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Announcement: Rarely Pure and Never Simple, by Angel Martinez

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QSFer Angel Martinez has a great sci fi book out: A search for missing children throws a misanthropic human GPS and an obnoxious human torch together in a struggle to survive dangerous conpiracies and each other. Damien just wants to be left alone. Too bad his variant talent as a locator makes him the go-to contractor for the government’s missing person cases. He can refuse, but it’s not so easy when the missing are variant kids. Blaze Emerson is a sparker. People fear him as much for his ability to call fire as his obnoxious, violent temperament. He’s good at … Read more

Professional Organizations for the LGBTQ Sci Fi / Fantasy Writer

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Today we have a question from our own Angel Martinez: “The best professional organizations for the LGBTQ SFF writer?” Well, obviously, the best is QueerSciFi.com, followed closely by our friends at Gay Sci Fi MM Romance and Queer Sci Fi, Horror, & Fantasy Creators & Fans on FB. But beyond these, there have to be other organizations, both with an LGBT bent and with a more mainstream flair that also welcome LGBT writers. So spill – what other groups or organizations should we all be joining? Keeping in mind that, in the words of the great Groucho marx, “I don’t … Read more

Announcement: Death Gets a Boyfriend, by Sophie Bonaste

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Dreamspinner has a new paranormal romance out from Sophie Bonaste: Death is in a lonely business. Since the beginning of time he’s been reaping souls then returning home to his little condo in the sky. It’s not a bad job. There are perks. But Death would kill to meet his soul mate, no pun intended. Tommy Neilson is the next human slated for death. But when he can see Death, Tommy turns his whole world upside down. Curious, Death seeks Tommy out. The chemistry between the two is immediate and soon an unlikely romance starts to form. While Death may … Read more

The Bestiary

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Yesterday, we had a couple fairly heavy topics on our Facebook discussion page – one on branching out into characters beyond the traditional male male couple and into mainstream sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal, and the other, posted by a Queer Sci Fi member, about the ongoing argument about who should write gay male-male romance. I was very proud of the group for keeping the conversation civil on both topics. But now I’d like to do something a little lighter. Since we haven’t done a paranormal topic for a while, I thought it would be fun to compile a Bestiary together … Read more

Announcement: Hidden Gem, by Lissa Kasey

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There’s a new Sci Fi book out from DSP by Lissa Kasey: Misaki “Aki” Itou is a psi—a person with mutated DNA granting him psychic abilities. He’s also a contracted companion—a whore. It may not be the perfect profession, but having a roof over his head, food to eat, and not being subjected to torture is a dream come true. He is the top companion at the Hidden Gem, and it makes him enough money to buy the prettiest, most sparkly shoes he can find. Shane McNaughton is an Irishman who survived the Third World War and works as a … Read more

Moving Beyond MM in Fantasy, Sci Fi and Paranormal

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I know I came to the party a little late. I’ve been writing since I was in my early years, and really made a go of it in my early twenties. But then after a string of rejections, I put things on the back burner, and didn’t really pull it off again until about a year ago. I’m now in my mid-forties. I always kind of figured that I would do some of my best writing at this point in my life, when I had more life experience under my belt. So anyhow, the party. As I’ve gotten more and … Read more

A Cyber(netic) Lover

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“When I started out,” says David Levy, international chess champion and expert in artificial intelligence, “I didn’t know anything about artificial vaginas. It is quite extraordinary how much interest there is in that subject.” Levy’s book, Love and Sex with Robots, is perhaps the fullest exploration of the future of humans and robots, especially their interaction in the bedroom. It explores the details of internet-linked devices that transmit real physical contact. And Levy is no fantasist. He is the only person to win the Loebner prize – an annual competition to determine which chat software is the most realistic – … Read more

Announcement: Hercules, by Cree Storm

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Today we have a historic fantasy / shifter paranormal from QSFer Cree Storm: Erotic Alternative Fantasy Romance, M/M, shape-shifters, gods, public exhibition, HEA] Hera and Aries have taken over Olympus. The other Gods have one chance to free Zeus, however in order to do so the other Gods must be willing to sacrifice their freedom for his. Twelve keys will release Zeus from Icarus and those keys are each a mate to the chosen ones, and the stones will lead the way. Each obstacle is a labor Hercules is all too familiar with. Can they succeed before their time runs … Read more

Writing Bad Characters

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: “What does one do when everyone is evil? How to handle narratives when “good” is solely defined through POV”. I’m gonna tackle a particular piece of this, and Hank can jump in and steer things his own way too. The best “evil” characters, IMHO, are often the ones who don’t know they are bad, who truly believe in the (usually tragically wrong) cause they are supporting. This allows the writer to create a more complex villain – see Disney’s retelling of the Sleeping beauty tale in Maleficent, a character who did terrible … Read more

Science To The Rescue: Where Do Penises Come From?

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As if men need another reason to pay close attention to their penises, apparently the mystery of how they’re formed at the cellular level is the “key to much of life on earth.” So how are they formed? And why do males have them? These are questions asked by many an inquisitive 8-year-old and distinguished scientist alike. Two teams of researches have come to some fairly conclusive results that begin to tell the origin story of one of life’s little origins. If penises were Batman, this would be Batman Begins. Not only because the research reveals the roots of the … Read more