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The Midweek Mingle: Watershed Moments

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A lot of the complaints I’ve heard about QUILTBAG+ representation in fiction are about the portrayal. People are happy to see these characters, yes, but the way the author shows them isn’t always the best. Stereotypes (which I’ve covered in a previous Midweek Mingle) run rampant and, though not quite as bad in my opinion, another plague runs rampant through the QUILTBAG+ community in fiction. A lot of times, the only indication you have that a trans* character is trans*, that a lesbian character is a lesbian, that an agender character is agender, is an outright statement of this fact. … Read more

Announcement: The Time Slip Girl, by Elizabeth Andre

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The Time Slip Girl small

QSFer Elizabeth Andre has a new interracial lesbian time travel romance novel out: What if the woman you loved was more than a century away? Dara, a computer programmer from Chicago, is visiting London when she opens a door in an Edwardian house and slips into Edwardian England. Agnes, a beautiful London shop girl, takes in the bewildered 21st century American lesbian, but, as Dara begins to accept that she is stuck in 1908, she also begins to accept that she has feelings for Agnes that go beyond gratitude. And the longer Dara stays, the harder Agnes finds it to … Read more

Listening to Music While Reading/Writing

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Fantasy Music

When I’m writing, I often use (or create) a playlist of songs that help me get into the mood for the piece I’m writing. Sometimes it’s a particular song that has helped to inspire the story. Sometime’s it’s a genre – mournful celtic music is one that works particularly well for me – that helps me zone out of the world and into the story. On the flip side, sometimes music also helps me tune into a story I am reading. So how about you? Do you use music when you write? When you read? If so, what kind of … Read more

What is the Dryden Experiment?

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The Dryden Author and Artists Group

Hey all, I’m Joel Stottlemire, the Chief Editor of the Dryden Experiment. We are multi-media publishing company that uses a Creative Commons licensing structure. Scott asked me to write a post explaining what Creative Commons is and how we use it. Creative Commons is a book unto itself. It came out of the software community. A lot of programming is repetitive and code gets modified and copied all the time. This creates a kind of weird place in terms of rights. Whoever wrote the code in the first place legally owns it but it doesn’t make sense for every coder … Read more

Announcement: The Queen of Lies, by Michael J. Bode

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Queen of Lies

QSFer Michael J. Bode has a new fantasy book out: The cataclysmic Long Night has ended, with humanity slowly recovering from the madness-inducing rule of Nightmares. Out of the ruin of the old empires rise two new powers—the Protectorate of Free Cities and the Dominance of Thrycea, ruled by a dynasty of hereditary weather mages known as Storm Lords. Between the two lies a buffer zone of provincial kingdoms, where the powerful nations fight out their differences. And in the shadows, defeated but not destroyed, the Nightmares lurk. In Rivern, the westernmost city in the Protectorate, three unlikely individuals stumble … 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

Announcement: Tales of the Thasali Harem Series, by Danielle Summers and Jade Astor

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Once Upon a Harem Boy

Danielle Summers and Jade Astor have a new MM fantasy/sci fi series coming out: Danielle Summers and Jade Astor have joined forces with Tulabella Ruby Press to create Tales of the Thasali Harem, a series set in one of the royal family’s harems on the planet of Oranto. — The prequel, Once Upon a Harem Boy, by Danielle Summers is available for free from most ebook retailers: Duga Rigers, a handsome 18-year old living in a feudal society, has spent his whole life hungry and struggling and dreading the day when he would have to join his father working in … Read more

Social Media in Sci Fi

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Social Media

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Canon: “Social Media in a science fiction story. Admittedly, I have not read anything featuring social media since Shadowrun’s BBS style information dumps in their old splat books. I have seen it crop up in some science fiction Anime programs namely “Serial Experiments: Lain” and those shows in the “neural interface massive multiplayer online game goes horribly wrong” genre. Do you use Social Media as in your sci fi stories? Is it something just in the background, or does it strongly effect your protagonists? Do they take pains to avoid it?” I’d broaden … Read more

Announcement: Art Theft 101, by Edward Kendrick

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Art Theft 101

QSFer Edward Kendrick has a new paranormal book out: Vampire Philip Archer and his team of successful art thieves — black panther shifter Duff, ghost Rob, and Duff’s human girlfriend Liddy — are asked by the handsome Ian Croft, a potential client, to break with tradition and rescue a kidnapped child. When the caper turns out rather differently than expected, Philip is bitterly reminded why he has remained single for so long. Yet, surrounded as he is by loving friends, he is not desperate. This is why, when he meets the newly-made vampire Ephram, he suppresses his attraction and focuses … Read more

Fighting Sexism and Racism

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sci fi diversity infographic

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Anastasia Vitsky: “Many proponents of sci-fi point to acceptance of “difference” as why it’s a great genre. However, protagonists of sci tend to be white men. “I’m not talking about a secondary character or a walk-on, but the main character whose actions are integral to every major plot point. “What responsibility do we have, as authors and readers of queer sci-fi, to work against sexism, racism, and exclusion in the books we read and write?” This group is all about diversity – of race, of gender, of sexual orientation, and of opinion. So how can … Read more