Sarah A. Hoyt's Blog, page 311

When The Machine Breaks

This doesn’t refer to my battle with flu from hell, (I’m okay, sort of, except still running a low grade fever — to be fair I get that from auto-immune attacks too.  Don’t ask — and very, very tired) and ow it interrupted my writing and projected writing.  This has something to do with it in that when I get sick and can’t get well in a timely manner, I always feel like a) I’m doing something wrong b)get angry at myself for not getting well already.  This fits larger patterns where things don’...

All Animals Are Equal

When I went into high school, I went into a very different environment  than my brother had encountered almost 10 years earlier.  He’d gone through a “sorted” system.

This didn’t apply in the village school, where the classes were fairly small (my graduating class was 12) but the reigning educational theory (and one I’ve come to believe is by far the better) was that people learned best in groups of their general ability.

Indeed, if you’re going to have a public school, and teach people as a...

Oppressive!

Imagine you were creating a world.

If you can’t, then you’re probably not a writer of science fiction and fantasy.  We create worlds on a regular basis, from those that are completely, enormously different, to those that are slightly different.

If you’re working on big differences say “imagine the Earth is always cooler” then one thing you need to worry about is a consistent history and how it influenced your present day characters.

So, imagine you created a species with sexual dimorphism.  T...

The State of the Writer by Sarah and Sunday Vignettes by Mary Catelli, Luke and ‘Nother Mike.

The State of the Writer by Sarah and Sunday Vignettes by Mary Catelli, Luke and ‘Nother Mike.

So, what is the state of the writer?
Having caught con crud at Cosine because the room was unheated for over 24 hours, while it was 18 degrees outside, we’ve been battling it for about two weeks.  It’s possible it was the flu or something weird.  At any rate, I’ve been almost well twice, then the disease did a u-turn and I was suddenly almost dead.

For the last two days I’ve been ALMOST well enough t...

Have Some Promo – Free Range Oyster

Have Some Promo – Free Range Oyster

Once more unto the breach comes the promo post! Reports of my demise may have been slightly embellished. On the contrary, the Oyster Clan has recently grown by one more minion. Granted I may look somewhat dead now, but I assure you I still have a pulse. But! Back to the matter at hand: BOOKS! In my hiatus I’ve received several new submissions. We have a new series launched, a series finished, a couple others continuing; life is good in indie Hun fiction lan...

Come On, Take It – A Blast From the Past from January 2016

*I’m still sick and I’m beginning to be tired of it.  At least I know it’s not something peculiar to me, or something I’m doing wrong, because “this is going around” and taking a long time to get over for everyone.  Though at almost two weeks, it is pushing the limits of my tolerance.  And my poor husband’s too (since he’s down with it also.)
I was casting about for a BPF for today, and this seemed to be apropos.  At least part of the reason that idiots are losing their minds on the street is...

Illegal – by Cedar Sanderson

Illegal – by Cedar Sanderson

il·le·gal

i(l)ˈlēɡəl/

adjective

1.

contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.

“illegal drugs”

synonyms: unlawful, illicit, illegitimate, criminal, felonious; More

 

Words have meanings. As simplistic as that sounds when I write it down, it seems to have gotten lost in the current political atmosphere. I’ve taken to avoiding most social media because it seems most of y’all have taken to using dumb memes and absolutely no reading comprehension...

Enter Rumor, Painted All In Tongues

I was raised in a village, so like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, I have one up on the rest of the world, since I know all kinds of evil and how evil works.

It’s not that there isn’t evil in cities, of course, but it’s more anonymous, less personal, and far more expected, so it doesn’t sucker punch you when you least expect it.

Which is why I prefer cities, preferably large cities, because it’s possible to be almost completely isolated there.  I suspect for extreme introverts there are only t...

Vignette Tuesday

Because I have guest posts but hate to give them low exposure by posting late, and because I’m either having massive autoimmune or the con crud returned in all its glory (either is possible.  It’s been a stressful month.)

So — the theme for this vignette (try to keep it to two paragraphs, under 500 words) — is “Almost the end of the world.”

I.e. how the world almost ended and how the end was averted.

Points given for originality.  (E.g. Bradbury, the end almost came because TV went out foreve...

A People Set Apart

I hate to tell you guys this, but part of what made it easy for the vile progs to take over education and turn it into the sort of brainwashing hate-your-own-country fest that you’d expect of occupiers trying to change the very essence of the country they took over, is an essential component of the national character.

As far as I can tell, ever since the Puritans formed the Mayflower compact, Americans have been obsessed with self-help and self-improvement, not just as a people, but as a nati...