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World Building Tricks and Tools

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer Conlangs: “World building.” We’ve talked about this before, but it’s one of my favorites – especially for sci fi or fantasy. Today I wanna break it down a little. As a whole, this generally means creating a convincing, immersive experience – when it’s done well, you feel like you are inside the author’s world, and no matter how strange or futuristic (or fantastic), it works. Some of my favorite sci fi and fantasy worlds for their immersive qualities are (in no particular order) Majipoor, Pern, Middle Earth, Dune, The Land, and Shannara (ok, … Read more

When Equality Isn’t Equal

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tracy Rowan: “In a world where gays and lesbians are accepted members of society, are there other orientations/genders which are not? Can you imagine a world where gays and lesbians are as accepted as heterosexuals, but asexuals, transgender individuals, or others are considered abnormal by much of the population, gays and lesbians included? Why?” I like this topic – it gets to some of the differences in various parts of our community – someone who is transgender is not the same as someone who is gay is not the same as someone who is asexual. … Read more

Announcement: Dream Oblivion, by Hayden Chance

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Dream Oblivion, by Hayden Chance

QSFer Hayden Chance has a book announcement: Enter the Dream, lovers… Life too rough? Wanna get high, baby? How about some O? Vitamin-O? Kay-O? Or do you prefer to call it just plain Oblivion? It’s the drug that’ll give you want you need. Better than sex and sweeter than life. It’s sour and stinks, but you’ll never notice. It’ll take the sting out of your existence. And this New World stings, baby. It’s 2075 and life is dark and rotten, but sugary like old cake, and lit up with colored lights like a carnival dream. Society’s divided between two classes: … Read more

Weird Westerns

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Cynthia Ward: “LGBT Weird Westerns? I would think Weird Western fantasies of any subgenre would cover a lot of WW territory? (supernatural horror, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, magic realism, occult, high fantasy, steampunk fantasy, fantastic bizarro, fantastique, fairytale, fantasy surrealism, etc).” OK, I’m game. One of my favorite underrated sci fi movies of the last ten years was Cowboys and Aliens. I was hooked from the moment I heard the titles, and I may have been the only one, but I thought the movie was awesome. Then, of course, there’s Firefly, the ultimate Western in space, … Read more

Announcement: Seidman, by James Erich

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QSFer James Erich has a re-release – an historic YA Fantasy novel out: In Viking Age Iceland, where boys are expected to grow into strong farmers and skilled warriors, there is little place for a sickly twelve-year-old boy like Kol until he catches the eye of a seið-woman—a sorceress—and becomes her apprentice. Kol travels to the sorceress’s home, where her grandson, Thorbrand, takes Kol under his wing. Before long Kol discovers something else about himself that is different—something else that sets him apart as unmanly: Kol has fallen in love with another boy. But the world is changing in ways that threaten those … Read more

Going to Hell (and Heaven)

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For our paranormal topic today, I thought we’d talk about angels and demons and the religious angle of the paranormal genre. There’s lots to work with here – Heaven and Hell themselves, gay angels (oh, the wings), misunderstood demons, exorcisms on skype (thank you Jon Stewart) and so much more. Many shows and novels have covered this ground – Supernatural did it with the occasional nod to gay fans (and of course the homoerotic subtext between Sam and Dean). So my questions today – have you written or read any Christian gay paranormal stories? If you did write something in … Read more

Announcement: Weatherboy, by Theo Fenraven

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QSFer Theo Fenraven has a new paranormal book out: After fifteen-year-old Tuck finds a Maya artifact while on vacation in Guatemala, his whole life changes. To his surprise, he discovers he can make it rain and snow. A local weatherman happens to be around when Tuck creates a waterspout near his home in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and the next thing he knows, someone from the Department of Homeland Security is picking him up at school and taking him to their offices in Orlando. From there, things only get weirder and more dangerous when he’s escorted to Washington, D.C. With help … Read more

Would the Existence of Extraterrestrials Mean the End of Religion?

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In A Brief History of Time Professor Stephen Hawking asks, “…if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?” Indeed, the more humanity learns about the universe in which we are just a very miniscule part, the less need we seem to have for a higher power. The theory of evolution cogently describes how we as a species came into being, and the Big Bang elegantly enumerates on how the universe itself came into existence. As our scientific understanding expands, … Read more

Turning History Gay

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Today is Fantasy day on the blog and at the QSF discussions page on Facebook. Today I’m in an Arthurian mood. The King Arthur legend was put together from a series of historical facts and stories at a certain point in time, so it’s not really accurate to call it “history”. Nevertheless, it’s historical in that it does reflect a certain point in time in what’s now the UK. But what if Arthur had been gay, and had betrayed Guinevere with Lancelot instead of the other way around? We have a rich tradition of Fantasy novels based on history (or … Read more

The Space Taxi is Coming!

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Prepare to have some sci fi plot bunnies released: NASA just announced a critical component of Launch America, the country’s highly anticipated next chapter in human spaceflight. The organization confirmed in a press conference today that Boeing and SpaceX will split the $6.8 billion “space taxi” contract, with $4.2 billion going to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX. Essentially, Boeing’s CST-100 Space Capsule and SpaceX’s Dragon will each send a test flight to the International Space Station to demonstrate their space taxi capabilities. Each team will fly to the ISS with a NASA crew member and cargo, show that they … Read more