Ray Ingles

People should be REALLY scared by this, it's normalising refusing healthcare to a section of the community for entirely ideological reasons with absolutely no medical reason

#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social

#TimeTravelAuthors 9: Explain your story's time travel method with emojis

☢️➕⚛️➕🔆 ➡️ ⌛👁️

☢️🫠➕🧬➕⌛👁️ ➡️ 💥

#MarchWorldBuilders 9: Have you created any animals/creatures for your world?

A bioengineered virus doesn't really count. And while the robots in the new timeline run on neural networks - and thus, *move* more like animals than our robots - they are not biological.

#SciFi #SFF #SciFiBooks

Their words were ‘gohsih’ for ‘host’ and ‘sholoo’ for ‘guest.’ In almost no time Atosho was able to make things explicit. “You be good guest, I be good host.” ‘Guest’ might seem a fairly vague, minimal offer. But–looked at from an anthropological mindset–it actually covered a lot of ground. Most societies had taken the guest/host relationship very seriously. This was an initial bargain anyway; ‘details to be filled in later.’ We all grasped that. It wasn’t even a deal about actions, really. It was about motives. “We won’t try to screw you over so long as you don’t try to screw us over.” Extending a certain–provisional–respect and courtesy. So I was able to say, “Promise,” with only traces of anxiety. Again, a better deal was not realistic, for the time being.

#WIPSnips 9: screw

Jim's an anthropologist... and so are the people he's working with. They're just from vastly different timelines. Almost nothing in human societies is truly *universal*, but a few things are *very* common.

#SciFi #SFF #SciFiBooks

#MarchWorldBuilders 8:

Almost 6,000 years of divergence means only a handful of familiar dog breeds. (One has long leg hair, like a Clydesdale.) They didn't breed giant warhorses, either.

And Jim gets to taste aurochs meat; they didn't go extinct. So that's cool.

#ScienceFiction #SFF #SciFi

Very Serious Scientists: With a couple hundred watts of power, a lab with some liquid helium, an ultraviolet laser, a beam splitter, and a few other odds and ends, you can see almost a quarter-second into the past. The Public: So we could spy on - Very Serious (And Exasperated) Scientists: No! The max range for that setup is barely ten centimeters around the ‘focus points.’ Which are inside the device, which is at least two meters across. It’s like only seeing the inside of your eyeball. (But it’s a good thing there’s a way to show it works, otherwise us Very Serious Scientists wouldn’t be talking about this crazy stuff.) The Public: Fine. Whatever. Anything else it can do? Very Serious Scientists: If you have around a gigawatt to work with, calculations show there’s a window right around 5,700 years ago. And the viewing range would cover almost anywhere on Earth.

#WIPSnips 08: beam

About the sole legitimate hit, where Jim's explaining the rather severe limitations of the Time Eye.

#SciFi

Yeah, that was a challenge. But I tried to make it as realistic as possible consistent with moving the story along. 🤞

Eventually I got placed in front of a low desk. A woman inspected me, quirked her lips, and said… something. A blur of noise.[1] Totally unrecognizable accent, of course. A little like a native Japanese speaker trying to talk in Spanish, maybe? I could only stare. She said it again, louder and slower, frowning. I suddenly grasped that she was asking me a question. The pitch of her voice hadn’t changed in any way I could recognize; I processed it as a statement. I shrugged helplessly, plastered an apologetic expression on my face. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. I’m not from around here.” I hoped she’d pick up on my language being odd. [1] My intro linguistics course showed us human speech in an oscilloscope. There really are very few gaps or pauses between words, and they’re shorter than you think. Your brain separates out the words and sentences, unconsciously. But only if you know the language.

#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social

#TimeTravelAuthors 7: Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud)

After writing SECONDARY, I totally understand why the "Universal Translator" trope is so common. Learning a new language is *hard*.

#SciFi #TimeTravel #SFF

#MarchWorldBuilders 7: Has your MC had any significant interactions with plants/fungi?

Aside from falling on a bush when he appeared in the new timeline, not so much. There aren't a lot of survival manuals aimed at enduring alternate histories.

#SciFi #SciFiBooks

Tuvee circled to the right, snarling. More massive than me, but… clumsy. He moved like a grade-schooler–no skill at all. The other boys were catcalling, except for Dovee, who looked ill. We were wrapped in a circle of jeering boys in no time. I didn’t have any real martial-arts training, but I’d been in some rough parts of the world. I knew how to block and punch. My Lihnahchoo skills were minimal, but I tried: “No touch.” My fists up, stance grounded, staring him right in the face. “Me hurt.” Against the guys I was used to, I’d be bluffing. He had twenty kilograms on me, minimum, and a reach advantage. But I had a suspicion…

#WIPSnips 7: massive

Jim grew up in a *very* different culture from the local males.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

#MarchWorldBuilders 6: A plant/fungus grown on a large scale for eating

Oddly enough, in the new timeline the North American pawpaw - or at least, a highly-bred variant - is common in what we call Europe. The fruit is a little hardier, and was brought over by conquerors centuries ago.

I mostly researched enough botany to have an idea what the oldest, longest-cultivated fruits and vegetables are. 😂 My branch-off was around 3700 BCE, since that's before writing was invented.

I don't have a comprehensive list, but since it's not known before the times of the Greeks, it's probably less than three thousand years old.

And would be developed differently anyway, hybridizing with other plants and producing alternate mutations. 🤷

“How couldst thou not tell me?” Manayka was definitely upset. Atosho, at the controls of the vehicle, didn’t look. “I had read a medical report. I did not need to observe the details to understand what his… genital modification could imply, sociologically.” A careful pause. “I am happy that it has not been necessary to pursue that path of the circuit. There are too many other questions already raised.”

#WIPSnips 6: pursue

Turns out circumcision isn't a thing in the new timeline. At all. Anywhere.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social

#TimeTravelAuthors 5: Apologies in your story

The very language in the new timeline makes explicit the distinction between 'expressing sympathy' and 'apologizing.' (Which makes Dovee's frantic apologies after he makes a pass at Jim all the more sad.) Jim notices when people don't apologize to him.

#MarchWorldBuilders 5: Plant/fungus used for healing or herbalism

The new timeline took women's health concerns more seriously. They identified abortifacients millennia back; plant extracts that suppress periods have been around a few centuries. Some extinct in our timeline, like silphium.

#SciFi

I had suspected it, of course. Hoped for it, in fact. Now, though, I knew - Yarona had invited me here to see if I was lying. I realized that the metaphor of 'power conductor' was more accurate than 'highness.' Clearly, this man had power. I couldn't guess exactly what kinds - or how much, especially relative to others. But I was quite sure he had enough power to destroy me, if he were so inclined.

#WIPSnips 5: destroy

Trapped in a *very* unfamiliar culture, Jim has to take a lot of risks. Some of which he can't even begin to estimate.

#SFF #SciFiBooks

#MarchWorldBuilders 4: Plant/fungus used in a symbolic way in your world

Jim hasn't run into too many of those (yet) as he's more focused on survival. But there's a detail about the religious order that runs the mental asylums...

#SciFi #SFF #ScienceFiction

I wasn't allowed to talk in detail about how computers worked. Which was easy enough, since I really knew fuck-all about the internals. But the spies didn't care about their social impacts in some other world. So I talked about online shopping, and the "death of retail." Rideshare companies and their labor schemes. Social media, the good and bad. How people could embed themselves in an echo chamber, and how it could be hard to find trustworthy sources of information.

#WIPSnips 4: media

It can be hard to tell the difference between "not wanting to explain something," and just "not *knowing* it."

#SciFi #SFF #ScienceFiction

Moodboard for THE GODS OF ATALANTIS featuring: Ancient board games, temples with waterfalls pouring into pools, neat ancient fantasy cities, forehead kisses, frolicking in canals amid a palace, beautiful island coastlines, more ancient cities, and cool statues of strange gods. Center Quote: “From the day you left this village, you became more than merely yourself. You are the Sea Mother. This is the role fate has placed upon you. I told you when you left that I believed this path has opened up to you for a reason. I still believe that. You’ve been given a chance that few others ever have—the chance to change the world for the better. I’d even dare say it’s your duty to do so, now that you have the means.”

Digital painting by me of Mireia, the MC of my Atlantis trilogy, standing with her arms spread out in front of a carved wall relief of her goddess alter-ego, Mu'u the Sea Mother. Mireia is a teenage girl with light brown skin, long dark brown wavy hair, and gray eyes, wearing a blue garment that clasps at her left shoulder, a wide purple cloth belt, and a few pieces of gold jewelry. Mu'u is a feminine figure with a large coral-like headdress, obsidian eyes, and seven scaly arms holding various objects: a skull, a fish, a hammer, a lyre, a bundle of lightning bolts, a swaddled baby, and a small boat. Behind her is a background of cliffs and sea waves full of ocean creatures & human figures sunk at the bottom.

Hey Bluesky friends!

Just another reminder that I'm currently looking for ARC readers for my book THE GODS OF ATALANTIS - coming soon!

Slow-burn romance! Fantasy politics! Magic crystals!✨

If you like things like ATLA & FMA:B, this is for you! Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

“A great historical time travel mystery” 👇✨📚 #Mystery #TineTravel #AlternateHistory #BookSky #ReaderSky

Ellen's portrayal is from Jim's POV. So if her motivations aren't fully clear, that's a comment on Jim's understanding of her. Even if that might be unflattering to him. 🙄

I'll just say that comes up later in a couple ways. 😈

#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social

#TimeTravelAuthors 3: Chars protecting anything/one?

The conspirators are trying to protect women everywhere (and when).

Ellen protects Jim from annihilation.

Dovee can't protect Jim much, but he tries.

Jim doesn't have the capacity to protect anyone, even himself. Yet.

#SciFi #TimeTravel

#MarchWorldBuilders 3: Special/unique fungi?

Besides mushrooms for food (including Vitamin D) & medicine, they've been bred for industrial applications. Varieties make chemicals useful in breaking down cellulose, or even - once properly treated - light but strong building materials and insulation.

They brought me into a round room. More parquet. A central dias with tables and papers. Along the outside, past low wooden rails, was a viewing area. Two viewing areas, actually, with gaps between. One about twice as large as the other. Only three people in the bigger one. The smaller seating area was empty. A pair of women were seated by those central tables, in robes that looked surprisingly like the judicial robes from home. Except in a dark yellowish brown, with a kind of yellow-amber collar all around the shoulders. On one side, at a counter of sorts, I suddenly recognized Nusuku, the cop. She stood next to three other women, all in doublets and kilts–but formal. The guards brought me over to them.

#WIPSnips 3: counter

Jim has a court date. Even if he doesn't know the local word for 'court'. Or 'date,' or 'has.'

#SciFi #SFF #ScienceFiction

#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social

#TimeTravelAuthors 1: luck

Bad luck: Your entire timeline is rewritten.

Good luck: You survive!

Bad luck: *Only* you survives. And some of your clothes.

Good luck: You're an anthropologist!

Bad luck: None of the history you know applies anymore.

Good luck: Um. Hold on, gotta be *something*...

Not that they're not beautiful. And colorful - Cholaman fashion uses quite a bit more color than Jim's used to, and flower breeding has favored that. Bold, intense colors; seldom pastels.

2/2

#MarchWorldBuilders 2: Do you have any special/unique flowers in your world?

Humans have bred flowers into different shapes for a few thousand years. They've done so in the new timeline as well. Though they've sometimes aimed for different shapes. Really prominent pistils, for example.

1/2

Baiyokee stood at a mirror, applying makeup, jaw clenched but trying to ignore me. He was high on the list of things to worry about. Manayka believed me, which I was supremely grateful for. And Atosho believed me. Her endorsement, however, was in many practical ways more important than Manayka's. She was, after all, a woman. I was grateful that she had openly declared that she believed me, of course. A whole fucking lot. Unfortunately that meant complications. Since Baiyokee (a) did not believe me, (b) in fact hated me, and most importantly (c) was Atosho's fiance.

#WIPSnips 2: most

Nothing can ever be easy for Jim.

#SciFi #SFF

There's a brief, plaintive footnote at one point 😞:

The ‘doctor’ squinched her lips like she’d bit into a lemon.[1]

[1] I miss lemons.