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sffchat.bsky.social
SFFChat
@sffchat.bsky.social
540 followers 3 following 1.9K posts
Home of the hashtag game #SFFChat! Join us every Thursday for a new set of questions, comment on other authors' posts, and make some friends!

Absolutely NO AI allowed.
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sffchat.bsky.social
SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · Apr 12
Welcome to the new #SFFChat! Every Thursday, alternating mornings and evenings EST, I'll post a new set of questions that anyone can answer! It's chiefly for writers, but if you're a fan of SFF literature, please feel welcome to hop into the space and discuss your favourite writers as well!
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
Thanks for these questions! Memories are such an interesting topic to discuss!

If you’d like to check out the book I was discussing, here it is!

Universal Link: books2read.com/u/bzNng9
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/alexlarkspur...
Itch: applesncinnamon.itch.io/sweet-wild
Cover by @northyme.com
A young man, Micah, kneels in a field of purple flowers. He holds a bundle of purple flowers in one hand while reaching to gather more with his other hand. He has peach skin, golden hair, and brown eyes. He wears a white shirt, brown pants, and a wide-brimmed straw hat with flowers woven through. Behind him, there is a verdant forest of trees. Bees buzz around the man as he looks down towards his work. The title, Sweet & Wild, is above him and the author’s name, Alex Larkspur, is below him.
November 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
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jasonstigliano.bsky.social
Hi! I write mostly high fantasy, sometimes a little horror, maybe someday a little Scifantasy.

I think my core memory of SFF is getting to sit in the white armchair at my parents' house, facing out the big window and reading all day during summer vacation. #SffChat
November 6, 2025 at 1:02 PM
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jasonstigliano.bsky.social
My current WIP, Oath and Memory, is about an alien(ish) being who came through a portal into a high fantasy realm, along with many others of his species, with no memory of their past. He is on a quest to liberate the (supposed) key to his memories from a dragon's hoard. #SffChat
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q1: What roles do myth, history, memory, or remembrance/commemoration play in your work?
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 1:08 PM
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jasonstigliano.bsky.social
Thanks for hosting! In a rare moment of caffeination, I was semi-awake enough to do the morning session.

I'm currently writing a book called Oath and Memory, but I also wrote a book that has very little to do with memory. It does have wizards, swordfights, and Lovecraftian horrors though! #SffChat
November 6, 2025 at 1:29 PM
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shanmonster.bsky.social
#SFFChat

How about the opposite of memory?

"I forget for a moment that I can no longer form human words. I whine, and hear the thump of her book bag hit the floor before she enters my bedroom."

From "Wolf Mother," first published by @augursociety.bsky.social
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q4: Share an excerpt featuring a key memory of one of your characters, or that features national mythmaking, or commemoration!
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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jennelikejennay.bsky.social
#sffchat

I'd love it if people shared around the link for Invasive, which is now available for preorder!
books2read.com/u/4jJjrj

When a ship of religious pilgrims lands on an “empty” planet, their disruption to the ecosystem may doom them all.
November 6, 2025 at 1:52 PM
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nerdiestviking.bsky.social
In the world of magic, memories can become tools, weapons, even battlefields. It takes a keen, disciplined mind to keep reality straight from remembrance.
#WritingCommunity #SFFChat
I lost the real world. Instead, I was suddenly seated on a bench, in a lovely garden. A fountain tinkled away before me, and overhead an apple tree shed petals in the clear breeze. The moon was that perfect, correct color no other orbiting rock has had except the one that was above Earth, all those years ago. This garden was a memory torn from my mind. Evadne had brought me here, once, a vacation spot in the bayous of the Mississippi river, near where she was born. She was using her position to get out of the family more and more in those days, and she had pulled me along whenever she wanted company. This might have been the last time we had been able to relax back on Earth. “It can be like this again,” a voice said to me. I turned to where Evadne had sat watching the moon all those centuries ago, but it wasn’t her voice. Instead, a figure in a long, pristine white robe sat there, its hood thrown back. The face was thin, the lips narrow. It was bald, the pale skin shining in the moonlight. It was looking up, its face in profile. “If you surrender, I can bring this back.”
November 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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sayaashrah.bsky.social
#SFFChat Outro. Thanks again for hosting, Steve! And I'll echo your outro and tell people to go and get/spread the word about this amazing bundle, Trans People Take on the World! My book, Garden of Rotten Roses, is in there as well! 💜🔥

itch.io/b/3352/trans...
Trans People Take on the World by Elise Carlson and 32 others
Trans People Take on the World: 32 items for $35.00
itch.io
November 6, 2025 at 12:39 PM
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q4

Not the kost earthshaking, groundbreaking memory, but Micah’s memories of baking with his mother are actually very important to Sweet & Wild!
A cloud of nostalgia and sweetness filled the cottage as the cookies baked to perfection. Micah leaned against the wall letting the smell wash over him and thinking of the hundreds of times he had made these with his mother. They had made them with love back then, and he did the same now. He hummed the songs again, just for himself, just to feel that glow of memory as the melody resonated in his head and the scent of the cookies filled him.
November 6, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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stevewestenra.bsky.social
#SFFChat Outro:

My work's part of this awesome bundle (get TETK AND TWoA!). The bundle's done really well and it'd be awesome to see it do even better. Lots of great books.

itch.io/b/3352/trans...
Trans People Take on the World by Elise Carlson and 32 others
Trans People Take on the World: 32 items for $35.00
itch.io
November 6, 2025 at 12:37 PM
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jennelikejennay.bsky.social
#sffchat
Here's a human and an alien in Invasive talking about the difference between history and memory.
November 6, 2025 at 12:33 PM
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q3

One thing I think I’d like to stick with my readers after they’ve read my books is that healing from horrible things is possible and love—romantic, friendships, community, whatever—makes it easier.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q3: What aspects of your work would you most like to stick with readers?

This was poorly phrased! Sort of, "what would you most like readers to take away" but in a less immediate sense.
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q2

A SFF work that I think does a good job of playing with mythmaking is Name Her Holy by @clericofthevoid.bsky.social ! The mythology of the world(s) is so cool, and the way these myth impact characters’ lives works so well!
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q2: What's an SFF work that plays with memory/history/mythmaking very successfully? What do you think makes it successful?
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
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jennelikejennay.bsky.social
#sffchat

Really drawing a blank here, but what about Lord of the Rings? More than most works, it acknowledges that after enough time has past, things get forgotten. Nobody knows the main characters of the drama of the last age. You're lucky if you can dig up any information at all.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q2: What's an SFF work that plays with memory/history/mythmaking very successfully? What do you think makes it successful?
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:26 PM
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emmajuned.bsky.social
Gonna have to go back to The Damsel for this one. Here’s one of Sara’s core memories, as dragged out of her by Gupta, the slimy TV exec. #SFFChat
21:23 : ) ج . ‹ Wanna See...onkey Magic? ^ V "Maybe we can take a minute and talk about when your fear of closed spaces started." Huh. Gupta doesn't know how to pronounce big words like claustrophobia. "I suppose." "It's from previous adventures?" he asks. "If being kidnapped is an adventure." He motions for me to continue, so I do. "None of the kidnappings were what I would call nice, obviously, but one in particular was by an actual supervillain. I forget his name. He died." I know his name, but I'm not giving him or any of his sick followers a platform. "He had a secret base and everything. When he took me from my home in the middle of the night, it was with robots-floating things, not unlike your cameras, but larger, pointier. I just remember waking up and seeing these teeth-like points and claws illuminated by electric blue light. They took me off to his base. "It was underground, I think. He gloated, didn't explain a plan, but I knew it. They had less variation than a Hemsworth brother. He dumped me on this circle platform and before I could get to my feet, a clear plastic wall shot up out of it and trapped me inside a giant tube. I jumped and scrambled to get out of there, but there was not seem or crack. I was trapped in a human sized test tube. "He went on about how he didn't want to kill me, so there was an air supply, but he filled that tube with water for his amusement. I had to kick to stay afloat, my panic rising faster than the water level. It rushed in so fast I was gasping to find air even before it overtook me. + 21:24 & @ ? . Wanna See...onkey Magic? ^ V "I held my breath as long as I could, lungs burning with the strain. Panic took me completely, convinced I would die. The liquid seeped into my nose and mouth, invading my body, swelling parts of me never meant to be filled. Every part of me screamed at the unfairness of it. "My body struggled against the liquid. I couldn't cough it up, I couldn't do anything. Pain seared my throat in rhythm with the constant burning of my lungs. I thought I was going to die, until a small thought managed to float above the panic. If it were going to happen, it would have happened already. "That's when I heard the laughter outside of the tube. The sloshing of the water had overwhelmed it until now. He enjoyed my torment. "It was liquid oxygen. The kind deep sea divers used in extreme circumstances. The body struggled to adapt and draw what it needed from it, but we could function on the fluid. He explained to me, but I only heard parts. I was still so consumed by panic. "I don't know how long it was that I floated in that tube, breathing liquid, body burning with the strain of it, forced to watch him as he went about his business at consoles, messing with samples, checking his cameras, all the while my mind telling me I was going to drown. Every second. "Suspended in the torture chamber, I had become his trophy, property, a prized, golden fish, helpless and tortured, stripped of identity. "Eventually, there was an almighty crash, a thump, thump, thump that barely made it through the liquid to my muffled ears, and the door to his chamber collapsed like a + 21:24 : ) ج . Wanna See...onkey Magic? ^ V muffled ears, and the door to his chamber collapsed like a cartoon wall. Heroes rushed in. They fought with his bots in a brief moment of lasers and explosions and inevitably, they surrounded him. The leader, Bruce Parker, marched forward, absorbing the ray gun shots the villain fired, and grabbed the evil genius. He subdued him with a punch and left him to the detention officers. Then finally—finally—he came over to me and smashed the tube. "The liquid rushed out all over the floor, and I sprawled to the ground with it, coughing and heaving, emptying my lungs, and dragging in air again." It doesn't need a The End. The studio is quiet. I am crying by this point. Even Gupta only stares at me. I don't want to say anything else. He shakes his head like a bad play actor. "Terrible. Just terrible. And they took you home?" With that pointless question, said as if flying home was just as dangerous and terrible as that nightmare I described, it hits me. He doesn't care about how I feel. He doesn't think about the person behind it all. He's made me tell this story to drag out my misery—not give me a break-because it will get him ratings. Everyone is glued to the scene. The viewers at home must be too. I'm burning again, and it's a fire that I'm going to release very soon, one way or another, and actually, yeah, thanks Guppy, you might have helped my cause there actually. "Yes..." I mutter, glaring at him through the wall of my hair. "Well, let's get back to the main story," he says, unaffected. +
November 6, 2025 at 12:26 PM
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jennelikejennay.bsky.social
#sffchat
Probably that feeling of your perspective shifting, realizing that all your life you've been raised with a worldview that missed important things. It's so vital to keep looking for the next perspective shift, be ready to learn and change.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q3: What aspects of your work would you most like to stick with readers?

This was poorly phrased! Sort of, "what would you most like readers to take away" but in a less immediate sense.
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
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sayaashrah.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q4. Still first draft, but I think this fits well: a monument representing a key moment in the history of the kingdom... and a symbolic reference to what is about to happen now, in the present.

#ChroniclesOfTheRealms #MileenaSuêòng
With a nod from the princess, the Abuurgan bodyguard guided her away from the centre of Dueóng. They passed by the Five Swords Square, where a monument of Breathing Wood immortalised the pact forged by Írìsáng, from the then Suêòng Clan, with four other clans to put an end to the bloodshed propagated during the Purging Years when Nether-Touched and other demonic descendants (whether true descendants or not) were hunted down; a pact that led to the birth of the prosperous Suêòng Dynasty.
November 6, 2025 at 12:25 PM
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q1

In Sweet & Wild, memory and remembrance are very important! Micah is haunted by his past, and when he moves to the town of Roseyard, he is shocked that the people there seem to have forgotten the Old Ways of sacrificing to guardian spirits!
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q1: What roles do myth, history, memory, or remembrance/commemoration play in your work?
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:25 PM
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thirdmonti.bsky.social
#SFFChat A4:

Since I brought up characters living parallel lives, this is Blue and Flyboy talking about some points of divergence.
I wish my life were so– “Boring,” I finished for Flyboy. No, uncomplicated. Flyboy corrected. My Rias and Auru were already being taught how to use weaponry and how to defend themselves by the time I was old enough to remember. I know what schools are, they do teach us here, but most of the population of Crescent Island moved to bases built under the mountains for fear of what Bryzian forces might do. “I–” –Don’t apologise. Flyboy cut me off. “Wish things had been different for you,” I finished. Whatever, continue. He snapped, not liking pity.
November 6, 2025 at 12:22 PM
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jennelikejennay.bsky.social
#sffchat q1
Memory is one of the themes in Invasive. The aliens hand down memories from parent to child, but because of that, they never really learned another way to preserve valuable cultural lessons. When memory is lost, it's lost for good.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q1: What roles do myth, history, memory, or remembrance/commemoration play in your work?
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:21 PM
sffchat.bsky.social
#SFFChat
jennelikejennay.bsky.social Sheila Jenné @jennelikejennay.bsky.social · 5d
Hi, I'm the author of the Imperial Mars series, Bisection, and Invasive coming out next month!

My dad is big into science fiction, so I used to curl up on rainy Saturdays with the big 3-book volume of Foundation, or one of his sci-fi magazines.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat is here!

Intro: Introduce yourself and share a fond memory you have of the SFF community, or of writing/reading SFF.
November 6, 2025 at 12:20 PM
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bjornlarssen.com
#SFFChat I’d like my readers to fall in love with #Iceland and #NorseMythology – there’s infinite enjoyment to be taken from both. ♥️ #SpecialInterest
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q3: What aspects of your work would you most like to stick with readers?

This was poorly phrased! Sort of, "what would you most like readers to take away" but in a less immediate sense.
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:17 PM
sffchat.bsky.social
#SFFChat
jimthevampire.bsky.social Jim the Vampire @jimthevampire.bsky.social · 5d
Probably that people are messy. Nothing is clean, especially feelings and reactions. That nobody exists who has no flaws and that sometimes extreme situations don't create heroes or monsters, they just create desperation. But that there is often a way through it, not unbowed or whole, but through.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat Q3: What aspects of your work would you most like to stick with readers?

This was poorly phrased! Sort of, "what would you most like readers to take away" but in a less immediate sense.
November 6, 2025 at 12:20 PM
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stevewestenra.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q4: Excerpt featuring a memory

I've shared this passage from The Wings of Ashtaroth before many times, but it's one I'm super proud of
November 6, 2025 at 12:19 PM
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applesncinnamon.bsky.social
#SFFChat Intro
Hello! I’m Alex Larkspur, I love reading and writing SFF! I remember staying up late and reading fantasy books when I was supposed to be sleeping. More than once, my dad would come into my room and take my book for the night! 😅
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · 5d
#SFFChat is here!

Intro: Introduce yourself and share a fond memory you have of the SFF community, or of writing/reading SFF.
A photo of a shelf of rolled scrolls tinted blue. A graphic of an open scroll contains the question (text same as post).
November 6, 2025 at 12:12 PM