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Retcons

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: Question: “How do we feel about retcons? The Retcon or retroactive continuity is rampant in television and comic books, but I have not personally come across any incidents of obvious retroactive continuity in the books I’ve read. How do you feel about retcons in any medium? Have you considered writing a follow up to an existing work to explicitly alter or even negate the previously known information in the previous work?” When it comes to retcons, do you prefer a subtle reveal? How about an off hand revision; or a big ‘everything … Read more

Announcement: Encounter, by Perie Wolford

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QSFer Perie Wolford has a new MM sci fi novel out: In an attempt to prove it to the world that crop circles are man-made and aliens don’t really exist, Ricky and his team of young enthusiasts (including one particular enthusiast, Josh, who is hopelessly in love with Ricky) start falsifying the phenomenon by creating their own crop circles. Their endeavors prove successful, pretty much so, but only until the day when Ricky sees his unique circle design replicated throughout the country by the forces unknown. Excerpt Josh kept silent for a moment. He panned to Emily who was still … 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: Ryker’s Aquamate, by Cree Storm

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QSFer Cree Storm has another fantasy MM series out – “Mystic”. The first book is Ryker’s Aquamate: A meteor attack has changed the world as we know it. Most of the people that survived now have special powers. However, as with all people, some are good and some are evil. There is a group of men that were brought together by the World Council called MYSTIC, a group of men with multiple powers. They are only brought in on to deal with Nefariouses. These are men with powers used for their own evil, twisted purpose. Ryker Spalding is a MYSTIC … Read more

Back Up or Lose It All

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Fletcher DeLancey: “How do you back up your writing? Have you ever had a catastrophic failure, and if so, how did you recover?” We did once. Mark and I run several online directories for the LGBT community, and back in the early days, we backed up to Zip Drives – do you remember those? They were like floppy discs, but fatter. They held HUGE amounts of data – like 500 MB or maybe a Gig! LOL… Well, at one point, Mark’s hard drive crashed. And for some reason, the back-up had failed on one of … Read more

Your Next Cruise

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Who wouldn’t want to go on this cruise? Looks like the Force will be with Disney Cruise Line next year, when the heroes and villains of “Star Wars” board the Disney Fantasy. The new Star Wars Day at Sea experience will be staged during eight sailings to the Western Caribbean from Port Canaveral, Florida. Themed deck parties, fireworks, trivia games, meet-and-greets with the characters, and screenings will all be part of the fun. (The film line-up includes Disney’s new XD animated series, “Star Wars Rebels.”) By Donna Tunney – Full Story at Shermans Travel

Announcement: Grydscaen Tribute, by Natsuya Uesugi

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QSFer Natsuya Uesugi has a new book out in the Grydscaen series: The short stories that make up the science fiction anthology grydscaen: tribute focus on the hackers in the series. Intrusion, infiltration government overreach selling data, smuggling psi inducer drugs, and social engineering – it is all covered. When the young adult Faid is solicited by George, the rich and powerful member o the corporate board of the SenseNet, Faid’s life in the Echelons drastically changes. Besides being George’s host, Faid starts the Packrat hackers and embarks on his mission of taking down the government and stopping them from … Read more

Fantasy Tropes

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Michael Barnette: “What Fantasy tropes are you seriously tired of seeing? For me it’s the ‘evil wizard and minions taking over the world’ bit. In the last 3 days I’ve seen 2 books advertised here on FB with that exact plot.” We had a similar discussion a few months ago based on this article: 10 Tropes Involving Fantasy Weapons That Should Die In A Fire But let’s broaden it out to Fantasy tropes in general. I’m not immune to using them. My first Fantasy story involved a magical ring that was key to the ending … Read more

Announcement: The Sinclair Selkie, by Chris Quinton

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QSFer Chris Quinton has a new shifter MM romance book out: Folk singer Donal MacCraith is touring the Scottish Western Isles, documenting traditional songs and investigating his family history. He meets Niall MacLachlan in Stornoway and Niall invites himself along. He has a secret and an agenda of his own. Meeting Donal is the chance he needs to complete it. American Donal MacCraith is on a road trip along the western coast of Scotland and the Western Isles. His family roots are there, but his main reasons for the extended vacation are the songs and legends. He’s a folk-singer, come … Read more

Your First Speculative Fiction Influences

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When I was a child, I was a voracious reader, and sometime around second grade, my mother introduced me to a trilogy that would change my life, setting me on the path to become a writer. It was the Lord of the Rings, and I devoured the three books. I still remember when Boromir died after an orc attack on a hillside surrounded by his friends – I cried over that for days. I remember spending a fleeting few days in Lothlorien, my little heart beating happily with the thought that such a beautiful, forlorn, and doomed place could possibly … Read more