Reposted by Jackson KadathMostlyPaul @quantumfairy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026#vss365 A big black dog escaped the Demeter when it ran aground near Whitby #harbour. Quayside mariners said they saw no dog but a monstrous man bounding on all fours up to the abbey, & claimed he had red eyes and sharp teeth. Searchers never found the creature but did see a bat among the ruins. 0123
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 05/10/2026The Great Space Port of Revastar B began its life as a simple boat dock beside a fishing village at the end of the Dawn River. One dock became two, two became four, and so on, until it was The Great #Harbour of Dawnlee. Space travel came much later. #vss365 1123
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 03/10/2026The old Prelate looked at his successor, full of youth and vigor. Why had the gods chosen one so young? "It's time for you to know the truth." "What truth?" "Of why humanity was #lured to Celester, what we found in the Mountain Enclave, and the contents of The Gelb Scroll." #vss365 #scifisat 0142
Reposted by Jackson KadathMr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Maggie Vandewalle. "The Stuff of my Daydreams" Watercolour on paper. #Caturday 352216358
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 20/09/2026But when was Bradbury Station built? None of the holo-histories agree. Some say it had #commenced by 3300, but the most trusted source says 4000. Of course, the portal worshippers believe the station wasn't built, but grew outward from the portal itself; that the portal willed it. #vss365 #scifisat 072
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Bradbury Station glittered, a #marvel in the darkness. Containg the only non-world based portal, it served as a beacon of exploration, commerce, and diplomacy. But holorecs are silent as to where that portal came from. This has led to a belief that the station was built around the portal. #vss365 062
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 19/09/2026It reminds him of the ruined battlements of his own castle. You know what else would remind you of the ruined battlements of your own castle? 010
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Always bothered me: why would a Transylvanian nobleman want a ruined abbey in England? 010
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 16/09/2026"The #autumnal rains are coming. If we don't lift off soon, cloud cover will be too dense, and we will have to wait until spring." "That's unacceptable. Last transmission had Command under direct assault. We must get off this creaking dock and jump to Orion." #vss365 031
Reposted by Jackson KadathEdmonds Scanner @edmondsscanner.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Don't hide your light from the world. Use it to draw unwary travellers to your lair in the catacombs beneath a crumbling castle, where you can devour them slowly over the next thousand years. 27820
Reposted by Jackson KadathWoodley Dowar @wdowar.bsky.social · 13/09/2026We thought the alien ruin was a #temple, the runes said: "#Stay outside if you don't #believe" But its purpose was more #esoteric: a doomsday weapon aimed at our star. It was triggered when we stepped inside. Then there was a deafening blast, followed by eternal night. #vss365 #2wordprompt #vssdaily 1288
Reposted by Jackson KadathThe Whimsical Muse @whimsicalmuse.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Just a friendly reminder that your desire to read books and eat pastries in a seaside cottage during a raging thunderstorm is valid. Don’t allow anyone to disrespect you by telling you otherwise. 16655102
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Just finished reading Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness for the first time. Immensely enjoyable. And now I find out it's part of a series... #booksky 0120
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 10/09/2026"I thought Dune was your favorite. You have problem with the spice?" "More like a response." "What?" "We are evolving anyway. We don't need #melange, or any other drug, to get to where we're eventually going." "Then you have a story to write, it seems." #vss365 0102
Reposted by Jackson KadathJan Karlsson @jangoeswriting.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Dylan had little time to read the ultra-secret orders sent, for his eyes only, through heavily encrypted data bursts. Like a technological #palimpsest, the entire tablet roll would rest completely as soon as the time limit was reached. He didn’t like that, but fully understood why. #vss365 54312
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 06/09/2026The Prelate of Known Space always hand- (or in some cases, claw or tentacle) picks their successor. Some are more #adroit at this than others. Most of Known Space still recalls the abject failure of Prelate Malon. His only success, and only real action, was in choosing Markos the Great. #vss365 082
Reposted by Jackson KadathGrid @isbergillustration.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Black Suns #illustration 373373571
Reposted by Jackson KadathWoodley Dowar @wdowar.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Drinking the #elixir of nanobots fortified us from the #stomach out. We #polished it off before jumping. I preferred a battle suit, but that's progress for you. My commander promised a surprise in #freefall. As I dove into hell, I saw black wings sprouting on our backs #vss365 #2wordprompt #vssmagic 1246
Reposted by Jackson KadathJason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Dear Temporal Theorists Inc, c. 2040, If you are flummoxed receiving this 150-year-old letter, imagine my consternation when your “time probe” hit my barn. Please remit repair compensation of $100, American. Respectfully, D. Brown, Dakota Territory, 1889. #vss #sff 0243
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Out of the corner of his eye, Alistair saw the #console to his immedate left explode. The Cygnians were chasing them all the way to the nebula, no doubt expecting him to hide. Conventional wisdom held that was all you could do in a nebula. "Are we hiding, sir?" asked his helmsman. "No." #vss365 021
Reposted by Jackson KadathJason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social · 30/08/2026The inventor mans the time machine, his little niece watching. “I’ll contain the malfunction within a 30-year loop! Save yourself!” There’s a short pulse, then a woman helps him shut it down. “I got a doctorate in temporal physics to save you, Uncle!” #vss #sff 0163
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 23/08/2026"Rolling the #dice again, Jackson?" "I can get it to work this time, I know I can!" "Every creation is a disaster, especially that last one, your sled dog. Combining animate and inanimate objects is never meant to happen." "But imagine the great commercial value should I succeed!" #vss365 0162
Reposted by Jackson KadathFiftywords @fiftywords.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Here’s one for today’s #vss365 1306
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 19/08/2026#combing 15 solar systems, the range of the High Priest's personal craft, was harder than Poydras had expected. Still, it was something relatively slow-paced, which he needed, as he was still recovering from the regen tank. Now, if only the Prelate would stop staring at him... #vss365 092
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 09/08/2026We set up our first settlements near the fertile coasts of Alchrion 7. Every Earth plant #sprouts in abundance here. Except DrP. Cant get the soda water codex to oxygenate to Earth norms. What does grow, doesn't tatse right. Gotta import some of that next time a hyperspace window opens. #vss365 142
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 06/08/2026"I never anticipated the #chaos of taking over someone else's files." "Chaos?" my boss asked. "Files are empty, or missing discovery, or the notes, where there are notes, are wrong. Jury trial Monday, and no one has met the client in person. I tried, but he had car trouble." "Shit." #vss365 051
Reposted by Jackson KadathJan Karlsson @jangoeswriting.bsky.social · 02/08/2026At the observation port at the very tip of the Charon, Dylan drank whisky from the low-G bag, sucking the drink out as he looked out upon the majesty of #creation. It just wasn’t the same as drinking from a glass, but the Charon was in mid-manoeuvre, so it had minimal gravity right now. #vss365 34013
Reposted by Jackson KadathLee Zanello @lima-zulu.bsky.social · 25/07/2026His Lite-Brite eyes dim. He’s had a good life. I built him out of old parts found in grandpa’s garage, powered by something I found in a box labelled “the war”. “Shall I #ascend now, young sir?” B4 asks me. I nod and hold his hand. He shivers, then collapses. I cry as thunder rumbles. #vss365 2204
Reposted by Jackson KadathLee Zanello @lima-zulu.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Sal was a sceptic, but as the hypnotist spoke in a slow #cadence, she felt herself slipping. “Sleep.” Her eyes closed. “Forget.” She forgot the room, the audience, the year. “Remember.” Her eyes opened. The hypnotist was ninety years dead. And she was still sitting in his lap. #vss365 1195
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Coming to Celester requires parking your craft, be it shuttle or battleship, in the Great Celestrine Docking Ring. All weapons are required to be stowed or powered down while docked. The Ring has become almost a planet unto itself, #ascending above the grime of Old Celester. #vss365 #scifisat 151
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 24/07/2026They called the hyperpath between between Epsilon Station and Barnard's Star Chaos #Road. The space between was filled with gravity wells, sliding time dilations, and pirates. Of course, the local council billed it as a place of commerce, where any pioneering spirit could stake their claim. #vss365 041
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 18/07/2026I complained that first night, blood still dripping my my lips, that I could not possibly jump the ravine. "You don't have to do much, most of it is #momentum carrying you across," my master replied, before grabbing me from behind and hurling me. Landed on my face. #vss365 081
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Barb lay in the grass, feeling the light evening mist of Jaltron 4. She looked over at Athena, unable to deny the #magnetism of this woman, the leader of the cyborgs. What would the Cardinals think, Barb wondered. Lust they would understand, but the Pope, laying here, contemplating fusion? #vss365 062
Reposted by Jackson KadathEdmonds Scanner @edmondsscanner.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Those who walk forgotten paths find forgotten things. Missing time, lost dreams, and the mossy tombs of the old gods who slumber in silence. 17820
Reposted by Jackson KadathRay E. Boomhower @rboomhower.bsky.social · 11/07/2026“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird." published on this day in 1960 17657146
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 11/07/2026The Orion, aka Jump Ship One, sat at the translation point beyond the solar system, its crew waiting to #embrace the future. ##vss365 071
Reposted by Jackson KadathLee Zanello @lima-zulu.bsky.social · 11/07/2026A mech has had a child. It grew the machine inside itself, gave it some of its own parts, ingested materials to help it grow and then extracted it in a simulation of human birth. Watching the new mech in its parent’s #embrace, we’d arrived at the dawn of something new, and we were afraid. #vss365 1163
Reposted by Jackson KadathMicro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 10/07/2026A bewildered stranger entered the castle kitchen. "Lost, sir?" the cook said. "You found a hidden door that led to the same room?" "Why, yes!" "How many times did you go through?" "Five or six, why?" "This used to be a wizard's castle. That door moves you through time, not space." 330661
Reposted by Jackson KadathLee Zanello @lima-zulu.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Dinner by candlelight, no electricity up here at the castle. Rooms she daren’t enter. The servants scared, for they have seen what happens when he gets fangry. But he has a look that makes her #swoon, an ageless beauty that makes her feel safe. He asks her to join them. Forever. #vss365 0163
Reposted by Jackson KadathLuca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Shoebills can fly. Despite standing up to 5 feet tall and weighing up to 16 pounds, these prehistoric-looking birds possess an impressive 8-foot wingspan, making them fully capable of flight. Pairi Daiza (privately owned zoo & botanical garden) Brugelette, Belgium 1322895494
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 02/07/2026You approach the hill with #apprehension. It's a warm summer day, the wind whipping through the grass. You see him standing there, unaffected by the sun, holding the captain of your army by the neck, and cackling. Death may be the best outcome against the Lord of All Vampires. #vss365 172
Reposted by Jackson KadathLee Zanello @lima-zulu.bsky.social · 28/06/2026The lights in the sky are back. First time in forty-three years, and back then it had been forty-three years since the time before. Newspaper people all over town, doing nothing more than hype rumours and #disgruntle the sheriff. Five will go missing. We’re just waiting to find out who. #vss365 0123
Reposted by Jackson KadathNnedi Okorafor, PhD @nnedi.bsky.social · 27/06/2026LOOK WHAT JUST ARRIVED IN THE MAIL!! 🤩📦 I shrieked when I opened the package. The note inside from my S&S editor: “Yeah, you owe me.” 🤣 Facts!!! Much love to Peter Straub. 🕯️❤️ I cannot wait to dive into this, 🥹. NOTE: This was a special favor just for me. They’re *not* giving these out. 5794361
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 27/06/2026"We think we've found what destroyed Bradbury Station." A holo shot out from the projector embedded in the wall. "What is it?" "A nanobot, sir, smaller than a #flea, and able to infest the station with a dissolvant. Lab's still working on exactly what chemicals were used." #vss365 #scifisat 082
Reposted by Jackson KadathBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Old Phone Box, Tiree, inner Hebrides, painting by Ron Lawson, Scottish landscape artist. 421874201
Reposted by Jackson KadathDuncan Crombie @the-art-of-web.com · 26/06/2026Good morning bluesky It's bright and sunny this morning, and I've got my work wrapped up, so it's a graceful glide into weekend ☀️ Starting with a variant of this earlier "walnut tree" prompt :) `A lone walnut tree in a Transylvanian clearing` #synthart #AIArtCommunity 341535182
Jackson Kadath @jacksonkadath.bsky.social · 21/06/2026Michael looked up from his garden and saw a #batch of streaking orange lights over New Hibernia. He'd heard the rumors of a renewed offensive by Spar Conglomerate, but figured they were safe so far from Earth. Alphonse had seen it, too, and was already preparing their house for takeoff. #vss365 071
Reposted by Jackson KadathJason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social · 19/06/2026The submarine hovers in sunless depths. Its lights touch gloom. Unknown benthos. A glinting pair of eyes. Another pair. Then a multitude. Then a bang as something hits the hull. They’d come seeking knowledge. They’d found Y’ha-nthlei. Their doom. #vss #sff 0203
Reposted by Jackson KadathJason H. Abbott @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social · 20/06/2026I lift the weighty treasure; a crown of solid amethyst. The eyes of tomb-bound corpses witness my self-coronation. Lemurian psychicism fills me. In a breath, I am the queen of a telepathic empire. Then I hear it: The sleeper dreaming darkly in R’lyeh. I scream. #SciFanSat #vss #sff 0254
