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Genres

New to the Group – ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords

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I’d like to briefly introduce my blog, ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords, a LGBTQ centric book blog (reviews, author interviews, essays on writing, contests and such). While I review all LGBTQ offerings, fiction and non-fiction, SciFi, Fantasy and Paranormals are deep favorites of mine.

I would like to post two of my reviews today as a sort of introduction. One was by a new author to me, Mina MacLeod and the other by Theo Fenraven (a paranormal trilogy).

Theo Fenraven wrote his Precogs in Peril between 2012 and 2013, a terrific paranormal trilogy which came to a conclusion in January 2013. My series review can be found here http://wp.me/p220KL-W0

SSS Edges & Embers - coverSwords, Sorcery and Sundry by Mina MacLeod
Suitable for YA and Adult Readers, minimal sexual content
First story in a new series
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

“A wizard, a soldier, and an assassin walk into a bar …”

Wizard Sylvain has just recently arrived in Abelia, the large capital of the Firmiana Duchy. He’s hot, tired and just wants a drink before going up to his rooms. Soldier Ashe is at a table nearby wanting to enjoy her food and friendly banter with the bar owner. Assassin Niklas is situated right in the middle, with an agenda of his own and hopes not to be interfered with. Alas, once the trouble starts and it seems that Niklas has been ganged up on, then Sylvain and Ashe just naturally jump into the fray with sword and sorcery at hand.

But quickly things go awry as Sylvain accidentally sets the bar on fire and the culprits escape. No one has any money to pay for the damages they caused. With the Duchy’s guards at the door, and gold needed to repair the damage to the hotel and bar, the wizard, the assassin, and the warrior team up (it was their fault after all) to earn the money they required to keep them out of the jail and maybe make them even solvent. But the mission they were hired for will take them into the Deadlands and in order to survive, the three will have to become a team to contend with. What happens when a wizard, an assassin and a soldier combine and become something much more than any of them expected….

When a story opens with a tongue in cheek reference to a long-standing bar joke, I just knew I was in for a rollicking great time and Mina MacLeod’s Swords, Sorcery & Sundry delighted me at every turn. How I loved this story and MacLeod’s characters! From the very premise,three disparate people meet in a bar and bonding over a combined debt, I was hooked. And I stayed that way to the end of this adventure and the possibility of a series. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Swords, Sorcery and Sundry is that wonderful and rare story that be listed either as a YA book or M/M Romance, an element that was intentional on the author’s part. That is due largely because it is a story about the tight bonds of friendship first, and then the beginnings of a m/m romance between two of the friends second. But always it is the ties of friendship that guides them and forms them into a family of sorts as well as a business.

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QSF Member Book Announcement – Hybrids: Arrival

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One of our new members, Chris O’Guinn, has a YA gay sci fi book to announce: The night that Joaquin witnesses the fire in the sky was the last night of anything normal for him. His world of high school and football is completely upended as he comes face to face with an extraterrestrial being. Thrace, as the alien calls himself, seems friendly enough. However, he has abilities that are far beyond human. And he comes with word that others of his race are already on Earth. Joaquin’s friendship with Thrace takes him into danger and chaos as he learns … Read more

My First Book Cover

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OK. when I say I, I mean ours – it’s an anthology, and I’m only one of the authors. But still… My story Bear at the Bar, my first sale, is included. Woo hoo! While the anthology is mainstream bears, my story tips a little into the paranormal. On sale from Dreamspinner in August, I think.

Hey! Where’s the Funny Stuff?

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Most people (especially non-SF fans) think of science fiction as deadly serious. Because of the often deadly serious topics SF tackles–oppression, climate destruction, discovery vs. ethics–they believe the stories don’t easily lean toward the humorous. However, comedy is the oldest form of social commentary and science fiction has a long, legitimate history with it. From Keith Laumer’s Retief books to the Stainless Steel Rat, from Red Dwarf to the Hitchhiker stories, science fiction humor may not always get the attention it deserves, but it’s always been with us. As a long time science fiction reader, (don’t ask how long, that’s … Read more

Writing the Future

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One of the most difficult things for me as a sci fi author is figuring out what I think the future will look like. Not just socially – that’s often the fun part, coming up with new social constructs to hang my story on. But also physically. What will the cities look like? What will gadgets look like? How will they work? How ill we eat? Communicate? Have sex? These can be fun things to figure out too, but they can also be writing minefields. Take, for example, computers. 50 years ago, they existed only as huge, room-sized things that … Read more

QSF Member’s Book Published: Gidealis Enigma

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One of our new members, Griffin Garcon, just had his work published recently: Demi Gidealis is a child both gifted and enchanted. People use him as a psychic hound to hunt down objects and runaways. He resents that role but can’t help following the whispering trails of energy no one else seems to be aware of. His mysterious mother of another world, thought dead by everyone both haunts and helps him along the way. He grows up to learn lots of thrilling things about himself and face the stunning secrets of his origin. Just as he is planning to have … Read more

Starting a New Trilogy

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I’ve decided to take the advice of my friend Jackson Cordd and let one of my short stories become a novel. Well, actually, three novels. It started out as a story fragment I’d written years ago, and picked up again last year to work on. It decided at first that it wanted to be a novel, and then finally that it wanted to be a trilogy – the first time I;ve sat down to plan out a three book arc. I’d written about 12,000 words when I stopped work a couple months ago on it to focus on some other … Read more

Turning Your Characters Gay

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Have you ever had a story that you wrote, oh, I dunno, ages ago, with a straight protagonist, that you’ve decided to turn gay? You know, one of those in the back of your filing cabinet that you dusted off and decided to give a fresh new take? I’ve got a novel I wrote 15 years ago – that I’m considering overhauling – including making the primary relationship a gay romance instead of a man and a woman. I’m a bit conflicted about it for two reasons: 1) I like my characters. I tend to kinda fall in love with … Read more

Blending Sci Fi and Fantasy

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Growing up, I read my first Fantasy books – the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, starting in second grade. Not long after, I read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. They were two very different experiences, and I loved them both. Ever since, I’ve found myself reading a little hard sci fi, and then bouncing over to the other pole and reading a great epic fantasy novel. It’s a little like eating a salty dinner and washing it down with wild cherry pepsi. But I’ve also learned to love that middle ground – the fusion of sci fi and fantasy. It’s fairly … Read more