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Genres

Is LGBT Fiction Inherently Different?

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Hey all, Bit of a philosophical question today. Most of the folks here read or write (or both) a lot of LGBT fiction – from MM romance to transgender urban fantasy. It got me thinking/ I know there are some obvious differences between these works and mainstream fiction – ie: the protagonists are LGBT. But does it go deeper than that? For instance – if we took a seminal work of mainstream fantasy, like The Wheel of Time – and changed all of Rand’s women to men, would it suddenly be a “gay fantasy” work? And if not, why not? … Read more

Announcement: Twist of Wire, by James Comer

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QSFer James Comer has a new free story posted at PlanetaryStories.com: The monk Charthat was locked in a burning jail- and the trouble outside was worse! As the city of Gunkashar fell into madness, he had to find his partner. If he lived that long. Excerpt hree men crouched in a prison cell. The cell was dug-and-walled in a sunken courtyard. Ironwood bars were cemented into the floor and ceiling. A bar closed the cell, its handle beyond reach. Locked? How to get out? thought Charthat. Where was his partner? He could saw through the lignum vitae with true-steel; he … Read more

Announcement: Quinn’s Gambit, Bellora Quinn and Angel Martinez

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QSFer Angel Martinez and Bellora Quinn have a new fantasy book coming out: AURA – the Agency for Unnatural Resettlement and Assimilation It’s a weird job, but somebody’s got to do it. A magical catastrophe tears the fabric of reality, causing unpredictable holes between worlds through which anything might fall—elves, centaurs, trolls, yeti. The brave officers and employees of AURA struggle daily to help the lost and injured, and contain the irretrievably violent while their research staff scramble to find a way to reverse the effect. Anything can and does pop through into the human world, sometimes with disastrous and … Read more

When Casper is Your Protagonist

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Angel Martinez: “Ghosts as protagonists – is it possible to have a happy ending that doesn’t feel forced?” We haven’t had a good paranormal topic for a bit, so I thought it was time. And I know what she means. I mean, to get the ghost together with someone else, like really “together”, generally either he/she has to come back to life, or maybe the other person has to die? So what are some fresh takes on LGBT ghost stories? And for romance, how does the ghost get the guy (or girl, or whomever) in … Read more

Amazing New Travel Posters From Nasa

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Those of you into collectible travel items and/or space travel will probably enjoy these stunning posters NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory created in honor of a few of the exoplanets they’ve discovered with the Kepler space telescope. An exoplanet, of course, is a planet orbiting a star other than our own. NASA’s description of the destination featured in the image at the top of this post: Experience the Gravity of a Super Earth Twice as big in volume as the Earth, HD 40307g straddles the line between “Super-Earth” and “mini-Neptune” and scientists aren’t sure if it has a rocky surface or … Read more

Announcement: Arrival, by Michelle Robbins

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Michelle Robins at Amber Quill Press has a new MM sci fi romance out, part of her Urilqii series: Life for Liam Sinclair used to be easy. Raves, work, sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. Yet all of that changed with the arrival of the Urilqii…space aliens, technically, although they looked like everybody else. But if that wasn’t freaky enough, they arrived on Earth to thwart a global usurpation by beings they called The Targolt. Climate change, long-denied, was proof of the invasion. Although at first Liam was as skeptical as everyone else, he couldn’t deny one fantastic truth—those space-faring alien dudes … Read more

Zzzzzzzzzz….

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OK, folks, sorry I’m a little late this morning. I slept in until 7:30 (my usual wake-up time is 5:30-6) and it felt GLORIOUS! Which inspired the topic for the day. What’s the future of sleep? More specifically, what new ways might we find to alleviate sleep problems? Could we find a way to get rid of sleep altogether, opening up more productive hours in the day (in either the good sense or the dark Big Brother you gotta work sense)? What other future incarnations might sleep take?

Announcement and Giveaway: Iron Axe, by Steven Harper

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QSFer Steven Harper has a new fantasy book out – we’re giving away two copies, so comment on this post with your name and email, and we’ll pick the winners on 1/12: Although Danr’s mother was human, his father was one of the hated Stane, a troll from the mountains. Now Danr has nothing to look forward to but a life of disapproval and mistrust, answering to “Trollboy” and condemned to hard labor on a farm. Until, without warning, strange creatures come down from the mountains to attack the village. Spirits walk the land, terrifying the living. Trolls creep out … Read more

Announcement: Hiding in Plain Sight, by Kathryn Sullivan

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Amber Quill Press has a free sci fi short available from Kathryn Sullivan. Not sure this one is LGBT, but it’s a free read and looks interesting. :) A mysterious box containing a blue crystal is the only warning to the alien invasion. Can Ceily and her group of fellow telepaths protect Earth from the otherworldly slavers? Excerpt …Recovering, she delved again. The stone was undeniably natural, yet her mind fitted into a linkage with its structure that could be more powerful than that with Derrel’s prototype psi-amplifier. Who would send this? Why? I’d love to see the expression on … Read more