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Sci Fi

Stranger in a Strange Land

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Today’s topic is courtesy of Belinda McBride: “Stranger in a Strange Land: How to adapt and assimilate when visiting an alien culture whose manners and morals might seem heinous.” This one could be fun. It’s hard to write a truly alien culture – I’ve seen it done a few times, notably by Robert L. Forward in Dragon’s Egg and Niven’s The Mote in God’s Eye. We’re so tied into our own culture – it’s hard to both loose the constraints of what we know and make the result relatable to the reader. So my questions today: How do you do … Read more

Your Own Personal Sea Monkey Kit

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Today’s topic comes to us from QSF member Jim Comer: “Constructed cultures”. So I’m going to take this one and run with it. Anyone who grew up when I did, in the 70s and 80s, probably remembers sea monkeys. They were these amazing little critters featured in the back of comic books that you could order for a nominal fee. You would receive a kit that you could put into an aquarium, and instantly have your own little kingdom of “sea monkeys.” The ads showed these cute little creatures breathing air underwater with a castle in the background, often with … Read more

Announcement: “Lunar Affair” by LV Lloyd

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QSF member LV Lloyd has a new MM sci fi book out: Lieutenant Jack Alexander sat morosely over his drink in the corner of the bar and watched the man he loved being expertly seduced. He had waited years for Marc to return his affections, perhaps now was the time to move on – stop fixating on the one man who was out of reach, his best friend, Marc Duran. But when Major Ethan Pattisson is sent to the planet Mayia to investigate the theft of hundreds of illegal weapons, Duran comes under the spotlight, and Jack can’t help stepping … Read more

Feminist Moments in Sci Fi History

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While mainstream science fiction excels at imagining far-out futures, exploring the far reaches of the imagination, and scaring the bejesus out of us, it’s generally accepted that historically, the genre has been pretty terrible at populating its brave new worlds with anyone other than straight, cisgender white dudes. (Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and many of the other “greats” wrote almost exclusively about their demographic, and onscreen science fiction, from Star Wars and Back to the Future to adaptations like War of the Worlds and Blade Runner, has long shared similar representation issues.) But sci-fi history actually has featured ahead-of-its-time, female-identifying … Read more

Where Will Evolution Take Us?

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Today’s topic comes courtesy of Jim Comer – “evolution in sci fi”. I’m gonna take this one and run with it. Did you know that fully a third of adults in the US don’t believe in evolution? As an openly gay man, I feel that I was born this way – that it’s part of my genetics. I always figured that being gay or lesbian was nature’s release valve for population control – we don’t generally bear our own children (though we now can) but we do take care of others, and thus lower the overall birth rate. There’s even … Read more

Announcement: In Distress, by Caethes Faron

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QSF’s own Caethes Faron has a new MM sci fi book out: After the Great Destruction decimated the world, science is the new god. Geneticists rule, instituting a DNA-based caste system in their effort to restore the human genome. As a Zed, Will’s a virtual slave who isn’t allowed medical care. A tragic accident has left him crippled, awaiting death. Just before his time is up, Malcolm, an enigmatic Alpha with two differently colored eyes, sweeps in and buys him. Will becomes part of a family of freaks–other damaged Zeds who should be dead. Life seems ideal until Malcolm makes … Read more

5 Reasons We Need Openly-Gay Speculative Fiction Writers

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Note: This article was originally posted on Council of Peacocks, M. Joseph Murphy’s blog, and was written by him. Reposted with permission. My second book, A Fallen Hero Rises (available on Amazon, B&N or Smashwords) features a main character who just so happens to be gay. People I trusted and respected advised me against it. They said it would ruin sales and alienate fantasy readers. I said screw it. I’m telling the story I want to tell because I know there’s an audience for it. I just had to find it. So I decided to research openly-gay speculative fiction writers … Read more

Man Gets Pregnant in New Film

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A new indy film, “Paternity”, looks at the possibility of a man becoming pregnant, something we’ve discussed at the QSF discussion group before: Check out this first look at the upcoming Indiegogo-funded film Paternity Leave starring Chris Salvatore and The Cove’s Charlie David that filps the whole idea of gay parenting on its head in a heartwarming and funny way. Here’s the film synopsis: Greg (Jacob York) finds out that he’s pregnant with his partner Ken’s (Charlie David) baby. Dumbstruck by the news, their relationship takes twists and turns through hardship and hilarity, while we’re left wondering if they’re going … Read more

Where Do We Go From Here?

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If you take a look at the news these last few months, it really does seem like the world is going to hell in a handbasket sometimes. Ebola. ISIS. Ukraine. Drought. Fires. And so much more. Science fiction is about taking the trends we see now and pushing them into the future. How will global warming affect our world? Our culture? Our capabilities? What would the discovery of a “warp drive” do to us? If aliens ever did make contact with us, what impact would that have on us as a society. Today, let’s play science fiction historian. Fast-forward 100 … Read more

A Future Without Sex for Procreation?

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Imagine a society, in the not too distant future, where sex is no longer the main method for reproduction. In the eyes of Stanford University law professor Hank Greely, director of the Stanford Center for Law Bioethics, that scenario will become a reality within this century. At his “End of Sex” event Wednesday, Greely compared the future of conception to the society in the science fiction movie “GATTACA.” Greely, often referred to as the godfather of the field between human genetics and biological sciences, foresees that the majority of births in developed countries will feature in-vitro fertilization and whole genome … Read more