Tonya R. Moore's Blog: Tonya R. Moore, page 4

The Lore of Hegira: Slumfairy, Episode 1

Severed heads weren't commonplace, even in one of the crime-ridden shantytowns sprawled along the rims of Hegira's surface canals.

Winny frowned, her gut churning as Bex plunked a dripping, bagged thing down on her counter.

Just as Winny got to wondering whether her human foster-sister had finally gone far enough 'round the bend to forget that a headhunter's job wasn't supposed to be taken quite so literally, there was a choked oomph! which suggested that something was, impossibly, still alive in ...

The Lore of Hegira

Hegira is a leviathan, home to thousands of sapient alien species. The ship of legend, the legacy of a nearly extinct superhuman race known as the Starchasers, barrels through space on a predetermined, circuitous course from one galaxy to the next.The leader of the powerful, militant Merchant Guild that dominates society aboard Hegira seeks to wrest control of the behemoth from her caretakers. But to rule this great ship, one must conquer her pilot.Episode List by Story Arc:(1) Slumfairy

Bex Atri...

A Writer’s Guide to Dealing with Rejection

Rejection bites.

That’s the plain and simple truth.

You pour your heart into a story and revise the heck out of it. You submit/query and repeat until hopefully someone finally thinks that you have something worth publishing. Unless you’re some sort of literary genius whose work always gets accepted on the very first submission, it can become quite a discouraging process.

Rejection is a blow to the ego.

It makes us question whether we possess talent or not.

It makes us wonder whether we should keep t...

Thirteen Years, IN THE MAKING

The first inchoate glimmer of an idea for my latest science fiction short story, In the Making, was sparked during the short-lived heyday of Google Wave.

You… do remember Google Wave, don’t you?

One of the best things about that platform was the way it gave me and folks, some like Samuraipunk’s creator and cyberpunk and punk-scifi-erotica maestro, Made in DNA—who turned out to be a lifelong friend, an easy means to freely bounce story ideas off each other and brainstorm super-imaginative creative...

My 2022 Interview with Author, Jessica Lévai

Jessica Lévai is the author of The Night Library of Sternendach, a vampire romance in Pushkin sonnets. She is a nerd, scholar, and polyglot whose life goals include collaborating on a graphic novel and someday meeting Stephen Colbert.

The Night Library of Sternendach is Jessica Lévai’s first novella and was written (almost) entirely in Pushkin sonnets. Inspired and influenced by Eugene Onegin, Verdi operas, and Revolutionary Girl Utena, it is now available wherever you buy books!

The Night Library...

My 2022 Interview with Tonia Ransom

Tonia Ransom, a horror author and podcast producer with impressive technical and skills has an enviable gift for great storytelling. Tonia is the creator and executive producer of NIGHTLIGHT, an award-winning horror podcast featuring creepy tales written by Black writers.

Tonia has been scaring people since the second grade when she wrote her first story based on Michael Myers. She lives in Austin, Texas, and is currently working on her second audio drama, Afflicted, best described as Lovecraft C...

Upcoming: 2023 Nebula Conference Panel

Join me, Premee Mohamed, R.S.A. Garcia, Glenn Parris, and E.G. Condé for our virtual (online) panel where the topic of discusson will be Caribbean Futurisms.

The term “Caribbean Futurisms” refers to how the future can be imagined from the viewpoint of those who originate from or inhabit the islands located in the Caribbean region.

Each island in the Caribbean has its own distinct and tumultuous history. Each island’s culture has been uniquely shaped by diversity, colonialism, and the mythos of its...

Drinking From Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu

In Drinking Drinking From Graveyard Wells, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu offers a haunting kaleidoscope of modern life seasoned by the rich history and lore of Zimbabwe. These short stories slip between genres, painting an eloquent, chilling, and sometimes painful picture of the countless unsung African women who have and continue to transport our civilization on their backs through time.

This short story collection is an evocative omnibus of darkly magical and modern stories unearthed from Zimbabwean lore ...

& This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda

Shingai Njeri Kagunda uses hypnotic yet conversational prose to bring us Nyokabi, a young woman with the heart of a storyteller whose world has been shattered by the suicide of her beloved brother, Baraka.

Nyokabi receives a magical potion from an odd relative that sends her back to a point in time when Baraka was still alive. She learns that there is magic in storytelling and that storytellers are the carriers of time. Nyokabi plunges into uncertainty with the determination of a woman possessed....

Drosophila and the Beast by Bryce Baron-Sips

Drosophila and the Beast by Bryce Baron-Sips is the macabre tale of a student who lacks the gumption to kill a cringe-worthy lab specimen so she takes it home and makes a half-assed attempt at keeping it as a pet.

Published in the June 13, 2022 issue of Strange Horizons Magazine, Drosophila and the Beast is a highly imaginative tale, fully stocked with awesomely gruesome detail.

This story is a stark commentary on the ghoulishness of human nature. How we can’t help but be cruel to any life we perceive as less precious than our own.

Expect this brilliant story to fascinate you.

Expect it to leave you feeling uncomfortable.

It should.

About the Author

Bryce Baron-Sips is a student of Evolutionary Biology and a writer. His work has been published in VIBE, deLuge Journal, and Wrongdoing Magazine.

Follow Bryce Baron-Sips on Twitter.