FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: When you take inspiration from somewhere, how do you give back? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Saturn’s most Earth-like moon looks a bit less likely to host life, thanks to quantum mechanics, the weird rules that govern subatomic particles. Titan, the second largest moon in our solar system after Jupiter’s Ganymede, is unique in two ways that have convinced some researchers that this moon might host extraterrestrial life: It’s the only moon in our solar system with a dense atmosphere, and it’s the only body in space, besides Earth, known to definitely have pools of liquid on its surface. In Titan’s case, those pools are frigid lakes of hydrocarbons, closer to the gasoline in a car … Read more
NineStar Press has a new Non-Binary sci fi/fantasy antho out with a number of QSF authors: “Behind the Sun, Above the Moon.” A Queer anthology inspired by magic and the cosmos, a vast and beautiful place where planets, stars, comets—entire galaxies, even—live without borders, specifications or binaries. Stories span science fiction, science fantasy, contemporary, fabulism and magical realism, and celebrate Non-binary and Transgender characters. Stories in the anthology: twice-spent comet by Ziggy Schutz From Dusk to Dying Sun by Paige S. Allen Lost/Found by Brooklyn Ray Awry with Dandelions by J.S. Fields The Far Touch by S.R. Jones Ink and … Read more
Welcome to M3: 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 and our MeWe discussion page for the day. –Please post your announcement as a separate post so we can comment on yours specifically –Check out the other posts and congratulate and share them too! And congratulations!!!
For nearly four years, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft whisked through space, surveying our corner of the galaxy. It monitored more than 150,000 stars, looking for planets about the size of Earth that belonged to other solar systems. The mission didn’t disappoint; Kepler found countless examples of a type of planet known as a super-Earth. These faraway planets might remind you of home — they’re rocky, smaller than gas giants, located near their star and sport a relatively thin atmosphere. But they’re way larger than the blue marble: These super-Earths are a honking two to 10 times bigger in mass than our … Read more
Developing my own style is important. I have to find my own voice, to resist the impulse to imitate my favorites, no matter how brilliant I think they are. I need to build up my own brilliance, even if it’s just a feeble, flickering candle flame at present. There are flourishes I can add to my own work, traits I’ve noticed and enjoyed in my favorite authors and their works. A tendency to turn a pretty phrase or describing a scene with very simple words that still gives it a flowery feel. Using unusual word play in dialogue that isn’t … Read more
QSFer Halo Scot has a new bi grimdark sci fi book out: “Edge of the Breach.” We all become monsters at the edge of the breach. In a post-apocalyptic world where season of birth determines power — spring healers, summer mages, fall shapeshifters, and winter shields — a man and a woman emerge from tragic childhoods to lead humanity on opposite sides of an interrealm war. Julian Kyder is the son of an abusive rape victim who compensates for his abandonment through psychopathy. Sira Rune is a cancer survivor who dedicates her life to living free and fearless while experiencing … Read more
It’s that time of year again. In two weeks our 2020 flash fiction contest opens once again, and this year the theme is Innovation. So we’re inviting past participants and winners to stop in and talk about how to write these short short stories, and what aspects of the theme we might explore this year! See our current rules here. FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
One of Antarctica’s Glaciers Lost an Iceberg Twice the Size of Washington, D.C.Pine Island Glacier, one of the fastest-shrinking glaciers in Antarctica, has just lost another huge chunk of ice to the sea, continuing a troubling trend that has become a near-annual occurrence in the last decade. Scientists at Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, have been closely monitoring the glacier since large cracks appeared near its edge in October 2019. Yesterday, those cracks finally cut a chunk of the glacier away (a process known as calving), releasing a giant jigsaw puzzle of fresh icebergs into the nearby Amundsen … Read more
QSFer Elizabeth Noble has a new mm gay futuristic romance out, book five in her Sentries series: “Tethered Pair.” Wars are fought on many fronts. A battle is raging across New Colorado Protectorate with both human and demonic players. Todd and Nick Ruger are sentries with an arsenal of talents and training to combat threats from a variety of enemies. Todd and Nick are given a mission to find and stop weapons smugglers by going undercover on the riverboat, Annabelle. These aren’t typical arms dealers, they’re demons and they’re not afraid of a pair of sentries. The Rugers will have … Read more