scott 
FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer John Allenson: Is there an area where you have some expertise where mistakes drive you bonkers? ie. One of my friends is an entomologist who hates when people call arachnids ‘bugs’. What pushes that button for you? 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
“For we know Him who said, ‘And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.’” Ezekiel 25:17. The God depicted in the Old Testament may sometimes seem wrathful. And in that, he’s not alone; supernatural forces that punish evil play a central role in many modern religions. But which came first: complex societies or the belief in a punishing god? A new study suggests that the formation of complex societies came first and that the beliefs in such gods helped unite … Read more
QSFer M.D. Neu has a new queer sci fi book out in his A New World series: Conviction. A little blue world, the third planet from the sun. It’s home to 7 billion people with all manner of faiths, beliefs and customs, divided by bigotry and misunderstanding, who will soon be told they are not alone in the universe. Anyone watching from the outside would pass by this fractured and tumultuous world, unless they had no other choice. Todd Landon is one of these people, living and working in a section of the world called the United States of America. … Read more
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: What goes into a good blurb? Are there different types of blurbs? What kind should be used for promotion? What kind should be used for submissions? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat
The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is a bit like the hearth at the center of a cozy pub. It’s a bright, warm gathering place around which all the quotidian life of the Milky Way swirls — and, according to a new study published today (Mar. 20) in the journal Nature, it might even have a chimney or two. In a recent study of the X-ray emissions seething out of the Milky Way’s galactic center, researchers noticed two unusual structures that have never been described before. Twin columns of superhot, X-ray-emitting plasma appeared to be billowing … Read more
QSFer A.R. Moler has a new MM sci fi mpreg book out: In the Months That Follow. Can two Terran Alliance Marines come to term with impending parenthood? In the distant future, human kind has spread out into the universe–way out. Among the Terran Alliance Marines assigned to a distant sector is Caden Roth, a medic, and pilot Benjamin Magnys. Caden and Ben meet when Ben is injured during an alien raider attack. Ben is from Gaddo, a colony so remote and with such extreme environmental conditions, that the colonists there were forced to alter their genome in order to … Read more
FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer K.S. Trenten: Seeing one of the ‘Star Trek’ movies and the ‘Ghostbusters’ remake made me realize how many movies I’ve seen lately involve characters resolving things in a final battle involving their fists, rather than their wits. I love a good fight scene, but I enjoy stories where the land/universe/person is saved through cleverness, as well as strength. So what’s your take? Do you like reasoned, intelligent resolutions and endings in your spec fic, or lots of boom? Or maybe both? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to … Read more
David Bowie sang about his sci-fi persona Ziggy Stardust performing with the Spiders from Mars, and now it turns out there’s a “spider” on Mars after all. An image captured by a European Space Agency (ESA) orbiter recently showed what appears to be a very hairy, blue spider extending its “legs” across the Martian landscape. But in reality, the so-called spider is a sprawling pattern left behind on a ridge by a frenzy of dust devils, when hundreds or even thousands of whirling tornadoes formed in the area, ESA representatives said yesterday (March 14) in a statement The ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars … Read more
QSFer David W. Menefee has a new gay sci fi book out: The Final Journey To The Center Of The Earth, By David W. Menefee. How far down will you go? The year’s most compelling story conjures an exhilarating blend of suspense, romance, and mind-bending twists. With the release of Olga Schumacher’s explosive journal, the renowned GNN reporter has defied skeptics and snubbed a gag order issued by Judge Stewart Shore in a Los Angeles, California courtroom this week. “The public knows I tell the truth or be damned,” Schumacher stated outside Los Angeles County Superior Court. “I’ll let the … Read more
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Angel Martinez: Ghosts as protagonists – is it possible to have a happy ending that doesn’t feel forced? How have you worked with ghost characters in your work? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat