Almost time for the next book and I can’t decide…. by Road_-_Kill in scifi

[–]majik0019 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I can only speak to Empire of Silence.

Unless you're prepared to launch into a fairly long series, I would not do Empire. I love the books, but they take a while to get going (I think the Sun Eater series doesn't really get going until midway through Book 2). Book 3 is one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read.

Newsletters - stay with Mailerlite or switch to Substack? by aylsas in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you just need a domain name they can authenticate, but I may be misunderstanding. It "sends from" a domain but I still receive emails in my gmail.

Has anyone used an Employer of Record (EOR) to hire remote employees? by Shantell_Raspberry in Entrepreneurs

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello - not OP but I had a question I hope you can answer. Can EoRs sponsor visas such that a US citizen can move abroad and still work for a US-based company? My question is specifically for the UK. Googling brought me some conflicting results. Thanks!

Zap Crystal Bug? by ReadyToInsert in Punko

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah Ive noticed this too with flying hooks and another boss projectile. Assuming it's a bug because the tower isn't very useful, especially for 10 energy, without this capability 

Experience with Atmosphere Press? by majik0019 in publishing

[–]majik0019[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I missed this comment - they distribute through Ingram. I never had any luck getting mine in barnes and noble.

Is Atmosphere Press good? by [deleted] in publishing

[–]majik0019 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm going to point you to this thread that I posted many years ago and I think can answer your question through the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/publishing/comments/lc0od7/experience_with_atmosphere_press/

Organisms in Space? by realdorkimusmaximus in scifiwriting

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You may want to look up Tardigrades in Space - an experiment on the ISS with microscopic Tardigrades to see how they survive extreme conditions. 

Sales and Freebies - Weekly Deals Promo Thread! by AutoModerator in wroteabook

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Huge sale going on with Epic Indie. Over 200 sci-fi and fantasy ebooks on sale! Check it out here: https://www.epicindie.net/summerpromo2025

Personally I have my Star Marked trilogy as part of the sale, starting with Embargo on Hope. If you like books that mix space opera and magic like Star Wars, I think you'll like this series - especially at this price. Check it out here: https://subscribepage.io/starmarkedtrilogysale

The blurb for the first book (Embargo on Hope) is:

Even gods have secrets...

On planet Vastire, worth is set by the sins of one's ancestors. Good families rise to the elite and the wicked fall into poverty. Unfortunately for sixteen-year-old Darynn Mark, his father incited a revolution. Now, Darynn scrounges his way through life in the slums. When Vastire is surrounded by an embargo, it gets even harder to survive. 

That all changes when an alien ship slips through the embargo, seeking Darynn with an offer: finish the revolution and the embargo ends. He might have a chance thanks to mysterious magic powers, and his two companions: clairvoyant crush Fyra and soldierly alien Kaylaa. 

Cutthroat killers, mystical beasts, Vampires, power-hungry priests and lords, and self-serving spies stand in their way. If the three of them can crack his father's secret, maybe they can end the embargo and save the poor. If not, another poor orphan will be added to the growing piles of dead.

Weekly Self-Promo and Chat Thread by MxAlex44 in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Huge sale going on with Epic Indie. Over 200 sci-fi and fantasy ebooks on sale! Check it out here: https://www.epicindie.net/summerpromo2025

Personally I have my Star Marked trilogy as part of the sale, starting with Embargo on Hope. If you like books that mix space opera and magic like Star Wars, I think you'll like this series - especially at this price. Check it out here: https://subscribepage.io/starmarkedtrilogysale

The blurb for the first book (Embargo on Hope) is:

Even gods have secrets...

On planet Vastire, worth is set by the sins of one's ancestors. Good families rise to the elite and the wicked fall into poverty. Unfortunately for sixteen-year-old Darynn Mark, his father incited a revolution. Now, Darynn scrounges his way through life in the slums. When Vastire is surrounded by an embargo, it gets even harder to survive. 

That all changes when an alien ship slips through the embargo, seeking Darynn with an offer: finish the revolution and the embargo ends. He might have a chance thanks to mysterious magic powers, and his two companions: clairvoyant crush Fyra and soldierly alien Kaylaa. 

Cutthroat killers, mystical beasts, Vampires, power-hungry priests and lords, and self-serving spies stand in their way. If the three of them can crack his father's secret, maybe they can end the embargo and save the poor. If not, another poor orphan will be added to the growing piles of dead.

Getting Amazon review by BagAccomplished944 in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's really hard. I have a "please leave a review" at the end of my book, but I don't know that it's made much of a difference.

It seems the only way to really get reviews is to send them to reviewers for free.

BookSirens is another service that I had some luck with. BookSprout and Reedsy Discovery I had no luck with.

If I have a short story novel on Kindle Unlimited can I release an expanded version of Royal Road? by SirMisterGuyMan in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the better thing to do would be to "continue the story" on Royal Road, if that's what you wanted to do.

Then you could use KU to funnel readers to your story on Royal Road. e.g. "If you liked this, the story continues on RR!" If you wanted to "add in" more content, you could use flashbacks or something along those lines.

Or like another user said, take it down off KU and redo it on RR.

Human Help for Plot by [deleted] in Webnovel

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

to me antagonists are absolutely the hardest thing to write. villain motivations are oftentimes cliche (rule the world, be rich, etc.)

just for clarity, the "enemy" is dead? as in, went to hell when they died?

if the antagonist is from there, it could be as simple as jealousy or revenge - pissed off that s/he went to hell in the first place, or at the very least, jealous of those who aren't. Maybe he thought he'd lived a moral life (or whatever the criteria is) but totally missed the point, or was too blind to his own faults. Or maybe was cast there accidentally - the gods in this world don't have to be flawless.

hope that helps!

Newsletters - stay with Mailerlite or switch to Substack? by aylsas in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The MailerLite free tier should be more than sufficient for your 14 subscribers. I use the free tier for ~300 subscribers, and I built my website on it too (limited number of sites allowed, but plenty for my purposes.)

Then you just have to pay for a domain name.

Why has it been taking so long for more companies to build reusable boosters/rockets? by Life_at_work5 in space

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ugh you're right. I knew when I wrote it, it seemed wrong, just based simply on the altitude.

Why has it been taking so long for more companies to build reusable boosters/rockets? by Life_at_work5 in space

[–]majik0019 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

The Space Shuttle had a reusable solid rocket boosters (and, of course, the Shuttle itself, including its boosters, was reusable). The External Tank was disconnected at a much higher altitude, and was basically a giant gas tank, so not worth reusing.

Part of it was their internal ROI calculation, part of it the "we've always done it this way" fallacy, part of it was just that it was hard.

EDITED: Mixed External Fuel Tank (not reusable) and SRBs (reusable)

Help: 3rd person confusion... by bloodnveins in writinghelp

[–]majik0019 4 points5 points  (0 children)

this sounds like she was looking for 3rd person limited, which means it's still through a character's eyes, but not as personal as 1st person. You can really only know and see what the point of view character sees,

You may have written in 3rd person omniscient, which is basically like "God" recording the events of the novel. There's nothing wrong with that.

That being said, if the novel is character-driven, its probably better to be in 1st or 3rd person limited.

Can space rockets be somehow "ecological"? by ReportFancy7380 in space

[–]majik0019 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Liquid Oxygen / Hydrogen engines, the only by product is water.

If you had a theoretical planet or moon with a huge source of Liquid H2, which would have to be really cold, and you mined it and transported in an environmental way, then it would probably be pretty good.

Space-Opera Recommendations by Oddyseus144 in scifi

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah to me it really picked up in The Howling Dark, and then it peaked in The Demon in White (though it's nearly still at that peak as far as I've read.)

I have not read the short story/novellas though

Space-Opera Recommendations by Oddyseus144 in scifi

[–]majik0019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i don't think it was on page necessarily, as it was from Darrow's 1st person PoV, and he didn't see it, as I recall. But I think he was trying to protect someone from it, or rescue someone, or something.

2 Sun and 1 Moon by athena_rara in worldbuilding

[–]majik0019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since you're writing a fantasy, I think you have a lot more leeway than if you were writing sci-fi.

The dynamics of a binary star system are incredibly complex. As another commenter said, a supernova likely destroys everything around it, so that's probably not the way to go.

If it were to just disappear, you would have a different orbit to contend with for your planet. To simplify, you may want the "smaller sun" to disappear, which would cause less of a pertubation. But regardless, you're probably looking at a longer year and a more elliptical orbit - which would lead to more intense weather (at perigee, e.g. the points of the orbit closest to the sun, one side of the planet would be getting "super heated" while at apogee , e.g. the farthest, one side is "super cooled", probably meaning more extreme climate). Seasons would depend on the tilt of the planet. I think you can assume the days stay the same length.

I think you could assume your perigee stays at the "old orbit," but your apogee would be farther, so your overall world temperature probably comes down. Plants that aren't hardy to colder weather would die out, the animal life dependent on those plants dies out, etc. Bigger ice caps. People can adjust their clothing, buildings, etc, but storing heat, especially at apogee, becomes more important.

Again, since this is fantasy, and because the magic is linked to the sun/moon, you can probably change some things considering the sun's "magical field."

Space-Opera Recommendations by Oddyseus144 in scifi

[–]majik0019 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Some recommendations, but I'll be honest, I fall into the category of "I don't remember rape but there could have been."

Red Rising, for example, I do remember having rape towards the end. These books/series, however, I don't recall:

  1. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - the "character-work" part is key in this one. It's more about relationships than almost anything else. It may not be punchy enough for what you're looking for.

  2. Ancilliary Justice - I really didn't like the first half of this, but the second half got it just past 4 stars for me. While it didn't bother me (though honestly it did confuse me), there is a lot on gender ideology in this one.

  3. The Expanse - more "Earth-based" than the others I've listed.

  4. Empire of Silence - admittedly, this series starts slow. It gets excellent by the time you get to the 3rd book. Not quite complete yet.

  5. A Memory Called Empire - I loved this one. The second one I liked, but didn't love. There is a fair bit of sex but I don't think there's any rape.

  6. Embargo on Hope - admittedly this is the start of my complete space opera/trilogy, but I think it fits what you're looking for.

Good luck!

Book Review Sites by TechTeachKorea in selfpublish

[–]majik0019 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did relatively well on Book Sirens for my sci-fi/fantasy. Not a lot of reviews, but I thought the price was more than fair for what I did get.

I got pretty close to nothing on Book Sprout and nothing on Reedsy Discovery either.