X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (21 Oct 2025 mini)
IN THIS (mini)ISSUE:
* Status (big news for me)
* Science News - one source of hope
* Std Stuff: How to help
Latest substack: Art Appreciation Primer (esp. for readers of my novels)
Greetings Dear Subscribers,
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If you like this, or just want to help, please forward/post the link! (see see the ‘How to Help’ section at the bottom) https://XHoYenAuthor.com/newsletter
=== Status ===
AotF continues to grow, slowly but surely, now around 30k words in the first draft MS. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of research, so more has gone into notes than the manuscript. It’s all progress.
MSD
But the bigger news (for me) is that yesterday “Minimum Safe Distance” earned an award, and not a finalist mention this time, but 1st Place in the Literary Fiction category in the International Firebird Book Awards contest for Q3 2025 (run by “Speak Up Talk Radio”).
This is huge for me. As of now, all three of my books have garnered actual awards (not just finalist lauds or great reviews), and from different legitimate literary award organizations, so my impostor syndrome about calling myself an award-winning author is waning.
MSD earning the 1st Place award in a Literary Fiction category is also an absolutely huge validation for me. I took real risks with the way I wrote MSD, and I know people who stopped reading it because it was too far out of genre expectations for them. Now my insecurity about saying I write literary science fiction is also waning. Categorization is a huge issue when it comes to reaching an audience. See my new substack article “Art Appreciation Primer (esp. for readers of my novels)”. There’s no easy way to know that you’re writing literary science fiction — there’s not a lot of it about, or at least not to my knowledge. Heinlein’s “Job: A Comedy of Justice” comes to mind. Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale” comes to mind. Other examples that come to mind are also from decades ago and/or from famous writers we know from decades ago. It’s not easy to compare one’s writing to theirs! It is, in fact, extremely discomfiting!
This is a dangerous niche to try to write in, since everyone I meet tilts their head in confusion when I say I don’t write space opera, time travel, alien invasion, and the other commonly expected tropes of Hollywoodized sci fi. “Well, then, what do you write?” is always the response, even among fellow writers. I have several substack articles related to this topic:
https://xhoyenauthor.substack.com/p/in-2024-is-sci-fi-dead
https://xhoyenauthor.substack.com/p/more-good-sci-fi
https://xhoyenauthor.substack.com/p/why-this-hard-sci-fi-author-still
https://xhoyenauthor.substack.com/p/hugo-winning-novel-disappoints
Anyway, for me this award is one humongous personal and career validation milestone. It helps. It really does. Especially because it’s about MSD, which is very autobiographical and personal, i.e. vulnerable exposure.
On the amusing side of this, the International Firebird Book Award physical medal (that winners may purchase for $45) looks like this:
No dis on Firebird, but does that come across as, um, gaudy?
The description:
”2-inch 3D Die Cast Gold Finish Medal with multi-level design – Black Neck Ribbon
Backside Plate says Firebird Book Award Winner Speak Up Talk Radio, as seen above.”
Maybe it looks better in person. :)
Anyway, I hope you got a kick out of that. I did. But it didn’t stop me from buying one. :)
=== Science News - one source of hope ===
Structure of promising solar tech molecule cracked with aid of machine learning:
https://sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251001092218.htm
Scientists find brain circuit that traps alcohol users in the vicious cycle of addiction:
https://sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251006051124.htm
Scientists finally discover what’s behind long COVID’s mysterious brain fog:
https://sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251006051127.htm
Birds around the world share a mysterious warning cry — parallel evolution in action:
https://sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251006051113.htm
=== Standard Stuff === How to Help ===
Why help? Since I subvert pop genre expectations instead of pandering to them, and because of my autism and other isolating factors, it’s extremely difficult and expensive for me to reach out into the world to find my audience. I don’t have a team helping me. Just writing newsletters like this is an exercise in self-esteem suspension of disbelief (swirly thing alert!).
I truly rely on word of mouth and grassroots support. In case anyone assumes this is some kind of gravy train side hustle, I’m still thousands of dollars in debt on this, and every convention adds more red to my ledger. I’m in this for the long haul, but I must keep reaching out and pushing. This is not “write it and they will come”, that’s the erotic fantasy romance section (which sells itself).
How to help: Reading my books, writing reviews (if you liked them :), and passing the word would be great. If not that, then one could post my one-page ads (see below, or on each book’s page on the web site) on appropriate billboards and tell people about my web site, https://XHoYenAuthor.com .
Please help with discovery by posting this week (or maybe set reminders in your calendar for July and November?) something like the following:
Know someone who likes irreverent, inclusive, hopepunk sci fi? Check out this award-winning author: XHoYenAuthor.com/lauds
But here’s something very nice that anyone can do to help — request that “Minimum Safe Distance” be carried by your local library!
It’s usually as simple as going to your library system’s web site and searching for “suggest a purchase” or “submit a suggestion”. Usually, there’s a special page for that, and often it’s at the front of your dashboard.
They will want information like this:
Title: Minimum Safe Distance
Author: X. Ho Yen [please get the capitalization and spaces right, one after the period, another after ‘Ho’]
Publication year: 2022
Format: Book/Paperback
# of pages: 396
ISBN: 978-0-9766158-1-1
Publisher: Grand Unification Monastery
Audience: Adult
Language: English
Notes:
Good professional editorial reviews, including Kirkus:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/x-ho-yen/minimum-safe-distance/
“…Ho Yen’s descriptions of advanced technologies should please fans of hard SF, but what really makes the book work are the questions it raises about what it means to be a person and a member of a species.” Our verdict: Get It
Carried in Arapahoe County Library System:
https://arapahoelibraries.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S115C2180350
and the Colorado State Library Book Club Resource (https://csl.catalog.aspencat.info/Union/Search?view=list&lookfor=minimum+safe+distance&searchIndex=Title&searchSource=local),
and Biblioboard (https://library.biblioboard.com/content/a3f3fc17-626b-428b-b6a2-5b5a9a44a494).
Author web site: https://XHoYenAuthor.com
This process usually takes only a few moments once you find the book suggestion/recommendation page. Thanks! Put a reminder in your calendar right now!
I haven’t been emphasizing “Custodians of the Future” as much as MSD, but only because MSD has more kudos (which is because I spent a lot more money on MSD, and that’s unsustainable). I’m hoping that interest in MSD will lead to interest in my other stuff.
Space Autistic Author
If you haven’t watched “Space Autistic Author”, Logs 1 to 3, yet, do check them out. They’re only a few minutes long, but they’re fun! Logs 2 and 3 demonstrate how SAA allows cross-promotion with other creatives without requiring anyone to vouch for anyone else’s work. Pass the word!
While you’re there, check out the other videos on my channel, especially the Galacticon ‘23 video (in 4 parts). That one’s longer, but it shows why my pen name is not cultural appropriation, and gives a fun overview of Mars exploration (since the late 1800s) with details of my participation in it, mostly on the Mars Global Surveyor mission.
https://XHoYenAuthor.com/media
Like, subscribe, and share!
All purchase options can be found here: https://XHoYenAuthor.com/books. Both sites include links showing how several of the big vendors allow you to gift eBooks.
Thanks for sticking with me! I hope it’s at least mildly entertaining to watch this author second career thing come together.
Please do share my page with fellow realism-based sci fi fans, especially anyone who enjoys Corey’s The Expanse, Older’s Infomocracy, Card’s Speaker for the Dead, Mandel’s Station Eleven, Suarez’ Delta-V, or movies like “Arrival” and “Don’t Look Up”. I'm convinced my books would appeal to the same audience, because I wrote them for me and I'm in that audience.
Thanks for your support!
XHY
https://XHoYenAuthor.com