“When the Supreme Court overturned Roe…, it claimed to be removing the judiciary from the abortion debate. In reality, it simply gave the courts a macabre new task: deciding how far states can push a patient toward death before allowing her to undergo an emergency abortion.” From a good column on the law at issue in a case the Supreme Court today decided to hear, to decide whether state total abortion bans conflict with federal law requiring emergency care. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/supreme-court-abortion-case-texas-dobbs.html#LawFedi
I have published a short story called Preludes. It's about a Prince of Amber who is pursued by a devilish mist and must convince a knight to help him so they can both escape.
Just weeks after Kate Cox was denied abortion care in Texas, the 5th Circuit Court ruling now allows emergency rooms to deny women abortion care, even when their lives are at stake.
My Democratic Women's Caucus colleagues and I are fighting back against this cruelty.
“They promised to keep in touch, but as time passed, they drifted apart. [...] They never forgot each other, but they also never expected to see each other again.”
Eastbound, by Maylis de Kerangal, Trans. by Jessica Moore. You are a French woman and a 20 year old Russian conscript thrown together on the Trans-Siberian Express train, as you both try to escape your fates, together, but without a shared language. 4 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈. @bookstodon#bookstodon#reading#russia#shortstory#translation
If you follow me, you have a sense of humour. If you're reading this, you're a reader. I’ve put this story online, free, gratis and for nothing, it's a twelve minute read. If you like it, maybe you’ll be curious enough to risk 99p for one of my short story collections. Maybe you’ll be smart enough to save some money by buying a compilation. Maybe you’ll be brave enough to buy my novel. Whatever happens, I hope you enjoy ‘Vincent'. http://aarondavid.co.uk/Vincent.html#freeread#shortstory#funny#pleaseboost
Years ago I read a story that I am trying to find again and I'm having no luck. Can you help? Here is the synopsis.
The student goes to the library to study for a test. The librarian (who is seriously creepy) goes to the back of the library. She returns with a box of hand bones for him to study. No matter how hard he tries to assemble the hand, it just won't work right. Finally, he gets it together only to discover that a) there are six fingers, not five, and b) the fingers flex in both directions. He returns the box to the librarian. The story ends as the student finds that he is growing an extra finger.
Want to hear a #scienceFiction#shortstory about space opera found family #AI swarms (is that one compound noun? mayyybe) and human-centered cybernetics?
in which an unorthodox cultivator gets himself adopted by a small child who turns out to be part of a major righteous sect, despite the unorthodox cultivator's attempts to remain a lone wolf unencumbered by attachments
BCS #397 ebook is out early today at @WeightlessBooks & Kindle Store and for subscribers, featuring stories by Christopher Rowe and Walter J. Wiese, behind cover art by Michal Kváč.
Just in time for the holidays, my latest ebook release is "The Silver Hen", a lovely 19th century Christmas story written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. The ebook comes with vocabulary notes for English language learners and some vocabulary exercises.
I still don't understand why you did what you did. When the detective reneged on the deal after you'd caught the Boss for him, you shoulda run! I was, am, nothing to you, just some idjit girl who'd gotten herself blackmailed into a gang because I really was that flapping stupid and trusting! I'd borne so much bad news to you over those months. We'd shared being caught in his deceit, forced to do horrendous things, having lost everything, our dreams rubbed in our face.
That don't make us two sisters!
Why didn't you run? Why'd you turn, get in the face of the copper that had me on the ground, then spirit me away?
You saved me. You helped discover how to start my life a new. I will be forever thankful. I may never be worthy of such a gift, but—
If you follow me, you have a sense of humour. If you're reading this, you're a reader. I’ve put this story online, free, gratis and for nothing, it's a twelve minute read. If you like it, maybe you’ll be curious enough to risk 99p for one of my short story collections. Maybe you’ll be smart enough to save some money by buying a compilation. Maybe you’ll be brave enough to buy my novel. Whatever happens, I hope you enjoy ‘Vincent'. http://aarondavid.co.uk/Vincent.html#freeread#shortstory#funny#pleaseboost
It's Wednesday, it's 9pm somewhere in the world (here, it's 9pm here), so Lucy's going live to read you some short stories! We've got Roads of Destiny by O. Henry, and The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin! Come stop on by
#Texas Supreme Court has put on hold a judge’s ruling that approved an #abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus has a #fatal#diagnosis.
Texas Supreme Court on Friday night put on hold a judge's ruling that approved an abortion for a #pregnant#woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis, throwing into limbo an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the #U.S.
"Another Old White Man deciding what a Woman Can and Can't do with her own body"
HEART OF THE COVENANT by @dovelynnwriter.bsky.social is perfect for sci-fi lovers of quieter Star Trek episode or Becky Chambers' work.
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Hedriar has been chosen to represent her homeworld within the Galactic Covenant. There she'll meet new friends and discover that people aren't as different as all that.
Since we are talking R.S., it has to be what inspired the character.
My WiP is as mechanically constructed as you can get. I realized my character had a half-year where nothing happened between stories, and that got me thinking.
The difficulty here it that because it would be both a sequel and a prequel, I needed the story to have a reason never be reported while still being knock your socks off. Something that could still be shoehorned into later stories with a phrase like "Oops, that's a state secret. Don't repeat that," and not cause a disruption.
(I actually did. You know. Shoehorn that line into a later story, before completing this WiP.)
So what ideas did I throw at the wall?
An invasion of Earth nobody knew about (which comes from five chapters I never continued). My devil-girl had to had to stop it. I wanted to make it useful for ongoing stories by getting the devil-girl back on the main antagonist' radar by my devil-girl inadvertently doing the MA an enormous solid (i.e., saving Her ass).
Check. Check Check.
Didn't quite take off. My devil-girl wasn't biting. What was the story idea missing?
What do you do when your employer has just died, your best friend is a smoke #Demon, the kingdom's being invaded by the #Undead, and you're a talking #Cat?
Find out in my #Fantasy#ShortStory, "The Secret of the Sorceress", to be featured next year in the FEISTY FELINES AND OTHER FANTASTICAL FAMILIARS anthology, by Wordfire Press.
Small thoughts on the books I've finished during November:
Shadow Prey (John Sandford, 1990): Fun thriller, better than "Rules" in a lot of ways, somewhat problematic in others. The almost "For the Evulz" mentality of the main villain is somewhat underwhelming. Could it be published today? Maybe, with some tweaks, especially regarding Shadow Love.
f. Night Shift: Showing a sci-fi world from the perspective of a character that finds no wonder or excitement from it, I think it's one of the most interesting stories in this book. If it weren't from some sci-fi machines, it would almost describe any packing/shipping plant.
g. Bitterblooms: This one is also interesting, and (a common sentiment in this collection) also sad. I think the main character is the most fleshed out in the book, by far.
h. Nightflyers: Captivating read. At first I thought the theme was going to be something related to voyeurism, since it paid a lot of attention to how the characters were being watched all the time. I was a bit surprised when it turned into horror/mystery. The characters were well-defined. I felt like the ending didn't really hit the mark, though. The truth about the volcryn felt rushed.