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Today, Rigel Ailur talks about her love of history despite a history of bias, amnesia, and erasure of women inventors, warriors, teachers, and scientists.

I absolutely love and adore history.

Even more than I love history, I loathe and despise sexism and the patriarchy. (I know, right? Not the least bit shocking to anyone even slightly acquainted with me.)

It makes for an ironic combination, but perhaps not quite as contradictory as one might think. Plus, the former can be an excellent antidote for the latter if/when people pay attention.

Students of history can’t help but taint the past with the present. Some people try much more diligently than others to remain scientific, scholarly, and objective, but the degree of effort and of success varies wildly. Others—dating all the way back to ancient Egypt’s pharaohs—try to erase and rewrite history. Sometimes malice motivates them. Other times, genuine ignorance—and/or a lack of open-mindedness, perhaps—causes myriad false assumptions. The more we learn, the more we need to revise accepted historical “fact.” Archeological/anthropological news (how’s that for an oxymoron?) constantly reminds us that we need to review our assumptions and reject false conclusions.

Recent discoveries show us that prehistoric hunter-gatherers did not have what we considered the ‘natural’ division of labor, with men doing all the hunting and women all the gathering. It now appears than plenty of women joined in the hunting.

Graves with weapons and other martial artifacts automatically indicated a male decedent. Closer studies now show us otherwise. We now know that Vikings in Scandinavia, Samurai in Japan, and warriors of the Russian steppes—to name just a few examples—included plenty of women. According to some accounts, Mulan led the emperor’s army for over a decade. The Agojie, the women warriors of the Kingdom of Dahomey, likely inspired the Dora Milaje in the Black Panther. Artemisia I of Caria, Queen of Halicarnassus, Kos, Kalymnos, and Nisyros, commanded a fleet of five ships in the Battle of Salamis.

Even recently, women’s names are frequently left off the research papers they contributed to—and restored only after they loudly complain. Plenty more examples of erasure exist. Hedy Lamar is known for her beauty, not for inventing the science that makes the internet possible. Dr. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a revolutionary astronomer and astrophysicist, received no credit at the time for her groundbreaking work on hydrogen and the composition of stars—or for breaking glass ceilings in academia as Harvard University’s first woman professor and first woman department chair. The women mathematicians vital to NASA’s Apollo program didn’t get their due respect until decades after the fact—and then, only thanks to a movie.

Speaking of movies, and the sexism and amnesia rampant in Hollywood: Actors such as Kathryn Hepburn, Betty Davis, and Maureen O’Hara led movies in the 30s and 40s. Mary Pickford even founded one of the studios. Yet women never got paid as much as men (and still don’t), and somewhere along the line, the executives decided that ‘women’s films’ didn’t make enough money. Wonder Woman earned over $800 million, yet people claimed Captain Marvel would surely flop. After Captain Marvel made over $1.1 billion, people still claimed ‘no one’ wanted to see the sequel. The Marvels didn’t do as well—sequels rarely do, regardless—but I wonder how much damage the intense sight-unseen criticism did. It doesn’t help that the movie industry is in chaos right now and, in addition, has not recovered from the damage done by Covid. Nevertheless, Barbie pulled in wonderful numbers. Somehow, some people insisted on calling that ‘an exception.’ Funny how many exceptions one can find if one looks.

Which also applies to history in general. Patriarchy notwithstanding, women have always broken the mold and risen above. In every single era and every culture across the world, women defied tradition and overcame mores when they acted as scientists, teachers, and—not least of all—warriors. There are, however, other ways to fight and to influence.

Fatima El-Fihriya founded a university still home to one of the oldest libraries in the world at the University Of Al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco. Recently, Dr. Emily Wilson did another translation of both the Odyssey and the Iliad. Although dozens and dozens preceded hers, men wrote all of them. Not only did her translation return to the meter of verse intended to be read out loud, it restored much nuance that was sometimes lost, as well as not shying from an unflinching depiction of the slavery and class distinctions of that era.

Virtually everyone knows the name Albert Einstein. Few realize that his first wife the brilliant physicist Mileva Marić—arguably even more of a genius than he—worked with him on a number of his papers. Many recognize the names Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Robert Schumann, as well they should. Sad to say, very few know about Fannie Mendelssohn, Maria Anna Mozart, and Clara Schumann.

All these ‘exceptions’ intrigue me and inspire the imagination. So many women throughout history have accomplished so many extraordinary things that the truth truly is stranger than fiction. Still, fiction can draw people’s attention to those examples and many more, hopefully in a way that is every bit as fun and entertaining as it is thought-provoking and challenging.

With only two volumes—so far—the HERitage anthologies barely scratch the surface of the vastness of history. But they are an absolute blast to read, and a joy to write for. Readers thus far are loving them, so here’s hoping their reach continues to expand—preferably exponentially. The more people who delve into the messiness and contradictions of history, the better to acknowledge that the entire population—not just the male half—builds civilizations, and to encourage studying and reviewing history with a much less biased eye.

—

The author of twenty-seven novels and more than ninety short stories, Rigel Ailur writes in almost every genre, but predominantly science fiction and fantasy. Her novels include the Vagabonds’ Adventures action thrillers, the Sorcery & Steel fantasy series (with Laura Ware), the science fiction series Tales of Mimion, and the galaxies-spanning A Little Piece of Home. Her short stories appear in the long-running Brave New Girls young adult anthology series and several other anthologies including the IAMTW’s Turning the Tied and Double Trouble: An Anthology of Two-Fisted Team-Ups. She writes for adults, teens and middle grade. In nonfiction, she contributes television reviews to the Outside In series and to the SciFi Bulletin online. Most importantly, she dotes on her astronomically adorable feline kids. For more information visit: https://www.BluetrixBooks.com/

It has begun. The Hugo Award nominations are open! I would be pleased if you would consider my works for nomination. (All about eligibility.) You must be a member of Worldcon (2024 or 2025) to nominate eligible works.

In the editing category, I am eligible for Best Editor, Short Form. I edited 3 anthologies (two co-edited with John Helfers) last year—99 Fleeting Fantasies, Shadowrun: Magic, Machines, & Mayhem, and Shadowrun: Through the Decades. Of all the award nominations, this is the one I am the most interested in and believe I’ve done excellent work.

In the writing category, I am eligible for Best Short Story for my short stories: “Eye of the Beholder” (co-written with Raven Oak), “Hella AFK,” “A Tale for Munchausen’s Merriment,” and “Dueling Minstrels” (co-written with Marie Bilodeau). I am proud of these short stories.

I am also eligible for the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo) for my novel, Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run. This was one heck of a fun YA heist novel.

If you would like copies or samples of any of these, please contact me through my webform.

Words cannot express how excited am that Augment magazine is a real thing! Augment, Spring 2083 done. You can pre-order it now and pre-orders are love. I’m so proud of this magazine. As the managing editor of it, I know how hard everyone has worked on it.

You don’t need to know a thing about Shadowrun to enjoy it. But, if you are a Shadowrun player, this is a prop, supplement, and fun reading all in one. It will be released on 14 Feb in ebook and physical POD as a digest magazine.

Augment your life with Augment magazine! 

Augment is Shadowrun’s official magazine. This is a fully in-universe publication, and can be used in Shadowrun games as well as enjoyed by the casual reader.

Augment, Spring 2083. Magic is in the air and within the pages of this issue. Learn words of wisdom in an exclusive one-on-one interview with VIP CEO Michael Bishop. Listen to DJ Smash and Will-o-Wisp as they share their insight into the combination of magic, machine, and music. Discover how runestorms are endangering the Caribbean. Enjoy reviews of new products, clothing, tech, and so much more!

—

Real world column authors include: Marie Bilodeau, Aaron Rosenberg, Bryan CP Steele, Brandon O’Brien, Bryan Young, Michael A. Stackpole, RJ Thomas, and Jennifer Brozek. SINless Secrets by Dylan Birtolo, Jason M Hardy, Jaym Gates, Bryan CP Steele, and Crystal Frasier.

Cover art by Ron Sanders.

Interior art by Jeff Porter, Bruno Balixa, Marco Pennacchietti, Jose-Luis Segura, Mia Steingräber, Andrew Lowry, Lukasz Matuszek, Brenton Smith, Lara Baron Ortega, Elizabeth Galindorf, and Kat Hardy.

Loren L. Coleman, Publisher; John Helfers, Executive Editor; Jennifer Brozek, Managing Editor; Art Direction, Kat Hardy; David A. Kerber, Layout and Graphic Design

Today, Henry Herz talks about something near and dear to my heart: On being an anthologist and all that comes with it.

Sometimes I get asked, “Isn’t editing anthologies a ton of work?” I respond, “Yes, it is,” which typically evokes the follow-up question, “Are you nuts?” “Also, yes.” Of course, what they’re really asking is, “Why do you love speculative fiction anthologies so much that you are willing to put in all the effort required to produce good ones?”

It’s a fair question, and my answer involves several sources of joy. The first involves love of the genres. I’ve loved the escapism of speculative fiction since reading Where the Wild Things Are (technically, urban fantasy) as a wee lad in first grade and The Lord of the Rings (high fantasy) in sixth grade. Classics of science fiction like Dune and the Foundation trilogy soon followed in middle school. I was such a book nerd, I requested autographs from some of these authors. To my everlasting delight, I have one from J.R.R. Tolkien. Later in life, I edged into the dark side (horror) thanks to Stephen King’s works and being friends with Jonathan Maberry.

As a reader, I view anthologies as literary banquets – a way to sample authors’ work without the commitment of reading an entire novel. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Try a little of this, taste a little of that. I savor how the contributing authors offer alternate takes on a theme, as well as their different writing styles. And, of course, reading the work of talented authors only improves my writing skills.

I’ve only been writing fiction since middle age. Prior to that, I earned my living as either a project manager or a process improvement consultant. As it turns out, those professions provide good preparation for editing an anthology. One must manage a project budget, schedule, scope, risks, communications, contractual issues, and so on. It helps to be extremely organized (I am) and able to use the appropriate desktop tools (spreadsheets, Word’s track changes, and Google calendar are your friends). Thus, editing (managing) an anthology merges two of my passions.

As an anthology editor, I love being able to choose who will participate. It’s like picking the pro players you want for a fantasy football team. I invite established authors with experience in the genre. Inclusivity is also important to me. Then I add up-and-coming authors, readers may not yet have discovered. It’s also a personal thrill to know my story will be mingling with those by authors I respect. Of course, that creates pressure to write the best story I can. My secret anxiety is not wanting to have a story of lesser quality.

Building an anthology involves multiple steps. You have to solicit and obtain provisional agreement from the headlining authors. Next, you have to write a proposal and sell the project to a publisher. Third, you have to manage the production schedule, or as I like to call it, herd the cats. Fourth, you have to provide constructive feedback, often to more accomplished authors, without feeling like an imposter. Then, you must track story progress, author payments, and so on. And, of course, in Henry’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law, something will cause an author to drop out in mid-project—writer’s block or a competing project or an unresolvable contractual question. You must adapt.

My latest anthology, Combat Monsters (Blackstone Publishing), is a fantasy/sci-fi/alternative history anthology featuring stories from eight bestselling authors. It’s based on the premise that research has uncovered long-buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis forces used monsters during World War II. Details at https://henryherz.wordpress.com/combat-monsters/

—

Henry Herz has written for Daily Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Metastellar, Titan Books, Highlights for Children, Ladybug Magazine, and anthologies from Albert Whitman, Blackstone Publishing, Third Flatiron, Brigids Gate Press, Air and Nothingness Press, Baen Books, and elsewhere. He’s edited eight anthologies and written fourteen picture books.

(I am so very busy. I’m sorry. This is all I had time to do. At least they are pretty images and informative, too!)

Today’s Tell Me is from my friend and peer, Bryan Young. He talks about a truism in novel writing that is rarely spoken about. Also, he talks about another love of mine…James Bond novels.

The thing about writing novels is that you can’t just learn to write novels, you have to learn to write that novel, and BattleTech: VoidBreaker is definitely a novel I had to learn new things for as I was preparing to write it and while I was writing. That’s one of the things I love about writing, though, to stretch my skills and push myself.

I love setting out to write a novel by trying to push myself. When I initially spitballed the story for VoidBreaker with Ray Arrastia (the line developer for BattleTech) at our creative summit, I got really excited because I realized the sort of story we’d be telling was essentially a spy thriller, and I hadn’t really seen that in BattleTech before. I mean, we’d seen elements of espionage, and we’d seen political machinations, but a straight up Ian Fleming, James Bond sort of thing? No way.

I don’t think folks know this about me, but I know more than any human should about the 007 movies and books. I really love them and the books are so different than the movies and the Fleming novels have this intensely readable quality. Moonraker, which is one of my favorite Fleming books (and one of my least favorite Bond pictures, go figure) spends the first full half of the book with Bond merely working to discover Hugo Drax’s method of cheating at Bridge at the club as a personal favor to M. But it’s absolutely riveting and you want to devour it, chapter by chapter.

So when VoidBreaker fell into my lap, I decided I wanted to really deconstruct and analyze those Fleming books (as well as my favorite 007 movies, and some other espionage and war thrillers I enjoyed ranging from the Mission: Impossible films to Guns of Navarone and The Dirty Dozen) and figure out exactly how they ticked and why and figure out how I could apply it to BattleTech in a way that was honest to what makes a BattleTech book a BattleTech book. I tore through the Fleming novels again, reading my vintage paperbacks, listening to them via audiobooks at the gym, just soaking them in and diagramming them out. Then I’d do the same with all the movies and really try to understand why they were making all the decisions they were and figure out how to apply those story lessons to the original story we were telling.

I learned so much.

If you’re going to embark on something, anything, challenge yourself and do the homework. Bite off a little more than you think you can chew and I think you’ll find that the results are worth it and you’re going to learn a lot in the process.

That’s really the only way, in my mind, to get better. I always want to learn something new with every book. Every time I take a bite at that apple, I want to try to get better at my craft and VoidBreaker opened up a whole new world for me. I just hope it shows and people enjoy it when they read it.

BattleTech: VoidBreaker comes out January 24, 2005. You can preorder a copy here or you can get signed copies straight from the author. 

—

Bryan Young (he/they) works across many different media. His work as a writer and producer has been called “filmmaking gold” by The New York Times. He’s also published comic books with Slave Labor Graphics and Image Comics. He’s been a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider magazine, SYFY, /Film, and was the founder and editor in chief of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot! In 2014, he wrote the critically acclaimed history book, A Children’s Illustrated History of Presidential Assassination. He co-authored Robotech: The Macross Saga RPG and has written five books in the BattleTech Universe: Honor’s Gauntlet, A Question of Survival, Fox Tales, Without Question, and the forthcoming VoidBreaker. His latest non-fiction tie-in book, The Big Bang Theory Book of Lists is a #1 Bestseller on Amazon. His work has won two Diamond Quill awards and in 2023 he was named Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. He teaches writing for Writer’s Digest, Script Magazine, and at the University of Utah. Follow him across social media @swankmotron or visit swankmotron.com.

2025 is going to be one of those transitional years in my life. Several long running projects will end and several new projects will begin. So, what do I have planned? (Note: everything listed in this post is subject to change without warning—such is the Way of the Freelancer.)

Professionally: It is all project-based. And most of it will be in editing. A lot of it will be for CGL, but I do have a couple of other freelance clients I’m working with. I will do some writing as well. Maybe some more voice acting/narration.

For Catalyst, in specific…

• Augment magazine, issues 1-4, will be released.
• I’ve also got the Shadowrun novella line to take care of.
• And, on the schedule, at least one more Shadowrun anthology. 
• Also, there’s a couple of BattleTech things on my plate to edit and write.
• Not to mention finishing Shadowrun: Imre Grey and, at least starting Shadowrun: Elf in White.

For me, personally: I plan to self-release several projects in 2025.

• First, we will finish up “Dear Penpal, Belgium 1980.” Then I will have to decide if I want to write the next of those. I won’t do it in actual physical letters, but if “Dear Penpal, Pennsylvania 1984” happens, it will still be an epistolary work vaguely based on my life as a teenager.
• Second, I will release a small fiction collection of my original Tales of the Hucked Tankard (from Campaign Magazine), including the unreleased story and a second original “twenty years later” story.
• Third, I’ve got plans to update Industry Talk to Industry Talk Revised: 15 Years Later. A lot has happened in the last 15 years. Some of my advice has changed. Some has not. But I think I have a lot more to say than I did last time.

Convention Travel… I plan to limit my travel a lot. Gen Con, my main industry convention, and Worldcon Seattle 2025. That’s it. That’s all I currently have on the docket for work travel.

On the Homefront, I only have three specific desires this year: Decluttering, less time online, and finishing unfinished books.

• Decluttering: “I need to declutter.” I’ve been saying this for 3 years now. This year, with the help of the Husband, we’ve decided to gamify the project and tackle it together. I broke the house out into 36 projects, wrote them down, and put them into a wooden chest. Each week, we will pull one out and do it. I think this will work. I hope it will. I can feel the weight of things on my shoulders.
• Unfinished Books: In 2024 (and 2023, 2022…), I started reading various novels, novellas, collections, and graphic stories. For whatever reason (work, distraction, exhaustion, travel, etc…), these books have not been finished. I spend too much time online. I want to remedy that. I declare 2025 to be the Year of the Unfinished Book. I will keep track of every book I read by category (Unfinished, New, Work), and publish it at the end of the year. Hopefully, this will convince me to renew my reading habit.
• One day off the internet per week: I think I’m going to see if I can take one day a week off the internet. The world will survive one day without me looking at email. I just need to figure out which day of the week it will be. (Probably Sunday—the day I have no scheduled meetings nor other online commitments–except for the “Dear Penpal” zoom calls.)

Overall, the thing I want to do most in 2025 is to be gentle with myself. To stop yelling at myself for “failing” whatever arbitrary goal I had set. I don’t have high hopes for the next 4 years as it is. Thus, I will be doing what I can to care for myself, my friends and family, and my local community.

But, as always, I will keep track of my metrics. (If you would like a copy of my blank 2025 Freelancer Summary document, contact me. I will send it to you.)

One last thought. I don’t make “resolutions” (noun: a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner). The term isn’t for me. I plan. Complete with specific steps to accomplish that plan. Either I execute the plan or I don’t. I know it’s all semantics, but “resolutions” feels a bit wishy-washy to me.

That’s it. Doable goals with specific plans for 2025.

Here’s the numbers. We all love numbers so much.

• Books published: 2, Shadowrun: Auditions and Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run
• Anthologies published: 3, 99 Fleeting Fantasies, Shadowrun: Magic, Machines, and Mayhem (co-edited with John Helfers), and Shadowrun: Through the Decades (co-edited with John Helfers)
• Short stories published: 4, “Eye of the Beholder” (co-written with Raven Oak), “Hella AFK”, “A Tale for Munchausen’s Merriment”, and “Dueling Minstrels” (co-written with Marie Bilodeau)

• New words written: 105,830
• Words edited: 441,00+

• Awards nominated for: 2 (both Scribe awards)
• Awards won: 1 (Won the Scribe award for Shadowrun: Auditions)

• Stories submitted: 12
• Stories sold: 6 (50%)
• Stories rejected: 4 (33%)
• Stories outstanding: 2 (17%)

Thoughts about the numbers:

• I’m pleased with the number of things that were published. It’s nice to have new novels and stories out in the wild.
• You’ll note that I did a LOT more editing this year. Gotta pay the bills. The Husband has retired from tech.
• The Scribe award nominations and win were very nice. I appreciate being acknowledged by my peers.
• As for the stories submitted and sold/rejected…I really am on target with that one. My acceptance rate hovers around 50%. This year I made my 100+ short story sale. That was cool.

I don’t really have a lot to say about the metrics for this year. I’m fine with them. They’re respectable for a full time publishing professional. With the Shadowrun magazine coming out next year and being an editor-at-large for CGL, my editing numbers will not be going down. That does cut into the writing schedule. But I’ve got my plans for next year—which I will talk about in the next blog. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of my cats.

I hope you have had a very good holiday season!

(CW: Kitten injured but OK.)

Life is better with kittens. It is also more complicated and, occasionally, terrifying. Freya had an accident this morning. It’s the kind of thing no one could expect. That 2.5 lb kitten tried to climb an 8 lb slab of wood to get to me, cooking. Somehow, what she did caused the whole thing to topple over backwards as she clung onto the top of it. (I KNOW… it was leaned up against the cabinet. How the f* did she overcome the lean?)

Honestly, it is easier to share what I wrote to a discord group than to re-explain it:

[10:29 AM]

Freya just pulled an 8 lb slab of wood on top of her, I watched it happen. I couldn’t stop it. She fell over backwards holding onto it so she hit her back on the floor compounded by the wood on top of her. She got her tail stuck under it because she got herself on top of the wood.

[10:30 AM]

I freed her. She limped and yowled and when I picked her up, she yowled more. I put her down and she moved away then laid down with her hips out. I told [the Husband] he needed to get her to the emergency vet RIGHT NOW. [The Emergency Vet] is open. He left. I cleaned up. Freya is x-ray right now

[10:31 AM]

Both me and [the Husband] feel terrible because neither of us thought a kitten could move that slab of wood (it’s a stove topper/cutting board.)

[10:32 AM]

IF we are lucky, she’s bruised and scared. If not, something is broken.

For ten minutes, I did the only thing I could do…continued to work on my freelance editing. Then I got word.

[10:42 AM]

[The Husband]: “She has a minor pelvic fracture, probably no method of treatment except cage rest for 4 weeks. Coming home with pain meds as well.”

[10:42 AM]

cage rest for a kitten

[10:43 AM]

[The Husband]: “A surgeon specialist will look at xrays early next week to see if anything else to do.”

Once the Husband got home, he told me that it seemed that Freya has fractured both sides of her pelvis. But, they weren’t completely sure. The specialist would look at the x-rays (which I now have in my email) and everything had already been sent to our normal vet.  Until told differently…4 weeks of cage rest for Freya. (In three weeks she gets spayed…maybe.)

In the meantime, my friends rallied. Roz had kitty jails for just this kind of thing and offered to bring them over. She picked up Seanan along the way who brought a peacock feather to use to distract Mimir while the chaos of kitten jails were set up. It was so appreciated. It was a thing we didn’t have to figure out while our brains were running in twenty different directions.

After everyone left, Mimir immediately defeated the soft sided kitten jails and collapsed the one that Freya was in on her. Mimir does not take kindly to being separated from his sister. The problem is, he is bigger than she is and wants to wrestle. So, Freya is now in the One for Pets kitten jail (Portable 2-in-1 Double Pet Kennel/Shelter) and a second one has been ordered.

Apparently, minor pelvic fractures are the most common injury in a kitten. They jump from too high, fall off furniture, topple things on themselves. She is young and healthy and should be fine. Me, on the other hand, I’m a mess. So’s the Husband.

One good(?) thing to come out of this: Mimir has to play by himself. It’s getting Leeloo’s attention. She’s starting to play with him. She almost let him cuddle with her once, then rebuffed him. A second time, he went to cuddle on my chair while Leeloo was under a blanket. She almost let it happen until his kitten nature pulled the blanket from her head…and then Leeloo had quite the hissy fit. She didn’t hurt him but she did swat at him enough times (he’s a champ at “hunker and freeze”) when he wouldn’t move that I quietly said, “Leeloo.” She stopped, huffed at me 2-3 times then flounced off. It’s a start?

If I have done this correctly, this blog post will go live on Monday, December 9th. It’s my birthday and the Husband has whisked me away for a day trip to Leavenworth!

Event: It’s my birthday! I like to celebrate all week. Buy yourself or a friend one of my books and leave me a review. If you’ve got all of them and would rather get me something else, I have a ko-fi account, an amazon wishlist, and a kindle wishlist.

Event: I will be reading at A Midwinter Haunting! 8pm at the Kirkland Arts Center. Readings from HWA Seattle Chapter members. Free event. I will be reading a spooky holiday story. On a mid-winter’s night, everyone is hungry.

Interview: With Epic Realms. I enjoyed the heck out of this interview. YouTube link.

Release: My 25th edited anthology is live! Shadowrun: Through the Decades celebrates 35 years of Shadowrun through 7 novelettes and novellas from new authors and old favorites!

Release: Valdemar short story, co-written with the fabulous Marie Bilodeau in the Feuds: All-New Tales of Valdemar anthology. “Dueling Minstrels” – a story of two small town minstrels and their battle of wits exploding beyond verbal showmanship…

Writing Contest: Worldcon Seattle Writing Contest 2025 – Submissions open Jan 5-20 (do not send anything in before this time).

Support: As always… if you appreciate my work and would like to support me, I love coffee. I am made of caffeine. This is the quickest way to brighten my day.