Sarah A. Hoyt's Blog, page 293

Massacre, War and Colonialism

So I’ve been reading this mystery.  Yes, yes, “It came from KULL” [kindle unlimited lending library] I know, but it’s actually decent.  I mean, it’s not exactly setting my world on fire, but it’s pleasant enough.  Until…

The book is set in the nineteenth century. One of the characters is reading her father’s diary, and her father was a scientist/explorer (who has disappeared.  This is sort of the background to the whole series, not the mystery) and she’s enthralled by his adventures, until…

U...

What You Owe

Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
– Robert A. Heinlein

I found this Heinlein quote yesterday, while working on the article for PJmedia (I know most of my Heinlein quotes at a remove, because I first read the...

Reading and Relevance

I come from a strange time and place.  Most science fiction people are “strange” in that most people who read science fiction in the US are considered a little strange.  At least I’m reminded of this every time I go out in public, and mingle with normal every day people.  If they discuss books at all, it’s the latest bestseller.  In a gathering of women, you might get some love for romance.  But our stuff?  That’s coo-eee, out there and “why would you want to read that.

That’s fine.  I don’t...

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike & Promo, Now With More Audio by Freerange Oyster

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you...

Yes I am alive And Free Short Story

Sorry, got ambushed by various unavoidable situations, including a long call with parents (no, nothing wrong, just talking.)

And now it seems rather weird to put a post up.
To compensate, have a free short story (not proofed, though it will be up soon in a collection which is proofed.)  This story first came out in As Time Goes By, the Baen Valentine’s collection for 2015.

I was rather disappointed there wasn’t a Prometheus for short stories, as I this story took me forever and a day to resea...

Pursuing Liberty – a blast from the past from July 4, 2011

Pursuing Liberty – a blast from the past from July 4, 2011

The United States of America is the most revolutionary land based on the most revolutionary idea in the history of mankind.

[image error]A year before I married my husband, my best friend from childhood married a Frenchman. She became a French citizen the year before I became an American citizen, and for her that meant that – in her little town – she got to open the Bastille-day ball by dancing with the mayor.

I remember being happy for her but, a...

I Aten’t Dead

I’m also, honestly, not trying to see how late I can be before I check in here.

The day just sort of took a weird turn, or I’d have put on a Blast From The Past.  No, nothing bad, just I knew I needed to do some things today, and they necessitated driving, only I’m not driving yet, and it was easier for son to drive me before I’d put the post up, so…

Anyway, speaking of things in the air, that aren’t exactly a conspiracy theory, because it would take too much effort to coordinate across thous...

Top Secret

Humans are curious things.  I once read a description of the human mind as an instrument for bringing order out of Chaos.  (Which puts the story of the creation in a whole different light, but never mind that.)

It might very well be the mechanism responsible for our success in becoming the dominant species on Earth.  We can take hints and signs, and weave them into a complete whole, so that grandma G’u’g who can no longer see very well can add up almost unheard rustle in the bushes, a certain...

The Free Market versus Death Panels by Alpheus Madsen

The Free Market versus Death Panels by Alpheus Madsen

A few days ago, I encountered a question on the evil time-sucking website called Quora that I wished I could answer, but I had lost track of.  The question in question was something about wondering if the Free Market could provide health care, and the answer that I wanted to counter said, essentially, “No, because the profit motive doesn’t belong in health care, because the value of any given life is infinite, so doctors will charge millio...

There’s No Business….

There are two times that movies made me and a friend who is also a writer laugh so loud we were almost kicked out of the theater.  This was made worse by the fact that the lines weren’t particularly funny.

Not to anyone not in our business.

The first one is from sliding doors, when the girl tells her no good writer-wannabe boyfriend “I know you’ll finish your novel and we’ll be rich, but…”

Yeah.  It happens.  Look at the mountain who is buying a a mountain.  Of course it happens.  But it take...