@stevendbrewer@wandering.shop

The door opened and Tau emerged.
"'tention!" Bebe barked, making him jump. "Cap'n on deck!"
Tau trotted by, his nails going click, click, click.
The technician looked at Tau and then into the bathroom. He shook his head. He couldn't wait to finish up and get out of this madhouse. (2/2) #wss366

The gravity generator on Angels' Wings was acting up and a technician had been called in. After two hours, he said, "Hey! Where's the #john?"
"Bebe will show you to the head," Bebe said. She led him forward, but the door was locked.
"Head?" he joked. "Is that like navy talk?" (1/2) #wss366

Reflecting on pursuing professional reputation at the end of my academic career. https://stevendbrewer.com/non-tenure-track-faculty-and-professional-reputation/

I've noticed some good #ferniverse pictures lately https://cyberplace.social/@antoinnesterk/115434135465749587
https://cyberplace.social/@antoinnesterk/115401597553861007 I might have to start following that hashtag…

"You don't #stash carcasses in the woods?" she said. "Or bury them in a hole? Or hide them under leaves?"
The bear looked at her.
"No, I don't," he said. "The food I eat is all freshly replicated. Whoever gave you that idea?"
They looked up when they heard laughter from the tree tops. (2/2) #wss366

"Hey! Hey!" Brunhilde said. She sat with the bear on the grass at the edge of the forest. "What does it taste like to eat a rotting carcass?"
The bear took a puff of his cigarette, carefully considered the question, and then said, "I have absolutely no idea." (1/2) #wss366

#LesFicFri "hand" from Lady Cecelia's Flowers, Part 1 of Lady Cecelia's Journey, a sapphic romantasy road story.

When @philipbrewer and I were kids, we liked to imagine our dog, Miss Boxer, wearing a tutu. My wife got one for halloween so we could fulfill our dreams. Tanuki-chan was happy to indulge us, as long as we provided a steady stream of treats.

What was funniest was that, to keep her from destroying it when I arrived, I put it on my head. She didn't like that one little bit. Normally eager to greet me, she took one look and scuttled back. #DogsOfMastodon

#ScribesAndMakers Do you have a favorite pen, pencil, or other writing implement?

I have some beautiful Jinhao fountain pens that I like a lot. I originally got some maybe ten years ago and liked them so well that I recently bought new ones. https://wandering.shop/@stevendbrewer/115361531471731393 They write better than these weird ones I got: https://stevendbrewer.com/pretty-fountain-pens/

#WordWeavers What demons haunt your MC’s dreams?

In my forthcoming novel, *A Familiar Problem*, the protagonist has been captured by a demon and made into her familiar, meaning she haunts both his sleeping and waking dreams full time.

I've written an *omake* story to include with the novel entitled *A Different Midsummer Night's Dream* in which the demon literally enters his dream. But things don't go exactly as she planned…

*A Familiar Problem* was delayed, but I hope it will be out soon.

"Toadflax! People sometimes call it 'butter & eggs.'"
"It's a weed."
"It's pretty!"
Kelli peered at it. "It looks like a weed."
"Wait 'til it flowers!"
"No." She dug it out with her hoe. "Show me its flowers someplace other than in our vegetable garden."
Cecelia sighed and got back to work. #wss366

Kelli and Cecelia spent the morning weeding the vegetable garden. Their hoes rose and fell with a monotonous rhythm in the late-morning sun. Then Kelli saw Cecelia pause. She crouched down to look at something.
"What is it, Sisi?" she asked.
"Toadflax."
"What?" (1/2) #wss366

#WritersCoffeeClub Have you ever written a story-within-a-story?

I've written a couple of stories with "framing stories." *Curtains Rise* in *Revin's Heart* is like that. Grip, the Captain's First Mate (and lover) has discovered that the Captain knew his father previously and asks him about it. Will opens a old bottle of rum he'd been keeping, takes a drink, and then proceeds to tell the story of how they met and what happened after. I was pretty pleased with how the story turned out.

If you have more than three hashtags, you're almost certainly using too many.

From *The Mary Stories* a dark, rural fantasy available at TheoReads https://www.theoreads.com/story/54e5936b-8455-4db3-b5f7-06a98f051700/view

I started heading toward the sandwich place, but Mary grabbed my sleeve and pointed a little farther down the street to a dingy sign with a picture of a wolf labeled "Rio Lobo" that was above a dim stairway into a basement.
"You want to try that place?" I asked. She nodded. (2/2) #wss366

"Are you hungry?" I asked. "Should we grab a bite to eat before heading back?"
We turned left past the station and walked along the street toward a line of businesses. There was a burger joint, a sandwich place, and some kind of asian-fusion restaurant. (1/2) #wss366

James Cambias is offering a presentation about worldbuilding in science fiction organized by the Straw Dog Writers Guild. Join us at 3pm on Sunday Nov 9, 2025 in the North Amherst Library Community Room. The presentation is free & open to the public. https://strawdogwriters.org/event/worldbuilding-101 #WesternMass

#ScribesAndMakers Do you prefer fonts with or without serifs? Do you like different fonts for different purposes?

I use different fonts for different purposes. I like serifs for text in blocks and sans serif fonts for labels or single lines of text. I like monospaced fonts for all of my drafting and manuscripts. For publication, I particularly like Garamond. I actually bought a copy of the original 1989 Adobe Garamond on floppy disks for formatting my dissertation.

#WritersCoffeeClub What is your take on the adverb debate?

I think it's stupid. When I learned Esperanto, I discovered that adverbs are just shorthand for prepositional phrases. "He walked quickly" just means "He walked in a quick fashion" but less wordy. Of course, you could use a different verb because English has an absurd number of vaguely synonymous words. He hustled. He jogged. He trotted. But I'm a proponent of saying what you mean. If you meant "He walked quickly," then just say that.