In Britain in 60AD, Aculia struggles to understand visions from the Gods. When her father the King dies, the Roman governor assaults her and she flees to the Druids. When her mother Boudica leads a rebellion, can Aculia enlist the helps of the gods?. #questpit. #W #HF #F #A

specifically to an editor who prefers one-sentence covering letters and says he never reads them, just the story.it's a refreshing change from thinking about querying novels.

just submitted a story to a magazine. Haven't done that for AGES.

ABSOLUTELY NUTS. using birdsong as an image storage medium. INSANE. images hidden in what birds are saying back to you.

(At least for novels. Short fiction different kettle of fish).

so while I'm waiting for the beta comments to come in I'm mainly editing my SF short story The Hungry Sun (based on comments from this time last year, lol) and also brainstorming another fantasy plot. .

Was just very surprised to see an indie publisher say they only consider exclusive submissions. I wasn't even aware exclusive submissions were a thing these days!.

Currently reading a rather famous book where, 2/3 the way in, now anything is happening in the plot, it depends entirely on the two main characters- intelligent and curious men - being entirely stupid and unobservant. Ugh. (Any guesses?).

Awesome!! I know this is going to find a home!!.

- importantly for this kind of setting - the script succeeds in making Romans who by any modern standards behave in a deeply evil manner seem relatable, without condoning what they are doing. so on the whole - worth a watch if you're into this kind of thing!.

. apart from those things I've been pleasantly surprised. The voice of the dialogue is interesting, trying to capture Latin nuances and meter, avoiding the 'making them sound like posh English people' that one usually gets from Latin on screen. Some of the acting is great, and.

the culture of the USA in 2010AD eroticised boobs FAR more than Rome in 70BC - and the whole thing plays to the modern audience. Other Rome-based series (e.g. Rome or Domina) get Roman sexual morality and aesthetics much more right. Now APART from violence and sex. .

. was seen as a moral failing showing a lack of self-control; and respectable Romans did not want their houses to be thought of as brothels. Upshot, the series gives the wrong impression about the quantity (though not the nature) of Roman sex. Further: boobs.

. shown on screen. Yes, female slaves probably sometimes cavorted in ponds at parties. Yes, slaves (including gladiators) were used for sex at their masters' whim. Yes, slaves would watch their master and mistress at it and possibly join in. But equally, excessive libido. .

. disgraced and disfigured ex-gladiators fought it out. The arena was enough. There were not gigantic albinos (though some gladiators had gigantic reputations). regarding the quantity of sex: probably everything depicted happened in ancient Rome, just not with the frequency. .

so I've been watching Spartacus, the 2010 TV series. I was expecting it to be just mindless violence and sex BUT it's much more intelligent than that. the violence is mildly overplayed, the sex more so. in reality there were probably not unofficial 'fighting pits' where.

Turns out stealing books to make AI isn't fine after all.

Exciting news! I got my first spam dm on Bluesky, that place is really maturing as a social network.

this week can fucking do one, it really can. HOWEVER the upside has been seeing loads of great comments from my wonderful beta readers!.

I don't understand why the sun is the centre of this. The Earth (where we are observing from) would make much more sense to me.

well at least I avoided this.