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Genres

The Bestiary

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Yesterday, we had a couple fairly heavy topics on our Facebook discussion page – one on branching out into characters beyond the traditional male male couple and into mainstream sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal, and the other, posted by a Queer Sci Fi member, about the ongoing argument about who should write gay male-male romance. I was very proud of the group for keeping the conversation civil on both topics. But now I’d like to do something a little lighter. Since we haven’t done a paranormal topic for a while, I thought it would be fun to compile a Bestiary together … Read more

Moving Beyond MM in Fantasy, Sci Fi and Paranormal

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I know I came to the party a little late. I’ve been writing since I was in my early years, and really made a go of it in my early twenties. But then after a string of rejections, I put things on the back burner, and didn’t really pull it off again until about a year ago. I’m now in my mid-forties. I always kind of figured that I would do some of my best writing at this point in my life, when I had more life experience under my belt. So anyhow, the party. As I’ve gotten more and … Read more

Announcement: Hercules, by Cree Storm

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Today we have a historic fantasy / shifter paranormal from QSFer Cree Storm: Erotic Alternative Fantasy Romance, M/M, shape-shifters, gods, public exhibition, HEA] Hera and Aries have taken over Olympus. The other Gods have one chance to free Zeus, however in order to do so the other Gods must be willing to sacrifice their freedom for his. Twelve keys will release Zeus from Icarus and those keys are each a mate to the chosen ones, and the stones will lead the way. Each obstacle is a labor Hercules is all too familiar with. Can they succeed before their time runs … Read more

Announcement: Creature Feature 2, by Poppy Dennison and Rhys Ford

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Dreamspinner has a new paranormal romance out by two QSFers: Two Men. One Apocalypse. Rise of the Revenants by Poppy Dennison Vampyres are on the loose in Detroit, and novice hunter Taz Cohen is on the job. The mission seems simple: stop the vamps. But Taz knows nothing about the mythical creatures, so he’s in for the fight of his life. Then he meets insanely attractive construction worker Darren Foster, who jumps into the battle with both feet. Sparks and bullets fly as they struggle against the vampyre horde and their attraction to each other. Avoiding gruesome death from the … Read more

What is Urban Fantasy?

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We had a question the other day on the Facebook discussion group about urban fantasies, so I thought that would be a good topic for discussion by the whole group. But what exactly is an urban fantasy? Does it have to include elves or dwarves? Does it need to have a magical element? Is magical realism the same thing as urban fantasy? I’ve read a few of these, and the ones that immediately come to mind are Terry Brooks’ A Man of His Word series – in which demons haunt our present-day society. Now you might think this is paranormal, … Read more

Announcement: Time for Destiny, Michelle Rae

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QSFer Michelle Rae has a new book out – a historic fantasy: When Daniel Wilson, oldest of five children in a troubled family, joined the military, he expected to see combat in Iraq. But it comes as quite a shock when a Rupee minted a century and a half ago transports him to that dangerous time in war-torn colonial India. After he meets and falls in love with Vir during his visit to 1857, he faces the greatest challenge of his life. He knows he may ultimately lose Vir because he belongs in a different time. Still, he wants desperately … Read more

Will Our AI’s Be Autistic?

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Andrew Sullivan at The Dish flagged this interesting tidbit: Most of the commercial work completed by AI will be done by special-purpose, narrowly focused software brains that can, for example, translate any language into any other language, but do little else. Drive a car, but not converse. Or recall every pixel of every video on YouTube but not anticipate your work routines. In the next 10 years, 99 percent of the artificial intelligence that you will interact with, directly or indirectly, will be nerdily autistic, supersmart specialists. In fact, this won’t really be intelligence, at least not as we’ve come … Read more

A Setback for Space Tourism

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Kenneth Chang brings us the latest on the Virgin Galactic tragedy: The Virgin Galactic space plane that broke apart over the Mojave Desert on Friday shifted early into a high-drag configuration that was designed to slow it down, federal accident investigators have said. The accident killed the co-pilot, Michael Alsbury; the pilot, Peter Siebold survived after parachuting out of the plane. Clive Irving puts the disaster in perspective: From the beginning in 2004 there has always been a credibility gap between the fairground hyperbole of [Virgin Group founder Richard] Branson’s formidable publicity machine and the scientific reality of the enterprise. … Read more

Plot Bunny Time

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Hi all, I thought we’d have a little fun today. I know all you writers constantly have lots of plot bunnies at your feet (probably playing with the dust bunnies down there, but that’s a different story). So let’s unleash some of them into the world – maybe they will find a loving home. Readers, feel free to jump in too. What are some of your wild, fun, silly, deadly serious, never-gonna happen, or just plain average ideas for a sci fi, fantasy or paranormal story? Extra points for an LGBT tie in. Please mind the bunnies underfoot.

Announcement: Nico’s Fire, by Sui Lynn

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QSFer Sui Lynn has a reissue of a futuristic paranormal novel out, the sequel to Adel’s Purr: Under constant attack, Jesuit Inquisitor Jude Jamison suspects his cover is blown. Without the gargoyles his friend Evan sent as his guardians and his ability to start fires, he’d already be dead. As he lies injured among a heap of rubble, the world as he knows it ends, and he fears the monster he’s become. Nicolai Daemarkus, a fire daemon hiding among the humans, sees a gargoyle circling a smoldering building. Upon investigating, he is totally unprepared to discover his human mate. Unfortunately, … Read more