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Ray Ingles

@ringles.bsky.social

920 followers 210 following 2K posts

I’m a software developer with a lifelong taste for science fiction. My first novel, SECONDARY, is now available! Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN meets Naomi Alderman's THE POWER. https://secondary.blog

secondary.blog

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · Apr 22

SECONDARY is now available almost everywhere books and e-books are sold!

THE MARTIAN meets THE POWER; I can comfortably promise you've 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 read a story quite like it.

books2read.com/b/mdx1Jl
Amazon: t.co/0xpU28EWiE
Sample chapters: t.co/pvZX0lxq2v

#ScienceFiction #TimeTravel #SciFi

A man wearing a lab coat and a lanyard stands centered in the image. The background is split irregularly down the middle by a lightning bolt; the man straddles the divide.

On the right, a nuclear plant by the ocean, with a barbed-wire-topped wall. Sun and scattered clouds all the way to the horizon.

On the left, clouds and rain. Strange buildings by the ocean, brightly colored. A man and a woman stand in front of them, wearing odd clothing, also brightly colored.

The tagline reads, "One survivor of our timeline. And it's the wrong guy."

The blurb for SECONDARY, black on an off-yellow background:

Everybody has bad days. Jim McAllister's having one that spans two timelines.

For an anthropologist, joining the Time Eye project is a career-making dream. He's hardly above pulling strings–especially for a chance to pull photons from the Bronze Age and directly view ancient cultures. Then rogue scientists hijack the Eye, sending an engineered virus back thousands of years. Jim, the last person interfaced with the system, can only watch as reality warps around him.

Now he's the sole remnant of the old history: a conspicuous, bizarrely-dressed young man who speaks no recognizable language. Thanks to the virus, anyone with two X chromosomes is a living, and potentially lethal, taser. Men have never been a significant threat to women–quite the opposite.

To have any chance of getting home–to even survive, in a world where men's concerns have been secondary for all of recorded history–Jim will need to find allies. He'll have to apply his skills to a uniquely unfamiliar culture, where much more than the gender signifiers are radically different. He must figure out who might listen to his story. A story that's clearly impossible and deeply offensive. Plus, just as a bonus, heretical.

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 5h

#TimeTravelAuthors 15: 'gave' snippet

There are social restrictions on men criticizing their fiancee in this culture...
----

Baiyokee was actually making audible noises, desperately trying to *politely* interrupt. Atosho finally gave him a quelling glance and handwave.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi

#TimeTravelAuthors
October 2025
Answer as a character!

1. Introduce yourself and the story
3. Your first appearance and/or line of dialogue in the story
5. Why are you important to the story?
7. Something odd/weird you've experienced
9. Favorite person
11. Saturday excerpt (optional word: most)
13. What does someone else in the story think of you?
15. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: give/gave)
17. What life advice would you give?
19. Proudest moment
21. If you got to write the story, what would you change?
23. Tell us about your enemies
25. Saturday excerpt (optional word: back)
27. How do you feel about time travel?
29. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: now)
31. Character'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

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 5h

#PlotTober 15. Story midpoint

The story midpoint involves rescuing a hostage from a bunch of government agents out of a busy airport. It's a lot easier when you can't die. Someone trips and their luggage goes flying, handily intercepting a bullet... 😀

But wait. A few bystanders get killed... 😮😬

Ange @gunsmile.bsky.social · 12h

#PlotTober Day 15: The midpoint

Answer the prompt on the card by quoting this post. Remember, answering a prompt is always optional. Even if you don't share it publicly, I hope the prompt encourages you to think about it privately.

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

#PlotTober - a WIP plotting game by @gunsmile.bsky.social

15. The midpoint of the story serves two purposes: (1) it reveals critical information to the MC and (2) causes the MC to confront both who they used to be and who they need to become to grow, change, and/or achieve their goals. What are some ways you could do this?

Remember: Use the #PlotTober hashtag, engage with others, and have fun!

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 5h

#PlotTober 14. Story endings

The ending involves blowing up the time machine, the MC making a sacrifice for the LI, while both the antagonist and the dragon get killed.

I *am* trying for a thriller, after all. 😀

Ange @gunsmile.bsky.social · 1d

#PlotTober Day 14: Story endings

Answer the prompt on the card by quoting this post. Remember, answering a prompt is always optional. Even if you don't share it publicly, I hope the prompt encourages you to think about it privately.

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

#PlotTober - a WIP plotting game by @gunsmile.bsky.social

14. Now that you have some ideas of your story's beginning and the main character's goals & growth, can you come up with a few different story endings that would be satisfying for a reader?

Remember: Use the #PlotTober hashtag, engage with others, and have fun!

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 5h

#WIPSnips 15: care

Jim's stuck in a sanitarium. In an alternate timeline.

He's not popular with the other patients.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi

Instead of ‘dance therapy,’ there was art therapy. Colored sticks–blunt-shaped, again–that felt like chalk and drew like wide pencils. I sketched a map of the rivers and mountains of western South America, the region I’d done my fieldwork in. I pointed arrows at the two undiscovered settlements I’d found with the Time Eye. Took my mind off things, and was good practice for my half-baked plan. Until one of the guys pretended to ‘slip’ and fall onto my table, drawing a long line across my paper.

I started over with a fresh page. What did I care?

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 13h

I got a message from support that claims, "...our team is actively working on resolving this issue."

🤷

Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 23h

Thanks for the assist!

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

#WIPSnips 14: ultimate

Jim finds out his workday isn't going to go smoothly.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi

(I wish BlueSky would fix the bug where some people's posts aren't showing up in hashtag feeds. 😞)

Marilyn and Shaheen barged through the control room door. “Everyone out,” Marilyn called with authority. She glanced at me. “Good, Jim, you’re here. You stay.”
All we did was stare at them. Sure, Marilyn was ultimately in charge of the Time Eye, but you did not scrub a run five minutes from initiation on anyone’s say-so. Each Viewing cost an ungodly amount of computer time in precalculations alone, leaving aside the millions of Euros in prep costs.

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Reposted by Ray Ingles

Gailey 🍉 @sarahgailey.bsky.social · 1d

books should have an anti-acknowledgements section where the author talks shit about all the people who fucked them over while they were trying to write the thing. not bc I personally want to write one but bc I love gossip

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

59 390 2.3K

Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

a man speaking into a microphone with the words " i felt that " below him

ALT: a man speaking into a microphone with the words " i felt that " below him

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Ray Ingles

Julie Bihn (Titanic Voyage free on Hoopla!) @juliebihn.bsky.social · 14d

#TimeTravelAuthors #Day1

My name's Rocky. I'm a teenage prodigy, computer genius, and epic wingman.

Wanna hear how I helped some guy try to save the life of a doomed hologram? Read Titanic Voyage. books2read.com/TV

Or don't read it. Whatever. I'm not your mom.

Arrow book image, all pointing at the paperback for Titanic Voyage by Julie Bihn. Night sky over the ocean, roller coaster silhouettes on the horizon, with a glowing porthole in the foreground, looking out on the Titanic deck with a spot of light.

Arrow image label: ANGST ANGST ANGST
Arrows:
*Hero falls in love with a hologram
*Actually the hero also has a fake British accent
*More pining than a full Christmas tree lot on December 24
*The heroine's a heroic woman from Titanic
*TIME TRAVEL
*Romance sweeter than 20 pounds of cotton candy

Feat. a super-cool snarky teenage computer genius named Rocky (he's great and everyone loves him)

TITANIC VOYAGE, AVAILABLE NOW

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

I put up a blog post about how neurodivergence can be an advantage in certain kinds of writing. Of course, there's currently a bsky bug where I don't show up in hashtag feeds.

Reposts with tags, if you feel so motivated, are welcome.

secondary.blog/2025/10/13/h...

Hardware vs Software… In Writing

Humans have special brain hardware for lots of things. Learning language, recognizing faces, moving in space with a body, etc. But we also have social hardware.

secondary.blog

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Reposted by Ray Ingles

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 1d

People who are not my mom are calling my new article "brilliant," "one of those 'moments of clarity' articles," "banger," and "a dissertation's worth of thought on gender in Chanur one tasty article."

And I didn't even pay them to say that!

reactormag.com/exploring-ge...

Exploring Gender and Trans Identity in the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh - Reactor

The Chanur series poses key questions about gender roles, expression, and identity.

reactormag.com

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

Mostly when answering prompts on social media where the length of replies is limited and every letter counts. 😁

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

There's also "SC" for Side/Supporting Character. (Romances sometimes talk about "MMC" and "FMC" - Male/Female Main Character.)

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Ray Ingles @ringles.bsky.social · 1d

Writer-speak for "Main Character." 😀

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