I made these. 😊

Well, a press made the copies.
And the cover art is stock media under Free Content license.

But I wrote, revised, & designed the cover for this book I can't even hold yet!

🙃 At least I'm told the ARCs look good.

May 4! #ChildrenOfDoro

#Indie #SFF #SciFi #Humanism #Books #Publishing #IndiePublishing #WritingCommunity #WritersOfCoSo

https://www.amazon.com/Children-Doro-M-L-Clark-ebook/dp/B0BZ11RXG4

"Humanitarian aid ‘impossible’ as fighting in Sudan traps millions"

This is always my nightmare news headline. Strife happens, but when we can no longer directly intervene with aid? That's when a whole other level of terror descends.

Médecins Sans Frontières still seems to have a local site in operation for now. Please support them and look for other groups aiding those in flight.

#News #Sudan #International #Humanism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/humanitarian-aid-impossible-as-fighting-in-sudan-traps-millions

😊 CoSo! #Newsletter time!

I'd delayed posting until I had my ARCs up for Children of Doro. (Link within, at the bottom! Have at 'em, loves!)

In this week's piece, an Asimov story from 1958 helps us reflect on how far we haven't come, because we're *still* a regional species with grand dreams of global reach.

What would it take for us to dream up a way of writing and creating that could *actually* bring in the world? ⬇️

#BetterWorldsTheory #SFF #Publishing #Indie https://mlclark.substack.com/p/in-search-of-a-better-way-to-write

You know, I love teaching, I do. But when I wake up to class cancellations a part of me just gets giddy because that means more fiction-writing time. :)

Today I'm going to tackle a novella with an end-of-month deadline, for submission to Psychopomp, the new press wing of The Deadlands, which is looking for speculative novellas on themes of death.

Happy Tuesday, CoSo!
Happy writing/creating, if you get to, too!

For press-tier patrons only, three peeks at upcoming #BookTube material:

1. A piece on worldbuilding, using the canon I created for Children of Doro.

2. An episode on histories of speculative lit & political philosophy, & how commercial SFF made a right mess of our literary conversation.

And...

3. One on Star Trek as an obvious influence, too. 🖖🙃

So much to chat about!

All will be public in time - but first, I wanted to thank a few supporters. Night, all. 💛

#SFF
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sneak-peeks-next-81568423

Real storm a-coming~! 🤩
Where my thundernuts at?

It is not easy to snap a sunshower, but it happened and it was beautiful.

Oh wise and brilliant CoSo:

Does anyone know of (or is anyone here working on) just such a research system for local school board elections? I'd love to direct this commenter to a resource if it exists.

@researchbuzz, any thoughts?

🕊️ A wee news brief today for #OnlySky - and in it, a tale of two court cases: the messy religious discrimination case that SCOTUS chose to review on Tuesday, and the case for sitting with those in prison (solitary confinement review) that it denied today.

What do SCOTUS priorities tell us about the coming US struggle? What can be done to advocate for carceral reform?

#Humanism #politics #SCOTUS https://onlysky.media/mclark/supreme-court-picks-religious-case-passes-on-solitary-confinement/

Morning, CoSo! 💫
Happy Monday.

Today for #BookTube I share connections between The Brothers Karamazov & Children of Doro (out May 4): two works of philosophical fiction, only one of which takes place on Earth. 🙃

Patrons will have access to three other sneak-peek videos tonight: More on planetary governance, Star Trek tie-ins, and #IndiePublishing in all its slings and arrows.

Happy viewing, if you do!

#SFF #WritersOfCoSo #Indie

https://youtu.be/eFLTbqq2SJI

The world is hurting.

But we never carry the hurt equally, do we?

Be ever so kind as you move through your part of the struggle.

If that is all you can do in the face of ever-rising traumas elsewhere... it's still the most courageous and important start.

G'night, CoSo. Hug those loved ones.

#Humanism

😅 I had a spot of fun last night when the tankie in my family shared a political spectrum quiz & I scored higher on his prize category, "out-Communism"-ing him.

I'm actually super radical across this test (shock! gasp!) but that's no surprise. The difference is, big-tent global humanism recognizes many ways of being. It's just hilarious when someone thinks there's only *one* right way to be anything.

Diversity, man! It's the spice of life. 👌
Happy Sunday, CoSo! 💫

https://politiscales.party/quiz

Good morning to everyone who's still not over the fact that we now have a mission called "Juice" headed to Jupiter. 🙃

#CoSoNature

Every now and then I like to remind myself that, by biomass and diversity, this world really belongs to the beetles. We have but slumbered here, and will fade away again ere long--at least, if the visions in our policies have their way with us.

(Verres sternbergianus, of the family Passalidae, in the beautiful order Coleoptera)

While the US enters a "mild" recession, climate change mitigation is failing, and we're in a world war in all but boots on the ground, hatemongering around poverty, bodily autonomy, queerness, and democracy keeps rising.

It's OK to be tired.
This isn't the world we deserve.
But it's the only one we have.

Be kind with yourselves.
Take turns shouldering the load.
Find ways to extend the table where you can.

There have been, and will come again, some form of better days. 🫂

So this is how I hear about it, eh? 🙃

Well, friends, we'll get through it together.

Global solidarity my bruvs and bras. ✊