Jessica Alter

So the secret is this:

Even small shops buy ready-to-finish/ice frozen doughnuts instead of make their own from scratch. I feel your frustration; within three bites, my stomach burns. I quit eating doughnuts because of RTIs.

Sounds like Cub makes theirs from scratch like Scotty's in DuBois does.

Text of the 1984 Bulwer-Lytton competition's worst starting paragraph winner. Written by Steve Garman, it's a fabulous snapshot of the 1980s aesthetic: "The lovely woman-child Kaa was mercilessly chained to the cruel post of the warrior-chief Beast, with his barbarian tribe now stacking wood at her nubile feet, when the strong clear voice of the poetic and heroic Handsomas roared, 'Flick your Bic, crisp that chick, and you'll feel my steel through your last meal.' "

The year: 1984.

The writer: Steve Garman.

The reason: Winning the annual Bulwer-Lytton competition.

Why it matters: Bulwer-Lytton was the source of the very real "It was a dark and stormy night[.]" What comes after those seven words is so much worse.

Final Lap Book Launch "Final Lap" is now out in print and digital

We're happy to announce the release of "Final Lap" by @jessalter.bsky.social!

Now available everywhere in print and digital:
werebooks.com/final-lap-bo...

You can read a full chapter preview on our site, or using the preview feature of most vendors.
#indieauthor #scifi #hopepunk #book

Kudos for proving AI Chat is a digital birdcage mirror: reflection alone, not a bit of refraction. The masses have been Uber-eatsed this meat-free, planet-hostile option to experience the billionaire-sycophant support system vibe.

Très say-yes-to-the-mess.

a drawing of a dog with a bird on its head and the words kindness is magic above it ALT: a drawing of a dog with a bird on its head and the words kindness is magic above it

Thank you so much for the likes, y'all. It's really kind.

This 300-character limit is really a thing, isn't it? I suppose it's far better than the bite-sized, 128-character, flip-phone, text-based microblogging from old #BirdSite. It begs us to be terse like Hemingway's famous six-word flash-fic.

Unfortunately, I'm an epic science-fictionist/fantasist.

Longplay Games: Dev Log Progress updates, exclusives, and info about Smugglers of Cygnus

Grateful to my gamedev partner Longplay Games:

"Such a great hopepunk sci-fi story about friendship through adversity, found families, and determination. All set against the backdrop of the incredible world Jessica Alter designed for our games.

"Check it out: blog.longplay.games/final-lap-no... "

This formerly-short story I have been writing was expected to be wrapped up two months ago, and that was to lead to me launching my 5 story anthology launch on Kickstarter.

At first I was a bit frustrated, beat myself up a bit, but it is clear now that the story needed the time, way more emotion.

That's excellent. Sometimes you just need to give your story the time it needs.
Looking forward to reading it.

Cover of the book Final Lap, showing a series of racing ships flying on a racetrack set on an asteroid world.

If you need a brief escape from all of this, may I suggest a little time with my #HopePunk space otter?

eBook available #DRMFree where possible, and on a whole lot of platforms from Apple Books to Kobo, Kindle, and DriveThru
jessalter.info#smugglers

#indieauthor #amwriting

Last post for today:

Thanks to everyone who took a chance on Neekoi Vole (and me!) and added Final Lap to your personal libraries.

I love the #SmugglersofCygnus galaxy and am humbled by the positive response. While it's only #epub at the moment, the galley is en route to be approved.

Print soon!

After living through the change from using only he to using he then she alternately. I went the French route and opted for "one".

"They" as English's neutral, singular third-person pronoun, (despite centuries of use!) was withheld from Le Guin, me, and our peers in the 20th-flippin'-century.

2/2

I've been reading Ursula K. Le Guin's _The_Wind's_Twelve_Quarters_, and I just reached "Winter's King". In the short story's foreword, Le Guin explains the androgynes were given the third-person singular "he", which Le Guin stated authoritatively "is the same as the masculine pronoun".

1/2

Watch Hauntings of New York Full Movie Free Online - Fawesome TV Explore 15 eerie legends of Haunted New York, from ghostly apparitions to the cryptid Champ of Lake Champlain.

My horror documentary "Hauntings of New York" is live on FAWESOME!

It is like Tubi. Get the app if you dont have it. Great for Indie film!!

Give it a watch my friends. Please give this a share if you would be so kind. 🎥

fawesome.tv/movies/10666...

This woman spoke to power and was clear with her message.

Censure by oligarchs and their lackeys is at the core of why "traditional" media is untrustworthy. That said, mainstreamed for-profit media has never been trustworthy (Yellow journalism, W.R. Hearst v. "Citizen Kane", et al.).

I've been delighted to see how well "Final Lap" is doing on @drivethrurpg.com (www.drivethrufiction.com/xmas_in_july...). That's one of my favorite sites to find DRM-free titles, and it's been amazing to see the support there.

They're also having a sale right now.
#indieauthors #drmfree

Riparia Marten and the Mystery of the Ancients: Chapter 1 The kickoff of Riparia Marten and the Mystery of the Ancients by Jessica Alter

I've started a new monthly serial with Longplay Games:
Riparia Marten and the Mystery of the Ancients.

Coming out monthly for free on the longplay games site:
blog.longplay.games/riparia-mart...
#IndieAuthor #Sci-Fi #Adventure #AmWriting #serial

Trade paperback novel by author Constantin Step titled "The Dwarf, the Mine, and the RPG Apocalypse", pictured on a colorful hand-knit blanket and a white comforter.

New bedtime read just arrived! Excited to get lost in this #LitRPG epic high adventure from Constantin Step (@constantinstep.bsky.social).

No notes.

Bad sleep last night. Utter mess. Trying to make sense of [gestures around broadly].

As an independent writer, I cannot express more strongly the importance of helping other indie creators--if at all possible--to bring original content into the world unburdened by the but-will-it-make-money? committee mindset of corporations.

That's awful. I know most of us don't have much, but punishing fellow creators is not only evil, it ends creativity.

Corporations "create" for money. They're not artists.

That's awesome. I smiled, which doesn't happen much these days when I interact with zee internets.

Thinking about the nature of human-created versus AI-prompted art.

To me, AI art is "dead-eyed". Even when correct, it can feel undead, reanimated, shambling. It's not just imperfect. It triggers repulsion.

Human-created art, especially when imperfect, is still fully alive. It transmits a message.

Revamped and old illustration from the vault :)

#art #illustration

Seriously. That platform makes me want Mamdani for President.

Same. I read this and said aloud, "Ooh, I like this guy."

Me: "I’ll just reread one paragraph before bed."
Also me at 2:47 AM: “What if the dungeon boss actually knew the MC in their past life?

Fellow authors, what’s the latest time you’ve stayed up rewriting something that nobody else would even notice?

#WritingCommunity #AmWritingFantasy #LitRPGWriters

Does staying awake for 48 hours count?

In the '00s, I would write until I passed out during The-Writing-Month-That-Dare-Not-Speak-Its-Name. I think my largest one-day count was 25,000 words. Most of those manuscripts have only been seen by my eyes.

a cartoon of a group of children dancing with the caption having fun ALT: a cartoon of a group of children dancing with the caption having fun

Going to the local #library this morning to return books and pick up my holds, and I am as excited right now as I was as a kid.

#ILoveMyPublicLibrary