Rambling Readers

Branwen OShea (she/her)

“A less cynical yet nuanced take on humanity’s future, while still being full of action, twists, betrayal, and love…”

Some chasms are better left uncrossed.

50% off this weekend!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFPHQVN

#Hopepunk #scifi #books #deals #sale #reading #writing #fantasy #FindingHumanitySeries

A paperback of The Chasm being held outside above snow. The cover features a bright yellow-orange sunset behind a hovering black helicopter. A woman in arctic clothing and a walking stick defiantly faces off against the helicopter.

A mood board of 12 pictures for The Chasm:
1) Three military people are fighting off a swarm of black birds, 2) A huge paw print in the snow with two types of blood in it, 3)A person with a helicopter, 4)people running, 5) An unusual compass with DNA symbols incorporated with it, 6) Energy coming from a woman’s palm, 7)a hooded figure, 8) A teen with a trained eagle, 9) eyes in space, 10)A lone gunman in an arctic landscape, 11)A halo of energy atop a mountain, 12) a feather caught in a man’s hands.

C. R. Collins

#Writephant #SelfPromo

Tales of Ardonna is a #HopePunk #Fantasy series with an emphasis on nature.

More info, including maps & purchase links, can be found on my website: https://crcollins.org/

Tales of Ardonna current book tree with its three levels of book covers, descending from earliest to latest timeline.
On the top branches, pointing left, are Mage Era books: River’s Roar and Giants’ Gate.
The middle branches, pointing right, are for Dragon Age books: Song of Jade: Red Wolf and Song of Jade: Hidden Kingdom
The lowest branches, sprawling left to right in the center of the tree, holds the Modern Era books. The Woodspell trilogy is here, its 3 volumes on the lefthand side. The sequels, Chasing Sunset (beneath the third book) and Midnight Crow (to the right and a bit lower) are on the trunk, plus a promo placeholder to the right of the second book which says Final Sequel 2025

Sarena Ulibarri

The new #Imagine2200 stories are now available! I worked with Grist last summer to help choose these stories, and I can’t wait to hear what you think of them. Give them a read and let me know!

#solarpunk #hopepunk #ClimateHope #ClimateFiction #ecofiction #ecopunk

https://grist.org/imagine2200-climate-fiction-contest-2025/

Valerie Roney

Ok, I need to think about different things.

Are there folks out there who can explain to me the difference between #hopePunk and #solarPunk - both in the genres and the tag use in the fedi. Plus any other defiantly optimistic tags and ideas going on out there. (I for one am delighted by #rewilding )

I am unlikely to have the cog to engage but will be lurking and pondering.

*waves arm expansively*

Invitation to infodumps and tangents.

I wanna explore this space, listen and dream.

C. R. Collins

#WritersCoffeeClub Dec 30
What were the big writing moments for you in 2024?

I released 3 books 😊

January: Midnight Crow - 2nd sequel (Modern Era)
May: Giants' Gate - 2nd Mage Era prequel
September: Song of Jade: Hidden Kingdom - 2nd Dragon Age prequel

These are all standalones, in that they have a main plot that begins & ends. The ongoing "series" bit are some of the same characters & their ongoing stories & world stories.

#Fantasty #HopePunk

Cover for 2nd sequel. Top to Bottom: Series name - Tales of Ardonna. Picture of a large crow landing under Ardonna's 3 moons. Title: Midnight Crow. Author: C. R. Collins There's a fancy line border around the edges and a line with a tree icon (branches & roots in a circle) above the title

Cover for 2nd Mage Era prequel. Top to bottom: Series title - Tales of Ardonna photo of brown giant eye peeking through a doorway. Title: Giants' Gate Author: C. R. Collins There is a fancy line decorating the edges and a line with a tree icon (branches & roots in a circle) above the title. This one has a blue cast to the background and lettering

Cover for 2nd Dragon Age prequel. Top to bottom: Series title - Tales of Ardonna photo is a depiction of Quenelle's bell tower rising through its watchwood with a tiny dragon hovering to one side. Title: Song of Jade: Hidden Kingdom. Author: C. R. Collins There is a decorative line around the edges and a line above the title with a tree icon (branches & roots in a circle)

alxd ✏️ solarpunk prompts

If you like #solarpunk #art and #illustration with a lot of #hope , you might have seen @the_lemonaut Creative Commons works (one of which is even featured on #wikipedia !).

They're currently looking for (Solarpunk or not) #commissions to fund their University costs!

More at https://mastodon.art/@the_lemonaut/113635294107241326

#commissionsOpen #visualArt #sustainability #hopepunk #disability and #disabled characters, #ClimateChange #climate #creativeCommons

A big and detailed illustration of an indoor space filled with people. Everything is gently lit by the summer sun let in through the two tall windows. The outside is green as can be.

The room - a maker and hacker space - is furnished with various shelves, tables, work benches and chairs. Nearly every surface is teeming with tools and containers, and abstract colorful murals cover the walls.

Two tables stand in the middle of the room, right next to each other. A man at the left table is teaching others about repairing their own prostheses. He himself has a body-powered prosthetic arm. At the right table, people are busy repairing a bike, sewing clothes and pride flags. In the back, people are chatting, passing each other tools; a girl sitting next to a window is painting her prosthetic arm on her lap.

Digital illustration. The scene is set on a spring morning.
A middle-aged woman is standing in the centre of the frame, holding a miner's helmet in one hand and in the other - a flyer, close to her chest.
Before her is a statue of two people, one of which is pulling the other out of a hole while holding onto a small wind turbine. A discarded pickaxe is lying on the ground.
The woman looks uncertain, but there's a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

In the background is a building the second floor of which looks drastically different from the first: it's much more colorful and imaginative. The text on the building reads "Community Center"

Digital illustration of a rooftop vegetable garden under a semi-transparent solar panel, lit by the morning sun. Behind it we see a vibrant residential tower, and yet further - a park still bathed in gentle shadows, as well as a train bridge.

Three people are in the foreground next to the raised garden beds. A grandmother is sitting on a stool, explaining something to the curious child who's crouching nearby. To the left, a girl, clearly in the middle of doing something, appears to have zoned out and is now looking into the distance, fiddling with her necklace.
A watering can is dripping on the thin stone-tiled path nearby.

Branwen OShea (she/her)

Have a reader on your gift list? We’ll be 50 Indie authors available to personalize and sign our books. And since it’s at the Westbrook Outlet, you can pick up other gifts too! My books, taking place in a future ice age, even fit the season!❄️
(And if you’re in #WordWeavers, we could meet in person!)
#HolidayGifts #Books #reading #Readers #scifi #Fantasy #Hopepunk

Image of over thirty book covers around a flyer with the following information:
Connecticut Christmas Market! WESTBROOK OUTLETS & CONNECTICUT BOOK FESTIVALS: HolidayAuthor Celebration! 50+ CONNECTICUT AUTHORS. WESTBROOK OUTLETS. DEC. 21, 2024 11a - 4pm. 314 Flat Rock Place Westbrook, CT

Branwen OShea (she/her)

Just got an email that my future ice age book, The Calling, was nominated for three awards in the 2024 Indie Ink Awards!
(Best Cover, Best Setting, and Wittiest Character)

If anyone wants to check out The Calling, here you go! (and notice the amazingly detailed artwork by @raifiondella!)

#FindingHumanitySeries #scifi #hopepunk #fantasy #youngadultbooks #author #authors

https://books2read.com/FindingHumanityBook1

Author’s hand holding a paperback of The Calling outside. The cover features a teen exiting a massive elevator into a nighttime Arctic landscape. Far in the distance, on the snow, sits a strange star.

Susan Kaye Quinn

First batch of signed #solarpunk paperbacks shipped out!

I love that people are gifting these stories of hopeful climate fiction to the people they love (including themselves!).

Still some left: signed paperbacks at cost
https://susankayequinn.com/signed-paperbacks-at-cost

#solarpunk #hopepunk #climateFiction #ClimateChange

Two bags of envelopes of hopeful climate fiction: I'm sending out signed copies of both a collection of short stories (Halfway to Better) and the first in a novel series (When You Had Power).

Branwen OShea (she/her)

💫Great Holiday Gift for Teens!💫

❄️Enemies forced to cooperate
❄️Saving a sibling
❄️First contact
❄️Touch of paranormal
❄️A nonviolent badass female MC
❄️Found family
❄️Usurped love triangle trope

#scifi #hopepunk #fantasy #books #youngadult #aliens #iceage #FindingHumanitySeries #reads #reading

https://books2read.com/FindingHumanityBook1

Cartoon drawing of a nighttime Arctic landscape with a brown bear cub looking up at the sky where there’s the book, The Calling
Story summary: In a future ice age, Bleu's expedition team emerges from their subterranean haven to discover húmans are no longer the dominant life form on Earth. THE CALLING by BRANWEN OSHEA

Branwen OShea (she/her)

50% off!

The humans of Northern Haven reluctantly ally with the mysterious star beings, hoping to gain help finding other survivors of the new ice age. Instead, they discover a fierce, new threat that sheds doubt on everything they know of their new allies.

#fantasy ##scifi #hopepunk #aliens #amwriting #books #youngadultbooks #sale #onsale

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFPHQVN

A hand holding a paperback of The Chasm by Branwen OShea in front of matching white wild flowers. The cover is mostly yellows and oranges due to a sunset. An unarmed star being woman in arctic leather and fur stands in an icy chasm looking up defiantly at a black helicopter pointing its guns at her.

Lemon

An illustration for a certain thing that also functions as cover art for two episodes of the #solarpunkPrompts podcast :] This was quite a challenge, and I think it turned out pretty cozy

(And #thebikeisdoingjustfine)

#art #illustration #solarpunk #hopepunk #hackerspace #makerspace #hacking #making #disability #disabled #accessibility #rightToRepair #futurism #wholesome #myArt

Branwen OShea (she/her)

I started writing The Calling at the original heyday of dystopian literature (2011), and specifically wrote it to seem in the beginning like a “Dystopian, chosen one” trope that later gets usurped to “Hopepunk, no chosen one, everyone is responsible,” … 1/2

#hopepunk #scifi #dystopian #humanity #nonviolence #violence #peace #fantasy #FindingHumanitySeries

Image of a paperback and ebook of The Calling in front of a spiral galaxy. The cover features a teen exiting a massive elevator and looking out into a dark, arctic landscape. In the distance, a strange star in on the snow.

Branwen OShea (she/her) replied to Branwen OShea (she/her)'s status

…because I felt we all needed new stories where each of us can affect things and make a difference, where society CAN change to overcome violence, & we CAN live in harmony with our planet. It’s multiple POV because the real MC is all of humanity.
To learn more:

In a future ice age, Bleu’s expedition team emerges from their subterranean haven to discover humans are no longer the dominant life form on Earth.

#hopepunk #scifi #FindingHumanitySeries

https://books2read.com/FindingHumanityBook1