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Columnists

U=(N/T)M*G: Junk DNA

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I must say, I learned some weird stuff while researching this topic. It’s no secret that we don’t know an awful lot about our DNA, what makes us what we are, but more is coming to light every day. And it’s more than just the standard what gives blue eyes or left-handedness either. I repeat, it’s weird stuff. For a start, the term junk DNA was something we thought up in the 1970’s to label a bunch of DNA code that we didn’t think did anything. It’s not actually junk, come to find out. On top of the standard automatic … Read more

Dispatches from Hogwarts G.S.A.: A Game of Thrones Report Card

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We love HBO’s Game of Thrones. It’s some of the best storytelling on premium cable, possibly the best production quality ever for a TV series (DRAGONS!), and the directing and acting are pretty darn awesome to boot. We’re also really happy the phenomenally popular show has increased interest in high fantasy on the small screen, big screen, and in books. Another thing we love about GoT is that it has gay, lesbian and bisexual characters and decent portrayals of women. The Hogwarts G.S.A. believes gender equality and LGBTQ equality go hand-in-hand, so strong, diverse female characters are important to us … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Genre Bits and Pieces

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One of the biggest issues we watch authors obsess and fuss over these days is genre. What genre is this? Should I call it that? How many genres can a thing be? So why do we have genres in the first place? Who did this horrible thing to us? The short answer is the Ancient Greeks. Isn’t it always? Seriously, this is where it all started when the Greeks started to divide things into poetry and drama, into tragedy and comedy, epic poetry, lyric poetry and love poetry. (Seriously, there are three separate muses to handle poetry.) Modern genres start … Read more

Dispatches from Hogwarts G.S.A.: Hello QSFers!

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When Scott posted an open invitation to write a column for QSF, I thought: “Cool opportunity!” Then I thought, “What the hell am I going to call it?” That question followed me around for a while like a storm cloud, sending me hiding for cover, too filled with angst to even try to tackle a response. I mean, A: I’m an author, so whatever I called this column had to be clever and good. And B: QSF is a site for sci fi and fantasy fans and writers, so the expectation for cleverness is especially high. Then, C: Whatever I … Read more

Angel’s Bits – So You Want To Send a Submission

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Hey all – I know a lot of our authors here are self-pub, so this post won’t apply for you guys. Or it might. You may find that you want to send a manuscript to a publisher some day. I’m not going to talk about the pieces of a submission (query letter, synopsis, etc.) but I do want to talk a teensy bit about submission etiquette. Etiquette used to be taught. Not so often any longer, but when you correspond with a publisher, how you present yourself can make the difference between having your submission considered and having it tossed … Read more

We Already Invented the Wheel. Introduction

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John Allenson

So, this is my first column and I’ll take the opportunity to introduce myself and the basic topics of this column. I’m what is politely called an Independent Scholar of Speculative Fiction. I’ve delivered two papers on the subject of Aboriginal Canadians in Canadian Futurism. Back in the early 90s I’d edited a bibliography of Queer Positive Speculative Fiction which indicated whether content was Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Other-Gender. I also co-wrote an article for the (sadly) defunct Body Politic on Gay/Lesbian subtext in mainstream comic books. After some 20 years of writing slash, I took a Master Class with the … Read more

Why We Still Do This

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Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror have been called “escapist literature.” Much of it may rightly be described as pure entertainment, although sometimes it may have a loftier purpose. In my case, I write entertaining fluff. Starstuff and shadow blended for the pleasure of the reader (and the writer). Hopefully an entertaining diversion from the mundane reality of the world. But reality has a tendency to intrude. The massacre at Orlando’s Pulse club on June 12 has shoved the idea of plotting out something entertaining to the background. Creatures of the night find their power to terrify fade into insignificance in the … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Big Bangs and Black Holes

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A lot of writers are under the impression that science is great for research, but not so much for plot ideas. That’s what inspired me to write this blog about science. That, and an astrophysicist friend of mine. I’m also honor bound to inform that I’m not a college educated scientist. So, to start, let’s talk about black holes and the Big Bang. A black hole eats everything. Light, energy, matter. Everything. And it tears it all down into energy which it holds on to until the black hole dies, which takes trillions of years. They’re cannibals too. So, I … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Web Comics

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Questionable Content

I debated a long time this week over what to post. In the end, it felt better to share something from the community rather than try to express things that others in the community have said in more powerful ways. Signal boosting those folks instead. So, in the spirit of sharing something good. We talk about fiction, online, ebook and print, and about graphic novels here at Queer Sci Fi, but we don’t often talk about an interesting phenomenon from queer artists – the web comic. Web comics are an intimate contract between artist and audience. The creators are beholden … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: ‘Frankenstein’

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“But I have one want I have never been able to satisfy; and the absence of the object which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret, when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I commit my thoughts to paper, it is true, but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would … Read more