I love sharing some of my author friends with y'all. Check out E.J. Russell

Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci-Fi

E.J. Russell –grace, certified geek, mother of three, recovering actor–writes romance in a rainbow of flavors. Count on high snark, low angst and happy endings.

Reality? Eh, not so much.

More Info: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/e-j-russell/

#AuthorSpotlight #Bookstodon @bookstodon #author

Book Promotion: Thrilling selection of stories - murder, mystery, suspense, thriller - that you can download free and discover your next favourite author in your favourite genres. #bookstodon #writing #goodbooks #steampunk #mystery #reading #action #amreading #fedibookfair #vigilante #amateur #guns #reader #murder #adventure #detective #private #future #readers #suspense #contemporary #whodunnit #sleuth #classic (9404) https://books.bookfunnel.com/gomery-kimber-mystery-suspense/q8jgfzgf9a?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

The last two days of the Summer Fair for Low Spice & No Spice Romantasy!

Two days left to grab those fantasy romance books for free (in exchange for your email)! They all go away on August 1st.

Hop on over to BookFunnel and browse to your heart's delight.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/summerlowspiceromantasy/pvv6cd6lcn

Feel free to boost!

#Romantasy
#LowSpice
#ReadersOfMastodon

If anyone knows how to get in touch with author Y.M. Resnik (Cast of Wonders, Worlds of Possibility, khōréō, Interstellar Flight, Diabolical Plots, etc), please let me know!

We'd like to accept one of her stories but the email we have on file keeps bouncing back!

"Mr. & Mrs. Mahi" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16227342) started out looking like another great Raj Kumar Rao movie.

But then towards the middle of the movie I started seeing issues. The main character is a guy who loved cricket but couldn't make it. He then realizes that his wife is great at cricket and starts coaching her.

However, the way the story goes, for most of the movie, the wife doesn't appear like a character on her own. She's just an extension of what her husband wants. His dreams, his desires.

When the wife makes it in cricket, the husband isn't happy for her success. Instead, all he cares is that he is not known as the architect of her success.

I became very annoyed at this point. Why couldn't the husband just support his wife? Why did he need everybody else to know that he was the reason his wife became a great cricketer?

I loved the movie up to that point because he'd found somebody with whom he shared something he loved. But when he started using his wife as a means to achieve his dreams and started resenting her, the movie just soured for me.

There are multiple issues with the movie was written — how the father treated his son, how the husband treats his wife, how the wife's father treats his daughter etc. And I do realize that they needed the conflict for the movie to have different notes and not be monotonous.

Once past that wobble though, the ending was great. So I guess overall, it's worth watching if you can bear the rough patch in the middle.

#Movies #Hindi #Sports #Cricket

I am going to bed in a moment because I start work at 5:30am tomorrow, but managed to stay awake long enough to post the latest chapter of City of Unnumbered Stars, and it is... the dinner!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57429055/chapters/146946844

#writing #scifi #writingcommunity #originalscifi #ao3 #fiction #sciencefiction

The wife and I played more "No Man's Sky" this weekend. It's interesting to me that the new game update has been out maybe slightly over a week and it's already had two bug-fix updates on PS5 since then?

We originally had a couple of crashes while playing the game. Didn't have any crashes so far after the latest update. So maybe the crashes are fixed? I guess we'll see ...

But the game's still enjoyable 🙂And this is an 8 year old game.

#Gaming #PS5 #NoMansSky

Still looking for #LilyTheCat, who disappeared June 28 in West Menlo Park. She may have been accidentally or deliberately transported or force adopted.

She’s a very popular cat who has dog friends and even likes small children. For dozens of kids, she was the first cat they ever held.

If you see her, please help her come home so she can once again be the middle school yearbook mascot.

https://lilythecat.org

@Deus I am not sure "which" movies you categorize as "such" but I hope you have a great day too.

@Deus And your point is that "Star Trek", which is all about inclusion, should stick to certain races/groups and not force inclusivity? Or something else?

I'm failing to grasp your point with regards to how this is supposed to work for "Star Trek". Care to explain further?

@Deus But isn't "forced DEI" also a POV thing? People of a certain race/group might feel that they are under-represented, or people of a race/group who were over-represented previously might feel that they are sidelined because a previously sidelined group is now given prominence.

None of this has anything to do with "Star Trek" (IMO, of course) since "Star Trek" is about inclusion. So why kwetch about the very thing that is a cornerstone of the franchise? 😛

@crcollins

@Deus

Ah, ok. Thanks. Being respectful is important. I guess we'll see how the film turns out. Most stories don't require a certain race, etc, as plots are focused elsewhere. Particularly in action or scifi. The roles should go to whoever auditions best. Michelle Yeoh can act circles around most actors, in my opinion, & has already developed a great character on Discovery.

@jefframes Yeah, not sure if they lifted it or not ... it's certainly possible that two different groups came up with the same thing at different times 🙂

Like the whole VMS -> WNT thing. I've been fascinated by both that and HAL -> IBM thing but never really knew if either was just coincidence or deliberate ...

Fantasy, Lore, & More: The Secrets We Save

Hi, I'm indie fantasy author, Melinda Kucsera, and in this episode, Kel E Fox is joining me to talk about her book, The Secrets We Save. What's it about? In a world where humans live hundreds of years and can perceive deception as easily as breathing, it takes a rare magic called Whispering to tell a lie. Ursa has denied this magic to become a pilot, while Del embraced Whispering and left his family to work as a spy.

http://melindakucsera.com/2024/07/28/fantasy-lore-more-the-secrets-we-save/

In an island city where the Cat Men of the Thieves Guild rule supreme, DaVic, a private eye with more quips than credits, takes on a job for the Thieves Guild from a mysterious femme fatale. This job lands him on the on the run through the dark streets of Sir Lanka, trying to stay one step ahead of those who pursue him.

In trying to unravel the mystery, he ends up finding a sidekick in the form of a Thieves Guild Tea Leaf, KarJa. With her help, the duo start cracking the case and when Sir Lanka is brought to the brink of war by way of a clash of ideals between the Guild and a nascent revolution, would DaVic and Karja be able to stop a bloodbath? Or will they be too busy helping tree-like aliens who are wary of human contact, or dealing with a bunch of alien scientists who are conducting experiments in the very heart of Sir Lanka?

Find out in "Sir Lanka Files". Coming August 15th, but now available for pre-order on Amazon.

https://books.farook.org/sir-lanka-files/

#ScienceFiction #Humour #BookPromo #Bookstodon #FediBooks #Writing
A book cover titled "Sir Lanka …

@jefframes OK, there's an inconclusve discussion about this subject in this Reddit thread 🙂
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/97zqyq/til_kirby_creator_hal_laboratory_got_its_name/

@jefframes Huh, I knew that HAL in "2001" was basically one-letter ahead of IBM, but had not even heard of HAL Laboratories till today 🙂

Do you happen to know if they used the name before "2001" was written (or the movie released) or after? I guess I can look it up (and probably will) but just thought you might know ...

TL;DR: HELP ME REUNITE WITH MY PENCIL BOX😭

I know this is a long shot but if you spot a pencil box that approximately looks like this stuffed with fountain pens, crochet hooks and a penguin key chain, please let me know?

Highly likely in Dublin City Centre by the River Liffey

It is not that valuable in money, but it does have my fountain pens and I am so sad. 😭 😭 😭

Mine is more maroon than rainbow but it looks like this.

BRB going to cry my eyes out

#mastodaoine #Dublin

🎉 August Queer Romance Club book pick - Dionysus in Wisconsin by EH Lupton 🎉

By a Mastodon author, @pretensesoup, it’s been shortlisted for the 2024 Lamba Literary Award in Gay Romance and the 2024 Midwest Book Award for fantasy.

Available on #Hoopla, #KoboPlus, all ebookstores and perhaps your library, or EH has kindly offered copies if access is difficult for you (DM her if so).

QRC is open to all, read at your own pace over the month and post about it under #QueerRomanceClub and @queerromanceclub — CW for spoilers if going into details but general observations can be open.

No rules: let’s hear reactions, theories, reviews, favourite quotes etc.

Please also feel free to tag EH in to your QRC post this month, and she’s open to Author Q&A so throw your questions her way.

#books #GayRomance @gayromance @bookstodon #BookClub #AuthorsOfMastodon #IndieAuthor

@BobWilliams Hopefully, it will get approved soon — sending good vibes your way 🙂My general experience has been that Google Review is generally faster than Apple Review, though there've been outliers on both sides ...