Ray Ingles

@ringles.bsky.social

980 Followers 229 Following

I’m a software developer with a lifelong taste for science fiction. My first novel, SECONDARY, is now available! Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN meets Naomi Alderman's THE POWER. https://secondary.blog

Try it yourself, dear reader. From memory and without looking anything up: * Explain the history of just the Americas, from Beringia through Clovis to modern times. * Draw, as accurately as you can, the shapes of the various U.S. states. Label all of them. (Bonus: Include major cities and highways.) * Write down as much of the Magna Carta as you can remember. * Compare Egyptian art to Greek art without being able to show any examples. * Accurately estimate how much cargo was shipped by boat, air, and rail worldwide. * Explain the different forms of government in the world, and give a summary of their underlying philosophies. There was so much to cover, I could barely do outlines. It hurt my soul to describe Cleopatra as “an empress who seduced the ruler of one side of a civil war.”
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Darwin, a tabby cat, squeezes from below into the lap of the person sitting at a desk. Only his head and one paw is visible, and his left eye is squinting.
My relief was suddenly a dim and distant thing. Understanding blossomed. Coming across as insulting the bows of the Empress' wife - said insult coming immediately after the granting of a major concession on the part of said wife - I mean, that was simply a monstrously fucking stupid idea.
Nusuku gave a glance at Atosho, then bowed to me formally. “Restful slumber to thee, Jeem.” I still treasured that cut-off final vowel. She never got much better at pronunciation, but she made the effort.
Atosho had a late-night snack delivered from a nearby restaurant. Apparently an 'ethnic' one, some foreign cuisine from what I would have called central Russia. Heavily spiced meat, but accompanied by a salty, wet, sour cheese. Kind of like feta cottage cheese. Fuck, at least it was some kind of cheese. It helped overpower the intense bitter flavor of the chicken meat, as we skimmed the various news programs. That Yarona had taken an interest in my case was widely reported. In addition, it turned out elements of his schedule were published a day in advance: there was some coverage of the fact that I'd be having lunch with him tomorrow.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
‘Nusuku’ frowned, but stayed businesslike. “What thy name is?” “Jim.” A tiny squint. “Jeema?” She dropped her pitch on the “ma,” indicating a question. It still sounded like a statement to my instincts. “Jim.” Flatly: “Other say Jeema.” Her head tilted but she let that go. She placed a picture on the table in front of me. Glossy, color, nothing to distinguish it from one in my world. Although, I didn’t see pixels, or blocky compression artifacts. It was a shot of Toromu’s face and shoulders. The side of her head was caved in. “Why thou Toromu didst kill?” Nusuku asked.
“Even when there’s a division of labor, it’s usually not that sharp. Something like eighty percent of the hunter-gatherer societies we know of include women hunters.” I gave Felix a pointed glance. “Social power often seems to depend on how many calories people bring in.” His eyes had narrowed; I met his scowl. “A lot of places, hunting’s just a bonus; it’s the gathering that really feeds the group.” I allowed myself a modest grin. “Turns out guys can do a decent job sharing power when their meals depend on it.” That got a nervous, tension-releasing laugh from the group, so I kept going. I’d taken a dislike to Felix anyway–he had no idea how complex the Early Bronze Age was, all over the world–and I’d been in academia for years. Poking the eye of someone who irritates the boss is good politics. Even better if it’s dressed up as a polite information exchange. “Agriculture was a disaster for women, in some ways. The men worked the fields, the women handled the home. There’s evidence that the longer a culture’s had Eurasian-style agriculture, the more rigid the gender roles have become.”
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Manayka made a jaygo that bordered on [rude]. "Boys talk." Several of the women, especially T'ramoi and Saloro, were visibly unimpressed. "Naturally they talk," T'ramoi said with a grin. "Why trouble Jeema with idle gossip?" I hadn't seen Manayka be quite that firm with the women. "They talk because they must. To warn each other." He could see he wasn't getting through. After an almost-invisible grimace, he changed tacks. "Besides, if Huvishu is too gohshaivehbusau,[1] how shall Jeema react?" [1] 'Exothermic.' Pretty sure that was the chemical term in English. In this context, it meant 'enthusiastic.' Electrical metaphors are deeply embedded in this culture - foundational, really. But they've had chemistry longer here, too.
We had an agreed-upon term for ‘agriculture.’ I recalled it to their attention, and began a new term: “Famine.” I used our words/gestures for ‘decrease,’ and acted out a little pantomime of being hungry and worried. I had to glance at a cheat sheet to remind me of their term for ‘even/unto/all the way to’ but that was just a couple seconds. I said it, and mimed death.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
“If I cannot shunt you away from this path”[1]–Baiyokee paused, but Atosho shook her head–“then I must beg you. Do not endorse his story! It is more than nonsense–it is heresy!” Atosho shot a look at me–then turned back to Baiyokee. “The truth cannot be heresy.” When her fiance gasped, she spoke quickly. “And it is only truth which we shall present. Simply facts. His genes, his languages, his technology. Their meaning… can be determined later. After more study.” [1] As in, a path in a circuit. Not woods or whatever.
I remember Felix went into how quantum stuff normally happens at the size of atoms and particles, but the Time Eye needed a “macroscale quantum system,” something involving “quantum coherence.” Silam mentioned that a faint radio signal, or a tiny jiggle, could “decohere” the system; everything had to be as isolated as possible from the outside world. I’d seen the pictures from the construction–thick walls intended to block out everything from electromagnetic waves to cosmic rays, complex anti-vibration systems that rivaled the LIGO observatories, etc. Ellen talked about the need to keep certain critical parts cool, despite the enormous amounts of energy flowing near–or even through–them.
Dovee and I ignored the glares and laughs and occasional muttered insults as best we could, continuing to play the vocabulary game. I learned the words for ‘tree’ and ‘sky’ and ‘cloud’ and ‘fence.’
Nusuku led our group off to the side, to where three other women and a young man stood waiting. They were all examining me intently. Nusuku indicated the whole group. “These women will thy claim test.” She gave me a stern look, and asked, “Wilt thou to cooperate promise?” I was examining the women. Middle-aged, mostly–Atosho was the youngest at maybe thirty–and focused. I had no idea about the clothing, but I had a decent impression they were all some variety of professors or academic researchers. Maybe one of them was a physicist? That I could ask about Time Eyes? Feeling a smidgen of actual hope, I nodded. “Promise.” I wasn’t going to get a better deal, I felt sure.
I had to have Manayka help me ask the questions, but it solved a mystery for me. My blood chemistry didn’t show any diagnosed abnormalities, not the common ones the scanners were ‘trained’ to spot automatically. That was apparently the reason the Achapo assholes hadn’t put me on antipsychotics or tranquilizers. From their perspective, my problems had been psychological, not medical.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
The first shirt he put on me felt a bit loose, more like the clothes I was used to. But then he used little clips to tighten it up in a few places. After that, it went into a box about the size of a dishwasher. He told it my measurements verbally. When the shirt came out, it was custom-tailored according to those clips and measurements. At least, tailored close enough, given how the fabric itself could ‘fine tune’ to the wearer. Shortly after, some pants got the same treatment. When the next pants came out, though… I was startled, and had to ask. “Other… color?” They both squinted at me. “Chay. Color… change,” Manayka said. The clothes now matched what seemed to be his signature shades: pink, purple, and greenish-blue. (Maybe ‘teal?’)
A four-tier wedding cake in white buttercream frosting. The tiers are decorated with elaborate piping, also in white, as ribbons and flowers. A custom cake topper is on top, a bride and groom with individualized faces.
I easily tripled my vocabulary that morning. And I learned something else: the language had formal and familiar modes of address–like French, Spanish, etc.[1] [1] It won't surprise you to hear that men used formal address a lot more than women did. I've taken the liberty of transliterating the formal as ‘thou’ and the informal as ‘you’–even though in the original history, it was actually the other way around. But ‘thou’ just sounds more formal to a modern English speaker–and since I'm the only one left, I get to pick. So there.
The other woman laughed before she answered. “I shall simply say it seems rather more likely that this is the fabrication of a mental patient. Perhaps the poor boy was treated dishonorably; but he has created an elaborate fantasy to escape the guilt for his crime. If he is a noble[1] from a faraway land where men rule women, he cannot be blamed for killing the guard.” [1] I had never claimed to be any kind of nobility. My attitude and demeanor were consistent with it, but what really gave that implication was my implied request for special consideration from the courts. That was something attempted almost exclusively by nobles.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
They hooked my cuffs and leg restraints to a bench in the windowless back compartment; I was alone for the ride. The van moved kind of like the Tesla one of my friends drove, and ran quietly. Definitely electric. Some duration later–I thought I felt a stretch of highway-style driving–it parked and the guards got me out. They led me into the back entrance of a building in a city. I was turned over to a couple of uniformed women–they resembled the police who’d arrested me, but I thought maybe a little different–who took a set of forms from the guards, then filled out some kind of paperwork. Again, they used dictation machines. After that, I was taken to a holding area–only other men. Apparently they kept genders separate in jail. Humans would, after all.
“Proto-Indo-Europeans?” Shaheen drawled. Now I knew I was being punked. Or at least, probed. No way multilingual, multi-doctorate Shaheen Kabirii hadn’t at least heard about them. Ellen’s face was carefully blank. Nothing to do except press on. “So many words are similar across so many languages, from Europe through half of Russia to India. There must be a common source. So linguists have reverse-engineered a lot of the original words. And from those, we have decent ideas about how they lived. Like, they had wheels–but no spokes, just big disks–and thatched roofs. Agriculture and domesticated animals. ‘Day’ and ‘deity’ both come from the same root–in lots of different languages–so they worshiped a sun-god.” I took a breath, and chuckled self-deprecatingly. “We think, at least.”
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
I kept peeking over my shoulder at the city as we walked to the front door. Maybe the patterns on one building resembled some ancient pictures in one of Atosho’s books? I only wasted a couple seconds thinking about it. Either way, the information just wasn’t relevant right now. I had to do that all the time. Ruthlessly cut off investigation–or even speculation–about any topic that didn’t seem immediately relevant to survival. I had enough of those to fill my time.
I was almost getting used to tripping over different social assumptions - like child discipline. Talking over the 'venubarokeh', I discovered a technical difference. Their jet planes didn't work like I had assumed. They don't burn fuel the way the ones in the old world did - they run on electricity. Microwaves (I guess) to heat air up to a plasma and shoot it out the back.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
As we dried off, everyone started brushing their hair, and applying cream to their faces. Dovee saw my puzzlement and, with the air of someone helping a confused child, got me to spread some on my lower face. When I rinsed it off, my mustache and stubble were just gone. Dissolved away. For a second I worried, staring in the mirror, but my skin wasn’t even irritated. I hoped they knew what they were doing. Seemed like awfully strong chemicals were in use, and they were pretty nonchalant about it.[1] [1] I recalled the Romans and lead pipes. Shit, our own leaded gasoline, or plastics and hormone disruption.
Then we came to what I processed as the 'old campus.' The structures were in an unfamiliar architecture. Looked almost like small castles - defensible. A few had large chunks of wall replaced with metal, ceramic, and glass - obviously later additions - and upper stories that were more open and airy. My head was turning in all directions as we proceeded into one of the buildings. The stone walls had parquet accents, and the dimness was mitigated somewhat by a long linear 'skylight.' Sconces that probably once held torches now had lights - but they didn't look electric. Not even the weird electric here; the illumination seemed to match the daylight from above. Our group went up to the 'reception bar' and a smiling boy directed us up a floor and to one side.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Uronadai showed up and helped Joku set us up for ‘midafternoon dinner.’ By my eighth meal of sorts, I’d noticed that dairy didn’t show up much here. No cheese and no milk; yogurt (or something like it) once. No way to be sure how common that was, though. What I had noticed was that sweet, sour, and salty tastes dominated the cuisine. Practically everything available that time was pickled, and I didn’t eat much. Hopefully the late snack would be edible…
A furious glance at Atosho. “You raukanoi your guhoh for this yavuree?”[1] A bunch of unknown words–all I really processed was that he was addressing her in the familiar. I didn’t have any time to think about that, because he reached out and gave me a shove on my chest. It made me take a step back, more from surprise than the force of it. Instinctively I glared and made fists, squaring my feet and shoulders. Atosho and Manayka leapt between us, alarmed expressions on their faces. Atosho was gently pulling the guy back. Manayka was doing the same for me–a bit more forcefully. Both were examining me carefully, apparently unsure what I’d do in response to a physical assault. [1] ‘Raukanoi’–burn out/overload. ‘Guhoh’–career/vocation/primary pursuit. ‘Yavuree’–‘skank,’ maybe? A worthless male floozy.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Baiyokee explained the situation - we needed two outfits suitable for [informal lunch] with Yarona in his capacity as Count. The 'cotihlah' - "Habehree, but call me Ree" - was clearly excited at the opportunity. My measurements were taken again - a lot more than the 'basic four' this time. The length of my arms and legs, their girth at several points, etc. Same for Manayka - he handled standing around in his underwear among a crowd of men better than I did. To distract myself, I asked idly about 'gohdookeekeh,' the tailoring machines I'd seen at the bazaar. Manayka, blushing, had to apologize to the offended cotihlah. This was high - or, at least, high-ish - fashion, I was given to understand. They made unique stuff here, fitted by hand.
I kept walking, hunger just beginning to stir. Before I could worry about that, however, a more acute situation had arisen: I badly needed to take a leak. I kept my eyes open for anything that might be a public restroom. I mean, fundamental biological processes had to be pretty universal, right?
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
I figured where this was going, and we short-circuited a lot of vocabulary negotiations. The roles were, in fact, fundamental to most societies. I did a little drama of ‘first character’ coming into ‘second character’s’ house. The ‘second’ offered food and drink, shelter, and protection. I indicated myself as I stood in that position, and said, “Host.” I switched to the first character position, and used more words. “Guest,” with the same ‘me’ gesture: fingers on breastbone. “Not hurt host. Not…” I mimed yanking something from the ‘host.’ I hesitated a second… but it seemed prudent, necessary. “Not go… other place, no say.” I waved out the windows, at the city. Their words were ‘gohsih’ for ‘host’ and ‘sholoo’ for ‘guest.’ In almost no time Atosho was able to make things explicit. “You be good guest, I be good host.”
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
“‘Other all story,’” she mused, and again inspected the picture on top of the pile, the one Nusuku had first shown her. Unkempt, dirty. But cleaned up, he could be a quite pretty boy. Maybe even beautiful, in an exotic or striking fashion. Especially with those round, light-jade eyes. Those eyes… perhaps there was madness there. That wasn’t her specialty. But there was definitely intelligence. Along with a most unmanly self-possession. Even a noble boy wouldn’t… glare quite that way. Finally she looked up at Nusuku. “Now I do not know what to do.”
Unfortunately, the event didn't turn out to be maximally civilized. Sort of midrange civilized. Partly from having to slap things together at the last minute, and partly because of reluctance from the temple administration, we weren't actually meeting in an academic space. It was kind of an auditorium attached to a common facility. Maybe like a 'student union'? So as 'seminars' went, it was pretty f*cking casual. Not exactly a party atmosphere... but a large chunk of the audience wasn't taking it especially seriously. Thing was, though... so far no one had been able to catch me in a definite, provable mistake. Aside from the time travel, everything in my story was physically possible, by their knowledge. It had become a game of sorts - many scientists were trying to come up with logical consequences of my claims. And then try to catch me giving the answer expected for this world, instead of what they'd deduced.
#TimeTravelAuthors April 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: as a knock-knock or other joke) 3. What kind of coffee/caffeinated beverage do your characters like? (suggested by Candace Hill) 5. Games in your story 7. How seriously do they take time travel? 9. Will your characters admit they're wrong? 11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: point) 13. Silliest character 15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: sink/sank) (suggested by NaraMoore) 17. How do you feel about story structure? 19. Any authorities in your story? 21. Repost or reply to another #TimeTravelAuthors participant's post 23. Do your characters test time travel? 25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: alert/observe/observant) 27. Message/moral of your story 29. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
After a moment's pause, the Count said, "I was intrigued by the recordings Gentlelady Atosho released. Would you play another song for me?" That was hardly unexpected. I nodded, and reached for the carrying case by my stool. The guards' eyes tracked me as I opened it up, even though it had already gone through security. I positioned the harachunee on my lap, and strummed a quick couple of chords, to confirm the tension.[1] [1] With more time - and Saloro's help - I'd managed to tune the harachunee fairly precisely. She did the math to convert seconds to etomo, and generate some tones of the correct frequency. She'd also helped me assemble a more practical capo out of a clamp and some padding.
A path wound along the ridges looking down on the rocky beach. We spent an hour or so ambling and talking. It gave her a chance to digest. I spent most of it trying to figure out what was different about her. We’d gone for walks or jogs before, but something had changed. She’d always been… vigilant. Watchful. Scanning for threats. Now I had the weird feeling she might be seeking trouble. Like she’d joined the wolfpack.
I began to overact, some. Occasionally I'd had to do that, just to get some attention. "You went through my personal records? The only things that might be truly mine, in this whole universe..." My voice was getting hoarse. I suddenly realized that I was going to have to take it down a notch or two. Because if I didn't, I might get too emotional. The tantrum I was sort-of-threatening might actually turn real. She was unmoved. "Your story incredible is. Yet you much evidence have." A pause. "I have of you learned. Watched." A flicker of a jaygo. "That I you know... I think." A sigh. "But... if this fraud is-doh?" She paused, quirked her lips in acknowledgement of mixing languages. She looked me in the eye. "You would... 'actor' must be." She actually shrugged. "What if you a liar were?" A quirk of her lips. "What if I, a fool was?"
I had zero good options, but just standing there was probably the worst available. I needed data. I needed something to go on, before I could even hope to come up with a plan. First, research. Then, decisions. I stared at the pea-gravel path for quite a while before I could get my feet to move.
“In the old story, the boy dies.” He grinned. “This is a film for children, so they make the ending koibehvah.” I grinned back, gave the kind of circular nod that indicated ‘vocabulary word exchange.’ “‘Happy.’ That happened much, my world too.”[1] [1] Reading this, I just remembered. Right after the movie, that’s when I found out about speakers here. The sound from the show was as good as any home theater system I’d heard. But I couldn’t spot where it was coming from. I asked, and it turns out they spread ‘speaker-film’ on various surfaces, and it pulls power from something in the walls. (My descriptions of thick, high-power speakers came across to them as woefully primitive. Almost two centuries behind.)
#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
But the Count was turning back to me, now, and asking for a translation of the term "gah-roo-vih-nuh'". My vocabulary lessons could wait. "There was an old… recording media… of flat disks. A long, spiral... scrape on the disk recorded sound. By the shape inside." I mimed a finger moving in a curve, vibrating back and forth a little. Then a [shrug]. "This was called a 'groove.' When used as a…" - I rummaged in my head to recall the word - "verb, it means to flow along the groove, like riding a river."
“Could he not be faking it to get out of a murder charge?” “If that is the case,” Atosho said levelly, “it would require him to have invented multiple novel chemical processes, technologies, and languages. He would also need to have devised a comprehensive and functional writing system completely without historical precedent. As well as a novel musical tradition and tuning system, also composing several original songs in equally novel styles. All this before he was attacked. On top of having been born with genetics that are baffling and unique in several respects.”
#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Saloro didn't quite interrupt. But she spoke quickly. "It was I who prepared the report, thy highness." Atosho had remarked once that she had more ambition than tact. "I have no doubt," he replied, neutral and diplomatic. Returning to his story, though, he displayed another playful smile. "Curiosity is not often considered seemly in an Emperor Consort. My husband, however, indulges my foibles. Indulges me shamelessly, as some would have it." Manayka was dazzled - captivated - by the Consort, and couldn't stifle a giggle. This won him his own tolerant royal smile. "I requested a report on what findings they had reached."
A white-bellied Pitbull with gray patches lays twisted on her back on a gray couch, one eye staring at the camera.
It was a bit like "The Office" - crossed with "Blackadder" and maybe a hint of 'harem' anime. There was a central character, a highly-placed woman bureaucrat. Handsome (by the standards here), and mostly well-meaning, but incompetent. She was supported by a team of clever and devoted - and attractive - males, however, who managed to make her look good by the end of the episode. I got the message. Or I should say, I received Manayka's broadcast. The possibility of a man being smarter than a woman was an actual, cultural thing. It wasn't a flight of fantasy. Which was nice to find out. But I noticed the men schemed amongst and against each other, each trying to appear the most valuable and helpful - and attractive - while undermining the standing of the others. At the end, they came together on the woman's behalf, but only when there was no other option. I kept that to myself, though, and thanked Manayka for showing it to me.
#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
Moving into the living room, where the windows were open to the breeze, I heard the ladies through the screens. “I talked to Hannah. She says he’s not completely useless.” Marilyn’s voice. My feet slowed. “They.” That was Ellen. Gentle and respectful, but firm. “Fine. They say.” Marilyn sounded amused. Now Ellen sounded a touch defensive. “He’s smarter than you think.” A chuckle. “He asks the right questions.” Possibly the greatest physicist in history didn’t sound happy. “And if he figures out more?” Ellen made a faint scoff. “He’s not that smart.” My lips pursed.