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News: “Star Wars – The Force Awakens” Poster and Trailer

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It’s finally happened. We’re now just close enough to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that we’re getting teasers for new trailers—and we couldn’t be more excited. In two clips released ahead of tonight’s debut of the latest Force Awakens trailer, we see just a brief moment of Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac) apparently gearing up for battle and Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe, Finn, and BB-8 all giving long, thoughtful looks. (There’s also that now-familiar shot of Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren wielding his amazing lightsaber, which never gets old.) See the Full Story at Wired

Announcement: Spirit Anthology

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Spirit

Jamie Fessenden has a new story out in the Spirit Anthology: Jamie’s story “The Mill” is out today, just in time for Halloween! “In 1907, a fire spread through Hawley Mill, taking the lives of ninety-seven workers. The mill was rebuilt, but since its official closing in 1989, construction workers attempting to renovate it have reported strange things happening—mysterious accidents and frightening, inexplicable events. Frank Carter and his team of paranormal investigators have been hired by the mill’s current owner, Mrs. Hawley, to determine if the mill is indeed haunted… and what can be done about it. On their first … Read more

Me Me Monday!

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Welcome to ME ME MONDAY at our FB discussion group – your chance to pop in and tell us about your latest success. Have a new book or short story coming out? Let us know. Just sell something? Let us know so we can cheer you on. 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 FB page (as opposed to this discussion group). –If you want, send me your book announcement info at … Read more

News: NASA Probe Sends Spectacular Images of Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus

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NASA’s Cassini probe just sent back some amazing photos of Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth-largest, ice-covered moon. Enceladus was recently confirmed to have a global underground ocean under its icy crust. The moon is 500 km in diameter. It also has geysers that erupt from holes in its crust. The new photos offer closer views than ever before. Full Story at Towleroad.com

Announcement: Checkmate, by Dusk Peterson

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Checkmate

QSFer Dusk Peterson has a new alternative history book out: The Eternal Dungeon is no longer a prison. It’s a battlefield. Split apart from their closest loves and friends, a small group of prison-workers seek to abolish the use of torture against prisoners in the queendom’s royal dungeon. Time is running out, for the deadly High Seeker has already flogged and executed prison-workers who opposed his policies. Do the reformers have enough time and skill to bring about radical change in the dungeon? Will they be able to overcome their mistrust of one another? This suspenseful novel can be read … Read more

Discussion: What Are Ghosts?

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Gay Ghost

Today’s topic comes from QSFer MD Grimm: What are ghosts? Are they echoes that repeat, residual hauntings? Or are they, essentially, lost souls trapped for emotional reasons? We talk a lot about vampires, shifters, and even zombies, but ghosts don’t get nearly as much play. And yet they are, except for their form, arguably more human than any of those other paranormal creatures, lending themselves well to character storylines. So what are ghosts? How can we use them in our stories? And what are some of the LGBt stories that have done them well?

China Joins Search For Alien Civilizations

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China Telescope

China is constructing what will be the world’s largest radio telescope. The Independent reports: Assembly of the five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, began in July and is expected to be completed in 2016. Once finished, the reflector dish of the telescope will be 500 metres in diameter, replacing Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, only 300 meters in diameter, as the world’s largest. The wider the dish, the more effective the telescope becomes at picking up weak messages from outer space. Nan Rendong, the chief scientist of the FAST project, told the Xinhua news agency: “A radio telescope is like a … Read more

Announcement: Natural Order, by Moondancer Drake

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Natural order

QSFer Moondancer Drake has a new FF paranormal book out: An evening at the movies turns into a living nightmare for Elizabeth Crew as her lover Dusty battles for their lives and the unborn baby Elizabeth is carrying. Dusty’s dying request is that Elizabeth go live with Dusty’s family, where she and the baby will be safe. Dusty’s family takes Elizabeth into their home with open arms and a bit of concern. What will happen if Elizabeth learns that her new family includes shape-shifters? For Elizabeth, the family secrets are not all that awaits her in the darkness. “Moondancer Drake … Read more

Publisher Interview: Mischief Corner Books

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MCB

OK, we have an event for today’s discussion – we’re interviewing the folks from Mischief Corner Books, a publishing company that also puts out the fabulous MCB Quarterly. We’ll have Angel Martinez​ and Freddy MacKay​ for sure, and some of the other folks may stop in. Full Disclosure – I’m now a part of the group as well. This will be a casual chat – I’ll be asking questions, but feel free to throw yours in as well. You can see their website at http://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com Come join the chat

News: Scientists May Have Found Alien “Megastructures” In Space

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Solar Panels in Space

ASTRONOMERS BELIEVE THAT a series of objects sighted in deep space bear all the hallmarks of alien construction. A star, which sits above the milky way in the sky and is invisible to the human eye, was stared at for more than four years by the Kepler Space Telescope up until 2014, and now scientists think that objects surrounding the star could be a “swarm of megastructures”. The Kepler telescope is manned by a team of citizen scientists, known as the ‘Planet Hunters’, who sift through the data on the 150,000 stars that the telescope monitors. “We’d never seen anything … Read more