST WAS SET TO SELF-DETONATE 💣 💥 🔥

Ą̷͇̀l̵̩̓̕l̸̩͘ ̸̭̪̈́ť̷̝̍̆h̶̡̛̰̯̏͌a̷͕̞͋̂t̵̩͙͑̈́͝'̵̛̍́ͅͅş̴̬̱͝ ̷̗̊͠l̵͚̕͠ē̸̻͓̐͝f̷̧͙̀̑͝t̶͓̓͊̚ ̶̜̱̓͌́a̴͉͊r̶̡̩͛̀é̵̦̞͕ ̶̮̾ṫ̷̡͈̍ḧ̸̛͍́̊e̴̫̅ş̶̥̰̓e̴̟̪͌͂̇ ̷̞̅͊̚h̷̰͕͈͂e̶̡̹̜̚ŗ̸̗͈̾̇e̴̩̍͐ ̷̪͉̩̀a̵̡̱̐͑͝s̴͎͖̈́h̸͈͌́͜e̴͕̝̐̌ś̶͓̆ͅ.̵̩̉ ̵̱͊͑̀

This one is for @LiseL, on her birthday. 🎂 For those of you who (rightly) mute our daily puzzle pack's adventures, we had a routine a few months back of using the day's 16 words from one game to write little stories and poems.

Using today's words, I've written one just for her.

Thank you, Lise, for your care in so much, for the friendship we've built here, and for the beauty you lend to our hurting world, just by being present with it all. 💛

#Poetry

#CoSoMemes #Humour

🙃 Am I the only one who thinks this would still be better than some of the sources for guidance we turn to today?

Didn't get a chance for my paper yesterday. Catching up now on all the poverty, bombings, and political tonterías (nonsense).

I do love the word "zozobra" something fierce. It's similar to anxiety or uncertainty, but at another level - which is why it comes from the Latin for something below ("sub") rising ("supra"), but with Spanish's preference for dropping terminal consonants giving us our word:

Sub-supra
Zo-zobra (with soft "z"s)

Language is a treat, even if it does bring us rotten news.

Time for a lil' walk before my evening working block. 👌🏻

Quick! Change the title of a movie to make it softer. Examples:

The Good, the Bad, and the "Could Use a Little Foundation"

Apocalypse Soon-ish

Mad Max: Cranky Road

Fibber Fibber

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bath Bomb

🙃 Now you go!

#Economics

Just caught some tough job figures while sourcing something in my post.

Big hugs to my Canadian friends. I have folks back home who've been struggling longterm to find work, but it's so hard in our fairly socially isolated culture not to carry the stress of un- and underemployment as personal failure.

Here in Colombia, most folks know that you can work from dawn to dusk without getting ahead - without it being a moral mark against you. Dura la vuelta, etc.
https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-unemployment-still-climbing-as-population-outpaces-jobs-3x/

Okay. Time to finish that draft.

I really want to get one other task finished before bed, too, but... we'll see how the eyes hold out!

Midday beat to let nihilism have its moment.

There was an era when people had midlife crises, but the age of hitting traditional markers (coming of age, job, marriage, house, kids), then running out steam mid-race is kind of outmoded now.

What I see instead isn't individual decline; it's a larger lost belief in the myths that bind us as a society.

Rough stuff!

But where the social contract has been undone, it can be remade. Has to be.

So we let the nihilism move through us, and begin again.

Super packed day. Newsletter half-finished after some admin tasks for another role, and now on to editing work before two evening classes. But I did step outside briefly, so do enjoy some flutterbies (no sound because the highway is just a constant awful roar).

🦋 #Nature #Colombia

I'm only getting through Outer Range a half episode at a time during breaks, but it is so patient and Josh Brolin's lines are deliciously intense. There's one table prayer early on that's just pitch-perfect in its descent into fury--and then there's the menace and control in the delivery of a line like:

"There are no Fritos in that hole, Karl."

Which few could growl to perfection like Josh Brolin. Don't know where the series is going, but I'm enjoying his gruff masterclass in the role! #CoSoTV

Busy one here today!

I'm going offline for the rest of it, but #Zine crew--don't forget to work on your submissions!

We're looking for happy little scribbles - fictive, poetic, how-to, visual, comic, and more - that lean into the possibility of a kinder present and future for this rotten ol' world.

Shall we aim for June 21 as a cut-off? (Sometimes we need a clear deadline to get that work done, and in!)

Be well & do good crimes!

I don't know if this was done intentionally by the designers, but the creator of this Duolingo reminder succeeds every day in getting me to finish a lesson early, just so I don't have to see this two-faced/no-ass version of Duo, the app's mascot, for at least a few more hours.

WELL PLAYED, DESIGNER.
WELL AND CREEPILY PLAYED.

A recent Bloomberg piece on Pixar's changed strategy of "universal" content isn't just a statement about the studio's decline. It should serve as a reminder for writers, too: publishers may also choose what is "safe" over your richly crafted, heartfelt, and personal tale.

This says nothing about the quality of your work.

Keep pursuing the stories that feel truest to you.

We'll make 'em fit in, somehow. 💪

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Publishing

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-05-30/disney-s-inside-out-2-could-hold-key-to-pixar-restoring-movie-magic