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ANNOUNCEMENT: Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks, by ‘Nathan Burgoine

QSFer ‘Nathan Burgoine has a new YA fantasy book out: Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks. Being the kid abducted by old Ms. Easton when he was four permanently set Cole’s status to freak. At seventeen, his exit plan is simple: make it through the last few weeks of high school with his grades up and his head down.  When he pushes through the front door of the school and finds himself eighty kilometers away holding the door of a museum he was just thinking about, Cole faces facts: he’s either more deluded than old Ms. Easton, or he just teleported.  … Read more

FOR READERS: In the Mood

mood - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Denise Dechene: While reading do you have to be in a specific mood? Do you gravitate to a certain trope if your happy, sad, mad etc? 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

There Are Blueberries on Mars. Sort Of. – Live Science

https://www.livescience.com/64265-mars-blueberries-mystery.html

It was just a few months after NASA’s Opportunity rover touched down on Mars in 2004 that it spotted a geological curiosity: tiny, iron-rich spheres scattered across the rock surface near the robot’s landing site. Snack-loving scientists working with the mission dubbed these objects “blueberries,” but the features were easier to name than to understand. Their recipe remains something of a puzzle. Trying to sort out the origins of these blueberries has always involved studying similar-looking spherical formations here on Earth. New research takes its inspiration from these terrestrial analogs to offer a new idea of the chemistry that may have gone … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Living in a Warming World

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: The science on climate change is now virtually undisputed (unless you’re a scientist hired by a fossil fuel company). How does this play out in your speculative fiction? Share how you integrate this into your sci fi stories, if you do, and if not, why you choose not to. 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

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Lord Vampyre, by Wendy Rathbone

QSFer Wendy Rathbone has a new MM/MMM paranormal romance out: Lord Vampyre. When Lord Neverelle becomes a guest at Cliffside Keep, Vanni watches helplessly as Damion, the young man he’s grown up with and secretly loves, falls for the alluring and seductive stranger. Lord Neverelle is danger incarnate, and soon takes control of the household. Not satisfied with Damion alone, Never uses a vampire trick called “the tempt” to compel Vanni, who is swept into a love triangle that includes fiery passion and nightly threesomes. Now Vanni must ask himself, is any of this consensual? And what about Damion—does he really … Read more

Ten Bizarre Things We Launched Into Space This Year – Live Science

Humanity Star

This past year, engineers launched many oddities into space, including a Tesla Roadster, a gold-plated canopic jar and a cosmic disco ball. The total list of launched objects is lengthy, so here are the top 10 coolest objects (in our opinion) that blasted spaceward in 2018: Cosmic disco ball Got an urge to dance some disco? This past year, you had the opportunity to do it under the cosmic disco ball, which was launched into orbit on Jan. 21 by the U.S. company Rocket Lab.  The 3-foot-long (1 m) reflective ball’s official name is the Humanity Star, and it was … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Winter Fire, by Richard Amos

QSFer Richard Amos has a new queer urban fantasy book out in his Coldharbour Chronicles: Winter Fire. Out of the frying pan, into the damn inferno! Who is the white eye guy? How can Jake Winter save the city of Coldharbour from its curse? So many questions, yet still no answers. And then there is the whole complication with Dean… Evil is rising… Lilisian, the beast Supreme, is free. Worst luck! Jake Winter and his friends are desperate to stop her, but she hasn’t been seen since her last brief appearance. All over the city ritual sacrifices are taking place, … Read more

FOR READERS/WRITERS: Hot Trends in Queer Spec Fic

sci fi

FOR READERS/WRITERS As a reader, what trends are you seeing/liking in queer spec fic? As a writer, what cutting edge things are you working on? Where is queer spec fic going in 2019? Writers: This is a reader and 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

Disney’s First Out LGBT Character Never Says He’s Gay – Towleroad.com

According to an exclusive on TMZ a test screening of the film Jungle Cruise that took place last week    avoids using the word “gay” when Jack Whitehall’s character, McGregor, comes out to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. “We’re told, at one point, McGregor has a heart-to-heart with The Rock’s lead character, Frank, about dating history … and McGregor makes it very clear he isn’t into ladies. Keep in mind, this flick isn’t set in modern times.” Disney already facing backlash about casting Whitehall (who is straight) as opposed to an LGBT actor will certainly be pilloried.  TMZ said, “We’re told the scene was well-received by the audience, but … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Shadowing the Light, by Miranda Turner

Shadowing the Light

QSFer Miranda Turner has a new MM fantasy book out, The Bearer of Truth Book One: Shadowing the Light. “Everybody has their own agenda. Everybody.” Hunted for the unique blood that runs through his veins, half-angel, half-demon Gabriel Sinclair lives without expectations. On the run from forces on both sides of an ancient conflict, he searches for strength and peace in a world which only seeks to use him.  When Gabriel is forced to stop running, assigned a team—and a mate—he doesn’t want, and reluctantly tasked with a mission, he must overcome obstacles both real and imagined. Otherwise, the world … Read more