Moon-Boy
Reading Time: 21 minutes In near-future England, teenage Naomi daydreams of dating a boy from the lunar Colony.
Amelia’s Appliances
Reading Time: 4 minutes As William ambles into the kitchen to retrieve his morning coffee, he slips on a patch of melted ice. When he falls on his back, the dishwasher swings its door open and smacks him on the head.
Christmas At Grandma Minerva’s
Reading Time: 6 minutes When Grandma Minerva is bitten trying to buy a special Christmas present for her grandchildren, she is determined to still have a wonderful holiday before she turns.
Website basics: How to set up a featured panel
Reading Time: 16 minutes How to make a panel on a Wordpress website to promote a new book release using Gutenberg blocks.
Writing Prompt for the Week – Nov 29
Reading Time: < 1 minute What if everyone gets a magic tattoo and yours is most dangerous of all?
Love Nwatta-Nwatta-Nwatta Style
Reading Time: 16 minutes Can love blossom between an man and a low-gravity spider in the most dangerous parking lot in the Galaxy?
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 28
Reading Time: 22 minutes I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 28 Read More »
The Old Red Schoolhouse in the Forest
Reading Time: 2 minutes We live in an old red schoolhouse in the forest. The forest is thick and woolly, and at night you can hear the wolves sing. It is safe here.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 26, 2021
Reading Time: 15 minutes We read the first chapters of the top ten free spec fic books on Amazon. Today’s list has werewolves, magic, space exploration, epic fantasy, and several box sets.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 26, 2021 Read More »
The Letters
Reading Time: 16 minutes The old metalworks where Seth’s father was a Robotics technician before the war drafted him; is now a graveyard. He sneaks back inside, never expecting to find Robots, a T-Rex and a communication bot. It is perfect until the police discover them; they are immediately sent for destruction.
Black Friday deal: Kindle Unlimited now $4 a month
Reading Time: 3 minutes You can now get four months of Kindle Unlimited for $4 a month — it’s normally $10 a month. Amazon also has great deals right now on Kindle devices.
Black Friday deal: Kindle Unlimited now $4 a month Read More »
Please Hold
Reading Time: 4 minutes Brother Gregor bent close to his work, his hands trembling as he lifted the taper. Candlelight flickered in the gloom; incense sticks pierced the fetid air. A drab grey light trickled through the tiny windows, illuminating the chalk circle drawn across the floorboards.
A Butterfly in Peking
Reading Time: 7 minutes In a war-torn world of brutal fighting between greens and technocrats, three orphaned children collide with destiny. A single decision will define their lives.
Writing Prompt for the Week – Nov 22
Reading Time: < 1 minute What if a man had to enter an alternate reality to be with his wife?
Fangs
Reading Time: 5 minutes Anca is lonely and she knows it’s because she is different, but when she had a bad accident she encounters somebody that could be a friend.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 21
Reading Time: 7 minutes I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 21 Read More »
Halo series’ trailer shows focus on character
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Halo video game series is all about protecting Earth from alien invaders in the 26th century. A teaser trailer has just dropped for the Paramount+ TV series, expected to hit the streaming service sometime next year, and it seems to indicate that the show will focus on characters.
WitchTok: the rise of the occult on social media has eerie parallels with the 16th century
Reading Time: 13 minutes The occult has made a strong comeback with gen Z.
The Box
Reading Time: 3 minutes I found it in the usual place, where I always find them. Under the rock. “Hello,” I said. “What’s your name, little feller?” No answer. But I expected that.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 19, 2021
Reading Time: 13 minutes We read the first chapters of the top ten free spec fic books on Amazon. Today’s list has everything — werewolves, dragons, elves, a time-traveling private eye, post-apocalyptic survival, and — dinosaurs!
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 19, 2021 Read More »
The Last Request of Gladimus McCarran
Reading Time: 7 minutes The system said he is guilty and must be punished by hanging. They laughed at him so they also had to be punished.
NASA to push asteroid off-course with new DART mission launching next week
Reading Time: 2 minutes In a plan straight out of a sci-fi asteroid disaster movie, NASA will try to push an asteroid off-course by crashing a spaceship into it.
NASA to push asteroid off-course with new DART mission launching next week Read More »
Marketing hardest part of being an indie writer, survey shows
Reading Time: 2 minutes This year’s survey of more than 1,000 indie authors from Written Word Media shows that 79 percent think that marketing is the toughest part of being an indie author — compared to just 14 percent who said writing was.
Marketing hardest part of being an indie writer, survey shows Read More »
The Scent of Daisies
Reading Time: 12 minutes Julia, an elderly woman, is haunted by dementia. Though Alzheimer’s might explain why she can’t remember picking the flowers in the hallway or putting the kettle on, she’s starting to believe she’s being haunted by something else entirely.
Writing Prompt for the Week – Nov 15
Reading Time: < 1 minute What if you were caught doing illegal magic?
The Valiance
Reading Time: 7 minutes Mina struggles with her gift of the Valiance dance. Her life gets a moment of quiet when her heart is touched by a lonely child. It is not what gifts we are given, but how we choose to use them.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 14
Reading Time: 7 minutes I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 14 Read More »
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 12
Reading Time: 13 minutes We read the first chapters of the top ten free spec fic books on Amazon. Today’s list has everything — zombies, werewolves, angels, demons, sword fighting, Martian mining, and a Christmas miracle.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 12 Read More »
Help NASA explore Mars
Reading Time: 2 minutes JPL and NASA need your help to identify objects on Mars so that the future Mars land rovers will have an easier time getting around.
Smells like witch spirit: How the ancient world’s scented sorceresses influence ideas about magic today
Reading Time: 4 minutes You, too, can smell like a witch. Magic and scent were linked in ancient Greece and Rome, and today, you can buy scents that can make you smell like Hermione, Hecate, and other famous witches of literature and history.
Seven Visions of the Metaverse, Including Facebook’s
Reading Time: 5 minutes Seven visions for the metaverse we’ve been hearing about.
Seven Visions of the Metaverse, Including Facebook’s Read More »
Writing Prompt for the Week – Nov 8
Reading Time: < 1 minute What if you woke up trapped in a stranger’s body?
Take Me With You
Reading Time: 4 minutes Earth is about to launch a satellite into deep space with a sole AI on board — until the AI has another idea.
The Knight of Innocence
Reading Time: 21 minutes Someone is trying to turn Baltimore into a gate to Hell. So the mundane and magical communities turn to the one man in the city sworn to defend them. Michael White isn’t the hero you want, deserve, or need. But he is willing to work on holidays and weekends.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 7
Reading Time: 5 minutes I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Nov. 7 Read More »
Steampunk audio drama hits Kickstarter goal
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Boston Metaphysical Society: The Ghost Ship, an eight-episode steampunk audio drama, has hit its $10,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal with two weeks still to go, and the creator, Madeleine Holly-Rosing, was on MetaStellar’s Life Long Friends YouTube show to talk about the project.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 5, 2021
Reading Time: 14 minutes We read the first chapters of the top ten free spec fic books on Amazon. Today’s list includes witches, dragons, more witches, a space opera, giants, and a deal with the devil. Oh, and also an EMP survival book.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 5, 2021 Read More »
The Last Glance
Reading Time: 6 minutes After the earth has been radiated by nuclear war, survivors move below the surface and build a new society underground, only going to the surface once a year to visit the one last tree that still remains.
Five Fairy Tale Re-Imaginings With Stand-Out Female Protagonists
Reading Time: 5 minutes Five fairy tale retellings with kickass female protagonists.
Five Fairy Tale Re-Imaginings With Stand-Out Female Protagonists Read More »
Fur
Reading Time: 4 minutes When your species is prey, you can never let your guard down. Even when you’re walking home.
Dune: we simulated the desert planet of Arrakis to see if humans could survive there
Reading Time: 5 minutes Three scientists set out to determine if it were possible for humans to survive on a planet like Dune. They say yes — but not where you’d expect from reading the book.
Dune: we simulated the desert planet of Arrakis to see if humans could survive there Read More »
Fall 2021 submission period closes with more than 400 submissions
Reading Time: < 1 minute MetaStellar’s open submission period for fall 2021 has officially ended. This was our best cycle for submissions yet, receiving over 400 stories in 31 days.
Fall 2021 submission period closes with more than 400 submissions Read More »
All Those Perfect Moments
Reading Time: 12 minutes A sleepy town in rural Alabama holds many secrets, not all of them worth digging up.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Oct. 31
Reading Time: 5 minutes I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Oct. 31 Read More »
Master list of 200+ free sci-fi, fantasy and horror fonts
Reading Time: 21 minutes More than 200 completely free sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fonts for book covers, illustrations, and social media posts.
Master list of 200+ free sci-fi, fantasy and horror fonts Read More »
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 29, 2021
Reading Time: 16 minutes We read the first chapters of the top ten free spec fic books on Amazon. Today’s list includes witches, dragons, more witches, a Martian mining operation, and more witches.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 29, 2021 Read More »
The Haunting of Piedras Blancas
Reading Time: 5 minutes This love story between a ghost and an alien is a mash-up of sci/fi, fantasy, and goth.
Facebook changes name to Meta, embraces metaverse
Reading Time: 3 minutes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook changing its name to Meta in order to focus on the metaverse. Facebook itself will remain, but will now be just one brand in the Meta portfolio, alongside Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook changes name to Meta, embraces metaverse Read More »
Dead Guy Walking
Reading Time: 7 minutes The lines separating life, death, and laundry are thinner than you think.
Blue Origin promises commercial space station by 2030, called Orbital Reef
Reading Time: 3 minutes Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Space join forces on new commercial space station, Orbital Reef, to be operational the second half of this decade.
Blue Origin promises commercial space station by 2030, called Orbital Reef Read More »