Rambling Readers

Neve Maslakovic

#writephant #selfpromo A couple of May promotions!

This one is for scifi and fantasy reads:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/marvelousmaybooksale/lqtyjv16y9

And this one is for time travel books:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/time_travel_2025/6j5n664143

#books #fiction #bookstodon #timetravel #sff #sciencefiction #scifi

Two monks battle with lightsabers in the Arizona Buddhist Temple sanctuary during a service for May the Fourth (i.e. Star Wars Day).
#starwars #maythe4th #buddhism #buddhist #jodoshinshu #shinbuddhism #scifi

Two monks in black robes battle with lightsabers before the shine of Amida Buddha, as temple members in chairs look on.

Michael Whelan

GOLDEN WITCHBREED (1984)
Acrylic - 22" x 30"

When the publisher balked at my fee for this Mary Gentle cover, I uncharacteristically chatted them up by telling them that I would do one of my "best pieces of work to date" and "the book would sell great" as a result.

They went for it. 1/6

#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #illustration #marygentle

A dark skinned alien male with pointed ears and a tapering line of fur down his back kneels with courtly grace, positioned shoulder-to-shoulder with a human female with short blonde hair. He is bare from the waist up, exposing lithe muscle and a sheen on his skin. Rich scarlet silk drapes his lower half, and on each hip hangs a sword. The woman is dressed plainly in drab jeans and matching tank top with loose arm warmers and a long white fur cloak. A pouch is clipped to her belt and a pair of chains wrap her hip. She twines fingers with her alien counterpart, five fingers to his six, light skin against dark. In her free hand she holds a plain rod. The ground beneath is lush with alien vegetation, a carpet of green and purple flowers. A stone wall with hexagonal opening frames them where they kneel. A city with white onion domed buildings can been seen low in the background left. A spaceship, mirroring the shape of the wall, takes off climbing above jagged mountains on the horizon.

Dilman Dila

If you want to get into African scifi, there is a story bundle with lots of good books on it, including my collection of short stories, Where Rivers Go To Die.

https://storybundle.com/scifi

@bookstodon #writing #sff #sffbooks #writingcommunity #scifi

H. Randt ⁂

¡Hoy es el último día!

El último día para nominar a "Para aprender, si la suerte nos sonríe", de Becky Chambers, a mejor novela y mejor ilustración en los premios #Ignotus.

Y si no os la habéis leído, os la recomiendo muchito:
https://shop.crononauta.es/products/para-aprender-si-la-suerte-nos-sonrie

#ignotus2025 #literaverso #literatura #scifi

Portada y contraportada del libro "Para aprender, si la suerte nos sonríe", de Becky Chambers.

Jon PENNYCOOK

I thought I would watch the first film of #Lexx "His Divine Shadow". Possibly one of the highlights of Canadian science fiction, but nothing says low budget better than the 4:3 aspect ratio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx

#SF #sciencefiction #scifi #Canada

Assoc for Scottish Literature replied to Assoc for Scottish Literature's status

…Man sall tak wings;
And, as a bird, flee owre the wa’ o’ the world
To bigg his nest in the braid breast
O’ Cassiopeia
Or whaur the galaxy hings like a watergaw
Lippen on nae sin…

—William Soutar, “Apotheosis” – a poetical science-fiction extravaganza

3/6

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #WilliamSoutar #Scots #Scotslanguage #sciencefiction #scifi

William Soutar
Apotheosis

Afore the world, like a frostit stane,
Birls on thru space;
Afore the sin has gaen black in the face,
And the nicht liggs in the lift
And winna shift;
Lang, lang afore the hinmaist skelter o’ snaw
Dings and dings in a yowdendrift
That faulds, like the dounfa’
O time’s cauld mort-claith, round the deid yird—
Man sall tak wings;
And, as a bird, flee owre the wa’ o’ the world
To bigg his nest in the braid breast
O’ Cassiopeia
Or whaur the galaxy hings like a watergaw
Lippen on nae sin.

* * * *

Lang, lang, or earth’s day is dune
Man sall tak wings
And lauch at the auld-farand blethers
O’ gowdan feathers;
And lauch, and lauch, while his bluid sings,
Abüne the gaunch o’ the thunner,
And the deid sterns ane be ane
Whunner by like flauchts frae a cleckin-stane.

Alazarin Mobius

Here’s the YouTube live stream of our show this evening, Sunday 27 April 2025:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9dHnnGFb3Q

#alazarinmobius #theinvisibleband #interplanetaryliberationfront #progressiverock #spacerock #secondlife #cubase #livestream #bandcamp #youtube #music #progrock #livestreammusic #scifi #spaceopera #mastomusic #musodon

Assoc for Scottish Literature replied to Assoc for Scottish Literature's status

—We come in peace from the third planet.
Would you take us to your leader?

Edwin Morgan’s science-fiction poem “The First Men on Mercury” in comic strip form, by the amazing metaphrog

3/12

Download it free here:
https://metaphrog.com/the-first-men-on-mercury/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #EdwinMorgan #Sciencefiction #scifi

The First Men on Mercury
from a poem by Edwin Morgan
Adaptation by metaphrog

A shining rocket arcs through the starry sky. Three young human astronauts look through a porthole and point at a brown cratered planet. One points towards three tiny alien figures and an eccentric-looking robot who are watching them descend. No words are spoken.

The rocket lands. The aliens – two adults, one child – look on. The little robot skids back to the alien group. The three humans, in spacesuits, calmly descent from the rocket and approach the aliens. One human speaks:

– We come in peace from the third planet.
Would you take us to your leader?

An alien replies:

– Bawr stretter! Bawr. Bawr. Stretterhawl?

The humans display a small orrery, and point to it. One says

– This is a little plastic model
of the solar system, with working parts.
You are here and we are there and we
are now here with you, is this clear?

The aliens respond:

– Gawl horrop. Bawr Abawrhannahanna!

Patiently, the human continues:

– Where we come from is blue and white
with brown, you see we call the brown
here ‘land’, the blue is ‘sea’, and the white
is ‘clouds’ over land and sea, we live
on the surface of the brown land,
all round is sea and clouds…

The human continues:

We are ‘men’.
Men come –

One alien interrupts:

– Glawp men! Gawrbenner menko. Menhawl?

One human, hand on their breast, replies earnestly:

– Men come in peace from the third planet
which we call ‘earth’. We are earthmen.
Take us earthmen to your leader.

The aliens and the robot look at the humans, their expressions unreadable. One alien replies:

– Thmen? Thmen? Bawr. Bawrhossop.
Yuleeda tan hanna. Harrabost yuleeda.

The human raises their hands. Little spirals of confusion spin beside their head. They speak:

– I am the yuleeda. You see my hands,
we carry no benner, we come in peace.
The spaceways are all stretterhawn.

One alien replies:

– Glawn peacemen all horrabhanna tantko!
Tan come at’mstrossop. Glawp yuleeda!

The human replies, as their two companions look on, startled:

– Atoms are peacegawl in our harraban.
Menbat worrabost from tan hannahanna.

The two adult aliens flank their child, and point sternly at the humans, saying:

– You men we know bawrhossoptant. Bawr.
We know yuleeda. Go strawg backspetter quick.

The humans, with stars and bubbles drifting around their heads, reply:

– We cantantabawr, tantingko backspetter now!

One alien points forcefully. Behind them, the child clings to the other adult, who looks away, perhaps in sorrow. The first alien speaks:

– Banghapper now! Yes, third planet back.
Yuleeda will go back blue, white, brown
nowhanna! There is no more talk.

The humans, their rocket standing in the background, look defeated. One says:

– Gawl han fasthapper?

An alien reply comes from outside the frame:

No.

The first alien points up and away. The second embraces their child. The little robot points sternly, too, echoing the first alien's determined pose. The alien speaks:

You must go back to your planet.
Go back in peace, take what you have gained
but quickly.

Slowly, the humans turn back to their rocket, trailing bubbles from their heads. One says:

Stretterworra

Another says

gawl, gawl…

They climb back into their rocket, which flies away into space. Below, the aliens watch it leave. One says:

Of course, but nothing is ever the same,
now is it?

The final, small, round panel shows the little brown planet disappearing into the distance. A speech bubble emerges from it:

You’ll remember Mercury.

Jon PENNYCOOK

Content warning #QuatermassIV spoiler

#QuatermassIV spoiler

The peace-loving People and Planet members have machine guns to shoot the old people, and the old people are going to nuke the alien harvesting machine. Quatermass meets his granddaughter(?) briefly.

So that's why there wasn't a Quatermass 5.

#SF #scifi #Quatermass

Ger

Vamos con #OneWeekOneComic - iniciativa creada por @amiquemelasude -

No estoy descubriendo nada aquí pero... ¡UNIVERSO! de mi querido Albert Monteys, compuesto por historias cortas es pura sci-fi divertidísima, se lee solo. Mención especial para la historia "¡La Cristina del mañana!"

Los tenéis en descarga en Panel Syndicate al precio que queráis poner.

#comics #scifi

Portada del cómic. En letras grandes y ocupando todo el ancho se lee "¡UNIVERSO! Albert Monteys". Sobre fondo blanco vemos como una especie de astronauta que lleva un artilugio en la mano camina hacia una especie de homínidos que parecen cabreados. Editorial Astiberri

El mismo astronauta de la portada está alucinando y flotando en el espacio en lo que parece una sopa cósmica, de explosiones, colores, nebulosas... le acompaña un pequeño dron flotante en forma piramidal. El astronaute dice "Oh... ¡oh! ¡wow! ¡ja ja ja ! ¡míralo...! es... ¿Ha salido bien? ¡ja ja ja! oh, mierda. ¿Qué hacemos ahora?" el dron le responde "Realmente no escuchaste mucho en las reuniones, ¿no? Ahora esperamos diecisiete mil millones de años"

Michael Whelan

THE GAMEPLAYERS OF ZAN (1976)
Acrylic - 28" x 22"

An unusual aspect of this assignment was that the author told Donald Wollheim what scene should appear on the cover. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #mafoster

Rod Faulkner

If you enjoy #sciencefiction and #fantasy, please signup for my free, daily (Monday - Friday) "micro" newsletter!

Learn more here:

https://the7thmatrix.gumroad.com/l/eyeonscifi

#scifi

michael fulgenzi

We just watched this.

It was awesome.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invaders_from_Mars_(1953_film)

#scifi #1950s

This Is My Glasgow

Looks like the Doctor's going to get a ticket from Glasgow City Council for parking his Tardis on the pavement in Cathedral Square, despite the sign telling him not to park it there!

#glasgow #signs #drwho #tardis #cathedralsquare #streetart #parking #keepglasgowweird #glasgowstreetart #humour #scotland #scottishhumour #scifi

A sign posted next to a Glasgow police box saying Tardises must not be parked on this street at any time.