#scifi

See tagged statuses in the local Rambling Readers community

Heads up Fantasy, SciFi & Horror readers, there's a 200+ indie book sale on this weekend.
Store options include direct from authors, DRM-free & downloadable files.
Prices free-$1.99 (US, or similar in your currency). https://indiebook.sale/

Book search options include by genre & character representation.

Book 1 of my epic, portal, queer-led YA Fantasy is included, and my whole is on sale too: https://elisecarlson.com/ruarnon-trilogy/

Top left: cover of Manipulator's War: Left: portrait of young Heir Ruarnon, their hair braided back, eyes outlined with kohl, wearing fitted bronze armour, a bronze disc kilt, holding a helmet in their left hand and leaning on a spear with their right, which pierces the ‘A’ in the title. Right: Red glyphs outline a stone archway, through which fire arrows rain down on torch-lit battlements atop a castle, at night time. Bottom text: Elise Carlson, Ruarnon Trilogy Book 1 Top right: Manipulator's War. Abductions, treason and geographical necessity drag three diverse young people into a war none wish to fight and two must lead. The greatest danger is what they don't know. Image below; skulls, a planet and dragon surround the text: Indie Book Sale, Fantasy, SciFi & Horror, April 5-7

replied to Assoc for Scottish Literature's status

“The Victorian era witnessed the emergence of a new genre of science fiction, dystopian literature… Oliphant’s short story ‘The Land of Darkness’ is an important and overlooked example”

—Dr Oliver Tearle on Margaret Oliphant’s ‘The Land of Darkness’

5/7

https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/dante-among-the-machines-margaret-oliphants-the-land-of-darkness/

The feminist SF web-novel Mars Needed Women is complete! 23,300 words in 31 chapters, one chapter posted each day throughout March, the last posted 23 minutes ago as I write this. Check out the cover art.

To read, either use the hashtag or this link to the first chapter: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178 The full novel is in the thread. Just scroll to read.

I'll leave it up for you to read for at least a week. After that, I'm revising it for later secondary publication.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

fiction

The March Writever Prompt Card I used for ideas for each chapter of the novel. In March, as the fight for gender equality continues, let’s write it. 1 day 1 word 1 story science fiction🚀 fantastic👻 or fantasy 🗡 Ideally in one thread and with the #writever hashtag 2503.01 — Women 2503.02 — Rights 2503.03 — Housewife 2503.04 — Glue 2503.05 — Mirror 2503.06 — Equality 2503.07 — Consent 2503.08 — Struggle 2503.09 — Ceiling 2503.10 — Exploit 2503.11 — Walk 2503.12 — Emancipation 2503.13 — International 2503.14 — Veil 2503.15 — Freely 2503.16 — Cook 2503.17 — Strike 2503.18 — Abortion 2503.19 — Mental load 2503.20 — Shelter 2503.21 — Empower 2503.22 — Manifest 2503.23 — Intersectional 2503.24 — Work 2503.25 — Echo 2503.26 — Night 2503.27 — Voice 2503.28 — Feather 2503.29 — Matriarchy 2503.30 — Wave 2503.31 — Sorority
The cover art for Mars Needed Women. The background is of the Mars surface with rover tracks, big rocks, sand, and a greenish sky. There is a triskelion image of Mars, which is a tattoo in the story. Credit NASA and ESA for the photos. The back cover reads as follows: Shanghaied May Ri struggled when the EM goon clamped an aromatic wet rag over her nose and mouth... Waking weightless and nauseated—stuffy head pounding, being floated somewhere—despite grogginess, she eyes-closed punched someone, spinning away to bounce off a wall. The click of cartilage, the thump off a bulkhead, the blare of a warning horn, and "Rig for ring spin!" rang in her ears. A tech clapped a bag over her mouth before she vomited up her last meal, while enduring the blonde's glare as blood beaded around her nose. May Ri glowered back. Sitting on the wall, dragged on her butt, her inner ear then her innards soon informed her the wall was becoming the floor. From the author: “A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.”