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Reposted by Daniel Ausema

Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 20d

<totters out onto porch>

<settles into rocker>

<thumps cane a few times>

Let's talk about what the process of submitting short fiction used to look like, shall we? And about what it looks like now.

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Reposted by Daniel Ausema

Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 21d

Here’s how tariffs work. Your costs go up, and that money gets transferred to the wealthy.

Whether you’re progressive, liberal, leftist, libertarian, communist, socialist, moderate, democrat, conservative, Christian, atheist, Gen Z, Boomer… we have the same enemy. It’s the oligarchs.

No Kings

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Oct 3

Many years later, in front of the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

Samantha (Sam) Mills @samtasticbooks.com · Oct 3

Call me Ishmael. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

Welcome to Derry Girls @kellylink.bsky.social · Oct 3

There were two husbands disappointed by eggs. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Oct 2

Short story sale! Thrilled to announce "Sea Harvest of Moonlight" will be in the January issue of Sally Port magazine. It's a Studio Ghibli-esque fantasy and will be in a YA-focused issue of the zine.

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Sep 16

I poemed today. I'm quite pleased with the poem.

I've written other poems recently, so it isn't that out of the ordinary. And I often have an inflated opinion of what I write soon after (or an abysmally low opinion...). So that's not extraordinary either.

Just something small to mention.

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Sep 14

What poster did you have hanging in your room as a kid?

(My dad didn’t like us sticking things on the walls for more than a few weeks, so this was a poster I bought in college, hanging alongside a foldable map of Middle Earth)

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Sep 13

Not too spoilery to say that in my Spire City series this is what the bad guys wanted, to get rid of people that were a drain on their way of living. But even as morally reprehensible as those characters were, I didn't think they'd just openly say it, so I had them hide their real intent...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 13

Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless people: "Involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill them."

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Reposted by Daniel Ausema

Amanda Finley Digs All the Spooky Things @rubyslippahs.bsky.social · Sep 12

A little ditty I wrote

Two measures of music in common time on perpetual repeat. Quarter note equals 80. Three voices needed. Children's choir, which screams any sound they want on the first beat, sforzando. And then silent. Ar -15 which keeps a steady, nonstop beat. And Congress, which is always silent

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Sep 9

Glad you liked my bee-person story!

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Reposted by Daniel Ausema

V. Astor Solomon @howsweetthewords.bsky.social · Sep 9

Time again, time again! This week we have some good, good flash from @danielausema.bsky.social and @devzmiller.bsky.social

howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...

Two Fic Tuesday

Welcome! This week I come with a couple of flash pieces. Really, I think it's my favorite length of story, even if I know full well there are wonderful stories of every length. There's something abou...

howsweetthewords.com

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Aug 11

Earliest that seems like SF is a lesser known work (not sure I ever see people mention it): Shadow of the Gloom-world by Roger Eldridge. It was shelved with books for much younger kids, and I remember it being at the upper edge of my reading ability, but it left an impression. Post-apocalyptic.

Risa Wolf / Killerpuppytails @risawolf.bsky.social · Aug 11

I gotta be honest...

The earliest one I recall is "Third Planet from Altair," a Choose Your Own Adventure book by Edward Packard. I mostly remember it because that and "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey" were the only CYOA books I kept until I left home.

After that it's one of the Jules Verne books.

Brian Lucey @brianmlucey.bsky.social · Aug 11

Inspired by @scalzi.com on reading or not the Canon of science fiction...
What, bluesky scifi fans ,were the first science fiction books that you can remember reading?
For me it was
* Adrift in the Stratosphere, by AM Low
* Lensman series by EE Smith

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Jun 12

But I decided long ago that I had no interest in writing about kings and thrones. Even when my stories brush up against feudal or similar societies, that's not my focus.

I avoid creating stories where a character's ancestry defines them. And I'm leery of rulers having excess power #NoKings

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Jun 12

Fantasy often swirls around royalty. I'll allow there can be something genuine and moving in those stories, even for those of us with no kings.

Cruel kings can be overthrown. The trope of a just ruler has resonance. Simba defeating Scar. Aragorn revealing his heritage. Ged lifting up Arren.

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Jun 10

This mostly consisted of maps (so many maps, as the world kept becoming larger and more convoluted) and then stories my younger brother and I acted out in the basement. Not actually *written down*...

Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Jun 10

Half-elven orphan with a magically refilling quiver learns that the long enemies on either side of a sea are being deliberately lied to about each other to encourage their enmity...and a far greater evil is rising. 1st of a trilogy with at least 3 later trilogies, spanning 1000s of years

Tiernan 'Birthday Month' Blanchard @gaycannibalism.bsky.social · Nov 9

so, to the writers... what was the terrible novel you wrote at 14? Mine was about a redhaired freedom fighter called Eleanor Sunstripe

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · May 18

Another poem out this weekend! "The River of Naming" is in the new issue of Orion's Belt: www.orions-belt.net/archives/the...

The River of Naming — Orion's Belt

Names do not rise from nothing.

www.orions-belt.net

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Reposted by Daniel Ausema

Merganser Magazine @mergansermagazine.bsky.social · May 2

May issue just dropped! It opens with “Lesser Zodiacs” by Daniel Ausema. This slipstream poem rocks, setting the tone for a magically strange and colorful set of stories. Read the issue now at our site!

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · May 17

A new poem out! "Lesser Zodiacs" is in the May issue of Merganser Magazine @mergansermagazine.bsky.social

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Apr 28

The beetle Spiral wants to invite you to my new itch.io store: danielausema.itch.io This is a great way to buy ebooks direct from me, avoiding Amazon and other stores.

And there's a bonus, free/pay-what-you-want TTRPG one-shot in the store as well, Spire Songs & Steam Gears!

Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Apr 21

Cool news over the weekend--Orion's Belt accepted one of my poems, a 40-some-line free verse poem about words and meaning. And the...water cycle. Sorta, kinda. I'll link when it's up!

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Apr 17

And here is the same beetle, trying to find its way into the city, looking for…a stable or a flying taxi, probably

Crocheted beetle standing on copies of books from the Spire City series

Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Apr 17

Now taking center stage, a Spire City beetle, ready to pull a carriage down the cobble streets!

(Crocheted beetle courtesy of writer-and-librarian extraordinaire @endawson.bsky.social )

A crocheted rhino beetle in black and shimmery bronze yarn

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Apr 4

New issue of Star*Line! I have a poem in this, about cats and trees (and feline dryads).

Link to the full list of poems (and purchasing options) is here: sfpoetry.com/sl/issues/st...

Astronauts in space suits cross a Martian (or similar) landscape to investigate the fossils of some dinosaur-like creature.

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Mar 17

Anyone reading for the Elgin, don't forget my Ephemeral Village and other chapbooks by Island of Wak-Wak: islandofwakwak.com/printed-book... (if buying a print book is a hardship, reach out to me--I'm happy to set voting members up with an e-ARC!)

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Daniel Ausema @danielausema.bsky.social · Mar 13

What's it about? The orphan Chels feeling lost, the fabled streets of Spire City crushing her hopes, and a choice between different futures, between family she doesn't know and a found family that might understand her better.

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