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Sci Fi

Could Religion Survive Contact With Extraterrestrials?

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I’ll be honest with you: I think it’s extremely unlikely that humanity will ever make contact with intelligent life from another planet. I possess no special expertise on the subject. It’s just that my inveterate skepticism tells me that the stupefying vastness of space combined with the relative rarity of evolution producing species capable of interstellar communication — let alone travel — will make such contact extremely unlikely. My skepticism isn’t widely shared. Aside from the UFO industrial complex and the enormous number of science-fiction novels, films, and television franchises that imagine a universe teeming with technologically advanced civilizations, there … Read more

News: Would You Go Shopping Underwater?

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Some retailers believe that it’s important to make their stores easy to find. They’ll even pay a premium for space in popular malls or streets with lots of foot traffic. Sony is taking a different approach with its Xperia Aquatech Store, one that definitely does not value convenience and spits on the concept of foot traffic. For one thing, it’s underwater. For another, you have to scuba to get there. On top of that, you have to be invited. This is a marketing gimmick to drive home the point that Sony makes waterproof devices, but it’s an admirably over-the-top (or, … Read more

News: To Mars in 2035?

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NASA announced its plan to send humans to Mars ahead of the first flight test of the space agency’s next-generation Orion spacecraft. As part of its “Next Giant Leap,” the agency detailed its ambitious timeline, which will include a manned mission to an asteroid in the 2020s followed by the first mission to Mars in the 2030s. On Thursday, Orion will take flight in an uncrewed test, traveling 3,600 miles above Earth (by comparison, the International Space Station orbits around 268 miles above Earth). Orion, developed by Lockheed Martin, will launch atop the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket … Read more

Getting Out of the Western World Box

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “New cultures in Sci Fi and Fantasy. What places/times have we seen too little of?” Popular sci fi tends to be fairly Western centric – quite often based around US characters and mores, and less often using UK, Australian, and other English-speaking cultures as a basis. That leaves a whole lot of the world out, which to my mind means there are many more stories to be told. So given the choice as a writer, what culture or country would you use as a backdrop for a sci fi or fantasy novel, if … Read more

New Steampunk Condos Being Built in New York

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This is the top for New York City. It’s all downhill from here. A new condo building is going up in Manhattan’s Hudson Square neighborhood — the triangle on the river between Tribeca, SoHo, and the West Village that has until recently been mostly commercial and industrial buildings. 15 Renwick isn’t just any building: it’s a steampunk-themed luxury development. Steampunk-themed. Luxury. Development. What is steampunk? It’s mostly a literary and artistic genre. Think Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd, but much less murderous, riding atop a floating, steam-powered sidecar. See the Full Article at Business Insider

Announcement: The Park, by Voss Foster

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QSFer Voss Foster has a new Sci Fi book out: 12 Contestants 20,000,000 Dollars 1 Survivor The Park: Evenstad Media’s newest reality show. There are no laws. There are no rules. The only goal is to stay alive. But in Evenstad’s arena, things are far from simple. Outfitted with strange new weapons, trapped in the dark, afraid for their lives, it’s only a matter of time before somebody takes the first shot. And all the while, the world watches. Some in disgust, some rapt, but all feeding Evenstad, and all oblivious to the horrors they’re helping fund. By the time … Read more

Selecting the Sex and Orientation of Your Baby

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Hi all, I’ve been thinking about this one for awhile. Before long, we may have the technology to select all kinds of things about our children, including sex and sexual orientation. There’s long been talk of designer babies – kids that are preselected to be beautiful or unusual or to have athletic prowess and the like. In our current world, we are increasingly seeing news and information filtered for our own preferences – our own little bubbles – that reinforces what we already believe, and that may be different or even diametrically opposed to what our next-door neighbors are seeing. … Read more

When Did You Pop Your LGBT SpecFic Cherry?

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Let’s face it, we were all virgins at one time. I refer, of course, your first time – the first time you picked up an LGBT speculative fiction book – sci fi, fantasy or paranormal. After yesterday’s roller-coaster ride (and thanks to all for keeping things mostly civil) of a discussion topic, I thought we’d bring things down a notch. So here it goes – what was your first LGBT speculative fiction read? And how does it stack up now that you’ve read more?

Announcement: A Christmas Cactus for the General, by Angel Martinez

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Today’s announcement is from QSFer Angel Martinez: Exiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can’t imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought. Excerpt Chapter One: Exile So much water. General … Read more

Video Game Story Telling

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “The boundary between games and stories and what use a writer can be in that place. Where does a game end and a story begin? When we write stories which partake of games/game franchises, where is our place as creators? Since the generation below us (I am forty-eight) experiences games (such as Final Fantasy) the way that we experienced novels, where is the idea of being a “writer” going, especially given the group’s interest in QUILTBAG issues? I recently edited a novel draft by a young str9 former student which was entirely based … Read more