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Announcement: The Wrecking Faerie – A Charm School Novella, by Elizabeth Watasin

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Wrecking Faerie

QSFer Elizabeth Watasin has a new fantasy book out: The Twilight World: where monsters and magical people meet. Teen witch Bunny has a perfectly wicked girlfriend in vampire biker Dean, until a dark faerie comes along. Can Bunny resist Fairer Than’s charms? And when she does, what will Fairer Than do about it? Paranormal romance, fantasy, comedy. LGBT YA. ON the very edges of the unknown lies the Twilight World, where the town of Little Salem teems with hot rods, ghouls, and devil girls. Meet magical witch girl Bunny, a good teen witch happily attending Haunt High, drinking milkshakes at … Read more

Discussion: Dirty Worlds

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Sewage Treatment

Today’s tpic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: How dirty is your fantasy world? I remember being fascinated by “Ever After” starring Drew Berrymore, and “The 13th Warrior” starring Antonio Banderas because the worlds depicted were rather filthy. I’m not asking if you get scatalogical, but do you address issues like urban infrastructure, farm waste management, and societal health issues, or do you hand wave it and stick with the story and characters?

Announcement: First Ladylove Anthology

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Firs Ladylove

QSFer Jessica E. Subject has a new sci fi story out in an FF anthology: When Victoria is offered a scholarship to attend Thanh Academy for her last year of university, she jumps at the opportunity. Nothing could be more practical in her psychology studies than to travel to the other side of the universe and live amongst the life forms she strives to learn from. Upon her arrival, she is met with hostility. Convincing the other students she is not like those from Earth who came before her takes time, but eventually she is embraced by a small group … Read more

Discussion: Judging a Book By Its Cover

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MM cover

Turns out, you really can judge a book by its cover. Or you should be able to. Covers are generally the first thing we notice about a book, and while they may have taken on slightly less importance in the digital world, they still can convey a lot about a book. When I used to go to book sales at the library, I could generally tell immediately when a given book was sci fi, or fantasy, or paranormal. How? Each genre has its own style – images we’re likely t see. Font choice. Even the title. Each of these elements … Read more

TRAILER: The X-Files 2016

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X-Files

The new “X-Files” trailer featuring the first real taste of footage for the returning series reminds us all that before there was “Mr. Robot,” “Person of Interest” and all those other cute conspiracy theory series, there was “X-Files.” No corner of the tin-foil-hat-wearing, conspiracy-theory-pontificating Internet was left unscanned for series plot details. And bless the bulbous gray heads of the gangly aliens from our past, the new trailer has it all: secret government experiments, crazy injections, alien tech, spooky security cameras and even the current hot-button conspiracy theory item, drones. The trailer also includes a sort of Indiana Jones-esque flashback, … Read more

Announcement: Second Contacts: Various

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Second Contacts

QSFer Albert Nothlit has a story in a sci fi new anthology: Second Contacts presents seventeen stories from writers in six countries (Canada, United States, England, Mexico, Israel, and the Netherlands) that answer the question: What happens after first contact? Set fifty years in the future, they explore the aftermath of alien contact, for us and for them. With stories by Barry King, Jetse De Vries, Nicole Lavigne, Robin Wyatt Dunn, David Tallerman, Naomi Libicki, Matt Moore, Morgan Crooks, Albert Nothlit, Karen Anderson, Andrew Barton, David Yeh, Jaime Babb, Peter Wendt, Coleen Anderson and Rhea Rose, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, and Holly … Read more

News: The Science Behind Why Getting Kicked in the Balls Hurts

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kick in the nuts

We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a good old kicking or the lightest of touches in the wrong place at the wrong time, every man knows that getting hit in the balls is a pain in the arse. TopTrending has a new explainer on the hows and whys, including the “phantom reactions” men feel when they see other men on the receiving end.

Announcement: Drakon’s Angel, by Aeryn Jaden

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Dakon's Angel

QSFer Aeryn Jaden has a new paranormal book out: Kanael is tired. He has been without his mate for more than two millennia and his control is slowly slipping. Time heals all wounds and his are no exception. Well, at least they are scabbed over. He is ready, past ready and he needs to set to rights his broken mating bond with Kraken, his drakon. He’ll need to leave his family and go searching for his long lost mate if he wants to ever be happy. And protect those he loves from himself once his control over his own nature … Read more

Discussion: Are Shifter Stories Stuck in a Rut?

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Someone to Cuttle large

We’ve had tales of shifters for a long, long time – many cultures have werewolf myths, and they’ve been in the popular culture for centuries. In recent years, shifters have branched out beyond the “traditional” wolves, and we now have werecats, weresquirrels, werebears, and even (shudder) were cuttlefish. But has this genre become played out? Have we said everything there is to say about shifters? Or is there some new angle out there that we’ve yet to explore? Come join the chat

News: Dark Matter and Dark Energy Explained Through Animation

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Dark matter and energy

All of the ordinary matter in the universe, from stars to Cher herself, accounts for less than 5% of the known universe. About 25% of the universe is dark matter, while the remaining 70% is dark energy. But what are these dark, invisible substances? Well…we don’t know exactly, but we do have some ideas! Full Story at Towleroad.com