The H. R. Geiger Alien from the original Alien movie. I'd been told it was a science fiction movie.

Not. It scared the religion out of me.

Literally.

It fomented my crisis of faith. The loss had been brewing for years, since university archeology and anthropology had put truth to the lie of the genocidal bible stories I'd learned. With the "bejesus" scared out of me, when I searched for answers about the irrationality of our waring world, I found myself alone in my head. I wasn't watched. I wasn't protected. I wasn't comforted. Or guided. No voice, though I begged. It was quiet. I remember that dark night and the stars. Quiet. Suddenly everything made sense: I realized religion was a human construct constructed by people to control people, to provide men power over women and their property, to steal their self-agency. Theft.

Since then, I live an ethical life. I don't bother with horror or scary movies—I've no need for that stuff in my life, either (anymore).

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#ScribesAndMakers ∆ 2026.04.22
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#WordWeavers 2026.04.22 —What would your antagonist be willing to die for?

It only counts if she died for it right? Because she's technologically immortal, not some magical being (it's SF despite interesting word choices), she doesn't remember what happened or why after she was retrieved from the battlefield. Nobody calls her a chimera to her face, but she's obviously one, rebuilt from more than one person (at least a daemon and two day angels because she's got horns, a red wing, and a blue one.) She'd risked everything to end whatever world war had broken out, and the civilization that fostered it; she would have done that only to prevent humanity from becoming extinct.

This is a tootfic story featuring the antagonist afterward: Not Carrion https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110993252771253246

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.04.21 —What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend?

Not silly: Women get to choose, and, no, their self-agency doesn't negate his, but their choice is theirs alone and you can't have it or take it or break it, nor can you logic it or bible it away.

If the question meant writing battles: The Oxford comma. Definitely. I would have included two spaces after a sentence as the current one-space rule makes impossible certain grammatical and attribution constructions following the end quote. But. It's too exhausting to argue it anymore and I have broken myself of the habit.

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#WordWeavers 2026.04.20 —What is your MC’s relationship to obtaining and preparing food?

Bolt doesn't cook. Men usually fill that role in her society and would be more likely to do that, but she doesn't have any family members in her life and the guys she has would visit food kiosks, an association cafeteria, or a pop-up restaurant. Because her income is restricted, she's often buying a bag of crumbs for herself. That's a grab bag of old bread, dried squid, soup packets, dried fruit, chopped vege: essentially grocery leftovers, as specified by Health Services nutritional guidelines, and require no cooking whatsoever.

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#PennedPossibilities 992 — If your MC unexpectedly died, who would they want to raise their child(ren), if they have any? Have they already made a plan for this in case it happens?

Bolt would expect her brother to raise her child, in the unlikely event she bore one in the first place. She's avoiding pregnancy because she has no desire to raise a child blackmailed by the mob as she is. Contraception and termination comes up in the story. Her brother was 5 when she ran away at 17, but he would expect the job if he knew she still lived; she feels bad maybe dropping the news on him one day without warning—not about actually expecting he would do it. Child rearing is the societal norm for men, not unlike women decades ago expecting to grow up to become housewives. Bolt's lucky she has a brother; people are so infertile many people are only children, or twins which is common (1:5:17 ➝ single birth:fraternal:identical). The WIP touches on psychology of male child rearing, for example Bolt's friend Blue. He's a praetorian, a man with a rare essential job and he worries about having one day to quit the job to raise his sister's child, or how horrible it would be to say no to her.

Cc: @floofpaldi: Thanks again for another great question, though I didn't answer exactly as intended. Answering it, I finally realized how the segmentation between genders in the society works and sparks certain discrimination and expectations the characters struggle against.

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#PennedPossibilities 991 — Tell us about your WIP. What is the genre or genres?

Reluctant Courier (for the Mob) is science fiction. That my day angel MC Bolt can fly boils down to physics, mathematics, and engineering of mental spaces thanks to a few changes in the laws of nature. There's a dark matter dark energy connection, but I'm keeping it deep background for now. However, the sensibility of the novel leans toward slice-of-life with adventure getting in the way. This specific WIP could classify as cozy mystery SF, but the cozy tag may not make it past the first draft. It is also feminist in outlook, and I classify it as gender fiction, which may be a genre only of my creation.

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.04.19 —How can prose achieve lyricism without verse structure?

Step 1: Allow yourself to become convinced in your soul that prose can be lyrical. Stop denying it without proof. Prose differs from poetry in that metrics are integral to the style, and rhyme, but that's it. Accept it. Prose allows both meter and rhyme, too; Poetry marshals the army of thought through meter to the field with soldiers of rhyme. That's the difference.

Step 2: Find lyrical prose. Enjoy that author not only for the story but the beauty of the telling of the story. Start studying.

Step 3: Read The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsythe. The author presents rhetorical style, um… Eloquently? You'll find the book fun! These are your ABCs. Tools in hand, attitude fully adjusted, you too will discover the lyricism, like love, deep within your prosy rosy heart.

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#ScribesAndMakers ∆ 2026.04.19 — Have you ever been to a poetry reading?

Yes.

I think both Theodore Sturgeon and Ray Bradbury read poetry when I sat in on their seminars, but it was so long ago, I am not entirely sure.

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#PennedPossibilities 990 — Have any of your characters ever been in a fight?

I am defining "a fight" as a physical altercation where someone wants to hurt you, not simply sparring. Verbal, emotional, or logical combat, including gaming or betting doesn't count as a fight, even if bankruptcy, being thrown in jail, or enslavement could result.

Most of the cast has fought, though Boss Mead may not have. He's a sweet talker. Surprisingly, Bolt attacks someone who hurt her friend, rather than running as she usually does. Shugh is a gentle man, but he did defend himself in school from bullies. It's a society where being trans is no big deal other than being rare, but there's always an idiot who can take offense at any thing, like breathing. Neither Night on Fire nor her sister Light Insight have fought, though the latter woman did get abused. The only one who's been a perfect pacifist is Blue's brainiac little sister. At only15, and a bit of a runt, she's as skilled as the devil-girl. She has avoided fighting by studying all the time, and by being reputed for blowing up buildings. Accidentally. Reputedly.

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#WordWeavers 2026.04.18 —If your antagonist had to learn a musical instrument, what would they pick and why?

I'm getting caught up in the word "had" here, as in the sense of both forced and required, but allowed to pick.

Rainy Days was born poor to a carpenter having committed the sin of being female in a society that gave women little self-agency. No coin for musical instruments. By her twenties, nobody in her world could require her anything.

Pigeon the Pilferer has the delicacy and manners of a dropped hammer, and is likely as dense. While he might have been required in upper school, nobody, no teacher and certainly no punk, was going to force him against his will. Having a rattle to use, stalking his prey through shadowy alleys like a snake, seems somehow appropriate, but for him it would be a choice

Boss Mead has a suitable middle class education, but was never the sort to excel. His school years are a tabla rasa to me. I can imagine economics forcing him after graduation to make coin and requiring him to learn something simple to create it. Piano-man piano seems his speed. Easy. He's a chill and affable person. His one real talent makes it easy for others to find reasons to make him happy—let's call it charisma for now—and convincing someone to teach him to play piano in a restaurant or a lounge would have been easy for him. Piano-man piano is basically learning how to play the keys and read the music sufficiently to pick out the melody. Then, it's memorization, and it's practice. With an added level of learning how to play "fancy," things like multi-finger chords, rhythm, dynamics, and such—which could have been picked up by listening to his mentor play—Boss Mead could have learned the music easily and learned to reproduce it for hours with feeling, creating a night long ambience and fugue. Yes, I can see Boss Mead starring in a hazy bar, a red whiskey in a crystal glass over the rocks on a coaster, sitting beside a torchere candelabra, playing until late, and making his first contacts for subsequent shady deals. Not canon, yet.

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