RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p>Self-promo time! Drop links to your creations, including writing, art and other media! What do you want to share with the <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writephant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writephant</span></a> crowd? <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> </p><p><em>Mars Need Women</em> is a hopeful yet deeply dystopian feminist SF web-novel (free-to-read on Mastodon) that leans heavily into Women's rights issues. It is a woman-centric adventure story of overcoming adversity while being female, with all the warts and frustrations, not as a man in disguise. </p><p>Our wannabe engineer heroine May Ri escapes a disheartening life, faced with becoming little more than a housewife because she lacks "blessings," to help colonize Mars—if you can call being shanghaied <em>escaping</em> and being contracted to have children a <em>benefit.</em> (She does choose the gorgeous supportive guy to "work with," though, so that's a positive.) As she learns to make uniquely useful martian machines, she keeps putting herself at the center of a global martian dust storm as martian power shifts from being male-dominated to a predominately female 1st generation of martians. May Ri together with her five daughters, shape a world (Mars) the way unfettered women might imagine it. </p><p>When the men of Earth take affront—of course they do—they learn that women don't fight like men, especially when their children's lives are threatened, and their wellbeing is at stake. <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p><p><strong>Thread:</strong> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11408894</span><span class="invisible">5266387178</span></a>. </p><p><strong>I am expiring the thread on April 18th.</strong> If you start reading it now, add a comment or send a private mention and I'll delay expiration.</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and read more in <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AltText" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AltText</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSStory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSStory</span></a></p>
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#rsmarsneededwomen
10 posts · 5 participants · 2 posts today
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p>Re: <em>Mars Needed Women</em> Free-to-read version posted on Mastodon. I will expire the posts on this thread on Friday the 18th. If you are currently reading the story, either finish before that date or PM me. I'll delay if asked. Thanks a bunch!</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11408894</span><span class="invisible">5266387178</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingCommunity</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 0.044 — What is the most altruistic thing your MC has ever done?</p></blockquote><p>May Ri is neither altruistic nor is she transactional. For a woman who is always fighting against the paternalistic rules placed upon her, she pretty much does what she is told (but not always!). Her choice of friends and her prior decisions shaped her actions, which greatly helped the initial generations of native martians. She's great at engineering design and is especially talented at reverse engineering tech if given plenty of electronic and optical scopes, and other tools.What she did for Mars will be noted as foundational as much as it was politically ancillary, except for the last thing. She often volunteered in the crèche domes taking care of 3-6 year olds, but she liked that. Having been oppressed and mistrusted as a girl, she let her five daughters make their own choices, which is arguably how they grew up to be a force in their own right. She mentored and apprenticed hundreds of young martian women (and a few boys) in engineering and design.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 642 — How old are some of your characters?</p></blockquote><p>I'm glad this isn't just MCs or SCs. I'll go with the last written story point or idea that isn't written.</p><p>Devil-girl: ~19<br>Bolt/Streak: 27<br>Streak and Thorn: 18<br>Emeraline: 31<br>Marigold: 26<br>Triplets Cloud Dancer, Meadow Dancer, and Fire Dancer: 35<br>The Hawk: 26<br>Chrome: 31<br>Rainy Days: > 3,000</p><p>May Ri: 45<br>Mari: 22<br>Manette: 19<br>Twins Miriam and Maurine 17<br>Moria: 13<br>Reina Īto: 35<br>Randy: 55</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSReluctanceStory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSReluctanceStory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/microfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>microfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/flashfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flashfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/tootfic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tootfic</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/smallstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>smallstory</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WCC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WCC</span></a> 2504.13 — When is it best to be terse? Flowery?</p></blockquote><p>Two answers:</p><ol><li>If I have a word limit, I make it terse. When I wrote <em>Mars Needed Women,</em> each chapter was limited to a maximum of 4,700ish characters (hashtags were necessary). That forces me to practice concision and ellipsis. By concision, I mean making each word necessary to carry an idea or an emotion, double-duty being better, or to complete a grammar construct. Sometimes I had to choose words by length, when I hit my toot-limit. By ellipsis, I mean grouping meaning such that it also implies what was necessarily left out. As an example of the latter, neither giving birth nor OB-GYN doctors are mentioned, not even midwives, but I'm sure the reader knows they exist, they have to. When I expand the story for publication, this topic might be a good target for an additional sentence, maybe even a chapter.</li><li>If I have a time limit, I work to compose sparser prose. To be clear, by this I mean both a deadline or "I can only write so much before I become exhausted." Charles Dickens and I could easily have a prose style in common, but I neither (re)read his works anymore (because I can't help emulating him) nor let myself get carried away (much) writing things that don't carry to story along (but are nonetheless glorious). I've come to learn that if I practice concision and ellipsis whilst composing, what I will have written is a fertile framework upon which I can plant flowers during revision.</li></ol><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2504.12 — Shameless self-promotion day. Show us what you're proud of. Let's boost away.</p></blockquote><p><em>Mars Need Women</em> is a hopeful yet deeply dystopian feminist SF web-novel that leans heavily into Women's right's issues thanks to a set of writing prompts on the subject. It is a woman-centric adventure story of overcoming adversity while being female, with all the warts and frustrations, not as a man in disguise. </p><p>Our wannabe engineer heroine May Ri escapes a disheartening life, faced with becoming little more than a housewife because she lacks "blessings," to help colonize Mars—if you can call being shanghaied <em>escaping</em> and being contracted to have children a <em>benefit.</em> (She does get to choose the gorgeous supportive guy, though, so that's a positive.) As she learns to make martian machines, she keeps putting herself at the center of a global martian dust storm with her children as power shifts from being male-dominated. As the daughters of the Martian immigrants increasingly control Mars' future (how is spoilers), May Ri together with her five daughters shape a world (Mars) the way unfettered women might imagine it. </p><p>When the men of Earth take affront—of course they do—they learn that women don't fight like men, especially when their children's lives are threatened, and their wellbeing is at stake. <strong><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></strong> </p><p>It remains free-to-read on Mastodon for a few more days:</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11408894</span><span class="invisible">5266387178</span></a>. </p><p>If you start reading it now, a comment or a private mention will tell me not to delete the posts until the end of next week. I consider it a beta read. I'm already revising an augmenting the original story, tying up loose ends, and might add more chapters along the path to publishing it as a book. Meanwhile, I'm going to start boosting chapters for a last hurrah.</p><p>See <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/alttext" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>alttext</span></a> for book cover description.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photographer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photographer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/chef" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>chef</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/cooking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cooking</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.au/@Heliograph" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>Heliograph</span></a></span> Thanks for posting that; I feel better about some literary choices. When I wrote my Mars novel I decided to use a single universal time for the entire planet. People can't live on the surface and most development is underground for radiation reasons. No windows. Some population is on spaceships or a station. One zone gives the same diurnal schedule to everyone everywhere. When they rarely need to use the surface, they use offset and solar terms, "like local dusk is just before lunch."</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/SF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SF</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Mars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mars</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/TimeZone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TimeZone</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScienceFiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScienceFiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2504.10 2/2 — Show us a book cover you like. What makes it special?</p></blockquote><p>Well, I like the cover I mocked up for my web-novel. What makes it special other than I did all the work? It sets the tone for what <em>isn't</em> seen in the story since most of the scenes either occur inside domes on Mars or inside an arcology on Earth. There's a lack of contrast between living on Mars and Earth.</p><p>The image is from Jezero crater. When the protagonist's eldest daughter finishes training 2,000 young people her age to wear Mars suits, in celebration, she asks to visit in a scene late in the book because it's so "famous."</p><p>The Mars globe in a Triskelion is the tattoo all the Mars contract colonists imported from Earth wear on their right forearm.</p><p>I like the overall effect of the image and the metallic wire lettering, with the tiny bit of asymmetry, as it evokes a sense of quiet desolation. With a very thin atmosphere, Mars is often very quiet and I see the cover as contemplative.</p><p>Not sure whether a publisher's marketing department would think it would sell the book, however.</p><p>More in <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AltText" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AltText</span></a></p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersCoffeeClub</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WCC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WCC</span></a> 2504.09 — How much room for the fantastical is there in your work?</p></blockquote><p>I write both SF and SF Fantasy.</p><p>In <em>Mars Needed Women,</em> it was all science. The only thing fantastical (if you can call it that) about it is how I chose the setting (already successful Mars colonization) and manipulated situation (bankruptcy, no contact with Earth, Men doing the dangerous jobs, Mars dust affecting fertility) to gradually reduce the percentage of men in the population, allowing the women to break the male dominance of the culture and over the society (entrenched patriarchy).</p><p>In the Reluctance Series, the one thing that is fantastical is the physics at the root of the science in the story. The people, the situation, the state of the Earth, and the technology used all grows from this. Were you or I to be transferred there, once you got the 411 on the special new laws of nature, you wouldn't feel like you were living in a fantasy world at all.</p><p>In <em>Inklings,</em> currently on hiatus, it is all fantasy. There's a lot of room for the fantastical, like an MC who through sacrificing herself can converse with animals.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mystery</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/thriller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>thriller</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/romance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>romance</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fantasy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fantasy</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSReluctanceStory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSReluctanceStory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 638 — Is your SC more introverted or extroverted? Or do they fall somewhere in the middle?</p></blockquote><p>Reina Īto is extraverted to the max. She was the first child born on Mars by over a year and was pampered by her mother (a chief scientist on the Mars colonization mission), and later looked up to as the big sis for the entire generation of Nisei born on Mars. She's sparkly and full of TMI situations, but also incredibly brilliant because she was never told she couldn't do stuff the way girls on Earth often were. She takes her big sis role seriously, and values friendship and closeness above most everything else, and protects her generation from reactionary ideas of gender and sexuality that would constrain women.</p><p>Marisela is the girl who could. She's May Ri's eldest daughter, and was shy when young, but you get the idea she's more extroverted when at 4 years old she scolds other adults waggling a finger when they don't treat her mother right, then a few years later announces, when her father returns home (he's gone 4/5th of the year), that her mommy is going to be making funny noises again that night. She takes up challenges, especially when it lets her do things, and more so when it makes her friends. She's very Nisei in the Martian sense, and becomes a symbol of the new Mars by her 22nd birthday.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p>Self-promo time! What links, publications or media would you like to share? <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writephant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writephant</span></a> </p><p>I recently finished writing a feminist SF web-novel that I published on Mastodon. <strong>Mars Needed Women</strong> is a woman-centric adventure story of overcoming adversity while being female, with all the warts and frustrations, not as a man in disguise. It starts with ugliness of today's world having become the dystopian norm a hundred years from now. It takes thinly veiled jabs at a prominent bad actor. Our heroine, May Ri escapes becoming little more than a housewife to help colonize Mars, if you can call being shanghaied escaping, and being required to have children. (She does get to choose the gorgeous supportive guy, though, so that's a positive.) She's there with her children as power slowly shifts from being male-dominated. As the mothers and daughters increasingly control Mars' future (how is spoilers), May Ri with the support of her daughters gets to help create a world (Mars) the way unfettered women would image it. The men of Earth will take affront, of course. They will learn that women don't fight like men, especially when their children's lives are threatened, and their wellbeing is at stake. <strong><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></strong></p><p><strong>I will keep the web-novel available free-to-read at this link at least until April 10th: <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11408894</span><span class="invisible">5266387178</span></a>.</strong> I am currently revising and expanding it, and plan to republish as a book later.</p><p>Here is posted a revised book jacket.</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 637 — Does your MC have a past that haunts them?</p></blockquote><p>May Ri watched from Mars orbit as Herschel Crater got nuked, having failed to knock out all the missiles with her railgun. Her eldest daughter worked in the capitol, in the domed city situated in that crater. <em>Had.</em> She has nightmares of the flash and a mushroom cloud rising. Sort of like in the attached vid.</p><p><a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/38985/sarychev-peak-eruption-kuril-islands" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">earthobservatory.nasa.gov/imag</span><span class="invisible">es/38985/sarychev-peak-eruption-kuril-islands</span></a></p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a><br>Credit: NASA Johnson</p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 636 — Are your characters superstitious? CW: A-theism.</p></blockquote><p>In <em>Mars Needs Women,</em> May Ri when caught not praying during school prayer (in a public school!), her anger flares and she proclaims she's an a-theist. Note the spelling. May Ri is so NOT superstitious that at one point in the book (when she's trying to terminate an unplanned pregnancy and is being forced to watch videos) she says:</p><blockquote><p>"I'm an a-theist, raised Clear Thinking by my father. My mother died when I was 5. She ceased to be, that's all. Your invisible friend is a farce; there's no 'better' place to go. Like all animals, [my mother] stopped being; this will, too. I have to take care of now, and will."</p></blockquote><p>I can't speak about other characters in the story. Some are religious, but the topic doesn't come up. However, in May Ri's world view, there is no place for anything super-natural. She's an engineer, after all.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossibilities</span></a> 635 — Are there any specific cultural influences that shaped the world or characters in your story</p></blockquote><p>Two major cultural influences, one not so good and one good. Contrast. </p><p>The main character comes from an end-stage religio-fascist oligarchy. She live's in Chicago. She's also an atheist and bristles under restrictions put on women. I work to give an impression of an Anglo-Saxon culture suffused with religion and hypocrisy, but I never describe the main character other than at least one of her children have dark hair like her. With a name like May Ri, you wonder about her heritage. Constricted by patriarchy, she chooses Mars hoping for opportunity.</p><p>On Mars, the first child born on the planet was borne by a Japanese refugee. She learns Japanese from her mother and teaches it to the other Nisei (first generation Martians in Japanese), and the cultural aesthetic plays a part in the plot, as do some specific Japanese words. </p><p>Beyond that, I drop hints all over that the colonists are culturally diverse and are from across the planet—and poor because who signs what's essentially a slave contract to work on Mars and bear children? The Nisei with absent fathers and overworked mothers (who build the colony) are raised communally and increasing develop their own society free of gender roles and constrained sexuality. A trans character plays a role, and skin color is seen a beautiful.</p><p>The people back on earth don't like this. <em>Mars Needed Women</em> is a story of cultural and planetary conflict. </p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/pennedpossibilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pennedpossibilities</span></a> 633 — How did you choose the title for your story, and what significance does it hold for you?</p><p><em>Mars Needs Women</em> was a 1968 schlock female-exploitation film. The title has had staying power (pun intended) even if the film didn't. My feminist SF short novel (now in revision) is about a woman from an endpoint technological religio-fascist society (2024 thru the 2100s) that takes biblical patriarchy seriously and leaves women few options but to be exploited. I wanted to show how women might run a society differently if they could get their chance. </p><p>The title came to me quickly, with the verb set instead to the past tense: <em>Mars Needed Women.</em> This is because women were contracted for colonization purposes, to have children. It's from a recruitment poster early in the story. When the colonization effort goes bankrupt and men die disproportionately compared to the imported women, the dynamics of power change. Over the 25 year span of the story, women and their predominately female native Martian children take over the jobs and then governing. When the women declare themselves an independent matriarchal nation, Earth's patriarchy slanders (ring a bell about modern time?) Mars' women so as to have an excuse to put down the "rebellion." </p><p>However, women don't fight like men. War isn't a game when you are keeping your children alive… This is why Mars needed women to survive. </p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/PennedPossiblities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PennedPossiblities</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WordWeavers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WordWeavers</span></a> 2504.01 — Describe your story using only 5 nouns</p></blockquote><p>Mars. Women. Bravery. Sex. Patriarchy.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2503.29 — What is your proudest or best moment with your creative endeavor this month?</p></blockquote><p><em>I finished writing my web-novel (<a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a>) and, surprisingly, I think I ended it well.</em></p><p>That was 31 days of one chapter composed, revised, and published† per day. I really didn't know where I would go when I started (other than the blurb I wrote on day one), but each day I chose a prompt from a list and ran with it—or rather the characters ran with it. With six days to go, I knew I'd be killing off a character so sympathetic I almost couldn't do it. With four days to go, I was introducing new characters. With three days to go, I had no idea how to end the story, let alone with a climactic moment. Yet. I did. The characters asserted their humanity, and that they were women. For all its warts—and this story has plenty because I could not go back in revise, fix plot holes, or foreshadow—I'm rather proud of the result.</p><p>My announcement: <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114261812977623863" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11426181</span><span class="invisible">2977623863</span></a></p> <p>† That was in addition to and in parallel with my Talk to Me Day appearance.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p>My feminist SF web-novel <em>Mars Needed Women</em> is complete! 23,300 words in 31 chapters, one chapter posted each day throughout March, the last posted 23 minutes ago as I write this. Check out the cover art.</p><p>To read, either use the hashtag <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a> or this link to the first chapter: <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178" translate="no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11408894</span><span class="invisible">5266387178</span></a> The full novel is in the thread. Just scroll to read.</p><blockquote><p>“A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.”</p></blockquote><p>I'll leave it up for you to read for at least a week. After that, I'm revising it for later secondary publication.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writever" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writever</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Mars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mars</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/SpaceOpera" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceOpera</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/scifi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>scifi</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/feminism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>feminism</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> fiction <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p>2503.30 31/31 — Wave <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writever" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writever</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Mars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mars</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/SpaceOpera" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceOpera</span></a></p></blockquote><p>Marisela, aged 10, wearing her little Mars green enviro suit, smiled and waved a rust-stained gauntleted hand. They'd traveled to Jezero Crater. Behind her lay a famous scene of twin dark red rover tracks gouged into orange soil, between hills strewn with dark boulders and rusty shingle rocks. Dust storms and dust devils over the years had softened them. A crater wall stretched like a mountain range to the greenish hazy horizon. May Ri had wanted to celebrate Mari having suit-trained 2,000 nisei. Mari asked for a trip to Jezero with Momie. Reina made it so.</p><p>The image looped every 10 seconds with a blink.</p><p>In that blink of darkness, in memory, the cargo doors of the decapitated warship flew open. Her two-second delayed reaction had cost her daughter's life.</p><p>The North American Decath States had killed her daughter. She'd failed to stop them. She pounded the table. On the moon, that action pushed her from her chair.</p><p>"There you are," a dark-haired teenager asked, climbing the stairs into the observatory. Domes were built fully or partially buried, to protect from radiation. Few had windows, but this one did. Thick. 360º, with a full black sky above and a sun always peaking over the horizon. A cloudy blue world opposite entered a full phase, sliced off by crater walls.</p><p>Distracted by Mau approaching, she looked for Mi.</p><p>"No Miriam?" Rare.</p><p>"We caused Kyv to pull a muscle, but Mi's better at massaging. Give me something to bolt together any day! So, I answered a ping." She handed over May Ri's intentionally-left-behind book plate, then swiped the memory cube faster than her mother could jump, and slept it.</p><p>May Ri tapped a priority from Reina.</p><p>"I trust you," the recorded Onēsanue said. Her red hair hung limp. Her grey eyes displayed dark circles below them, transforming her freckles to ashes. "Your intuition said shoot the <em>Bonhomme Richard</em> despite the mayday. I insisted on international norms, that we attempt a rescue. I was wrong. My intuition was wrong. 1,323 people and your precious daughter died because I'd never been abused or oppressed by Earthers. I did not understand. I still don't understand, so I will say this: If leveling cities is your decision, or standing by and letting them cower in fear at what we might do is your decision, I shan't second guess you. I trust you." The message ended.</p><p>"Pfft! That was helpful!"</p><p>Maurine hugged her mother from behind, squeezing tightly, head on her shoulder. May Ri smelled sweat and Mi's rose perfume.</p><p>"Mau—?"</p><p>"Not happening, Momie!" She tried to bite her ear.</p><p>May Ri shoved her, laughing.</p><p>"Seriously. Ten minutes to the astronomical new moon. Next month a partial solar eclipse; today, we're in the sun's glare. You picked now symbolically, but you need to choose a plan." Mau's book plate filled will warning messages. One stated, "Get May Ri's rear in gear!!!" with 3 exclaims.</p><p>What was she to do? A blue world with billions of people led astray by a belief in an all-powerful invisible friend, or two, and a belief only money made friends. When she closed her eyes, she saw the red face of Mars, a flash, then another, then a distorted mushroom of fire and debris rising, as her daughter—</p><p>—had ceased to exist.</p><p>She envied the Decath, envied their certainty that there was a "better place" the dead would populate, would "live" happily forever.</p><p>She hugged herself. No. Her daughter was gone. Half-a-year ago. Nothing would bring her back.</p><p>Reina's trust did nothing to help. May Ri needed to prevent a repeat of that day.</p><p>Today.</p><p>Men had a brutal history of conquest, of killing the husbands and the children so the subsequent babies were theirs. May Ri read the books, understood the patriarchy and theology supporting it, and the Game of War. Women were no more than a prize.</p><p>Would she play? Destroy the capital of the States like they destroyed Herschel?</p><p>What would Marisela think? The girl had taught the Nisei to wear spacesuits because it made her more friends. Mau and Mi always said to make friends. Very Nisei.</p><p>"Friends?" May Ri asked.</p><p>Maureen gave a thumbs up.</p><p>May Ri didn't know what she'd choose. Her fingers typed in a code and keys. </p><p>Thorium SMRs across the Moon responded to loads as newly built spinlaunchers powered up, soon casting ton-sized payloads skyward. Southhome vibrated as the south polar set of twenty launched with a faint <em>whump, whump, whump.</em></p><p>She looked at her book plate. She read the first target sweeping east to west. <em>Cape Canaveral</em> not <em>General Washington City.</em> She sighed. In three days, Earth would cease to have launch capability, except for the KJC.</p><p>"Let's warn them to evacuate two hours before impact."</p><p>"Sounds good," Mau said. <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a> 31</p><p><strong><em>—END—</em></strong></p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/microfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>microfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/flashfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flashfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/tootfic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tootfic</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/smallstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>smallstory</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p>2503.29 30/31 — Matriarchy <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writever" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writever</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Mars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mars</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/SpaceOpera" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceOpera</span></a></p></blockquote><p>Maurine watched Miriam slightly brush her chest against Kyv as she adjusted the book plate. Mau whispered in Mi's ear, "He's going to have trouble standing again."</p><p>"I know!" her sandy-haired twin mouthed. "Cute."</p><p>Kyv, their mother, and moonborne staff concentrated on a vid. The cargo starship jerked suddenly, starting to tumble. Res and perspective changed as the flyby view and magnification changed. The precision strike burst the fuel tank. The cargo bay opened; a robot arm checked damage.</p><p>"Maintain weapons range."</p><p>"Aye."</p><p>When the arm lofted a long black cylinder that resolved to a missile, their mother went pale. The scene before Hershel. "Fire! Fire now!"</p><p>Seconds later, the booster section shattered to shrapnel, parts tumbling, including the cargo arm.</p><p>"Ma'am?"</p><p>She wiped her forehead. "It's defanged—"</p><p>The vid whited out. Mi reflexively hugged Kyv. Ten mags out, a nuclear spawned sun faded to orange then red.</p><p>Kyv said, "Earth will see that."</p><p>"They pressed the button," their mother corrected. "Future May Ri's problem." She shuddered, sighed, and looked at Mi. Clutching Kyv. She grabbed Mi's ear and pulled her up.</p><p>"Ow! Ow!"</p><p>"Kyv? Are you married?"</p><p>"My wife died in the fighting when NADS took over."</p><p>"Girls. See what you get when you ask? Decath?"</p><p>"Is anybody still religious? After they crapped on the moon?"</p><p>"These two are serious. They're also adults. Mi!"</p><p>"Ow! Ow!"</p><p>"Mau?"</p><p>She got <em>The Look</em> and stood straight.</p><p>"Explain to him about consent <em>and get it,</em> both of you. Then about marriage, pods, nisei, and your expectations. Got it?" Waving at the embarrassed moonborne audience, "Them, too. So arriving crew won't cause problems."</p><p>Mau started breathing again.</p><p>May Ri discovered the moon wasn't devoid of women. 23, all with their tubes tied, forcibly, to 417 remaining men. They lived separately, in telescope and deep space network housing. When they voted to join the Sorority, the men agreed.</p><p>Soon parts of the DSN came up, including Sorority Prime, all narrowcast. NADS had isolated the dirigible station on Venus and the Long Term Titan Survey. May Ri spent more time as a diplomat listening to people vent than an engineer monitoring construction projects.</p><p>Thirty more vehicles launched toward Southhome; all quietly reduced to tumbling metal. May Ri thanked the ether for uncatalogued launch sites. Meanwhile, judging by actual ham radio traffic, Earth was losing its collective mind. Even readonly, the DSN became a rocket nozzle. If it weren't for the twins' insistence on finding "friends," they might have missed a missive in the torch.</p><p>"Raj has friends in the KJC," Kyv said. "Says the address looks good."</p><p>May Ri nodded, standing out of camera view. Kyv tapped and the vid cleared to show middle-aged and elderly men. Some balding. Asian features. Suits, two military with brass. A conference room. Scattered sitrep feeds. A simple white flag with a blue and red yin-yang sun. A man with dark eyes and hair bowed and spoke…</p><p>Mau said, "That's Japanese."</p><p>May Ri restrained her, so she translated where she stood. "We represent the Korea-Japan Confederacy. May we speak to the esteemed leader of the Lunar Republic?"</p><p>Kyv looked to May Ri. She whispered to Mau, who said, "Is this conversation private?" And, after an exchange of keys, it was. She added, "May we ask the matter at hand?"</p><p>"We politely wish to inquire with your <em>friends</em> about the status of an EM Mars colonial scientist named Yuki Īto."</p><p>"Reina's mom?" Mi asked quietly, now beside her twin. Both looked sad.</p><p>The hair on the back of May Ri's neck prickled. "We're supposed to make friends?"</p><p>"The KJC is not NADS' friend."</p><p>May Ri nodded.</p><p>"We're curious."</p><p>"Me, too."</p><p>With a RT of 8 minutes, which everyone understood, May Ri patched into Reina, giving a sitrep, before walking into view holding up her book plate.</p><p>[Translated]"Princess May Ri of Mars!" All those standing, bowed.</p><p>May Ri waved a hand in negation. "More of a joke than a title. I do what I can."</p><p>Reina started. "I am the Onēsanue of the Nisei. Yuki Īto died two days after the bombing of Herschel by our mutual enemy, from grief and sadness. Many mourn her. Why do you ask…?"</p><p>"Reconstructed war records indicate Yuki Īto was the last surviving child in the imperial line, daughter of Princess Sakura, daughter of the 131st Emperor of Japan, Ryohito…."</p><p>"I am Reina Īto. Yuki was my mother. She did tell stories about being adopted in the states after the war…"</p><p>All the men in the room stood. Those of Japanese heritage bowed deeper and longer, the spokesman saying, "I think our countries have a basis for alliance."</p><p>May and Mi said, "Isn't seeking friendship—" "—wonderful?" <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSMarsNeededWomen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSMarsNeededWomen</span></a> 30</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sff</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciencefiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSstory</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/microfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>microfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/flashfiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flashfiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/tootfic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tootfic</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/smallstory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>smallstory</span></a></p>
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