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Genres

“Normal” is Queer

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Normal

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette – “Queer is what’s different from the local custom peak, not necessarily preferring a partner of the same sex. “What can you do with a culture where something else is the “queer” trait? How does that compare and contrast with the experiences of homosexual people in contemporary culture? “Frex, in the Northern culture of Torn World, nobody cares if you like to rub bits with a same-sex partner (although they do push procreation for survival reasons), but wanting to keep the *same* partner forever is weird. In Terramagne, the weird pairings are someone … Read more

Announcement: Desert World Allegiances, by Lyn Gala

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Desert World Allegiances

DSPP author and QSFer Lyn Gala has a new sci fi book out (second edition): Livre once offered Planetary Alliance miners and workers a small fortune if they helped terraform the mineral rich planet. People flocked to the world, but then a civil war cut the desert planet off from all resources. Half-terraformed and clinging to the edge of existence, Livre devolved into a world where death was accepted as part of life, water resources were scarce and constantly dwindling, and neighbors tried to help each other hold off the inevitable as the desert fought to take back the few … Read more

Flashbacks: Awesome or Bane of Your Existence?

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Flashbacks

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames – “Flashbacks in books. Discuss. (As in memories, not PTSD type flashbacks)”. OK, I’m game. I regularly use flashbacks in my stories. I try not to overuse them, but it’s not uncommon for me to use at least one entire scene as a flashback, usually to illuminate a character. But over-use of them can lead to confusion unless it is handled very carefully. In the novella I’m working on now, I do use them fairly liberally, but in a very structured way. So here are my questions – as a writer, do you … Read more

Announcement: A Good Deed Done by Pelaam

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A Good Deed Done

MLR Press author and QSFer Pelaam has a new paranormal book out: Conner is a hard working farmer with a generous heart and a lonely existence. When a couple of his much needed milk cows go missing he tries to find them. Instead he finds that some legends are truths. Faoladh, werewolves, exist, and a good deed done a couple of years earlier to an injured young wolf leads to changes in his life he could never have imagined. Delighted to have such a beautiful mate as Ciaran at his side, Conner feels his life is complete. But another man’s … Read more

Strange Sci Fi Sex Scenes

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Weird Sex

Today we have a fun topic – what’s the strangest sci fi love scene or sex scene you’ve ever written or read? We’ve discussed this one before, and fair warning, there are almost always tentacles at some point. So have at it – what are some of the quirkiest sci fi love scenes you’ve read or written?

Announcement: One Warlock’s Love Story: That Stormy Knight, by Shad O. Walker

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One Warlock's Love Story: That Stormy Knight

Torquere Press and QSFer Shad O. Walker has a new fantasy book out: In a world where shape shifters are openly bisexual, vampires have insatiable sex drives, and warlocks emit pheromones that make everyone around them horny, Zander Knight finds himself at a crossroads. He emerges from a coma with the realization that that he may be the only living being in the world that is part vampire, part magical and part shape shifter. Unable to understand or control his new powers, his condition puts him at odds with his family who is at the very center of a movement … Read more

Announcement: Running Into Zero Tolerance, by NJ Nielsen

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Running Into Zero Tolerance

MLR Press author and QSFer NJ Nielsen has a new book out in the Experimentals urban fantasy series: While searching for his missing brother, Linc O’Hare stumbles across his mate and willingly gets kidnapped to save a man whose name he doesn’t even know. Having his mate live in slavery is not on Linc’s to-do list, and he plans to rectify the situation. Gideon Church was resigned to the hell he’s been living. Escaping with Linc is the best day of his life–until he realises his whole existence has been a lie. With the help of Linc and the inhabitants … Read more

Power and Energy

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Future Energy

Today’s topic comes via QSFer Belinda McBride: “Power and energy. How are your communities powered? Is it clean power? Fossil fuel? What runs your transportation?” Going forward as the world warms up, the type of energy we use will become more and more inportant. But beyond that, we’ll need different forms of energy and engines if we’re going to cross the solar system more efficiently, or even cross the gulfs between the stars. So get out your crystal ball today and share your predictions for the future of energy. And share, also, some of your favorite books that have dealt … Read more

Announcement – Pandemonia: Combustible, by Darcy Abriel

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Pandemonia: Combustible

Amber Quill Press author and QSFer Darcy Abriel has a new sci fi book out: Earth of 4035 is a wasteland populated with sectors of penal colonies, seeded through the generations by its life-long inhabitants of criminals, lunatics, political prisoners, and DNA-spliced mutants, all ruled by a powerful conglomerate of scientific researchers called the Nucleate. One such sector, Pandemonia, is situated on the former European continent in the vicinity of Paris, now a hunting ground of a world gone horribly awry. Drayce Eth, of dragogen-spliced DNA creation, rules one quandrant of Old Paris with a strong hand. He has never … Read more

YA in Speculative Fiction

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Gay YA

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Anastasia Vitsky: “Could we have a day devoted to YA?” I think it’s a great idea. While I haven’t written any yet myself, there’s a market for it. So here are my questions today – do you write or read LGBT YA sci fi, fantasy or paranormal books? If you’re an author in this genre, how have they been received? What sells and what doesn’t? Is it difficult navigating the line between what’s acceptable and what’s not in YA? And as a reader, what are some of the stand-out books you’ve read?