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Magical Realism

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Avalon, by J. Scott Coatsworth

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Avalon

QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth has a new MM modern fantasy book out: Tony has been taking care of Jake for a year, ever since his partner became sick. It’s clear to him that it won’t be long, so when Jake asks to go to the ocean, Tony leaps at the chance to do something to make him happy. But when they get lost in the fog after wandering farther down the beach than Tony has ever gone, a deserted cottage beckons them by the water. There’s magic in the little house by the sea, and it will change them both … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Impact Flash Fiction Anthology

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Impact

Queer Sci Fi is releasing its fourth flash fiction anthology: Impact. The book has just come out! IM * PACT (noun) 1) One object colliding with another 2) An impinging of something upon something else 3) An influence or effect on something or someone 4) The force of a new idea, concept, technology or ideology Four definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell, but only 110 made the final cut. A difficult choice to be made. An object hurtling recklessly through space. A new invention that will change the world. So … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Bear at the Bar, by J. Scott Coatsworth

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The Bear at the Bar

QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth has a new MM magical realism short out: Dex is a gay Adonis. When he walks into Seattle’s Ransom bar, heads turn. He can have just about anyone he wants, and he does, every night. Until he meets a bear at the bar and everything changes. “The Bear at the Bar” is a short story originally published in 2014 in the “A Taste of Honey” anthology. Amazon Excerpt Dex wokeup the next morning feeling thickheaded and groggy. He rubbed his eyes and turned over to find the bed next to him empty. The go-go boy from … Read more

Musing on Endings – Boogieman In Lavender

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                                         “All Good Things…” By Jeff Baker For this month, a brief rumination on the state of the Queer Speculative Fiction short-story. Word has reached us that the upcoming edition of Lethe Press’ fine “Wilde Stories” will be the last. Likewise, “Heiresses of Russ,” the edition reviewed in this column June 12, 2017 will be its last. This is sad news for followers of short fiction, for while there have been and will be Queer-themed short stories published in online, independent … Read more

COVER REVEAL/GIVEAWAY: Impact Flash Fiction Anthology

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Impact

Queer Sci Fi is releasing its fourth flash fiction anthology: Impact. We have the cover reveal here today! IM * PACT (noun) 1) One object colliding with another 2) An impinging of something upon something else 3) An influence or effect on something or someone 4) The force of a new idea, concept, technology or ideology Four definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell, but only 110 made the final cut. A difficult choice to be made. An object hurtling recklessly through space. A new invention that will change the world. … Read more

“Transcendent 2,” review. Jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender.

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Transcendent 2

                                       Transcendent 2 a Review By Jeff Baker               As this column was going to press, (read; as I was getting off my lazy behind and typing it up) word came that “Transcendent 2” won for best Transgender Fiction at the 2018 Lambda Literary Awards. Congratulations to all involved, starting with editor, Bogi Takacs. Those who want some specifics about just how good this book is, read on. —J.S. Baker “Transcendent 2,” Lethe Press’ second annual collection of Transgender themed speculative … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: The River City Chronicles, by J. Scott Coatsworth

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COVER-River-City

J. Scott Coatsworth has a new queer magical realism book out: A group of strangers meets at Ragazzi, an Italian restaurant, for a cooking lesson that will change them all. They quickly become intertwined in each other’s lives, and a bit of magic touches each of them. Meet Dave, the consultant who lost his partner; Matteo and Diego, the couple who run the restaurant; recently-widowed Carmelina; Marcos, a web designer getting too old for hook-ups; Ben, a trans author writing the Great American Novel; teenager Marissa, kicked out for being bi; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple who would … Read more

Out of the Past – LGBTQ Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the 1980s

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The Northern Girl

The 1970s, famed as an era of free love, political protests and hallucinogen-fueled utopias, gave way to the era of punk and New Wave, AIDS, and the politics of Reagan and Thatcher in the more conservative 1980s. And science fiction, fantasy and horror followed suit, with hard-edged military science fiction, dystopian visions, anti-hero sword and sorcery, vampires and of course, cyberpunk. None of these, on the face of it, seemed any more LGBT-friendly than the sfnal works of the previous decade, yet the number of portrayals of LGBT characters over the course of the decade more than quadrupled. This was … Read more

Boogieman In Lavender Review: Heiresses of Russ

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Jeff Baker

The story was that some people had learned to read again.—-line from “The Tip of the Tongue” by Felicia Davin. That most conventional of female archetypes, the bride, figures in several of the unconventional stories in “Heiresses of Russ,” the 2016 edition of the best Lesbian speculative fiction of the year, edited by A. M. Dellamonica and Steve Berman and published by Lethe Press. Leading off is the first of several award nominees, (Nebula nominee, shortlisted for the Hugo and Tiptree awards) “Grandmother-Nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds,” by Rose Lemberg. A story of gender fluidity, magic and deepnames where men and … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Mine Looks Purple, by Jonen Gleewell

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Mine Looks Purple

QSFer Jonen Gleewell has a new queer contemporary fantasy book out: Nate Noodascue’s life is pretty weird. For one, there is a dead sailor inside his brain who likes to comment on the young man’s every move and thought. Forget that. That’s not even the crazy part. Now he’s getting dragged into a curious plot by a woman claiming to be his unborn ancestor. Just what he needed: more freaky stuff spoiling his chances of finding a boyfriend. Still, things could be worse. Nate might be about to die under surprisingly bubbly circumstances and not even be aware of it. … Read more