Hey all, It’s that time again – time to fill up the topics well for the next month or so. We’ve done a lot of sci fi lately, so I’d like to see some fantasy and paranormal topics as well. Also, some more topics from a reader’s perspective. So what do y’all think? Share your ideas below – one per comment to make it easy on me – and if we use them, you’ll get the credit! xxoo –Scott
QSFer Steven Harper has a new fantasy book out – we’re giving away two copies, so comment on this post with your name and email, and we’ll pick the winners on 1/12: Although Danr’s mother was human, his father was one of the hated Stane, a troll from the mountains. Now Danr has nothing to look forward to but a life of disapproval and mistrust, answering to “Trollboy” and condemned to hard labor on a farm. Until, without warning, strange creatures come down from the mountains to attack the village. Spirits walk the land, terrifying the living. Trolls creep out … Read more
Hi all… for today’s topic, I’m tapping into my current experience on a story I’m reworking. It was originally a “straight” sci fi story that I wrote maybe 25 years ago. Needless to say, the tech is waaaaay out of date. In my initial update, I brought it up to now, but because this is a future story, I got called on it, and am working out what tech will be like in 10-15 years. But that’s not today’s topic. Today, I’m ruminating and masticating (new word of the day calendar, anyone?) on changing a character from female to male, … Read more
Amber Quill Press has a free sci fi short available from Kathryn Sullivan. Not sure this one is LGBT, but it’s a free read and looks interesting. :) A mysterious box containing a blue crystal is the only warning to the alien invasion. Can Ceily and her group of fellow telepaths protect Earth from the otherworldly slavers? Excerpt …Recovering, she delved again. The stone was undeniably natural, yet her mind fitted into a linkage with its structure that could be more powerful than that with Derrel’s prototype psi-amplifier. Who would send this? Why? I’d love to see the expression on … Read more
I’m writing a near-future story – one of several I’ve been working on. And it got me thinking. Ten years ago, many of the tech toys we take for granted – the iPhone, iPad/tablets, Twitter, and many more didn’t even exist. And Facebook was a small website for connecting students on college campuses. So I’m asking everyone to dust off their crystal balls and answer this question: What are three transformative technologies or gadgets we will take for granted in 2025 that either don’t exist yet or are in their infancies today?
QSFer Lynn Townsend has a new Steampunk book out (note – contains two m/m stories and two m/m/f stories): In a reimagined 1890’s London, where steam-driven airships rule the skies and monsters roam the streets, the Galileo Observatory’s Club for Gentlemen welcomes all — gwr, shape-changers, vampires, and lords. A high-stakes game leads more than a few men astray. Poindexter Fitzhughes, renowned hero and scientist, learns just how much trouble a full-blooded gwr can be when he attempts to cure his lover, Lord Seth Maitland, of the disease. But when their backs are against the wall, the two must learn … Read more
Today’s topic coems from QSFer Tam Ames: “Spec Fiction can often be more graphic than traditional romance. I was thinking about the Charm of Magpies and I actually put a warning in my reviews that there was some very graphic bloody scenes. It is sold as m/m (which it should be) but it’s certainly more graphic than most. How graphic do people like their sci-fi? “Do you prefer it more sanitized with the emphasis on relationships and not gore? Whatever works? Before I found m/m I read mostly crime fiction and there were some very graphic novels about serial killers … Read more
Today’s announcement is from QSFer SA Collins – a new shifter book: A 2014 NaNoWriMo Writer Challenge Story: Henry O’Malley, Omega — Hank to those who know him, is about to have his world turned upside down. You see, Hank is just a nice boy on the verge of becoming a man trapped in the quietude of Sparrows Hollow, West Virginia. The year is 1956 and Hank is in his senior year at the Cavanagh Gap Regional High School. Not that he has much to look forward to that he isn’t already doing. His life thus far is limited to … Read more
This week, an MM fiction writer who uses several male pen names was unmasked as a woman. This in itself is not a big deal – people write under open names all the time – and there’s a long history of women writing under male names to get their work out there – look at George Elliott. People often establish a separate pen name for other purposes as well – for instance, when an author writes erotica, and then wants to publish something in the YA market. A pen name is a great way to keep the two lines separate. … Read more
QSFer Indra Vaughn has a new paranormal MM romance out: Two towns flank the looming Shadow Mountain. A dark myth of the Predator drifts through the dense trees, a tale Police Lieutenant Hart never paid much attention to. When one unresolved death follows another—some people dying without discernible cause while others are clearly, and often brutally, murdered — he can’t ignore it any longer. Truth may lie in myth, but this one is spread to deceive everyone. The Predator exists, but he’s not entirely human. Hart will have to find the connection between the mysterious figure and victims with only … Read more