Which comes first, character or plot?
Sometimes one, sometimes the other, and sometimes it's something else entirely.

https://esraye.com/2026/06/23/characters-vs-plot-what-inspires-me-first/

#writing #writer #books #bookstadon #author

Seeing my name next to Asimov and Bradbury is just never going to get old...

Get your copy of Other Tales: Vol. IV now!

https://esraye.com/other-tales-volume-iv/

#scifi #sciencefiction #asimov #sff #shortstory

A new client--a job with promise--can be enough to change Clayton Hart's life forever. But like a monkey's paw, it almost never turns out as expected.

Read my technoir scifi short story "The Stuff Legends are Made Of" in Rare: A Dark Anthology of Unusual Secrets.

https://esraye.com/rare/

#scifi #technoir #sciencefiction #anthology #books

Freelance work for the week: Complete
Fresh notebook: Aquired.
New pens: Ready for note taking.

Time for my favorite part of writing: research, brainstorming, world building, and outlining!

New project, GO!

#amwriting #cosmichorror #horror #scifi #lfg

Book 1 of The Cobalt Fist will center on a very specific Third Reich conspiracy theory, but I'll take it in a direction I don't think anyone else has gone before.
Book 1 has a lot of setting up to do for the series as a whole, and Die Glocke is the perfect McGuffin to do it!

#scifi #worldwar2 #wwii #sciencefiction #bookstadon #amwriting #writing

I am relieved to share that the first draft of my World War 1 set sci-fi Shallow Trenches/Open Skies is finally complete!

https://esraye.com/2026/06/16/shallow-trenches-open-skies-draft-1-is-finally-done/

#scifi #sciencefiction #worldwar1 #writer #amwriting

What a treat to see my name next to my scifi writing heroes!
Other Tales: Vol. IV, featuring my short story "Athenaeum 296" is out now in both ebook and audiobook, with narration by Adriel Brandt!

https://esraye.com/other-tales-volume-iv/

#scifi #sciencefiction #isaacasimov #raybradbury #bookstagram

Hungry for more space-western action with heart?
The award winning Gas Giant Gambit is available now!

https://esraye.com/gas-giant-gambit/

#scifi #sciencefiction #spacewestern #bookstagram #books

This Google search comes from my OTHER WIP, The Cobalt Fist. Relics are objects of power in that world, and I needed something interesting for Italy, 1943-'44.
And while the "levitating monk" will have a role to play, I'm actually more interested in the anonymous heart...

#scifi #fantasy #horror #writer #amwriting

Is the Librarian the answer to their prayers, or are they set to make a deal with a devil?

"Athenaeum 496," a stand-alone spinoff of my novel Gas Giant Gambit, is the featured contemporary story for Other Tales: Vol IV, releasing Friday, June 5th!

Preorder the ebook or audiobook now!
https://esraye.com/other-tales-volume-iv/

#scifi #shortstory #sciencefiction #scifishort