Gus Ryer
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Gus Ryer
@gusryer.com
180 followers 84 following 880 posts
Reader, writer, tinkerer. Querying CASCADE- far-future SF w/ nanotech, ancient gods, & hidden history. Also LIFT, space elevator derring-do. gusryer.com

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#AmQuerying
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Gus Ryer @gusryer.com · Jul 24
SPACE SWEEPERS 🤝 LOGAN LUCKY

When an AI-piloted space hauler threatens her home station, aging & indebted traffic controller Dez decides to rob the hell out of it.

She's got a plan & a motley crew. But, when things aboard aren’t as expected, all bets are off.

#QuestPit #Q #SF #A #BookSky
A black hole spirals in the distance, a fiery trail of material getting sucked into it from across the image. Approaching is a circular, doughnut-like spaceship or station. The title LANE BREAKERS runs along the bottom, the second word highlighted in bright purple and appearing to fall off the edge. A red ALERT box connected to the ship says 'Now Querying', and the wormhole is labeled 'Taurine Strait' COMPS & META INFORMATION Along the bottom right, a black and white sketch of a old woman in a space pilot's outfit holds a glowing magenta martini glass. Smoke from her cigarette glows and wafts in pinks and blues. Genre: SF Heist Audience: Adult Wordcount: +-100,000 Themes and Tropes: Blue collar heist (Re)found family Grungy space life Sentient AIs Comps: Logan Lucky The Quantum Magician The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Cascade Failure The Suez Canal incident Space Sweepers THE HEIST: Desdemona Skene hates her job. She spends each day as a glorified crossing guard for traffic through her system’s wormhole. But, ever since she botched a flight of her own, it’s all she has. Dez’s friends have moved on, her ex is seeing someone new, and she’s in debt to the mob. At eighty-three years old, it’s not like she’s a candidate for promotion. But then Dez learns that the largest civilian ship ever designed by humanity will be passing through her friendly neighborhood wormhole. Piloted by an experimental AI, this cruise might prove computers are finally able to successfully navigate wormholes. Stock prices will blast into orbit, but it’ll spell unemployment for Dez and thousands of human pilots. Probably her home station too. If that ship’s taking her down, Dez is going to drag it along for the ride—and make a tidy profit along the way. She’ll need to gather a crew (if her old friends will still talk to her), shake the mob, and outwit megacorps and empires both. But if she pulls this off, she might just get to live out her dream of a quiet retirement. THE CREW Golden boxes house titles and descriptions of characters. The top one, Dez, is a magenta circle that looks sci-fi. Desdemona ‘Dez’ Skene Washed up and too poor for retirement, Dez has a drinking problem and a mob problem. She might have one last job left in her Hacker Finn's got a heart of gold, more backdoors than a hardware store, and would rather be playing video games The Faces Dez’s parents might be older than moon dust, but Hank and Gwen have been conning people for almost a century. They still haven’t lost their touch Sentient Adbot Marty, the uplifted, digital adbot who dreams of personhood. He also happens to live inside Finn's head Crack Pilot Vil is the fastest sled pilot on Midway Station, famous for crushing the illegal racing circuit. Also, he's Dez’ ex of thirty years The Muscle The best mechanic on the station, Caius brings some well-needed muscle. But, most annoyingly, he's Vil's new flame
gusryer.com
All right readers/writers, it’s Saturday! Time for another literary-leaning cocktail. Let’s lift a glass to literature‘s saddest donkey!

My take on Eeyore’s Requiem

1.5 oz Campari
1.5 oz Cocci
0.75 oz gin
0.5 oz Cynar
0.5 oz Fernet

Stir over ice, express lemon. Cheers!
#WritingCommunity #BookSky
A hand holds a small wine glass, full of a bright red liquid, a lemon peel sticking out of it. The backdrop is a crowded bookshelf.
September 27, 2026 at 12:51 AM
gusryer.com
The temp’s dropping, the wind’s up, and a nor’easter’s on the way. Perfect timing for a book & brew.

Y’all reading anything good this weekend?

#AmReading #WritingCommunity #BookSky
A bearded man in a brown suede jacket and flannel holds up a beer and smiles. A book, Hammajang Luck, by Makana Yamamoto, rests on a leaf-strewn wooden bench alongside a beer can.
September 25, 2026 at 6:48 PM
gusryer.com
Time to come clean. If I'm reading a doorstopper of a book, I'll snap that spine like a lion pouncing on a gazelle

#BookSky #AmReading
September 25, 2026 at 1:00 AM
gusryer.com
All right, computer. I don't need this judgement.
A Windows error message that reads: Error Copying File or Folder X Catastrophic Failure
September 24, 2026 at 10:19 PM
gusryer.com
Wish I had more time to work on my novella today, but I have a a bunch of driving to do. Still, that means I get to listen to my audiobook, so that ain't half bad!

Current listen is Rules for Aging and Larceny, by Julia London, and it's a hoot!
#AmReading #AmWriting #BookSky
September 24, 2026 at 2:21 PM
gusryer.com
Hey! Did you know that I'm on Threads too? The #WritingCommunity seems pretty active there, and it's been fun!

Profile below:

#BookSky #AmReading #AmWriting
September 24, 2026 at 1:00 AM
gusryer.com
Bit north of a thousand words today on SLIPSTREAM TANGO - nice, steady progress. Better yet, I got to mess with a character’s head pretty bad.

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
September 24, 2026 at 12:45 AM
gusryer.com
Hey now! I resemble that remark!
theonion.com The Onion @theonion.com · 3d
Mr. Autumn Man Walking Down Street With Cup Of Coffee, Wearing Sweater Over Plaid Collared Shirt https://theonion.com/mr-autumn-man-walking-down-street-with-cup-of-coffee-1819574012/
Mr. Autumn Man Walking Down Street With Cup Of Coffee, Wearing Sweater Over Plaid Collared Shirt
September 23, 2026 at 10:25 PM
gusryer.com
Getting ready for my annual skeleton nonsense and was reminded of my absurd, hardboiled, Halloween mystery: The Case of the Kernel Witch.

It's got thrills! It's got chills! Give it a read if you want to get caught up:
(1/31)

#AmWriting #AmReading #BookSky #WritingCommunity
A skeleton dressed as a PI sits at a bar with a glass of amber liquid in front of him and one hand cradling his chin. A full bottle is nearby, just out of frame.
September 23, 2026 at 4:46 PM
gusryer.com
As the first leaf touches dead grass, something stirs under the earth. He emerges, bone by bone, with a rumbling tear as the cold wind breathes his name like a benediction: “Tibby.”

#TibbyTime #Halloween
A skeletal hand emerges from loose garden soil
September 23, 2026 at 1:00 AM
gusryer.com
Man, I love it when I find out about a book that could be a new comp! Pausing my current read as I dive into this.

Put Frances in space, and she’d fit right in with my crew!

#AmReading #BookSky
Audible cover for Rules for Aging and Larceny, by Julia London. An illustrated martini glass stands askew, an orange liquid within. A lanky, shadowed figure of an older lady in heels stands behind the thin stem.
September 22, 2026 at 8:22 PM
gusryer.com
Hey writing folks & readers, how do you feel epistolary sci fi these days? Dunno if I’ll go full Captain’s Log, but part of this story feels like it wants to dip a toe…

A) Aye aye, Cap’n!
B) Save your letters, Bram

#AmWriting #AmReading #BookSky #WritingCommunity
A captains log from Star Trek Paper burning in a fireplace
September 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM
gusryer.com
Today’s writerly task: several hundred words in my SLIPSTREAM TANGO novella, then some fun work designing the spaceship.

Can’t say too much about the good ship Loose Screw, but it’s got these vibes:

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
Waterworld
Alt: Kevin Costner in Waterworld cranks a winch on a ramshackle catamaran as it races across the ocean.
static.klipy.com
September 21, 2026 at 10:48 PM
gusryer.com
All right readers and writers, in the mood for a literary(ish) cocktail on this beautiful Saturday night? Join me in…The Beatnik:

1.0 oz amaro averna
0.75 oz rye
0.75 oz port

Stir w/ ice, add an orange peel (or dried lemon). Dark, sweet, goes great with a book. Cheers!

#BookSky #WritingCommunity
A dark ruby cocktail in a small wine glass with a dehydrated lemon sitting on the rim. It sits on a wooden table near a typewriter and small lamp
September 20, 2026 at 1:17 AM
gusryer.com
Just watched the original Disney Snow White, and…she doesn’t make it, right? There’s no way that ‘castle in the sky’ is a real castle. More like hereafter than happily ever after
September 19, 2026 at 2:14 PM
gusryer.com
What a world. Something else to watch out for. #BookSky

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
The Rise of Parasite Authors
First, AI stole their books. Now it’s stealing their readers.
www.theatlantic.com
September 19, 2026 at 1:11 PM
gusryer.com
About 1,200 words down today but, more importantly, I have a working title for my novella. No longer shall it be called Novella_TBD.scriv

From now on (until I think of something better), it’s SLIPSTREAM TANGO*

*.scriv

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
Broke Cat Standing on Hind Legs
Alt: A black and white cat stands and moves back and forth as if dancing disconcertingly
static.klipy.com
September 19, 2026 at 1:04 AM
gusryer.com
When I start slacking off on my wordcount, all I do is look at my Shakespearian insults mug. Nothing like being called a clod of wayward marl to get the creative juices flowing.

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
A mug of tea sits on a wooden desk along with a keyboard, mouse, and computer monitor. The mug is decorated in Shakespearian insults in various fonts.
September 18, 2026 at 1:00 AM
gusryer.com
A project so new I don't even have a working title!

A decent writing day today - 1,361 words. Still feeling things out in this new story, but I'm liking how the characters are shaping up. VERY excited for the next chapter.

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
Screenshot of a Project Target window for wordcounts. It shows the manuscript at 2,187/30,000 words, and today's session as 1,361/2,000
September 18, 2026 at 12:45 AM
gusryer.com
How had I not seen (or even heard!) of this movie until now?? What a wild ride: Dafoe vs Malkovich with a dash of Elwes. Essentially, what if F.W. Murnau (the director of the 1922 Nosferatu) hired a real vampire to play Count Orlok?

So much fun, very meta. Give this one a watch! #FilmSky
Movie poster for Shadow of the Vampire with John Malcovich's portrait in the foreground. Behind him, Willem Dafoe in vampire makeup lurks menacingly.
September 17, 2026 at 3:19 PM
gusryer.com
Great writing day today!

Finished up the novella outline, including chapter-level sentence summaries. Also got in some writerly admin work, plus about 850 words to boot. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #BookSky
gusryer.com Gus Ryer @gusryer.com · 10d
Working on a fun little SF novella as a pallet cleanser between longer projects. Never tried a novella before, but as a habitual over-writer I'm enjoying the limitations.

Wrote up a nice little outline, so now it's time for words!

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #BookSky
Sylvester Silvestre Studying
Alt: Sylvester from Looney Tunes furiously drafts at a planning desk
static.klipy.com
September 17, 2026 at 12:56 AM
gusryer.com
Should have been called Goodest Boy.

I loved it. Charming, fun, and refreshing. Indy is my hero.
September 16, 2026 at 8:06 PM
gusryer.com
Working on a fun little SF novella as a pallet cleanser between longer projects. Never tried a novella before, but as a habitual over-writer I'm enjoying the limitations.

Wrote up a nice little outline, so now it's time for words!

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #BookSky
Sylvester Silvestre Studying
Alt: Sylvester from Looney Tunes furiously drafts at a planning desk
static.klipy.com
September 16, 2026 at 4:55 PM
gusryer.com
Taking a night off from writing! Think I’ll mess around and build a model ship, try (and fail) to translate the Italian instructions, and watch a bad horror movie
A wooden model ship partially constructed on a coffee table. The space is littered with sawdust and little bits of wood, a rocks glass with an amber liquid inside, tools, and paper instructions.
September 16, 2026 at 2:09 AM
gusryer.com
You and me, pal

#AmWriting #AmQuerying #WritingCommunity #BookSky
Rows of blue cloud icons with varying lengths of red bars coming from them, all terminating in red frowny faces. Two lone rows in the middle are missing the red, one of which is highlighted in yellow. Jack from Titanic hangs onto a floating, frozen plank while Rose says 'I'll never let go, I promise.'
September 15, 2026 at 4:39 PM