Andy Weir wrote a "lost" chapter of The Martian called "Lost Sols" to celebrate its 10th anniversary of the book's availability. https://galactanet.com/lostsols.pdf
"So now, my bed was a pressurized space car on Mars.”
Today in Labor History February 15, 1933: Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami. He failed, mostly because he was too short to see over the crowd. However, Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who was shot in the attack, later died, in part from his wounds and in part from medical malpractice. Zangara confessed to the crime in jail, stating “I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists.” He was executed in Old Sparky, Florida’s electric chair in March, 1933. Philip K. Dick’s novel, “The Man in the High Castle,” is based in part on the premise that Zangara succeeded in killing FDR.
A BARISTA TURNS PODCASTER to re-examine the decades-old cold case of her grandfather’s murder, then finds herself at the center of a modern-day homicide investigation. Charming cozy mystery has a lot of heart. B PLUS
Dropped a new excerpt from my free webnovel, Below the Heavens - JiangXi!
I decided to do a mood board just for fun!
Below the Heavens is a high fantasy web novel series featuring a quick witted protagonist and a world and magic system crafted from scratch, incorporating east Asian culture and influences.
This indie novel is available for free on Royal Road via the web browser (link in my bio) or their app! Also available on Scribblehub, and I have a Patreon as well where you can read ahead on a sizeable portion of content!
The twenty-sixth chapter of my hard #scifi#SpaceOpera is released! Back to our normal-ish chapter sizes. Some warp lore, and most importantly the true start of the harrowing gauntlet that will be the least few jumps. These next few chapters will be chaos.
The Ingenuity team has nicknamed the spot where the helicopter completed its final flight “Valinor Hills” after the fictional location in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels, which include “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
THREE WOMEN’S LIVES COLLIDE in unexpected ways in a Southern university town. Hilariously satirical, meticulously observed, and full of compassion, this novel has a lot to say about modern life, love, family, sex, race, class, and money. A MINUS
A HIGH-POWERED BLACK EXECUTIVE quits her Fortune 500 corporate job and takes on the challenge of turning a struggling hair salon back into the neighborhood icon it once was. Entertaining urban fiction with a positive spin. SOLID B
DISTINCTIVE, COMPULSIVELY READABLE novel combines its glossy setting among the Hollywood elite with a story of hidden resistance to anti-Black oppression. Unforgettable, larger than life characters mix with a fast-paced plot. B PLUS
The twenty-fifth chapter of my hard #scifi#SpaceOpera is released! Moderately-sized chapter compared to the previous ones. As the title implies, this is the true last respite of any kind before the gauntlet that will be the last leg of the journey. Regardless, what happens here is an important, and probably unexpected, bit of worldbuilding that'll be relevant later in the franchise. Check it out!
"As my friend, the novelist Isle McElroy, so aptly put it, 'so weird when people read a novel looking for answers. novels are questions. question after question after question.' Reading does not guarantee moral certitude, nor will any individual book be able to undo systemic problems. But being able to sit with nuance and contradiction and complexity can make readers become more discerning consumers of media . . . "
DELICIOUSLY TWISTY 21st CENTURY GOTHIC has a thrill a minute, a house to die for, and a wealth of sharply drawn characters. Shades of Daphne du Maurier (which I mean as a high compliment)! B PLUS
On December 13, 1889, Franklin Benjamin Gowen will die in his room at the Wormley Hotel, in Washington D.C., with a single bullet hole in his head. His eulogists will refer to him as the former president of the Reading Railroad, attorney, philanthropist, and patron of the arts.
The obituaries will say that Mr. Gowen inherited the intellectual and moral characteristics of his father, James, a pious Protestant merchant from Northern Ireland. Sobriety and piety, of course, form the foundation of good society, and Franklin was alike his father in this way. But James was also a staunch Democrat, a character flaw for which I have little patience. Their home in Mount Airy was the only one in the neighborhood without crepe after President Lincoln was assassinated. And James Gowen went to his grave insisting that there was nothing to those nasty rumors about James Buchanan, with whom he was close. Well, I knew Aunt Nancy, too. I can assure you those rumors were entirely true, though such behavior coming from a Democrat is hardly surprising.
Today in Labor History January 31, 1606: Guy Fawkes jumped to his death moments before his execution for treason. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes, who had converted to Catholicism, also fought in the 80-Years War for Catholic Spain against the Dutch. He later traveled to Spain seeking support for a Catholic rebellion in England. The English tortured him into confessing the names of his co-conspirators. Brits have celebrated Guy Fawkes Day ever since, usually accompanied by fireworks and burning effigies, traditionally the pope, but recently they’ve burned effigies of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Margaret Thatcher, instead. James Sharpe, professor of history at the University of York, called Fawkes "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions." Numerous historical novels and children’s books have been written about Fawkes, including William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance “Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason.”
It's rare for me to share negativity, but I was so excited to see a new #DavidJamesDuncan#novel out (his first in 30+ years) and it's..... bad. Like I have fought through some books before, and there's no way I am wasting 700 pages worth of my time on this hamfisted, bloated, unbelievable nonsense. Really disappointing, because I adore everything else he has written. Buyer beware in case you were thinking of getting it. #books#literature#NotGood
AS INTERSTELLAR PLAGUE RAGES, a small spaceship and its tightly knit crew find an infected stowaway—and that’s the least of their problems. Fast paced, elegantly crafted far-future science fiction adventure with great characters, world building. A MINUS
Below the Heavens is a high fantasy web novel featuring a quick witted protagonist and a world and magic system crafted from scratch, incorporating east Asian culture and influences.