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History & Alternate History

Announcement: Kaminishi: Four Seasons, by Jan Suzukawa

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Kaminishi: Four Seasons

DSPP author Jan Suzukawa has a new fantasy/historical book out: Michael Holden and Shintaro Kawakami have put Shintaro’s yakuza past behind them and started a new life together in Tokyo. For Michael, the relationship is the joyous reunion he dreamed of. The love he traveled through time for is his again, and this time it’s for good. But echoes from that summer long ago are never far away—and for the two men, winter is on the horizon. From the past to the present and as the seasons turn—love always comes around again when the cherry blossoms bloom. Sequel to Kaminishi … Read more

Announcement: A Thousand Years of Persistence, by Yeyu

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A Thousand Years of Persistence

DSP Publications author Yeyu has a new fantasy/historical book out: Lu Delong, half-human half-yao mercenary, has been training to become more powerful in his quest to be of worth to Cangji, the formidable immortal he desires. To prove he deserves a place in the expedition to Mount Kunlun, Delong risks his life in a dangerous mission against Black Moon Sect. However, as Delong grows stronger, he becomes more aware of the vast disparity between himself and Cangji—ten years is not nearly enough time for Delong to be of much use in the impending conflict that may shake the very foundations … Read more

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

Announcement: Alt. History 101 Anthology

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Alt. History 101

QSFer Michelle Browne has a story in a new alternative history anthology: The future is history… From Samuel Peralta, creator of the #1 bestselling Future Chronicles anthology series, comes a new speculative anthology series that turns the world you know upside down. In Alt.History 101, thirteen top speculative fiction authors re-imagine the world – as one where the inventor of the smallpox vaccine died before he’d created it, as one where the women’s suffragist movement failed to win the right to vote, as one where the death penalty exists but where all forms of capital punishment are ruled inhumane – … Read more

WORLDBUILDING WEEK: Day Three – History and Timelines

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Worldbuilting Week

Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. OK, so you’ve come up with your very own language for your new world. And you’ve chosen the most awesome-ever aliens or magical creatures to populate it! Now you have to come up with a history and build a timeline. How did your world come to be? Were there wars? Settlers? Nation building? Did … Read more

Announcement: Kaminishi, by Jan Suzukawa

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kaminishi

DSPP author Jan Suzukawa has a re-released time travel/historical fantasy book out: Michael Holden wakes up in an impossible reality: mid-nineteenth-century Japan, face to face with Shinjirō Kaminishi, a samurai warlord Michael has seen in a dream. Imprisoned by the warlord and interrogated about the future, Michael has no idea if what he’s experiencing is real… and then he finds himself back in present-day America. Lord Shinjirō’s commanding presence and smoldering sexuality draw Michael again and again to the past, where dangerous information is revealed and Shinjirō’s life is threatened. Through the mists of time and in the reality of … Read more

Announcement: Soldiers of the Sun, by Jana Denardo

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Soldiers of the Sun

QSFer Jana Denardo has a new paranormal historical book out: Caleb Davies and Agni Pradesh are worried about their teammate and lover, Temple Chevalier. Not only has he lost his long-time partner, Fu Li, but he nearly died fighting a demon himself. Also, Temple isn’t sure he’s ready for a new teammate after Li. Caleb and Agni are even more concerned that their three-way relationship with Temple exists less because he loves them and more because he’s hiding from the pain of Li’s loss. 1932 shapes up to be a terrible year for the Soldiers as they welcome the New … Read more

Announcement: Carolina Daemonic, by Brian Barr

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Carolina Daemonic

QSFer Brian Barr has a new Alternative History/Paranormal book out now: Carolina Daemonic is a dystopian alternative timeline urban fantasy-horror with LGBT, steampunk, and occult elements. It’s 2020. The South won the Civil War and achieved manifest destiny in the United States. Great Britain, known as Victoria, and China, have maintained their empires. American slavery was abolished in the late 20th century instead of the late 19th century. Steam powered machinery and electricity make up the bulk of modern technology. In the shadows of the Confederacy, there is magic. Esoteric sciences arcane and archaic survive from forgotten times, and strange … Read more

Reflections on *The Great Mirror of Male Love*

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Gomen nasai! I’m Jim Comer and I read, edit, and post on QueerSF. This is the third of an irregular series of dispatches from the front: I read very widely across the fields of history, science, language and religion, and want to make sure that the QUILTBAGs back home are suitably informed. For writers and readers, here is the third in a series of book reviews, on tales of same-sex love (“nanshoku”) in Japan. I hope that you enjoy it. Reflections on The Great Mirror of Male Love, by Ihara Saikaku J. Comer Reading a text from another place, and … Read more

Announcement: Rooks and Romanticide, by J.I. Radke

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Rooks and Romanticide

DSPP author J.I. Radke has a new Fantasy book out: In an alternate world, Romeo and Juliet are gunslingers. Verona gives way to a steampunk Victorian London. The victims of turf wars are dumped in an alley they call Lovers’ Lane, and the moment the son of his family’s enemy touches his face, Cain’s revenge is poisoned by love. Fate would have it no other way. Levi Ruslaniv is the heir to the Ruslaniv family gang, but ridiculous ancient feuds do not interest him. Cain Dietrich’s vengeful hatred for the Ruslaniv family is rooted deep, since he believes the Ruslanivs … Read more