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ANNOUNCEMENT: Crossroad, by Riley S. Keene

QSFer Riley S. Keene has a new FF fantasy book out in the Heroes by Necessity series: Crossroad. A long forgotten god. An abandoned Temple full of undead. Can the Favor of Isadon really bring the dead back to life? The Age of Mortals temporarily forgotten, Elise Bresch and Ragan Ermolt regroup to focus on returning their friend and companion, Athala Dohn, from the Nether. Or wherever Meodryt’s fateful bite sent her. Following instructions that are little more than campfire tales leads them to Marska, a long-abandoned city full of rumors – and bandits. Finding the fabled Temple of Isadon … Read more

#OWNVOICES: Transgender Non-Conforming & Non-Binary

We’re starting a new thing on Saturdays on the QSF Facebook group – #ownvoices. Each week, we’ll feature a different group of writers who don’t get the attention they should. Today, we’re featuring trans non-conforming, gender fluid and non-binary authors who write similar characters. #ownvoices If you’re an enby, gender fluid or non-conforming spec fic author, tell us about yourself, your experiences author, and the books you write (especially those with similar characters – with links, please). If you’re not, you can still participate – share your favorite enby, gender fluid or non-conforming spec fic author authors and their works … Read more

Are We in An Alien Zoo?

human zoo - pixabay

Why hasn’t Earth received any messages from extraterrestrials yet? Perhaps because we’re already unwitting inhabitants in a so-called galactic zoo. This was one of the scenarios a group of international researchers explored on March 18 at a meeting organized by the nonprofit organization Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). The gathering, which took place at the City of Science and Industry museum in Paris (Cité), brought together about 60 scientists who research the possibility of communication with hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials. There, they debated “The Great Silence” — why aliens haven’t contacted us — exploring one possibility known as the “zoo hypothesis.” First … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Beneath the Surface (audio), by Rebecca Langham

QSFer Rebecca Langham has a new FF sci fi audio book out: Beneath the Surface. When a change in collective conscious sends the Outsiders, a group of aliens, to the shadows below the city, humans reason that the demonization of their peers is simply more “humane.” There’s no question, nor doubt. Just acceptance. Lydia had embraced that sense of “truth” for as long as she can remember. The daughter of a powerful governor, she has been able to live her life with more comforts than most. Comforts can be suffocating, though, and when the opportunity to teach Outsider children in … Read more

OWN VOICES: Transgender FTM / MTF

ownvoices-trans-mtf

We’re starting a new thing on Saturdays on the QSF Facebook group – #ownvoices. Each week, we’ll feature a different group of writers who don’t get the attention they should. Today, we’re featuring trans ftm and mtf authors (tomorrow we’ll continue with Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary authors). If you’re a transgender spec fic author, tell us about yourself, your experiences as a trans author, and the books you write (with links, please). If you’re not transgender, you can still participate – share your favorite transgender authors. Note: Today’s #ownvoices is about authors who are transgender, not about transgender characters. Please treat … Read more

SPACE: Ultima Thule is a Frankenstein Beast

Ultima Thule

Less than three months after the New Horizons spacecraft zoomed past a distant, cold space rock, scientists are beginning to piece together the story of how that object, nicknamed Ultima Thule, came to be. In a series of scientific presentations held March 18 at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, mission scientists shared new data about the space rock’s topography and composition, which is helping them to refine scenarios about how the object formed. “Every single observation that we planned worked as planned,” Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: A Symposium in Space, by K.S. Trenten

A Symposium in Space

QSFer K.S. Trenten has a new FF Sci Fi book out: A Symposium in Space. Phaedra and her lover, Pausania are invited to a dinner party. Only this won’t be like any party Phaedra has ever been to. Nor does Pausania want her to go. But Phaedra is determined, even if she has to find her own way to this symposium in space. A fateful encounter with the spaceship of her dreams and the wandering philosopher, Sokrat, lead Phaedra to a unique gathering of individuals where thoughts of love are offered up…and consumed. NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble … Read more

SPACE: Could Carbon Monoxide Be a Sign Of Life?

Scientists hunting for signs of alien life shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss carbon monoxide (CO), a new study suggests. The substance is highly poisonous to people and most other animal life here on Earth because it latches firmly onto hemoglobin, preventing this blood protein from carrying vital oxygen in the required quantities. And the gas hasn’t typically rated as a promising “biosignature” that astrobiologists should target in the search for ET. Indeed, many researchers regard CO as an anti-biosignature, because it’s a readily available source of carbon and energy that life-forms should theoretically gobble up. So, finding lots of … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties, by Kellie Doherty

QSFer Kellie Doherty has a new FF fantasy book out: Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties. Misti Eildelmann is fighting a banished one when he slips a pendant around her neck that saps her strength. The pendant is dangerous. Deadly. Misti needs help. Old and new friends join her on the quest for aid, including her crush Dylori Clyofis. The journey is risky—filled with suncreatures, evil worshippers, and betrayal—and Misti soon discovers her pendant is connected to a much bigger plan. Kellie Doherty’s work has been published by Desert Palm Press, Queer Sci Fi, and Pathos Literary Magazine,among others. She currently works … Read more