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Parks on Buildings – Is This Where Nature Goes?

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Facebook Park

From Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page: Today we moved into our new Facebook building in Menlo Park, California. Our goal was to create the perfect engineering space for our teams to work together. We wanted our space to create the same sense of community and connection among our teams that we try to enable with our services across the world. To do this, we designed the largest open floor plan in the world — a single room that fits thousands of people. There are lots of small spaces where people can work together, and it’s easy for people to move around … Read more

Announcement: The Secret History of Another Rome, by Bear

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The Secret History of Another Rome

QSFer Ruff Bear has a new Sci Fi book out: In the mid-2600s, Ranulf becomes Supreme Pontiff of the Empire of Rome at Alexandria, a patriarchy run by priest-bureaucrats called Librarians. After twenty-two years on the throne, Ranulf’s memories flood back to him, from the time he moved to Alexandria with his mother to his present situation resulting from his choices, his training and his relationships. Ranulf’s life has been a quest for truth, not the half-truths of the Librarians and their Secret History, but an understanding of how action rather than static dogma is the path to the future. … Read more

Discussion: Hereditary Magic

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Sword of Shannara

Today, we’ll dip our toes into the fantasy pool courtesy of QSFer Jordan Marshall: “Magic wielding characters. Does the ability to use magic come from an innate gift or bloodline? Are we creating interesting stories by reinforcing the idea of inborn talent?” I’ve always loved stories about magic-wielding characters, especially when it’s something latent in the bloodline – one of the first of these that I read was the Sword of Shannara. I first ran across this book back in my freshman or sophomore year in high school, back in ’82 or ’83 – yeah, I’m old. I was enraptured … Read more

Announcement: Shamrock Lite, by Albert Northlit

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Shamrock Lite

MLR Press author Albert Nothlit has a new Fantasy book out: One lifetime of experience, and suddenly magic. Richard has come to Ireland to reflect on years gone by, not to become mixed up in the affairs of the fairy folk. The handsome stranger he meets will not be denied, however. He makes Richard young again—for a price. Excerpt Richard Trowes got on the tour bus with resigned exhaustion. The trip that had looked so good on the travel agency’s web site was proving to be insufferable, and there was still one more day to go. Plus, whatever remained of … Read more

Writers and Characters of Color

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Black Sci Fi

Today’s topic comes from Anastasia Vitsky: “How about a day devoted to fic by and about authors of color?” I think it’s a great idea. Just as we (ok I) too often focus on the MM part of the LGBTQI world in speculative fiction, we (I) also often neglect some of the other parts of our rainbow. So let’s explore another part of that spectrum today. And lets try to keep this focused on color and not gender… that’s a topic for another day. :) Are you a spec fic writer of color? If so, have you included that part … Read more

“Hell & High Water” by Charlie Cochet

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Genre: MM Urban Paranormal Romance Length: Novel   “Hell & High Water” by Charlie Cochet is about a law enforcement agent, Dex, who gets transferred to a specialized unit that deals with Human/Therian affairs, T.H.I.R.D.S. Therians are a subspecies of human that were created accidentally through a vaccine, and because of general prejudice, a task force was developed to ensure their rights. In the beginning of the novel, Dex’s boyfriend, who wasn’t good for him, broke up with him; and his boss, who didn’t really support him, forced him to leave his current job. Dex gets transferred on a team … Read more

Announcement: Foolish Encounters

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Foolish Encounters

A new anthology includes a bunch of QSFers: An April Fool’s anthology, born from an event where authors submitted their most outrageous prompts, Foolish Encounters is a Rainbow Gold Anthology from Wilde City Press: An accident, a chance encounter, a thought blurted out, a boat blown off course, a change in direction that suddenly runs into the line of fire – the smallest misstep can change everything. These foolish encounters are the moments around which lives pivot and sometimes spin out of control. Join us for tales of imprudent choices and bad decisions that can lead just as easily to … Read more

“Normal” is Queer

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Normal

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette – “Queer is what’s different from the local custom peak, not necessarily preferring a partner of the same sex. “What can you do with a culture where something else is the “queer” trait? How does that compare and contrast with the experiences of homosexual people in contemporary culture? “Frex, in the Northern culture of Torn World, nobody cares if you like to rub bits with a same-sex partner (although they do push procreation for survival reasons), but wanting to keep the *same* partner forever is weird. In Terramagne, the weird pairings are someone … Read more

Announcement: Desert World Allegiances, by Lyn Gala

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Desert World Allegiances

DSPP author and QSFer Lyn Gala has a new sci fi book out (second edition): Livre once offered Planetary Alliance miners and workers a small fortune if they helped terraform the mineral rich planet. People flocked to the world, but then a civil war cut the desert planet off from all resources. Half-terraformed and clinging to the edge of existence, Livre devolved into a world where death was accepted as part of life, water resources were scarce and constantly dwindling, and neighbors tried to help each other hold off the inevitable as the desert fought to take back the few … Read more

Flashbacks: Awesome or Bane of Your Existence?

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Flashbacks

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames – “Flashbacks in books. Discuss. (As in memories, not PTSD type flashbacks)”. OK, I’m game. I regularly use flashbacks in my stories. I try not to overuse them, but it’s not uncommon for me to use at least one entire scene as a flashback, usually to illuminate a character. But over-use of them can lead to confusion unless it is handled very carefully. In the novella I’m working on now, I do use them fairly liberally, but in a very structured way. So here are my questions – as a writer, do you … Read more