What Fates Impose: Tales of Divination

Life is uncertain, and the chance to get a peek into the future is so tempting... but is it really a good idea to look?

With this Kickstarter project, we're asking for help to publish a book of short stories called What Fates Impose. We want to pay the authors professional rates for their writing and offer you the chance to get the book before anyone else. Your contributions will help us to make this book a reality.

Edited by Nayad A. Monroe, this anthology brings together stories from a diverse group of speculative fiction writers who show the possibilities of what can go right or very wrong when people get predictions of their future. There's a full list of the authors and their story titles to be found on the project page. The book also includes cover artwork by Steven C. Gilberts, and an introduction by Alasdair Stuart.

The contributors have won a wide range of awards for their previous work, including the Bram Stoker Award, a Nebula Award, an AU Shadows Award, an Origins "Cleo" Award, a silver ENnie Award, the Authorlink! New Authors Award, a Octavia Butler Scholarship, and multiple other recognitions across the industry.

We'd like for you to check out the Kickstarter itself at http://bit.ly/kickfate.

It would mean a lot to us if you could also spread the word about the project on social media. Just three clicks will mean a great deal to us.

Tweet about it!   Share on Facebook!   Post it to your stream.

Thanks so much!

Steven, Nayad, and all the contributors to What Fates Impose

Minimalistic Twitter Client On The Desktop (literally) using ttytter

I used to use (and recommend) Turpial as a light twitter client, but those days are gone with a recent mandatory change in the API.  No matter - I'd largely been using ttytter as a way to browse twitter in a dropdown window with few problems.

But...but...I wanted something I could glance at.  Something I could just peruse without any difficulty when I had just a few moments.  Something... embedded in the desktop.

So I did it.

Yes, that's my twitter stream. On the desktop.

I already had ttytter installed and configured, and then simply followed the directions here to embed the terminal in the desktop.  It helped that I was already running Openbox, of course.  On other system types (including OSX) you can use the instructions here at http://daesu.github.io/blog/2013/01/22/embedded-terminal-on-desktop/ or these instructions for GNOME 3: http://askubuntu.com/questions/167428/embed-terminal-on-desktop-in-gnome-3-4

Because it's behind all the other windows, I have to make a conscious effort to look at it.  Otherwise, it's invisible.  Huzzah!  Informed without constant notifications and distractions.  Goal achieved.

Oh, and one other thing. Here's my settings for .Xdefaults that gets it looking so nice.

URxvt.transparent:true
URxvt.scrollBar:false
URxvt.borderLess:true
URxvt.cursorColor:white
URxvt.foreground:white
URxvt.intensityStyles:false
URxvt.font: xft:Inconsolata:size=8

The resources I mentioned in my Digital Publishing talk at Origins

I'm recently back from Origins in Columbus - a fun but exhausting four days where I got to meet a lot of cool new people and catch up with a lot more.

I led a session on selling your work digitally, and mentioned a few resources there that I thought were a great places to start - start - learning more:

Jane Friedman's Five paths to publication helps break down the confusing array of choices into something useful and meaningful.

Digital Publishing G+ group, founded by Evo Terra, is a well-moderated and high signal-to-noise ratio G+ group filled with people who are interested in the best ways to sell digitally.
   
The Book Designer (Joel Friedlander) and Kris Rusch are consistently well-thought out and informative.  I sometimes disagree with their conclusions, but I always respect their arguments.
   
My instructions on how to sell your eBooks yourself (and in person).




This isn't a comprehensive list - not by a long shot - but I these are five high-quality places to start.

#SFWApro

Stages - A Flash Fiction

Your lover twists silk around your wrists, pulls it taut. The soft, unyielding resistance is numbing your hands.

"It's a little-" you say before your lover presses a sweat-salted finger against your lip.

"Stage one," your lover says.

Your heart races, pumping love and trust and fear.

Then your ankles - not soft silk, but the cold clank of steel handcuffs, metal edges biting your skin.

"I-" you say. Your lover's silencing hand is a stinging slap.

"Stage two," your lover says.

Your heart races, pumping love and fear.

"Stage three," your lover whispers, drawing the knife.

Your heart races.

---

Please note that the 100 Word Story Podcast is changing URLS to http://oneadayuntilthedayidie.com/!

Based around Laurence Simon's weekly challenge for the 100 word-stories podcast. The player above should have the audio for this week; if it doesn't, you can find the audio here to download.

I am updating these in a podcast feed (dubbed "Radio Free Steven the Nuclear Man" by Laurence). You can subscribe with this link (http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ideatrash) in your podcatcher or phone. You can also read and hear the rest of the entries at the 100 Word Stories podcast site.