Ryan Southwick - Ryan Southwick, Author

Ryan Southwick, Author

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Ryan Southwick

Science fiction author of The Z-Tech Chronicles, Timeless Keeper Saga, Lost Colonies series, and other titles. Also a programmer, hiker, dad, and gamer.

"Enigma: Lost Colonies Book 1 by Ryan Southwick" Image of a woman and silver tiger against an alien landscape.

Enigma Cover Reveal

I'm happy to share José del Nido's latest masterpiece in the sparkly new cover for Enigma! José captured the protagonist Britta Silverstar perfectly: her slight figure, the ’ware on her left arm, her jeweled hair pin, and her bedraggled business outfit after a harrowing trek through

"Book Review: Sweep of the Heart." Woman with a staff, muscled man, a dog, and an inn.

Book Review: Sweep of the Heart

Sweep of the Heart is a worthy addition to the Innkeeper Chronicles. Andrews continue to up the scope and stakes while keeping the story's heart around a girl and her magical inn.

World Building

Different approaches to building your world and bringing it to life without overwhelming your reader.

Zima carrying Anne on the right. Lightning bolt. Charon, an assassin, and dragon on right.

Crossover Character Interview: Charon

Zima and Cappa from The Z-Tech Chronicles interview Charon from Dragon Assassin Like most interviews, this one went in a completely different direction than I imagined. I'm only glad the two assassins didn't end up killing each other, although they might have if Cappa hadn'

"Lost Colonies Compendium." Two planets against a starry backdrop.

Lost Colonies Compendium

A companion guide for the Lost Colonies science fantasy space opera series that will grow as the story expands. Includes a galaxy map, timeline, colony information, and additional reading.

"2023" with one cover. "2024" with 3 covers and "...".

2023 in review, 2024... 3... 2... 1... blastoff!

Didn't quite hit my goals for the year, but 2024 looks to be packed. Thoughts on retirement, switching genres to sci fi, marketing experiments, and the year ahead.

10 book covers by Ryan Southwick. "99¢c each through Dec 31"

December 99¢ sale

All titles on sale for $0.99 (USD) through Dec 31, 2023.

All August 2023 Writing Wonders questions

Project Xerxes - Writing Wonders Aug 2023

Writing Wonders centered on Project Xerxes. Learn about Emra, Niz, planet Galileo, my philosophy on killing characters, and more.

Book cover: Project Xerxes by Ryan Southwick.

Project Xerxes Cover Reveal

Cover reveal for Project Xerxes. A bit about the story and why the cover fits.

Book cover: Wool (Silo Series Book 1) by Hugh Howey. "Book Review"

Book Review: Wool

A post-apocalyptic exploration of humanity in an extended pressure cooker. While I disagreed with some of the premise and struggled with a few mechanics, I enjoyed Wool enough to recommend it.

A block of chapter text with small caps examples

Effective Small Caps in Scrivener 3

Small caps are commonly seen in both printed and electronic books to represent signs or other messages that italics or quotes don’t quite cover, so there must be an easy, supported way to set them up in Scrivener so they export properly to PDF, ePub, and mobi formats. Right?

Audiobook cover: Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds.

Book Review: Red Rising

Red Rising has been recommended to me by everyone, everywhere (all at once) for so long that I must be the last sci fi lover on the planet to have read it. But in case I'm not, here's a review to convince you why you should drop everything and read it right now.

July #WritingWonders, listing questions. Actual questions are in the body of this blog.

Timeless Keeper - Writing Wonders July 2023

Thought-provoking Q&A about the Timeless Keeper Saga and writing in general.

3 authors standing behind a table of books: "Small Publishing in a Big Universe Marketplace"

Holtondome sold out at BayCon 2023

Yeah, those two stacks of paperbacks on the left side of the table? Those were Holtondome and New Denver, and they were gone by the end of Day 3! Fortunately I had 2 more paperbacks of New Denver in stock, but I ended up selling a few Holtondome hardcovers for

Left: Author Tamsyn Muir. Right: Book cover of Gideon the Ninth

Book Review: Gideon the Ninth

Gideon was so good that it threw me into a book coma and has made me question my skills as an author, and I mean those in the best possible ways.