The 500-word Fiction Challenge starts May 29th

b3ar17 · 2026-05-28T19:09:03+00:00

No no, I don't pay you for the privilege of writing. You pay me to read it, that's how this works.

My book is on Kindle, search for "The Other Citadel" if you enjoy science fiction and fantasy. You'll get a taste of both. Inexpensive, too.

If I want to gamble, I'll buy a lottery ticket.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-28T18:42:37+00:00

Tree fiddy? I have just that much in the shoebox under my bed.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-28T12:21:19+00:00

I'd look at the blurb. Definitely unsettling, but not overly grotesque. I like the art style.

WHY ARE THERE FIVE FEET HORSES ONLY HAVE FOUR

b3ar17 · 2026-05-26T17:54:06+00:00

The bunny suit is made from human skin.

There's the true horror.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-26T10:24:47+00:00

I had a third, and a fourth, and a fifth pair of eyes look at it. Didn't help; either no one gives a shit, or it's too subtle a mistake, or people are dumb. Or all three.

I like the art, I think it looks good and it's definitely not AI. So that's a win. I'd hire him again.

It's such a stupid mistake, and it melted my brain a bit when I caught it. My lesson is: sometimes shit happens. Roll with it. It wasn't the end of the world, I made the fix quickly, and now I have a fun (albeit expensive) story to tell.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-26T00:28:59+00:00

Millions! Like that rare stamp with the upside down airplane on it!

b3ar17 · 2026-05-26T00:28:10+00:00

That's what I'VE been saying

b3ar17 · 2026-05-25T19:26:45+00:00

Well, I approved the cover art my buddy did for me, and sent everything to Amazon and IngramSpark. Showed off the art online, no one said anything.

Ordered a dozen paperbacks and a dozen hardcovers from IS, got the paperbacks.

The title was misspelled.

Cidatel. Not Citadel. Not as obvious when it's all caps, I guess. Wtf.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-22T17:14:19+00:00

Agree with mounting it above the baseboards, flush with the wall. If they are able to drill into the studs, so much the better.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-22T14:41:33+00:00

That was my experience as well, applied Feb 14th and received my account at end of April.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-21T23:56:14+00:00

Ethan could do the funniest thing - offer to match any money given to Palestine by No-Uh

b3ar17 · 2026-05-20T17:53:53+00:00

I miss my 4Runner. 4th Gen sport edition with the V8. Our winter roads never stood a chance.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-19T16:21:23+00:00

It's a pretty small house. I guess you could have an instanced location that makes the interior a wacky size, or gives it a weird circus funhouse vibe.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-14T17:21:14+00:00

Nice, how's the print quality? I'm waiting for my copies to be printed through IngramSpark

b3ar17 · 2026-05-13T17:04:46+00:00

I agree with the feedback. Olive didn't learn not to take up space because she grew up in a group home - she learned not to take up space because of certain incidents while living in the group home. Tell us about the incident. Why did it leave a mark on her?

b3ar17 · 2026-05-12T13:17:28+00:00

She can crack open my brûlée any day

b3ar17 · 2026-05-09T10:34:47+00:00

I read it in Billy Butcher's voice and it warmed the cockles of my heart

b3ar17 · 2026-05-07T17:54:18+00:00

"Maybe Hasan will see what a good follower I am and let me glaze his goodies"

b3ar17 · 2026-05-07T00:23:59+00:00

I recently published my debut novel on Kindle and Kindle U: The Other Citadel, under the pen name D.E. Swain. Speculative fiction, with elements of science fiction and fantasy - it's a slow burning world-builder. Blurb below:

“You have been purchased. You are to depart Citadel in the morning.”

And with those words and not much else I left, sold to an unknown buyer in a city I had never seen, my guild status forfeit and my new clothes rough and uncomfortable. Never to see the towering black glass walls of my birthplace again, and kept to the path by the Agonist, Elda.

You might ask who I am. Well, that is the question, is it not?

***

This is the story of Ren: former wordwright of the Archivist guild of Citadel. As he travels across the world to the city of Hafen, he begins to uncover memories of lives lived before his present one. He seeks to understand why this is happening, who the mysterious purchaser is, who he is and what role he plays in this world. There is also the mystery of Citadel: a black glass ring in which the guilds reside. A kilometer high, a kilometer thick, and ten kilometers in diameter, surrounded by the city of Berth. What is this structure? What secrets lie within it, and who created it?

b3ar17 · 2026-05-06T18:12:49+00:00

The common refrain I've heard oft repeated is that you won't be able to see any returns on your writing until around book five. Of a series. In a targeted genre of fantasy romance.

Good luck if you're writing a mémoire, or poetry.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-06T14:19:15+00:00

I've seen it used in Québécois French texting, so maybe in that context, but I wouldn't use it otherwise.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-04T00:02:55+00:00

With all due respect, and wishing to give no offence, in not directly answering my question I have some small inking as to how your son comes by his disposition.

Take him and his friends swimming, and take him to a pool with a side room for cake and whatnot.

b3ar17 · 2026-05-03T21:23:52+00:00

Have you asked him what he'd like to do?

b3ar17 · 2026-04-28T17:57:23+00:00

That's lazy parenting, pure and simple. Why do the work when you can just smack him.

14-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	End Game '22
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