#SpecFic

Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-06-12

It begins! For a limited time, get the Kindle editions of the first FOUR books set along The Nod/Wells Timelines for just $5 in the US, or Β£7 in the UK. Enter a speculative-fiction universe unlike any other today!

US:
amazon.com/author/michaelshott
UK:
amazon.co.uk/stores/Michael-Sh

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks

The Nod/Wells Timelines literary universe - Kindle Edition Super Sale - June 12-16, 2025 at Amazon US/UK - Featuring "The Big Men," "309," "Shards," and "The Nemesis Effect" by Michael Shotter
2025-06-12

"When the midwife had fluttered through the windows earlier that night, she had already taught eighteen babies to smile."

Read "The Nineteenth Smile" by Hien Nguyen

inner-worlds.ghost.io/the-nine

#Fantasy #SpeculativeFiction #SpecFic

Every month, we do a cool thing on Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com) to support indie writers. We share 4 of their books with our readers for free, and then add those readers (only with permission) to the author lists. It's a great way to get some new reads, "meet" a few up and coming authors, and forge new connections. :)

This month's books are below. Grab 'em here (we send them out around the 3rd of next month):

limfic.com/join-our-email-list

#specfic #giveaway #freebies #books #bookbundle #bookstodon

Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-06-08

Readers have spoken but there's a lot more to be said. Experience "8" and join the conversation today! If you love speculative fiction, thrillers, and horror, it's a perfect fit. michaelshotter.com

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks @audiobooks

Positive Goodreads ratings for Michael SHotter's book "8: Tales of the Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines" and its story singles: "Paper or Plastic?," "Office Hours," "Hostile Takeover," and "Fair Game"
Reading Reclusereading_recluse@c.im
2025-06-08

πŸ“˜ "Over de berekening van ruimte IV" by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish into Dutch by Adriaan van der Hoeven & Edith Koenders

This will be available later in 2025 in English as "On the Calculation of Volume IV".

No! Solvej Balle is the lord of cliffhangers and I'm dangling!

The first 50 pages or so, I thought this was going to be the first book in the series that I wouldn't like that much. I was wrong. Reading on, eventually it came to a point where I liked this volume the most so far. More answers, but also more new questions.

The Dutch translation of part 5 will be released in July, so if you see someone on hands and knees begging for it in a library purchase request next month, it's probably me.

I can't wait for other language regions to catch up, I want to read more people's reactions!

#AmReading #WomenInTranslation #SpecFic #WasSartreRightOrNot

Book cover of 'over de berekening van ruimte IV'. It's fully red. A few black lines are placed to make the suggestion that the viewer is in a room or a different rectangular space. A somewhat lighter colored rectangle floats on the right side of the cover.Book cover of 'on the calculation of volume IV'. It's a blue-brown gradient cover, with white oval strip that contains the title, author name and translator name. Within the oval there's a vaguely see-through, floating blob of colors, appearing stuck within the oval, but nevertheless going under it on the right side, as if leaving.
Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-06-07

Looking for a speculative-fiction universe to get lost in? Want books that can be read as individual standalone stories but that still contribute to an overarching mythos? Love science fiction, horror, the paranormal, thrillers, and more?

Look no further.

michaelshotter.com

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks @audiobooks

About the author: Michael Shotter is a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a lover of science, fiction, and fantasy, his works aim to push beyond the boundaries of traditional genre fiction into new and exciting realms born from literary craftsmanship. Latest Release: "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines" - Coming in 2026: "The Nemesis Legacy"
2025-06-06

"Rena came outside... to find the tree’s lowest branch lying among the daffodils, torn from the trunk like a chunk of stale bread. The shock was new and sharp. It broke through the fog inside her."

Friends, heed the content warnings. A beautiful, painful story about the limits of even the deepest bonds πŸ’”πŸŒΏ

Read "What We Cannot See" by @atrailofleaves inner-worlds.ghost.io/what-we-

#Fantasy #SpecFic #SpeculativeFiction #SFF

2025-06-05

"Reflections’ client lounge is a vast yet comfortable space, with plentiful natural light and staff always discreetly on hand. Along the south wall are numbered doors that, Melinda has been instructed, lead to the infamous suites."

This satirical, near-future SF story is so well done it has fully haunted me since I first read it and it just keeps getting more relevant πŸ™ƒ

Read "Come F*** Yourself" by Sylvie Althoff

inner-worlds.ghost.io/come-f-y

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF #SpecFic

2025-06-05

Past issues of Inner Worlds are now available to buy as EPUB and mobile-friendly PDF πŸ“šπŸ€–πŸ‘»πŸ§šπŸ»

innerworlds.gumroad.com/

#LitMag #ShortFiction #SpecFic #ShortStories #Ebook #SFF #Horror

Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-06-04

Thanks to fellow author Daniel Lorn for taking the time to read and review "Hostile Takeover." This "story single," which is available via Amazon & Audible, is also included in my latest novel-length book "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines."

Official Website: michaelshotter.com

@specfic @horrorbooks

An excerpt from Daniel Lorn's Goodreads review of Michael Shotter's story "Hostile Takeover"
Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-06-03

EPISODE 35 AVAILABLE NOW! - Join us as we talk about various things, including a book by John Durgin, the film "Heretic," and the game "Lonestar" in this one-of-a-kind speculative-fiction authorcast!

postmortemreport.com

@specfic

The Post Mortem Report - with Ronald McGillvray and Michael Shotter - Episode 35 - June 3rd, 2025 - Good Posts Never Die
2025-05-30

πŸŒΈπŸ’€βœ¨οΈ Issue 7 is out now! βœ¨οΈπŸ’€πŸŒΈ

12 stories ready to break your heart, make you wince, fill you with bittersweet longing, or just make you kind of uneasy. You will feel things.

inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-se

#SFF #Horror #SpecFic #Fantasy #ScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction #FlashFiction #LitMag #ShortStories #SciFi #HorrorFiction #HorrorCommunity #HorrorFam

Magazine cover with pink masthead, featuring a drawing of a hand reaching upwards into green light against a glitchy black background.
2025-05-29

"Everyone flutters, flaring with the strongest of yellows, a rich goldenrod-alarm.

At the edge of the trees waits a stranger, a human, the first we've encountered in so very long."

Read "The Spellbook of the Moth Witch" by Devan Barlow in our last issue: inner-worlds.ghost.io/the-spel

#SpeculativeFiction #SpecFic #LunarPunk #SFF #SciFi

Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-05-29

We're less than a week away from a brand-new episode of "The Post Mortem Report" - In the meantime, check out our latest authorcast, featuring books by Martha Wells and DS LaLonde, amid a plethora of other fun topics.

postmortemreport.com

@scifi @specfic @horrorbooks

The Post Mortem Report - with Ronald McGillvray & Michael Shotter - Episode 34 - May 6th, 2025
Reading Reclusereading_recluse@c.im
2025-05-27

πŸ“˜ "De laatste kinderen van Tokyo" by Yōko Tawada, translated from Japanese into Dutch by Luk Van Haute

Available in English as "The Last Children of Tokyo" or "The Emissary".

Ah, this book... Lots of feelings. Definitely positive ones. For me, it taps into these times so well, I thought about a lot. Bear with me for a second while I get rambly.

I'm in my early 30s. While I was in primary school, 9/11 happened and most of life was about learning to understand hostile international politics, terrorism and the end of privacy. When I was in high school, the financial crisis of 2008 hit and shit hit the fan. As a young adult, life was dictated by severe austerity measures and loss. Since then, I have been observing natural disasters, wars, genocides, pandemics. I'm very privileged in my position in life, but I can't say that life in general is looking good.

This all is accompanied by tragic behavior of people of retirement age. And no, I don't want to support generations fighting with each other, and I know hashtag not all boomers, other generations suck too, yada yada, all people can be suffering till their last breath, and we should unite and fight the system together -I still believe that. But many of these people in my life were able to get higher wages, buy houses, pay for children, retire at 60 or earlier, use social safety nets and spend time on expensive treats like holidays abroad. Meanwhile I'm not getting beyond minimum wage and dreaming of a secure roof over my head is really only that: a dream. A decent quality of life in the future seems like a dream too, with all of the pollution and climate change.

What really ignites the flames of bitterness is the majority of 60+ year-old people voting right-wing and actively participating in destroying society. Openly supporting lower minimum wages. Declining green reforms. Removing governmental support systems like accessible healthcare. Refusing to share their wealth. Never acknowledging the struggles of younger generations. The world is dying and they want to complain to me about the food on the plane they took on their 3rd holiday of the year while I'm stressfully counting coins to pay for another medicine that has once again gotten more expensive. Please. Can you for one second care about the world you're leaving behind? At this point I'm literally begging more than sarcastically asking.

In this book, the world is dying too. Humans too. But not the elderly, they seem to have become immortal. Yet, younger generations get weaker and die, and their children become even more sickly and die even earlier, and then their children too, on it goes. Until what? Is it fun, for these elderly, to keep chugging on with their silly stuff, all alone, on barren land, reaping what they sowed?

In the novel we follow Yoshiro, in his 100s already, taking care of his very weak great-grandchild, Mumei. He's kind, humble and accommodating. He desperately wants better circumstances for the child, but is unable to change the world. Instead he tries to give Mumei daily comforts as much as possible. But through tiny cracks we also see that maybe he wasn't always so caring, that maybe he was more self-absorbed and judgmental when he was still a regular, young elderly in the old days.

The world is interesting, but we only get to learn about it in snippets. There's extreme isolationism going on. Human industry of the past appears to have done a lot of damage. It looks like climate collapse has happened. You even start to wonder if atomic bombs have fallen.

The character of Mumei made me think of 'I Who Have Never Known Men' and other books like it. Never having known another world, he just lives, even when people who've known otherwise complain and mourn. He suffers, yes, but it is what it is, and he's still curious and enjoying what's there. On one side I live for such tales and characters, they motivate me to adapt and keep going. On the other side, looking at him through the eyes of someone who knew a better life, it's sad that this is it. All that young children will ever know, is this. Do I embrace the joy of living in a world that's merely different, maybe not worse, despite its limits, or the sadness of not even knowing the extent of those limits? A bit of both?

Will the people who've lived at least double the amount of decades that I have, become more understanding like Yoshiro? Or won't they without the threat of having to live long enough to see the consequences of how they've shaped the world? Does it even still matter?

Either way, as you can see, this book has been living rent free in my head. The language is very pleasant, with unexpected descriptions, comparisons and wordplays. The different perspectives flow into each other comfortably. The ending lights up a candle, suddenly illuminating things that you've read earlier in the story and adding meaning to them, which I love. I've been sleeping on Yōko Tawada!

#WomenInTranslation #SpecFic #AmReading

Book cover of 'de laatste kinderen van tokyo'. It's an illustration in soft orange-white-blue colors. In the foreground a young boy is sitting in a glass building, with drawings of zebras and pencils next to him. He's looking out through the glass towards the background, a cityscape, presumably what's left of western Tokyo. Behind it the top part of Mount Fuji is visible.
2025-05-24

Just finished A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde. Epic sci-fantasy, first of the Invoker trilogy, and bloody hell the next one better be out soon, because I'm hooked! Americans, this one comes out next month in the US. Get in on a library hold ASAP. It's fabulous. I definitely expect to see it on award shortlists

#fantasy #SpecFic
store.orbit-books.co.uk/produc

Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-05-24

Pleased to share this thoughtful review of my latest book, "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines" by Tony Travis, a fellow speculative-fiction author. Follow the link for the full text and be sure to check out his site. It's rather swank. πŸ™‚πŸ‘

tonytravis.com/post/tony-s-rev

@scifi @specfic @horrorbooks

An excerpt from Tony Travis's review of the book "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines" by Michael Shotter
Reading Reclusereading_recluse@c.im
2025-05-24

πŸ“˜ "Over de berekening van ruimte III" by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish into Dutch by Adriaan van der Hoeven & Edith Koenders

Will be available later in 2025 in English as "On the Calculation of Volume III".

Yes, I'm hooked enough that I switched reading languages when I saw the Dutch translations have been coming out quicker than the English ones. I was ready to fight for them at my local library, but it wasn't necessary, because it appears that I was the only one interested.

At the end of book I and II I had no idea where the story was going to take us, and the same can be said for part III. I'm really enjoying it, especially when unexpected things happen. I feel like we're getting closer to understanding the book's title, but also maybe not at all...

#AmReading #WomenInTranslation #SpecFic

Book cover of 'over de berekening van ruimte III'. It's fully purple. A few black lines are placed to make the suggestion that the viewer is in a room or a different rectangular space. A somewhat lighter colored rectangle floats on the left side of the cover.Book cover of 'on the calculation of volume III'. It's a yellow-blue gradient cover, with white oval strip that contains the title, author name and translator name. Within the oval there's a vaguely see-through, floating blob of colors, appearing stuck within the oval, but nevertheless overlapping it in the top right a little.
Michael Shottermichaelshotter
2025-05-17

ICYMI: For those curious about the books after watching "Murderbot," I did a little recap of my experience reading the seven that are currently available in our latest episode. There's some other cool stuff there, too!

postmortemreport.com

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks

The Post Mortem Report speculative-fiction authorcast - episode 34 - May 6th, 2025 - featuring "The Fist Omen" (movie,) "A Bleak Remedy," and "The Murderbot Diaries"

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