martian-messages - Tumblr blog

[martian-messages]

Did I hallucinate you having a Dracula Daily-esque thing for Mark Watney?? I feel like I remember that but I can’t seem to find anything about it.

//You're thinking of @martian-messages !! That's not run by me. Tumblr's own @liopleurodean runs the substack, I made the icon art. Definitely a real thing, you didn't hallucinate it.

[martian-messages]

hi! so recently substack has announced that they will not do anything to remove/take action against any Nazis or people spreading Nazi rethotic on their platform, for 'freedom of speech' reasons, and they are in fact profiting from those players thriving on their platform.

im.. pretty extremely uncomfortable with that, and I decided to delete my substack account, and i wanted to ask if its possible for the updates to be released elsewhere? on here, even

(I understand it can get pretty complicated for you as the, sender? distributer? person running the thing? idk, to drop it completely and not continue using it, thats not what I'm asking - I just felt horrible continuing to use it personally, but I'd love it if I could still get the updates some other way)

Hi, thanks for the ask! I will admit, I have also been put off by Substack's recent stance. I'm currently looking into alternatives, such as Patreon, but there's nothing solid yet. My original plan was to post all updates on Tumblr, so that is also an option to consider. Unfortunately right now I'm a little pressed for time and energy, so I'm not sure when any updates will occur, but I am looking into it. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

If people are interested, I'd also love to continue this project at a later date. I know that Dracula Daily has restarted multiple times, as well as Les Mis Letters. If worst comes to worst, I might just finish out this round on Substack and then completely migrate in 2025.

In any case, I'm always looking to improve Martian Messages. If I make any changes, I'll let you all know!

[martian-messages]

Hey all!

So, if any of you have been following Andy Weir on the Internet, you may know that he recently (today) released new content for The Martian!

It's a series of sols set later in the books. I've already read it and I love it! The real question here is:

The poll will only be open for a day because I plan to do a lot of work on MM this week. Keep in mind that adding the new sols will be no chore for me! I've already got a system in place to make things easier. I'll also be adding a moderator's note in MM itself to let people know when they've reached new content (like the Creation of Plastic entries).

I personally think the story is cute and funny and I'd love to include it with the rest! However, I'm making this for you guys, and I'd totally understand if you want to stick to what's originally written.

I hope you all are enjoying Martian Messages. Stay safe out there on Mars!

[martian-messages]

ngl ive been thinking about the martian a lot recently. no idea why my brain latched onto it so hard since i read it when i was like 8

maybe its because its one of the first scifi stories i ever read. or because it's just that good

i just. its such a good fucjin book the science is well done the emotional beats are great the humor is so good argh

i need to get a new copy because my old paperback has been absolutely loved to death. you can tell i adore it because there's chunks eaten out of half the pages and the cover is gone

the movie isn't NEARLY as good but listening to starman still makes me emotional because of it

[martian-messages]

Lol thanks everyone for all the messages about the Jan 26 update! That should be fixed now 😅 I hope you've enjoyed the last two updates (say hello to Mindy)! Tomorrow is the last update of 2023 (and 2035). I hope you all had a merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

[martian-messages]

i think this is the most emotionally invested ive been in a fictional characters wellbeing in a while. its only been 4 days since we last heard from our boy and im already going :[ at not knowing whether he's doing okay

Aw, that's sweet! I'm glad you got to hear from him today, even if it wasn't the most optimistic entry. I hope you enjoy!

[martian-messages]

Happy Red Planet Day!

November 28 commemorates the launch of Mariner 4, one of the more important Mars missions.

[martian-messages]

Hi! Thank you for doing this! I'm having so much fun so far. Just out of curiosity do you know how many people are following this (if you're willing to share)?

Hi, thanks so much for the question! Right now I have about 425 Substack suscribers. I will also tell you that this blog has a little over 160 subscribers, but I couldn't tell you how much of that overlaps (though I would expect that everyone following the blog would be subscribed to the email.)

As the subscription moderator I also get access to a lot of extra information, but honestly? The subscriber count has already blown me out of the water. Most (if not all) promotion I've done for this project has been on Tumblr, so it's gratifying to see how far we've come.

[martian-messages]

Heads up that the next update is on November 16th! There won't be any Martian Messages for the next two days. I'm glad to see you all are having fun!!!

[martian-messages]

And so it begins

[martian-messages]

It's three days until you all get to meet Mark. I'm literally so excited you have no idea

[martian-messages]

Okay so, to my previous ask: I think I subscribed? But my phone is weird so I'll probably see tomorrow if it worked?

And I'm so excited! I really like the book so thank you for doing this!

Hey there! Sorry for not answering, life has been a bit crazy 😅 Thanks so much!!! I'll definitely look into the subscription link, and please let me know if there are any other problems. I want this to be accessible for everyone!

That goes to everyone else, too: if there's something that I can do, like helping screen-reader compatibility, or adding trigger warnings, please let me know! Like I said, I want this to be enjoyable for as many people as possible.

[martian-messages]

Tomorrow!!!

I know Tumblr is still a little caught up in the November 5th celebrations (me included), but I just wanted to remind everyone that the first entry will be sent out tomorrow!!!

All of the November entries have been queued up and I'll be uploading more this week. I'm super excited! I hope you all enjoy this as much as I will. See you on Mars!

[martian-messages]

T-Minus One Month!

Exactly one month from today (November 7th), the first update for Martian Messages will release! I'm so excited, and I hope you guys are too. The amount of support I've been getting means a lot, and I hope that we all have fun reading this book.

I don't have much else to say, so I'll keep it short, but thank you all so much for being a part of this project! All the waiting is almost over, and I hope it was worth it. I'll see you on Mars!

-- Mod Ashla

[martian-messages]

Kilowatt-hours-per-sol? Don't you mean pirate-ninjas?

(In response to your reply to @biasedbodilybeing's ask)

skdkdk shhh, no spoilers XD

[martian-messages]

I’ve always wanted to participate in a Dracula-daily type event, but I can’t concentrate long enough to make old classical books make sense. But The Martian is a perfect book to do it with!! I cannot tell you how excited I am!! AHHHHHHH!!

I'm glad this is reaching out to you! I totally feel your pain, I was able to do Dracula but I tried Les Mis and just couldn't get through it XP

I will say there's a lot of technical jargon in The Martian, but it sounds like you've already read it before? psa for all new readers, I guess: this is a science book. it is science fiction, yes, but it is a NASA book full of NASA acronyms and names and it's so much fun but also. it has math. be prepared.

Mark is a great protagonist though, and Weir does a phenomenal job of taking real science and working through it in layman's terms. yeah, there's a lot of talk about kilowatt-hours-per-sol and percentages, but there's also piracy. and martian coffee. it's a lot of fun.

[martian-messages]

If you actually do this and follow through the whole thing you will literally be my favorite person ever

The Martian is actually my favorite book PLEASE i am begging you to actually finish this i will give you my first born child 🥳🥳🙏🙏

oh man, please do not give me your child 😅 that's way too much responsibility

but seriously, thank you! I fully intend on following this through. I have everything all put together, I just have to schedule all the posts. Unfortunately, Substack only lets me schedule posts three months out (otherwise I'd have finished it and called it good) but I'm just as excited as you guys!!! Obviously crazy things happen so I can't just make promises, but I'm really rooting for this project. (and I'm super honored that you would consider me for the role of favorite person)