Ray Ingles
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ringles.bsky.social
Ray Ingles
@ringles.bsky.social
930 followers 220 following 2.1K 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
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ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 3: 'decor' snippet

We were led through an arch and down a hall by a young boy with long curly hair and formal makeup. The decor was opulent and ostentatious... as you'd expect for a legit palace. I noticed a definite seashell motif.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
#TimeTravelAuthors December 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: start with "Twas the night before...") 3. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: decor/decorate) 5. Do any of your characters have a fantasy? 7. How did a character get their name? 9. A time someone failed 11. Does anyone keep things under wraps? 13. Saturday excerpt (optional word: far) 15. How many days/months/years back do they travel? 17. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: room) 19. A character who's naughty 21. A character who's nice 23. Nostalgia in your story 25. Does anything happen at midnight? 27. Saturday excerpt (optional word: gift) 29. Any time travel cliches? 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 Questions? @juliebihn@mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 12:25 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 3: dominant

The MC starts to come to grips with the situation he's in.

#TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #SciFi
I walked casually, though not slowly. I spent about two minutes to process, to think. If Shaheen and Marilyn had succeeded… then any woman I saw was a walking, talking taser. And men were not. Physically, men would be no serious threat to women. And hadn’t been for well over five thousand years… *Be an anthropologist,* I told myself. *Integrate your observations, form hypotheses, test them.* Women would be the dominant sex here. And if they controlled the power and resources… men would have to compete among themselves for them. *Well, crap,* I thought, projecting implications and checking them against the few minutes of data I’d gathered.
December 3, 2025 at 12:24 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 2: percent

There *is* a third option the MC doesn't know about yet. Whether it's better than death is up for debate.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
*Oh, shit.* The alarms blossomed on my unresponsive screens, the warning tones began to whine. The wolves were overdriving the reactor, melting down the core to get enough energy for this lunacy. It would be worse than Chernobyl. I was 100% boned. If I left Viewer B, I’d die from radiation poisoning. That was a *nasty* way to go. But if I stayed… I’d die of thirst. Not a huge step up.
December 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 1: “Twas the night before…”

Took me a while for this one. 😀

#ScienceFiction #SciFi
T'was the night before First Light, and the whole campus wide, not a professor was sleeping. They couldn't abide the tension of whether the Time Eye would work. The software was written, yet what bugs might lurk? The math all checked out, but this was new science. They'd spent billions of euros for a #timetravel alliance. So visions of discovery danced in their heads, chasing the Sandman away from their beds. They'd get what they wanted. They just couldn't know the designer planned more than a mere Bronze Age glow. A true revolution via time-traveling virus, sent back before anyone thought up Osiris.
December 1, 2025 at 10:41 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 1: belong

Another footnote hit. The MC is always analyzing the culture he's embedded in.

That's the only way he *might* survive.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
"These boys are of the foisheechupuh with the Temple at Limah.[1] They were hoping to meet you." I got the meaning well enough; that combined words I knew. A 'foishee' was a (male) acolyte, like Manayka. And 'chupuh' meant 'organization/guild.' So, something along the lines of a 'graduate men's society.' [1] A temple belongs to Goddess, and thus isn't 'with' or 'in' a city, it's 'at' a city. Legally distinct from the city itself; not unlike the Vatican enclosed within Rome. Students are in an odd position; more than visitors to the city, but less than residents.
December 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 30: number

When power dynamics shift radically across genders, customs (among *many* other things) change.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi #SFF #gender
As I washed up in the tub, I remembered something. I vaguely recalled reading about a practice where some tribes or groups in southeast Asia would implant small stones under the skin of the penis–to enhance sexual stimulation.[1] It would seem that tradition had spread farther in this history. I reflected uncomfortably about the number of women from my world with tongue studs. [1] Allegedly for both partners. I believe it was called ‘genital beading.’
November 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 29: dedicate

Women in the new timeline have dedicated areas of responsibility.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Yolyku, the linguist, picked up the picture of the boy, examining it intently. “It… is impossible. Is it not?” She hadn’t quite said what “it” was, but everyone seemed to relax. Fractionally. Nusuku made a jaygo. “That is beyond the boundaries of my remit. But I assure you that if something is not done soon, you-all shall only have a dead boy to study.”
November 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnps 28: zigzag

Only one instance, in a snip I've posted before. The MC surveys a city in a divergent timeline.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Some buildings clustered around the skyscrapers, “only” maybe half as tall. Outside those central areas, buildings were more of the height I was used to. But way more colorful. And some of the colors were moving? I had no idea which were businesses, government, apartments. Many of them had holes or gaps; one or two were in a zig-zag shape. I was about sixty percent sure that the round domed one was a stadium or concert hall. But maybe it was a megachurch?
November 28, 2025 at 2:54 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 27: disorganized

When you're not a STEM type, but you have to try to explain genetic engineering terms to scientists from another timeline.

How nicely collated would *your* explanations be?

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Then, ‘zinc fingers.’ Of course, I knew jack shit about zinc. After some struggles, I remembered: “Look like copper!” Atosho and Manayka took notes as I gave a semi-coherent history of the penny. Finally, they relented. Nerugo and T’ramoi were huddled trying to figure out what element ‘zinc’ might refer to.
November 27, 2025 at 2:26 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 27: A sentence from page 11

"No Time Eye without that sweet, sweet humanities money."

😀
#TimeTravelAuthors November 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: include the word "thank") 3. What would your characters do if they could travel forward in time? 5. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: meal/food) 7. Sports in your story 9. Strangest research you did for your story 11. Does time ever fly? 13. Desserts? 15. Saturday excerpt (optional phrase: what if) 17. Does anyone read in your story? 19. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: thank) 21. Something you're thankful for in your writing process 23. Do any of your characters act like turkeys? 25. Shopping in your story 27. A sentence from page 11 29. 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!
November 27, 2025 at 1:06 AM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 26: impede

Vibes. If you give XX types an advantage in violence for, oh, let's say almost six thousand years... well, cultures shift.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
I talked about the 'ritual impurity' that many religions had attached to periods. After some amazed discussion of that, they explained the theological explanation for menstruation in this culture. Their Satan figure - a rebellious male spirit, naturally - or his subordinates would attack women monthly, to prevent children. Women bled from this combat, but recovered. However, with the assistance of boymilk, they could become pregnant. Which would call down the direct protection of Goddess to (usually) ward off that specific form of attack. I was sensitive enough, and had enough of a social sample at this point, to confirm from tone of voice and expression that 'dahrooleh' was in no way an embarrassing topic here. Like breastfeeding, it was just a fact of life.
November 26, 2025 at 12:18 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 25: Shopping in your story

There *had* to be a clothes-shopping scene. Naturally it was mortifying and irritating. 😀

But it was also intended to give a feel for some of the odd features of the new timeline - both material and social.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi
#TimeTravelAuthors November 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: include the word "thank") 3. What would your characters do if they could travel forward in time? 5. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: meal/food) 7. Sports in your story 9. Strangest research you did for your story 11. Does time ever fly? 13. Desserts? 15. Saturday excerpt (optional phrase: what if) 17. Does anyone read in your story? 19. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: thank) 21. Something you're thankful for in your writing process 23. Do any of your characters act like turkeys? 25. Shopping in your story 27. A sentence from page 11 29. 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!
November 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 25: system

In *this* timeline, electricity was a thing in the Bronze Age. Even when Jim has learned individual words, sayings and phrases often confuse him.

#ScienceFiction #SciFi
To my surprise, Manayka interrupted. "It hurts thee, I know." His hands spread, imploring. "But thou needs must see Jeema." He shook his head. "Even in wartime, the commoner messages are sent eventually." The two held each other's eyes in silence for a couple seconds. I was feeling very uncertain and ignorant, confused by the aphorism.[1] [1] Telegraph wires can carry only one message at a time. Long ago when telegrams were the main connection between cities and regions, there was a priority system for which messages got sent first. Price could influence priority, too. In wartime, most of the 'bandwidth' (I think I'm using that term correctly) got reserved for Imperial use, and nobles got a chunk of the remainder. Commoners had to squeeze their messages in between other, higher-priority uses.
November 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 24: debut

Jim gets to hang with geniuses on the Time Eye project. It's more stressful than you'd think.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
An equally famous face. The world’s foremost expert on genetics. She’d developed a technique to prime a patient’s immune system, targeting cancers and tumors. That alone had saved thousands of lives–possibly millions by that point. Trials were almost complete for a potential Multiple Sclerosis cure; she’d engineered a retrovirus that inserted special genes, ensuring the insulation around nerves was tip-top. Groundbreaking stuff. A year and half ago she’d debuted a tailored set of viruses that could create a biological battery out of muscle tissue. A series of injections under the pectorals, for a couple months… and then you’d have a constant, guaranteed-for-the-life-of-the-patient trickle of power available for all kinds of medical implants–pacemakers, insulin pumps, brain monitors. “Groundbreaking” didn’t begin to cover that. Regulatory agencies around the world were struggling to figure out what a safety protocol would even look like for such an advance.
November 24, 2025 at 12:18 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 23: Any characters act like turkeys?

Acting 'stupid or inept?' Most of the characters, at times. Even the MC does, on occasion. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing humans. :)

Though most of the characters display smart or competent behavior, too. Which, is, well, also human... 🤷
#TimeTravelAuthors November 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: include the word "thank") 3. What would your characters do if they could travel forward in time? 5. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: meal/food) 7. Sports in your story 9. Strangest research you did for your story 11. Does time ever fly? 13. Desserts? 15. Saturday excerpt (optional phrase: what if) 17. Does anyone read in your story? 19. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: thank) 21. Something you're thankful for in your writing process 23. Do any of your characters act like turkeys? 25. Shopping in your story 27. A sentence from page 11 29. 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!
November 23, 2025 at 2:55 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 23: global

Vibes. Look, #TimeTravel is just *insanely* dangerous.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #TimeTravelAuthors
A lot of time on that walk was spent thinking about what the wolves had done… and exactly how much I had helped. Marilyn had said I helped her–that joking question about going back in time myself. I decided to ignore for the moment the possibility that I was partly responsible for the obliteration of all world cultures, etc. etc. Or at least when I stopped thinking about it, I stopped wanting to throw up.
November 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
ringles.bsky.social
Naked cakes like these are fashionable, and you can have multiple flavors.

I like that they're safer to deliver since they're one layer. 😁

#WeddingCake #Cake
Four round cakes of varying sizes on cake stands, in a wood-paneled ballroom. The white buttercream frosting is thin, allowing glimpses of the cake underneath to show through.
November 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 22: crystal

Jim can't explain how the RFID chips in his wallet work. But the engineers in the alternate timeline are quite competent.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Saloro spoke, slowly. “Those ‘[chips]’… I think I understand how they were made.” A snort. “Not all of it. But they are built with many microscopic layers of silicon, with various impurities. In extremely small, precise concentrations.” A flick of her hand, a tiny spark. “I believe they start with a completely pure crystal. They build on it, layer by layer. With chemical baths… and patterns of light.” She got technical, but the others seemed to follow.
November 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 21: Something you're thankful for in your writing process

I queried SECONDARY. Now, I'm kinda glad it didn't get picked up. I write exactly what I want. I don't chase publishing trends or avoid 'scary' topics.

What I write may be weird, but at least it's what I want to write.
#TimeTravelAuthors November 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: include the word "thank") 3. What would your characters do if they could travel forward in time? 5. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: meal/food) 7. Sports in your story 9. Strangest research you did for your story 11. Does time ever fly? 13. Desserts? 15. Saturday excerpt (optional phrase: what if) 17. Does anyone read in your story? 19. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: thank) 21. Something you're thankful for in your writing process 23. Do any of your characters act like turkeys? 25. Shopping in your story 27. A sentence from page 11 29. 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!
November 21, 2025 at 12:22 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 21: direction

First morning in the sanitarium. Hard to receive 'orientation' when you don't know the language.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Once all the–patients? inmates?–were out and standing, the guard barked something and I followed the group of a dozen or so. We went around a corner, and down a short hallway. Along the way, Dovee pointed back with his thumb, indicating the guard, and muttered, “Toromu.” Her name? Her title? I couldn’t be sure. We came to a dining room. From the other direction, another dozen men were being herded by another guard. “Joku,” Dovee indicated under his breath. So, probably those were names.
November 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
ringles.bsky.social
Movie poster for "Tampopo" a 1985 Japanese film. The tagline is, "The First Japanese Noodle Western."
November 21, 2025 at 4:43 AM
ringles.bsky.social
What movie villain is a horrible person, but an absolute joy to watch onscreen?

Rickman's first Hollywood performance! Shaped movie villains for a couple decades. 🙇
November 20, 2025 at 10:16 PM
ringles.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 10:05 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 20: special

Publicity is tough, even in alternate timelines.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
Since they’re still using analog signals and broadcasts, they don’t have hundreds of channels here. Not like cable in my world. Still, they have several dozen–enough to specialize. A few for education or religion, a lot for entertainment, many for sports, etc. We skimmed the news channels that evening, trying to get a sense of how our announcement had been received. The first answer was… about as well as you’d suppose. No mention at all, for a while.
November 20, 2025 at 12:40 PM
ringles.bsky.social
#TimeTravelAuthors 18: 'thank' snippet

Technically, we weren't meeting with 'the Emperor Consort Yarona' *as such*. We were instead meeting with '[Count] Yarona,' his title from his birth clan. The distinction was important. Different - and #thankfully much simpler - rules and constraints applied.
#TimeTravelAuthors November 2025 1. Introduce your story (optional: include the word "thank") 3. What would your characters do if they could travel forward in time? 5. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: meal/food) 7. Sports in your story 9. Strangest research you did for your story 11. Does time ever fly? 13. Desserts? 15. Saturday excerpt (optional phrase: what if) 17. Does anyone read in your story? 19. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: thank) 21. Something you're thankful for in your writing process 23. Do any of your characters act like turkeys? 25. Shopping in your story 27. A sentence from page 11 29. 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!
November 19, 2025 at 12:18 PM