Tonya R. Moore's Blog: Tonya R. Moore, page 5

Join me on Notes

I just published my first note on Substack Notes, and would love for you to join me there!

Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.

Go to Notes

How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Strange Stories Live Here, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Strange Stories Live Here can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.

Why Substack Notes

Fellow writers and readers are spending time in Notes for a variety of reasons.

Ted Gioia sees Notes as a forum for dialogue.

The idea behind Notes is simple. Millions of people now participate in Substack as writers and readers—but much of this is built on long articles and essays. We now have a forum for dialoguing and sharing shorter posts.

Chris Ryan is drawn to Substack as an alternative for legacy social media.

One of my main reasons for joining Substack was to wean myself off exploitative social media platforms. I’m hoping this is going to help move us along on that journey!

Sherman Alexie wants to create a kind and creative new space in Notes.

I’m going to focus on being positive, with my own thoughts and photos and by linking to songs, stories, poems from around the web and from other Substacks.

If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Go to Notes

Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma by R.S.A. Garcia

Published in the January 2021 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine, R.S.A. Garcia’s compelling sequel to her story, The Sun From Both Sides is set in a distant, post-transhumanist future where every human in Eva’s culture is paired with an artificial intelligence that functions as their sibling and protector, from birth.

Eva lives with her husband, Dee, in cloistered contentment in a sylvan environment, until the day her sibling AI suddenly goes on a murderous rampage. Now it’s up to Eva to figure out why.

The narrative shifts back and forth through time, giving us fleeting glimpses of the events and interactions that lead up to the moment Sister attacks and what happens afterward.

The reader gets a sort of tilted perspective of the evolution of Eva and Dee’s relationship, as well as the tensile strength of Eva’s familial bonds.

Though filled with its fair share of bloody violence and intrigue, Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma eschews the typical cyberpunk narrative that depicts AIs as uncannily human-like yet ultimately, soulless machines. Instead, we are gifted, on all fronts, with an unexpected and tender abundance of love.

Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe is a completely deserving finalist for both the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Novella and for the 2022 Theodore A. Sturgeon Memorial Award.

R.S.A. Garcia is a Trinidadian speculative fiction author. She is the author of Lex Talionis, her debut science fiction mystery novel that received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, the Silver Medal for Best Scifi/Fantasy/Horror Ebook from the Independent Publishers Awards (2015), and became an Amazon Bestseller. Her works have been published in multiple speculative fiction magazines and anthologies.

R.S.A Garcia’s Website

The Quiet One

I remember sitting on my uncle’s verandah as a kid, watching Star Trek through the living room’s glass-paned window. I remember the voice of Captain Jean Luc Picard speaking of exploring strange, new worlds and seeking out new civilizations, of boldly going where no one has gone before.

Hearing those words for the very first time, I remember, I was electrified.

I was somewhere between eight and ten years old, that day I first fell in love with science fiction.

I remember night-time stories of the rolling calf, river mummas, and duppies, including some woman named Shirley’s duppy. I remember the lore and superstition that gave me curious thrills of fear and sent chills running down my spine.

I myself may have had a supernatural encounter or two. Like those times I would hear someone call my name when there was no one else there. Like that time I thought I was being chased by a rolling calf.

Hearing and sharing these tales gave rise to my love of horror-fiction.

I remember a land of twisted rivers, seething hills, lush valleys, and the gloriously salty sea air—the breathtaking island of Jamaica, where I was raised.

I was a lonely child, uncommonly quiet at times. I was treated unkindly because of that silence, accused of being sneaky and devious by the adults around me. The ominous words “silent rivers run deep” were often thrown my way.

This used to confuse me because I didn’t think I was being quiet. After all, it was never quiet inside my head.

I remember reading Ray Bradbury for the very first time. The story was “All Summer in a Day” and I cried because I thought I was very much like Margot, treated like a weirdo and subjected to the casual cruelty of other children.

Years later, when I read “The Foghorn” my breath was taken away. My god, was it really possible to put that into words? That desperate, endless yearning.

It was then that I realized that I’d found in writers like Bradbury, McCaffrey, Asimov, and Niven, kindred spirits of some kind.

It was then that I started dreaming of writing a story, a story that had not yet been told. A story that would let some other child realize that there was nothing under the sun or beyond, that couldn’t be put into words.

When I sleep, I dream in sci-fi and horror. I dream of monsters and invading aliens. I dream of chasing and being chased. The flotsam and jetsam of my childhood are always in interwoven within the fabric of my most fantastic nightmares.

In my dreams, I speed along the gnarly roads I once traveled in Jamaica. I smell the cereus that bloomed at night in my uncle’s garden and the cool moss and dark greenery of Fern Gully. I grow drunk on the deep, mysterious scent of the earth and the sounds of this one winding river that always follows me in my dreams.

Somewhere along the line, my love of reading, dreaming, and writing collided with my love of science fiction and horror. Now, bits and pieces of my dreams and the vaguely remembered lore from my childhood spill from my fingers onto the page.

In the middle of the night, I wake up from terrible nightmares eagerly reaching for a pen.

I agree I’m uncommonly taciturn at times. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m sometimes regarded as strange by others. I even believe silent rivers do run deep, but believe me, there’s nothing quiet about me.

After all, it’s never quiet inside my head.

Curated Blogs - a snazzy list (in the making)

Would you like me to add your Substack or personal blog to my "Curated Blogs" list on my website?

https://tonyarmoore.com/curated-blogs

Please reply with a link here.

(Brent, you should already know yours tops the list)

Greetings! Suggestions?

I’m starting over my substack and taking suggestions for what kind of content you wanna see here (in addition to the microfiction I will be posting). Feel free to share a link to your own substack too!

Drinking From Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu

Drinking From Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu is a haunting collection of darkly magical and modern stories unearthed from Zimbabwean lore and pop culture.

Support My Writing: Become a Member

And 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 Read more

Novella Review: And 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 Read more

Devious Machines

Ginger conjured a river. A cool, dark river. The bottoms of her feet tingled, slipping over smooth rock in the virtual riverbed. She lowered her body into the wetness. Frightened river fish darted between her legs. The chaotic chirping of birds resonated through the boughs of the trees blanketing her insular sanctum. She closed her …

Devious Machines Read More »