FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Angel Martinez: Reader shaming (putting readers down for liking a certain genre, trope, kind of fiction, etc.) – Where does it still happen? Why does it happen? Have you ever been? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
A gigantic stellar black hole 15,000 light-years from Earth is twice as massive as what researchers thought was possible in our own galaxy. The black hole is 70 times more massive than the sun, the scientists wrote in a new study. Previously, scientists thought the mass of a stellar black hole, formed from the gravitational collapse of massive stars, couldn’t exceed 30 times that of the sun. “We thought that very massive stars with the chemical composition typical of our galaxy must shed most of their gas in powerful stellar winds as they approach the end of their life,” lead … Read more
Title: Terror in Time: A Collection of Eerie Tales Author: Melodie Romeo Genre: Horror LGBTQ+ Category: Various Publisher: Self Pages: 219 Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild Get It On Amazon About The Book Terror in Time is a collection of nine eerie tales of the macabre and the unexpected that will chill you to the bone. From Celtic lore and ancient evils, to ghosts, voodoo, and legendary creatures, these stories are sure to please the horror enthusiast and history buff alike. It even includes the obligatory spoof taking zombies where no zombie has gone before! So lock your doors and turn … Read more
QSFer Kim Fielding has a new MM holiday paranormal tale out: “Christmas Present.” A modern gay-romance twist on Dickens. Lewis loves his holiday job. As the Ghost of Christmas Present, he guides people to improve their lives. Sure, he’s a little lonely at home in Minnesota, but Fezziwig the cat keeps him company. When Lewis is spirited to California one Christmas Eve, he meets Sammy, an ex-lawyer who seems to already have his life in order. Lewis and Sammy share Korean fried chicken and a brief fling, but distance and career obligations appear destined to thwart anything permanent. Maybe this … Read more
On Saturdays on the QSF Facebook group, we’re now doing an #ownvoices day. Each week, we’ll feature a different group of writers who don’t get the attention they should. Today, we’re featuring authors who are gay and who write gay characters in speculative fiction. #ownvoices If you’re a gay author, tell us about yourself, your experiences as an author, and the spec fic books you write (especially those with gay characters – with links, please). If you’re not, you can still participate – share your favorite gay authors and their spec fic works that include gay characters. Note: This is … Read more
Billy Dee Williams, the actor best known for playing Lando Calrissian in Star Wars, has revealed that he is embracing gender fluidity by using both he/him and she/her pronouns. Williams, 82, will be reprising his role as Calrissian for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December. Ahead of his return to the franchise, he spoke to Esquire about his gender expression. “I never tried to be anything except myself,” he said. “I think of myself as a relatively colourful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously.” He later elaborated on his pronouns, explaining: “I say ‘himself’ and … Read more
QSFer Riley S. Keene has a new queer LitRPG book out tomorrow: “Darkness Conquered.” In the False Lands, one’s demise is always one’s own making. Tanisha Richards, known as Koest in dARkness: Online, has fought tooth and nail to overcome the AI’s challenges. But this new zone is something else. With traps springing, mazes baring her way, and new creatures Tanisha has never seen before, it almost feels like Otekah wants the survivors of DeDust Three to fail. Too bad Tanisha is filled with determination. She will see that her friends escape the False Lands… or die trying. Darkness Conquered … Read more
There might be cracks in space-time, but humanity’s telescopes can’t see them. The cracks, if they exist, are old — remnants of a time shortly after the Big Bang when the universe had just shifted from a hotter, more alien state to the cooler, more familiar one we see today. That great cool-down, what physicists call a “phase transition,” started earlier in some places than others, the theory goes. Bubbles of cooler universe formed and spread, blooming across space until they met other bubbles. Eventually, all of space transitioned, and the old universe disappeared. But that old, high-energy state might … Read more
Title: The Rising Tide Series: Liminal Sky Author: J. Scott Coatsworth Genre: Sci Fi LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Lesbian, Ace, Trans Publisher: DSP Publications Pages: 388 Reviewer: Xanthe, Paranormal Romance Guild Get It On Amazon About The Book Earth has died. Five years later, the remnants of humanity travel through the stars inside Forever, a living, ever-evolving, self-contained generation ship. When Eddy Tremaine and Andy Hammond find a hidden world-within-a-world under the mountains, the discovery triggers a chain of events that could fundamentally alter or extinguish life as they know it, culminate in the takeover of the world mind, and end free … Read more
Welcome to the fifth edition of ME ME BLACK FRIDAY! We know many of you have books on sale today, so this is your chance to tell the rest of us about them! For this edition, it does NOT need to be a new book or story – it just needs to be on sale. 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). And congratulations!!!