JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
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jpspalding.com
JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
@jpspalding.com
Sci-fi enthusiast querying a space opera novel which asks ‘how does technology change us?’

JpSpalding.com

novella about birds. Mybook.to/BTBW
Political Video editor. VFX compositor. Owner of a smol parrot
I’ve returned, hat in hand, with a relativity question. 🙋‍♂️

When you travel at c, you experience no time. But when you travel at a significant fraction of c, for, say, 10 light years, will the time that passes always be 10yrs-or-greater up to when you hit c? Or could it be, say, 6 months?

#Physics
January 12, 2026 at 9:46 PM
I think I’ve grown addicted to the writing process ✍️ more than the end result, CERTAINLY more than querying, just the joy of the habit of sitting down and tackling the outline and executing the events of the story~

#WritingCommunity
January 12, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
Strange Horizons fiction submissions open next Monday!

The window will be open for 48 hours from 3 p.m. UTC on January 19th 2026 to 3 p.m. UTC on January 21st 2026.

There will be no cap.

More information on submitting, including the link to our Moksha portal ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/submit/ficti...
January 12, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Today’s writing soundtrack from one of my favorite ambient creators:
#WriteSky #amWriting

(Are you writing a space opera? This may be the soundtrack for you, haha)
MIRRADYS - (No AI) Epic Cinematic Sci-FI Ambient Music inspired by Star Citizen, IXION, EVE Frontier
YouTube video by AMBIENT CIVILIZATION
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Yessss my short story ‘Big Moose’ 🫎 made the shortlist for @unchartedmag.bsky.social “What the Wild Carries” contest 🏔️

I’m so excited, this is a story I’m really proud of 🤞 and pretty weird compared to my usual topics~

#amSubmitting #WritingCommunity #AuthorsOfBluesky #WriteSky
What the Wild Carries Prize | Judged by Shelby Van Pelt | Shortlist - Uncharted
Here are our shortlisted titles of 16 stories we couldn’t let go of! These stories have been sent to guest judge Shelby Van Pelt for her final choices!
www.unchartedmag.com
January 9, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I got my first short story acceptance to a lit mag! 😤😤😤👏🥳🥹🔥🔥🔥

I was advised to keep things vague until the issue is live but let’s just say I’ll be annoying you all in 4th quarter of ‘26 with my weird story about death~

#AmSubmitting #WritingCommunity #WriteSky
January 8, 2026 at 6:55 AM
December books! I ended with 84 books and these are the last seven. Really strong end to the year. My thoughts/reviews 🧵

#BookSky #BookTok 💙📚
January 7, 2026 at 11:55 PM
I of course did not believe it when so much writers advice said you’ll really get the hang of things on your fourth or fifth book, but here I am, 45k words into my 4th book and yes, it is vastly better than my previous manuscripts though I love them all equally…

#amWriting #WriteSky
January 7, 2026 at 3:16 PM
YESSSSSSS
TOKOMAK FUCKING SUPREMACY LETS GOOOO

is 2026 the year we get fusion? Seriously, we went from the first net gain in 2022 and the megajoules and sustained times are just getting longer at an accelerating rate.
#Physics #Scifi #Fusion
A Tungsten Miracle Happened in the Heart of a Fusion Reactor
This breakthrough in plasma stability brings the dream of endless energy even closer.
www.popularmechanics.com
January 6, 2026 at 12:58 AM
So much fun writing today and making everything that can go wrong go EXTREMELY wrong.

#amWriting #WritingCommunity #scifi
January 2, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
Trust me, there's no such thing as a rough draft or a final draft. It's just you writing forever.
January 1, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Ive just reached 40k on this manuscript and the chapter outlines have grown a bit. Roughly read left-to–right, top–to-bottom.

Every five or so chapters I have a new outline revising the big picture events based on quirks of the previous chapters.

#amWriting #WriteSky ✍️
December 31, 2025 at 3:32 AM
I mean, we’re always excited about our CURRENT manuscript, right? But I’m like, the MOST excited I’ve been about a manuscript in regards to this one. Like, unreasonably so.

#amWriting
December 30, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Dreyers English has no business being as uproariously funny as it is (and clever, and, yes, informative) but most importantly, I find it vindicating 😤
December 30, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Ladies and gentlemen he’s done it! He’s written himself into a PERFECT CORNER. There is LITERARILLY no way to get out of this one. I’ve never seen anyone stick the landing quite like this.

#amWriting
December 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Do you see trends in scifi aliens???
Like you go back far enough and they’re just stoic bald people,
but that got old and it became mostly reptilians for a while, then unknowable intangible god entities and then networked mind fungus. Now it seems to be mostly mollusk-based

#scifi 🪐📚
December 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
There's only one piece of writing advice that's universal. "Read as much as you can."

All the rest is potentially terrible, depending on who it's being given to.

You just have to figure it out, through experimentation, which means finding out some advice is terrible for you.
December 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
Kerbal Space Program is an educational game for learning why launching your enemies into the sun is actually extremely difficult
December 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Just finished book eleven! Waiting for book twelve to come from ThriftBooks! #amReading #BookSky 💙📚
December 24, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
The only USS Defiant I will ever recognize or accept
December 23, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Crossed 33k on the new manuscript today. ✍️ Also hit 30 days since I started the story. 🗓️ Not quite nanowrimo numbers but much much better writing, haha.

My wordcount is closer to the target 🎯 than I worried I would be at 20k~

#amWriting #WriteSky
December 22, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by JP Spalding - #amQuerying SciFi 🪐
Meet these great indie thriller authors at the Thriller Genre Indie Authors Starter Pack! If you wish to be included in the starter pack, reply here. #thriller #writingcommunity #authorsky go.bsky.app/3U7UtVP
Thriller Genre Indie Authors
Join the conversation
go.bsky.app
December 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I got really into solving Rubik’s cubes when I was younger. Great party trick, nice thing to do while you’re waiting to get picked up or just chilling with friends. I had a bunch of different types and everything. I could solve any normal cube in about 5 minutes, any start condition~
Machine solves Rubik's Cube in 0.103 seconds. I'm sure there's a kid out there somewhere who can do it faster.
December 19, 2025 at 10:23 PM
My heart 🥹
a beautiful review of this little book about warbs. I couldn’t tell it better myself. 🪶📚
Book 105 of 2025: Black-Throated Blue Warbler by @jpspalding.com - unique novella from the POV of a “blue.” Obviously well researched, tons of fascinating bird info, but also unapologetically anthropomorphic. Makes for an odd but interesting mix. Great if you’re into birds. #BookSky #Ornithology
December 19, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Somehow I’ve agreed to provide critique on 35,000 words cumulative across several manuscripts… before Monday. Not beta read, detailed developmental and line edits. lol.

#WritingCommunity #AmEditing
December 18, 2025 at 4:27 AM