Steven Hoefer🖋 @readsteven@mastodon.xyz

A thread of optimistic science/fiction art.

First up, Bryan Larsen's joyful inspiration: https://www.bryanlarsen.com/gallery/

Managed to get a mini episode of the podcast recorded between helicopters and sirens. (Yes, it's coming back. It'll be out at the end of the week.)

Sometimes I just need to write the toot, not toot it.

Last day of my birthday Pay What You Want Sale on the first three Embassy books.

Book 3 has undercover missions, Benjamin getting fired (again), and extraterrestrials so adorable they have their own animated TV show.
https://gumroad.com/l/shardsofloyalty

(I want to keep it for my camping trip next weekend because it would be perfect, but I may not be able to keep myself away.)

I'm only a few chapters into Tamsyn Muir's _Gideon the Ninth_ but … damn, the writing is like a fine meal, full of substance and texture.

It's more Gothic necromancery than I usually go for, but it's also glib and fun and so damn sure of itself that it's just a joy to read.

It’s 100% okay if “Pay What You Want” is $0.00. That’s a valid choice, and I wouldn’t allow it if I didn’t want it.

But, if you do pay nothing, I ask this:

✔️ Actually read it. Don’t throw it on your pile of Free Crap.
✔️ Review it somewhere. For non-famous authors, an honest review is better than a dozen sales.

(I’ll take the chance to remind everyone that book 2—along with 1 & 3—are Pay What You Want this weekend. I’m really awkward about birthday gifts, so giving things away is how I deal.) https://gumroad.com/l/faultsofperception

In line at the coffee shop, and someone came up and started talking about a secondary character in my second book. He’d grown up with someone with the same name and wondered if I’d known them. (I did not. I make up all my names and do a search to weed out anyone famous/litigious.)

The character was one of the bad guys, but the man in line thanked me for bringing back memories of a childhood friend all the same.

Book 1 of The Embassy series starts with an extraterrestrial who has … needs, and the junior ambassador whose job it is to deal with those needs.

Of course it all goes to hell.

It (and the rest of the series) is Pay What You Want this weekend because I'm having a birthday!

https://gumroad.com/l/clashofcultures

I'm having a birthday! 🎁

To celebrate, my first three books are Pay What You Want through the weekend. (That includes $0.00!)

If you like your #ScienceFiction mixed with lighthearted office drama, and some properly alien extraterrestrials, The Embassy series has you covered.

https://gumroad.com/readsteven