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• Post #4269551

  #PennedPossibilities 1074 — What creatures are capable of speech in your world? I have implied that at least some animals (dogs, cats, rats) in my lost 'magical' city of Hirstel are capable of speech. I've never gotten around to exploring the idea. Then there are dragons, who have a language of their own. They can't (or won't) form human words but can understand them. Humans can learn their speech and communicate. The same is true of ghouls, which are es...

• Post #4269550

  #ScribesAndMakers July 18. A can of worms or a barrel of monkeys? That depends on what you're fishing for.

• Post #4269549

  #WritersCoffeeClub 21: Do your works contain erotic elements? How far do you go? This is one reason I have pen names. I am only explicit in the books I've written as Sienna Santerre. This is more about readers' expectations then anything else; I'm certainly not going to throw graphic sex into a light fantasy adventure. No need for it, nor does anyone want it there. But I have no objections to including it where it helps the story along or aids in the understanding of the...

• Post #4269548

  #WritersCoffeeClub 7/22. Are the limits of what is considered 'erotic' more or less universal? Some aspects are universal, some are cultural, and some are individual. All intertwined so it's impossible to say what is what isn't.

• Post #4269547

  #WritersCoffeeClub July 24: Should a reader be forewarned about any and all erotic content, no matter how small? I don't know if they 'should' be but it's safest to include warning labels. Slap an 'adult content' declaimer on there if the story contains truly graphic material. But I prefer not to in or on the book itself; that sort of thing doesn't belong there. I'll mention it in the sales material or tag it.

• Post #4269546

  #WordWeavers July 24: Antagonist POV: What has the power to instantly irritate you? Kiska Mur dislikes vagueness. She wants her facts served up cut and dried and not touching each other.

• Post #4269545

  A man is a very small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders. ~ Lord Dunsany It's the birthday of my favorite writer of #fantasy

• Post #4269544

  #ScribesAndMakers 7/27 Do you feel your creative work leans more towards reflecting life as it is or as you would like it to be? Who am I to say how life should be? I comment on life as it is (or as I see it), even in fantasy settings. I suppose I have a tendency to puncture the dreams of my more idealistic characters.

• Post #4269543

  I rarely have #dreams I remember at all—much less vivid ones—but last night’s involved Mark O’Connor (the musician), a pride of lions, and a young Tyrannosaur. I was trying to find my old 35mm camera so I could get a picture of them all.

• Post #4269542

  ‘Interesting’ #characters tend to be unrealistic and unconvincing. I would much prefer to put normal people in interesting situations. Like Sam Gamgee marching into Mordor.

• Post #4269541

  Two fictional house on the #Naples #Florida beach that are sort of the same house. https://eggshellboats.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-house-on-beach.html

• Post #4269540

  I like to think of ‘science fiction writer’ and ‘fantasy writer’ and ‘poet’ as facets of the creative gem I am.

• Post #4269539

  #PennedPossibilities 1084 – In your universe, what happens to people when they die? In my primary fantasy universe (the Izan Mythos), no one knows, including the gods. This doesn't prevent a wide range of theories and beliefs. There are definitely no ghosts--I nixed that idea early on.

• Post #4269538

  You know you are a #fantasy writer when you know exactly what day it is on the calendar you invented but aren't sure what it is in the 'real' world.

• Post #4269537

  It's fine to be cutting edge but blunt objects can do more damage.

• Post #4269536

  My all time favorite #review: 'This is supposed to be a novel?" It was a review of a short story.

• Post #4269535

  Seeing another as a stereotype is bad; seeing ourselves as one is worse.

• Post #4269534

  Writing #fiction is not making stuff up but, rather, the art of making people believe stuff you have made up.

• Post #2170064

  Cover of the next book, a #sciencefiction novella (written under my OD Pike pen name), Mission Delayed. This is one of my Jack Mack stories, set about four years after the last published novel (Blind Jump). Release date set for May 18, in print or as free ebook at Arachis Press (arachispress.com). I'll be following it up with a fantasy novella in June; more on that at the proper time.

• Post #2170063

  #WordWeavers April 28. Do you use flowers at all in your story? 'Shaper,' the protagonist of my Cully Beach novels, has an ongoing complaint of the kids who visit his surf shop trampling anything he attempts to plant in the sparse open space. Otherwise, any flowers are likely to just be mentioned in passing, as part of the descriptive process, though they may certainly hold some meaning (nostalgia, etc) to one character or another.

• Post #2170062

  #WritersCoffeeClub 28th Apr. How magical is your work? I'm not sure my fantasy work is magical at all, in that everything has a plausible 'scientific' explanation (like the 'rubber science' of SF). This does not prevent me from populating the stories with the typical cast of magical beings and creatures, nor does it keep sorcerers from plying their trade. But all 'magic' flows from accessing the Infiniverse, not from anything supernatural...

• Post #2170061

  Some pictures of, and a few words about, the spot in the Hocking Hills that inspired my #mystery #novel These Remembered Hills. https://eggshellboats.blogspot.com/2026/04/hill-farm.html

• Post #2170060

  I did what it said on the sign and went to the end of the line; I haven’t a clue why I’m standing in queue but it must be for something quite fine! Stephen Brooke ©2026 #limerick #poetry

• Post #2170059

  Infinity Give me half of infinity; you can take the rest. We’ll compare the two and see which one has the best. Mine’s a really big amount, big enough, at least, that when I began to count the counting never ceased. Half’s enough for anyone, everyone assures, but I hope when all is done mine is bigger than yours. Stephen Brooke ©2026 #poetry #LightVerse

• Post #2170058

  #ScribesAndMakers 5 May: Have you ever worked with collage? As most art students (or young 'artists' in general), I fooled around with it long ago. Once digital art came along, I found myself making lots of virtual collages on the computer. Some of which became book covers. I could mention bricolage which is sort of the same concept, taken wider. A character in my Cully Beach novels writes bricolage poems based on road signs. Although I sort of poke fun, I had to insert one I p...

• Post #2170057

  #PennedPossibilities 1005. What type of clothing does your SC typically wear? M, being an AI, 'wears' a space ship. He (yes, he's gendered male) recently doffed the wartime spy vessel he wore and switched to a snazzy new executive cruiser, so Jack can play the role of playboy/businessman.

• Post #2170056

  Raft, a poem #poetry

• Post #2170055

  #WritersCoffeeClub 7 May: Do readers need to understand a character's motivations to understand the story? People don't clearly understand their own motivations. They're always mixed in some way. I do try to reflect this in the stories; that is, the reader needs at least some idea of what drives the more important characters but we needn't attempt to explain it in simplistic (or, God forbid, 'psychological') terms. I prefer the readers come up wit...

• Post #2170054

  #ScribesAndMakers May7 When did you think of the idea for your current project? Do you remember how it came about? Writing four novels and a novella set in the same universe brought up all sorts of questions about what had led to its culture and technology. So I decided to write a story set some 1400 years earlier about mankind's first steps into interstellar travel. I had made lots of notes about that while writing the other books, so why not use them?

• Post #1669573

  #ScribesAndMakers 19 April: Have you ever been to a poetry reading? Yes, and read at them. Not for some years, due to the distances involved these days.