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Month: November 2016

Announcement: Interface, by Lucy Mihajlich

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Interface

QSFer Lucy Mihajlich has a new YA Ace book out: The future always seemed bright, but it turns out that was just global warming. Meals don’t come in pills, shoes don’t lace themselves, and there are flying cars, but the gas mileage sucks. There is one difference. People have always searched the internet for answers. Now they actually worship it. Pen Nowen’s father was the founder of Interface, a computer company so big and powerful that people began praying to it. Especially when his death almost tanked the economy. Seven years later, Pen’s just finished her junior year of high … Read more

For Writers: Mental Cosplay

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sci fi fashion

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Kari Trenten: “Also, fashion. It might be fun to talk about how we picture dressing up (or undressing) our characters.” I’ll take it a step further. When you are writing speculative fiction, how much thought do you give to how your characters are dressed? Do you do research to determine the best kinds of clothing> Grab pics from the web? Sketch? Join the chat

Announcement: French Kissing Vampires for Beginners, by L.M. Brown

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French Kissing for Vampires

QSFer L.M. Brown has a new MM paranormal romance out: When a dentist meets an average suburban vampire, it may just be a match made in heaven. Tom is your typical modern vampire. He lives in a detached house in the suburbs, pays his taxes, and bemoans the price of bottled blood. He doesn’t usually tell people what he is, but sometimes it can’t be helped, like now, when he has toothache and needs the assistance of a dentist. Martyn’s night isn’t going too well at all. He’s working late, his patient is a vampire, and now they’re being mugged. … Read more

Me Me Black Friday!

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me-me-black-friday-new

Welcome to a very special edition of ME ME MONDAY at our FB discussion group – Me Me Black Friday! We know many of you have books on sale today, so this is your chance to tell the rest of us about them! For this edition, it does NOT need to be a new book or story – it just needs to be on sale. HOW IT WORKS: I’ll pin this topic to the top of our FB discussion page for the day. –Please post your announcement as a separate post, so I can also share it over to our … Read more

What Are You Doing on Facebook? It’s Thanksgiving!

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gay Thanksgiving

In place of our regular reader/writer topic, we’re just hosting a “hang out and say hello” space today. So if you need a little escape from family and politics, or if you just wanna say hi to some of your writer and reader friends, stop by. We’ll be serving up slices of pumpkin pie all day! https://www.facebook.com/groups/qsfdiscussions/ :) –Scott, Ben and Angel

Announcement: End of Line, by J.R. Frontera

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End of Line

QSFer J.R. Frontera has a new queer speculative fiction short story collection out: Lonely assassins. Moon vacations. Consciousness transfers. What do all of these have in common? Not much, except for the characters in this collection of science fiction short stories, they mean the end of the line…. From Twilight Zone-style twists to a romping space-western adventure a la Firefly, these award-winning stories are now presented together as a complete collection science fiction lovers of all types can enjoy. Giveaway J.R. is giving away an eBook of her short story “In Death, Everything” with this post – just comment below … Read more

For Writers: Cover Continuity

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Continuity

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Richard Wood: I just noted a series in which the covers for the second and third books in the series both feature the main protaginists. They bear no resemblance to one another on the two books covers. In the second book the Earth Human character has tattoos, including facial ones, and red hair. The cover of the third one shows a no facial tattoos Blond. Should authors of a series try to have continuity of the cover characters too? In this case the only thing tying the covers together is the series … Read more

Where No Gay Has Gone Before: Mars Needs Interior Decorators

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It probably goes without saying that the first homes on Mars will be built for substance rather than style, so what will these humble abodes look like? Since the first settlers on the Red Planet will not be able to rely on Earth for resources, houses must be self-sustaining, providing oxygen, water and food. In other words, ugly.  Imagine an igloo made from red brick.  But that doesn’t mean they have to be uncomfortable.  Maybe some nice window treatments, an accent rug, throw pillows here and there…The possibilities are endless!   I realize that at first we won’t have to … Read more

Announcement: Rampant Volume 2, by Amy lane

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Rampant Vol. 2

QSFer Amy Lane has a new queer Fantasy/Paranormal book out: Lady Cory has carved out a life for herself not just as a wife to three husbands but also as one of the rulers of the supernatural communities of Northern California—and a college student in search of that elusive degree. When a supernatural threat comes crashing into the hard-forged peace of Green’s Hill, she and Green determine that they’re the ones in charge of stopping the abomination that created it. To protect the people they love, Cory, Bracken, and Nicky travel to Redding to confront a tight-knit family of vampires … Read more

For Readers: Making the Dish

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pasta

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFers Hank T Cannon and John Allenson: Have you every read a fantasy etc where food descriptions are a significant part of the story and then tried to make the dish or an approximation? For example: https://hobbitmeals.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/hobbit-recipes/ Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat