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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

Delivering Messages From Beyond the Grave

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A new service does just that: …software called Death Switches that would detect a person’s demise and send prewritten, postmortem emails to next of kin, sharing passwords. But it didn’t take long, Eagleman goes on, for people to realize they could communicate more than passwords. They could say good-bye or get in the last word of an argument. As it turns out, Eagleman wasn’t just writing fiction. In 2006 he launched a real-life startup, Deathswitch, to provide the service. Subscribers are prompted periodically via email to make sure they’re still alive. When they fail to respond, Deathswitch starts firing off … 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

Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest – Honorable Mention

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We’ve wrapped up the judging of the First Annual QSF Flash Fiction Contest early, so we’ll be sharing the top stories over the next 6 days. After that, most of the submitted stories will be posted on the site for everyone to enjoy. We had some fantastic submissions this year – congrats to everyone! All stories were limited to 300 words max, with the theme “endings”. Our third of three honorable mention winners is Kiterie Aine – congrats, Kiterie! Here’s the story – enjoy! Angel By Kiterie Aine The monitors went silent and the staleness of the air told her … Read more

Pansexuality and Sci Fi

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Beth Brock: “Have we posted anything in Queer SciFi about Pansexuality and how the mental and physical markers of how we label sexuality will probably change with the introduction of aliens, or even simply hundreds of years of technology? (think of…Jozy?…in Re-Life, who could change his/her body at will). What is homo and heterosexuality under those future conditions? Would everyone be a pansexual? What does pansexuality mean to you?” I admit, I had to look up the definition of pansexuality. I’m very familiar with the standard letters of the LGBT rainbow, but I’ve only heard … Read more

Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest – Honorable Mention

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We’ve wrapped up the judging of the First Annual QSF Flash Fiction Contest early, so we’ll be sharing the top stories over the next 6 days. After that, most of the submitted stories will be posted on the site for everyone to enjoy. We had some fantastic submissions this year – congrats to everyone! All stories were limited to 300 words max, with the theme “endings”. Our second of three honorable mention winners is Aldous Mercer – congrats, Beth! Here’s the story – enjoy! Today we’re interviewing Dr. Julian Smith,expert on Argar Exopsychology By Aldous Mercer Where did you decide … Read more

Me Me Monday

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Welcome to ME ME MONDAY at our FB discussion group – your chance to pop in and tell us about your latest success. Have a new book or short story coming out? Let us know. Just sell something? Let us know so we can cheer you on. HOW IT WORKS: I’ll pin this topic to the top of our FB discussion page for the day. –Please post your announcement as a separate post, so I can also share it over to our FB page (as opposed to this discussion group). –If you want, send me your book announcement info at … Read more

Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest – Honorable Mention

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We’ve wrapped up the judging of the First Annual QSF Flash Fiction Contest early, so we’ll be sharing the top stories over the next 6 days. After that, most of the submitted stories will be posted on the site for everyone to enjoy. We had some fantastic submissions this year – congrats to everyone! All stories were limited to 300 words max, with the theme “endings”. Our first of three honorable mention winners is Beth Brock – congrats, Beth! Here’s the story – enjoy! Our Night By Beth Brock Over the pale face flickered the shadows of ancient craters. Like … Read more

Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest – Third Place Winner

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We’ve wrapped up the judging of the First Annual QSF Flash Fiction Contest early, so we’ll be sharing the top stories over the next 6 days. After that, most of the submitted stories will be posted on the site for everyone to enjoy. We had some fantastic submissions this year – congrats to everyone! All stories were limited to 300 words max, with the theme “endings”. Our third place winner is Alicia Nordwell – congrats, Alicia! Here’s the story – enjoy! First Contact By Alicia Nordwell The wall burst open. I trembled, retreating to my corner. “Hey.” I huddled into … Read more

Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction Contest – Second Place Winner

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We’ve wrapped up the judging of the First Annual QSF Flash Fiction Contest early, so we’ll be sharing the top stories over the next 6 days. After that, most of the submitted stories will be posted on the site for everyone to enjoy. We had some fantastic submissions this year – congrats to everyone! All stories were limited to 300 words max, with the theme “endings”. Our second place winner is Mario Kai Lipinski – congrats, Mario! Here’s the story – enjoy! Riddles By Mario Kai Lipinski I’ll miss the Scent Fern the most. Its aroma, somewhere between spicy and … Read more